A/N Minor Aliens crossover... Very minor, don't own anything beyond my evolutions and their altered abilities and empire.
These interlude chapters between OVA and Chronicles of the Heroic Knight I dedicate to my wonderful college History teacher Dr. R.F (for privacy sake). Her Through the Middle Ages classes were both a pleasure and inspiration for me to write this story and her advice on medieval life is greatly appreciated. Rest in peace Dr. F, and thank you for everything.
Chapter 11: The Benefactor and home.
The couple quickly left their chambers fully dressed as they went to meet the powerful voice Xapferey recognized as his benefactor. The moment they left, there was a moment of vertigo, and the two were somewhere else.
In front of them stood a large being, 26 feet tall, with digitigrade legs and long arms. Bony hands ended in long sharp claws. The head was elongated and massive with a bony ridge stretching behind it almost like a natural crown. The body was covered in a tough exoskeleton yet seemed capable of making rapid and precise movement. The tail was long and skeletal ending in a large barbed blade. Unlike the predecessors of the creature before it, this one had a pair of gold eyes staring at the two.
"What are you?" Deedlit asked causing both the Dragon and being to smile.
"He is a Cilarista, a great being evolved from a predator race they call Drythons… others called them Xenomorphs and they are much older than many would believe. " The Dragon, now in his true form was both shorter and smaller than the great and powerful Cilarista.
"Indeed young Dragon. I am here to provide the last gifts to you and some more as a wedding present… oh and my belated congratulations."
"Oh? Not that I am complaining, but what would you have helped my husband?" Deedlit asked.
"You've probably never heard of theories of many worlds or alternate dimensions."
"Would this be like planes-walking?" Deedlit asked earning a wide toothy smile from the great being.
"Exactly Deedlit… my interpretation is that in our lives every choice that can be or is ever made is explored in alternate timelines or creates alternate dimensions as they spawn."
"...All right?"
"What he means, is there could have been one where we never met, met in my world, or we born the opposite gender… or born differently altogether and more powerful than I am now."
"Oh?" Xapferey raised his eye ridges at the Cilarista in emphasis. "Oh…" Deedlit trailed off. "He's you?"
"What I could have been under different circumstances."
"He's right my dear, it's why I've been helping him with gifts and the occasional bit of advice, speeding up his acquisition of magic and alterations until he is what he is now. But to clarify I am Xapferey Alecnor Sharnoras… and this home and the contents within are my gift to you. You'll find conveniences modern, medieval and futuristic for your aid and enjoyment; trust me you will need them. As for the futuristic things…from your perspective mind, they are not that advanced to me."
"Anything short of a dronic particle reactor is primitive to you Cilarista. But thank you for everything and good luck."
"And you young ones… be well."
The great Cilarista god vanished, and with him the magic hiding their new home. The two stopped in shock at the massive manor. The front gates swung open to the outer courtyard where an image of a woman in dark robes appeared. Her eyes were a glowing purple and her skin pale. Her dark hair went down to her mid back.
"Welcome my lord and lady to your home. I am Malika Shadowshifter; your AI caretaker, protector, and general advisor."
"What?" Deedlit asked.
"She's in essence a technological spirit attached to the home and can manifest where she pleases as long as special devices are in place correct?"
"Perfectly correct milord. I maintain the defenses; monitor the wards and the home itself. I am also your guide to the home until you learn all aspects of it yourselves. If you would follow me please, I will guide you through the home."
Malika let the two through the high walled and thick gated courtyards. Both were grassy with a small paved road to the greeting hall, which doubled as a throne room for the royals. The gates were modern sliding gates that slid into the walls as they opened and shut. As the trio walked through the greeting hall, Malika demonstrated the various hidden weapons around the home. The defenses consisted of automated sentries of many sorts and calibers, force field emitters and magical wards that now acknowledged Xapferey as their master including the knowledge of how to maintain, update and repair the magical defenses.
"Even at their thinnest, the walls of your home are four feet thick of solid enduriniam. The likelihood of any piercing such material with any conventional methods on Lodoss is unlikely at best milord."
"How tough is it?" Deedlit asked Malkia.
"50 times more resilient than steel of a similar amount." (1)
"Oh…" Deedlit trailed off, that was much stronger than any material known to Lodoss.
"There are other materials out there that are far stronger my love… Enduriniam is normally extremely rare to the point of near non-existent but for a race as powerful as that of my greater self, it's as common as the air we breathe."
"Well said milord," Malika agreed. "Continuing onwards we do have several guest rooms for important visitors and they also include antechambers with attached servants quarters as required. There is a conservatory with a sunroof just in front of the main guest rooms. Have no fears, the sunroof is made of a transparent version of enduriniam."
Malika then lead them through the western parts of the home and showed them the rooms she had described. There were four major guest rooms total, empty for the moment. A decent hospital and small church were just to the south and west of the conservatory.
To the south of the guest rooms were sizable barracks with stairs to the walkways over the greeting halls and the two courtyards. The barracks stretched several floors both above and below ground with enough room for a garrison of 7500 troops. There was also a sizable smithy in the troop complex as well as an armory.
In the eastern parts of the home were the hidden garage, stables that connected to the outer courtyard, the royal tower, personal storehouse and cellar of the Manaweaver family. The two entered the rune-crafting room in the basement of the tower. On the door were 3 lights; green, yellow and red. Malika explained the lights were indicators of how safe it was to enter. Green was safe, yellow meant caution, and red meant dangerous and not to enter. In the corner of the rune-crafting room was a smaller room, a shimmering red field covered the doorway.
"That is the emergency disposal room, the force field automatically is activated the moment someone enters the room. As you milord will be the most likely one to be working here, you'll understand what I mean when I say the field is semipermeable."
