Cath

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

“Heard. Ping round a list, we’ll add it to our list of demands. It better not be unobtainium!” Zey shouted back to Arancini over her shoulder.

From there she went quickly back to her quarters and pulled on a light, fitted thermal jumpsuit. Grey, with Tamerlane’s logo on the breast. Zey then grabbed the pack she’d partly prepared last night from off the bed and took a quick look round the cramped, slightly uneven cabin. Breathing deeply a few times, she then locked the doors and went back downstairs.

Keying into the store room, Zey grabbed MREs. She then crossed to the armoury and unlocked a carbine with six magazines. She didn’t really have much experience with the M4’s distant successors, but had been frequently told they were easy to handle. After snapping it onto the side of her pack and slipping each magazine into webbed pockets, she approached Mallory who was doing the same.

“Listen…I know you have your reservations about this mission. But we won’t survive if we let others decide our fate. At this very moment, they’re enchanted by us, but it won’t last forever. Make the most of the mystique, get the supplies we need, then we can get the hell out of here. Hoo’ah?”

Vigdis was waiting at the bottom of the ramp when Zey exited fully equipped.

Zey smiled, then opened the map on her wristpad and turned her arm so Vigdis could see.

“Check the intranet. Kareet let us scan hers.”

She overlaid scans from the comms tower, which added 3D topography to the surrounding two hundred miles.

“It looks like we’ll have an escort each way, but we can’t be complacent. You ready?”

Zey cast an eye around. The crash site was a hive of activity, on both sides of the border. Plenty of warriors, with a fair smattering of dignitaries now too.

What Are You Listening To?

How high can we count before a mod gets involved?

15

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Zey’s mask hung round her neck while she had a rare drink of the cloying morning air. Goosebumps prickled all up the back of her neck and down her arms. She ran one hand through her buzz cut. It made a rough rustling sound, like wire wool.

A faint smell of charred wood wafted into her nostrils. Zey looked at the small piles of ash in one corner of the clearing where they’d burned their dead. Her jaw tightened, and she tried not to think about Kiran joking with her at his crew interview.

Mallory opened up a comms channel, so Zey shoved an earpiece in and knelt down in the dirt.

“Comms will be patchy, but we have a good team going each way. We need to show these people we mean business, or someone is going to try their luck.”

“Sir, I've reviewed the comms mast three times.” Anselm entered the chat, from her position down the hill picking through bits of wreckage.

“We should be able to make a connection for three to four hundred miles. The weather is so-so, which means there may be black spots. But a close range network should have no problems.”

“Exactly. We may not be able to talk to each other but I trust you’ll get what we need and make a good impression. It’ll be just like a Space Academy dinner, Commander.”

Zey smiled. While she gave Mallory a lot of shit, she liked him and was trying to put him at ease.

She looked up upon hearing a squelching sound of claws in the mud. The one her computer identified as Kerchak/Kolva was approaching.

“Good morning. Feeling better? Sure.” Zey grinned humourlessly.

She nodded graciously when Kolvar apologised.

“I accept your apology. And you know what? I apologise too. This place, it’s… all new to us. We’re still trying to make sense of you all. What you did and said yesterday was…rash.” Zey chuckled drily as she reminisced.

“But you remind me of New Young Turks like my parents. They were persecuted and ridiculed by the new republic, forced to hide. They got drunk and passionate too. They just wanted to help.”

The Captain stared up at Kolvar from her seated position.

“Which is why I asked our doctor to bring out the wounded for you to examine.”
Arancini approached and gave her an update.

“Nice. How does it go with fabricating replacement parts for the VTOL?”

Zey flicked her comms back on.

“Doctor. How are we doing?”

“Coming down the ramp now, Captain.”

The ship’s doctor and his two assistants descended to the clearing, attending to three wounded humans. One had his leg in a cast, one had a bandage wrapped around most of their head, the other one had bandages around a gunshot wound through their shoulder.

“Kolvar. Remember our deal.” Zey’s eyes bored into the Kriliteran.

“If you transform without my permission, I’ll kill you. Heal my people, and I’ll be in your debt.”

The patients and their escorts arrived at Jotunheim’s telescopic docking ramp. Feng approached Zey and Kolvar. The Captain extended her arm and the doctor hauled her to her feet.

“Doctor, this Tekeri is going to examine our wounded now. I’m going to get ready.”

She turned her translator off.

“Watch him.”

Zey then turned on crew wide comms.

