Act 1 - Chapter 5

Awaited meeting

Siesta walked through the halls of Nexus with a single place in mind, and once there, opened the door. The Tacitus Store was the common name for the large domelike room that held the Tacitus they had liberated from the elves years before, but only Louise, Fouquet, Faravis and herself knew what the room was truly for. Accessing the Tacitus with a person's mind and their own willpower, accessing the greatest store of information on any country, continent or world.

The inside of the Tacitus store was covered on all sides by screens, monitors that had a direct link to the earliest satellite that they had thrown into orbit above the planet, yet was one of the most useful. By directly connecting each individual monitor with a corresponding camera on the satellite, the monitors on the dome and the floor would then project what was around the satellite, giving the feeling of standing in space while anyone accessed the Tacitus.

At first, Siesta had thought it was a pointless thing to do, but when Louise explained it to her in detail, it made perfect sense. As the Tacitus was a Scrin databank, without the appropriate technology and knowledge it was difficult to access; sometimes completely unresponsive and at the worst of times highly volatile, it was both useful and dangerous. By keeping it in a room that could imitate the space around their own planet, it caused the Tacitus to stay active, but not be volatile. Once they had learned how to access it safely, doing so became a common event, though more so for Louise and Faravis.

The Tacitus store was active, the dome showing the stars and moon, and the floor showing the world below. In the center of the room with both hands on the Tacitus was Louise, her eyes closed, but the red accents in her hair glowing as brightly as the Tacitus itself did. As Siesta stepped up to Louise's side, both her hair and the Tacitus dimmed down until neither glowed, and she opened her eyes; looking to Siesta with a smile. "Did something happen, Siesta?"

Siesta nodded, "Emelia and Clarity have returned, with all of the surviving Nod forces from Earth that they found it looks like."

"That's good. How did they get them all here so fast? I was expecting they'd just radio us for a pickup or to tell us what they found."

Siesta nodded and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "You won't believe how they did it. I didn't get a good look, but it' pretty impressive. Shall we?"

Louise nodded as she and Siesta left the Tacitus Store and walked down the halls of nexus. "Have you spoken with their leader then? Do we know who leads them?"

Siesta shook her head. "I didn't go down to see. I came right up to tell you and let Fouquet deal with it. From how much her people were moving around, I figure they have a lot of wounded.

"I see. Then we should hurry and see what can be done." Louise said as the two of them threw open of Nexus prime and stepped out into the city. Far below them in the courtyard at the city's main gate were an insane number of people and large battered metal plates, each as large as a carryall, and just to the side, the massive figure of Kalakros, Emelia's familiar. "She . . . . Cut apart the carryalls, and dragged them?" Louise asked in disbelief at the scene.

"Yeah, that's what it seems like. I don't know if it was Emelia or Clarity that came up with the idea, but it's not bad." Siesta admitted as the two of them began walking down the stairs to the main city, and began walking through it.

"Yeah , but depending on how fast she went, some of their wounded could be even worse from the vibrations, or from being flung off. Emelia isn't exactly one for taking things slowly."

Siesta snickered to herself, making Louise look to her.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just that you had some similar moments when you were her age. We both did." Siesta said, causing Louise to blush slightly, but only for a second.

"I- be that as it may, she should've called us to send in evac troops, or at least chosen a safer way to transport people." Louise stated as the two of them finally made it to the courtyard in front of the main gate. "Let's go see who their leader is."

"Let's!"

All over the courtyard were Nod forces, those with Crystalist badges on their shoulders, and the other Nod soldiers, many of whom were being put onto stretchers or being helped to the nearby medical tents that Fouquet's contingents were in the midst of setting up. Walking past some Nod soldiers kitted out like pilots Siesta and Louise caught sight of Emelia, Clarity, and Kalakros near the edge of the courtyard. Spotting them, both Clarity and Emelia ran up to Louise and Siesta, smiled on their faces.

"So, it looks like it went well enough, though I have half a mind to complain about how you brought them here." Louise said to Clarity and Emelia, making their smiling faces slightly more somber.

"Err, well, slicing up their carryalls into sleds seemed like the quickest way to get them back!" Emelia explained suddenly very uncomfortable about having to explain their thoughts when the plan had been so readily accepted before.

"Don't let it worry you too much, you both did very well. Can you show who is the leader of these Nod forces?" Siesta said.

"That will not be necessary, " Kane said as he walked around a makeshift metal sled that had been a carryall, and stood in front of the four girls with Ajay coming up behind him, " for we are already here!"

Louise looked at Kane and Ajay for a good minute without saying a word, the only thing her body could do was blink at what she saw before her. A slight nudge from Siesta caused her to shake her head and regain control, realizing what was before her, as not a mirage or hallucination. "K-Kane . . .A-Ajay?"

