Extradimensional Colonialism: A Case Study. [FT/FanT/Closed]

[Anonymous Contact Team]

OOC

The Anonymous Contact Teams are a specialized division of Trenton Idustries' FIET

After a safe, habitable dimension is discovered and scouted by VIEW Vargessen Investigation of Extradimensional Worlds and before it is visited by the TRADE Trade Related Ambassadorial Dialogue and Exchange the ACT is deployed on prospect worlds to: Obtain samples of potential merchandise, evaluate the environment's suitability for human utilization, as well as analyse the native inhabitants for viral, technological, physical, psychological, or cultural threats or abnormalities.

Trenton Industries is a Hard Sci-Fi corporation, from a Hard Sci-Fi world, in a Hard Sci-Fi version of our universe: expensive and time-consuming FTL, and dimentional travel are the only two allowances. Artificial gravity is impossible, psionics are a myth, and all alien species were genetically hand-crafted by an unknown progenitor species hundreds of thousands of years before a human sleeper ship crashed on what was to become Vargessa. Material science has brought forth carbon mono-molecules and room-temperature superconductors, advances in electrical storage have made lightweight supercapacitors and batteries, and energy from fusion, nuclear, and solar generators is stored molecularly manufactured fuels for use in high-energy machinery; but things like plasma weapons and material teleportation remain either impossible or impractical.




The United Thanedomes of Camelone are a confederacy of semi-autonomous feudal "Thanedomes" ruled by the autocrat Ludwig Kreiger, a hereditary monarch.

The UTC is based on an alternate version of earth in which Greenland was colonized much earlier and through trade and warfare became the center for a large world power. In their FT iteration, they underwent a demonic invasion of from another dimension around 2078 that pushed humanity unto the edge of annihilation. Only by courage, luck, and sheer determination did the Thanedomes survive; and with the help of their surviving allies they have advanced in technology, and pushed the demons out of most of the northern hemisphere.

Camelone is a Soft Sci-Fi society, from a Soft Sci-Fi earth, in a violent and magical Soft Sci-Fi version of our universe: Energy blades, energy shields, and energy weapons are common. Power armor, starships, and robots support knights and kings in battle against technology-wielding Aztecs and sorcerous demons from beyond the veil. Dimensions are crossed, vampires are rampant, and spiritual dangers are facts of life in a world where humanity is no longer on top of the food chain. Science is intermeshed with the arcane on a fundamental level and the familiar laws of physics that once gave us security and comfort were bent, broken and discarded in a hectic search for the decisive advantage against a supernatural foe.

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ACT and Camelone.

These two cultures from different worlds are more similar than they could yet realize: Neither knows of the others' existence, each is incontent with the reality that Fate provided them, and each is prodding into places that they were never meant to reach, ignorant of the dangers lurking in and between them.

Somewhere in the eternal dimensionless nothingness between realities sits a world. Hot, humid, with a hint of magic in the air, the inhabitants of this world continue their daily routines. Deep in the forests, jungles, and fields the wind blows and the animals walk and slither over the same dirt their forbears did, and their forbears before them. There is no comet in the sky, nor any dark dreams to herald the arrival of the two visitors from beyond the furthest stars. Just a long and inaudible groan from the non-canon personification of the planet (which does not exist yet every planet inevitably has) which went something along the lines of, "Oh, not again!".

Welcome to Hecate.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Somewhere in the jungle, a patch of ground shimmered and warped.

Where once a patch of leaf cover and misty roots had been indistinguishable from the surrounding are now sat a single hemisphere of concrete and steel, flat surface to the sky, half-embedded in the rain-soaked hillside. Standing on the quickly-dampening circle stood eight members of ACT-1: Hecate Excursion.

After flying a few portable drones a few hundred meters above the base camp and scanning the horizon for signs of life, the drone spots what appears to be smoke rising from a settlement a few days hike to the east. After selecting two members to stay behind and monitor the camp, the team sets off through the hills following the buzzing drone down into the valley and hopefully towards civilization.

[Camelone]

In the blackness of space a green storm began to develop, a crackling of lightening could be seen from the planet by master astrologers. As the lightening expanded a few ships were deposited from it, large foreboding ships, a aura of gloom of destruction surrounded them though there was also a sense of honor and regality to them as well as the coat of arms of a cadet branch of the Uerius House, a house in the service of an Elector House with the rank of Duke. In the largest ship sat the leader of the expedition, Mathieson Uerius-Minor, the unlanded son of Count Elijah Uerius-Minor.

The young nobleman sat on his throne in the command ship, his beardless face giving away his youth, though he is only 19 Terran years old. Turning his chair he barked out orders to his bridge crew who set to work utilizing the runic and arcane dashboards to fulfill their lords commands. "Marshal send out a few probes, I want a full orbital and planetary scan of that world. Give me the proper way to interact with the natives and who I shall contact first. I want my Court Chaplain on stand by for my first deployment so he may begin planting the seeds of the one True Faith among the people, the souls of these people shall be saved and my fief shall be created. Adieu."

"Your will be done sire." The Marshal stated pounding his chest once before walking off to alert the Court Chaplain and the probe commanders of their new duties. Leaning back into his chair Lord Mathieson muttered to himself, with a predatory smile "The blade shall remained unsullied until steel glistens from the heathens. Than, oh than, the dogs of war shall be unleashed and glory shall follow... I shall be the count of this system!" He yelled out the last statement, pounding his gauntleted fist into the arm of his throne which boomed in the command bridge, his crew not even faltering in their duties.

