CH2
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Tomorrow's embrace
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The knight commander struck, his blade singing through the air, it glimmered as it shone in the morning light, and began its arc downwards on Ikage, and frankly the Spartan wasn't surprised. Zealots always believe that they are right, even facing down the unknown. Ikage watched as his super human senses brought him to shift to the side, the blade continued as he moved, it swung cleanly past, and his movement was so fast it was looked as though he was a blur of speed.
The world came back and the blade struck the earth, the knight tried to strike upwards, but Ikage grabbed the sword, the heavy steel blade didn't shift as he had it in his unbreakable grasp, the knight tried to move his weapon.
"Unhand me you damned abomination…"
"Gladly." He replied and let go of the sword.
The knight fell backwards, and on his rear end, along with his pride and dignity, the elves seemed jest at his foolish run at the Spartan. The knight was infuriated; he rose to strike once more, but was halted by a commanding voice.
"That is enough, commander." The second knight said from her horse.
"Ma'am this damned metal beast dared to…" The knight tried to argue.
"Enough, stay by your horse lest I let the man beat you to death with your own hands." She said directly at the aggravated warrior.
The knight looked about defeated and walked back, sheathing his longsword, the priest was keeping to his own and the scholar looked about unsure of what was to happen. The templars in their formation didn't know what the lady captain wished, but she had command.
"You handle yourself well against some of Ferelden's best warriors, I am impressed, I do apologise for observing the situation, but I was curious to your ability. And now I think not even the combined armies of all of Thedas could stop you even if we wanted to, you are one force that I would rather not reckon with, even if you do not believe in the maker." She said.
"And who might you be milady?" He asked.
"I am knight captain Kendra Windshaw of the royal guard, I was sent here by King Calian when the light shot past the city of Denerim some days before, and with you here this has turned out rather interesting. I do wonder, are you truly man or something else?" She enquired.
"I am man, and if you require proof I shall give you it, if you ask."
"I'd like to know."
Ikage knew the risks, but with the UCAF being new and all here, he was going to let this happen just for her and more critical members of society. His helmet came off with a smooth action and he held it in his hands, his face seemed to grab the attention of the woman, she seemed rather interested.
"I am Ikage 119, major general of the UCAF, welcome to my ship." Ikage said with a curt bow.
Kendra seemed to nod back in the token gesture and get off her horse; she removed her helmet and let her hair out. She was an amber haired woman with silverly grey eyes, she was about under 6ft, but she had a flair about her that seemed to make her look rather appropriate as a commanding figure.
"So I take it that this UCAF you follow under is the very thing you serve?" She asked as she stood about a dozen feet away.
"Yes, it is the place of my creation and service to, if you'd like I'm sure I'd be happy to drop any unsavoury attitude if your soldiers will, I'm sure that there's quite a lot to speak about." He offered.
"Ma'am you can't seriously…" The commander tried to object.
"Julius you've done enough, the rest of you should probably find a spot along the shore to keep camp up for tonight, I think our resident scholar should come over here as well, unless you've finally lost interest in all of this? And please priest Tyrol, keep your opinions to yourself, other people may not like what you always say." She ordered and suggested.
The knight and the templar went off, no doubt that the commander Julius being not to happy. Kendra waited for the scholar to arrive; the young man held a book in his hands and made constant observations of everything he saw. Ikage wondered how much like earth this place was going to be, if this was like medieval times then he was in for a long run, if abstinent attitudes and arrogance was rife in that commander and priest, he'd hate to know how bad it would get once he's announced his presence to the rest of this kingdom.
The priest followed in behind, he had gathered what notes he had and followed them in.
"We better go to the hold, I'm sure that its sound proof, I'll ask for my officers to keep an eye out outside." He said as they entered into the garage.
"What guards?" The captain asked.
Thirty marines were concealed in light wave reflective armour, it worked to even the best of local environment, and the only problem was that it wasn't heat reflective. The concealed marines appeared from nowhere, their reflective particles being released in a shower of light, the priest and scholar almost jumped when the troops appeared and moved out of the way.
Colonel Douglas saluted Ikage.
"Sir, orders?"
"Keep an eye out for our guests tonight, I'm sure that they'll be here for the rest of the day, and tell Sonja that we've got visitors to attend to, I'm sure she'll be happy to activate the sensor network for now." He said.
"Yes sir." The colonel acknowledged.
They continued on, and once out of ear shot, the captain asked.
"What sort of magic was that?"
"Not magic, technology, my people have advanced to a point where we can literally grasp light itself, nothing is impossible for us to accomplish within our goals, we can do what we need to when we have to." He said walking through the metal corridors.
"This is amazing; I've never seen such wonders." The scholar said.
"If you find that an entire building or ship being crafted completely of metal is interesting, I think you might want to get your head checked, scrutiny would probably work better on locating traps, not basic design." Ikage commented dully.
"That's not what I meant, I mean everything you have, your armour, and this ship and technology, if only most would envision such greatness…" He mumbled.
"Quiet boy, this place is still within the darkness, no matter how much light there is, the maker does not bless these people, wherever they come from." He patronised.
"And how about you keep to your own comments old man, this place is for all to hear and speak, and feel welcome to, not being chased by ravens for the smallest thing." He stated with directness.