Both Kane and Ajay smiled, though Ajay more so for being recognized. In the years since they had seen each other he had aged quite a bit, "Glad to see you recognize me."

Kane nodded in agreement. "It is good to see you Louise. I see you have been doing well for-," Kane began, before the sudden thud of Louise stepping forward and hugging him caught him completely off guard.

Louise hugged him for only a second before letting go of him and talking a step back. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

Kane let out a short, but hearty laugh and placed a hand on Louise's shoulder. "I don't think it was that uncalled for. It has been much time since we last spoke. It looks like you've done what you set out to do though!"

Hearing those words Louise shook her head. "Not really, we've only done a small portion of what I intend to do, but damn Ajay, you got old!"

Ajay scowled at Louise and then chuckled. "Yeah, well, that's what happens. I could say the same for you. Though the better phrase would be damn you got big!" Ajay exclaimed as he looked both at Louise's height, and her shapely, curved body.

"I know which you're meaning more, but I'll forgive it for now." Louise said, squinting at Ajay slightly before turning her gaze to Clarity and Emelia. "I know you two just got back, but can you help Fouquet with the wounded?"

"Okay, mom!" Emelia said as she and Clarity dashed off into the crowds of people.

"And get Kalakros out of here!" Louise yelled after Emelia before shaking her head, "I'm sorry she put you through that!"

Kane looked at the carryall shells that Louise gestured to and raised a hand slightly. "It was a bit rough, but it got the job done. It was a well thought out plan, honestly. Emelia said she was your daughter, yes?"

Louise nodded as Siesta stepped up beside her, "Yes. But, let's do some introductions first. Siesta, this is the prophet Kane and Ajay, a very skilled general from the badge on his shoulder!"

"Oh, you actually noticed. I'm relived I wouldn't have to explain!" Ajay said slyly as he bowed to Siesta, gazing at her body and her Kunoichi uniform while he did.

"And this is Siesta, the Blue Lotus. My second in command, a member of my own inner circle, and my wife." Louise stated proudly, waiting for their inevitable reactions.

"I see. Then both you and she are Emelia's parents?" Kane asked, taking the information far better than Ajay, who was staring at Louise and Siesta in confused shock.

Siesta nodded. "That's right. We both are Emelia's parents, and please stop ogling me." Siesta said to Ajay, causing him to look away and cough to himself

"Then , uh, you adopted them, I'm assuming? Ajay said as he looked completely away from Siesta.

Siesta shook her head and smiled at Ajay. "No. She's biologically ours in every way and form, though she took on Louise's attitude."

"But then how-?"

"Girls need their secrets!" Siesta said simply to Ajay before turning to Louise. "I don't feel like playing catch up, so I'll tell Fouquet about the situation, and get more info from her while you talk."

"Alright, we'll likely be the main intelligence room." Louise said as Siesta nodded and walked off, leaving Louise alone with Kane and Ajay. "Shall we continue on the way up?"

Kane looked up at the towering city that stretched far above them and nodded, speaking only once they had left the main gates courtyard. "So your, wife's name was Siesta. What was the other name she called herself by?"

"Ah, the Blue Lotus. We found out that her grandmother had been a Nod assassin named Black Lotus. She took the name when she found her grandmother's old stuff outside of her hometown." Louise replied.

"I see. So somehow Black Lotus got spirited away to these lands then? That would explain her disappearance." Ajay stated as he looked around the streets they walked through, seeing people walking through them, talking casually, and some stopping to look at them and even point. "Iis everyone in this city . . . ?"

"Nod? Yes, Nexus is our capitol, after all. Oh, we actually have two cities as well." Louise added quickly.

"Yes. Your daughter explained something along those lines to us, but did not go into much detail. There was a lot to do after all." Kane stated as they walked up to the large doors of Nexus Prime. Pushing it open Louise led Kane and Ajay through its large halls until they came to the main room that dominated the central area, the Combat Operations Center. It was designed similarity to the main laboratory with a large hologram projector computer in the center and many smaller computers to the side, the only difference was its function.

Stepping up to the main computer in the middle of the room Louise flipped it on, allowing the hologram projector to heat up as she spoke. "Um, I'm not sure if you know, but, we're not in Halkeginia."

"Halkeginia was the continent your home country was inside of, correct?" Kane asked making sure what she had told him long ago was still correct in his mind.

Louise nodded as the hologram lit up, showing a massive three dimensional map of the entire planet, and all of its major continents. As it appeared Ajay's and even Kane's eyes widened in shock. "It, all of the continents look similar to Earths? How is that possible?" Ajay exclaimed.

"Similar, but not the same, there are significant differences in the shape of many continents, Halkeginia is the one near the top shaped like Europe, correct?" Kane asked.