From the portal came more ships with the same crest, all of these machines of war were floating towards the unsuspecting planet.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Dorian Paulkins whistled merrily as he chopped away at the vines and bushed around the campsite.

Back in Aspiration he had tensely listened to horror stories of daemons, diseases, and terrors that lurked just beyond the thin fabric of time between universes and had since been dreading his first assignment to explore one of the fearful things. But now that he was actually standing in the chirping green forests and brilliantly colored mists the mission seemed more agreeable every second.
It was after hours dulling the machete gathering wood, sitting in the warm glow of his self-built fire that Dorian reflected on his outlook of the mission and came to the conclusion that he was going to be perfectly fine.
He grinned to himself: there were no monsters here. Woods, fire, tent; all he needed now was a bag of marshmallows and it would be just like a camping trip back home. Just with a little less sand. Dorian leaned back on a stump and admired his handiwork.

As night fell Dorian's thoughts drifted. Greta would be back from patrol soon, the survey drones were up and scanning, and they would be expecting reinforcements tomorrow. He looked at the embers glowing about a foot away from his boot. Perfectly safe... nothing to worry... about...

Dorian Paulkins sat on a stump, snoozing away the time before he would be needed again. So calm and deep was his slumber that he failed to hear the beep beep beep of the drone console sitting in the tent behind him.

[Camelone]

The fleet of extradimensional vessels slowly made their way to Hecate, standing on the bridge the young adventuring noble, Mathieson Uerius-Minor, looked upon the world with a satisfied grin. A world like this will suit him well as being the capital for his fiefdom, if he acts fast enough he may even to craft a duchy for himself and successfully petition the Imperial Court for the trade rights of the Dimension Gate. Turning away from the window at the sound of the mechanical hiss of the bridge door he found his Marshal fast approaching, head down cast in a respectful manner. 'He has shaped up to be a good and honorable Marshal, I am glad I didn't execute him when I captured his pirate ship.' Mathieson thought to himself with a tempered smile.

The man stopped a few feet away from his noble and awaited his que to begin speaking, with a wave of Mathieson's hand he snapped a crisp salute and made his report "Sire we have discovered that this planet is human inhabited, though their tech level hints at them being planted here some time ago, along with that there appears to be a near human species that lords over our brethren, I and the egg heads have decided to call them faeries do to their hovering abilities and small stature. All but one of these countries seem to be dominated by these faeries and I would recommend making contact with the humans first. I will send the coordinates directly to the helmsman at your leisure sire."

Mathieson took some time to mull over the report he was just given and nodded in agreement "Set course for the human ruled nation, we are bound to strike a common bond with them easier than with these faeries." He said.

The Marshal went to at ease and left the room, silently fulfilling his unspoken orders and soon a portion of the fleet was on their way to the perceived capital of the human nation, the city of Remin.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Five days after an unknown fleet had appeared in orbit, the ACT base camp was almost unrecognizable.

Where once a single receiving pad had sat quietly under the ancient trees now stood six concrete bunkers, hidden and waiting. Hidden from the orbiting ships by rooftop netting and thermal camouflage; waiting to see if the hammer would fall.

When the signals above had been categorized and fed into the crackling computer banks of ACT central control the results confirmed their worst nightmares. Another extra-dimensional empire had chosen this system for exploration at the exact same time as them. It had only been theorized before now that there were other dimension-travelling entities: with the abundance of life in the the other dimensions, certainly one or two other cultures would discover a crack in the laws of physics large crawl through. But until now it had been theory, and nothing more. ACT had been safe in their explorations to an extent: like a tree-house with a ladder, any culture to advanced or entrenched could be ignored with a simple backward climb. Ladder retracted, we belived we were safe on our dimensional high-ground.

There was another kid on the block now, with a ladder of his own; and if if he turned out to be the bad sort he could climb right up it and burn our treehouse down.

Forget base-camps, embassies, and expeditions: this was the homeworld in jeopardy. We were naive to think that our home was safe behind a simple locked door when we had been happily hoping from house to house with a master key. So, in the depths of those six bunkers, teams of scientists and researchers had begun their work on a bigger lock.



Meanwhile...

Somewhere in the jungle below Dorian Pualkins trudged miserably through the mud and vines. ACT-issue machete in hand he sliced a path through the underbrush, though more for cathartic relief than to clear an actual path. The towering and twisted trees blocked the sun so completely that the plants grasped for light like a drowning man for air, few presented enough resistance to slow Dorian, fewer still enough to take his mind off of his misery.
After the fiasco with the orbital monitor, the exasperated high command had sent him to join the ACT team in the small human settlement named "Carthio" by the natives. He suspected that the only reason he had not been executed on the spot was that current Vargessen law lacked a legal term for "Nearly got entire culture destroyed by alien invaders.". That, or "treason" simply wasn't big enough. He looked at his wrist GPS; at least he would be there soon. The initial studies indicated that the locals were indeed human, and it would be nice to talk with a few people who weren't grumpy with him for leaving the front door to the homeworld wide open. Dorian looked up; down the river, were those voices? Just a few more steps and he'd be there!

Quickly he splashed down the river, buoyed by his discovery: completely unaware of the whispering rustle from the trees above him.

