Chapter 35: "Priority: The Storm".
Author's note: Hi guys, sorry for taking too long. I've been extremely busy recently, but I've finished this chapter! Enjoy.
-Somewhere, Southern Falmart-
It has been 2 days since the convoy left the village to head towards the next one before they head straight for the Valley of The Gods. Himmar did warn them about bandits that has infested the land since the downfall of the Empire. However, the ride was uneventful as no bandit dared to attack the SIF.
"Commander" Rob says as Ava is focusing on reading a holographic book.
"Yes?" she swipes the book close and looks over.
Rob enlarges the sensor screen "There's no life sign at all the next 20 klicks".
"No animals?" Ava asks.
"No animal, bugs, nothing. It's just trees and land, this is unusual" Rob replies.
"How far is our next stop?" Ava asks.
"40 klicks out, commander, the village should be within sensor range soon" Rob replies.
Ava thinks for a moment then turns to the back of the APC "Rory, Kaian, you guys been here before, right?".
"A few times" Rory replies.
"Once" Kaian replies.
"Were there animals, people around this part when you were here?" Ava asks.
"Definitely, the land surrounding the Valley of The Gods is very fertile and lively. Why? What's wrong commander?" Rory asks.
"Our sensors aren't picking up any life sign, there's nothing out there" Ava replies.
"That's odd" Rory replies then looks around the outside through the holographic windows "everything looks normal…except for that storm" she says pointing at the big storm ahead "for almost a thousand years I lived on this world, there were never a storm in this region".
"She's right, commander, the storm doesn't make any sense. It came out of nowhere and TACNet is showing that the fleet and the satellites aren't picking up the storm. Like…it doesn't exist" Rob replies.
"Commander, we need to go outside" Kaian says.
"Village in range yet?" Ava asks Rob.
Rob stares at the screen for a moment and then replies "it is now, there's a few dozen life signs, commander, they're humans".
"Alright, pull up and send a drone" Ava orders.
The convoy stops next to a large bolder and set up a quick defensive perimeter. The sky is grey, with strong wind but light rain as they're still about a good dozen klicks away from the storm. Rob launches a drone from the APC and sends it in the direction of the village to get a visual of the situation over there.
Rory and Kaian have already jumped on top of the bolder to observe the storm and the surrounding area. After she's sure that the area is secured, Ava activates her thrusters and jumps to the top of the bolder with them.
"What's your take on this?" Ava asks both of them.
"Well, the storm is not magic we're not seeing a mana aura from it" Rory replies.
"Commander, the drone is down" Rob reports from the APC via radio.
"What do you mean the drone is down? It got shot? Lightning?" Ava asks then she remembers the flame dragon "got eaten?".
"No idea ma'am, as soon as it entered the storm edge all its signals were cut" Rob replies.
"That's odd, send another and see what happen" Ava orders.
"Roger that, sending another drone" Rob replies.
"What happened?" Kaian asks.
"Our drone, the flying thing you saw a moment ago, just went dark for unknown reason" Ava replies.
"These…drones…can they be taken down easily?" Kaian asks.
"They're pretty resilient, I saw one still flying while 70% damaged" Ava replies.
"So they're hard to kill, the first one just went down and you don't know why then you send another expecting a different result?" Kaian says.
"It's called double check, there's a slight chance that the second drone won't go down and we'll see what's happening in that storm" Ava replies.
A short moment later, Rob reports that the same thing happens to the second drone as well.
"Communication is getting more and more erratic, commander, sensors are picking up some strange reading to put it lightly" Rob says.
"You're saying we can't talk to anyone else? Alnus Command, the fleet?" Ava asks.
"No, I mean there's signal but it's too chaotic our AI can't even handle it. It's weird because this communication AI could handle data packages that went through some of the most chaotic regions of space" Rob replies.
"Send a drone on autopilot back the way we came and transmit everything once it's clear, we're going in. Tell them to send a team to this location and monitor the storm from here but don't follow us in until they hear from us. This is an abnormality and we have to check to see if it is a danger to our forces" Ava orders.
The convoy starts to move again as planned, heading straight into the storm. As they're getting closer, the sky is getting darker and the fog as well as the rain gets thicker and heavier. It's not too long before they enter the storm. The wind is extremely strong, constant lightning and thick fog make the naked eyes could barely see anything. Their most advanced set of vehicles mounted sensors in the galaxy is almost useless in this place. Only about 30 meters (98 feet) of scan diameter can be achieved, although very erratic, it's just enough to navigate. Even the radio communication between the 2 vehicles is hard considering they're just a few meters apart.
