Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin

Part 2

Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.

One moment I was in Camelot's castle, the next I was inside my Cosmic Warehouse, yet even though this dimension was outside of reality, and seemed to run by rules different that the existences I was used to, there was no sense of disconnection. Somehow the warehouse didn't feel as if it was outside of reality, and there was odd feeling as I entered the place from the outside.

I imagined that the warehouses of other Jumpers were somewhat of a mess even with robots to tend to it. That sort of thing was to be expected when you filled any space, even one as large as this, with the sheer amount of stuff it was possible to loot from several universes.

Of course they wouldn't have Seven of Nine's powers of organisation. With her skills she'd ensured that the available space was used more efficiently than I ever could have imagined. Everything had its optimised location within the warehouse, and most of what was in here was carefully boxed away.

Okay so nearly everything was optimised, there were some objects that were free of any confinement and lacking in a proper place. A few data padds had been left lying around from when I'd been researching this Jump as best I could.

Some of the weapons weren't on shelves, rather they were mounted on the walls which helped to save space. Mostly rifles of different of different kinds, but there some melee weapons as well. I liked the collect them, some people had posters on their walls, me I enough firepower on display to fight a small war, and I knew that to be literally true.

It also helped that the most valuable thing within the warehouse was not a physical object, and such it didn't require much space, rather many of these containers held true power, in the form of knowledge. The priceless information was kept on Prothean data discs and Borg storage modules, each of which could contain enough knowledge on a subject to keep even someone who was already expert in that subject a lifetime to understand.

There was enough raw information in the boxes that were all around me to found a whole empire on, and perhaps one day they would be put to that use. After all I had more than a little practical experience in such endeavours.

Setting up the Confederation had taught me that I had the skill and the vision to create a civilization that spans the stars, and as such I knew that bringing this world to heel would be a simple matter, but that wasn't a concern as I hadn't come to this world to conquer.

Although that didn't mean I wouldn't make myself emperor of this world, or at least some part of it, at some point later on. I had ten years to spend on a new world, that was plenty of time, I could afford to relax for a while. Perhaps I would do nothing important at all for the next decade. Maybe I would explore this world, and conquer a magical kingdom in some future Jump.

That was the best part of getting on this crazy ride that was Jump Chain, as long as you didn't get yourself killed, and sent home, you could try new things. You could blend in if you wished and not rock the boat too much, or you could be an outside force for major change. For now I had no plans to rock any boats in this Jump as I wanted to keep things simple for a while. I'd had enough of my actions deciding the fates of whole worlds.

I passed by the stasis booths, which contained all of my companions, they'd decided not to spend a decade in a world of swords and sorcery, despite how awesome it could be. But it wasn't that surprising, they were all used to worlds were science ruled, so even with magic this world must seem very dull to them. Or maybe they'd just not wanted to have to deal with a world that was without proper hygiene facilities.

With my bare hand I wiped away some of the condensation that had already gathered on one of the pods and that allowed me to see the person inside. Which was Miranda Lawson, she looked very peaceful, almost too peaceful, but I knew that she was still alive. This bit of technology, which I had built using the combined knowledge of the Protheans and the Ancients, could keep her safely contained for the next fifty thousand years if needs be.

I moved on knowing that I needed to set things up so that this Jump would be as safe for me as possible. It would be super embarrassing to have survived encountering so many hostile aliens, and to have fought in so many space battles, to have lived through entire wars, only to die at the hands of some primitive armed with nothing more than a sharp piece of steel.

"The runabout is back" I noticed.

Cameron and I spent a few moments just looking at the small space craft.

"Didn't you crash it?" Cameron asked.

I thought this for a moment, then it clicked.

"Jump Fiat" I then remembered "I got the runabout with CP, so it must reset or something if it gets broken, at the start of the Jump. Like how you have software updates".

The rules of Jump Chain were well known to me, however not all of them had a very clear meaning, and as such they could still surprise me.

"Well then we can check out the Runabout" I was now saying to Cameron.

Cameron and I quickly got inside the Runabout. When we did I saw that it had returned to me in the same condition it had been when I'd crashed it. This included the upgrades members of my group had worked so hard to install. Jump Chan had really done a good job in setting all this up. Although it had been returned me to at a time when I couldn't use it. Which I'm sure amused Jump Chan somewhat.

While no FTL drive would work in this reality, there were rules to prevent it, this hardly mattered to me as I didn't want to leave the planet anyway. What did matter was that space dock was locked down during this Jump as the only transport I could take out of the vehicle bay was the MAKO. While having a well armed and decently armoured tank in a medieval setting was nice, I had plans for something better.

It would have been great if I could have stuck a ship in orbit, one kept under Cortana's control for the rest of the Jump, so that she could keep an eye on me and beam me out should I seem to be in danger. Also I could have beamed up when ever I wished to and checked out things from above when the mood suited me.