The priest kept quiet, but he wasn't happy, they continued on, the crew went on and about, only glancing before heading off to their daily duties, the ship thrummed with life as they passed the conduits and pulse generators. They went to the lifts where Ikage activated one, it took moments for the mag-lift to arrive, they stepped in, the priest confused of what it was, and the scholar baffled by the mechanics of the room he thought they were in.
"Now where to?" The priest asked.
Ikage shook his head and hit the next level down, the doors closed and the lift suddenly came to life, they felt a minor movement and sound that startled the priest, they were moving, but they didn't know where, except the Spartan. It took seconds before the door opened, and they were in a different section of the ship.
"What sort of witchery was that?" The priest asked.
"We were in a lift, it goes up and down, and we just went down 1 level. We're not far from the chamber." He said moving on.
They followed on, the priest just mumbling to himself. The scholar was looking about; he was fascinated by this all. They went down a passage that continued on for a bit, this was a 1.25km ship, it wasn't exactly small. Ikage just then remembered to ask.
"Scholar, what is your name?"
"Odell Soden, it's rather an embarrassing name." He replied.
"It seems fine to me, what is it that this place fascinates you most?" He asked.
"Everything, I just never get much of a chance to express myself though, the chantry honestly thinks that my way of thought was radical to egotistic and self-centred rather than for the good of the maker." He replied with a sigh.
"That's because they are boy, and that's why they sent me to keep an eye on you, you've published scrolls of books that say and state that the maker didn't make the fade and that it had long since come to life when time began, and you said that the maker didn't make life just on our world and said that others were out there. How could they not upset the public's mind?" The priest said angrily.
"What have I said about oppression priest?" He threatened.
The priest replied. "Quite clear and my name is Archibald Ullren." He said defensively.
"Very well Chanter Ullren please shut up." He said.
The scholar went one once the man quietened.
"Well, let's see, I had once wrote a paper on the world around us, I thought it was better to name it whole rather than blank, so I thought of many names, then I titled it by what I knew of the earth, and said Mantel, it seemed appropriate, but the chantry said it was not my place to what our world was called. They even said that the world's name remained empty as a judgement the maker made, I was then shunned once more when I began to write the actual book, I said that our world would be much like another if different, it could be that those on another world may not know of anything that was happening here, and if they were men like us, how could they know the maker? The chantry had a fit once that came out, and so they confiscated all my work and said that I was never to write a piece of work until they had read through it."
They arrived at their destination, the doors opened, and Ikage said.
"You've got quite the history young man, to which all your thoughts were in a logical and right place, to my people, we believe that our god gave us the right to choose and make decision, and how we thought of him, either spiritually, or respectively."
The young man seemed to brighten up a bit as they stepped into the small room. It was roughly 7X7, once they stepped in, they sat down at a table with some chairs in place, they all took a seat and there was an odd looking disk on the table, it looked as though it was attached, and probably was.
"Well, captain, Odell, and Archibald, this is our conference room, for us that is. I'll let you know of who and what my people are, once you hear this, I shall let you talk a marker for me to your king and let us speak, but first, let me begin…"
He began to recite what he said to the elves, the desk lit up and the room darkened, the world that they saw of was not anywhere on Thedas, it was a world so different.
"My kind came from our world tens of thousands of years ago, on another world, known as Earth, we lived there as our birth place, mankind's birth place, this cradle was shaped to ensure that we lived and we prepared.
In the years since the earliest civilizations we fought, conflict was our demeanor, it was our fate it was our driving force, and for thousands of years it was our prerogative, we fought each other for generations, and for 100,000 years our kind has fought. It was not until we reached the point where our technology had advanced and that we learnt that war was not going to be our answer for everything. We inevitably came to understand that we were one race, no others were here on this world we called home, and so we united, conflict and war ended, we prepared to leave.
Two brilliant innovators came up with a means to let us leave our crowded home, man began the greatest migrations seen, leaving to the heavens to search for our peace in the universe, the cosmos was ours. My people were of the alliance, we left in a massive fleet, heading to our new world, but an accident sent us flying through the stars and from our home we landed in a mysterious new place.
This place became known as Nova Stratus, the light of storms, it was a beautiful stretch of light, where we found peace, but for 150 years we became isolated, and soon we segregated and then we met each other, not as once brothers but enemies.
The 50 year war brought to reality that conflict still lived within us, and that was when we stopped and ended our foolish wars. We began to prosper for another 250 years and began to expand our territory across the heavens.
It was not to last though, there was those who did not agree with us and brought conflict upon our race, we had little choice as war once more engrossed our people, war took its toll and we did not yield, we could never, or mankind would die.
The covenant was our common enemy, believing that we were an affront to their gods they deemed mankind their enemy and began to scourge our race unjustly. We fought, not as an empire of a leader, or the power of a religion, or anything that would deem us as a group or faction, we fought for survival, our bare rights as living entities. War was our way once more, consuming us to fight them, and that was what we did, all of our kin fought without regret or fear, we soon came to believe that there was little hope but to fight.
