The Remarkable Turned Bizarre

by ODST1

Knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost. After escaping the Mona Lisa, Sergeant Zhao Heng Lopez, and the Sangheili soldier called Henry, have crash-landed on a mysterious and strange planet. They must now survive this bizarre world, and each other, their worst enemy their only ally against the inhabitants. The war may be distant, but it weighs heavily on their minds.

9. Chapter 9

"So what's with the beardy guy?" Lopez grunted, rubbing her face and cursing the lack of coffee.

Corlett yawned, "He's something called a Grey Warden, some special warrior, I dunno. I was napping when they picked him up. I'm not supposed to be a freaking taxi service, sarge!"

"Ah, buck up, Private. We'll find someone else who can drive soon." Lopez said.

She patted him on the shoulder and walked over to the scout's Warthog. They had retrieved another from the downed Pillar of Autumn cargo pod, and already it was pulling its weight.

The two Marines stood in a small enclosure that had been designed specifically to protect the Warthogs. Fresh tire tracks in the morning snow told Corlett and a group of natives had returned only an hour earlier.

"Did you break anything, or did someone else break something?" She bent down to look at the undercarriage.

The silver and grey of the Hog was spotted and covered in dust. A lot of mud lower down was still fresh. It was mixed with snow and other junk.

"What? Why'd you think I'd-"

"Why the hell is it covered in mud? Did you drive it through a landfill?" Lopez pulled some gunk out of a wheel well.

Corlett scratched the back of his neck, "...A swamp, actually. We had a problem getting those plant samples you wanted. Had to avoid a big monster."

"I hope you got the cartridges and bullets when you were done shooting it." Lopez said, still studying the underside.

"Of course I did! ...as many as I could! We lost some."

Lopez wiped a mess of mud and plants out from the underside. She held up a clump of dirt, peering at it. Inside was a glistening green, gold, and black butterfly, very beautiful and very dead.

She dropped it to the ground, wiping off her hands, "My kingdom for a hose…"

The tired sergeant glanced at the private, then walked around to the driver's seat. She turned the knob part way. "Well, at least I have some punishment duty for someone if I need it…"

The vehicle's electronics powered up without the engine, and she ran a quick diagnostic.

"Aw, Sarge…!"

She patted his head, then pushed his hat down a bit, "Hey, I can't trust the natives to do it! And you don't have to do it now. I'll wait until the right moment."

"Who'd Gil pick up while we were gone?" Corlett asked, straightening out his hat, and adjusting his jacket.

Lopez saw a few indicators on the Warthog display. She turned off the electronics and stepped around to pop the hood. "Some witch named Vivienne. They invited Gil to some party or something…"

She fiddled with some wires in the engine, "hey, check the tanks, and make sure there's nothing loose with the fuel cells down there."

"A party? Really?" Corlett crouched and stuck his head under the vehicle.

Lopez grimaced, "Don't get excited. I don't know what they eat at those things. Probably raw meat and whale oil."

Corlett gagged, and crawled under the vehicle, opening some panels, "So who is she?"

Then he added, "Fuel cells, those are the things that look like soup cans, right?"

"Yeah, careful around the part that looks like a rabbit, though."

Lopez pulled debris from the spot under the window wipers, noting leaves and arrowheads alike.

"Anyway, yeah, she's some aristocrat lady, I dunno. We're not paid to think, private."

"We're not paid anything at the moment, sergeant." Corlett's voice was muffled by the vehicle, "fuel cells look okay. The tanks are good too."

He closed the panels underneath and crawled back out.

"That's not the point," Lopez said, closing the hood and dusting off her hands, "She's someone with a lot of influence or something. The usual crap. Palace intrigue and all that."

The Warthog electronics registered green. Lopez shut it off.

The Marines walked away from the small Warthog enclosure. The vehicles were protected close to one of Haven's main gates, with a twenty-four hour watch over them by troops personally selected by Cassandra. They'd been told to guard the jeeps with their lives, no matter how strange they were.

Lopez nodded to one of the guards as she passed, and they returned it.

Outside the enclosure, Haven remained mostly the same as it had for generations, with some expansion out of necessity by Inquisition troops. But there were some unusual structures. A foundry with anachronistic lines stood in the foothills on the edge of town near the blacksmith. A handful of other buildings with equally anachronistic lines were scattered around the valley and the town.