"What she means is that with the field active things can go into that room, but not out."
"Exactly milord, if you were to hypothetically screw up a rune-craft and it were about to overload, you could throw it into that room and have it detonate safely."
"Might save your eyebrows this time," Deedlit muttered though both her companions heard her. One was mildly amused; the other was both amused and slightly irked.
"Moving on to the tower. There is a barracks at the base of the stairs for your royal guard when you form it. As of now I am part of the royal guard as it is my job to protect the home and its occupants. The second floor will serve as a council chamber once a council has been formed. The third floor is currently uninhabited; the fourth floor holds the chambers of Lord Nethalus and Lady Pirotess. The fifth floor is uninhabited at this moment as well, these other floors and chambers are for your future children when they grow old enough to warrant their own space. The sixth floor is your personal armory and the seventh floor is a watch post currently being overseen by automatic sentries. "
"I see, thank you Malika, my wife and I will see our apartments ourselves."
"As you wish milord, and Lord Sharnoras wanted me to inform you that one door in your chamber leads to his last major gift and that if you need medical attention anywhere in the grounds of the home, the EMH will respond to the usual summoning command."
"That will be all, thanks again."
"Pleasure to serve milord, milady."
The two watched as Malika disappeared and the two entered their spacious apartments and stopped at the sights within. The apartment tastefully blended modern and medieval with items from both eras including wall outlets. Xapferey was surprised despite having expecting the modern conveniences. He couldn't help wondering what powered the home and the electronic defenses.
"Well this was certainly a grand gift for us, even if this Xapferey Sharnoras is another version of you, but why would he be so helpful for us as well?" Deedlit asked.
"Because as far as I know he cares about you greatly for his own reasons. But let's more focus on what we're given then why he does what he does. The fact of the matter is that with this manor, castle, whatever you wish to call it we have saved years alone and we have a safe place to begin our realm my queen. The courtyards are fertile and perfect for sowing crops for the first few seasons and in a perfectly guarded environment. Some would call it ridiculous for a start…" Deedlit gently hushed Xapferey with a finger to his lips.
"I understand my love, we all have our projects to look over and a few weeks to get things in order before our people arrive. Now let's have a look around our chambers before we look over the property in entirety."
The bed was a four-poster king sized bed with a modern mattress, surrounded by curtains for privacy, though open at the moment. Near the bed was a sunken area filled with soft foam, obviously a bed for Xapferey's true form. A nearby door lead to a walk in closet filled with clothing of all sorts and for all occasions both formal and casual. Xapferey was pleased to see more modern clothing included; he'd missed clothing clothing with the conveniences of zippers and fewer layers involved or required. There were also places for various weapons, though upkeep facilities were on the floor above according to a note left by Malika.
The bathroom was a welcome sight for the young Dragon; both the often very primitive medieval facilities and the forests and other wild lands he had traveled during his time in Lodoss bothered him more than he wanted to admit. He explained how things worked to his wife and she was rather impressed at the conveniences offered by the modern facilities.
Bookshelves and a table with chairs surrounding it took up much of the south part of the room including a set of recliners and couches. The rest of the room was devoted to a private gym and sparring area.
As Deedlit looked over the various things she smiled at her husband and as she walked towards him, she noticed another door leading to a balcony overlooking the inner courtyard. The door was thick and built so that there was no way to open it from the outside, though several physical locks on the inside (including a crossbar) and several magical wards addressed even that possibility.
Another door Deedlit noticed had strange locks. She knew enough about machines through seeing Xapferey's laptop and phone to recognize a keypad and a fingerprint scanner; Xapferey having explained and shown fingerprints to her months ago.
"What's through there?" Deedlit asked.
"Let's find out." A moment later, Xapferey had the door opened and walked through a strange doorway and down a hallway and through another door. Malika was waiting for the two as Xapferey gazed in awe at what was before him.
"Lord Sharnoras sends his regards along with his last gift and he hopes you have enough discretion to not use it on Lodoss."
"What is it?" Deedlit asked as she stared at the strange and powerful machine.
"A starship, modified for your usage. Delta Flyer class with assault modifications."
"Huh?" Deedlit asked not understanding entirely.
"The ships you know sail he seas, Deedlit, this ship sails the stars. A machine more advanced than any I have seen," Xapferey said
"Oh… but you will not use it on Lodoss?"
"Not unless I have any other choice in the matter, this ship is a absolute last resort."
"You might want to prepare for the arrival of your people your majesties, I can sense they are a week away from joining us."
"Yes indeed, and I can only imagine why we would need such a machine…" Xapferey said before he muttered so quietly Deedlit didn't hear "and I shudder at what we will face with it."
A/N: That's 11 done, the home is advanced in many ways,yes but the defenses can only be relied on in a siege. None of the defenses can fire onto targets in other lands. I had to retcon it because the original plans did not have Xapferey and Deedlit as king and queen so I needed to change things in the home to take that into account.
As for the Delta Flyer ship, it will NOT play a major part in the Lodoss section of the story I can assure you, its weapons will never be fired on ANY part of Lodoss short of Kardis herself. It is for the major crossover section later on.
As for what it is, well.
Delta Flyer assault class – named Lodoss Flyer preliminarily
92 feet long
Protections
1-meter enduriniam polarized ablative hull armor
Multiphasic shields
Ablative armor generator
Weapons
10 phaser arrays (multi- coverage)
6 pulse phaser cannons (forward) (as Defiant class)
60 point defense phaser emitters
3 forward assault class photon torpedo tubes (each can launch up to 3 simultaneously)
2 aft assault class photon torpedo tubes
Other modified systems
2 matter/antimatter reactors
Enhanced warp drive (max 8) (Cruising speed 7)
Holodeck systems - max 5
Crew quarters for 11