[Camelone]

Remin
Slowly the a few ships began descending on the outskirts of the large capital city of the human republic, a form of government that Mathieson knew would be difficult to get to peacefully submit to his rule. He grinded his teeth together as he waited for the walkway to lower and for him to take his first real glance at the world that he would come to call his fief, it was a beautiful and fertile world. This world he could get used to very quickly.

Walking down the walkway he came face to face with a small army of Remin soldiers prepared to defend their homes from the sky invaders if the need arised. Raising his hand in the arm before he began to speak Mathieson said "Brothers of genetics hold your blades I come to announce that I, Mathieson Uerius-Minor, have come to unsheathe my blade beside you and not against you. Let me fight alongside you and hear the words of the Truth from my chaplain for we bring the greatest gift of all to you, the gift of eternal salvation. Now I would request you bring me to your leader or leaders so that we can begin the formalities of contact." Finishing he noticed a slight shifting of the formation as the soldiers allowed a senior officer through, by the looks of his uniform and decorated helmet he seemed to be a senior officer. The officer gestured for Mathieson and his retinue to follow and that they did.

In power armor and decked out for extradimensional warfare the group of Terran warriors appeared formidable and invincible as they were led to a tent on the outside of the city for diplomacy.

Carthio
A probing team was surveying around one of the major human cities and found themselves in swampland, the leader of the team Paul Artemis, wanted to get a survey on the native swamplands so they wouldn't be caught off guard if fighting erupted between his lords forces and the natives, a confrontation that would end poorly for the natives. As they examined the swampland in light power armor they thought they were hearing voices and quickly they unsheathed their blades, weary of the possibility of anything as they all heard stories of the Extradimensional Wars, especially the Amazon Front, and of the Naga Crusades.

"Who's there show yourselves!" Paul yelled out as they began backing up to one another, pairing up to cover each other, four teams of two. He had his men scramble out of the water in case something in there would try and kill them.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

ACT Insertion Point, Bunker Five

"Don't drag those cables!" the Chief Engineer shouted at the workmen below, "Do you think we just have reams or spare superconductor laying around in case you scratch up that batch?!" The Engineer mopped his forehead and looked back at his production screens. After Corporate had assessed the situation they had determined that pulling out was no longer an option: there was a risk that the "Others" as they had been dubbed had detected the excursion. Instead they were to gather intelligence from the planet and identify the intentions of both the Others and the indigenous peoples, after which further action would be taken. To facilitate a more rapid response Corporate had authorized the transfer of six ACT survey saucers and crew to the planet, a task delegated to the overworked Chief Engineer.

So far, all of the crews had been transferred on-site, but only two of the saucers had been fully constructed. That left two-hundred and eight scientists, soldiers and officers onsite with nothing to do but get into trouble. The Chief Engineer had, in exasperation, finally put many of them to work building the very ships they would be using for their missions. The security and command officers worked well (those team-building courses really showed), but the scientists...

*ScRAapE*!!! The sound of dragging superconductor brought the Chief out of his contemplation and back to shouting at his lab-coated draftees.


Somewhere near city "Remin"

Sitting low in his chair, the Commander glared over his glasses at the display. In the dim blue running lights of the flight deck, his black silhouette hunched in thought. The Other ships had landed in the center of the city and had sent forth a greeting party to parlay with the locals. The drones hadn't been able to get much closer without risk of detection, and even now the saucer's hull in low-energy mode was almost misted by the waves below it, all in the name of precious stealth. Silently the Commander punched in a code and with a final button press dropped a significant portion of the ship's mass into the water beneath him. The ACT team quarters on-board the saucer doubled as both workstations and drop-pods: space on-board an airship was at a much higher premium than a ship buoyed by the vacuum of space.

This particular facet of over-engineering was what had allowed the Commander to deploy 16 ACT agents off the coast of the island, all of whom had particular instructions to approach the island from sea in the dead of night, assume the look of the natives, and spy on the goings-on of the Others during their visit. A small portion of the ACTers would remain in the submerged quarters to direct microsurveillance drones, and relay the team's findings back to base.

The first part of his mission fulfilled, the captain hurriedly directed his disc across the sea to the south, eager to be as far from possible from the sensors of an unknown ship.

Near Carthio

ACT Dorian Paulkins dropped right out of the canopy and into a pile of snakeish entrails. Only moments before, the slithery bugger had come up behind him and plucked him bodily out of the river; only by wit, grit, and a panicky flailing of the machete did Dorian now come to rest on the riverbank covered in the half of the creature that he had hacked out of the treetops. As he watched the rest of the profoundly disturbing creature disappear into the dark mass of leaves above him, Dorian became aware of another set of eyes watching him. This set of eyes seemed much clearer and lacked the milky-white soullessness of the snake-creature's. As his vision cleared and his bloodstream cleared away some of the excess adrenaline Paulkins became aware of a voice emanating from underneath the eyes. It sounded. well - almost human.

"Woi, uhe har eauthiear?" "Pudyar weppin onthagrund!" the voice demanded.

Paulkins shakily crawled backwards out of the guts, sliding right into another figure who had approached from behind. They both held guns of some sort and while he could not decipher the language, their meaning was pretty clear.

"Uuum, hee-ello." Paulkins squeaked as the machete fell from his nerveless grip, "Nice day?".

Paulkins didn't get much further because the giant swarm of snake creatures chose that moment to exit the trees.

