It was late into the afternoon; half of the sun has already sunk into the horizon and the skies are slowly darkening. The people were still milling about, minding their own businesses. Among the crowd was Agnès walking down a street wearing her commoner's clothes. Her bodyguard shift had ended just minutes ago, and she was now free for the rest of the day. As she walked down the familiar street, she took a left and spotted the tavern that she frequented.
"Captain!" A voice called out.
Agnès looked to the left and spot the owner of that voice. Two women, a few years younger than her, approached her. Joanne and Maria were their names, they were part of the musketeer brigade. Joanne was a tall woman; her black eyes held a sense of maturity that one could see from an elder sister in the family. Agnès noticed that her black hair was starting to grow again, back when Joanne was still new, her hair was cut short for military purposes. Joanne wore a light green dress along with simple slippers to accompany her casual look.
Standing beside Joanne was Maria, the complete opposite of Joanne. Where Joanne had a look of maturity, Maria looked aloof and clumsy, but the bright smile that spread across her lips brought relief to anybody who looked at her. Her light purple hair bounced around as she rushed towards Agnès before stopping just in front of her captain. Her choice of clothing is a white long sleeved shirt and a long pink skirt with straps on her shoulders and slippers.
To the unassuming eye, people might think that the three women were simply going out for a drink, but should anything wrong happen under their watch, the would be ready to move. After all, they were the Henrietta's bodyguards after all. The training that they all went through ensured that they were more than capable of handling people who planned on doing something terrible.
Maria placed her hands on her hips. "Drinking alone again, captain?"
Agnès shrugged her shoulders. "I have plenty of things in my mind right now."
"Is it the sudden alliance between her highness and this Louise fellow?" Joanne said as she closed the distance.
"Yeah…" Agnès said.
While Agnès won't question Her Highness' decisions, this one she could not help but question. While she may not be as observant as Her Highness, her gut feeling is usually never wrong. While she understood that Henrietta and Louise are old friends, something about the way Louise carried herself gave off bad signals for Agnès.
"Well, why don't we talk about it after a few mugs?" Joanne said as she approached the tavern door.
Agnès and Maria agreed and the three of them entered the tavern to enjoy their night.
Louise looked around the room that has been accommodated for her while she stayed inside of the castle. As she observed her room, she experienced major whiplash from the change of scenery. Back on Earth, she was so used to the dark metal walls with red light linings, courtesy of the Brotherhood of Nod's design choice. It had been a long time since she had seen furniture that wasn't made of metal.
Her bed wasn't a simple metal bed frame, it was made from a strong tree, lacquered with a substance to give it a sheen while also being smooth to the touch. She slowly walked towards the mattress, almost like the mattress was going to bite her before sitting down. The mattress sank under her weight with so much ease that is almost surprised Louise. She wasn't sure how to feel about it, she had spent all of her years in Earth sleeping in a bed that mimicked a flat rock and had gotten used to the feeling.
Gently, she laid down on the bed, the whole mattress slowly covering her figure. A soft sigh escaped Louise mouth. Unfortunately for her, the bed wasn't to her taste. For some reason, she could not get a wink of sleep on the bed. Slowly sitting up, she took her pillows and her blanket, she laid them on the floor of the room, once she felt the hard surface pressing on her back, she sighed with relief before slowly dozing off.
The following day, Louise, and her Awakened escorts along with Henrietta and her personal escorts had left the city using a Carryall, flying towards a destination that Henrietta pointed out. According to the map, it was a spare open land that was situated a few miles away from Tarbes, the very location where the battle between Albion and Tristain happened.
If Louise was serious with helping out Tristain by providing manpower, she needed to ensure that she could supply her future armies. Enter seeding Tiberium into Halkeginia. While she followed Kane's beliefs, she didn't fully like his ideology. Tiberium is a powerful resource to have, capable of raising armies just on the green crystal alone but it also poses a danger of harming the natural environment, Earth being the greatest example that she could think of. While she agrees with Kane that Tiberium is powerful, it could also bring about the end of Halkeginia, and potentially the whole world she lives in.
Which is why she decided to make use of GDI's containment fields, a way to prevent the spread of Tiberium. From what she learned when she read stolen GDI files, GDI had managed to find a proper sound frequency that causes a reaction with the green crystals to stop multiplying. By utilising this information, Louise told LEGION to seed an area with Tiberium and contain it by using GDI containment fields. This way, Louise could still gain resources while preventing a future global crisis that could very well end all life on this planet.
