"Ah, here we are. There are two separate baths here, you may disrobe in there, I do believe that the water has already been heated for your comfort." said Lindir smiling "But Aragorn is already familiar with them." he then turned around to face them to notice the slight blush on Aragorn's face, he was confused "Is everything all right, Dunadan?"
Aragorn opened his mouth to speak but the warrior beat him to it "Well..."
"Oh! My word!" Lindir felt slightly embarrassed "Forgive me." he then disappeared behind a few curtains only to reappear with two elf maidens at his side "They will tend to your needs, my lady." he tried to smile to the person who was identified by her voice as a woman, but her size and armor made that impossible.
"My what? Oh! That's all right, I'm fine."
"But surely you would enjoy a warm bath, and heavy armor like that, I would imagine could prove to be difficult to manage by oneself." Lindir went on, the two elf girls smiled politely.
"Oh, it's not that, I would love a bath right now..."
"However?"
"I can't remove my armor."
"I assure you, my lady, you won't be bothered then, if you wish to tend to your armor by yourself then-"
"No, what I mean is that it's not that I don't want to remove it, it's that I physically can't. It's locked onto my combat skin."
"I beg your pardon?" Said Lindir, the two elven girls behind Lindir looked at the warrior with wide-eyes filled with worry and sympathy.
"This." and the warrior pointed to the green and black amazing thick fabric that covered the entirety of her body, the plates were on top of that.
Aragorn's brows furrowed "You never spoke of this before."
"I'm sorry, Aragorn. The armor that I wear, it's very special, special to all who wear it. It's like the clothes you wear, to me, it's like a second skin, I feel naked without it."
Both man and elf slightly blushed at the word, the maidens were practically red as apples. Highly modest society, Sophia mentally noted.
"Why would anyone make such armor?" Lindir asked.
"It was made this way to protect me and the armor itself" she said while moving her arms about, flexing her arms slightly, rotating her shoulders, she looked at her hands before clenching them into fists "Its design is highly intricate and complex, its secrets are guarded and very few know them, a single set of armor such as this is worth more than half an army." the warrior explained, Aragorn's and Lindir's expressions were very serious "Rela- be at ease gentlemen, my armor doesn't only protect me, it can heal me and even keep me clean." Their eyes widened.
"I have never heard of such enchantments on armor before." said Lindir.
"Neither have I." said Aragorn.
The warrior just chuckled "It's not an enchantment. It's... it's just how they are made. Which would be a bit hard for me to explain, but if you want to hear it?"
"I do believe it would be wisest if you didn't repeat yourself countless times, as I'm sure many besides Aragorn and myself, like Lord Elrond and other elves would like to hear it."
"I know the hobbits would." smiled Aragorn, the maidens giggled.
After thinking about it for a moment, the warrior nodded her agreement.
"It is settled then." said the Ranger "We will talk at dinner." with that he nodded and headed for the baths.
Lindir then smiled, the two lovely elven maidens at his side did the same.
The warrior then turned her head toward the two girls "May I ask, what are your names?"
After a moment the taller, raven haired one spoke softly and hesitantly "I am called Nimrodel, my lady." and she bowed her head "This is my younger sister, Nimuwe." the shy one with dark brown hair bowed her head as well.
"They are my wondrous daughters, my lady." Lindir said with clear pride in his voice, he looked lovingly at his two daughters, the girls beamed with joy at the compliment.
"Would it be all right if I wandered around for a while before dinner? I would very much like to explore this place." said Sophia as she looked from here to there.
"But of course, my lady. Would you like an escort?"
The warrior just turned directly towards Lindir and cocked her head to the side. Lindir smiled "My apologies, my lady." he then nodded and left with his daughters.
As Sophia watched them go she lightly chuckled to herself before walking off. She exited the building and decided to venture around Rivendell's perimeter, check for weaknesses, unguarded areas or areas of easy access to outsiders.
"Guess I'll start with the gardens." she said to no one in particular as she walked over a stone causeway to a separate part of Rivendell, separated by an entire river apparently. A beautiful building in the shape of a quarter circle, it had its own tower. There were a few lights in the windows now, the Sun started to slowly fade behind the tall mountains, sunset was close. Every cobbled road was filled with small stone benches and crafted lamp posts, the glass in the shape of flowers and leaves. Everywhere she went, the elves gave her a slight berth and court bows, she tried to be polite and returned the gesture, it went a long way with politeness nuts like the elves.