[Camelone]

Remin
Mathieson dipped his head slightly as he moved the tent cover aside to enter. In the center was a small fire, the smoke filtering out of the hole at the top, a table and chair sat opposite of the entryway and beyond the fire where an old man sat waiting for Mathieson to enter. While the man looked old he had a fire behind his eyes that rivaled and may have surpassed the fire within the eyes of youths and while the rest of his staff looked startled by the Terrans the man remained seated staring critically at the group, an act that earned him respect in the eyes of Mathieson.

Mathieson's personal scribe whispered "That is a man who could command the very forces of nature if he had the means." To which he had to agree, the man before him was not to be trifled with.

Stopping just before the fire Mathieson removed his helmet and bowed his head respectively. Raising his hand again he said "Honorable elder you grace me with your presence and I give you the respect you command by nature." Placing his hand down he beckoned one of his servants, a young maid, to come forward with two helmets on a scarlet pillow. Putting the helmet on he grabbed the sides and pulled in enclosing his mouth. The young maid approached the other side of the tent to be stopped by spear armed guards who were dismissed with a wave of the hand by the elder warrior and allowed the maid to pass by, grabbing the helmet he smiled at the maid like a grandfather would and placed it on his head copying Mathieson's motions.

After a few seconds Mathieson spoke up "Do you understand me sir?" He asked.

"Yes I do, surprisingly. I am Emergency Dictator Sicari Caluminis and I demand to know who you are." Sicari said to the unlanded noble.

"I have come in search of conquest and glory, and I see you are in need of military allies to drive back these... faeries. With my help you will throw off the shackles of the constant fear of being invaded to-"

"Yes but what do you want in return for this." Sicari interrupted boldly seeing through the lame excuse, his time as a military politician taught him that there was always a catch when people volunteered their forces.

Smiling Mathieson came clean "I wish you to allow my missionaries to preach the message of Jesus Christ within your realm and to allow me to retain the lands that I conquer without your forces. In return you remain a sovereign nation and can have access to our advanced technology."

Sicari remained silent for awhile and removed the face plate of the helmet to speak with his advisors. After some hushed conversations Sicari reattached his mask "I will have to bring your proposal before the Senate and Tribunal but I see no fault in this."

"Very good." Mathieson stated before he took out a sphere and lobbed it over to the dictator "When you reach a conclusion contact me through this by pressing the red button. I await your decision." He said before he bowed and left the tent with his entourage.

Near Carthio
"Attack! For the glory of Terra!" Paul yelled as he began slashing and firing at the snake creatures.

"Deploying shields!" A knight yelled as he activated a hardlight shield in front of him and proceeded to annihilate the snakes with his plasma sword as they became trapped in his shield.

The other warriors hacked, slashed, and fired at the swarm making large dents in the swarm and paying no heed to the man that just fell from the trees, they had more pressing concerns.

Paul crushed a snake under his foot he yelled "God wills our victory and health!" before he deployed multiple incendiary devices that finally dispersed the snakes.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Remin

After a few minutes, the man from before exited the tent, now with a helmet on his head. It was hard to tell his age, but if she had to guess, it would be somewhere in-between thirty and forty. He was followed by what appeared to be his secretary, and they young girl that had brought the helmet he now wore in a minute or two ago. It's twin was nowhere to be seen. As his group moved back in the general direction of their ships, one of the staff turned and and caught her gaze. She immediately looked down and forced a blush, suddenly interested in the folds of her toga. The young man smiled and continued walking as her eyes turned up to follow him and the group down the path. Carefully she made her way through the dispersing crowds of curious on-lookers toward the beach and followed the sands along the shore and behind a large rocky outcropping. After making sure she was completely alone, she reached into a fold of her garment and produced a slim, featureless, black rectangle.

"Remin Base, Remin Base, this is A-C-T Echo-Four relaying observations and data log. Please confirm." A small green light winked in reply.

"Remin Base, I've have observed red leader exiting communications with natives, diplomatic contact likely. I suggest we -" A voice behind her interrupted. "Hello?"

She started, secreting the device in her lap she turned to see the young man from the diplomatic team. He was dressed in an odd style, two parts medieval squire, one part fleet-com liason. He spoke: "Remember me? From the tents?" The translator seemed to be working well.

She turned away so that he couldn't see her face, or notice that the words she spoke didn't match the movements of her lips. "Yes, I remember you."

"I was wondering, if you'd like to see the ships up close with me? I can't take you inside, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind, uh..." The young man paused. "What's that, there in your lap?" He pointed at the device. "You were talking at it a second ago."

Thinking quickly, she replied still looking away. "Oh, this? It's a prayer mirror." She stroked the black glossy surface. "It lets the gods see your face when you pray, otherwise they would just see the top of your head."

The man leaned in closer. "Huh, why not just pray looking u-SUlrgH!" Two-hundred and forty seven close-combat training sessions slammed the squire right between the eyes.

The woman dragged the unconscious man a little behind the rocks and looked him over. He wan't bad looking as far as aliens went, if she was off-duty she might have even been tempted by his offer. She took all of his electronics and equipment - the ones that would come off, and after stuffing them in a scan-proof bag she scurried away to meet up with the rest of the team, leaving the man laying on the sand.



ACT Saucer, somewhere to the southwest of ACT HQ

The topographical map on the table flickered and blurred as the Commander attempted to dry one of the projecting lenses with his glasses' cleaning cloth. The humidity in the air had risen dramatically after they had passed over the coastline, and without the ship's air processors wringing it out it had started to collect on the cooler pieces of equipment. Still, it was better than breathing through a filter (at least in the Commander's mind), and if the carpet was slightly damper because of it, well, he'd just have to tough it out. The map showed several settlements much larger in size than what they had seen to the north; it was high command's belief that they belonged to the dominant species on the planet, and the Commander's job to find out for sure.