But our war soon ended, the covenant battled us for the ascension of their race at an epic crusade launched upon our people, but we held fast and retaliated, but not only with our people, but others, their religion was flawed and soon leaked of the truth, there was inner conflict which brought an end to their covenant, it ended at the final battle to which I participated in and saw to finish." He stopped.
The other humans of Thedas looked at him in passive amazement and wonder, this had proven Odell's theory to his point and had sent him into high hopes of learning of this new people, they had everything he wanted, he honestly didn't care about other races. The priest seemed rather in mystified contempt with what he had seen and heard, it was an amazing thing, surely, but he had no answer for it, these people had struggled beyond anything that the past blights had ever brought, and that was what was terrifying, a race as such could stand up to anything. The captain stayed calm and collective, she had a logical and strong emotional braces, but she felt awed in the presence of the Spartan, there was no doubt that this man had done amazing feats.
"So are there any questions?" He asked.
"When can I comeback?" Odell asked.
They spent the next 2 hours going over what they knew, Ikage was under the impression that the captain simply accepted everything to an extent, she didn't entirely like as much about hearing that mankind was so engrossed outside of religion, but she knew better. The priest was still pressing in with what he thought was fiction and not, but Odell had some rather interesting counter arguments, they eventually called it to the end. That night the humans of Thedas went back to their camp, with a new view on the world and the heavens.
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The night was an interesting one; the elves came to the ship, Lyna wondering what the actions of the UCAF were to the templars and the knights. But all she got was a same response, the group was going back to Ferelden in the morning, the thought wasn't too comforting because of the fact that the Chantry's history with the elves. The Keeper believed that this place wasn't far from being scoured, it had to happen sooner or later and it was better if it went cleanly.
Lyna went to see the Spartan; she was contempt that she could face the human. She went to the ship and asked to see him, she was waved inside, and once she followed the lines to where he was she found that he was working with others of his kind. Once he was finished with addressing his Spartans, he acknowledged her presence.
"So, what is it that you would like to discuss with me?" He asked.
"Those templars are not settling the fact that my kin are right now uncertain to pack up and leave, those people maybe of similar race to you, however they're no better than wolves. They attack those by themselves or in packs, and a call from one would bring them all, I don't like the idea of having their zealots running into the encampment the next week." She said.
"Which is why I left a message for them, they were to take it to their king, I'm sure that they'll deliver it, besides, if worse comes to worse, then we can just move." He said.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked.
He chuckled and then replied. "You'll see when it happens, we aren't that careless Lyna, I think you should head home now, it'll be a very interesting few days."
She didn't know, but she answered.
"Fine, but I do hope that you are right."
Once she headed out, he said to no one. "I'm sure that everything will be fine, have faith…"
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The morning came, the knights had packed up camp, the commander simply looked at Ikage as he watched as the UCAF troops suddenly de-cloaked and watched the knights now knew better than to underestimate the UCAF, especially the Spartan. They watched them depart, and Ikage went back inside the ship, he brought up some special gear, he activated the UCAF satellite network, he had brought out a dozen multi-use orbital cameras. He had also activated a pulse imager to bring out a full in depth view of the planet.
But the main specialist equipment he had was the logistical drones, the HIVE network would report over the entire region, and probably over the entire planet. The drones went off, their stealth coats activating and their sensor array searching for the location of the beacon he had given the captain to give to the King.
The beacon was a com unit, it was a holographic projection unit, he was going to have a long speech from here to the castle in Denerim, but also he disguised it as a gift. The priest would go off his nut once he learnt that the gift was a very different one, it was a gold looking plate with a small crystal in the middle and said instructions on where to face it.
"Celia bring out the image of the region, where's the beacon now?"
"All systems functioning, it's about, 20 clicks and moving, it'll be at its location in about 5 days, if they keep at that pace." She reported.
"Good, let's just hope nothing goes wrong with Sigma team."
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Sigma team followed along the shrubs and bushes of the local flora, they had found that this world's flora wasn't so different from that of Valence, or Yuren, this place was packed with animals though, and it was hard to see how far the knights were heading to. The team really would have appreciated having a Fenrisson with them, but Ikage wanted them to get acquainted with the local terrain and the local wildlife. They had encountered a dozen wolves and 2 bears, but either than that, nothing.
They stuck close to the river that went by the templars, they continued on their path for the next few days, and then they'd split the team, one was to continue searching the forests for important markers or sites to give back to the elves and the other would search the surrounding towns and villages on their maps, they'd get used to seeing sights like such.
Tai was on his way for his solo recon on the ground for personal survival skills, it was his job to take up reigns in the face of adversity on his own. No other member was going to take up the lone job of going out to die, if something was to go horribly wrong, and thus it required a specialist which hadn't been fully trained for a set background.
Tai was to become part of the natural background; this place was to be his and his alone. He walked away and signed his orders to the commander. Once then he was shown his markers, it led him into the deeper parts of the woods, he was to go in and get a closer report of visibility near the southern regions of the forest. He watched as the rest of the squad went to their destinations.
He walked alone, through the shrubs and the trees to whatever waited for him for the next 5 days, he was going to have to get used to functioning as a single unit, no matter what was to come and face him. He went on, alone and prepared, he wasn't going to give up, Spartans never give up, and he wasn't going to.