"LEGION, how goes the construction of the Tiberium field?"
CONSTRUCTION IS AT 75%
Louise nodded. "Once the containment fields are set up and active, seed Tiberium inside of the containment field."
QUERY: WHY IS TIBERIUM NOT ALLOWED TO SPREAD?
A grim look shadowed Louise's eye. "You misunderstand LEGION. I want to spread Tiberium in a controlled manner. Earth never really had a proper countermeasure when Tiberium first appeared. By the time they discovered a method, red zones already existed. Halkeginia will be different."
ACKNOWLEDGED
Louise looked out of the Carryall's window to see Henrietta's Carryall. Henrietta was accompanied by multiple knights and musketeers to the point that they filled up the carriage, so Louise procured one for herself. Silence graced the Carryall that she rode on for she was all alone aside from the Awakened robots that were with her. She thought about what to say to her parents. Her hands quivered at the thought and fear of what they might think of their once little daughter. What was she going to tell them? Would she tell them everything she experienced? How could she explain to them the time displacement?
"One problem at a time, Louise… one problem at a time." She muttered to herself.
She felt the Carryall lurch forward followed by LEGION's voice echoing in the Carryall's speakers.
MARKED DESTINATION REACHED
Louise stepped out of the aircraft as soon as the ramp door opened. She looked to her left to see Henrietta and her escorts slowly leave their aircraft. Louise made her way closer to them while observing her surroundings. They all stood in open plains, just a few kilometres away from where the battle between Tristain and Albion occurred and Louise's base.
"This is the plot of land that I am willing to give you."
Louise was a little stunned by the size of the land that was given to her. If Tiberium were to be allowed to spread on this plot of land, given enough time, Tiberium chasms could potentially form. While the formation of Tiberium chasms takes years, it is still a risk that she is not willing to take. The plot of land will do for now, but she should start thinking of countermeasures in case Tiberium chasms start forming.
Louise gave courteous nod. "This much of land is more than enough."
Now Henrietta was curious. "What are you going to do with this much land? There are no villages nearby, nor any roads."
Louise gave her a smile. "That makes it all the more perfect for what I'm going to do."
"Ah, before you do that." She looked over to one of the knights who brought forth a wrapped parchment. "This is proof that you claim this area."
Louise took the parchment and gave Henrietta a short 'thank you'. Before Henrietta could ask the same question, Louise motioned her right arm in a circular motion. Everyone gave her looks of confusion. Louise didn't mind them and simply look up in the skies, seeing her do this, the others also looked up to see a small figure coming closer and closer at great speeds.
"What is that!?" One knight said
"It's a dragon! Protect Her Highness!"
"I don't recall dragons flying that fast!"
Agnès, for her part, quickly assumed the worst. Based on what she knows, she connected the dots and concluded that the creature that was rapidly approaching at them is being ordered by Louise. With no hesitation, she pointed her flintlock pistol at the pink haired commander.
"Captain!" Henrietta called out.
"Woah!" Louise said, her hands raising up.
"Tell whatever that thing is to stop on its tracks!"
Confused, Louise spoke. "Why?!"
"Captain, lower your weapon!" Henrietta ordered.
"Your Highness, can't you see? Whatever that thing is could potentially pose a threat to you!"
Even more confusion settled on Louise's face. "Don't you think that if it were a threat to Henrietta, I would tell you!?"
A high pitched humming sound could be heard getting louder and louder and the figure on the sky is rapidly getting bigger and bigger.
"Captain! We don't have much time, it's getting closer!"
Agnès aimed her pistol at Louise. "Tell it to stand down!"
"Too late for that!" Louise said.
The Vertigo bomber zoomed past them, everyone watched as the aircraft sprayed liquid Tiberium on the open field a few kilometres away from them before flying off. Just as the Vertigo bomber flew off, Agnès pulled the trigger of her flintlock pistol. The high-pitched engine of the Vertigo bomber made her flinch causing her to miss Louise by mere inches, blowing off a few strands her hair. The Vertigo bomber flew off into the distance, its high-pitched engine slowly dying. A tense silence happened as Louise stared in utter surprise.
TARGETS MARKED
LEGION's voice alone stirred Louise out of her stupor. Her Awakened escorts ran out of the Carryall, and they aimed their weapons at Henrietta's soldiers. Looks of apprehension were on their faces as they stared down at the Awakened robots' rapidly heating laser barrels.
"LEGION, CEASE FIRE!" Louise yelled out.