Alas the rules prevented that, and while I could cloak my Mass Effect style armoured transport and install a transporter in it, even if I parked it somewhere in the woods that surrounded most of Camelot, someone would sooner or later bump into it. However having the tank would be handy for quick getaway as while I was on an island, there was plenty of wilderness I could go hide in.

I had a more long term idea for a quick exit. While I couldn't use any kind of space ship I should be okay with a sailing vessel. One small enough to be towed to the sea by my MAKO. Then I could sail it out to the middle of the ocean and drop anchor. Ships didn't cross the Atlantic in this time period, so I didn't have to worry about anyone crashing into the boat.

Which sounded a lot simpler than it actually would be. Building the boat wasn't the trouble. I'd moved the spacecraft that had been here into the docking bays of the Aurora-class that was in the locked up Space Dock sometime ago, so I had the room required even with the returned runabout.

No the tricky part would be driving to the sea. While my MAKO could make it over a range of rough terrain this was a land filled with dense woods, which would not be easy to navigate while towing a yacht. As such I'd have to do plan a route in advance.

Which I could do using cloaked drones. They'd been created for scouting out worlds connected to get via a Stargate, but they should just as easily be able to map the wilderness of Albion.

Once the yacht and its robot attendants were in place, and under Cortana's control, she'd have somewhere to beam me to in an emergency. Then I would just have get something into orbit above Camelot so that she could have a bird's eye of the place.

Which shouldn't be too hard even without any transport that could reach orbit as I should simply be able to beam a small satellite into orbit. This would also allow Cortana to detect things such as marching armies and to know if bad weather was on its way.

But that could wait. It would be better to work on the boat at night, when I could be fairly sure that no one would attempt to enter my quarters. Right not I just needed to make sure that the MAKO was ready to leave at short notice and then I should get ready for practice.

(Line Break)

Hideout. Albion.

Nimueh was a High Priestess of the Old Religion, and as such sensitive to magic and the world in ways that others could never hope to be, and she had sensed something, there was a change coming, she'd known about that, but there something else, something her powers of foretelling hadn't warned her about.

The magic user began using a special crystal in an attempt to scry, to see what this change was, and as she moved through her cave that was her home, she lamented on how she was forced to live. It hadn't always been this way. Once she'd been able to live openly.

For more years than she cared to admit she'd been feared and respected as a High Priestess, then things had changed. Uther, desiring a son and heir, had realised that Ygraine was incapable of providing one. So he had asked Gaius to approach Nimueh with a request that she use her powers over life and death to help his wife get pregnant.

She did so, and as a result Arthur was born. However a life had to be taken to restore the balance of the world in accordance with the laws of the Old Religion, and because of that Ygraine died in childbirth. Uther blamed magic in general and Nimueh in particular for her death. He began the Great Purge, killing many users of magic, and driving the surviving practitioners out of Camelot. Nimueh was banished from the court, and vowed revenge for the death of all her friends.

Soon she would her revenge, the time was coming, but before she could take any action against Uther she had to be sure that she was sensing was not threat to her. If it was then she'd have to deal with the thing or person she sensed, but it might be a threat, this could be an opportunity.

(Line Break)

Training Grounds. Camelot.

The clanging of swords rang out across the training grounds as I watched Prince Arthur cross blades with a young man who went by the name of Sir Owain, my real memories of this time and place informed me that he died in the show when facing an undead creature. My fake memories covered training sessions with him, and a few dull patrols. He wasn't at all an interesting person.

Since I knew he was going to die sometime this season, assuming events played out the same. I wasn't going to bother getting to know him any better. Actually I didn't intend to get know anyone at all really as currently I fancied spending some time alone.

For so long I'd been rushing from one place to another, trying to complete objectives, gather resources, obtain information and dealing with issues, that I so rarely took the time to simply live my life. To stop and smell the roses so to speak. Not that I'd wasted my time, I'd achieved a lot. It was just that I'd saved whole worlds, and races. I'd built and destroyed, and fought for so long that I needed to stop and take stock.

Arthur might be worth getting to know better sometime in the future, but right now I had no desire to get caught up in major events. One of the main reasons for choosing this Jump was to avoid having to decide the fates of others. Hopefully this realm would allow that.

Since I was suppose to be training I went through the motions. Banging my sword against a practice dummy, going for the weak parts were the different bits of armour met. My training told me that in combat that I should strike at these parts in battle, but the rules of combat in training, duelling and in tournaments were different.

I now had quite a bit of information about knights in my head. Which made me glad I'd never made use of the Ancient Repository of Knowledge, because I was going to need some more space in my head for this and future Jumps.