Much of what the Marines had been up to in the past few weeks had been chauffeuring Gil-Galad and his people around contacting allies, or helping Henry locate more mineral deposits or build new weapons.

As they walked down the street, they passed a cart full of ore and other materials heading toward the blacksmith and the foundry.

A group of foul-smelling workers passed from the direction of the city's old latrines, carrying foul cargo.

"Jee-zus!" Corlett said, putting a sleeve to his face, "I thought they'd get that done sooner!"

"Be glad they didn't, Private," Lopez said, holding her own nose, "That means more powder for us."

"And you're sure there's no other way to go about it?"

"I'm sure Henry would want a way too."

Corlett snorted, "Oh yeah! I forgot what happened! I couldn't figure out which was going to kill him first, drowning or hypothermia."

Lopez smirked a bit, "I was half-tempted to put the poor bastard out of his misery."

"How's cannon production doing?" Corlett asked, looking at the wagon in the distance.

Lopez's smile faded, "Not great. We wanted to build some twelve-pounders, but that much material is making the suppliers annoyed. Even making more six-pounders will cost a lot of money and time. We're getting heavy delays on materials, so we can't make any more at the moment. Morons."

"So...what do we do? A few dozen muskets and one cannon aren't exactly a big fighting force."

"It's good enough for now. We wait until they stop being stubborn, and if they don't, we'll have a chat with them."

Lopez grimaced, "We're already running high costs because of the amount of clothes, medicine, and other logistical crap we need to keep everyone here from dropping dead. Medieval armies didn't really have any good logistics. We're having to invent a lot of it."

"Will those plant samples we got help?" Corlett asked.

Lopez nodded, "If we can get some of those things growing, we should be able to make some medications for them."

Corlett nodded.

They walked up the street, turning a corner.

The private glanced around, waiting until there were few people around.

"Sarge…" Corlett looked around, and spoke in a lower voice, "Been meaning to ask...when are we leaving?"

"Leaving?" Lopez stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Y'know...when are we going to leave these guys, go and find the rest of our people? We can't stay here forever."

Lopez grimaced. She looked around, and sighed, "I don't know, Corlett."

Emotions flickered across her face, and she fidgeted a little silently.

Finally, she said, "I hate to say it, but I think we're going to need them for a while. We're going to need them to find the rest of the freezers."

Corlett looked a little confused.

"No, really, we need them. You know if you've woken up, more of our people would've. And not everyone was combat troops, or lucky enough to land with your gear. And we know the Templars have captured some of them, or will. The Inquisition have the resources we don't, like staff who can help us rescue them. And we're going to have to stick around until that slipspace rupture closes, anyway."

She looked up at the Breach, then back at her subordinate. She looked as if she was about to say something else, but didn't. "No matter what happens, until...until rescue comes, I don't think we're going to be able to cut them loose completely."

Corlett scratched his head, grimacing himself, "Yeah, but…"

"But what? Private, there may be a bunch of primitive screwheads, but we need them."

Again, she seemed like she was going to say something else, but didn't.

"I think after we close the Breach though, we might be able to have more time to ourselves. To a degree at least. We'll be able to find more people."

Corlett nodded glumly, "Yes, sergeant."

They kept walking, moving up toward the Chantry building.

A number of mages went by, looking a little gaunt but more well-fed than they had in previous days.

"They came in the other night. Finally." Lopez commented.

"How the heck did armies get around before cars?" Corlett asked. "Walking everywhere, then having to fight? Not to mention, it's slow as hell! How'd they do it?"

"Maybe you should ask them," Lopez gestured to those around them, "We might as well be in the Middle Ages right now."

"Oh...right." Corlett scratched his head, "So they're going to close the portal?"

Lopez glanced up at the tear in the sky. "Apparently."

They entered the massive doors of the Chantry, which were closed behind them. The temperature change wasn't as intense as they would've preferred, but it was good enough for the locals.

Corlett rubbed his arms, keeping his jacket zipped up, "Is there anything in the databases about central heating?"

"Something called a Franklin stove, I think. I've been too busy keeping these morons from using piss in medical treatments to deal with that. Oh my god, I hate luddites…" Lopez rubbed the bridge of her nose, then her hand froze as she caught sight of a figure further down the hall.