For the past hour or so they had hovered, camouflaged, about a klick away from one of the smaller settlements and 40 meters above the ground. The scans showed a population of about 30,000, most of them concentrated in the town area. The town itself was a circular design, with several rings of road emanating outwards from a large domed temple in the center. The scans of the temple showed a remarkable grasp of engineering for a pre-industrial culture; metal supports in the concrete, arched-topped pillars and a careful attention to geometry all belied an intelligent and analytical people. The surrounding buildings became smaller the further from the center of the town, but all shared similar characteristics: tall towers, concrete construction with metal where needed, and significant gardening and civic beautification present in the public areas and roadways.
The curious thing was, for all of the advanced features present in the buildings the roads made little sense: some ended at walls, some were entirely closed off, a few double-dead-ends and strips were nestled in between the structures in such a way that they'd be useless both to foot traffic and wheeled vehicles.
And there were no stairs, at all. Balconies and scenic vistas aplenty, but not a single step to be seen in any of the towers or to any of the buildings. No ladders either, and yet the people seemed to be moving between the floors with ease.

The Commander took another confused look at his instruments and then got up and walked to the galley for a late-night bite. As he walked down the hall, preparing to transfer command to the night crew he thought he saw a flash of motion from one of the sky-lights. Curious, he walked over and peered out of the window. For a second there was nothing. Then, without warning, a face moved into view and peered with reflected curiosity back at him. The Commander stared for a full five seconds before shouting for General Quarters.



Near Carthio

ACT Dorian Paulkins was having a really bad day. As the space-knights jumped into combat with the creatures, he turned on his belly and frantically crawled away into the underbrush. As the sounds of battle receded he ran headlong into the brush, branches and bushes swiping his arms and face as he ran.

Finally he came to a clearing and sat to catch his breath. Where was he? How was he going to get out of here? Dorian sat at the base of a small tree, panting, rolling these ideas around in his head when the sound of a snapping twig wiped all other thoughts from his mind.

Breathless, he found his service pistol still clinging to his hip and frantically shook the mud off of it. Pistol ready, not daring to turn look around the trunk he sat motionless, hoping the noise would just go away.

[Camelone]

Remin
Mathieson was just about to have his shuttle launch before one of his knights ran over to him "Sire we are missing a single squire, I am afraid that he might have gotten into trouble somehow." Mathieson cursed under his breath and began disembarking the shuttle to look for the missing squire.

Pointing to his groups of knights he divided them into groups of three and ordered them to split up and look for the missing squire, he himself had three knights with him as he walked back to the tent he just came from to inform him about the predicament.

It was a tense few minutes before Mathieson got word of the squires state and quickly rushed to the location as the rest of the knights went sprinting back to the ship to secure it, being a bit rougher with the curious natives. Orders were relied back to deploy the drones to continually scan the area until the equipment could be found and the perpetrators of this assault were dealt with in the most efficient manner.

Carrying the squire back to the shuttle Mathieson was just containing the fury that raged around inside, he let his guard down to much and now a potential enemy has Terran technology. More of his men could die because of this oversight and that was what enraged him the most.

Near Carthio
Regrouping the knights began looking for the mysterious man. "He couldn't have been native, you see his clothing?"

"Yeah it wasn't of this planet. Sir Peter we may be dealing with another advanced civilization." One of the knights said ominously, they were a formidable army no argument there but they could not fight toe to toe if they were dealing with another Naga civilization.

"Find me that man and report this to command, they need to know about this." Peter ordered before he drew his second blade, a starforged blade as black as a black hole, and advanced through the overgrowth following the path of destruction that the man made in fear as he fled."Oi lad come out and I won't kill you, probably. If you're so warlock or nasty looking beast I may just slip this blade through your neck and absorb your blood." Peter said as he neared the end of the footprints.

Before he could say anything else he also heard a twig snapping and whipped around to only see a red deer with razor spine and curious black eyes. Releasing a breath he did not know he was holding Peter was just about to turn back around before he saw the deer get pounced on by a giant wolf, easily larger than a grizzly on Terra. "Son of a bitch!" Peter yelled before he jumped behind the same tree as the other human was hiding behind, thankfully the tree had large roots and obscured both of their forms.

Raising his finger to his mouth he made the quiet sign as the sounds of the deer being devoured was heard. Taking out his own pistol and a grenade he gestured for the other human to look trying to not make any sounds to alert the beast.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Outside of Remin

"And this is all?" The A.C.T. squad leader looked at the array of objects lain out before him; Two well-bound books in a leather belt case, a metallic communications device, a string of beads with a "t" symbol in the center, a sheet of what looked like smartpaper inscribed with a handwritten note, and a black and white photograph of a young family.

"Yes sir." The scout replied. She wasn't sure if she'd done the right thing, but what was done was done: a member of an unknown force had identified her as not belonging to the locals, and she had subdued and robbed him. Given all the options, this seemed the best course: low hostility, high information. It was the SL's issure now.

