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"It looks like there's going to be trouble," Salar said to Santana after they walked out of the Officer's Mess after lunch.
He agreed after seeing two teenage boys questioning the elves with their daggers drawn.
"What's going on?" Colonel Salar asked after she walked up to them looking at the two teenagers with a hard glare and saw them flinch.
"Why are they here?" one teenager asked.
"The Valar sent us," Eönwë answered when he walked up to the two teenagers.
"We thought the Valar were too busy sitting behind their walls to care about Arda," the other teenager said with hatred in his eyes, which sadden Eönwë greatly.
"You never draw your weapon unless you intend to use it," Salar said to the tall teenager who was waving his dagger at Eönwë, and noticed the Maia didn't move. The other teenager never saw or heard Colonel Santana walking up behind him.
The tall teenager turned around and looked at the attractive light brown skinned woman. "Who are you?" he asked with a sneer.
"I'm Colonel Milan Salar and I'm the Commander of this Post," she answered.
"A woman?" the teenager asked surprised.
"I'm also a soldier," she answered. "I see you don't have any respect for the opposite sex."
"You're just a female," he replied.
"This female and all the other females in this camp can knock you on your ass," she said calmly. "Do you want to try me son?"
The teenager looked at the weapon she wore around her waist and saw two daggers sheathed around her waist. "You're not my mother," he replied angrily.
"No I'm not, but I'm sure she'd be ashamed of you if she saw you now," Salar said to him.
Something snapped in the teenager and he lunged at the Colonel and was surprised when she quickly side-stepped his attack and grabbed his arm, twisted it and took the dagger out of his hand and threw it away. She then swept a foot under one leg and threw him to the ground while still holding his right arm listening to his screams.
Colonel Santana grabbed the other teenager from behind and also took his dagger out of his hand, slammed his face on the table breaking his nose, and then stood him up and held him in a full nelson while the teenager cried.
The elves watched the drama before them and the Maiar never moved, and they saw blood dripping from the teenager's nose and down his shirt. This was the first time they've seen one human harm another.
"I think he's learned his lesson Colonel," Brennan said when she walked up to them. General's Dima, Boro, Jaro and Thos were standing near her.
"Yes ma'am," Salar replied and released the teenager's arm.
"What did you do to me?" he asked sobbing while lying on the ground holding his right arm. "That was painful."
"Of course it was. You needed to learn a lesson, but your friend wasn't so lucky. Take a look at his face," Salar told him.
The teenager looked up at his friend and saw blood running down his nose, his face turning black and blue, and there were tears running down his cheeks.
"Colonel Santana smashed his face on the table and broke his nose," Salar told him. "I could've done the same thing to you, but I didn't because I understand why you did what you did."
The teenager looked at her. "We hate them," he said through his tears and turned and looked at the Maiar and elves.
"I know," Salar replied.
"The boy is right, but what he did was wrong," an old said walking up to them. "The Valar never cared about anyone on Arda and everyone here has always lived under the shadow and this has been our way of life since the beginning and it's the only thing we know. Now they send an Army after everyone is dead and all lies in ruin and there's nothing left but the bones. They should turn around and go back to Aman because no one wants them here and this is not their land to defend, but ours and we lost. This has always been Morgoth's domain and they should let him have it."
The crowd agreed with the old man and many children and adults picked up stones and threw them at the Maiar and cursed them. Eönwë didn't flinch when a stone thrown by a child hit him in the face and Olórin didn't move when a stone hit him on the arm and a leg. The rest of the Maiar were also pelted with stones, and they stood there as more stones hit them, and saw the hatred of the second-born children of Eru Ilúvatar towards the Ainur.
"That's enough," the old man said. "They got the point."
"We understand we're the last mortals to leave Arda," Durin said when he walked up and stood next to the old man.
"Yes, and after you leave they're be no more mortals left on Arda," Brennan replied.
"Good," Durin said nodding his head.
"I'm glad I don't have to die on Arda," the old man said walking away with Durin.
Olórin saw the anguished look on King Finarfin's face, heard murmurs from the elves and saw the shocked looks on their faces.