"Oh nuts…"

The woman who approached them was tall, and she walked like a general, her back straight and steps purposeful. She wore a silver tunic and leggings that were made of silk or some other shiny cloth, but were cut to look more like armor.

"You looking for someone?" Lopez asked, stepping forward.

"Yes, you are Sergeant Lopez?"

"That's right. This is Private Corlett. We're with the United Nations Space Command."

"United Nations of what?"

"United Nations of Earth," Lopez crossed her arms, "What do you want?"

"Earth...as in the ground?"

"As in the planet. We're not from around here."

Vivienne nodded, "I can certainly see that. Where are you from?"

"That's classified information." Lopez growled.

Whether or not the names alone of colonies were harmful and/or fell under the Cole Protocols was up for debate. The name of Earth was long-since compromised, there was no way around that, but with the other colonies, transmissions and recordings not erased from ship or colonial databanks could be used to help the Covies narrow things down a bit and give humanity weeks instead of months before the next attack. A selfie with the night sky in the background could reveal a constellation, a name of a spacedock could tell them the difference between a fleet yard and a mining outpost.

Either way, Lopez wasn't in the mood to play nice with this lady she didn't know.

Vivienne nodded, "very well. You say you belong to a 'space command', is that some kind of military?"

"We're the primary military force for the United Earth Government."

"Ah, so those are uniforms, then? Curious design. I presume you are light infantry?"

"He doesn't have his uniform. I do. And we don't have heavy or light infantry anymore. Maybe you didn't see the firearms when you came in? We're supposed to deal with that stuff. Your arrows around here are just a bunch of lethal toys."

Vivienne didn't seem too offended yet. She just nodded again, "Do all mages dress as yourselves where you come from?"

"We're not mages, we're Marines. We manage the same miracles, but we don't get paid as much."

"Really? How do you explain your-"

"Hydrogen internal combustion engine, integrated circuits, electromagnetic technology, steel, smokeless powder, lightweight body armor and a lot of math." Lopez ticked off on her fingers. She pulled out a small lighter, flipped it open, and lit it. "Check it out, I made fire. It's not magic, it's science. Get used to it." She snapped it closed, "any questions?"

Vivienne examined her, eyes narrowed. "Interesting. So it is more like dwarven or Qunari machinery, then?"

"...yeah," Lopez sighed. "Go with that."

Vivienne frowned, "how does your country work? You have a disdain for authority yet demand obedience. It's contradictory, don't you agree?"

"No. I don't have a problem with authority. I just find aristocracy, monarchies, and bigots distasteful." Lopez said calmly.

Vivienne nodded again, "but what about your own people's nobility?"

"We don't have any. We don't have titles or divine right to rule. We elect our leaders with a vote, everyone gets one. If we don't like them we can recall them, and if they refuse, we take em down. Democracy and republican ideals work. Aristocracy and monarchies are…"

Lopez thought for a moment, "what's the right phrase, Corlett?"

"On the ash heap of history?"

Lopez shrugged, and gestured back at him, "there you go."

"You seem awfully confident for being so isolated. How many are there of you?"

"More than enough. Lady, I trust Gil, but I don't trust you. I don't know you. What I know about you is that you're a politician. A palace intrigue type politician. Senate creatures are bad enough, but palace intrigue types are way too much like spooks for me."

Lopez was glaring down at the woman.

She was not intimidated in the slightest, and met Lopez's eyes squarely. "You're surprisingly civilized."

"Thanks, so are you."

"I meant no offense. I had heard you and your companions had trouble with language. I meant you were surprisingly well-spoken, unlike what I heard."

Lopez crossed her arms and didn't comment.

"Are all your people...like yourselves? Do they all have such capabilities?"

"There's billions more like us." Lopez said, baring her teeth.

Technically.

"How interesting." Vivienne said, "Billions you say?"

Lopez smirked.

"You surely can't expect me to believe that, do you?"

"Lady, I'm sure if I told you about the tooth fairy with enough flowery language you'd believe me."

Vivienne studied her for a moment. "Where do you come from?"

"We came out of the sky on sails made of marigolds."

Vivienne peered at her. Then at Corlett.

He smiled a little nervously.

Vivienne turned back toward the sergeant, "So...what is the purpose of your firearms? Have you considered the danger of them?"

"Why yes, yes I have. They could explode in your hands if you load them wrong. And firearms commit the terrible crime of leveling the playing field against plate armor."