“This is your Captain. Giddy up, we leave in 20.”

She stalked back up the ramp into the ship.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Elite & Cath collab

Zey carefully turned her translator off, blinked at Vigdis over her shoulder and through her mask. The beasts of burden down the hill issued a chorus of screeches.

“This one seems happy for us to leave again.” She subtly flicked her head towards General Kvarr.

“I’m more worried about Lord Silbermine, which is why I’m going to send some of you to learn more about him.”

The Glen noble spoke up as if on cue. His voice was polite with a subtle gravelly undertone.

“My good General, your offer is most generous and yet unfounded in reality. This land belongs to Sudenúr, of which I am Lord Protector.”

Kvarr’s expression betrayed nothing, but as his private conversation with Nellara before had shown, this was just what he had been hoping for from Silbermine. “Unfortunately, Lord Silbermine, I believe you are mistaken in that regard. By treaty, the Ascendancy’s domain is the mountains, and a hill is still part of its mountain. But, such distinctions are also not terribly relevant here, I believe. Would you truly wish to deny the Humans their own domain in this world? It should be a show of good faith from the people of Kanth-Aremek that we give them the ability to live by their own command, rather than to force them to live by the rule of another while they are still trying to learn their way around our world. It would be quite unfair of us to try to force them to make binding agreements with those whom they know so little about.”
Silbermine snorted and tapped one hoof on the rocky ground.

“Surely not. The Humans are welcome to this scrap of hillside. I pray we can uncover this treaty and settle the matter of sovereignty once and for all.”

Esedel piped up, keen to keep her master in good spirits.

“My lord, building walls to keep the Humans sssafe will give you a chance to solidify the border in a new agreement. Bards will sing songs of this moment for years to come.”

“If we must build walls, my XO will forward Human designs from the database of our shipboard AI.” Zey chimed in.

Kvarr chimed in as well. “If it is to be your land, then it is your choice what you would like to put on it. If a wall is what you wish, then it sounds like Silbermine’s offer is generous. If you would prefer other means of keeping yourself safe, then I would certainly be happy to discuss it with you. As would the Archmagister, if you would wish to meet with her back in Arcaeda.”
Zey allowed herself a small smile. For a moment, she felt supremely powerful to have foreign dignitaries fawning over her. There was a pregnant pause for thought before she replied.

“We have decided to send one party to the Ascendency, and one to Mythadia. We want to pay our respects to both nations for extending their hospitality.”

---

For the moment, the three groups had an agreeable course of action. No doubt, the representatives of both of the neighboring nations believed that a more private meeting in their home territory would go in their favor, while the crew of the Jotunheim at least had some means of avoiding a war on their doorstep. It simply took a few hours worth of discussion, both between one another, and among themselves, to hash out the details of who would be traveling where, and when.

Among the Ascendancy, General Kvarr ordered Castigator Nellara to take a small force, enough to fit on one of their boats, and join in escorting the Human representatives back to Arcaeda. Seeker Kareet also requested to join, as she had reason to return to the Order of Sages, deliver a report, and consult with her superiors. She extended an invitation to Shirik and J’eon to do the same. Despite all that had happened, she had not forgotten about what had initially drawn them together. Her report on Shirik was the whole reason she had left Arcaeda to begin with, and the creature they had encountered with J’eon still stood out in her mind. The Humans might have overshadowed both in importance, but there was no harm in allowing the Sages to interview both. By a similar token, Kareet also invited the Kriliteran, as it was quite obvious why they might want to interview him. Of course, whether they accepted her invitation, found a reason to go to Mythadia, or simply went off on their own was entirely up to the three of them. Kareet was far too absorbed in her project with the Humans to put up much of an argument.

Zey ordered Mallory to take Eva, Dr Ibarra & Arancini and return to Keraknúr with Lord Silbermine. On the way there, they were to survey the Jotunheim’s approach vector to look for the lost shuttle. She stressed that it was important to build rapport with the nobleglen, learning as much as possible about his position in the wider Mythadian apparatus. She gave them trinkets and a list of other things they could offer in exchange for substantial aid.

The Captain herself would lead the expedition to the Ascendency, along with Fret Chappel, Vigdis and Dr Lambert, their resident xeno-biologist.

Zey was especially loathe to take the engineers away from their work. But it was obvious that they had made a connection with the locals, and had proven they could be diplomatic. Those were both things she needed for this mission to go well.