Ulmo was sadden at what he saw, for he alone loved both of his Atar's children equally.
Námo watched as the scene unfolded and saw the grief in Manwë's eyes and knew his brother was deeply hurt, and saw his sister weeping.
The others walked back to the Command Tent without the elves.
xxx
"The Wraith have made two passes on Arda, but they don't know we've rescued our own; and when they make a third pass they're going where the food is," Brennan turned and told Eönwë after everyone took their seats.
"To Aman?" he asked.
"Yes," Brennan answered. "For whatever reason they by-passed Aman twice, but they probably won't the third time."
"Do they know about the Ainur?" Eönwë asked.
"No, and they don't care who you are," Brennan answered. "If they can't get what they want in Aman they're going to bombard Valinor from space and lay waste to everything you hold dear; and those walls can't protect you from the Wraith.
"Their weapons are devastating and they're going to rain down everything they have on your heads, and it's going to be a constant bombardment with no let up," Boro told them.
"They also might release their darts and they'll be thousands of them converging on Valinor firing their weapons," Dima said.
"The Wraith know there's plenty of food in Valinor, but we think they're unsure about other things in Valinor, and I think that's why they haven't culled the elves yet. If I was a Wraith Queen I would send a ship with darts to probe Valinor's defenses to see what happens, and that's going to tell her everything she needs to know," Santana told them. "We know the Valar will do anything to protect Valinor and the elves at everyone else's expense; but the Wraith are going to make you make hard choices and those choices are going to be devastating to either Valinor or Arda, and that's what it's going to come down to. We know the Valar are going to opt for Valinor and not Arda."
"Why do you think the Valar will never protect Arda, Colonel?" Olórin asked looking at Santana.
"Arda's expendable, but Valinor isn't because it's your home, and you've already proven it," he answered.
"I agree with Colonel Santana ma'am and sirs," Salar said to them. "The Wraith stayed cleared of Aman both times, and I too think they're unsure about Aman and they don't know what to make of it, or there's something there that frightens them. We know the elves are only food to the Wraith, and I think if we don't find them, the next pass they make over Arda they're going to cull all the food on Arda, except the dwarves, but I'm not sure about Aman."
"Why won't the Wraith cull the dwarves Colonel Salar?" Eönwë asked.
"They live underground and the Wraith have never culled anyone who's lived underground. For some reason they can't see underground like we can; and that's the reason they didn't cull the elves the first time. Everyone on Arda was hiding underground or behind walls, except men, because it's not in our nature to hide. The Wraith culled the majority of the mortals in this galaxy long ago, but not all of them; and some of those mortals lived underground out of their sight, and mortals on other worlds were never culled," she answered.
"Our world was never culled and we never knew about the Wraith until the humans from earth told us about them after we met them," Jaro told the Maiar.
"The Wraith don't know everything about this galaxy General," Brennan said to Jaro.
"Point taken ma'am," he replied.
xxx
"My gut tells me we missed something ma'am and sirs," Salar said.
"Colonel," Brennan said with a raised eyebrow.
"I think the Wraith have been sitting on Arda's doorstep for hundreds of years guarding their food and this is their new feeding ground. We checked this star system and found no evidence of the Wraith, but we didn't check the surrounding star systems; and I think the answers we seek are in one of those star systems," Salar said. "I also think there's a third ship and that ship is the one guarding their food on Arda."
"Why do you think there's a third ship Colonel?" Boro asked.
"It's just a feeling I have sir and I think that's the ship that found Arda; and someone told those Queens about Arda. We know the Wraith only come together to feed when there's very little food to go around. We only saw two hive ships above Arda, but we found the human remains in two different star systems in this galaxy," she answered. "Sam show us where we found the human remains from Arda."
"Yes Colonel," he said and the two star systems appeared on the star map.
"We know the Wraith are never far from their food and I believe we'll find a hive ship in each of those two surrounding star systems, or something else that'll lead us to them," Salar told them. "They took their food to two different star systems and that tells me one hive ship is in each star system, or the surrounding star systems."
