A/N: Another talking chapter. I'll try to make the next two ones a bit more action-filled, but I can't promise anything. Yet.
Reviews are Welcome!
Chapter 32 – The Planning
"So if I understand you correctly you are the underground resistance against the Ori?" Minos asked Selus, the man. They had called for an emergency meeting with the other members of the resistance. Selus had led Minos and Tamara downstairs in his house, and they had entered a tunnel. Although they had blindfolded Minos as a safety precaution he still knew exactly where he was and where he was going. Sometimes it came in handy to be an Ancient.
"We are. There have long been rumours of our ancestors, the Alterans. The Ori, well, the Priors actually, try to destroy every hint of the existence of the Alterans. But we have found some ruins on this planet, long lost pieces of technology and other things."
"What kind of technology have you found?" Minos asked.
"Most of it we haven't figured out yet, but there aren't any weapons. We are not that kind of resistance. We only want to research and investigate our own history." Selus asked.
"Ssst! Selus, we must not reveal too much! What if he is a spy?" Tamara asked.
"Ok, my love. I'll tell him no more until we've reached the others."
Minos asked no more questions for the remainder of the trip. He could feel that they were still walking through the tunnel, a tunnel dug out of the soil roughly, with only supports every so-many metres. He liked this kind of unorganised tunnel. It had a sense of adventure.
After a five minute walk they had neared the end of the tunnel. At least, Minos thought it was the end. They were moving slightly upwards, but the tunnel didn't became steep enough to pose a problem.
By the time Minos could feel a soft breeze on his skin and hear the soft voices of others, he figured they were where they needed to be.
"Selus, Tamara, why have you called for this unexpected meeting?" a voice asked.
"Tarus, we may have found our saviour. He claims he is one of the 'unbelievers' the older books of Origin speak about." Selus answered.
"How can we know for certain, Selus? You might have just as well taken a spy to this meeting." Tarus said.
"Do not worry, Tarus. We have blindfolded him the whole way, and he knows only us."
"Hate to interrupt you, but you've just told me your name too, Tarus. And the blindfold trick doesn't work if the one you try to use it on is an Ancient."
"An Ancient? We have never heard of a creature of such sorts." Tarus spoke.
"It was the name my people gave themselves when they fled from this galaxy a long time ago."
"Your people fled from this galaxy? The book of Origin says all the unbelievers were defeated."
"We weren't. The Ori might have lied to you. Where do you think they are preparing to war against now?"
"The ... unbelievers?"
"Exactly. Not the same ones that fled from here so long ago, but their descendants."
"Are you one of their descendants, then?"
"No, I'm one of the unbelievers themselves. Though I was born long after my people fled from this galaxy."
"Can you prove that?"
"What would you need me to do to prove it?"
"If you are one of the unbelievers, then you must be familiar with their technology, is that correct?"
"I suppose so, although there has been a long time between my people leaving this galaxy and me being born, so there might be a few start-up problems. But I'm fairly sure I can activate every piece of technology."
"Activate? We did not know the unbelievers technology needed activation. That might explain why we have not been able to use it."
"Most of the devices require activation by one of my race, or one of similar build to start up. But after it's been activated, pretty much everybody can use it."
"Can you help us activate some things?"
"Yes, I most probably can but you'll need to remove this blindfold."
"Very well, then."
The blindfold was removed, and Minos could see who he had been talking to the whole time. Tarus was an older man, grey hair on the sides but bald in the middle. He wore the same style robes as Selus and Tamara did.
"Can you activate this device?" Tarus asked him after he'd handed Minos a small stone.
"I'm afraid this is not a device I'm able to activate." Minos answered.
"Then what is it?"
"It's part of a communications device, it does not need activation by one of my race. There are multiple of these stones in a larger, cylindrical object. That object connects to another one, and direct communication is possible through these stones."
"We have found one such a cylindrical object. It is over here." Tarus gestured for Minos to follow him.
"That's not the object I meant. This is a different one. I can show you how this one works, though."
"Please do so."
Minos stepped forward to the device and grabbed it with both hands. From the top of the device came a small sphere, originating from inside the device. The sphere lit up and a massive hologram appeared, filling the biggest part of the room they were in.
"Wow. What is it?" Tarus asked.
"This is a map of this galaxy, made by my ancestors a seriously long time ago. I think it's still mostly correct, though there may have been some miscalculations in the movements of the stars."
"The stars move?"
"Yes, but you'd need to observe them for thousands of years to see the difference. It has been millions of years since this device was created, so the map may be a little outdated."
"This is all new to me! We have know that there were other worlds out there, we trade with them through the Astria Porta, but normal people only rarely venture to them. We did not know they had a location on the sky."
