Attention
Terrain militaire
Défense d'entrer
Toute personne ou groupe de personnes pénétrant sans autorisation sera arrêtée ou prise pour cible
Groupement Tactique Interarmes Bélier
Warning
Military area
Entry forbidden
Any unauthorised person or group of persons will be arrested or fired upon
Tactical Task Group Bélier
Most of the frame is filled by the large multilingual sign. In the background, blurry from the depth of field, one can see Alnus hill, its gate and the first installations built by combat engineers. Then, the camera turns towards a pair of VBL armoured cars parked nearby, their engines idling.
Apart from a few regulatory identification markings, both vehicles are similar and identifiable as being part of a reconnaissance platoon of the fourth squadron of the first marine infantry regiment. On both their roofs are machine guns chambered in seven six two caliber mounted as turrets, each with a soldier standing behind it. And high up along the long and thin radio antennas, small tricolour banners are waving in the light wind crossing the plain.
The camera gets closer to the second vehicle in the pair and climbs in through the rear door. The inside space is narrow, with seats for only three people : a driver, a crew leader sitting as the co-pilot and a passenger in the back, position currently taken by the camera operator filming those images. Only a few small windows allow one to see through the armour plating as the two cars start to move along the trail.
The shaking endured by those inside the VBL make it clear that those paths have not been designed for motor vehicles. But despite that, the crew leader turns around towards the lens in order to give a few elements of context.
"We're heading north to observe several points of interest visible on the aerial photography taken by drones. Our objective is to identify the nature of those locations, and if need be to relay information on the presence of groups of fleeing disorganised groups that might be roaming around the area."
Outside, on each side of the road, it is possible to see a large sea of grass with a few isles of taller vegetation. From time to time, some unknown creature would jump onto the trail before fleeing from the noise of the engines. But in the end, everything is calm and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed among the soldiers.
This continues for almost an entire hour until the pair arrives atop a small crest. From this vantage point, a small group of buildings is visible a short distance along the path. It seems to be some kind of farm with a house and some barns, but there does not seem to be any human activity. Moreover, the only visible silhouettes are those of cattle carcases…
After a quick back and forth on the radio, the patrol leader orders his team to carefully get closer. Wheels start to slowly spin, the two VBLs progressing at a pace that would allow the gunners behind their machine guns to react to any danger. Just like that, the atmosphere had changed, becoming more serious and tense. Helmets are now tightly strapped to heads and index fingers are near the triggers.
A short distance away, the lead vehicle stops and the three soldiers on board dismount. They continue their progress on foot with support from the second vehicle's turret. When they arrive at the first barn, the doors are already open and the situation inside is the same as the situation outside. A few heads of cattle lay in their blood, bags of grain have been torn open and seemingly emptied of what they held, various objects are scattered on the ground… But still no human presence, alive or not.
Situation is similar in the second barn. More chaos and no trace of the farmers. Only the main house is left, but the images do not leave any possible doubt. The roof has completely collapsed on itself, and the wooden columns that still stand are blackened. But without any body found in the ruins, one conclusion stands clear of the other. This farm has been abandoned, although it is impossible to say how or why yet.
As the site is now secured, the soldiers regroup around the non-commissioned officer leading them in order to transfer all the relevant information to the other reconnaissance teams. So the camera backs away by a few metres to capture a larger scene.
A map of the area is open on one of the VBL's hood and a soldier starts taking notes of what they have observed. Then, another splits away with a small camera in hand to take pictures of anything that can be even remotely interesting: prints on the ground, wounds on the dead animals, the few objects that have survived the flame… As for the rest, they quickly spread out in order to ensure the security of the area.
But as the pressure seems to finally relax within the patrol, one of the soldiers starts to shout.
"Contact! South! South!"
In an instant, everyone turns to look at the ridge from where they had arrived. From there, three silhouettes are watching them, but they do not appear to be armed or hostile. The cameraman takes the opportunity to zoom in to get a better look at these mysterious observers. The first two are a man and woman, seemingly middle aged and dressed very simply. Their clothes are dirty, their faces are tired, and one can see their lips move as they point worriedly towards the soldiers. Contrast is sharp with the third person, a teenage girl with very light coloured, almost silver hair. She is wearing a simple but colourful dress and is holding in her hand a large wooden staff with some sort of blue stone at its top. Her attitude also contrasts with the couple with her calm and neutral expression as she observes the soldiers and their vehicles.
After a minute where she seems to listen to the comments of her companions, she looks at them and says a few words before turning towards the farm and making a step. The couple looks as if they try to stop her, but she does not listen, so they instead follow her without much confidence. The camera then pans back to the non-commissioned officer who puts down his binoculars on the hood of the VBL, undoes the strap keeping his helmet on his head and replaces it with his black beret adorned by a golden anchor.
"Those are civilians," he says as he walks around the vehicle to meet them. "I'm going to try talking to them, but keep your eyes open."