"Very good Colonel," Brennan replied with a smile after studying the star map.
"Thank you ma'am," she said. "There's also plenty of food in the Pegasus galaxy, but for whatever reason the Wraith aren't using the Stargate Network, and I wonder why?"
"The Wraith never return to a planet after they've culled all the food thereon. When we arrived in the Pegasus galaxy many of those worlds had already been culled; except the ones they didn't know about, such as General Jaro's home world," Santana answered. "However, they don't know some of those planets have been repopulated by the original inhabitants that survived.
"How did they survive Colonel Santana?" Olórin asked.
"By walking through the stargate to another world, and they returned to their original home world either during or after the Wraith's civil war," he answered. "I think the Wraith are being prevented from using the Stargate Network ma'am and sirs."
"Why do you think that Colonel?" Dima asked.
"All evidence points to it sir," he answered. "The Wraith have always used the Stargate Network, and they haven't for many hundreds of years, and I suspect someone is preventing them from using the Stargate Network."
"An Ancient?" Boro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes sir, and only the Ancients have the power to do that," he answered.
"That's why they went to sleep until a scout ship found Arda," Brennan said.
"Yes ma'am," Santana replied.
"I want those ships found, and when you find them I want their computers and star maps downloaded before you destroy them," Brennan said looking at Dima and Boro.
"Yes ma'am," they replied in unison.
"Morgan knows where those hives ships are ma'am," Santana said.
"She's not going to tell us Colonel," Dima replied. "She wants to give us the satisfaction of finding them ourselves."
"You're right General Dima," Morgan said when she appeared in the tent.
"Listening in on our conversation Morgan?" Dima asked laughing.
The Maiar and the unclad Ulmo saw the others smiling up at Morgan.
She smiled at the General and then disappeared.
xxx
"The ones that threw stones at you are from the Three Houses of the Edain," Brennan told the Maiar.
"Why did the Edain do that General?" Olórin asked Brennan, knowing the Three Houses of the Edain fought side-by-side with the elves against their brother.
"They don't like you and never have, nor did their forefathers," she answered. "This is one of the consequences of the sundering of the elves, and the sundering of the elves had consequences not even any of you could foresee, but your Father did; and when you raised those mountains your Father stepped in and took up the guardianship of Arda because he wasn't going to leave men to the tender mercies of your brother. This is also part of the war between angels and men."
"We're not at war with men General?" Eönwë said to Brennan in his sing-song voice.
"Yes you are," she replied. "When you raised those mountains and shut out men forever, you fired the first shot at them. When they found out about you, they couldn't understand why you let your brother do to them what he did to them, and why you were at strife with them."
"Men talked about you in very unpleasant terms and thought you were no better than your brother," Salar said.
"You didn't expect them to welcome you with open arms, did you?" Santana asked.
"We thought they'd be happy to see us Colonel," Eönwë answered.
"Why would you think that?" Dima asked the Chief Maia. "You've never done anything for anyone on Arda."
"I see you don't know humans very well, and if you did, you would've known that was the reception you were going to get, and they were never going to wave and smile at you," Santana told them.
"Welcome to the real world," Salar said. "The world you live in is a wonderland where everything is peaches and cream and they're no hardships. The humans you encountered this afternoon lived in squalor and deprivation and they were born in those conditions; and they're bitter and seething with resentment and that young boy and old man spoke for all of them. This place is a cesspool and always has been, and I wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy."
"The world of the damned," Santana said.
"You screwed up and you screwed up big time when you sundered the elves, and your Father stepped in and corrected your mistake," Dima told the Maiar looking at each one with a hard glare, with his hands folded on the table. "If you'd asked your Father if you could take the elves to Aman to protect them, He would've told you no and He was always going to get them back, and the signs were always in Aman."
"What were the signs in Aman General Dima?" Eönwë asked.
"All the signs pointed to Fëanor. One sign was the making of the silmarils, and it was the silmarils that got the Noldor back to Arda where they always belonged. The other signs are beyond your understanding because they came from Greek Mythology on earth," Dima answered. Your responsibility were to both elves and men and you failed men due to the sundering of the elves – and the sundering of the elves lead to all the woes that befell everyone in Aman and on Arda."