"And you are planning on issuing all Inquisition soldiers with weapons such as those, yes?" she gestured to the Marines' rifles.

Lopez crossed her arms, "That's none of your business."

"I am working with the Inquisition as one of the senior officials. I believe that does make it my business."

Lopez narrowed her gaze, "Ask someone else."

"Very well. Let me be more specific. You are planning on giving every soldier weapons that could put them on the level of mages?"

"So what?"

"Have you given any thought to the danger of demonic possession?"

Lopez laughed at that, "Yeah. Don't worry, we took the appropriate precautions! I had a black cat walk under a ladder over a broken mirror in the powder mill!"

Vivienne didn't react very openly. No frustration or anger. "Do you take demons so lightly? I've heard you three are rather ignorant about some subjects. Do you even know about demons?"

"You mean the slipspace monsters? They can't touch us. Our weapons are based on science, not some hocus-pocus."

Vivienne nodded, "so it is all machinery?"

"I've been saying that ever since I got here."

Vivienne thought for a moment, "I believe-"

"What makes you think I care what you think?" Lopez snapped, "What makes you think I care what any of you think?"

She scowled, "You people have no idea what you're talking about. You can't say anything that-"

"Demonic possession may not be a threat, but you said they could explode if you held them wrong. Can they explode even if you haven't touched them?"

"No. What does that mean?"

"Can fire make them...activate, if they have been set aflame?"

"I-" Lopez paused, "Why?"

"I'm trying to figure out how dangerous they are."

"I could tell you if you'd tell me what you're getting at."

Vivienne was silent for a moment. "You say there's no demonic involvement in your weapons. Then tell me, do you have weapons that can kill without inflicting wounds?"

Lopez raised an eyebrow, "I'm not sure those are ours. Sanitary conditions here are pretty bad. Disease is probably what you're thinking about, so don't try and burn us alive for witchcraft."

Vivienne shook her head, "I'm not talking about disease. Do you know of any weapon that is invisible, never felt, and never inflicts wounds?"

"That depends. Can you be more specific than 'they just died'?"

"The victims become sick, confused, and weak. They soon find themselves falling unconscious, convulsing, some paralyzed, before becoming unable to breathe and finally dying."

Corlett's eyes widened a bit.

Lopez's arms were still crossed. "Why are you asking us? I thought the normal procedure for this sort of thing was to blame it on god, then blame it on the serfs, and then torch the area. I haven't heard of anyone dying like that around here, so why are you asking us?"

"You claim to know more than any of us do. So do you have an answer?"

Lopez scowled. "No."

"No?"

"No. Ixquicha nimitzihtaz." she gave a two-fingered salute, and walked off.

Corlett looked between the two of them. "Uh, nice to meet you?" then quickly caught up to the sergeant.

Once they were out of earshot of Vivienne, he started, "Sarge…"

"Quiet."

Lopez spun around, grabbing his arm and pulling him close. Corlett's eyes were wide again in fear and confusion, "Don't say anything about it out loud. If you hear anything, tell me."

"Sarge, what-?"

She glanced around, "I mean it, private. Don't say anything."

"Y-yeah, sarge!"

She released him, "C'mon. Let's go."

They moved to the war room at the end of the hall.

The room was fairly cramped, serving as a strategic nexus not being its intended purpose.

Gil-Galad, Fiona, Cassandra, and Solas were there, looking up as the Marines entered.

"We're here," Lopez said.

Gil nodded, "Excellent. We've been planning the operation to close the Breach."

He gave a quick rundown of what they missed. The mages would perform the operation, while the Marines and Inquisition troops provided security.

"If you waited about twenty-four hours, we could find something for you that might be able to close it better." Corlett muttered.

Solas shook his head, "Each day the Breach grows worse. We cannot delay."

"It's only a day, Mr. Solas, what difference could it make?" Corlett asked.

Solas narrowed his gaze, "That is not my title. I have no title. And even a day can mean the Demons have a higher chance of making it through."

Lopez didn't comment. Her eyes were unfocused, looking off into the distance.

"Sergeant?" Gil-Galad asked.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, let's do this. Private, if they want to do this, well there's more chance of you having kids."

She didn't want the locals to know about heavy weapons just yet. Or radiation.

Hopefully they'd interpret it as him living long enough to have kids.

Gil raised an eyebrow, and exchanged a look with Solas.