By nightfall Sophia managed to circle the entirety of Imladris, as the elves called it, she found no weak spots. Whoever built this place found a perfect balance between homely and fortress. That of course if you didn't have some of the weapons Sophia's people possessed.
Elrond looked on from his window with curiosity. "Interesting." he noted.
"She is looking for weaknesses and avenues of escape during an attack." noted Glorfindel.
"We should include such tactics in basic combat training for young elves." said Lord Elrond as he moved to his desk.
"I agree, we could learn much from her knowledge and her people's ways. Not just combat, imagine, old friend, a people such as hers, their philosophy, art. If they can create such powerful soldiers for war, imagine what they can create in peace."
Along her way she crossed paths with Merry and Pippin, unsurprisingly, both were in the process of eating. They informed her that Sam was at Frodo's side, went straight there after their baths. Admittedly they did too, but their legendary hunger got the better of them, someone called Gandalf especially insisted they leave when Pippin's stomach was starting to become too loud. Sophia laughed happily with the two hobbits as they sat in the grass, Merry and Pippin leaning back against a tall tree, while Sophia left a small indentation in the ground.
"So he says to me 'I'm getting one!', I tell you, Sophia. Pippin is a drunkard!"
"I am not!" the other hobbit declared defiantly.
"You two sure have a lot of stories that end with ales, though. Might be a pattern." Sophia chuckled under her helmet "Which reminds me, I saw an old hobbit in the gardens today. Do you know who he is?"
"Aye, that's Bilbo, Frodo's cousin."
"Cousin?"
"Aye. Don't get me started on the Baggins family tree or we'll be sitting here until elves grow old."
They all laughed, when Merry's eyes went to an approaching figure behind Sophia. It was Lindir.
He bowed respectfully "Good evening, my lady, master hobbits, Lord Elrond has requested your presence in the main dining hall."
"Lead the way." said Sophia as they all got up.
As they approached they could hear soft music being played, even from a distance the light that was coming from the hall could be seen, like a shining beacon calling them home.
When they reached the doors, Sophia could hear hushed chatter inside, two guards opened the doors, revealing a grand hall with a large oval table in the middle. It was set for dinner, candles, plates and cutlery. Fine wooden chairs, 14 in number, one at each end and six on each side.
The moment they entered the chatter stopped. Those already present were apparently waiting for their arrival. Sam looked up from his plate and waved at his friends, he could barely contain his joy. The hobbits were quick to join their friend, they were the only ones sitting and enjoying some fruit, not feeling any need to act in any regal manner and no one blamed them for it, their carefree attitude eased a lot of ruffled feathers and strange tension in the room between those present.
Lord Elrond stood to one side with Glorfindel, another dark haired elf and the old, grey haired man. Aragorn was talking to the young elven twins, all three smiling. And then there was Arwen politely conversing with two... Sophia wanted to say hobbits, but she wasn't sure, they were taller than hobbits but much shorter than humans, big too, huge beards, one's was snow white, the younger one's brownish red. Sophia could see the resemblance. However she didn't need to know who they were to feel the tension and slight distrust between them and the elves, in fact, the only people they seemed to appreciate in the room besides themselves were the three hobbits who were talking animatedly, enjoying each other's company.
She was brought out of her train of thought when she heard Sam's voice "Oy, come, join us!" that was when all those gathered noticed the giant standing in the doorway. The elves were somewhat accustomed to her, the two newcomers not so much.
"Just what in blazes are you supposed to be? Some kind of grand elvish warrior?" said the younger one.
"Easy, laddie." spoke the older one as he placed a firm hand on the younger one's shoulder.
That was when Lord Elrond stepped forward "Peace, Gimli son of Gloin, she is a friend."
"She?!" said both of them in surprise, even a few of the elves looked slightly surprised at the revelation. "Come, sit with us. There is much to discuss." He then nodded to an elf who stood at a side door, he bowed and left.
As the giant finally moved again from the doorway, she could hear wood slightly crack under her weight, but surprisingly, it didn't give way. Everyone looked at her.
"Sorry, I'm a bit heavy in armor."
Her lovely voice slightly calmed the two short individuals "Then why not take it off? It would be most unpleasant for you to fall through the floor during dinner." said the older one in good humor.