The 1st team was heading to the closest town; along the way they were to observe different locations of importance and areas of religious significance or public use. They passed along the thick trees to shadow the road, they'd avoid the roads for now, they weren't exactly well known and they'd rather keep it that way.
Their rules of engagement were pretty clear; they were to stay clear of anything that might give them away, to the locals or the other factions of power on this world. It was too soon to begin letting rumors spread about the UCAF, and the fact that the King hadn't heard of their arrival was important that that things remained quiet.
Team 2 was going on by shadowing the knights and their convoy back to Denerim, it was a simple observation mission, and also minor infiltration, they needed to brush up on their spying and reconnaissance since being stuck in cryo-tubes for over a week.
The team pursued their target for the next few days, until they reached their designated locations, Spartan team 1 was having no trouble, and Spartan team 2 were getting closer to their location.
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Ai-2771 shadowed the troop on their walk into the front gates of Denerim, they were to head straight up to the castle, Jon was nearby watching and observing, their first objective had been reached. Getting into castle was only part of their assignment, but observing and understanding Denerim was their secondary objective and their third was more public, they were to make a quick overview of the surrounding area and make sure that nothing went wrong, especially with the exchange.
They were required to enter the castle when the beacon was activated, this process may take a day or two, but maybe just 30 minutes. The two of them were dressed in cloaks, Ai had her cloak surrounding her body, and there was also a belt to hide her weapons. She didn't need to look too suspicious in the normal day.
Jon was in modified knight armour, it was just spare bits of metal attached by light mag clamps, he looked like an adventurer who was just rather big, or a qunari with a human taste in armour. The large hulking figure kept distance from Ai, they had their helmets off. People glanced if only briefly at the two, they didn't want to insult the large possibly armed persons.
They watched as the time went by, Ai went to the local stalls to see if there was anything there, possibly maps or books, she carried some currency from the ship, thought it was in ingot form. She had no doubt that she'd catch the eyes of a pickpocket if they saw her with that kind of riches.
She went over to the first brightly coloured store with a red and yellow tarp over the top, she was greeted by a woman, with a slightly Valentinen (French by alliance standards) accent.
"Hello, what may you be interested?" The purpled bloused woman asked.
"I was interested in what assortment of goods you might have." Ai replied.
"Ah well we have the finest scented oils and flowers in all of Denerim." She said.
"Hmm, are there any other items of interest that you sell?" She asked.
"No not really, this as much as I go, if you'd like supplies, you should go to Cesar, he stands on the other side, or you can go see the dwarven merchant on the other side, he works some fine armour." She said.
"Okay, thanks." Ai said as she left.
"Have a good day traveller."
Ai walked over to the other side where a man was haggling with a rather tough looking customer, they were intent with trying to solve how much a small bundle of items was going to cost. She spent the latter 2 minutes before they agreed and the merchant handled a neat little bag of coins, he went over to her and noticed her minor impatience.
"Oh, sorry about that, I've had a rather tough luck with some buyers on some recent goods from the Anderfels, what can I do for you?" He asked.
"I'd like to know what you sell and at what price and quantity, as well as quality." She said.
"Oh, well the quantity being?" He said.
"The quantity for about 25 to 50 people, I'd like to know how and when you can ship such quantities here and at what time." She replied.
The man started counting and going over all his stocks.
"Well if you're talking about food stuffs, like fish, bread, eggs, poultry, meat, and vegetables of all sorts, then it would be at least 2 weeks, for 5 crates of each, and that's expecting the farmers and fishers can actually keep those things fresh." He answered.
"Hmm, that does sound rather a bit of a wait, what would the total price be for about 50 units of each?" She asked.
"Huh?"
"Pounds, what's the cost of 100 pounds of each?" She asked.
"30 sovereigns, for the total price." He replied.
Ai, knew that this man was being rather high on the price, but she knew what to do.
"So you're charging me extra on supplies for five gold pieces for nothing?"
"What?" He said.
"Another merchant in the market offered me the same supplies, but for 25 sovereigns. Care to explain that?" She asked.
"Damn, fine, 27 sovereigns no lower." He said.
"Okay, just wait a moment, and let me check." She went and faced away, and then tapped her com to access the local air nets; she got one link to the base.
"Sir, I've got the supply list from Celia down, I've got one supplier for the amount specified." She said.
"Good, is the bar sufficient in covering costs?" He asked.
"The bullion will have it down sir." She replied.
"Okay, proceed, once our business at the castle is complete wait for a transport to arrive, I'll send a hog transport from here with an external rig; just make sure to keep it as discrete as possible." He said.
"Roger that sir." She said signing out.
She turned to face the man and pulled out the bar of gold, it weight exactly 1 solid kilo, the man looked at it with surprise, this was more than enough to keep him going, he'd be able to soon buy a lot of things. A single bar at that days' worth was at least 100 sovereigns.
"Is that for the whole thing?" He asked.
"No, this is for payment and preparation, all the goods must be supplied within 2 weeks by your schedule and I'd like them simply stacked here when the time comes. And make sure that they are all kept in best condition, or you can bet I'll want a refund." She said.
The man gulped, the woman was dead serious, but the riches for this for the next few months, they were more than worth this. He said.
"I understand."