"Very well then. Shall we go over the plan, then?"

Hours later, columns of troops advanced out of the Inquisition camp up the mountain toward the Breach. Platoons of troops in light armor, in plate armor, archers in padded coats and helmets, mages in their robes, all marching as best as they could. The trail rapidly turned to mud, though it wasn't too deep. A lot of it was still frozen.

The cleanest column was the most conspicuous; a unit of lightly-armored soldiers, wearing only upper body armor and helmets, marching in an almost perfect rectangle with long metal and wood rods pointed at the sky, one end held in the palm of the right hand.

Behind the Inquisition's first musketeer company came the beginnings of their first artillery battery. The six-pounder so painstakingly crafted by Henry and other Inquisition smiths, along with its limber of ammunition and supplies, was pulled along by four horses, straining at the reigns and struggling to pull the gun carriage's wooden wheels through the snow and mud.

Private Corlett was still a scout, even without a light armored unit to work with, and gladly moved far ahead of the main column to check in with Inquisition scouts in the Temple ruins and make sure nothing surprised them.

There was nothing from the portal. No activity of any kind. It was just quiet.

"Creepy..." the private muttered, standing in the ruins of the temple and watching the green anomaly shift and pulse.

The bodies had been recovered, but there was still an unsettling air about the temple.

It was like being in the Chernobyl Reactor Four Museum. The radiation had been long-since taken care of, but the facility was still creepy as hell.

He turned away from the center, and moved back up to the crater edge.

At last the Inquisition troops arrived, the mages leading the way.

They deployed in formation on the slopes of the crater surrounding the base of the Breach, among the half-buried ruins. The wind howled, clouds brewed overhead, and the green tear in the sky still sat there ominously, the big green crystalline portal still hovering below it. The giant crystals that had appeared in the crater when the Breach first opened were still there, jutting up at random and adding to the heavy atmosphere of unease.

Per Lopez's instructions, the musketeers arranged themselves in two wings on either flank of the six-pounder, each wing two ranks deep, the one in front crouching and the second one standing.

There were low barks from NCOs, mutterings among the troopers. Few wanted to be very loud.

Sergeant Lopez readied her own rifle, removing the magazine and checking the reloaded black-powder cartridges.

She doubted they'd work as advertised, but it was better than nothing. There'd be a lot of smoke if they had to make a fight of it.

"Echo-One-Charlie, this is Scarlett-One-One," Lopez said, touching the side of her helmet, "Standing by to record?"

"Affirmative, Scarlett-One-One. Got the camera all set up."

Gil-Galad, Cassandra, and Solas stepped out into the field around the anomaly. Gil's mark arced and sputtered, and he exchanged a look with the others. The wind's noise increased. Dust blew in clouds around the crater. Energy arced from the crystalline portal.

Solas nodded, and Gil returned it. As the other elf stepped forward, Solas turned to face the mages.

"Mages!" Cassandra barked, then gestured to Solas.

"Focus past the Herald," Solas instructed, raising his quarterstaff, "Let his will draw from you!"

Lopez checked her magazine again.

Gil-Galad took a deep breath, and raised his left hand.

Intense green energy of the same sort as the portals materialized from the crystalline portal, whirling around a central point directly under the Breach, forming a column that faded in and out of existence. Green lines formed in the rock around the crater, like veins of coal set alight.

As Gil drew closer, his progress slowed. He was struggling through it like he was stumbling through a snowstorm.

The mages, at Solas' signal, drove their staffs into the ground.

Gil aimed his hand upward, there was a brief moment of connection.

Suddenly there was a blast of energy and a flash of light, throwing Gil-Galad back, along with anyone else standing at the bottom of the crater.

When they recovered, all realized the green glow was gone. So was the portal.

While the others rushed to make sure Gil was alright, Lopez looked up at the sky, clouds of dust obscuring her view. She touched her radio again, "Echo-One-Charlie, you got eyes on the portal?"

"Negative. Holy cow, what a light show! Whatever they did worked! The radiation has stabilized! Slipspace rupture has been closed!"

"Copy that. Scarlett-One-One Out." Lopez said.

Gil stumbled to his feet, looking unhurt, and a cheer ran through the valley as they realized what had happened.

The sergeant frowned at the sky, raising an eyebrow. "Was that it?"

XXXXX

Back in Haven, the Inquisition was celebrating. Work and training had stalled as a well-earned break was taken.