The duties of a knight mostly involved two things, combat and serving the lords, and the noble ladies. I was sworn to serve King Uther, Prince Arthur and the knights that outranked me, which were a few because in the hierarchy of the Knights of Camelot I was somewhere in the middle.

Of course that also meant that there were a lot of people I could boss around. Pretty much anyone who wasn't higher up on me had to do as I told them and with my Authority Perk as long as those commands were reasonable people would do as I told them to. Which could be fun if my new status was managed correctly.

My new knowledge told me that knighthood training began in earnest as a Page. Even as small children the boys of noble families played games and took part in sports that were geared towards learning skills related to horsemanship, the sword, battle axe, mace, dagger and lance.

Obviously these dangerous weapons were not used by these young boys, they played with sticks for the most part, or wooden replicas of real weapons if they could be trusted with them, and while they were educated in other areas, such as reading, writing, history and even some maths, great emphasis was placed on physical fitness and strength. Which made me glad I'd not actually had to endure that as I'd never been any good when it came to PE class.

A Page, who was a noble in training to become a knight, would start to acquire the skills required of a knight in many different ways. One of this was by learning to tilt the lance. A target was erected and the Page would mount a wooden 'horse' on wheels holding a lance. The wooden horse would be pulled along by two other pages towards the target and the page would aim the lance. I had memories of this and despite the lack of any real emotional connection to the people and places within the memories I still found that part of my training to be rather amusing.

Sword play was practised quite a long, which was to be expected as knights used the sword far more than any other weapon. Pages would train using wooden swords and shields. Fighting on piggyback introduced the young knights to the balance and skills required in mounted combat.

Knighthood training in other physical skills included climbing, swimming, throwing stones, javelins, archery and wrestling. All of which I had vague memories of, but nothing important ever seemed to have happened during those many training sessions. Impressions I had of my training led to me to understand that I'd been an average student in all aspects, never worthy of note, but never a disappointment either.

The knighthood training of both the pages and the squires of the Middle Ages continued with acquiring excellent equestrian skills. This was because the horse played an extremely important part in the life of a knight. Not only for battle, but also for tourneys, which knights would enter in order to obtain glory and fame. A knight without a horse was not considered to be a real knight.

Apprentice knights would learn how to ride and control their horses so that could ride into battle without getting thrown from their steeds. The knights in training would start with small ponies, then move onto bigger animals as they grew up and their training progress. I recalled that the pages and squires were also expected to play their part of caring for the horses in the stables.

After leaving pagehood behind and becoming squires, knighthood training became far more dangerous. Injuries were a common occurrence, not limited to bumps and bruises, bones could be broken. My new fake childhood made my real childhood seem very safe and sheltered by comparison. Sure I'd been in fights, but not one had swung a sword at me. Well not a steel one.

Even just fighting with quarterstaffs could result in injuries. Fighting with swords and other weapons had to be strictly supervised and only wooden, blunt or covered weapons were used even by the older students. This was important because while people in this time knew how to set bones, they didn't understand how infections worked so any battle injury could kill a man.

Aside from training with many kinds of weapons, skills with the lance had to be perfected. One of the tools used in the practice of the lance was called called the quintain. The quintain consisted of a shield and dummy which was suspended from a swinging pole. When the shield was hit by a charging squire, the whole apparatus would rotate. The squire's task was to avoid the rotating arms and not get knocked from his saddle. A variation of the quintain added heavy swinging sandbags which also had to be avoided.

Since accuracy was also an important factor, squires practised what was called "Running at the Rings" where the lance was aimed at a target in the shape of a ring. Which I knew form my new memories was a lot harder than people might imagine. Riding on horseback wasn't easy, it was bumpy and uncomfortable. Which made aiming rather tricky.

Since siege warfare was a somewhat common occurrence during the Middle Ages, my training had also included learning about the tactics and weapons used in siege warfare. Siege warfare during the Middle Ages was conducted according to Chivalric Rules, and a truce or settlement would always be attempted as castles were expensive. It was better to capture one as intact as possible.

Knights would be expected to understand the options available when defending a castle, its layout, tunnels and its defences. A young squire, or even a page, would be expected to defend a castle with his life during a siege. These sieges were long affairs, often starvation was the cause of defeat rather than an invading army.

Methods of attacking a castle were studied by young knight. This would include learning about siege weapons, which were the trebuchet, the ballista, the mangonel, the battering ram and siege towers. Some of this did require skills with maths, for the calculation of angles. Skills in climbing were important, as a knight might be required to scale a castle walls.

During his long period of training a squire or page must also show bravery and the ability to withstand extremes in cold and heat, tiredness and hunger. Yet it was not all hard work. The apprentice knights also enjoyed attending tournaments, which were great fun for these people as they hadn't yet invented many forms of entertainment that didn't involve people hitting each other,

While it was the duty of a knight to learn how to fight, they also had to know how to serve their liege Lord according to the Code of Chivalry. The Code of Chivalry dictated that a knight should be brave and fearless in battle, and that he should exhibit other traits, such as loyalty, courteousness and generosity.