"Good, have a nice day." She said walking off and handing the bar to the man.
"Maker, bless you." He said as she walked off.
She continued on, and joined Jon at the gates to the castle, their beacon activated, it was show time.
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In the halls of the of the Royal palace the knights awaited their majesty's grace to come into the halls, once they had reported to the Arls on what they had found, and when Odell rushed to his study back in the library and began to speak with the many scholars in their offices of what great new discovery had come to pass. The priest Archibald went to hawk out the news of the UCAF, and his opinion, it wasn't without doubt though, which was why the knights were to give in the beacon to the king and present it.
The mages and templars went through the objects intently before allowing them in, and it was observed by many others, they couldn't find any fault with it, except that it was unbreakable. It looked like a foot rest, which in honest opinion it probably was, but it said to keep exactly 3 meters away from anyone. She had no idea why, but it also had a button, which would activate at her touch, but it was on a note that she had to do it when she came in the audience of the king.
Once they stepped on through the crowds, of a lot of people for this gathering, seeing as the news had spread quickly, with the scholars preparing a second expedition to the forests, and the Chantry rather intent on meeting this race of humans from beyond the heavens. The people were still in the dark about what had happened, but it was going to spread and soon.
Once they stood before their king, and a number of the Arls and Teryns, with Loghain who was watching rather intently with what was going on.
"Knights, Captain Kendra, and Commander Vaughn are here to see you, your majesty." A guard said.
"Ah yes, greetings knights, I believe that you have brought back a gift of importance to me?" He asked.
"Yes your majesty, the leader of the alliance was rather insistent that you receive this, he calls it a beacon, a communications device, but so far, none of the guards or mages have found anything that makes it work." Vaughn said.
"It's a communications device?" He asked.
"Yes, specifically he asked me to press the button once it has been placed on the ground in your presence your majesty." Kendra said.
"Very well, I'd like to see what the leader of the alliance would like to discuss." He said.
Loghain seemed to stare at him in disbelief.
"Calian, it doesn't seem necessary to chase after a silly gambit, it's probably a message in itself as an object."
"I'd like to think that Teryn, however I'd like to simply try." He said.
"Very well." He said with a minor sigh.
Kendra proceeded to pressing the button once it was laid on the ground, she stepped back and then something began to happen, a flash of light, and suddenly the room was covered in lights. The lines of lights seemed to drop slowly and recede into the flat floor stand.
"Scanning complete, beginning transmission." A voice came from the small box.
It was then that an image appeared a person materialised, his figure almost completely see through. Kendra realised it was the Major, his form was so different, this was like looking at a spirit. Which the others of the hall suddenly shouted in surprise, mages and templars ran forwards.
"Is that a ghost, or a demon?" Loghain asked.
The ghostly looking Ikage responded.
"No, I'm not actually here you know, I'm speaking to you from far away, this is my means of speaking to you without leaving my home."
The guards looked about uncertain, Calian was very much surprised, and he simply stepped forwards and put his hand to shake the hand of the ghostly image. Ikage put his hand forwards and watched as their hands passed through each other, he said.
"I told you, I'm no spirit I'm just speaking from very far away."
Calian replied humoured.
"Ha, this is a rather impressive means of communicating leader of the alliance?"
"Ah, my apology you highness, I'd like to speak, however the guards seemed to be rather contempt with pointing their spears and whatnot in my direction." Ikage shrugged.
"Stand down; I doubt that this image is here to simply start an impossible fight." Calian ordered.
The templars and knights, guards and mages, dropped their weapons, and simply went back a bit, Calian addressed the figure.
"I am King Calian of Ferelden, greetings to you." He said.
"I am honoured to meet with you your highness, please address me as Major Ikage, I am the leader of the United Colonial Alliance Forces, I am temporarily the supreme commander of my forces." He introduced.
"The honour is mine Major; I think that your power and technology from these rumours flying around are very true." He replied.
"Thank you, though I think we can avoid the formalities for now, I am just a soldier of my people, not an ambassador, I think you'd like to know why I have decided for this method of communication." He asked.
"Yes."
"This was to save time and reduce possible issues with departing when my crew needs me; I will come to meet with you, well not as face to face as this, but in person someday. As of now I think that you would like an introduction to who my people are." He said.
"That would be appropriate." He said.
"Very well, I think you should take a seat and listen and watch, this will be a very entertaining event, and I believe that your people will rather be interested in what the UCAF has to offer, in the sense of being our neighbours."
Calian and most of the others present went about taking a seat or simply finding a spot not to stand up for too long. The guards kept at their posts, and the commander and knight captain were rather happy to avoid being scrutinized for bringing the object into the castle.
(I really think that going through this would be rather annoying, but necessary.)
Ikage began; it was going to be a long recount of what had happened.
An image changed from Ikage to a map of the cosmos, it spanned the room, and awed the group of people, they could see the heavens from all directions, and it looked amazing. They couldn't believe that this was the heavens from which the maker created.
"My people originated from our world over 100,000 years ago, on our world of earth, it was located far away from your own, in the sol system. Here we began a nomadic race of people who knew nothing more than journey and ignorance, but this was a fact of our creation back then. We journeyed through the lands for millennia changing and evolving."