Louise nodded. "Yes. After our initial insurrection and the Scrin invasion we-,"

"The Scrin have been here?" Kane asked suddenly, his voice full of worry as he interrupted Louise.

Louise looked at Kane and Ajay for a moment. "Y- Yes. I suppose I should bring you up to speed from the beginning, huh?"

"That may be best. You can give us the quick version though if you like." Kane replied as he walked up to a small computer desk made of metal and leaned against it after making sure it would hold his weight and not move.

Louise nodded and brought up a screen covered in archive data that she, Siesta and Fouquet had parsed early into Nexus' history. "Then I guess I'll do just that." Louise said as she began to tell them everything. From her return to Halkeginia and her summoning of Legion as an avatar, to the growth of her own following, the Discovery of the Tacitus in the elven lands and the final battle with the Scrin.

As Louise finished the explanation, Kane nodded and stood up from the computer desk. "I see. You have handled things extremely well then. The Tacitus you found, may I ask what kind of information you have discerned from it thus far?"

"Mainly we've pulled Tiberium related technology from it. Using it we made Tiberium spikes that renew the resources around them while they gather. It's slower than a normal harvesting operation, but we don't have to worry about ever running out of resources like carbon and metals." Louise explained, bringing up a hologram of one such Tib spike.

"You said that you and your allies all got Tiberium infusions, just how common is infusion here?" Ajay asked as he pulled a flask off his belt and took a quick swig from it

"Iit's practically universal at this point, especially since children automatically have infusion. It was a major thing when our movement first started as it gives the native humans of this world the ability to use magic like Halkeginian nobles." Fouquet said loudly as she walked into the room and leaned over a computer desk, causing Ajay and Kane to look at her.

"Ah, this is the other one you spoke of then?" Kane asked as he glanced to Louise.

Louise nodded as Fouquet stepped further into the room and pulled a chair out from a desk, promptly sitting down on it and ignoring all politeness except the minimum required. "Fouquet the Adamant Earth, General of the Crystalists, and Clarities mother. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Prophet."

Kane nodded. "Likewise, Miss Fouquet. From the retelling of what happened in the past; it seems you are one with both experience, skill, and the mind to use it.

"Thank you," Fouquet said as she looked to Louise. "All of the wounded are now being treated, only one person died from their injuries and all the others seems to be past the worst of it. Some of the spectators pitched in and are going around the city looking for places for everyone to stay at the moment as well."

Louise let out a sigh of relief. "That is good. Is Faravis on his way, Siesta?"

Siesta dropped from the ceiling of the room, landing right beside her as she spoke. "Yes, he should be here presently."

Ajay looked at Siesta in complete shock. "How did you get up there? And how long were you there for?"

"Long enough." Siesta answered as she looked to Louise. "Am I to assume the prophet is up to speed?"

"I have been told of events that happened to you all, yes," Kane said as he looked to Siesta. "You make it sound like your waiting for a conversation to start. Did something happen?"

"You're arrival happened, for one!" Faravis called as he swung open the doors to the room and sauntered inside, stopping beside the computer in the center of the room and plugging something into it, quickly tapping keys on the computer.

"This is my husband, Faravis, our head of research and development," Fouquet said casually as he finally clicked what he wanted to, changing the hologram above them to a single long line of deep blue and red.

"I can find out our new friends names and everything later, you need to hear this!" Faravis said in an almost terrified voice as he looked to Louise and pressed a final button on the console in front of him. A warbled drone hung in the air alongside a horrendous screeching, and within it, small ringing pulses could be heard. Faravis let it play for only a few seconds, then shut it off and looked to everyone in the room. "Our probe on the threshold island was still partially functional and was able to record that sound. It's coming through the threshold at impossible to hear wavelengths. Every few hours it seems to change its tone slightly."

"It's a Scrin signal." Kane said suddenly. "Our people have been researching them for the past few years from the threshold on Earth. It's tone is changing you said?

"On the hour, exactly, down to a microsecond." Faravis answered.

"Then I fear the only sensible thing it could be, is a beacon, a timer." Kane stated grimly.

Everyone in the entire room swore under their breath. "Well that's just wonderful. Exactly what we didn't need, especially with the way the Halkeginian governments are acting." Louise exclaimed, causing Kane to look toward her with a brow raised.

"Are they connected to the Scrin, my child?" Kane asked.

Louise shook her head. "No nothing like that. Our agents in Halkeginia have reported that many of them are acting strangely though. While they're alliance with the elves is holding strong, it seems something is making them act strange, but it's not known what."

"Then we just need to be ready is all." Ajay said as he took another swig from his flask.

Louise nodded, "Yeah, we'll need to be prepared for whatever Halkeginia is planning, and what the Scrin are planning."