Even the spacefarers were taking it easier than usual, though they were by no means taking part in the drinking and singing.

One could be poisonous and the other they didn't know.

They stood on the landing that lay ahead of the entrance to the Chantry building, where members of the Inqusition's inner circle came and went.

Henry and Lopez argued over monitoring the residual radiation from the Breach, while Corlett stood nearby and watched the partying with some envy that faded with an occasional wince at something he didn't expect.

Gil-Galad was standing nearby in a hopefully-unintentional dramatic pose. They couldn't tell if he was looking at the partying or the sky.

Iron Bull, Blackwall, and Varric were standing nearby, drinks in hand, discussing one battle or another. Sera was missing, probably stealing someone's wallet, if anyone wanted to hazard a guess.

Vivienne and Dorian were chatting about something, with a few glances at the spacefarers.

Cullen and Josephine were elsewhere, mingling with the troops and dealing with paperwork respectively.

Cassandra jogged up the steps to the landing, with Solas following her. The others caught sight of them and gathered around.

Cassandra looked at each of them, "Solas confirmed the heavens are scarred, but calm. The Breach is sealed. We've reports of lingering rifts, and many questions remain. But this was a victory."

She looked at Gil-Galad, "Word of your heroism has spread."

"Are they worshipping any of the rest of us?" he asked.

Cassandra grimaced, "It varies."

Something chirped in Corlett's headset, and he stepped away to look at his datapad.

"It's typical. One 'chosen one' gets some special thing through a freak accident, and they get worshipped no matter what they do or how awful they are," Varric shrugged, "No offense, Lavellan. It's not your fault, but it makes a good story."

"Maybe it's less that and more the Great Man View of History." Lopez commented.

"Like I said, it makes a good story."

Henry growled at Varric, and the dwarf quickly put up his hands, "Alright, alright…"

"He does have a point, though." Iron Bull said.

Cassandra nodded, "This was a victory of alliance, one of a few in recent memory. With the Breach closed, that alliance will need a new focus."

Lopez nodded as well, "I think we've got some thoughts."

"With all due respect, Sergeant," Cullen said, walking up the stairs to join them, "That's not your decision."

Lopez rolled her eyes, and rubbed her face, "It's not yours either, ken. What do you want?"

"I have a right to be here, sergeant." he said, crossing his arms.

"Like a knife in the ass…"

"What?"

Before the argument could get any worse, Josephine walked out of the Chantry, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I just got a message from Leliana."

"What is it?" Gil-Galad asked, pushing past the others.

"It's a few days old, but she was getting news of an army being assembled a few days march from here."

"So? There's no guarantee it's a threat." Cullen said, "We don't even know who they are, do we?"

"Sarge!" Corlett called out, spinning around with his eyes wide, holding up his datapad.

"Private?"

The marine jogged back over, holding his datapad out to Lopez, "Sarge, we've got a big thermal signature heading this way! Just over the mountain!"

"A few days march from a few days ago?" Lopez grimaced, "Company's coming."

"Thermal signature?" someone asked.

"It means there's an army over that ridge!" Lopez barked, pointing.

"Under what banner?" Josephine asked.

"We can't tell. That's not what our drone can do." Lopez pointed to Corlett, "Private, do what you do best. Take one of the Hogs!"

"Yes ma'am!" he called out.

"Then we must get to the gates!" Cassandra snapped, and grabbed a nearby trooper, "Get every company commander you can find! We must rally and prepare a defense!"

Lopez grabbed a runner herself, "You! Go and find the officers in charge of the musketeer platoons! 1st and 2nd, you got that!"

The trooper nodded in surprise, and sprinted off.

She looked for another, "You! Get the first battery together!"

Turning toward the others, she said, "Let's meet everyone at the gates, and I'll explain the plan there."

No one questioned her, every nearby Inquisition official or officer running toward the gates.

The sergeant paused for a moment, then grabbed another runner

As they ran, Lopez hit her headset, "Echo-One-Charlie, this is Scarlett-One-One, you in position yet?"

"Oscar mike, Scarlett-One-One. Give me two mikes."

"Roger that. Scarlett-One-One out."

As they made it to the gates, there weren't many officers or officials there yet.

Cassandra looked at a nearby runner, "make sure the trebuchets are crewed and ready!"