Time sped up, land formations altered, it was as if they were looking at the seasons in fast forwards, it awed them to see what another world was like. Their own world would look like this, sometime in the future and past.
"My people began to change, and soon we reached the age of mysticism and religion, we had become an empire so soon, the Chinese empire formed in 36,500 years at that age, and mankind on the end of their nomadism. The empires began to form, the Egyptians and their empire and the early European empires, thousands of years continued to pass, changes came quickly, empires came and fell, and the people lived as they did, religion had run rife though, bringing war from edges of other empires setting man against one another."
Calian asked.
"Were there no other races?"
"No, not at this point, we were simply one people, and as one we seemed to believe that we were always right, but in truth we were wrong to seek violence from some simple beliefs." He answered.
Images changed; soon they reached the age of what looked like machines.
"The age of steel and steam came, their changes shifted the human race to seek for advance, there was ever greater violence, the invention of gunpowder and cannons soon came to be, mankind found that there was a revolution in our way of war."
They arrived in the battles of 1914, the First World War.
"And soon, our revolution took its toll, ages of man had changed so greatly, the first global war took place, no longer was there any sense of peace, but utter war. Air, land and sea, we had begun to use all our resources to fight wars, the enemy was anyone and everyone, this tragedy came as we soon learnt of aerial weapons of war and poison gas. Eventually it ended, the war killed millions, but it wasn't enough."
"Man's ignorance brought to power even more conflict, with the Second World War and eventually the cold war and the Vietnam War, this was the age of war, and endless and continuous stretch of conflict which killed millions upon millions and all within just one century." He said.
The King seemed horrified as well as much of the other people present, this war had kill much more people than the entire 4 blights in the past, and this could probably be more than anything than that of the whole history of all of Ferelden. This revelation seemed to have a deeper impact on the king, if this was real war, he'd hate to face it.
"It eventually ended, and man reached the early ages of peace, but it was never to last, even as the new millennium came to, we were haunted by our ghosts and our races pasts. But when we reached a point where we couldn't sustain our world, it began a new conflict; the war of unity took place at the age of our departure from our homeworld. The rainforest wars ended, with mankind finally uniting and leaving earth."
The images showed human expansion since their departure, the lines arced into hundreds and thousands of lines.
"When we left our world we began to search the heavens for worlds in which we could live out our lives, my people were sent across space by an accident from the main fleet, we became the first fleet when we arrived in the region called Nova Stratus, and from there we expanded our colonies. The UNSC continued as their own, they colonised closer to Earth."
The images showed of the people, how much changed.
"When we colonised the first 7 worlds we began to realise that others like us were growing in difference and beliefs inevitably conflicted, such as the colonial wars of 2400s, the conflict simply over the empires that were formed in our isolation, it ended with the formation of the UCAF. When the war ended we stayed to ourselves, but it wasn't always going to be as peaceful, in 120 years conflict arose once more, but this time it wasn't internal."
The image changed once more, this time a world that was covered in beautiful plains and grass.
"This was Haven's Gate; it was a farming colony that served as a marker for our people to expand from. However it dropped from our sight as something terrible happened…"
The image changed, the world was no longer beautiful, it was burnt and smoke and ash came from all corners of the image.
"The colony was decimated by an unknown enemy, our once beautiful world was destroyed, and the entire population was either dead or under siege. And our enemies…"
A holographic representation of an elite appeared, it towered over the Major by nearly a full head, and it was terrifying and was even more terrifying as the images of the battle of Haven appeared.
"The covenant, a homogeny of races in a religious covenant to expand their power and grasp of the heavens, they believed that the human race was an affront to their gods and began to attack humanity and its colonies for their zealous beliefs, and man was soon at war with an enemy vastly superior technology."
Another battle, this one in space appeared, it was a constant exchange of light and explosions.
"The UCAF fought a desperate war for nearly 30 years, we were hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered, our enemies bent on our destruction, but man refused to die, and thus brought us into the war."
The images of the Spartans came through, an image of hundreds of children gathered in military lines.
"This was our birth, I am no normal human, I was with them, my brothers, the Spartans, we were a warrior race, or should I say super human, we exceeded human capabilities, our strength and physical power was unmatched, we had the ability of rapid training and planning. When we were prepared we became active, our numbers decimated the covenant, and we were seen as demons in their eyes, for our inability to die."
Calian was rather shocked to see that these children were what the Major was once.
"You actually accepted to become such weapons?"
"It wasn't our choice; we were kidnapped, and then sent into places where we became absolutely loyal, the indoctrination of our minds we accepted, we believed that what was done was right." He replied.
"And you hold no grudge against those who did this to you?" He asked.
"No, none of us cared after we were taken, I was raised as a soldier on my world and thus I was actually created prior to being selected. My fellow Spartans were from other places where we were either kidnapped or pre-trained, so we had little conflictions inside our ranks." He explained.
"Still it seems so unbelievable that an unstoppable army could be forged from such children." He said.
"Oh, well here's an example, I'd like you to meet my subordinate Spartan officials, and they were with the knights well since they left the camp. Ai and Jon, they are my scouts."
The area suddenly shimmered as two large figures appeared, both armoured, they stood with a posture of steel; they looked about like nothing happened.
