EliteCommander

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

Kareet of Arcaeda

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While the others were speaking, Kareet stayed near Nellara and observed. She tried to look upon Silbermine with more of an objective eye. His approach had changed rather dramatically from just a few days prior. There had been plenty of time to consider the situation with a cooler head than their previous, emotionally charged arguments, and perhaps to discuss with his advisors. The people of the Ascendancy largely did not respect nor acknowledge titles of nobility, so the tactics that usually worked in his own lands were rather ineffective here. Or perhaps he realized that his superiors back home were not going to be nearly so eager for war as he was. In any case, now that he could speak directly to the Humans, he seemed intent on giving his own impression of himself to them, rather than letting his enemies dictate that impression for him. It was a wise choice, and probably what Kareet would do were she in his hooves.

Once again, Kareet whispered to Nellara. “The Humans clearly want to try to be diplomatic with Silbermine. I think we should just play along and join in. We don’t want to appear to be the ‘unreasonable’ ones.”

---

Wodan

---

The approach of the aliens, these “Glen”, naturally drew Wodan’s many eyes before anyone else had even been aware. They were not approaching the Jotunheim itself, but rather the other camp of natives nearby. Of course, some of their own crew members had gone to speak with them, so they were still involved. Even if they had not been, what little they had gleaned of the local political situation painted it as tense and uncertain. It was most definitely the Jotunheim’s business if a war broke out around them. The defense droids were positioned stationary around the ship, motionless like statues, but always observing, and through all of their eyes, Wodan could see all that transpired.

“There are no additional contacts aside from the Glen already in view.” Wodan answered to Mallory.

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

Kareet of Arcaeda

---

There were a fair few words in Vigdis’ explanations that did not translate through her armband. Kareet copied them down into her notes, sounding them out as best as she could. Were they result of errors, maybe some kind of mistake in Gar’Tan’s work? Or perhaps these were concepts that were simply unknown to Kanth-Aremek? The latter, she felt, would be far more exciting to her. She did not imagine it would be anything she would be able to understand quickly, but what she had heard so far seemed to confirm the potential of what she could learn.

Unfortunately, before Kareet could start demonstrating her own power, it seemed that Silbermine’s interruption was most certainly going to be interrupting her. She could not hide her frustration, though to most of the others, it would likely seem that she was frustrated at Silbermine himself. In truth, she did not care if he was involved. As far as she was concerned, he could speak to the Humans as much as he wanted. What she cared about was the fact that he kept interrupting her work. Or rather, the conflict between him and Nellara kept interrupting her work. If that conflict were to end, she would no longer have a problem.

Kareet approached alongside Nellara, leaning in to whisper to her. “Look…why don’t we just let him stay? I’m sure a five minute conversation with Silbermine will do more to convince the Humans of your point than we ever could.”

While Kareet had not demonstrated the full extent of her abilities, the fact that they could make electricity at all had already seemed to satisfy Vigdis. She did not want to continue discharging lightning bolts in Silbermine’s presence, regardless. Instead, she returned her attention to Vigdis. “These politics are not usually my concern. The Sages are concerned primarily with knowledge. Regardless of who you do or don’t want to work with, I just want to offer you a trade. Not from the Ascendancy, but from me. Help me write my encyclopedia, and I will give you as much of this ‘electricity’ as I can.”

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

Kareet of Arcaeda

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“Magic was discovered right before the fall of the Kolodon Empire, three and a half centuries ago. Or, that is what history tells us. According to Shirik’s claims, they were Awakened to Heat magic during Kolodon’s conquest of the Myriad, a thousand years before that. In any case, magic was not known widely to the world until a few centuries ago.” Kareet answered Itxaro.

What Itxaro said conjured up ideas that Kareet had never considered before. She was certainly aware of the power of lightning, but to her experience, it was always something that was fleeting. Sure, she could hold lightning for a time, but that was something that required persistent concentration and effort. To do so passively was a new idea to her, and based on how Itxaro described these inventions of her society, electricity had capabilities she would not have imagined.

Kareet would have had another dozen or so questions for Itxaro, not the least of which being why her notebook would have been any more flammable here than anywhere else, but the Human’s attention was soon pulled towards this demonstration Nellara was giving to Vigdis. Kareet had been half paying attention to what they had been doing nearby, so she gathered that they wanted to judge the power of Nellara’s lightning. Kareet had not known their exact motivations at first, but after listening to Itxaro, she felt she was starting to get a good idea. If she was right, this could be useful.

“We can make stronger lightning than that.” Kareet chimed in. “If we really want to give them a show, Castigator, then we should coordinate our casting. I am guessing you are trained in coordinated casting, yes? Everyone will just need to back away to a safe distance.”

