Chapter 31: "Priority: The Grand Library".
Within the population of the Citadel Council races, a twisted ideal is starting to spreading at an alarming speed. A group of cultists who call themselves Salvationist believe that the Reaper is their salvation, the solution to this chaotic universe and that we should help them instead of fighting against them. Their leaders are believed to be indoctrinated by the Reaper. Regardless, the idea is gaining popularity as more and more followers are joining them each day despite the best effort of the Citadel Council's propaganda department.
At first, their activities were mostly inciting protest, worker strikes and riots but recently they started to conduct suicide bombings, and assaults on police stations and government installations. In some cases, with well-organized assault, they managed to cause considerable damage to lightly defended military outposts such as watch out stations, and relay stations. The scale of the attacks grows larger each time, which causes a significant hamper on the council's war effort.
The Salvationist has agents in most government bodies within the Citadel Council space and the ability to keep staying 1 step ahead of any investigation conducted by both police forces and Spectres. Desperate and out of options, the turian councilor, knowing that the others' pride is too high to ask the UNE for help, secretly meets with the UNE ambassador and asks them to help. President Liam stood between 2 choices either let the cult grow large enough to cause serious damage to the council forces or help them in order to keep them in the war, he chose the latter.
A team of GIA agents, led by Viktor, was sent into the Citadel Council space on 2 Phantom Class destroyers along with the 9th SIF platoon of commander René. Their mission is to investigate and take down this cult using any means necessary while staying under deep cover. Interestingly, while most of the cultists are of various races there are a few humans within their rank as well. This raises the concern that the Salvationist had reached into UNE's border and is working in the dark to support the Reaper.
-Rondel Inn, Rondel-
Cato is waiting in front of the inn with a few guards to help him bring enough horses for everyone. The council insisted that they must travel by horse or on foot within the city to avoid traffic problems. Their vehicles are big for Rondel's streets and while they're nimble enough to navigate, they block the entire street when they move through it.
"Master Cato, why all the horses? The library is nearby we can walk" Ava says as she walks out of the inn, followed by the rest.
"No, no you're the council's guests so we can't let you walk. It's a formality, I hope you understand." Cato smiles and replies.
"Alright, thank you" Ava replies as she nods slightly and then continues "About Lelei, what does she needs to do in preparation for the test? Isn't 1 day a bit rush?" Ava asks while she's mounting up a horse.
"It is a series of trails to see if Lelei has mastered the basics of magic. Everything she needs is in the Grand Library, she can practice there too while you are looking through the monoliths. She's a very smart girl, commander, the best student I've ever had so trust me when I say 1 day is more than enough" Cato says as he kicks the horse to start moving.
"Can we be there when Lelei doing the test?" Ashley asks.
"You're her friends, it would be good for her morale if you're there to support her" Cato replies.
"If we finish scanning everything today" Ava inputs.
"Hear that boys and girls? If you wanna see the magic show you better work hard to get it done today" Ashley looks back at the rest of the unit.
"Oorah!" they reply which causes the attention of many people in the surrounding area.
"This place smell so good, so different than the other places in this world" Jimmy says as he takes a deep breath in. The TAC suit, while airtight, could detect the smell in the air and relay it via brainwave to the wearer.
"It's a spell that is giving the air this lovely smell, without it Rondel would smell the same as the other stinky cities of the Empire but to a lesser extend" Cato replies.
"Huh, like a body spray for a city" Ashley giggles.
It doesn't take them longer than 10 minutes to reach the Grand Library. On the roof of the library are 3 large orbs emitting blue light, next to each of them is a mage casting a barrier spell to keep the barrier up. At the entrance is 2 rows of guards and a pair of stone golems all in shinny armor standing very still. These are just for show, more guards are stationed in a guard barrack next to the library and more golems can be summoned anytime.
Cato rides up in front of the guard captain, without dismounting, he waves his hand in the air as a golden medallion with the council's icon on it appears.
"Greeting, as per the council's order, these people have been granted access to the Grand Library, please allow them in" Cato says.
The guard captain was informed about this visit the day before and is expecting them. Therefore, upon seeing the medallion, he immediately allows them in without any further question. Cato waves the rest to follow him into the front yard of the library. When they reach the large fountain in the center of the yard, Cato tells them to dismount to let the stable boys take the horses.
Up close, the Grand Library looks grander and more impressive. The door, made of a whole block of marble, has carvings of 2 mages holding an orb together, from the orb is a halo spread across the land which Ava assumes that it refers to Falmart. Just like most doors in Rondel, this door opens itself as they approach revealing the elegantly ornate interior of the Grand Library.
Just like the council's chamber, the interior of the library is also lit up by magic. The reason that the Grand Library is so big and tall is because of 4 rows of monoliths, each one of them is 7 meters wide (23 feet) and 10 meters tall (33 feet) but as thin as a sheet of paper. Each of them is covered with writing in neat lines, some are glowing in different colors some are not and all of them are in perfect condition and perfectly new. All around them are scholar mages and fairies busy writing and studying the spell books.