The rest of the team nods, lowering their weapons but keeping the grips firmly in hand. He then reaches for a pocket on his plate carrier and pulls out a small handbook. That book, all the soldiers that take part in Opération Bélier carry a copy on their person. It is a rudimentary translation guide between French and Saderan, containing all the information that the linguistic teams have gathered on the language of this world. It contains alphabets, pronunciations, and simple phrases like any good travel dictionary. And for this situation, he opens his guide to the first contact page.
The teenager stops a dozen metres away, her neutral expression still unchanged. The other two civilians are just behind her, and they still look terrified.
(Note : All of the Common Saderan has been translated and sub-titled during the archival process. For additional information, please contact the Institute for the Protection of Saderan Languages)
"Me sergeant Marc. We soldiers France. Who you?"
Words and intonation are hesitant, but it seems like the girl has no issue understanding him.
"I am Lelei La Lelena from the village of Coda. The people with me are Mait and Loah, the cattle farmers that lived on this farm."
Like her expression, her way of speaking is neutral, almost cold. Each of her words are said slowly and clearly, showing that she is conscious that the man she's speaking with is far from mastering the language. On top of that, simple movements of her hand not holding the staff accentuate key elements to make it easier to understand. All of this allows the soldier to write down important information he managed to understand before choosing a new set of words from the guide.
"Know what here happen?"
"Two days ago, former legionnaires raided and pillaged the farm for anything of value to them; Mait and Loah managed to flee towards the village."
"Village?"
"Yes, the village of Coda. It is located to the north of here when following the great road in the direction of Italica."
The sergeant adds a few lines to his notes before turning back towards the VBL and making a movement with his hand, inviting her to follow him. And without any hesitation, she moves behind him all the while observing the soldiers and their equipment. But with that neutrality on her face, it is hard to say if her looks are ones of curiosity. As for the farmers, they also follow, clearly still not calm.
This small group stops at the front of the VBL where the map of the area has been laid out. It is only at this moment that an emotion finally appears on the girl's face which seems fascinated by the aerial photographs of the region where she lives.
"We here," says the soldier as he points on the paper the position of the farm. "Village?"
Lelei takes her time to observe the map in order to get her bearings. Silently, she puts her finger on the paper at the location of the farm, then on Alnus Hill before sliding it along the main road leading north. She only stops when she reaches the edge of the map.
"The village of Coda is not visible on your map. It is located at the intersection of the Via Alnus and the Via Italicana. By walking from here, one needs slightly more than an hour to reach it."
The soldier nods before reaching for his radio to transmit the most important pieces of information and asking for further instructions. But as the voice of an officer arrives through radio waves, the teenager seems uneasy. She turns her eyes to the crystal atop her staff as if to verify something. Then she goes back to the soldier to ask him a question, but her voice is drowned by the noise of the voice coming out of the radio receiver.
"Stay where you are, we're coming in with the rest. We'll move out afterward."
The non-commissioned officer replies following standard protocol before putting the handset down and turning to his group to transmit the order. Meanwhile, the camera remains focused on the girl and the two farmers that exchange words between themselves in a dialect that is barely audible through the camera's microphone. Then, they finally decide to approach the buildings.
The man gets closer to the fuming debris of the house while the woman kneels down next to one of the dead carcasses. And it is no longer fear that is visible on their faces, but the pain of sadness and despair. Everything they had built during their lives, all their material and sentimental goods, all the things they need to survive… All gone up in smoke or stabbed and left to rot on the dusty ground. No more roof, no more flock, no more food, nothing…
Just tears as they hold each other in their arms, incapable of comforting one another, all while being watched by soldiers that do not know how to react. In the end, a young private steps up to them with a bottle of water and hands it to the couple. They accept while bowing in front of him, quickly repeating words that sound like thanks but are hardly intelligible on the audio track of the video.
What is clearly understandable, however, is a question asked by a monotone voice.
"What is this object you hold in your hand? Is it a magical artefact from your world?"
The camera suddenly pans to the source of the question, Lelei focusing her look towards the lens in a way that does not reflect the curiosity of her words. The operator is lost with the comprehension of what she just said and tries to mumble a few words as a reply, but his efforts do not lead to anything meaningful. Another soldier arrives, translation handbook in hand, to try and help the discussion. What follows is an exchange lacking in fluidity where each of the questions she asks is answered by mumbled words from the language guide that seem appropriate. And step by step, with a lot of patience and through a bit of frustration, a real conversation starts to take shape.
It is only stopped by the distant noise of engines getting closer, indicating the arrival of the promised reinforcements. Coming from the same ridge, the rest of the platoon's VBLs approach the farm ruins at a calm pace. In total, there are now six brown vehicles under the orders of the officer stepping from the passenger seat of the lead car. After a quick look at the ruins of the buildings and the farmers, he approaches the non-commissioned officer.
"So?"
"It's her, Lieutenant. Her name's Lelei and she told us about a village outside of the mapped area. Coda or Codar… A name in that ballpark."
"And the ruins here?"
"From what I understood, it looks like troops that fled the battle turned to raiding and pillaging."
"I see…"
The lieutenant keeps looking around before finally turning to Lelei who has not stopped looking at him since he arrived.
"I salute you," she simply says with a polite voice while standing as straight as her staff. "My name is Lelei La Lelena. What is yours?"