The squad leader walked over and discussed the situation their VNLibrarian liaison. A position a Vargessen National Library librarian was considered a top honor for many heads of science on the homeworld; as standard the position came with near-unlimited access to rare documents and museum-level artifacts as well as Directorate-level funding for the receive's projects. The catch was that the job technically made the lucky scientist an employee of the Director's Office: and thus a loan-able asset. The borrowed doctor gave a nod in reply to the SL, and looked over the objects.

"Well, judging by the diagrams and illustration, the first book appears to be a Malleficarum: a witch-hunting manual. It contains information on the capture and containment of various monsters, demons, and possessed humans while providing warnings and incantations to provide some measure of protection for the user. The funny thing is, this book is not an ancient text; I'd say it is mass-produced, less than a year old, and in consideration of the iconography here-" he gestured at the cover"- and here, probably issued to this man by his organization."

"What are you saying doctor?", the squad leader queried.

"What I'm saying is; that his book is neither a reproduction, nor a personal novelty. It seems to be a contemporary and serious look at the subjects involved."

The SL creased his forehead. "So the aliens believe in witches. doc?"

"And demons, and other spiritual entities, yes. Now let's move on. The communicator is self-explanatory, self-contained radio unit, with some crystal components of an unknown purpose. The necklace is a religious icon, similar to the ones pictured-" he gestured at the books again "-within the texts. The second tome has the layout of a history textbook, and if the scout's description of the man is correct, I would say this is him right here." The librarian pointed to the leftmost man in the photograph.

"Thank you doctor." The squad leader said, dismissing him with a wave. "Now as for you-" he looked at the scout, "-, you will be rotated out of active reconnaissance for the rest of our operation here." The scout began to protest but held back as the leader spoke again. "With the amount of surveillance drones deployed in the area, we'll have to keep low for the time being. We can't risk anyone recognizing you." The scout nodded, resigned to her fate. "Now report to Vandison for your new assignment. Dismissed."

The scout walked along the plastic corridor towards the center of their temporary underwater shelter. The ACTers could swim from one pod to another using the airlocks, but setting up the tubes made it easier to coordinate between stations. As she rounded the bend she reached in her bag and felt the cold metal hilt she had found on the man. It was a court martial to withhold information from a superior officer, but... "Nooo ..." the voice said... "What youu diid waas nesssisary.... our littttle seecret... would not hurt themm...."

"No," she thought. "Would not... hurt them."

Near Carthio

The spaceknight landed in the mud next to Dorian Paulkins and held a finger to his lips. Sickening cracking sounds emanated from behind the tree. Paulkins sat totally still as the man drew a pistol and grenade, and wished that he could sink into the tree and never come out. The knight had other ideas though, as he pantomimed throwing the grenade at the wolfbear and followed it with much waving of his sidearm.

Dorian was about to ask what he meant when the grenade was lobbed over the tree and the explosion threw plants and gibbets over their rooty hiding place.

The knight circled out of cover and began pelting the creature with blasts of energy from his sidearm. Dorian got the picture and did the same in the other direction hitting the creature from both sides, when it swiped at him. The massive claw connected with a sound like breaking glass and Dorian want flying backwards into the overgrowth.

When he awoke Dorian was in the middle of a tent with Greta standing over him.

"Where, am- uh?" he managed.

"Medical tent." Greta offered brusquely. "Carthio base told us you were late, so we followed your transponder. It looked like you'd been hit by a bear." She pointed at a ripped and cracked combat vest hanging by the door. "They also found this on you." She dropped a little silver shield in his lap. Know what it means?

Unhelpfully, Paulkins had passed out.

[Camelone]

In Orbit
Lord Mathieson sat on his command chair staring out into the inky darkness, he was thinking heavily about the missing equipment and feared for the poor soul who captured the squires sword without knowing how to keep the beast at bay. "God protect the poor soul." Mathieson said gloomily before he heard the doors open up behind him accompanied by the pounding of walking feet.

"M 'Lord I have gathered those that you wished of me." Wheezed out his Master of the Abyss, a terrifying old woman who made Mathieson's blood run cold when ever he made eye contact with the old hag. If he didn't need her to guide his ships away from the Abyss beats he would have let the Inquisitors end her now but alas he must allow this conduit of the Taint upon his ship, as long as the Abyss portal hasn't been stabilized that is.

Turning in his throne Mathieson rose and looked at the people he assembled, one of the Pope's Grand Inquisitors, a witch-hunter, an alchemist, a Paladin, and the young squire. All of the men kept their distance from the old woman eyeing her carefully knowing that the criminal was being held in check by countless Mages and Alchemists working tirelessly to counteract her mental attacks and defenses. The witch-hunter held his blades tightly wishing for nothing more than the order to cut down the monstrosity standing before him. "My friends," Began Mathieson as he took steps forward "I have brought you all here due to a slight security breach and a possibility of a demonic incursion into this realm. As you know the sword in question has a corrupting influence on it which is simple to counteract if the proper rituals are known. Sadly whoever took our young friends blade most likely is ignorant of such techniques. With this it gives us the chance to track it down and that is why you all are here. Grand Inquisitor you are to protect our souls from spiritual assault while Paladin will protect us from physical assault, witch-hunter you are to help guide the young squire to his blade while the alchemist opens the mind. Once the blade is identified and located you all will deploy and retrieve it, contain the outbreak as best you can and make contact with this other faction. Any questions?"

"Yes why is she here?" The grizzled witch-hunter asked pointing at the Master of the Abyss who just smiled at them darkly.