"I beg to differ with you sir," Salar turned and said to Dima.
"Colonel," he said in an authoritative voice when he turned and looked at her.
"Men on Arda were never the Valar's responsibility and men don't answer to angels. This all goes back to the beginning when God saw the Fall of the Angels and how He was going to punish them. The names of the fallen angels on Arda were stricken from the record when they left heaven," Salar replied.
"And their places were found no more in heaven," Brennan said smiling at the Colonel.
"Yes ma'am, and Arda is how their Father got rid of their fallen brother and the ones that fell with him, and why humans were put on Arda," Salar replied. "The second rebellion was spectacular with loud trumpets blowing, heaven shaking to it's very core and the Wrath of God coming down on the angels heads; and the devil and the angels who fell with him names were also stricken from the record. The third rebellion was the cause of a doom to be laid on the angels, or the Doom Rebellion as we call it; and everything the Lord did on Arda has to do with the doom the angels on Arda and in Aman are under, and they've been under that doom for a very long time. This has never been about the elves, contrary to what they may think, but about men, and they didn't know that everything they and their brother did has to do with the doom they're sitting under concerning men. It was their brother who sent them running to Valinor and away from elves and men on Arda before we awoke. The elves were made to run interference for men to keep the angels in Aman away from men so they'll never interfere with us; and the sundering of the elves and raising those mountains did just that – and the elves is how their Father kicked them to the curb concerning men, because he'd already taken everything away from them long ago. The angels in Aman were so focused on the elves they forgot about men, and their Father also knew they'll leave us be, and that men on Arda will never like or love any of them, which as it should be."
"What's the doom Colonel?" Jaro asked Salar.
"I'll tell you a few parts of the doom sir. The Lord took everything away from the angels and gave it to us; and we're now His messengers, prophets and dooms-men. Men now pronounce the angels dooms to them – that's why the Lord sent Húrin to pronounce Morgoth's doom to him and also Turgon's and Thingol's dooms to them. Húrin also pronounced the orcs doom before they took him to their master, and that doom was God's sign, and only we know what that sign is, which means completeness and perfection, and it's written in the First Book of Genesis. Húrin was also the Lord's dooms-man for all of Arda and not some angel sitting in Aman. He was the greatest and mightiest of all of His children in mind, body and spirit on Arda and in Aman, and He was the Lord's terrible swift sword on Arda. He had the same fire as Fëanor, but his fire was tempered, unlike Fëanor's, and his fire came through his sword – that's why no man or elf could best him in weapons; and his son, Túrin, also had the same fire. He issued a challenge to Morgoth when he was a young man and the words he spoke were prophetic. In a testament to Húrin's greatness and before he battled the orcs, the Lord sent his Holy Spirit to surround him, and then he proceeded to pronounce their dooms and prophesied when the Valar's army would arrive on Arda, and they arrived when Húrin said they would. The Lord's Holy Spirit never left Húrin and he was the only one who wasn't daunted by Morgoth's eyes, and he defied and mocked him and he made that big dog howl. Morgoth didn't know his Father was talking to him through Húrin and his Father called his son a name, which went right over his head. What's really pathetic about Morgoth is that he'll woven so much darkness around himself that he couldn't see his Father standing in front of him, and his Father told him so when He said to him he was blind, only seeing the dark. Morgoth also told Húrin what he was going to do his family, and his Father said: do you forget to whom you speak. That meant his Father was going to use his evil against him. He also called men the least of all of God's children and he was comparing us to the angels and the elves. The devil said the same thing to us, and one angel in heaven asked his Father: what is man?" Salar answered.
"Most of that conversation was about men General, and we could tell who was speaking. It was the Lord who warned Morgoth that the Valar's chain still awaits him," Brennan told Jaro.
Jaro nodded his head.
"He and the devil called humans the least of them?" Boro asked.
"Yes General," Brennan replied.
"It gives you an insight of what angels think of men, which we've already known, and the angels in Aman think the same way as their brother," Salar said.