Then the side doors opened and elves started coming in with trays of wonderfully smelling dishes, Sophia heard a whispered "Oh my..." coming from Pippin. Elrond and his gathered guests took their seats, he sat at the head of the table, at his left sat the dark haired elf, next to him sat Glorfindel, then the elven twins, then Arwen and Sam, on his right side sat the old man, Aragorn, the two strange and short men, then Merry and Pippin. The seat at the other end of the table was apparently for her.
"Uhm, I don't think that's going to hold me." she said.
Then Elrond nodded to Lindir and he quickly vanished "He will bring you something far stronger."
"Thank you, Lord Elrond." Sophia said while taking a small bow, When in Rome... she thought to herself.
"Please forgive my rudeness." the old man suddenly spoke up then turned directly towards the warrior "I have been so worried about Frodo that I even forgot the most basic of courtesies, to introduce myself, my lady." he then rose to his full height "I..." he began with a serious tone "...am Gandalf the Grey." and finished with a slightly mischievous and mysterious smile. "I was the one who asked the hobbits and my friend, Strider here, to undertake this perilous journey. Were it not for your charity, I fear the worst might have befallen my dear friends. I am forever in your debt, my lady." he then bowed his head slowly "I must say, I have inquired as to your nature, but present company have been surprisingly unforthcoming. I believe you have gained their respect and trust, for they did not even tell me your name, leading me to believe that even that, is very important to you." he then stepped away from his seat and slowly paced around the table towards the warrior, with his hands clasped behind his back "However, I am afraid the time has come for answers. Lord Elrond has shown you great leeway as to allow you into his home and know nothing of you beyond your name."
"I agree." said Glorfindel from his seat "Elves are curious by nature." he then smiled.
"And so are the dwarves!" spoke up the younger... dwarf. Finally, a name for their race, the warrior thought. But the dwarf's statement wasn't as much as a statement about them, more like a challenge, something akin to competition with the elves.
"Forgive him." spoke the older dwarf laughing "He is a passionate one, got it from his mother he did." he then stood up "I am Gloin, son of Groin. This young laddie is my son, Gimli."
"I am Lord Erestor, advisor to Lord Elrond." spoke the dark haired elf as he rose to his feet.
"These are my sons, Elladan and Elrohir." spoke Elrond, the two young elves stood, smiled and bowed their heads "I believe you have already met my daughter, Arwen." she also bowed her head. Elves were very respectful of others.
"I think it would be appropriate if you introduced yourself as well, warrior." spoke Gandalf as he folded his arms across his chest, looking on expectantly.
Strider smiled as the three hobbits sat and whispered silently to one another, then all three looked at the warrior with big smiles on their faces, the Ranger apparently heard what they have said. She knew what they were waiting for.
Sophia slowly raised her hands to her helmet, grabbed it, a slight twist to the right, a small hiss of air and she raised it off her head. The elves kept their composure a little better than the dwarves, humans and hobbits, she was beautiful, stunning to them, even to the dwarves, they didn't mind the lack of facial hair one bit, but what really had them confused was how such a lovely young girl could become a warrior, such a tall and powerful warrior.
Elrond, one of the oldest and most wisest of all elves was curious more than anything about who she was, what she was, where she came from, so was Glorfindel, Erestor and Gandalf. Elladan and Elrohir still being young and unwed were very surprised to find such a lovely, albeit human girl under all that armor. However, her size, more than anything else had them at a loss for words, they all knew that men, human or elven could grow tall, sometimes very tall, and very few might have even reached her in height, but for a woman to grow so tall, completely unheard of.
She wasn't really used to an audience "Hello." she said as she placed her helmet under her left arm and straightened out her posture "I am Staff Sergeant Sophia Flowers of the UNSC's Spartan branch."
The expressions of confusion that followed were quickly replaced by the spark of curiosity in the eyes of all gathered.
"What's a UNSC?" Pippin asked.
"Spartan?" asked Merry.
"The letters on your helmet." said Strider in realization and everyone glanced to it.
"Indeed." she then turned to Pip "The UNSC is the name of... the military arm of my kingdom, except it's not a kingdom, it's a... ruling body, and Spartan? That's what I am, a Spartan."
"What is a Spartan?" asked Glorfindel.