"We need someone to open the rift." Mathieson said to which the men crossed themselves in fear, to open a rift was no small matter but the retrieval of the blade was necessary to prevent this undefended world from falling to the Taint, a faint Terra almost experienced so far back. "Once the rift is opened and the blade found you all will enter through it, understood?"

A series of serious nods and the pale face of the squire followed. Mathieson's throne sunk into the floor as various Mages entered the room assisted by chanting monks and armed paladins in their faceless masks. The witch-hunter pushed the witch up to the top and the Mages secured glistening rope around her as the monks began lighting incenses around, the Grand Inquisitor began the counter ritual as the witch started to convulse screaming in tongues as she allowed her body to be possessed by a demon. Mathieson took a step back in fright as the rift began forming, the Mages doing their job perfectly and efficiently under the protection of the paladins and praying monks.

A few claws and horrid creatures tried to exit from the small rift but the paladins beat them back viciously. As soon as it started it finished, a stable rift was formed and the squire was led to be next to the witch sitting next to her as the alchemist began finishing the ingredients off to put him into the haze. It took only a few more minutes before the blade was located and the squad reassembled. Taking point was the intimidating Grand Inquisitor with his great power shield and laser lance followed closely behind by the eager witch-hunter, duster billowing behind him as he jumped through, and the paladin in shimmering power armor. Behind them the alchemist led the squire through, the rift showing slight signs of deterioration.

"God protect the right." Mathieson muttered as he watched the men disappear in the swirling vortex.

[Camelone]

The Grand Inquisitor stood in a pool of water, tainted with the blood of the corpses that floated along, he had his eyes closed as he focused his senses to detect the Taint of corruption. The witch-hunter and paladin were examining the bodies quietly and quickly, they needed and wanted to get out of this corridor as fast as they could as they didn't know how long until the water floods it completely. "There's seem to have been a lot of civilians here once the demon was unleashed, it's gathering bloo-" The witch-hunter was saying before a howl reverberated through the complex.

The Paladin shouted "Run!" as a group of possessed personnel began charging down the corridor. "Watch your shots brother hunter."

"I always am precise." The witch-hunter responded crisply before he unholstered his pistols and began mowing down the charging demon controlled. They lay on the ground for the bit as the group began running away but slowly they began getting back up screaming like the damned they are.

"This is worse than I feared. The demon has been able to summon others and is no doubt in the process of a blood sacrifice to open a larger rift or to increase its own power." The Grand Inquisitor solemnly said as he ran next to the group. The group ran into a barricade and began banging on it.

"Let us in! The damned are coming!" The squire yelled hysterically. The Grand Inquisitor simply turned around and kicked at the barricade collapsing it before he ushered the rest of the group in, the survivors were to terrified to do much to try and resist the intimidating Inquisitor and towering paladin.

"Paladin protect the entrance with the witch-hunter. You, young squire come beside me you will help me. Alchemist see what you can do in regards of finding the center of this hellstorm." The Grand Inquisitor ordered calmly as he pushed a bunch of equipment of a table and lit two candles and placed them on either side. Removing an incense-boat from his sack he lit the incense and removed a host as well and began consecrating it, the sounds of fighting echoed outside as the two fighters did their duties. With the consecrated host the Grand Inquisitor walked out of the room chanting with the squire swinging the incense back and forth, the survivors seemed stunned at such a suicidal plan and cowered in the corner fearful of the massacre they thought would follow.

Instead of a massacre the possessed grew terrified and weak, falling to their knees at the sight of the Eucharist they were finally dispatched with ease. He broke the host and placed one on the tongue of the paladin and the other of the witch-hunter before he returned to the room, much to the surprise of the survivors.

In the corner the alchemist was doing his work trying to locate the woman who stole the sword to hopefully save her soul. At that moment a group of on-duty ACT soldiers returned from their duties to find their base ransacked and a few corpses nearly torn apart, demonic symbols written in blood adorned the sides as a low hovering green mist danced across the floor. The mist began spreading across the entirety of the base gaining the attention of the Terran soldiers.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Remin Base, Hecate



Laughs echoed through the airlock as the scout team returned, a shared joke filtering through the group. As the door to the makeshift base slid open and bloody water poured in around their ankles, the laugh died, in its crib.

After a moment of stunned silence, the Captain took control. "Guns up, quiet running, you-" he pointed two fingers "-search for survivors, minimal radio traffic. If you encounter hostiles, report back without engaging. Without. Engaging." He looked at the rest of the six-man squad, "The rest of you follow me: Let's find who did this."

As the Captain's team moved down the inflated halls, the extent of the carnage became clear: symbols in blood covered the walls, bodies were torn open and set up in macabre positions, research manuals and ration tins had been crafted into candles and strewn among the remains. "Keep steady now." The Captain reassured as they passed through the door to the labs. Inside the tables and equipment were trashed, and a green mist flowed around the ground.