Out of the corner of a couple of her eyes, Kareet could see Silbermine and some of his entourage on approach. In truth, Kareet did not care if he spoke to the Humans or not, as long as his intrusions did not disturb her business.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei lightly shook her head. “I may have earned Hircine’s favor, but his generosity is not limitless. It is through his power, and your connection to him, that I can speak to you now. I won’t be able to do so at will. I don’t think we will be…speaking again, for the foreseeable future.”

After a moment, Meesei brought a hand up to Fendros’ shoulder. “I know you have every reason to worry, but you should know that I do not. I know my people are being left in good hands, and I have no doubts about what you will accomplish. I imagine it will be quite a while before you have to concern yourself with Hircine’s desire to challenge us. You will make us strong; I know you will.”

At that point, Meesei did not hesitate to tightly embrace Fendros in a hug. “I know how long Elves live, my friend, but we will see each other again one day, in some realm or another. You may take your time, though. I can be patient.”

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

Kareet of Arcaeda

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Kareet’s eyes all blinked as she looked ahead, listening in amazement. For a moment, she almost forgot to actually start taking notes. Harnessing non-magical lightning? And not only that, but the things she described them doing with it seemed impossible, were it not for the fact that she had seen it with her own eyes. Before now, she could not have even imagined lightning would be capable of such things. Having electricity think by itself sounded absurd, but that object on her wrist was doing so right now. Besides, if there was Thought magic involved, the Inquisitors would currently have their knives at Itxaro’s throat.

“You say lightning, electricity as you call it, can do all of this? Without even needing magic to shape it?” Kareet remarked. As Itxaro seemed to be speaking to someone else, through some means that she would have to ask about later, Kareet set aside her notes and books on the ground momentarily. She pressed two of her fingers against her opposite forearm, then ran them up towards her hand at a constant pace. Through the entire motion, a charge of electricity started to form around her fingers, arcing into the air around her arm. When her fingers moved past her other hand, the arcs of electricity became stronger, and stayed connected between her two hands. Kareet then rotated her hands, leaving one held out, palm-up, while the other she moved in a circular motion above it. The electricity disconnected from both hands, recognizably following magnetic field lines as she shaped a field to contain the lightning. The end result was what looked like a ball of lightning, contained within an invisible orb.

“This is the…electricity you are talking about, yes? Could magic lightning possibly do the same things?” Kareet asked.

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

Kareet of Arcaeda

---

Kareet did not wait any longer. She had witnessed these objects they were wearing on their wrists, and that alone provoked questions she wanted answered. She took up her notes and Itxaro’s book in her arms and moved to the edge of camp, towards Shirik. The way this object she wore spoke sounded almost like Itxaro, but the words were clearly S’toric. It did not seem to mimic Shirik’s voice in return, but from what she had been told, she could imagine that it was repeating his words in their tongue.

“How can this be?” Kareet asked. “You’ve said your people have no magic, but how can you make an object think without it? All of our golems require Thought and Lightning magic both.”

Even Kareet did show some caution as she interjected. Itxaro clearly had some purpose in approaching Shirik, and if nothing else, Kareet did want to avoid upsetting her.

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

Kareet of Arcaeda

---

For Kareet, even just those few days of waiting gave her no small measure of frustration. She understood the plan. Gar’Tan was going to assist them with some means they had of translating their language. Kareet did not exactly understand how, but the Humans seemed confident it would work. She would just have to hope they were right.

Over the course of a few days, Kareet did manage to get detailed sketches of the Jotunheim from just about every angle, as well as the strange metal golems that seemed to stand guard around the ship. However, there was only so much she could do from outside, and she hoped the irritation would be worth the wait.

---

Finally, the time seemed to be coming. It was early morning, four days after their first real conversation, and both Vigdis and Itxaro had emerged from the Jotunheim. Kareet stayed back at first, but she was close enough to hear the exchange between Vigdis and Nellara. There was some object on her arm that actually seemed to be speaking S’toric. Presumably, it was speaking aloud what Vigdis said in her own tongue, and did the same in reverse when Nellara replied. That alone ignited a flurry of questions within her mind, but at this point, it was just more to add to the list. However, there would certainly be no more waiting for Kareet.

As quickly as she could, Kareet gathered what she felt she would need: her notes, of course, and a few pens. She also grabbed the book that Itxaro had gifted her. She could not read it, so she had just tucked it away as she focused on other matters, but now if she could speak to the Humans, she might be able to learn more about it. Vigdis was speaking with Nellara, and Itxaro appeared to be approaching Shirik. Either way she was going to have to intrude on someone, but she truly did not care. She was not waiting any longer.