Ava is thankful that their techs are not completely disabled by the storm, however, she also worries that there's more to it about this strange storm. For years she was taking part in operations on many extremely inhospitable planets and none of them had this same kind of effect on the advanced tech of the UNE. It doesn't make any sense because Rory and Kaian said this storm is not magic, but if it's not magic then what is it?
"Commander, something just made contact with the shield" Rob reports "hard impact too".
"What was?" Ava asks.
"I don't know, commander, sensor is not detecting anything. Visual range is almost zero because of the fog" Rob replies.
"Alright, keep an eye out the best you can" Ava then turns to the SIF that sit right behind her commander seat "take control of the weapon system and manually engage anything that move, if you can see them" she orders.
"Commader…mul..ple…pact…shield…did not…what…,…ver" Ashley calls over the radio but it's full of radio noises.
"Ash, repeat, you're breaking off, over" Ava says then turns to Rob "slow down let them close in the distance".
"Commander, our shield just made multiple contacts but we didn't see anything, over" Ashley repeats, it's still full of radio noises but clearer and understandable.
"We're coming up to one of the downed drones, commander, its beacon is inactive" Rob reports.
"Get to it and deploy shield, I want everyone to be on high alert" Ava orders.
They go off-road, if one can call that a road, to stop by the wreckage of the drone. Both vehicles park on each side of the drone then Rob deploys the APC's shield dome. The SIF quickly, professionally dismount and set up a defensive perimeter inside the shield dome.
"Shoot at everything that move, stay focus and keep your eyes keen!" Ava shouts her order. She looks around and mumbles "Anything out in this kind of weather is either desperate or up to no good".
While it sounded cruel, SIF units more often prioritize their mission over minimizing collateral damages. It is of utmost importance that they complete their mission at all costs because failure could lead to the death of thousands to billions depending on the nature of their task. Therefore, they usually don't have the luxury of avoiding civilian casualties like other branches of the military. If they have to kill a hundred thousand to save a million, they would, but if they can save a single person without compromising the mission, they'll give their lives to do so.
"Commander, this drone is completely torn apart" Rob says as he's inspecting the wreckage "something wrecked this poor boy hard".
"Impossible, a couple of 45mm rounds from the IFV might be able to do this but…is that claw mark? This thing is basically a flying block of KEL, what kind of animal could've done this?" Ava is surprised.
"I don't know, ma'am, but whatever it was, it can fly or jump really high. The drone is programmed to return to the launch port if it loses communication with the controller or hovers in place if it doesn't know the way back because of a broken sensor or any number of reasons. So, something must have gotten up there and taken it down" Rob replies.
"Lightning?" Grey asks.
"Nah, they used this same tech to survey some of the most powerful geomagnetic storms and it came out barely a scratch. Some lightning strikes won't take it down" Rob explains.
"Contact!" a SIF shouts over the radio as multiple contacts hit on the shield dome.
The SIFs and the vehicles open fire at the unknown hostiles for a brief moment until they retreat away and disappear again into the thick forest and fog.
"What the hell were they?" Ava asks as she reload her rifle.
"Whatever they were, they just tanked the firepower that could take down an entire turian vanguard company and still managed to run away" Ashley replies.
Ava walks towards the edge to the shield to see if she could find something. There are trails of black blood-like substance on the grounds, which Ave guesses that it's their equivalent of blood indicating that their weapon could penetrate the outer layer of the creatures. What's weird is that TACNet isn't highlighting the blood stains. Looking a bit further out she could see blade marks that are distinctively different from the bullet marks on the trees which gives her an idea.
"Rob, you're detecting the other drone?" Ava asks.
"No, ma'am, if it's anything like this one, its beacon would also be destroyed. In this condition we can't scan for it as well" Rob replies.
"Alright, everyone packs up, we're getting back on the road" Ava orders "Rob, configure the sensor to detect the space in the fog and eliminate the flora out of the configuration. We won't be able to pinpoint their exact location but at least we'll know they're about".
"Clever, commander, I'm on it" Rob replies then rush inside the APC to work on the sensor.