"How did they?"
"Ah yes, that is the might of our technology, we can transport ourselves over vast distances and even conceal ourselves in plain sight, we cannot be detected by your mages as such." He said.
"Oh, is this as a warning or a more demonstrative piece?" He asked.
"It's both, I'd like to think that my troops as both an example and warning when facing some rather uncertain or simple things. Don't worry your majesty they're busy, depart." He ordered.
The guards didn't move from their locations, it happened in moments and they simply looked about, they knew that they'd get a chance to search the area later, and it would cause a scene. The alliance commander continued.
"To the min point, Spartans function as covert special operation soldiers, we're tasked with the highest and deadliest missions known to man and we can do them without fault." He explained.
"That does sound rather impressive."
The holo-projection went back to the covenant.
"The covenant didn't really think as much though, they fought us for the next 3 decades, killing countless billions and destroying whole planets, however we ended up deadlocking them into a war of attrition as they lost momentum, our technology soon catching up with them, and their own past."
The image was to the covenant civil war.
"The religious system of the covenant began to schism due to internal conflict caused by a great revelation within their own beliefs, they thought their ancient gods were once dead, but in fact wasn't, a world isolated from our colonies had a unique individual hiding in the shadows. This being was called the inheritor, a child of the forerunners. He possessed all their knowledge and their power, he was an entity of godlike proportions, and his existence confronted the covenant, they soon learnt that they had done a terrible thing. Man was created by their gods as their chosen reclaimers, and thus they had committed genocide on their own gods, or at least the children of their gods."
The people weren't exactly to sure suddenly.
"Was this entire covenant so blind to have never notice?"
"Well that's why religion in our eyes doesn't work to well, usurpers in the covenant knew of humanity and hid the truth and deemed mankind an affront in order to stay in power and hide all knowledge of such things. By fault or otherwise, the prophets of their race revealed the truth, at least 1 did, and the others fled, while the prophet of Amity tried to rebuild support with mankind, the covenant schism tore itself to pieces and the covenant became nothing more."
The images of the covenant civil insurrection to the covenant internal war went through so quickly, but it was fact nothing was actually perfect in the real world. Even religions had flaws.
"So are you saying that you as the humans outside of Ferelden are children of gods?"
"Not really, we aren't anywhere close to the forerunners, their technological and power well beyond exceed anything we have yet to accomplish, as far as we are on their ladder, we're progressive, though they did gift us with their advents."
"Advents?"
An image of a child who wore rather different clothes and had a glowing body appeared.
"Advents are powerful psychic entities, their powers were equal to that of the forerunners themselves, and they are able to do amazing things, I can't go over those kinds of details, their considered more of a private importance to them rather than to humanity to which all respect."
"Ah I see. Then I guess this concludes our rather long interesting introduction?" He said with a small smile.
"Yes, that should cover all things that I wished to tell you." Ikage said.
The people got back up, rather impressed, and going on about what they had seen, and oddly the room seemed to fill a bit more than what was previously seen.
"I will be visiting in a month from now, and I have my representatives who are doing some minor errands for me in the city right now as we speak, though they'd like to be left along, your majesty."
"I shall see that they are not disturbed from their duties." He replied.
"Thank you, I think that this was a learning experience for you and your people, and I do hope we meet face to face, I'd like to advise you and your people on some rules about approaching the lake to where my camp is and what my people do." He said.
"What might these rules be?" Calian asked.
"First is that the Chantry restrict themselves from sending any military presence unless they are simple escorts, no large military presence in required, I have over 3600 armed marines in the forest as it is. And I'd like you to send people who have reasons to be there, the Dalish are rather sensitive on the fact that humans have committed a long history of conflicts without just means upon them, and by default using religion as an excuse for war is not tolerated by us, trust me, the covenant were worse for trying to commit genocide in the name of their gods, and we pummelled them, you would not want us as your enemy." He advised.
A large amount of shouting from some of the more religious members brought it out at the Spartan.
"That is enough, the Major has voice in this meeting whether or not he is actually here, and from what I see he has every right to call for these rules when in his presence." Calian announced.
The crowd hushed and simply watched.
"That would be all, though if you would like, a slightly more detailed historical overview can be discussed when I arrive in a month or your scholars when they arrive can have a copy from us, and that concludes all I have to say."
"Very well then, I bid you farewell, until we meet face to face Major Ikage." He gave a curt bow.
"Likewise you Majesty." He returned the gesture and vanished.
The image faded out and he was soon looking at a small box sitting on the floor of the hall.
"Well, that was certainly new." Anora said.
"Indeed that it was." Loghain added.
"Guards, move the box over to a secure room, rather keep it safe, I doubt the Major would be so happy to suddenly try and grant us another." He ordered.
The guards gingerly picked it up and moved it, Loghain asked.
"So, who shall we send to see the Spartan and his people?"
"Anyone we deem worthy Loghain, the Spartans are humans and they have rules and edict in place I their lands now, I see why not to give them the Brecilian Forests to someone for a change, though it has always been for those willing to risk the wilds." He said.