"There's an ancient legend that tells the story of a great kingdom, called Sparta. For all accounts and purposes, Sparta was a small kingdom, content and happy people, they didn't have conquest or domination on their minds, even though, they had the best soldiers in all the realms. Trained from childhood, to feel no pain, fear no enemy and if need be, give their lives for their kingdom. During a point in their history, east of their lands, a great king, Xerxes decided that he wanted to rule Sparta and all the lands and neighboring kingdoms, they all fell to his mighty and numerous army one by one, but Sparta resisted. Leonidas, the king of Sparta was informed that Xerxes and his army was drawing close, but the Spartan army was far away, they could not reach their home in time to defend it, all it had were 300 warriors, royal guards of the king. So the king, asked his royal guard to ride out with him against the enemy, to trap them in a small mountain pass, where their great numbers didn't matter. And so they did, they knew well that only death waited for them, but if they could stay the invasion a few days then that would buy the armies of Sparta enough time to prepare. For three long days, Leonidas and his royal guard made the armies of Xerxes suffer, by the third day the Spartans were fighting on top of mountains of the bodies of their enemies, but, sooner or later, one by one, they started falling, the enemy was great and unrelenting. In the end, they would have held the passage if they would not have been betrayed by one of their own. Regardless, Leonidas kept his promise, and when he and his last royal guard fell, Xerxes, overconfident in his victory poured his armies through the passage to Sparta, hundreds of thousands of soldiers. However, Xerxes forgot that only 300 Spartans in only three days have slaughtered tens of thousands of his soldiers. Now, he faced over 16.000 Spartans. I along with my brothers and sisters are named in their memory and honor."
"An amazing legend, my lady. Your people chose your name well it would seem." said Elrond's daugher, her brothers nodded in agreement.
"That only leaves the question. Why are you the way you are?" asked Gandalf.
"Spartans are... special. We are different, not completely human, not anymore. We we trained to be the best, yes, but we were also altered, changed."
"Changed in what manner, my lady? asked Elladan.
Sophia bit her lip "I don't think you're going to like the answer." she said, hoping they'd leave it be.
"What could be so horrid?" asked Elrohir.
Aragorn was very curious, being the only one besides the hobbits who has seen her fight, how she dealt with the Nazgul, it was amazing, and to now learn how she was able to do all those things. "We are sure, Sophia, please."
"I... honestly don't remember half of the things our scien- scholars and healers did to me, my bones, they were given a material which my bones absorbed, making them almost indestructible-"
"Pardon?" Gandalf said wide-eyed.
Sophia just laughed "You could drop a boulder on my arm and it would not break."
"Fascinating." spoke Erestor.
"My muscles were coated with a special element that made them incredibly strong and resistant to fatigue. That's why I'm so tall."
"They can actually make you taller?" asked an envious Merry.
Gandalf and Aragorn laughed "Hobbits..."
"What else did they change in you?" asked the ever perceptive Lord Elrond.
"Well, they placed special objects inside my eyes that make them incredibly good-
"Inside your eyes?" Pippin looked a bit green.
Sophia winked at him "It also allows me to see in the dark. They weaved a special fabric into my heart that allows it to pump enough blood fast enough through my body to keep me alive and work hard enough that can help me sprint for days without the need to rest."
"Then it is no surprise that you wished to accompany me and Frodo." said Arwen.
"I haven't competed against a horse yet, maybe one day."
"Is this the reason why you don't need to eat that much?" asked Sam as he stuffed himself.
"Yes, Sam. My stomach was also changed so that my body uses up the food that I eat much more efficiently so I don't have to eat, only maybe once every 4-5 days, and a dozen other changes to my organs to help me be the best warrior that I can be."
"Incredible." said Sam.
For the first time, Lindir let himself be heard. He was too curious to pass this opportunity up "And your armor?
Sophia grinned "My strength, speed, resistance, agility, all my senses, they are greatly increased by my armor. The metal it's made out of is incredibly strong and light."
"What makes it so special?" asked Gimli, son of Gloin a bit jealous.
"It is powered by the same thing that gives the stars, the Sun their power."
And the tea spewed gloriously out of Gloin's mouth "By Thorin's beard!"
"And how many of you are there?" asked Glorfindel.
Sophia only smiled "300."
Gimli's eyes bulged "Aye! 300 of such fine and mighty warriors! We could shake mountains!" Gimli yelled in pure joy of the thought of such powerful warriors at his side in glorious battle against the evils of this world.