They salvage what they can from the wreckage of the drone then set a plasma charge to disintegrate the rest and get back on the road. The storm is getting more intense as they're traveling deeper.
"Commander, take a look at this" Rob says.
"What is it?" Ava asks.
"I did what you asked" Rob says.
"And?" Ava leans over.
"There's a few dozen of those things within our limited sensor range, there could be hundreds or thousands more that we can't see" Rob replies then take a short pause and continues "They're all around us at a distance, like a pack of wolf watching its prey for mistake".
"Alright, keep an eye on them and let me know if they make any move. At least our mounted weapons could track them now" Ava replies.
The creatures circling them for the rest of the way to the village. Rob managed to reconstruct the shape of the creature using the data gathered from the sensor. They're roughly 3 meters (10 feet) in height on 4 legs, all 4 legs are long blades with pointy ends that allow it to attach and move on vertical surfaces. The flexible joints of the legs allow the creature to move fast through the thick forest easily.
Approaching the village, they could see on sensor is a ring of energy surrounding it. The energy ring seems to be what keeping the creature out of the villagers. Readings show that the ring is exactly 10km in diameter and is a perfect circle. They stop right outside of the ring to inspect it first as it would be dangerous to cross without knowing what it does.
Rob stands up after scanning the ring and walks back towards Ava who is waiting by the APC "It's Prothean tech, commander, I got us access. We can pass through it now".
"Prothean tech? in the middle of nowhere? Interesting, let get inside first then we can figure this out later" Ava says.
As soon as they're inside the ring, they realized that there are a lot of villagers standing around watching them. Unlike previous villages they visited, these people are not afraid of them or even seem to concern about the creatures. Ava orders the men to dismount, be cautious but don't be threatening.
"Hello, may I talk to your leader?" Ava talks to the crown.
A middle-age man walks forward with a smile "I'm Crugnok, the headman of this village, we welcome you strangers. What name shall we call you?".
"I'm Commander Ava Bennett of the UNE Military and this is my unit, we're here on an exploration mission" Ava reply.
"Ah, I've heard of you people from traders and travelers from faraway lands. You can call me Crugnok" Crugnok replies, although he can't see through the helmet, he can feel the confusion and add "Before the storm, we used to have a lot of visitors. Since this cursed storm arrived none but you have come. Those who attempted to leave, we could hear their scream from the distant".
"You don't seem to be afraid of us, usually people of this world keep distance from us" Ava says.
"The ring of Minerva let you pass and her apostle travel with you as well as Rory the apostle of Emroy. You must be blessed and trusted by the gods, then so are we" Crugnok replies with a bright smile "Come, you must be tired traveling in this weather I'll tell you anything you want to know if I have the knowledge".
"Would you allow my people to study the ring of Minerva? We would like to marvel at its power" Ava asks.
"Yes, yes of course, lets find you a place to stay first" Crugnok says.
"Thank you" Ava replies, slightly bow then continues "This is lieutenant commander Ashley Le, she's my second in command. You can show her the way, I'll follow after I've talked to my men".
"Very well, please follow me" Crugnok replies then leads Ashley and most of the SIF into the village except 2 SIFs to stay and guard the vehicles.
Ava walks towards Rob with a SAT8 "Take this SAT8 and scan study the ring, I want to know why it's here and what it is protecting. Be careful, ok?".
"Roger that, commander, I'll try to stay safe" Rob replies.
The village is about the same size with Coda village, radio connection and sensors are working perfectly fine within the ring so they managed to get a thorough scan of the place. It seems that only a little less than a hundred people are still here. The sky is so dark that it looks like night time even though the clock is showing 13:00.
"So, Crugnok, how long has this storm been going?"
"Many, many sun cycles ago" Crugnok thinks for a moment then continues "about 30 cycles, we can only tell day from night by the thin strip of light on the North horizon and it's hard to see sometime so we might be missing a few days".
"That's about when Emroy went silent" Rory says.
"Minerva too" Kaian adds "something big must have happened".
"The gods went silent?" Crugnok asks, fear clearly shows on his face.
Rory nods at Kaian as he turns and explain "About 36 cycles ago our gods stopped communicating with us and we stopped hearing their whisper. That's why we're here, we're going to the Valley of the Gods to investigate".
Crugno breaks down in fear and cry "The gods have truly abandoned us! My wife was right, she said the gods don't care about us and we should try to find our own safety. She left the village with a group of man heading for the North, not long after they left, we heard their screams. I guess she's no more, and soon so are we".
