In his time as spymaster (or, 'Master of Whispers', as he was politely called), both for the late King Aerys ll Targaryen and the current King Robert l Baratheon, Varys had heard of and even seen multiple strange oddities from the furthest reaches of the world.

The shadowmen of Asshai, the zorse riding Jogos Nhai, the mysterious and elusive men of Yi-Ti, and even the beastmen of distant Sothoryos. With the exception of the very last, Varys had met men hailing from each of these races.

However, despite all he had seen and heard over his many years on this world, Varys had never seen anything quite like this.

He gazed down, his face carefully concealing his quizzical thoughts, studying the object one of his little birds had brought him. The bird in question, a young, street urchin of the female persuasion, looked in between Varys and the object, knowing enough not to speak until instructed.

"Where did you say you found this?", said Varys, not looking up from the object on his desk.

"It was down a dark alleyway in Flea Bottom, m'lord.", said the girl. "It was flying through the air; I swear by the old and new gods, m'Lord. Floating off the stone road, as high as a barrel. It was doing... strange things..."

"What kind of... strange things?", said Varys, looking at the girl and taking his eyes off the object for the first time.

"It was... flying into a wall.", said the girl, looking confused. "It would bounce off, then fly back into it again."

Varys frowned, then looked down at the queer, metal object in front of him. It was made of metal, made so skillfully and perfectly that it put even the finest metalsmith to shame. However, it was made of a metal that Varys had never felt before.

Attached to the bottom of the objects where several arms; small, slender arms ending in claw like hands. A rod was sticking out of the top, and, like a large eye, a circular contraption was set in the front.

"How did you get it down from the... eh, air.", asked Varys.

"Threw a stone at it.", said the girl, shrugging. "It went quiet after that."

"Quiet?", queried Varys.

"Aye, m'lord, it was talking."

"Talking?!"

"It's true, m'lord! But... not in any tongue I knew."

So, the puzzle kept growing bigger and bigger. Varys peered down at the object; next to the rod on the top, a piece of the metal was sticking up slightly, letting lose a series of multicolored ropes from inside the device. Varys was reminded strongly of the innards of a man's stomach.

Gingerly, Varys reached down and stuck the metal piece back in piece. Immediately, the object leaped into the air. The girl scampered to the corner of Varys' office, as the object's 'head' swung back and forth, its eye like appendage whirring and clicking. The arms below the object's main body shot around, as if confused. And a high pitched voice emanated from the object, a chattering language that Varys didn't know.

Then, suddenly, the object disappeared in thin air. A wind tore through Varys room, scattering papers from his desk, heading towards the window. Then, the sounds that had been coming from the object receded in the background.

A few, silent moments passed. "You will repeat none of this to anyone.", commanded Varys. The girl nodded wildly, then dashed to the secret passageway she had come in from.

Varys knew full well that this particular spy of his also reported to Littlefinger, which she would now doubt report to tomorrow. Littlefinger would most likely not believe the story, and have the girl killed. This suited Varys fine, as this not only tied up loose ends from tonight, but also got rid of a leak in his web.

Varys strode to the window and looked out, wondering about what he had seen tonight and whether it would interrupt his plans for the realm.


Oh, Varys. Merely interrupting your plans is the least of your worries here.

Just in case your wondering, no, it is not the Empire from Star Wars hear to invade Westeros, but an entirely different race of people. I will be doing a mish-mash of concepts and alien races from a multitude of science fiction franchises, hence why this is in X-overs and not a specific crossover category.

The alien device Varys' spy found is based on the scout droids from the Empire Strikes Back, because you asked.