Alayne.
The journey down towards the grass covered ground was slow and steady as Alayne mentally counted the sites where the larger chunks of smoking debris landed. She memorized the places where these larger chunks of debris landed since she needed to find the location of the Black Box and the main computer – both of which would be located in the cockpit. She needed to know what happened for the Sparrow to malfunction in such a violent way. Upon hearing distant sounds of screams and nondescript yelling, Alayne looked up towards the distance as a group of Northerners chased a figure towards a river before she looked back down at the debris field. She also needed to find her ejected seat which contained the survival gear beneath the seat cushions.
"It would take a few hours, I guess, for Arya and the others to reach me," Alayne whispered. She called out for Arya through the microphone in her helmet, but there was no response; not even static could be heard through her earpiece. 'Was it some sort of electromagnetic pulse?' she thought to herself as the ground got closer. Alayne started to pull at the parachute's guide wires to slow her descent while thinking, 'no, an electromatic pulse won't cause that much violence. Anyway, the Sparrow should be shielded against EMP attacks.' Taking a deep breath, Alayne continued to slow down as she fell past the distant tree line just before her feet reached the ground. She hit the grassy hard ground running, a near perfect landing before slowing down and then stopping. Quickly – with her breathing controlled while her heart raced - Alayne released the parachute harness around her body before turning and then packing it away as per protocol.
Holding the packed parachute under her arm, Alayne looked around before her eyes focused on the ejection seat of the Sparrow among the other debris. She jogged the short distance to the seat lying on its side before crouching down and then pulling out the cushions and taking out the bags within the metallic frame. She then carried those bags, including the one with medical equipment, further away from the site of the debris field. Jogging towards the nearby riverbank lined with trees and bushes, Alayne stopped beneath a tree and placed the bags, along with the packed parachute, on the ground shaded by the tree.
She released the breath she did not know she was holding and placed her hands on her hips. Closing her eyes, Alayne breathed in and out in a controlled manner to calm her still racing heart. There were so many questions going through her mind at that very moment; none more important than 'what just happened?'
Closing her eyes, Alayne took another deep breath and then exhaled slowly before opening her eyes and crouching down as she reached for the bag to her left. She didn't examine the medical bag since she knew a nanite pen and a healing patch was used on Robb. Alayne instead opened the bag containing emergency survival gear which included signal flares, a compass, a multitool, a few light-sticks, a fishing kit, waterproof and windproof matches, insect repellents, sunscreen, candles, a signal mirror, a card containing the symbols for morse code, some towels, and a reflective blanket. She placed all these objects on the green grass before reaching further into the bag for a pair of gloves, water purification tablets, collapsible water bottle, and a water filtration bag. "That's the survival gear sorted," Alayne whispered before reaching for the other bag containing the secondary survival gear.
"Emergency GDO," Alayne whispered as she placed the slim rectangular device on the grass. She then reached for the wrist mounted plasma repeaters – these were similar weapons to the ones used by the Kull Warriors several years ago. She then took out a full body suit which used the same durable material as the armour protecting the Kull Warriors – these body suits were impervious to energy and kinetic weapons but not so much against sharp knives, "or arrows, or swords." Alayne figured the body suit won't be much use in this medieval world and thought, 'but then again, something prevented my Sparrow from scanning this planet. And then something destroyed it… there has to be some highly advanced technology on this world.' Alayne put aside her decision on using the full body suit for now. She left it folded and placed onto one side. She then took out the life signs detector which had a maximum range of two-kilometers; Alayne immediately set the maximum scanning range. Putting away the detector, Alayne then reached into the emergency pack and smiled upon retrieving the final item: a radio. She turned it on and breathed a sigh of relief when the green light – indicating the radio was working – turned on. She then fiddled with the channel knob before speaking into it.
"Arya, this is Alayne…" Alayne spoke into the radio, "Arya, can you hear me?"
Alayne re-checked the radio frequency channel – making sure it was set for subspace frequencies – before speaking once again, "Arya?" There was a wait of a few seconds before Alayne breathed a sigh of relief as the youngest female Stark's voice came through.