"However, the most pertinent question remains yet to be answered. Why did your people change you and so many others?" asked the Lord of Rivendell.
"Same as ever." she said with pure hatred in her voice, and then in unison with Aragorn "War."
"What kind of war... would have the need for such powerful warriors?" Arwen asked in shock, Elrohir placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
After a moment of silence and weighing the benefits and losses of what she could reveal... "It doesn't really matter what I tell them, they probably won't understand 90% of what I say, even if I use terms they DO understand, and besides, this information will never leave this world... neither will I by the looks of it..." Sophia let out a deep and long sigh, those present could feel the sadness within it.
"First of all, you need to understand one very important detail: I am... not from around here, around these lands. From Middle-earth as you call it. Strider asked me if I was from beyond the Great Wastes or the Red Mountains." they all looked on with curiosity, eager to hear more. A stranger from beyond those lands? It didn't seem possible. "The answer is no, I'm not from those places, or beyond them either. I-" then she took a deep breath through her nose and bowed her head, releasing a long sigh "My people travel in the great dark beyond you call the Void, we sail in it like you would on oceans."
"WHAT? You lie!" shouted Gimli "That is not possible!"
"We learned how to do it, figured it out, it was difficult in the first century of our ventures into the Void, but my people are a persistent one, our curiosity is endless. We always want to... need to know what's beyond that next star, what we'll find there, we don't know how to stop our thirst for knowledge. It's insatiable." Sophia only smiled "The history of my people is mired with war, it is in our blood, it has become an instinct, innate in our nature. For as long as our history has been recorded and two people have lived on our homeworld, the world we appeared on as a species, we have been at each other's throats. Throughout the centuries we have reigned unspeakable evils upon one another for reasons no greater than greed or a hunger for conquest, or simply because one group of people didn't believe in the same god as yours did." Sophia chuckled "Roughly five centuries ago, my people discovered the greatest power in the Void, the same power that bonds all life, fuels the stars themselves."
And for a second time that evening Gloin had trouble keeping liquid down.
"Our home, it became too crowded, so we expanded, ventured out into the Void on great ships to find new homes, but our innate nature always seemed to find its way back to us and bring war and chaos down on our heads. After two long centuries of exploring our small corner of the Void we finally woke up and realized that peace is the only way our species will ever truly flourish and for three centuries we did just that, we grew as a people, as a civilization and as a... kingdom. At its height, our people were spread out across over 800 worlds-"
Gandalf choked on his pipe weed while Gloin spit up his drink... again. The elves were slightly disturbed, not even Melcor himself was this ambitious, the poor hobbits could barely process the information.
"With over 39 billion citizens."
Gloin had already put his drink down, he learned from his mistake of not drinking when this young lady spoke.
"Is that a lot?" Pippin asked.
"Then the war came, 800 reduced to less than 200, 39 billion reduced to 16 billion."
Aragorn went completely pale and he sunk in his seat, rubbing his face, the elves weren't fairing much better, sensitive to life and death more than any other race in Middle-earth.
"How, how could your people do this to themselves?" asked a tear filled Arwen, Elrohir placed a comforting arm around his sister's shoulder, but she was irreconcilable. They all now looked at Sophia with deep betrayal in their eyes.
Sophia only chuckled, everyone stared at her as if she lost her mind, but it wasn't a chuckle of joy.
"We didn't do that to ourselves. They did."
At that moment everyone visibly relaxed, but if they didn't... then... what unspeakable evil could decimate such a powerful kingdom?
"What was this foul evil?" asked Glorfindel.
The next words she spoke with such poison that the elves felt a chill run down their spine.
"The Covenant. A group of different species allied together, bent on the complete annihilation of my people."
"But for what reason? What reason would demand such evil and madness?" spoke the younger Dwarf.
"Because in their eyes we were an affront to their gods that demanded our destruction, down to the very last child. Of course, it was all a lie, the species that lead the Covenant against us, the Prophets, they discovered that the gods they worshiped, the Forerunners who were thousands and thousands of years ago the guardians of life in the Void, saw the potential in my people to be the next guardians of life, its protectors, the one to take up this... Mantle of responsibility."
"Then wouldn't have it made sense for them to try to be your friends?" Pippin asked innocently.