A number of people were going on discussing the event, surely all of Thedas was to hear about the Spartans and their arrival, this was to become a very important event in all of their history. Instead of the invaders from the north, they had people from the heavens arrive to meet them; travellers from all over the world would be humbled to meet with them.
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"So, how do you think it went?" Celia asked.
"Better than expected, I think that the people are going to be up and about now, and at least we'll have a road prepared, calling in the technical teams, they have some dozers and pavers ready. And call in for some teams to go in search of granite and limestone, we'll be getting the lake prepared in the future, I have no doubt that the marines would rather be doing something." He said.
"Yes sir, calling in everyone who's not lazing on their arses, which is everyone to stations."
The whole base became active that morning, they were going to go do what they did in their free time, build something, and maybe being trying to get decent plumbing in. Colonel Douglas was going over his plans for a beer hall where they could have proper drinks, and Sonja planned for a school, she always liked the idea of teaching.
The Dalish simply helped with the minor things, they rather watch what happened, which was amazing, as they were watching massive machines digging up dirt and moving it faster than 100 men could or the aerial machines going overhead with slabs of limestone from a quarry made from explosives.
Lyna and her hunting party felt as though things were going to become hectic in the next few weeks.
XXXXX
Icarus and Luc jumped down from the side of the high cliff facing the castle of Redcliffe, it was an impressive sight, not as impressive of the UCAF high point tower, but nonetheless impressive, they headed on down, past to a tavern. They learnt that going to the taverns were usually the best place to learn of any local news in the area, and probably the best way to get minor jobs in simple tasks.
They entered in, a few dozen people were there, and they paused to look at the 2 massive people in armour and cloaks. They walked on to the front counter, people tried to act as though nothing was happening, but the eyes of some seemed to suggest that they were uncertain.
"What can I get you boys?" A man in a dirty looking apron and slightly rounder bust asked.
"We're just in for a drink sir." Luc said.
"Yeah, but what kind of a drink?" He asked.
"The two of the strongest things you have in the bar, just two cups for both of us." Icarus ordered.
"Very well…" The man went over the bottles and got a couple of cups.
"The finest ale and beer in the area, can't say that they're the best, the next supply doesn't come until next month." He said.
Once setting down they began to drink, he asked.
"You going to pay or stand about?"
"Sorry, here." Luc placed a small 100gram nugget of gold.
"Whoa there…" The bartender said.
The customers eyed the two as though they were something new.
"Our change?" Luc asked.
The man went through and gave them some gold pieces with silver.
"The next one's on the house when you come through again." He said.
They shrugged and took their seats, the large cups just barely fitting their hands, they weren't sure but, this place went about to normal rather quickly. When they took their seats, the other patrons looked at them with definite interest. Luc could hear them all.
"Are they quanari?"
"No, they can't be, even quanari aren't that big, and they don't have horns." One person said.
"They're loaded; you think we can take them?" One thug asked.
"No way, they're deadly, if they're that big, I doubt that they're anything short of hard to kill."
"I'd like to get my hands on that gold."
"Then try it, heck try to get me one piece."
He could tell that someone was taking their chance, his motion sensors had sonic pointers, he could tell where and how close a person was, he'd catch them easy.
"So, what now?" Luc asked Icarus over their coms.
"We wait soldier, we're trying to make everything look normal, just don't break the kid's hand." He joked.
As soon as the motion pulse caught the jab… a loud "CRACK" resounded.
"AHHH!" A man screamed grabbing his arm as the Spartan held in in his armoured hand.
"You should watch yourself boy, you might lose your hand the next time you do that." The Spartan said.
"Right, right I got it…" The attempted pickpocket said.
He let go, the young man reeling out of the barn at high speeds. The patrons watched in quiet fascination and the sheer ability to crush someone's hand with a single move. The Spartans went back to their drinks.
"I thought I said not to crush his hand?"
"Huh, must have slipped my mind."
XXXXX
Kocari wilds
Tai nailed another bandit through the top of the head with a single round, the person dropped dead, the encampment that he had found was no silent. All of the bandits were dead. He went about to search their corpses and then take all that was of value before leaving. He had been hunting this particular group for over 3 days, and it had yielded three very interesting caches of value.
He had gone past Lothering over 4 days back and had found on the Chanters board a rather interesting request, the Chantry in Lothering had been robbed of an item of significance and had asked anyone to search for its location and exact revenge upon the bandits who had committed the crime.
Tai took up the job and simply went over to get it done, he was not heading back. His presence in the small town was interesting, people thought he was something called a quanari and he had no idea what it meant, but he simply went on and about with his work. He hurried over to the valley and back to Ostagar, he had set up a minor hold out inside of a hollowed out structure and used it as his searching ground.
So far he had found little things of great interest either than the crevices and tunnels that stretch out for miles around the area. He went back into the area and back to his little hideout, he took markings of all the bandits and prepared them, the next stop from here was his trek back to Lothering.
Unknown to him, a pair of yellow eyes set upon him, her wonders of what such a person was going in the forests, he was strong and deadly, and possibly not very simple to trick, he seemed lethal to a great extent.
But either way, he was more than what she saw in a person…
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(Ha, well at least we have an idea of what's to come, hope you guys enjoy, this was more or less filler and more to building up to what's to come.)
Please review and no flames.