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

Ultimately, despite the drastic improvement in their communication, the two sides required a few more days before they could truly communicate unhindered. Thought magic, as useful as it was, still was as unnerving to the Human visitors as it was to the locals themselves. However, it did provide a means by which they could accelerate breaching the language barrier. It was decided that Wodan would cooperate with Gar’Tan to quickly gather data for the translation algorithms to form a usable translation package between Human languages and S’toric. Gar’Tan himself may not have understood the details of how this would happen, but he understood the intentions of the Humans well enough to know that they were confident it would work. It did not take much discussion for him to agree, despite the fact that it would substantially reduce his own role in all of this. Gar’Tan also mediated a brief meeting between Silbermine and a Human representative to explain their intentions, arrange a meeting in about a week’s time for further negotiations, as well as to extend the same offer to him as to those in Nellara’s camp to meet and share knowledge, on a small scale.

Wodan’s plan to isolate the translation algorithms from his core databanks did seem to work, insofar as he found no evidence that it did not. These abilities that the natives possessed were still entirely an unknown. Being that they appeared to defy any modern concept of the universe’s physical laws, speculation on their exact capabilities were inherently unfounded. At some point, they simply had to accept that they could only do their best based on what they knew. Aside from such concerns, the translation itself went smoothly. The algorithms Wodan used were designed to be able to detect patterns to piece together meanings even from fragmented, vague hints. For them to be able to directly convey intent to one another made the algorithms exponentially more efficient.

It took barely more than three days for Wodan to be able to produce a program usable on any compatible implant or personal computing device. It would, when prompted, listen for S’toric speech to translate into the chosen language, either aloud or in text format. The same worked in reverse, and there were multiple settings that could be changed depending on the needs of the situation, such as restricting it to only translate the words of specific speakers in a conversation. Tentatively, Wodan declared the software to be in beta, but he was confident it would be functional.

---

On the fourth morning, copies of the software were distributed among the crew, as well as permission for certain crew members to have some interaction with the locals. Naturally, there were restrictions on what they could and could not do, but it was judged that it would be useful for certain experts to be able to question the locals to try to determine the viability of obtaining what they needed. Food and water sources to sustain the crew, potential sources of power to jump start their reactors, raw materials for needed repairs, and of course, some cultural knowledge of the natives to give them some helpful context for the upcoming negotiations.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

“I trust in her, just as I trust in you. I know the strength of her spirit. There is no doubt in my mind on how she will persevere.” Meesei answered.

There was another, brief moment of hesitation from Meesei. She knew there was some unpleasantness to what she had to say next, but there would ultimately be no ignoring it. “There is…one other thing I wanted to tell you about. Warn you about, really. I imagine that in the coming months or years, after the effects of the war have started to fade, some of the more devout of Hircine will come to warn you away from the path our people are on now. They will tell you that it defies the purpose that Hircine has for his lycanthropes.”

Meesei sighed. “And they will be right. Lycans represent both halves of Hircine’s sphere: Hunter and hunted. When his power flows through our veins, hunting under the moonlight, there is no predator more fearsome. But the people of Tamriel are powerful in their own right, and when we are hated and feared by them, we must always struggle to survive. But with the deals and alliances we have struck, the notion of living in peace is an actual possibility. It may take decades, but Hircine would not tolerate that forever. To be his hounds, we must be hunted as well as hunter. I do not know what form it will take; he could leave those deals in place and find some other means to test us, but one way or another, lycans will be challenged again. You should be prepared for that day.”

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

Science Lab

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The man hummed lightly. “Well, I am no expert on piloting, but I believe that may have had something to do with the missiles.”

With a brief laugh, the man shifted somewhat in his seat. He seemed to consider standing for a moment, but with a glance down to his leg had second thoughts. “Dr. Edward Fortin.” He extended a hand, offering to shake hers. “I take it you haven’t been fully briefed? I suppose I’ll give you the short version. We weren’t ready for takeoff, but there was an attack. We don’t know who was responsible, but it was like special forces started storming the facility. The Captain made the decision to let any civilians nearby onboard and launch then and there. From my understanding, a missile struck just before they activated the FTL drive. They didn’t intend to leave the solar system, or even the atmosphere. Just a quick jump to get us out of there, but…something happened. I won’t be so irresponsible as to wildly speculate on exactly what, but I can say what situation we are in now. We’re not on Earth. We don’t know where we are, exactly, but we are on a planet that is not in our solar system. The transition from there to here seemed almost instant, even though the ship should have had considerable travel time between solar systems. The crash was rough, to put it mildly. I got away with just a broken leg, but not everyone was so lucky. The planet is habitable. Inhabited, in fact. Multiple intelligent species exist on this planet, and have already made contact. They seem primitive, but…we have observed some phenomena we cannot explain.”