"No, my dear Pippin, you see, the Prophets loved one thing above their sacred gods, and that was power and keeping that power. If it was discovered that their gods favored us over them, then they would have lost their power. So..."
"To keep it a secret they decided to completely slaughter your people." as the words left Elrond's mouth, the sheer scope of this genocide left all present deeply disturbed, so many emotions at the same time, confusion and disbelief that such evil could exist, anger and hatred for this Covenant, sadness and sympathy for Sophia's people. They all felt like they could scream at the top of their lungs.
"23 billion... billion! By all the stars the heavens grace us with and all the horrors of the past." spoke Glorfindel "This is too much... too painful... how did your people even survive such utter madness?"
"Luck, we simply got lucky, they completely outnumbered us, far more worlds, far more soldiers and ships, superior to us in every way. It was only a stroke of luck and the prowess of a very special Spartan that saved us all in the end, and the fact that when the most powerful and honor bound species of the Covenant found out the truth and the Prophet's lies, they fractured the Covenant, turning their conflict into a civil war. More importantly, the enemy, us, those that they have hated and mercilessly slaughtered for 27 years, just like that, they joined with us. Most of my people were outraged at the prospect, I'll admit, so was I, I hated them, still hate them to some extent to this very day. But I'd gladly join with my enemy if it meant the survival of my people. I'm neither prideful nor stupid."
Glorfindel was the first one to find his composure "I, I don't understand, my lady, if you were fighting in this war, then why did you come to our world? I don't believe for a moment that you would have abandoned your people in their hour of need."
"I didn't, Glorfindel, but that war ended 4 years ago. I was fighting the remnants of the Covenant when all this happened. I don't know how I got here and it wasn't by choice, believe me. I crashed in a tall mountain range north of here, just where it meets the sea, it was still winter so I decided to travel south for warmth and to find food." she then raised her hand to her right upper arm plate and pulled out a small circular device that she placed on the table "How I got here, is another story completely."
"Your people, you spoke of how they learned to sail among the stars and explored much of it, then how come they never found our world?" said Aragorn.
"The Void is vast, Strider, almost infinite. Although, some of the constellations in the night sky are strangely familiar."
Then it dawned on the old man "You think this world could be hidden." said Gandalf.
"Precisely." and with that she tapped something on the small black object and something appeared on the far wall, it was large enough and completely white. Everyone in the room was shocked into silence, all they could do was stare in wonder at what they were seeing. Then suddenly, a painting appeared on the wall.
"What magic is this?" asked Aragorn with slight suspicion.
"It's no magic. It's a... recording, it's... like a memory that I can show others, you can even hear it."
"Your people are indeed great to possess such wondrous things." said Gandalf, he then pointed to the 'painting' "What is that?" What Gandalf was referring to was the blue outline of an eagle with its wings spread high above its head, across its chest were the same four letters they all saw on Sophia's helm, U N S C, under the eagle was a circle, a dark circle, Elrond was the only one who made the deduction, it was a world. Across it was a ribbon and written on it in the common tongue it read UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND. Then the painting vanished.
"That is the crest of my... kingdom's military, exploratory and scholarly branch. What you are about to see are... my memories, my experiences what I... pass into memory with... special eyes and ears inside my helmet." she didn't want to complicate things like explaining what a helmet cam was, this sounded simpler.
"Amazing..." was all Aragorn said.
"Indeed." nodded Gandalf "I must say, I am far more curious and far less shocked than I thought I would be. Strange, is it not?" he said.
"I concur, Mithrandir." said Lord Elrond, all the elves nodded. All of them slightly familiar with the concept, thanks to the Mirror of Galadriel.
Sophia then changed the painting, now instead of the crest it now had a list on it, each with numbers and letters. The top one suddenly changed to a brighter blue color, then it changed back only for the one underneath it to take on the same brighter blue and so it went until the last one took on the brighter hue of blue. It then suddenly flashed green three times and a painting appeared of a massive hall. The angle of it was a bit strange, like someone was looking at a room while their head was on a table. The hall was mostly white and silver in color, it consisted of several levels, dozens if not hundreds of people on each one and, and they were moving! The painting was moving!
"I have to warn you, this... painting... it's not a painting, it's a memory."
