Chapter Five: Orientation
Ventralis stood firm in the sparring circle, spinning two wooden longswords in his hands. His eyes were locked with the bald man on the other side of the ring, who grasped a long wooden stave and stood in a battle stance. Neither of the two men wore any piece of power armor, and instead wore old but well kept martial arts robes tied by black belts at the waist. Surrounding the borderless circle sat many Space Marines, some where there to be official witnesses, and others simply wanted to watch, but whoever did not bring their own folding chair sat on the ground. The beat of feudal drums filled the room from small speakers hidden in the walls and ceiling, and the faint holograms of the drum players lined the walls. The fight had already begun, but neither made a move towards the other for a long while…
The bald man made the first move, swinging the stave upward under Ventralis's guard. Ventralis knocked the pole away with one blade and stabbed at the man's right shoulder. He strafed to the side to dodge, sweeping the stave under Ventralis's legs. Losing his balance for only a moment, Ventralis began to fall to the floor, quickly catching himself with his right arm and flipping himself over to the other side of the stave with a single flip. Before both of his feet touched the ground again, he kicked the bald man's stave further away with one foot and swung the blade in his left hand at the man's face. The bald man pulled his stave back towards his body and swiftly blocked the wooden blade. In the corner of his eye he could see Ventralis back on his feet and swinging the second blade towards his hip. His opponent countered by sliding the stave down to block again, and simultaneously overpowered Ventralis's left blade and let the smoothed end of the stave make full contact with his left cheekbone. Showing no sign of pain or surprise, Ventralis brought the blade in his right hand down on the right side of the bald man's neck.
Shepard and Miranda walked into the vast room quietly, as to not disturb the events transpiring within. Then, Shepard saw a fully armored Space Marine not to far from the doorway gesturing for them to come over. They could see the fight in the center of the room thankfully because the many Space Marines surrounding them were sitting on the floor. His torso was covered in small ammo packs and grenades, as was his belt, and on his "Shepard was it? I'm Sergeant Oburo Reamus, squad commander of Sternguard Epsilon. I'll be in charge of your 'orientation' once you and the Master get acquainted." While the helmet he wore augmented his voice greatly, Shepard could tell he had what sounded like a British or Australian accent, sounding almost identical to an acquaintance of his.
"What's with the fight and the medieval Japanese drums?" Shepard asked the Sergeant, who was leaning against one of the many stone pillars that supported the domed roof, which didn't reach very far above them.
"The bald man dueling with Ventralis is Captain Kieran, Master of the Watch. He has been the Master's friend for many years, and has recently been undergoing the trials to become one of his Honor Guard. This is his final test, it doesn't matter if he wins or he loses, he simply must survive and in the end impress the Master."
Ventralis froze when the blade in his right hand reached Kieran's throat and the left pointed at his gut, but Kieran held his stave millimeters from Ventralis's right eye. After a few seconds of being at a standstill they both drew away from each other and bowed. Many of the marines clapped, but there were no cheers. Half a dozen Space Marines stood up and whispered to each other for a moment, and then nodded to Ventralis. The cheering then ensued as the clapping became louder. Soon after the Master walked away from the space in the center of the room and towards Shepard and Miranda, "Oburo, haven't spoken to you in a while." He stated as the reached over the duo and shook hands with the Veteran Sergeant. "Walk our guests over to the Situation Room, I will join you shortly." Ventralis walked out of the room and disappeared, and Reamus wasted no time in leading them into the room down the hall.
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When Ventralis entered the Situation Room he did not come alone. Several squad sergeants, the Chief Librarian, the head Chaplain, and the Master of the Forge walked in. The room's oval shape was lined with vending machine sized computers, hologram displays showing star charts and battle plans, and in the center of the room was a long oak table, lit by a tall tilted window overlooking the ocean and the eastern coastline of the gloomy city. Ventralis, now fully armored in power armor, took a seat at the head of the table, allowing the Techmarine, the Librarian, and the Chaplain to be seated as well. The seven squad sergeants, including Reamus, stood surrounding the table.
"We're going to need to stand on the table, won't we?" Miranda asked staring at the lip of the table standing at least six inches above her.
"They won't answer Miranda." Shepard jumped up and grasped the lip of the table, pulling himself up before reaching down for her, "They expect us to know things like this." Miranda nodded with a silly looking smile and reached for his armored hand. When they stood on the table they were for once above the Space Marine's eye level, if only by a few inches.
"Now visitors, would you mind filling us in on how you managed to obtain Grissom's prototype?" Ventralis leaned forward in his seat after asking them to divulge such long awaited information.
Miranda nodded to Shepard, gesturing for him to go first. Shepard then activated the bright orange Omni-tool on his left arm, causing the Master of the Forge to quickly rise, "Well I'll be damned."
"What is it, Wayne?" The crimson armored Chief Librarian Epistolary Kuzon asked with a hint of genuine surprise in his voice. The Techmarine did not reply, but simply activated his own Omni-tool, enlarged to fit the bulky power armor.
"That's interesting." The Chaplain added, putting a hand to the chin of his skull helmet.
"I found this device in a scrap pile on a ruined Manufactorum on Necromunda. This thing was offline for nearly thirty-five thousand years before I found it… Who are you?"
"Before I answer any questions you ask, I have just one." Shepard asked, and Ventralis replied with a nod. "Why are there no women in the Space Marines?"
The Chief Librarian sighed and smiled, "It's a damn shame really, such a waste of talent. I mean look at Ms. Volteaus, she has spent most of her life killing the very beasts that we were created to slay. Most of us, and by that I mean most of the near million of us in the galaxy, wish there could be women in our ranks. And I don't mean it that for the wrong reasons, we simply could use the extra numbers."
"Thanks, I've wanted to know the answer to that for six years, anyway… We have come from the second millennium, a time quite unlike your own." Shepard and Miranda took turns talking about the extents of their own time. They spoke about the Citadel, the numerous aliens that came to call it home, and their relationships with humans. Shepard then brought up his encounter on the Prometheus and his quest to create the suit he wore now, and then of the looming threat of the Reapers.
"So you do not know if the Reaper fleets have been destroyed?" Ventralis slammed his fist onto the table and yelled in an alarmed tone. "We need to commission a task force to investigate this immediately! We must alert the Ordo Xenos immediately!"
"I doubt that is necessary at all, Ventralis." Epistolary Kuzon added, "If we are all here, then the Reaper fleets must have been destroyed. Don't get so trigger happy looking for ghosts."
"Do you have any pictures of these aliens, Commander Shepard?" The Chaplain asked. Miranda walked over to him while tapping buttons on her Omni-tool, allowing the rotating holo-disk on her knuckle to display a floating screen, displaying the pictures of every known species from the Standard Galactic Codex-2185. Shepard was hoping some or any of them would ring a bell, but every picture got no reaction from the many Space Marines in the room.
"Wait, go back to the last one." Miranda pushed another button, displaying a picture of an asari. "These are female Tau are they not?" The Chaplain asked.