"Alayne?" Arya replied with a hint of worry evident in her voice, "are you alright? We saw your… flying thing… turn into a ball of fire and then there was a loud boom!!! And then we saw something fall…"
Alayne chuckled before saying, "I still don't know what happened to my flying machine. But I landed safe."
"How did you land?" Arya asked. Alayne could hear loud voices around the little girl, their combined voices coming through the speaker on the radio in her hand.
"I'll tell you about it when we meet again. I think I am a few hours away from where you are…" Alayne then looked around at the debris field before saying, "I'll meet you and your people here before we move on. This isn't a place to rest… not with so much debris on the ground."
Arya then acknowledged Alayne before the former said that they were on the way. After their talk, Alayne put away the primary survival gear into the bag before she put away the secondary gear. She then stood back up and placed the bags on the side of a tree before she went on to explore the debris field. She needed to know what happened, and she hoped the Black Box and the main computer would have the needed answers.
It would be a few hours later that Alayne was sitting on the river bank after finding the Black Box completely destroyed, with only large bits and pieces of it shattered within a metallic recess behind where the seat used to be. So, there was no flight data and the main computer was destroyed as well; all of the electronics were fried. So, Alayne just sat at the riverbank as she stared off into the distance. All she could do now was wait for Robb, Arya, and the others before going onwards to Greywater Watch. In the meantime, she needed to search for a Stargate, 'The systems on the Sparrow indicated no Stargates in range. And now… damn it… it's going to be a stroke of luck to find a Stargate.' Alayne wanted to scream but, instead, she sighed and lay back down on the cool grass.
She needed to bathe and then eat. There was nothing useful that could be salvaged from the Sparrow, so all the advanced technology she had available were already in the packs. Alayne sighed once again and then sat up before taking a look at the life-signs detector in her hand, 'nothing in range for now. Good.' Putting the detector away, Alayne then stood up before stripping off her flight suit as she walked towards the tree. She stripped off each article of clothing before hanging them on the branches, then gingerly stepping into the flowing river. She gasped at the cool sensation going through her naked body before submerging herself beneath the surface of the water. Alayne could feel the current gently pushing past as she broke the surface of the water and breathed out before submerging herself once again.
Alayne would repeat this for a few times before she made her way back towards the river bank – beads of water dripping down her fair skinned body as she walked up the bank – and then towards the tree. She mentally cursed at the lack of a small towel before grabbing her undershirt and then dabbing her skin dry. Quickly submerging the shirt after having used it on herself, she wringed it before hanging the wet shirt on a tree branch alongside the other bits of clothing. Alayne figured it would be best to use the full body suit. She reached down, grabbed the suit, and slipped it on legs first.
She then packing the dried clothes into each bag, and put on her vest before taking a seat under the tree. Sighing at the situation, Alayne leaned back against the trunk and closed her eyes. As she slept, the breeze brushing past her caused the leaves on the tree to rustle, and the medium length grass at the nearby riverbank to sway to and fro. As the leaves rustled, she didn't see a raven landing on a tree branch, its eyes a pale white; she didn't see the raven looking down at her with its head tilted as if curious about this female stranger. Alayne didn't see the raven look away from her and towards the debris field before flying off to one of the larger chunks and landing on it. From its new vantage point, the raven looked around the field with curiosity before turning its head towards Alayne. The raven simply stared at her for a few more seconds before flying off towards the North once again. As the raven flew away, Alayne shifted her body as memories of happier times with her family drifted through her mind.
It would be a few hours later that the life signs detector beeped, indicating people were already within its scanning range. The continuous beeping woke up Alayne with a start before she sat up and looked around with a look of confusion. For an instant, while the detector still continued to BEEP, Alayne wondered why she was resting on a field. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she slowly came to the realization that she was stuck on an alien world where a medieval culture seemed to be the norm. There was also the fact that there were duplicates of her dead brother and mother on this world who were alive. Shaking her head before slowly standing up, she looked to her left and could just see the front line of riders coming her way. Alayne stretched her arms over her head before yawning out loud. She walked out from under the shadow of the tree and waved her left hand high over her head as soon as she heard the galloping of the horses.