"How do you know what Atar said to our brother Colonel Salar?" Tulkas' Maia asked.
"We saw and heard it, but the how is classified. That means it's a secret," she answered. "Your Father did the same thing here that He did on earth, and we saw Him come to Arda three times. You're not the only ones who can see your Father, and you just found out we can too. The reason the angels from the Doom Rebellion shook in their boots when Enoch walked up them, is that they saw your Father's Holy Spirit surrounding him – and they knew the hammer was about to fall."
"That's how He does it, and then He speaks to you through us," Brennan told the Maiar.
"Was His Holy Spirit His sign Colonel?" Thos asked.
"That's one of them sir, and there were signs everywhere on Arda. The first sign was in Aman, and that was a prelude to what was to come in Aman – and that sign was the death of Fëanor's mother. The Lord's sign was also in Aman. Húrin's servant Sador was a carpenter, and that was a very powerful sign, and he was also a prophet and a wise man of God, and everything he imparted to Túrin about his fate and the fate of the elves was a foretelling. All the prophets God chooses are poor, humble and righteous – be they be men or women – and many were maimed. Sador lost his right foot in battle as a young man, and when he was an old man he fought by Túrin's side, like he did his father's, and went out on his own terms – in a blaze of glory," Salar answered.
"I admire him," Santana said smiling. "No guts, no glory."
"He died a warrior's death," Jaro replied.
"That's how God works, and he told us: I am going to have the small take down the mighty. When God tells you something it behooves you to listen, and the poor and infirm are his favorite people and not the high and mighty..., and if He asked you a questions, beware," Brennan told them.
"The least of His kind, as you like to think of us. We were the arrow your Father aimed at the devil and shot him with; and Adria couldn't understand how we lowly humans could give her so much trouble. Sador was very good at reading people and he could see right through the elves and knew they spoke out of both sides of their mouths concerning men, and he never liked or trusted any of them, and regretted the day men ever met them. None of you could see their faults, but a crippled man did and spoke the truth about them; and we can also see their faults, which they wear on their sleeves for all to see. The elves called men dirty names, and that meant they called your Father dirty names as well," Dima told the Maiar. "If you do it to the least of my kind, you will do it to me, and they did it to Him."
"The elves are racists sir and they're also arrogant, prideful and smug, and the Lord wiped that smugness off their faces when He pounded them into the ground on Arda; and they were the worse of all his children on Arda. All the elves on Arda never knew they had a bulls-eye on their backs and the Lord aimed and fired – and they all went down in flames," Salar said. "Men were not only their brother's doom, but the elves doom as well."
"They also think they're God's gift because they were the first born on Arda, but they don't know they're the youngest race in this galaxy and men were in the Pegasus and other galaxies long before they awoke. When the Noldor arrived on Arda they preened and strutted around like peacocks; but this place ate them up and spit them out," Brennan told them.
"The elves thought they were big time, but they were nothing by small town boys with big city attitudes who thought they were the new sheriffs in town," Santana said. "Being in Aman made them arrogant."
"The elves that came from Aman thought they were better than their brothers and sisters on Arda and they also called them dirty names. The elves on Arda didn't like their brethren from Aman because of the way they treated them and looked down on them, and they hated each other. This is another consequence of the sundering of the elves, and the elves in Aman and the ones on Arda can never live together; and the elves from Arda will never go to Aman because they didn't like the acerbic attitude of the elves that came from Aman, and they were glad they didn't go to Aman. As we all know, the elves in Aman will never accept their brethren from Arda and they too will see them as something lesser than themselves. Another consequence of that sundering is they can no longer communicate with each other, and language is the first thing that goes when you sunder the same group of people, and we know that from our own history," Brennan told them.
"The elves were never taught how to treat others with respect and dignity, which was their downfall; and the only elves who treated men with dignity and respect were the elves at the Waters of Awaking..., Dima told them. "Finrod also treated men with dignity and respect."
"The Valar will forever eat the bitter fruit of the sundering of the elves," Salar said.
That's their punishment for stepping over their Father's head," Dima replied.