Ezra would continue guarding the Jotunheim and its contingent of civilians. The remaining crew would focus on training them up and putting them to work. Clara Anselm would be in charge in the Captain and XO’s absence.

It was agreed that they’d depart at first light tomorrow. Following the negotiations Zey ordered everyone back to work. Lunch was over.

---

Thunder and lightning lingered over the Jotunheim through the night. Zey barely slept,choosing instead to stare through the small windows on the ceiling of her quarters. It was loud even behind the ship’s reinforced hull, and she could feel every vibration as the ship settled.

After hours the thunder was replaced by torrential rain, which only began to subside at dawn. When the Captain came out to check conditions, a strong smell of ozone pervaded her nostrils. Puffy clouds filled the sky; a chill whispered down the back of her shirt.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

“First and foremost, we need as many lightning mages as you can bring to bear quickly. Our ship needs a lot of energy in order to run properly.” Zey raised one finger on her right hand to illustrate.

“Secondly, we need our shuttle and spare parts back. It fell out when we crashed, somewhere over there.” She waved her hand towards the northern marshlands and the lake beyond. When it returned to her body it had two fingers upright.

“Thirdly, we need some of your clothing. Ours is liable to catch fire.”

A high-pitched whining sounded in Zey’s ears, making her grimace. Her unintentional gland use earlier was fucking with her recovery.

“Anything else?” She vaguely looked around at the assembled crewmembers. It seemed she was forgetting something.

“We could use some instruments.” The drummer chimed in, prompting some smatterings of laughter.

“Esteemed guests, first let me extend my gratitude for arranging this hearty feast.” Silbermine had gotten to his hooves from a kneeling position and extended both arms out at the long table. His knights made noises of agreement.

Nearby flags flapped in the wind.

“As agreed, I have taken the liberty of sending for tailors. Some of my scouts are surveying the marshes of Sudenúr as we speak to recover your possessions. I have also sent a rallying cry through Mythadia for Lightning mages to coalesce here and lend their services.”

That last claim was especially bold. Mythadia was not known for its organised procurement of magical ability.

“My castle, Keraknúr, is a gateway to Mythadia. I pray you visit my court as honoured guests. We can secure you more aid and perhaps even some land of your own?” What might have passed for the Nobleglen’s eyebrows in Human terms wiggled.

One of Esedel’s guards who had been with Kolvar just before came up to the Warden and whispered in her ear. Her eye’s narrowed and she looked for the Kriliteran.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

“Right on. Strings, I will find for you.” The drummer flashed a smirk, then left the table again. She slinked over to the Glen musicians to ask about different instruments. She didn’t have a translator or anything sensible like that.

“Your talents know no bound, stranger. Do you know the Red Run to Rivenfrossst?” Esedel mentioned a song from the old empire, lamenting the firey destruction of the Myriad from the great city of Valor to the fortress of Rivenfrost.

Esedel promptly looked back at Kvarr. Her voice quietened somewhat

“What do you know of this cursed Iriad?”

---

“I see nothing I can use right now. Unless…maybe the intercom play outside the ship?” The vocalist asked. He tried playing around with one of the interfaces by the telescopic ramp door.

“Hello? Does this work?”

---

“When my weapon is raised, you’ll know about it.” Ezra muttered.

“How about these aliens stop wriggling and throwing up and shit first?” Darnell chimed in.

“It's ok, we’re playing nice. Aren’t we? We’re putting our weapons away and putting the past behind us.” Zey said firmly, eyeing up everyone in the group.

When Kareet mentioned slavery, the Captain glanced at the manacled S’tor. It wasn’t paying any attention - it was instead scanning the undergrowth and hills in the background. A distant sound rumbled over the crash site; it could’ve been rocks falling, or some large creature’s gravelly hunting call.

“Kercha-...Kolvar. We want to hear you out. Just not here. Come back to camp with us now; it's not safe here. You don’t like these S’tor people? Maybe Itxaro and Vigdis will let you lean on them instead. Perhaps the Castigator could help. How about that?” Zey was aware that she was using her patronising talking-to-drunks voice, but doubted the aliens would know that.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

The band of musicians who’d sought refuge on the Jotunheim had left most of their equipment at port in Stavanger. The drummer had only a backup set of telescopic sticks, the lead guitarist only had the acoustic piece he strummed idly in between gigs. The vocalist had a dinky mixing device which could piece together thousands of pre-recorded sounds from their past. None of this stopped them from trying to join in with the Glen musicians who were playing classical tunes to please Lord Silbermine.