It wasn't long before the first group of riders came up to her led by Robb who smiled and nodded his head just as he slowed down and stopped. The others in the group stopped as well before there was a loud yell of "Alayne!!" from Arya.
Alayne strode around Robb's horse to see Arya seated in front of the scarred man whose name escaped Alayne for the moment. 'Right,' she thought to herself, 'back in the castle, these guys called him the Hound. And he called me Little Bird. Wonder what's that about?' Alayne looked up at the worried Arya who had numerous questions spilling out of her mouth. Alayne glanced at Catelyn who was on the horse next to Arya. Alayne nodded at the woman who carried a worried expression before turning her attention back to Arya.
"I'll try to explain what happened tonight, when all of us can take a break." Arya just nodded her head.
It would be several minutes later, after Robb had instructed two of the Northerners in the group to carry Alayne's three bags, that the latter pulled herself up to the horse and sat behind the woman known as Dacy Mormont. As they moved out past the debris, the Northerners could not help but look around at the larger chucks of debris. It wasn't long before the large group was past the debris field and were making good time towards the Neck.
By the time the Northerners had set up camp once again for the night, the sun had just crossed the horizon. Robb ordered guards to be placed at the perimeter while others set up fires to keep warm since there was a chill in the air. Other fire were set for cooking small game several foragers had collected during the journey. In addition, Roose Bolton was heavily guarded by several of the Mormonts and the Umbers so that he could not try escaping once again. While the rabbits and other game, as well as some fish, were being plucked and cut, Alayne was seated near a fire with the medical bag to her left and the other two bags to her right. As Arya, Robb, and Catelyn – alongside several others – were seated around the fire, Alayne looked up at the first few stars in the sky before looking back down at Arya who was staring expectantly at her.
And Alayne had promised them answers.
So before Arya could ask, Alayne spoke up, "I was born on a planet… one that is similar to yours…" Alayne waved her arms around at the surroundings while continuing, "…with trees, grass, mountains, blue skies, and so on, called Earth."
"Like dirt?" the Hound pointed at the ground.
"We call the ground… dirt, soil, and so on, earth as well," Alayne said while the Hound grunted.
"Let her finish," Arya huffed in annoyance while Robb rolled his eyes.
Alayne chuckled before continuing, "as for how I ended up here? Well, there was once an enemy that used to rule many thousands of worlds in this galaxy."
"Galaxy?" Robb asked leaning forward with a quizzical look on his face.
Alayne then said, "a galaxy… well… a think of a galaxy as a collection of many, many, many gasses, dust, and far more stars than your mind could ever imagine." Upon finishing her simple explanation, Alayne heard many whispers around her while some were laughing, others whispered everything she said was not possible. Her eyes locked on the disbelief on the faces of Robb and Catelyn before settling on the annoyed expression on the Hound, while Arya remained curious. Alayne then chuckled before saying, "it's hard to believe, I get that, but I have explored many other worlds with my team."
"And you are allowed to fight? To do battle with enemies?" Arya asked.
"Yes," Alayne answered to the look of fear on Catelyn's face before clarifying, "I am a part of one of many exploration teams that travel to other worlds, and our mandate… our main goal… is to make peaceful contact with other peoples. But sometimes, the people we meet are not interested in peace. And when that happens…" Alayne shrugged before continuing, "we'll have to defend ourselves." Question after question were then thrown at Alayne, all of which she answered as simply as she could, with some answers surprising the people around her – including the fact that she had to go through years of education and military training.
They asked about the enemy that used to rule the galaxy, and Alyne answered – her answers leaving everyone stunned. "But by the time I joined, that war was over. There are still small skirmishes here and there against this enemy, but their defeat allowed another enemy known as the Lucien Alliance to rise. My people and our allies defeated them as well. And there was peace for some time before another enemy attacked Earth and our allies." Alayne then took a deep breath before looking at Catelyn and then at Robb, "my mother and brother were killed in that attack."