Then suddenly, a very tall person, a woman appeared from the right, dressed in VERY strange clothing, it completely stuck to her body, leaving little for the imagination, some of the older elves even turned away slightly, she then faced towards the viewer and approached it, it.. it was Sophia! She leaned towards the viewer, as if inspecting it, she then suddenly spoke "Nice job, Mike. Thanks for finally replacing my visor, that hairline fracture was getting on my nerves. I put in for a new visor weeks ago, weeks! Leave it to Del Rio's lapdogs to screw up a simple supply request."
Then a man, much shorter than Sophia appeared next to her, dressed completely in white, he was holding a piece of glass with writing on it "Yeah, can't wait for the day when that old glory hound retires, I'd much rather have Lasky run this boat."
"Fuckin' OOH-RAH, Mike, fuckin' OOH-RAH."
The man just laughed "Once a Marine, always a Marine, huh?"
"You know me so well." Sophia laughed then suddenly the lighting of this giant hall went from white to red, Pippin even jumped in his seat, everyone else just looked on, fascinated. Then there was a loud male voice that echoed throughout the entire hall.
"This is Commander Lasky! All hands, prep for combat! ETA, five minutes!" the voice then vanished only for a woman to follow him "All Spartans, suit up, I want Castle, Ivy and Kodiak to prep heavy gear and meet me in Bay 05, Pelicans are waiting, ladies! MOVE IT!"
Pippin piped in "Who- who was that?"
"That was Commander Palmer, she's the commanding officer of all Spartans aboard our ship."
"What is your ship named?" asked Elladan.
"The UNSC Infinity." she said with pride. The largest and most powerful ship in our Navy."
The tone of her voice wasn't lost on anyone.
Their attention was brought back to Sophia's 'memory' when she started shouting at the man named Mike.
"Okay, Mike. It's party time! Suit me up!" Sophia then stood on a small metal platform that slowly rose out of the floor, a large white, metal ring rose out also and moved around her, suddenly the entire floor started moving and white, metal arms started slowly rising out, moving around Sophia with green, was that? Yes! That was her armor!
She placed her hands inside her gauntlets that consisted of several pieces that wrapped around her forearm like the petals of a flower, pieces rose out of the floor that attached themselves to her feet, shins, knees and thighs, a few smaller ones to her biceps then more to her stomach and back. Then came the very, VERY interesting moment when the ring lifted her off the ground as two large pieces of armor rose as well, one in the front and one in the back, coming together on her torso and locking together, then the ring straightened out vertically and released her. She. Was. Huge! Ready to take on Sauron himself and win! She then walked towards the painting, actually grabbed it "Here we go again." she said, then moved it about until you could see her feet and the floor, suddenly her arms weren't holding whatever they held anymore, now it looked like she was actually looking at her own hands, from her own eyes! Now they understood what she meant by special eyes and ears inside her helmet.
She then started running towards a massive metal door that opened, slid to a side as she and fellow massive soldiers like her approached it, they entered a room what seemed to be filled with weapons, the kind she had with her. Strange looking weapons, large ones, small ones. Her fellow soldiers really liked them because each took at least 3 or 4. She herself took 3, one, Aragorn recognized as the one she used in Bree and on Weathertop, then she took a long and thin one and finally a very, very strange looking object of exotic design, while other weapons were either dull grey or black and blocky in appearance, this was sleek, silver and a few purple jewels. She grabbed a few green boxes and a few green orbs before following her fellow soldiers to what seemed a very, very small room. The doors closed and they all just stood there, doing nothing, then when the doors opened again, elf, hobbit, dwarf and human alike were shocked to see that it wasn't the great hall they saw earlier, it was a massive chamber that opened up... directly into the Void!
"By the Valar..." Lord Elrond whispered "It is... beautiful. All the stars in all the heavens. And your people journey across them as if one would journey from one village to the next on horseback..."
"Do you want me to stop it?"
The answer was a resounding NO! Even the usually passive looking elves were animated by what they were seeing.
"All right." then the images started moving again.
When the warriors walked out into this chamber, they saw an already gathered group of just such warriors standing around their leader who was standing on some sort of box.