Ava watches the man in front of her shaking in fear with his children trying to think of something to say. At that moment, Rob speaks to her over the radio "Commander, can I talk to you for a moment? Outside please".
"Please, excuse me" Ava says then leaves the house to meet up with Rob, Ashley is also standing with him "Found anything?".
"Well, we still don't know why it's here but knight Grey came up with an interesting theory after I explain a few things for him" Rob replies "Whatever the force field was protecting millions of years ago was long gone, this village was built by the people that just happened to stumbled upon the ring and decided to settle here for safety".
"Alright, that's a good theory. But that's not why you want to talk to me, isn't it?" Ava asks.
"No, it's not" Rob says then switch off the speaker of the suit and only talk to her via radio "There's a power core, similar to the one in Novea Castle, that's powering this thing. It's running out of power, commander".
"Well, that's quite the bad news" Ava replies in an annoyed tone, she continues "How long do we have?" she then looks around and ask the question again "How long do THEY have?".
"5 to 6 hours, top" Rob replies confidently.
Ava doesn't know how to reply to that. The SIFs could just load up and leave, their shield and vehicles weapon have proven that they're able to deter the creatures, although the effectiveness is unknown. On the other hand, if they leave, the entire village would be slaughtered. These people stand no chance against the creatures. If they stay and fight, there's no way they could protect them either and they might even die in the process, thus failing their mission.
"I know what you're thinking, commander, but we can't help all of them. Our vehicles don't have enough space for more than a few. You know it's true, commander" Ashley says.
"Yes, I'm aware" Ava replies. Technically it's an easy choice, take as many youngest children as possible and leave. Although she is having a hard time accepting it, it is what must be done.
"Commander, I may have another solution. It's a long shot and might not work" Rob says, hesitantly.
"I'm all ear" Ava replies.
"I could rig one of the SAT8s' power core and replace the Prothean power core, it should last another few years at least" Rob says.
"But?" Ashley asks.
"I have no knowledge of the Prothean's tech and I need time to study the ring in order to reconfigure the power core so that it will work and won't blow up" Rob says.
"How long will that take?" Ava asks.
"I'll try my best but I can't guarantee anything" Rob replies.
"Alright, we're going to prepare for both plans. Ash, get the guys to starts fortify the village in case we need to buy time. I'll tell the headman what happen and our plans. Go" Ava orders.
Ashley and Rob both salute and then leave to carry out their orders. Ava return to inside and walk towards the fire where everyone is sitting. Crugnok is now calmed down which is what she was hoping for.
"What happened, commander?" Rory asks.
Ava sits down and explain everything that has been said. As she's explaining, Crugnok's face is turning more and more desperate. By the end of it, the man just sits there and stare at the fire like his soul has left his body.
"This…power core, it contains magic?" Crugnok asks.
"Yes" Ava replies as she realizes Kaian gives her a quick glance.
"And this magic keeps the ring alive, but it's running out?" Crugnok continue asking.
"Yes" Ava replies, although she doesn't want to lie to him, telling him the truth now can only do more harm than good. Religious has always been a sensitive subject when dealing with another culture, changing the belief that the people hold for their entire lives and was passed down for many generations can potential turn violent quickly. Riot and chaos aren't what they need right now.
"As I said, if we can replace it with ours then the ring will protect you long enough for us to comeback with a lot more vehicles to take all of you to safety" Ava says.
"Very well, I'll pass the word and have the families bring their children here. Please take as many as you can and my youngest daughter" Crugnok says.
"Da! Nooo, I won't leave you!" the kid hugs her father tight and cries.
Crugnok pull her out and kneel down to her eye level "You must go, you must listen to me. Me and your sister will meet you when it is safe, ok? You must go with them, please".
Without saying anything, the kid just nods as she cries louder.
"Commander Ava, please go make preparation, I'll go tell everyone now" Crugnok stands up and says.
Ava nods, she waits for Crugnok to leave the turn to Kaian and Rory "Alright, I know you guys think you're powerful but whatever these are I suspect they're not of this world and as you can see, they're not magic. What I'm trying to say is, stay close and DO NOT go crazy without my order. Are we clear?"
"Don't worry, I'm not a maniac like her" Kaian replies glancing at Rory.
"Is that how you talk to the elder?" Rory giggles.