"I see," Catelyn whispered before looking at Robb and Arya who had her lips pressed together while seated on the grass, the light from the fire dancing on her skin and dress. Alayne then spoke of everything that happened since that attack before ending with how she made it to this particular planet and how she did not know what had made her plane explode. After she was done, Alayne sighed before looking back up at the night sky.
"And that's my story so far," she said before looking back down, her sights set on Arya and the others, "so what happened back at the castle? At the wedding, I mean. I mean why did it happen?" Alayne noticed most of the people around her staring at Robb.
She looked on as Robb sighed, rubbed the back of his head, and then spoke, "I was promised to one of the Frey girls." Many in the group huffed. Alayne looked on as Robb shook his head before continuing, "I fell in love with someone else…"
'Ah,' Alayne thought to herself.
"You didn't…" Arya looked over at Robb in surprise.
Alayne could only guess that Arya had no idea of the reasons for the attack on the wedding party. The woman from Earth turned her sights back toward Robb who said, "we consummated… we made love before we were married and I… well… dishonoured her. So, since we were already in love, I married her."
Before Alayne could say anything, it was Arya who spoke, "that was stupid." It was then that she looked around before asking Robb, "where is she?"
"The Freys killed her," Catelyn said. Alayne glanced at the saddened expression on Arya's face when Catelyn added that the baby was killed as well. After a few minutes of silence, Robb said, "and what happened at the wedding was revenge for the slight against them."
"If you were not present in the hall," Catelyn said looking at Alayne, "I fear there would have been more dead." She then looked over at Robb who was staring at the fire and added, "none of us were prepared for a betrayal of this magnitude."
Alayne then said, "looks like they turned one of your people."
Robb looked over his shoulder at the direction of the tied-up Roose Bolton before saying, "yes." He then turned to Catelyn and said, "some King I turned out to be." Waving his hand at the look of sorrow on Catelyn's face, Robb turned towards Arya, "we will get back the North, Arya." Arya nodded her head as Robb slowly stood up and yelled while turning to face the other Northmen, "we will get past Moat Cailin, we will kick every fucking Ironborn in the North out of our homes, out of our fields, out of our castles!!!" Alayne watched as various people seemed to stir into action as whispers around the camp sounded louder and louder. "We will get back the North!!!" There were louder mumbles all around. Alayne chuckled as an angry Arya stood up and faced the direction Robb was facing.
"You heard your King!! We will get back the fucking North!!!" the young Stark girl yelled out.
Alayne giggled at the exasperated look on Catelyn's face as she stared at her youngest with eye wide open. "Arya!!!" the latter hissed out.
However, it was Robb and Arya yelling out together "the North is ours!!!" that the vast majority of people stood up and repeated the words. They raised their weapons high up over their heads and yelled out "the North is ours!!!" and "for the North!!!" once again. Alayne watched as Robb turned to Catelyn and held out his hand. Catelyn reached out and grasped it before she was pulled up to her feet by Robb who then kissed her on her left cheek. Alayne watched Catelyn face the other Northmen – all three Stark family members holding hands together – as the cheers and yelling slowly died down.
"The past cannot be changed," Robb exclaimed once everyone had settled down. He then turned to one side and motioned towards Alayne, "it is because of Lady Alayne that we have a future." Everyone cheered as Alayne sheepishly waved her right hand towards the group which seemed to have come physically closer together. Where it once felt as if the entire group was in the doldrums, there was a sudden shift in the groups atmosphere. Alayne listened to Robb continue speaking out, "once we have retaken control of Winterfell and the North, I will work on reuniting our home. I will treat with the Heir to Rikard Karstark…" Alayne didn't know this Rickard person, but she could see that many were uneasy. Still, Robb continued, "… and I am sure we can come to an alliance once again." He then pointed at Roose who was glaring back at him, "given Lord Bolton's treachery, I have to wonder if it was the Boltons who burned Winterfell instead of the Ironborn. He will be thoroughly questioned upon reaching Greywater Watch. We will capture and question his bastard as well."
Alayne heard a male voice yell out, "and if the bastard was responsible?"