"Lieutenant Anthony Moreau name me. Joy meet you."
"I would like to ask you about your type of magic that is unknown to me, but I gather you would rather I lead you to the village of Coda first."
"Village. Yes. Direction?"
The girl then takes the time to go through all of her explanations about her village again. The officer silently nods as he listens to her voice while looking at the notes taken by his subordinates before turning to them when she is done.
"Check all the fuel levels. If everything is good, we should be able to add the round trip to our route."
The sergeant nods and walks away to follow the orders while the officer gets back to the girl.
"We follow. We want meet leader. Possible?"
"I can take you to him. I think he will accept to meet you."
And thus the platoon gets back on the road towards the north, this time with the three locals as passengers. Unsurprisingly, the two farmers are far from comfortable at the back of the armoured car with the shaking of the suspension on the trail and the noises of the engine. As for Lelei, she silently goes through a translation guide given to her by one of the soldiers. On top of what is written in it, she also seems interested in the object in itself, notably the paper used to make the pages and the plastic cover. From time to time, she raises her head to ask a question, but she only rarely gets answers, either by a lack of comprehension from the soldiers, or because her voice is not strong enough to be heard over the noisy vehicle.
Outside, the progression of the convoy is accompanied by a gradual change in the scenery with pastures slowly being replaced by proper fields. Some are fallow, others show obvious signs of pillaging, but some seem intact with a few silhouettes working the earth. As for the trail, it ends in an intersection with what can finally be called a proper road. Wider, smoother, more comfortable and with stone markers placed at regular intervals.
From there, only a few minutes pass before a group of wood and stone buildings appear in the distance, regrouped inside the perimeter of a simple wooden barricade. In the centre, a structure made entirely of stone seems to act as the core, most likely some sort of temple or shared building.
The line of vehicles stops a good distance away, trying to look as far from intimidating as possible. But it is hard to remain unnoticed in those conditions, and the doors leading inside the village are closed with men at arms standing on observation platforms on both sides of the entryway. Those men are not equipped like the soldiers of the saderan legions, showing that they are most likely simple militiamen defending their homes during hard times.
After another back and forth on the radio with the chain of command, the lieutenant receives clearance to proceed. He gets off his VBL and gestures to Lelei and the farmers so that they follow him.
"You enter can?"
"Yes, the villagers will recognize me, Mait and Loah. And if you are with us, they should likewise let you inside."
It is a group of five - the three locals, the officer and the cameraman - that approach the closed gate on foot. It only stops when it arrives in the voice range of one of the militiamen that starts to speak loudly.
"Lelei, what is going on? Who are they?"
"They are soldiers coming from the world beyond the Alnus Gate. They wish to meet our chief."
"You are crazy! If we open the gates, they will destroy everything."
"If it were destruction they sought, you would not have been alive to speak with me, Timo. I have faith in them."
The guard stops talking after this retort. The words of the girl have authority over him, but a zoom from the camera clearly shows that he has no blind trust towards those foreigners in green and brown. But he suddenly turns around as if taken by surprise by someone climbing on the platform.
When a silhouette approaches the wall and becomes visible to those on the outside, the camera switches focus to what looks like to be an old man with a great grey beard and only a few hairs of the same colour on his head. In his right hand, he holds a staff that looks quite similar to Lelei's, the crystal at its top shining in the sunlight of an unnatural red hue.
The militiamen salute him by respectfully lowering their heads, then Timo whispers a few words in his ear, most likely to brief him on the situation before he speaks.
"Lelei, I see that your curiosity has been rewarded. Enter with your guests, for we also wish to speak."
"Very well, Master."
The militia starts to move to open the large wooden doors and let the group in. The farmers and the girl are the first to step in, and the two soldiers follow them inside the perimeter of the walls.
The houses that make up the village are all similar with their stone base, wooden walls and straw roofs, and they surround the dirt street that leads to the centre of the village. On either side of the way, villagers silently observe the French soldiers, some with terrified looks, others with more suspicious eyes. As for the lieutenant, tries to look as friendly as possible with a smile and hands visibly away from his weapon, but it does not do much compared to the heavy atmosphere.
The group finally stops on the central grounds of the village. In front of them, two men. The first one is the old man with the staff that let them enter, while the other is slightly younger and immediately kneels in front of the lieutenant.
"Oh envoy of the victorious, we welcome you in our humble village. Know that as conqueror, all of our doors are open to you, but we plea for your mercy for we are but humble people with no riches."
His tone is heavy, almost ceremonial, and his eyes are pointed towards the ground to not meet the gaze of the french officer and not incur his rage. But in reality, it prevents him from seeing that the lieutenant is surprised by this welcome, and even a bit embarrassed. Lelei then steps in before whispering a few words. The camera microphone does not pick them up, but their effect is clearly visible on his face. At first he also seems confused, but then it is a great relief that appears with a great smile.
"We soldiers France. We no invasion. We help."
Lelei takes on the role of makeshift interpreter, repeating the words of the officer so that they can be understood despite his thick accent.
And thus this is how, after misunderstandings and words spoken with difficulty, the first contact with the local population happens, letting people hope that in the end things will not end up so terribly.