Haven had several trebuchets in and around the town. Though they were short ranged compared to the cannon, they could still fling rocks around at high speed.

"We're moving too slowly," Lopez growled, "We should've prepared for this!"

"We did the best we could." Gil said.

"Not exactly…" Lopez muttered.

Henry came rushing up with the musket officers, and the battery commander.

"Situation?" he grunted.

"Whole mess of tangos over the hill, dino," Lopez said quickly, then made the wort sound for, "Hostiles."

The elite looked up the mountain, and pulled out a set of wooden binoculars out of his belt. They were much wider than those made for humans, with smaller lenses. They were elite binoculars.

Lopez looked at him, "Where were you hiding those?"

Henry shrugged, "Made them."

"This is the worst time to be hiding your pet projects!"

"Not hiding. Now you know."

Lopez rolled her eyes, "Can you see through your bullshit right now?"

"Si. Scouts now. Skirmishers."

He lowered his binoculars, squinted, and looked again, "and a...skeleton."

Lopez looked at him, "O...kay…"

Henry looked at her, and shrugged, "Look!"

A runner came up through the gates, interrupting the conversation, "Herald! H—"

He caught sight of the elf, and words caught in his throat for a moment.

Gil-Galad stepped forward, "What is it?"

"There's...we caught a boy on the road, he wants to see you!"

"Hold that thought, Henry." Lopez said, "Who is he?"

The runner's eyes widened at dealing with the sergeant as well as the supposed herald, "He didn't say, he just demanded to see the Herald."

Gil looked around, "...Alright, where is he?"

"Just this way, my lord."

They emerged from the gate. A young man, tall and scarecrow-thin, stood a few meters from the gate, looking back at the army just cresting the mountain. A handful of Inquisition troopers stood nearby, looking nervous.

He spotted Gil approaching, "I'm Cole! I came to warn you- to help, people are coming to hurt you! You probably already know-!"

"What is this? What's happening?" Gil demanded urgently, hoping to get some sense into the kid.

Cole didn't make eye contact. His high voice deepened slightly to a monotone. "The Templars have come to kill you."

"Templars?" Cullen asked, and looked at Gil-Galad, "is this the Order's response to our talks with the mages, attacking blindly?

Cole's voice lightened a little bit, and he looked at Gil, "The Red Templars went to the Elder One. You know him, he knows you, you took his mages."

He looked back at the mountains and pointed, "There."

Gil-Galad peered into the dusk light, but couldn't see anything.

Lopez touched her ballistic goggles. "I see some guy in armor looking down over the valley...and some other big guy. Jeez, someone get him a sandwich. Guess you were right, Henry."

"He's very angry that you took his mages." Cole said in his monotone.

"Haven's no fortress, we need to evacuate!" Cullen said.

"Alright, fuck Corypheus!" Lopez barked, much louder and more confidently than Cullen, "We knew all about this! It's just like the message said! We've got the artillery, we'll keep them at range until we can get everyone out of here!"

She tapped the side of her helmet, "Echo-One-Charlie, this is Scarlett-One-One. Status?"

"This is Echo-One-Charlie. Ready to observe."

"Roger that. Scarlett-One-One out."

She glanced at the others, "Alright, our plan is to get everything out as quickly as possible. Blondie, send runners around to gather up the civilians and get them to safety. Most of your guys should be able to form the line. We'll use 1st and 2nd platoon as shock troops to seal holes in the line."

"You want to send mages up against Templars? Are you mad?" Cullen demanded.

"For the millionth time, they're not magic! They'll be fine!" Lopez snarled.

"Do you have any information we should know about who we're facing?" Gil-Galad asked Cullen.

Cullen grimaced, "Scouts say that's Sampson up there. He won't make it easy."

"I'll tell Corlett to take whatever pot-shots he can. He's got a distinctive uniform, right?"

Cullen looked confused, then nodded.

Lopez pointed at Henry, "Our next priority after people is equipment. We can't start from scratch all over again. I need a bunch of helpers to go with Henry to gather as much equipment from the mills as they can, get everything we can out."

Gil-Galad nodded, "sounds like a plan. Cullen, tell everyone this plan goes with my approval."

Cullen did not look happy. "But-"

"Go!"

The former Templar grimaced, "Of course."

Lopez nodded, then looked around at everyone, checking her weapon, "We're going to make it out of here. Let's move, people!"