Laser barrels started to cool down and the Awakened robots stood up normally before making their mechanical march back into their Carryall. Louise stood on the stop, a silence anger stirring up inside of her. She stomped her way towards Agnès, the knights unsheathed their swords in an attempt to intimidate her, but it did not work. Louise continued to walk forwards until one of the knight's blades touched the base of her neck. While Louise may be the shortest person, the glare that she held made everyone feel small. As for Agnès, it astonished her how someone shorter than her could intimidate someone like her.
"Let it be known, captain, if I wanted to hurt or kill the princess, I don't even need to be here for that to happen. I can send my entire army and completely wipe Tristain off of the face this continent. So please, control your insubordination!" Louise said through gritted teeth.
After that stern scolding, Louise broke off. While a little hesitant, Henrietta left her escorts and approached Louise. Despite her escorts' protests, one frowned looked silenced them all. She stood beside Louise and they both watched the horizon, overlooking the spot where the Vertigo bomber sprayed liquid Tiberium.
"Louise, care to explain what had just happened?" Henrietta asked calmly.
Louise took a deep breath before explaining to Henrietta. "What passed by us is a vehicle that is a part of my army. What that vehicle sprayed is liquid Tiberium."
A vehicle that could fly faster than a wind dragon. Henrietta's eyes widened a little bit, but she knew that there were still unanswered questions. "What is this 'Tai-beer-yum'?"
Louise chuckled at her unusual pronunciation. "Tiberium has undergone plenty of changes overtime. Currently, Tiberium is a dense dynamic proton lattice held together by exotic heavy particles. When Tiberium comes into contact with other matter, the heavy particles randomly collide with the nuclei of the target matter, smashing it to pieces or incrementally knocking off protons or neutrons. Tiberium captures a fraction of the protons that are ejected during this collision process and incorporates them into its own structure, thus transmuting matter into more Tiberium. Whenever one of the heavy particles collides with an atomic nucleus, fission occurs, which results in the production of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation as well as other forms of electromagnetic radiation. During the transmutation process, nuclei that Tiberium has come into contact with may be changed into nuclei with different numbers of protons or neutrons."
Henrietta's dumbfounded look made Louise chuckle at her explanation, this in turn made Tristain's princess pout adorably. Once Louise had calmed down she watered down the explanation. "Basically, Tiberium is rapidly growing green crystal. It grows because it absorbs all of the minerals and nutrients in the ground, constantly growing. Any kind of creatures that approach it are putting their health at risk."
A concerned look showed itself on Henrietta's face. "And you mentioned liquid Tiberium."
Louise nodded. "Basically, the liquid version of the green crystal, it is easier to transport and easier to spread."
"If this Tiberium crystal is constantly absorbing the nutrients of the ground and it constantly spreads, won't it become a problem?"
Louise nodded. "Long term, yes. Since Tiberium never stops spreading it could potentially consume the whole world, given enough time."
A frown replaced Henrietta's face. "Louise, I am not liking this. You are basically telling me that you have doomed our entire world by planting this dangerous crystal."
Louise reassured her. "Your highness, calm down. I'm not so dumb as to doom our entire world. Of course, I have countermeasures for this."
Louise proceeded to further explain to her about the GDI containment fields and how it is capable of stopping the spreading of Tiberium to populated areas, the watered down version, of course. She also explained extremely powerful Tiberium is and how it is capable of raising armies alone Louise told her that her Awakened robots were made from Tiberium and that astonished her. No need for other minerals, just Tiberium alone.
After all of that, Louise had sent her and her escorts back to Tristain while Louise flew back to her base. As the flight was left undisturbed, Henrietta was in a conflicted state. While she was concerned about the health problems that Tiberium can cause and its terrifying capability to spread, Louise's confidence in containing it convinced her that she could do it. On top of that, if Louise was right and she could fund and entire army based on this singular resource alone, Tristain would be able to benefit from this, allowing the country to recover its losses. And should she ever disagree with Louise's methods, the pink haired commander told Henrietta that she could cancel it right now before it starts spreading.
It was already night when Henrietta had returned to Tristain. She walked around her room wearing her night gown. As she laid on her bed, she decided that she should leave her future choices tomorrow.
Tristain sleeps tonight with the promise of the green crystal.
What do you think of this chapter? Do you think Henrietta has more than enough reasons to stop Louise's spread of Tiberium or does the benefit outweigh the risk for the sake of Tristain?
What do you think of the pacing of this story? Is it too slow? Too fast? Let me know.