"Everything that we learn, every spell, every new invention of Rondel are from these holy monoliths. For thousands of years, through many generations of scholars, we're still studying them and nowhere near finish" Cato says as he stands in front of the hallway between the 2 rows of monoliths.
Rob activates his TAC suit and scans the nearest monolith "Commander, these monoliths are made of KEL. They're almost 4 billion years old!"
"That's almost as old as Uros's sun, then that means someone put or built this planet here 4 billion years ago. Fascinating" Ava replies then she sees the monoliths count on her holographic screen "it says there are only 500 monoliths in total, surely it doesn't take thousands of years to copy all of these down?".
"Ah, that's where it gets magical, come one" Cato says as he walks over a large green orb and signals the group to follow him. He puts his hand on the orb and chance a spell which make the orb and all the monoliths growl a for split second. All the writing on the monoliths is now different than before.
"Coooooool" David says as he walks over and touches a monolith.
"Really? Cool is all you have to say about all this?" Jimmy asks to which David just shrugs.
"Commander, the suit picked up a large power surge for a split second as master Cato did what he did. Master Cato, can you do that again?" Rob says.
Cato touches the orb and chance the same spell to make the monoliths change again "There it is again! Commander, this is definitely technology not magic. I'll see if our tech can interact with it" Rob says.
"Prothean?" Ava asks.
"The Prothean civilization was old but not this old, commander, this is of another race that is way older than the Prothean" Rob replies.
"I have no idea what you people are talking about so I'll take Lelei and help her prepare for tomorrow and let you do your thing" Cato says as he walks towards a massive bookshelf "Come little one, we have much to do".
"Thank you master Cato" Ava says and then kneels in front of Lelei and dematerializes her helmet "Goodluck, Lelei".
Lelei nods "Thank you, commander Ava. I hope you find what you're here for" she says then runs after Cato.
A young boy runs up to Ava and stares at her, confused, Ava asks "Hello?".
"My name is Atreus, librarian mage, master Cato sends me to help you in case you wish to transform the monoliths writing" Atreus replies "call them pages for the lack of a better word".
"Ah, right, thank you" Ava turns away but then she remembers something "Oh, uhm, how many pages are there?".
"267 943 pages to be exact" Atreus replies without hesitation.
"This is gonna take a while then" Ava shakes her head a little "Alright people, start working I want everything scanned and send back to Alnus Command, chop-chop!".
Suddenly there's a loud noise of an explosion echoing the library that alarm the SIFs, they instantly snap their weapon in all directions, and each member checks their immediate area for potential hostiles.
"Easy, easy, that was just one of our mages experimenting with a new spell" Astreus says as he points at 2 mages who are casting water spells to put out a fire as another mage is healing his own wound.
Ava signals the SIFs to lower their weapon and get back to work "Jimmy, see if you can help them".
"On it, commander" Jimmy replies to Ava command and rushes over to the wounded mage but there's nothing for him to do as the fire was out and the wound was healed by magic.
"Commander, check this out" Rob calls Ava as he's kneeling next to the green orb.
Robs materializes a few small drones, each the size of a water bottle cap, and throw them up. The drones spread out across the library and hover in midair. Once the drones are in place, Rob tabs on the floor twice and throws his hand up as a holographic sheet appears a few centimeters above the floor which triggers the curiosity of everyone in the library.
"Is that what I think it is?" Ava says.
"Yep, circuits and wires, this whole place is like a supercomputer of some kind" Rob replies, he holds his arm out and a holographic image of the Grand Library appears but there's more "There's a subterranean level right underneath".
"Well how do we down there?" Ava asks.
"Give me a second" Rob touch the orb and an interface appears. The language is unrecognizable but it quickly switches language as it gains access to the suit's database "This tech is highly advanced, commander, way more advanced than what we have but it was designed to easily interact with".
"The wisest of all of Falmart and thousands of years, we barely scratched the surface of the knowledge in this place. Yet, it takes you only a few minutes to uncover its secret. The council was wise to grant you access" Cato says as he walks up to Ava and Rob.
"Let not celebrate yet. Rob?" Ava says.
Rob tabs something on the holographic screen "Got it!" he shouts in an excited voice.
The walkway between the 2 rows of monoliths growl white and begins to disappear. As tables and torches fall down below, the SIFs quickly jump out of the way. A stairway that leads to the section below is revealed and the lights are starting to turn on. There are a few long grey desks, on them are different kinds of orbs and strange objects. Some other shorter desks have a holographic screen on them. In the center of the room is a map of a continent that looks similar to Falmart but not quite the same.
Ava leads squad 1 down to clear the room while the 2nd squad continues to do their original job. Once the room is clear, she sent everyone back up to continue scanning the monoliths while she and Rob remain to check out the place. Rob approach a holographic screen and just like with the orb it switches language so he could understand.
"This map, it looks like Falmart but it's not the same" Ava says as her holographic screen in the helmet show to matching percentage of only 80%, however, Rob doesn't reply. Ava looks over and see him focusing on the screen in front of him "Lieutenant Rob?".
"Yes, ma'am? Oh, that map is not live but I'll get to that later. Come and look at this, commander, trillions upon trillions of petabytes of data in here. It would take a tech team with their best equipment a whole day to download all of this and years, maybe decades to study them!" Rob is excited like a child with a new toy.