"Well, the planets you know are all orbiting one of the stars here. There may be multiple planets around one star, but there generally is only one habitable by humans. I'll show you."
Minos lifted his arm, pointed to one of the stars in the hologram and focussed. The hologram moved, centred itself around the star and zoomed in. The star became a small sphere in the middle of the hologram, and there were multiple other spheres around it.
"This is your star system, Tarus. The star you see is the sun in your skies. The planet you are now on is the second from the star."
"And the other ones are the Irregulars, then."
"Irregulars?"
"We have observed the skies quite some time and we have noticed that there are multiple dots of light that move faster than other stars."
"Ah, the planets. They are the other worlds you have visited, though the other planets in this system are most likely uninhabitable."
"How do you know all this? You cannot be old enough to have learned this much about everything."
"I'm older than I look. I'm about one million years old, Tarus."
"One million years? Impossible! No one has ever been that old!"
"I'm not a normal human, Tarus. I am one of the unbelievers, though we call ourselves the Ancients, or Gate-builders nowadays."
"Even still, If you were a million years old, why do you look so young. In our eyes you are no more than a child of fifteen, sixteen summers old maybe."
"My race, the Ancients, do not age very quickly. And we are a very intelligent race, Tarus. We built the Astria Porta, the Stargates. The ancestors of my race, the Alterans, were the first race we know of that achieved space travel."
"Space travel? You mean travelling between the stars?"
"Yes, that kind of travelling. Why? Do you know of any races that have that ability here, in this galaxy?"
"No races besides the Ori and their servants the Priors. They have instructed many people on many different planets to construct ships and weapons for warfare. We have learned of that from our brothers and sisters in the resistance on many planets."
"What kind of ships are you talking about?"
"Well, we do not know exactly what type of ships they are, but they are big. News reached us a couple of days ago that the ships are as big as a mountain, made of white metal. They are constructed on land by many thousands of construction workers, all overseen by the priors and guarded by the army."
"Made of white metal? Do you know exactly what type of metal?"
"I am afraid I don't know that. On our planet, which is relatively sparsely habited in comparison to several other worlds, are only a few weapon factories. They are heavily guarded, though, and we have tried to infiltrate them, but we have failed so far. And what's worse, the guards that guard the factories are supplied directly from our own food supplies. They are with so many, and they are from different worlds too, that are own food supplies are dwindling. Of course, most people don't mind going hungry as long as it serves the Ori, but I don't want my son to die from hunger."
"What would happen if you managed to destroy the weapon factories?"
"I don't know. I think it depends on our own position. If it's clearly obvious we have done it, and we don't steal their weapons, they will come and slaughter us all. But if we somehow manage to steal their weapons, then we might be able to drive them off this planet. Of course, that would be no use given that they will return only a few days later with massive armies and destroy this whole planet."
"What kind of weapons do you have?"
"Nothing very sophisticated like the staffs from the Priors, or the sticks from the normal soldiers. We have crossbows, swords, spears and arrows of course, and only shields and metal armour for protection. But their weapons work with some kind of magical trickery, because they can shoot straight through our armour. And that while their armour is unharmed by our own weapons."
"It's not trickery, and neither magical. It's just very advanced technology, first created in the time of the Alterans and rebuilt and updated since then. I could show you how it works, but I'd be busy for days explaining everything."
"Can you help us strengthen our position, Minos? Without weapons that equal theirs, we are constantly in danger of being discovered and killed. And even with weapons, they are with far more people."
"I think I can figure out a few ways of helping you, but I'd need to know how many soldiers there are on their side, and how many are on your side."
"Well, there are several battalions of soldiers in the nearby area, so that would be around eight-hundred soldiers. And there is one prior covering our village and the few villages nearby, plus the weapon factory over the hill to the west."
"And on this side are?"
"Twenty-four people, mostly simple workmen like me."
"So it would seem like I can use one of the older tricks in the book."
"What book? And what tricks are you talking about?"
"It's a way of saying things. It's not about an actual book, but more about the old collections of wisdom and advice. The 'trick' I was referring to means that you rob your enemies in the middle of the night from their weapons, but at the same time strike at the heart of their might. In this case, it would mean steal the sticks from the soldiers, and from the Prior too if it's possible, and destroy the weapon factory at the same time."
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"By using another old method. Sleeping pills. I assume you have some kind of herb that is sleep-inducing?"
"No, not really. My people never relied on knowledge of herbs."
"Hmm. That's gonna complicate things. Do you have hammers?"
"Yeah, sure. Many of them, various weights and sizes."
"I think I can figure something out."
A/N: Anyone got any ideas what Minos can do with the hammers? I don't really have something planned yet (Ok, I have an idea but nothing is worked out as of yet).