"He will face the chopping block!" Robb yelled out, "and if so, the Bolton line will end."
"Now we rest," Catelyn spoke gently but still loud enough for people to hear, "we will once again begin our journey home at first light." As the Starks sat back down, the others still stayed close by each other; yet at the same time they were doing their own things.
Alayne could hear more laughter in the atmosphere now. There was still tension, but it seemed far less. Soon, some of the foragers brought gutted fish and game with sticks impaled through them, they pushed the sticks upright into the ground near the fire so that they could be cooked. As Alayne watched the fire, she couldn't help but wonder what the next few days would bring.
Tyrion, a day later.
Tyrion could only stare at the scroll in his hand with a look of stunned silence. A part of him was impressed at the audacity of his father's plan in getting rid of Robb Stark and the combined Northern and Riverlands army. However, a small part of him dreaded the aftermath of his father's actions. This was an unsuccessful attack on the enemy led by the Boltons and the Freys, during a wedding of all times, and under the cover of Guest Right.
It was the second part that worried Tyrion. Guest Right was sacred throughout the Seven Kingdoms, it was the cornerstone of diplomacy. And now the Freys and Boltons had broken the most sacrosanct practise throughout the Seven Kingdoms. And to have the Lannisters associated with this foolish escapade would have consequences. Even if Tywin denied any involvement, the great Houses would know the Freys had Tywin's blessing to break Guest Rights. And that knowledge would be cemented further if, and when, the intended target, Robb Stark, revealed what happened during the wedding.
Strangely, the scroll left out what exactly happened. Well, that was not exactly true either. What Tyrion read was confusing to say the least. In addition, there was no way to know what happened during the intended massacre since the writer of the scroll was not in the room at the time. Instead, the scroll revealed all the Freys and Boltons in the wedding hall were dead, Lord Roose Bolton was missing and presumably captured, Lord Walder Frey was dead, there were numerous bodies of Boltons, Freys, and Northerners in the Great Hall. In addition, many of the Northerners and Riverlanders were able to escape, and most strange was the second to last passage in the third page of the scroll. It was reported that a flying shape with lights swooped down in the night and destroyed the middle section of the bridge connecting the Twins.
Tyrion looked up at his father who was sitting on the other end of the table in the Small Council chamber looking back at him. Next to him was Joffrey whose face was red with barely concealed anger, and next to him was Cersei, followed by Varys and Pycelle on either side of the sturdy long table. Mace Tyrell was deliberately left out of this meeting – Tyrion guessed the new Master of Coin would not be happy that Guest Rights were violated. As for Baelish, Tyrion guessed that the whoremonger was off somewhere scheming.
"So, attacking a wedding," Tyrion sarcastically said while placing the three paged message on the table-top, "and breaking guest rights. I wonder how the Freys had the balls to go with such an audacious plan."
Tywin glared back at him. Tyrion could feel his father's anger directed towards him as the latter spoke, "would you rather have the Northerners killed at a wedding when they are drunk, or would you have them meet our forces on the field with the possibility of many deaths on both sides." Tywin then added in a cool voice, "better to have them be finished off at a wedding with little consequences to our men."
"But they were not killed off," Tyrion countered, "at least not the ones who mattered."
Tywin slammed his fist onto the table before growling, "you and Sansa will travel to Casterly Rock after the Tyrell girl is married to Joffrey in a sennight. By the time of the wedding, I expect you to have consummated your marriage to Sansa Stark."
"I…" Tyrion was about to say that the Stark girl was unwilling, but he knew what the Old Lion's response would be. He was reminded of what happened with his former wife Tysha, and the ruthless lengths his father would go to in order to be cruel to his son. It could very well be that Tywin would have Joffrey or one of the other Lannister lickspittles force themselves on Sansa if Tyrion didn't do the deed himself. "Fine," Tyrion said as Tywin glared at him, "fine."
Tywin sneered at Tyrion before saying, "I'll have missives sent to the North. I know of another House unhappy with the Starks. A House that would succeed where the Freys and Boltons failed."
TBC