The drummer was the woman of the group; pale with tattoos covering her arms and a dishevelled bob of black hair on her head. Like the rest of the band, she wore black clothing. By passenger standards, she appeared fearless. Moving in between curious aliens, she tested the multitude of objects littered around the feast site for their percussive qualities.

After a little while, she bumped into Shirik.

“Woah, nice flames…do you play? You look very…metal.”

She was of course referring to the aesthetic relating to a genre of music that had clung stubbornly to life in the Nordics.

The vocalist, a tall man with long mousy brown hair and a beard, ambled over to where Vigdis sat with Kareet.

“Sorry to interrupt, you have a radio? Can you ask Bridge if there is a way to amplify our instruments?”

---

"We are no ssstrangers to migration in these turbulent times. The nobility are divided on the issue. Some cling to the ways of Kolodon, others are embracing their nomadic roots. None of it will matter though if the balance of power is disssrupted as you say…I must speak with my Lord, then let us strike at the meat of the problem together. Are you sure the Castigator will stand in line?”

---

Ezra twitched his gun out from under Itxaro’s hand and scowled angrily at her under his helmet. That sort of thing got people’s limbs torn up.

“Don’t they look a little like the ones who guarded the lizard who could read minds? The decorations…” Zey responded quietly before turning her attention back to this new lifeform.

“Your people? Who are your people? S’tor embrace others with open arms.” The S’tor guards holding Kolvar laughed.

“We have no quarrel with you. Please, let's return to the safety of the clearing. Do you feel well enough?” Sh’Vetza glanced nervously around the bushes. His own guards just stared directly at the Thought mage.

“Who are you here with? Are there more of you? Who sent you?” Darnell asked, talking over Zey’s shoulder.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Zey’s boots crunched on debris and rocks through the clearing her ship had made on landing. Vegetation had already begun springing up from the ashes in places; vibrant green, red and purple growths in the dirt.

She eyed up the S’tor prisoner first - Sh’vetza was the name she’d heard for it. Their wrists were manacled pointing in opposite directions, forcing their arms to cross and making it very tricky to use their hands for anything. They were diminutive by the standards of the other lizard-esque people in the group, and wore simple clothing. A shapeless sackcloth gown underneath a tired grey tabard with black eyes stitched on it in various locations. They kept their eyes trained firmly on the ground in front of them. It was like they were trying to attract as little attention as possible.

Two of the other S’tor soldiers stuck close to this manacled person. They reminded Zey of those ancient Greek warriors with minimal body armour and round metal shields. She wondered if that was so they could travel easier on those horrible screeching monsters. The exception to their armour was the helmet, which appeared to be made from plate metal and covered their entire head.

The last two S’tor soldiers were heavily armoured in a similar way to Esedel, but with less embellishment. They carried a square shield and broad sword on their backs with ease. These bodyguards took the lead as they reached the edge of the clearing, using their massive heft to push through the heavy undergrowth.

It wasn’t long before the sounds of gagging and liquid splattering met Zey’s ears. Without eyes on the source, it was quite a disturbing set of noises.

“Let me go first, Captain.” Ezra stated plainly, pushing in front. His gun wasn’t up, just ready.

Darnell peered over Zey’s head, clutching the heavy beer mug ready to twat anything that moved suddenly.

After a few moments the S’tor broke through to where a stocky pink shape was crouched in his Kriliteran form, and the Humans joined them soon after.

Zey recoiled at Kolvar’s original form, unnerved by the bulging lumps and eyes of various sizes dotted around its squishy pink face.

“What are you? I’ve never seen your kind before.” One of Esedel’s guards asked with a gruff tone of voice, poking Kolvar’s prone with its boot.

“Please, help him up. He is surely unwell. Friend, are you the one who ran from the feast?” Sh’Vetza asked, more kindly. The guards grudgingly complied, bending down to try and haul Kolvar to his feet.

“Ugly fucker isn’t he?” Darnell whispered boozily into Zey’s ear from behind. The Captain swatted him away and moved forward slightly.

“Kerchak?”

---

“Aye, brother. The stream of desperates at our gates has become a torrent. The North lands are becoming more dangerous by the day. I hear more stories of demons that attack caravans at night…But that is besides the point.”

Esedel lowered her voice, though S’tor weren’t good at not being loud. A nearby observer like Shirik may still be able to eavesdrop if they concentrated.