"Ivy, glad you ladies could join us." There was laughter in the background. "Stowe it, Spartans! All right, listen up. A group of Brute Loyalists decided they couldn't sit on their hairy asses for too long without a fight, so they decided to fuck WITH US! Motherfuckers appeared over Nova Liberta 14 hours ago, they destroyed the Paris heavy in orbit before wiping out the Marine garrison, 12.000 strong, gone in a FUCKING FLASH!" she took a moment to calm down "These, these roaches then proceeded and slaughtered the civilian population, they destroyed all 4 cities, Anders, Jericho, New Leon-" there was a heartbroken "No!" that came from one of the female Spartans "and New Paks. As of 0800 this morning, the death toll is over 2 and a half million."
A male Spartan also voiced his anger "I'LL KILL 'EM ALL!"
"Easy, Levy. Now, here comes to good news." and the woman suddenly grew a very menacing smile "We don't have anyone alive left down there, but we have been ordered to retrieve whatever information we can. Order came down from CENTCOM. Take. No. Prisoners. We kill 'em all. Del Rio has authorized full assault, shock and awe, everything we got and then some. No MAC or Nuke strikes, this is OUR world after all. Time to clean house! Mount up!"
They didn't need to understand the meaning of those words to know that they were very heavy curse words. The numbers alone made their minds reel and hearts ache, so many dead in so little time, massacred senselessly. Young or old, man or woman, it didn't matter to these faceless monsters.
Sophia then looked down and started looking over her weapon before running up to what could only be described as a giant metal bird, it was empty inside, she and her fellow soldiers filled up the room inside quickly. There was a jolt and a voice "Here we go! Hold on, boys and girls, ETA 2 minutes!"
Sophia then looked out what could only be called a small window. When they saw that this giant object rose from the floor of the chambers and FLEW out of it, revealing an enormous steel construction in the middle of the Void, it was the stuff of nightmares and the incredible, a ship, an actual ship, built by human hands, the mind could only wonder what wondrous knowledge made it even a possibility, let alone fill it with all the wonders it carries across the stars. Sophia then looked left, and they all saw a massive blue, greenish orb with massive white streaks across it, this object that they were inside was moving directly towards it. As it got closer and closer, it became shockingly clear to all those present, that those white streaks were clouds and the blue patches were in fact lakes and oceans.
"I see it but I do not believe it." Uttered Aragorn in complete awe. Then the giant metal bird they were inside started shaking violently, throwing those inside from wall to wall, the voice from before said "Hang on! We got HEAVY enemy triple A incoming! Hang-" and the painting turned completely black. No movement, no sound.
"And that's the last thing I remember, that is, before I woke up on the side of a mountain. On your world." she then picked up the object from the table and placed back into its compartment "The... thing you saw just now, it's called a Pelican troop transport, or dropship, it acts very much like a... longboat on a ship, meant to ferry people and supplies from the shore to the ship and backwards. I have no idea what happened to it, or those inside, but I found no trace, and I spent 2 months scouring that mountain side. All I found were a few weapons, most of them useless and some food."
After a few moment of deafening silence, leave it up to the hobbits to set things right.
"Uhm, could we see that once more?" asked Pippin, everyone laughed.
"I'll show you some others later." Pippin's grin went from ear to ear. Sophia just shook her head.
Sam looked at the table with a regretful expression "Everything's gone cold."
Gandalf laughed merrily "My dear hobbit."
Sophia noticed that Elladan and Elrohir kept glancing at her way, unsure of what to say.
"If you wish to ask me something, just do so. I won't bite." laughed the warrior as she took a drink of water, apparently Lindir did find a seat that didn't give way under her massive weight. She was ever so grateful.
"My brother and I..."
"We were wondering..."
"Would you care to join us on the training field tomorrow morning?"
"Or maybe even see one of the weapons you still carry with you?"
Elrond spoke to them in elvish, it sounded like a warning, Aragorn just laughed.
"Oh, you mean this?" and Sophia pulled a strange object from behind her back, sleek and silver.
"What is that?" asked Merry, his question prompted the attention of all present.
"Is that a shiny rock you throw at your enemies?" mocked Gimli.
"No." and with a shake the shiny rock turned into a vibrating blue blade. They were transfixed by its beauty "Amazing, isn't it? This is the weapon of our enemy, well, former enemy, this was a gift actually after I saved the life of one." and with another shake the blade vanished, only the hilt remained.
The elven twins were practically jumping at the bits to try it out, although all they did was smile at one another frequently.
"Tomorrow, I fear will be a more than eventful day..." remarked Elrond.