A knight's code required them to serve the liege lord in valour and faith, to protect the weak and defenceless, to give succour to widows and orphans, to refrain from the wanton giving of offence, which I assumed meant not to be rude to people, to live by honour and for glory, to fight for the welfare of all, to obey those placed in authority, to guard the honour of fellow knights, to eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit, to respect the honour of women and never to refuse a challenge.

There was more of course, the code grew and changed over time, and it was hard to remember all of it, however I would could just follow the examples of other knights to know how to behave. Or I recall more of the facts when I needed to. Sometimes that was how it worked for me,

Of course living up to that code was a lot easier in theory than in practice, and the code become problematic at times as if your lord ordered you to do something unhonorable, you either had to disobey, would could get you hanged, or violate the code, which I could imagine would eat away a truly honourable man.

If asked to violate the code I would just have to cross that bridge when I came to it, which I would sooner or later, and all I could do then was chose the course of action I thought was best.

"Sir Gothic!" a voice called out.

I turned to see that Prince Arthur was addressing me.

"Yes, your highness" was my reply.

"You're turn to face me" he said.

The young prince was holding a sword and a shield. By the looks of things it was time to trade blows with the future knight. Hopefully I wouldn't make a total fool of myself.

(Line Break)

Battlements. Camelot.

After training I found myself with some time on my hands, so I decided to go and do something relaxing. Because this was a world lacking in television I had to make my own fun. Sure I had more modern entertainments within the Cosmic Warehouse, but it was risky to spend too much time in there, as the place could be discovered. I recalled several events in the show that led to the whole castle being searched at different hours, and I didn't want anyone barging into my room, and discovering the Cosmic Warehouse.

On a whim I'd quickly thrown to together a small kite, which was diamond shaped, and made from materials you could get locally. It was just some cloth, a few bits of wood, and some string. Yet it was remarkably amusing consider the simplicity of it. Many people stopped to look at what I was doing.

"What is that?" someone asked.

I turned my head to see the Lady Morgana and her handmaiden Guinevere, who for some reason was greatly desired by many of the male characters in this show, but I didn't see the attraction. Sure she was kind, somewhat intelligent and somewhat good looking I guessed, but she didn't do it for me.

Morgana was officially the King's ward having been taken into his care after her father died in battle. In truth she was the king's illegitimate daughter and therefore Arthur's half-sister, which made her a contender to the throne. I did think that she was bit of a hottie, but I would never admit that outloud.

History would remember her as Morgan Le Fey (not to be confused with the Ascended Ancient) an enemy of Camelot and she was also a magic user. Not that she knew this yet, and it would be better if she never found out. Right now she was sweet young woman, you cared deeply for others, and had lots of bad dreams. But if fate played out the way it should then she'd end up a major villain.

She'd become a woman filled with hate, and dark magic. She was very attractive, however since I had no desire to unrage Uther I wasn't going to mention that to anyone. As overprotective father's go Uther ranked rather highly, and he an army so best not to upset him.

"It's called a kite my lady" I said, answering the question "A toy really, you run and throw it so that the wind catches it. If you do it right it will stay up in the air until you reel it in".

Sometimes it was better to show than tell so I gave her the string to hold, and instructed her on how to fly a kite. Not that there was much to it. The ease of which it could be flow was partly why it was so entertaining.

I watched her ladyship have fun and her innocence was surprising because my clearest memories of this women were her as the big bad in later seasons of the show.

"Where did you this from?" Morgana asked.

While I couldn't tell the whole truth the Knight's code forbid me from outright lying, although I was sure that it was okay to lie to protect others all while carrying some duty. By that logic It should be okay for me to lie to protect myself. But really there was no need to lie as long as I didn't admit everything.

"They were invented in some distant land" I told her ladyship "And I first saw them flying about when I was a child. I don't remember where or when that was, but I recall watching them for a long time".

Which was all true. Like gunpowder, which I didn't have any desire to introduce, kites came from China, and when I was kid I did spend time watching kites fly.

When Morgana tried to return the kite I insisted that she keep it, making it a gift, and while at first she refused, she did take the kite, and I used one of my near-ascended powers to make Morgana and her maid feel pleasure. It ran through their bodies, not in a sexual way, it should feel more like they lowered themselves into a warm bath after a long day.

While this wasn't the most noble of things to do I figured that it wouldn't hurt in the long run if Morgana felt positively towards me, and felt pleasure when I around, as that would make her want to spend time with me, and I could use that to keep an eye on her. But I didn't need to worry about her right now as she still one of the good people, and Merlin had not yet arrived so everything was peaceful.

Alas that wouldn't last.