"My god, what's in there?" Ava is surprised.
"What isn't?" he turns and looks at Ava, his voice shows obvious excitation "Here look, the archive was well labelled, string theory, wormhole theory, black matter theory, blackhole theory, cosmology just to name a few that I can kinda know what about. Then there are technology files in every field, even time related tech! This is like a jackpot of science, commander, everything is in here, even the things that we can't even begin to comprehend of are here!".
"Is there anything that can help us fight the Reaper?" Ava asks.
"I don't know, commander, but it is very likely this archive contain powerful weapons that we can use. Assuming that we can even understand how to make them" Rob replies.
"Hmm, interesting" Ava says.
Suddenly, Ashley calls to her on the radio "Commander, we need you up here".
Ava runs up the stairs and sees Ashley, David and a few other SIFs pointing their rifle at Kaian by the door.
Kaian couldn't hear through the suit of the SIFs and although he notices one of them just rushed up the stair, he can't see through the armor either so he takes a guess "Are you the leader of this group?".
"Yes, I'm Commander Ava Bennett, what do you want?" Ava asks.
Kaian about to step forward to talk to the commander, but the moment he moves slightly the SIFs tighten their finger on the trigger. Notice that, he stops as he promised Rory to not harm these people and he does not want to pick an unnecessary fight.
"Just like I told your soldiers, I'm here to keep an eye on you as per the council's request" Kaian stares at Ava for a few seconds then continues "I made a promise with Rory to not get in your way unless you dishonor Minerva. Apostle promises are holy and I would not break it even if it cost me my life".
"It's true, commander, apostles are very serious about their promises and would not break it. In the case they did break it, the gods would strike them down themselves. An apostle once broke his promise and got stricken down by his god" Atreus says.
Ava thinks about it for a second, as much as she doesn't trust rumors and the unreliable intel from Atreus, she also does not want to start a fight that might cost the lives of some of her men and harm the diplomatic relationship with Rondel.
She waves her hand to signal the SIFs to lower their weapon "Alright, looks like I have no other option but to trust your word" Ava replies.
As the SIFs are getting back to work except for 2 of them that remain to guard him, Kaian notices Ava is heading down the stair to a room that he has never seen before despite he had been in this place many times. He follows the commander to see what is down stair. While Ava was busy talking with Kaian, Rob managed to poke around and pulled up a list of names and image of what he assumed were the beings that was working in this facility. Although they are humanoid, they don't look like any known races, even the Prothean.
"Commander, these beings probably the ones in charge of this facility. I think we just discovered another ancient civilization, much older than the Prothean" Rob says.
"This map is wrong" Kaian says, looking at the holographic map.
"The map is Falmart in the past, very long time ago in the past" Ava says as she walks over to the map and projects the present map of Falmart on top of it "This is the present-day map".
Kaian points his spear to a valley on the map "This is the Valley of the Gods" he says.
Ava isolates the place and compares it with the ancient map, to her surprise the match is 100%. Every tree, every cliff, rock formation, water body are exactly the same as if they are a copy-paste version. This is a very strange thing because overtimes, trees die and new ones grow, wind and water erose wear and erose rocks and soil causing the landmark to change. Over a few billion years the land would've changed significantly but none of that is happening here.
"This is weird" Ava mumbles.
Suddenly, the map highlights the valley and zoom in on it as the light in the room dim out. Ava turns around and looks at Rob "What did you do?".
"Nothing, I just found a button that say 'Holy land' then I thought 'A civilization as advanced as this but still have a dedicated holy land, must be interesting' then I tab it" Rob replies as he shrugs.
"Seriously?" Ava looks back at the map "Although it might worth checking out, I'll send a request back to Alnus Command and see what they think".
"Commander, can you come up here for a second, please" David calls.
"What now?" Ava replies then return up the stair.
David is standing next to a mage in front of a small piece of metal that looks similar to the monoliths. The suit shows her that it was made of the same material as well.
"Commander, this egg head wants me to shoot at this piece of KEL to test if our weapon could penetrate it. I said that it would definitely would and firing indoors is dangerous and it might hurt someone but he wouldn't listen" David says.
"He's right, we're not allowed to shoot our weapon when there's no threat and it is dangerous" Ava says.
"Well, you're scared too?" the mage says.
"Nope, our armor is more than enough to protect us, we're concerning for your safety and everyone else" Ava replies.
"I'm not afraid, just shoot!" the mage says.
"That's enough!" Ava cuts his sentence "David, get back to work. And you, don't bother my men while they're working, we're done here".
"Bye old man, good talk" David does a showman bow and leave with Ava.
"What?" Ava asks, although she doesn't see it she has a feeling that David is up to something.
"You're scary" David replies.
"You're scary…" Ava turns and looks at him.
"Ma'am, you're scary, ma'am" David says.
"Roger that, now get back to work before I have Ashley kick your ass" Ava tabs his helmet.
Great Celestial-Dragon: I mentioned a lot of other franchises too, only allows me to put 1 crossover. I feel it would be fair if i just put ME and not the others.