“How do we address this chaotic cavalcade? Squabbling over a bunch of scrawny ‘Humans’ and a patch of forsaken hillside of no value to anyone… I say we let our new neighbours have it. This thing…” Esedel gestured vaguely towards the Jotunheim.

“...cannot house more than fifty, surely? They won’t need more space than has already been cleared. My Lord has mobilised enough engineers and materials to build a wall across the ridge. Can you do the same for your side? Then these Humans can feel safe in their own kerak and we can be sure both sides have equal access.”

---

“Get the reactors back online and we can do much more than make alu.” Danny smirked.

“Jo can plug straight into Tamerlane mills and mining modules all the way up to grade 5 if needed. Give me time and a 3D printer and I can jump start an industrial revolution in any shithole city on this rock.”

Varen laughed, stuffing the rest of the fish he’d been given while watching the Captain depart.

“What I'd give for a cold one right now. I reckon we have the parts for a home brew, no?”

Varen shrugged at Vigdis’ last question.

“Pretty shitty. I keep hearing them whining at Cap and XO. They’re going crazy inside, but some still don’t wanna come outside on account of the killer aliens. They don’t like the new work parties either. Have you sorted yours yet? Mine were fokken useless on first shift! Now Cap has got a gun sim set up indoors, its a recipe for disaster in my opinion.”

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Danny listened intently to Vigdis while hungrily demolishing the piece of delicious fish he’d been handed. He nodded and his eyes widened or narrowed as the story progressed. The engineer had been working pretty much solidly, so much of this was new to him.

“Sheesh, fairly basic stuff then eh?” He laughed.

“Trade is good, as long as I don’t have to trade my Havaianas for some potato sack foot coverings or some shit. I still need those for inside. What are we giving them in return? More pens?”

---

Esedel stared into Shirik for a few moments, her throat rattling curiously. Then she lifted her snout and laughed, spraying a couple of bits of fungi and fish across the table. The sound was like a burning log cabin falling apart, deep within the forest fire. The Warden slammed a gauntleted fist down on the wooden table, causing mugs and cutlery to jump.

“I like this one!” She pointed a giant clawed finger at Shirik, as if the super conspicuous burning tree was somehow invisible and needed signposting.

“You should recruit it for your retinue, Kvarr. They can reunite you with your family’s legacy, so you can finish burning it to dust.” Esedel grabbed a mug of beer - who knows whether it was hers - and chugged it back, draining the contents.

Zey came over and questioned General Kvarr about Kerchak’s whereabouts. Esedel didn’t turn around from her seat at the table, as she was still looking at Shirik, but she replied in turn.

“I’ll have my own Damage prize investigate. Sh’vetza!” The manacled S’tor Thought mage looked over at Esedel.

“Take my guards and yours to find the Life mage, please. See to it they are alright.”

It was a subtle cultural cue that most in Mythadia and the Ascendency were oblivious to, but influential S’tor occasionally sent their guards away on fabricated errands in new social situations. It was essentially to demonstrate ‘I’m a big enough deal to have people to send away’, ‘I’m the biggest and best in the room so I don’t need guards to be in charge’, and give the green light for an assassination attempt from anyone in their ‘court’ who wanted to seize whatever power they possessed. The S’tor used this to quietly take stock of loyalties and motivations for large groups of people they didn’t know well, but it came with risks. Occasionally there actually was a fight, so you either had to be reasonably confident you’d win, or bold enough to take on a more powerful adversary for personal gain.

The main person Esedel was monitoring in this particular situation was Kvarr; he was the one she’d need to do a deal with to keep these ‘Humans’ safe. However, there were a few other unknown variables present, the burning tree being one of them. Best to get any insurrection out of the way early on.

“Thanks. We’ll go too.” Zey replied. Kvarr’s assessment of Kerchak’s actions was concerning, to say the least. She felt it her duty to investigate. She got on comms with the Bridge.

“Mallory, it's Zey. The life mage who offered to heal our wounded is drunk. I’m heading over to assess the situation with Darnell and Ezra. Where are we up to on the cremation? This lunch is burning valuable daylight we could be using to search for the shuttle. Seems like some burning bodies could help wrap things up. Over.”

With that, Zey headed across the clearing with four S’tor guards (two of them Inquisitors), one Thought mage, Darnell & Ezra to try and find Kerchak. It seemed like the sort of mob that anyone could join if they were so inclined.