"Sir, I think you should look at this!" One of the team-members gestured to a mural covering one of the walls; drawn in blood as the rest were, it depicted a door with figures waiting outside, and a lone figure reaching to open it. Around the door was writing in an unintelligible and shifting script:


T̸̢̠̳̜̜̫̜̙̺̩̺̜̲̼̤̳͌ͩ̈́̍̈́̆̂͑̾̌ͩͨ̿̃̀̚͝ͅḩ̛͔̰̦͉͖̞͔̦͈͙̍̑ͦͧ͆̀͠͡ę̛͓̭̗̟̭̝̭̳̼͕̐̒ͦ̀̌̃̾ͨ̽̏̀́̓̊̽̍̄ͮͨ̀ͅ ̷̡̧̩͎̟̳ͥ̓͑̿̌͌ͮͪ̊͂̇̌ͤ̊ͧͪ̃̕͝d̸̡̹̣̜̗͉̙̲͈͈̭͎̮̗͙͍̀ͩ̊ͫ̏̈́̚̚͘͞͞o̷͔̠̯̯̣͖̻̻̗̹̯ͦ̇ͬ̈ͧͪ̂͆͝͡ǫ̫̦̙̬̱͓͚͇̻͖͈̩͔̼̜͇̪͋͗͛ͧ̍̋͐̃̔͋͌́̋̅̚͢r̢̡̠̻̫͎͖͇͍͔͌͆̔ͩ̐͐͊ͥͤ̅̈̆̿̈́͒͝ ̧͑͐̃̄̽͆͋ͩ̂͋͗͛̔͗ͪ̈́͏̷̶̯̯̱̼̦͕̖͜ͅẖ̨̨̧̤̞̪̬̲͚̼̰͙̪̭͕̠͚̜̪̩͂͋ͦ̎͗ͩ͗̃͌ͫ͢͞ą̶̨̼̟̟͓̯̥͉̻̆̒̐̓̒̋ͣͪ̄ͩ̀̚̚ͅs̨̝͎̹̩̩̦̙͖͂̉ͥ̚͞ ̟͕͖̝̲̲͇̗̘̱̥͔͕̬̘̠͍͕͕́ͥ̐ͬ͛̚͜͡b̷̈ͣ̋͐̊ͧ͟҉҉̸̘̝̯̫̤̗͇̤̙͈̜̩͕ȩ̸̨̠̟̥̦͍̋ͥ̈̾ͨͭê̸̢͔̤̗͈̲͎̼̤̩͑̊͑̑ͮ͊̉̓̐͐̑ͯ̚ͅn̵̵̠͍̣̦̦͚̰͓͈̭̹̭̣͐̊̐ͩ͗ ̴̢̥̙̩͔̳̥̊ͯ̔ͬ̉ͤ̇ͤ̐ͮ͢s̵͎̘͙̀ͫͫ͂͜͢͞hͮ͂̈̂͌̋̃͑͏̛͏͇̠̼̠͍̘̮̤̹̞̲̳͓̣̩̘̗õͤ͐̽͆͛̔̾̑҉̶̢̹̺͍͍̩̹̩̞͎̖̘̥̱̗͘͞ͅw̷̸̻͚̖̔̎̔̂̃̽̕͘͜n̵̳̖͇̭̼̝͂̎̊͒̇̾̂ͪ̔̅̄͊̽͠ ̷͔͖̖̣̜͉̠̞̱̏ͬ͂̐̏͡t̛͓̗̦̞͉͍̤̩̖͚̬̝̥̱̯̭̭ͧ̈́̾̽͂̓ͨ̀͘͜͞o̡͙̣̹͕͈̜̟͎̙̿ͣ̊ͤ̏̄͂ͧͤ̅ͪ́ ͥ̅̆͒ͭ͋͐͊ͭ̎͂̌̌̊͂̂̇ͬ̒́̕͏͡͏̖̼̙͇͙͍̣̖̪͕̮̤̩͖̳͔͖̭ų̼͙͈͕̬̮͙͆̃̂ͦ̇̽ͯ́̎ͭ̅ͬ͛ͦ̒̌͆̚͟͡͞s̡̢̛̻̬̤̯̘̰̍ͤ̒͊͒̓ͪͮ͌̍̐ͬ͊̇ͨ.̵̵̧͕̞̫̭̻̜̘͎̜̦̼̙̼͐ͯ͂ͭͦͤ̆͌̀̒̿̌̃͛̈́ͫ̅ͥ͡ ̜̣̜͉̥̖̯͖̲ͤ̿͒͌̊ͨ̊̚̕͢W͚̪͉͉̠̻̬̮̩̞̦̝̞̥ͮ̓̿̅̅̉͒͌̔ͯ̀̚͟ë̸̡͚̱̙͖̦̖͕͖̠͈̭͚͎̘͈̫͎̬̃̈́ͣ̅ͩ̑̒ͦ̍̾̓̚̕ ̵̷̷̸̭̲̬͓̬͍̊̎̈́́͆ͮ̒ͩ̿a̧̤̭̺͐́ͬ̅̌́ͧ̎̄̍̎ͯ͌ͦͧr̢̙̯̦̺̝̤̳͙̱͖̙ͨͥ͋͒̾ͨ̃͑̀͞͞e͒̎͗̽ͮ͋҉̫̳͓͔̟͈̻̲̱͙̬̝̥̤ ͇̰̯͎͎̗͍͎̠͓͎̝̮͕̯̫̭̬̌ͭͬ̓͑̓͐ͣ̆̏̀̚w̶̡̯̥̬͇̥̠̲͈̫̤̪̲̲͑́ͪ̓aͭ̇̐ͫ̏̃̌͛͋҉̸̛̼͖̼͙̮̱͕̗̟̱͓͕̦͖͘ḯ̶̷̱͔̮͈̯͓͔͔̠̟ͦ͑͐͑͛̐̿̀̀͝ͅt̵̡͕̰͇̼̩̔͐͑͂͌ͭ͆̊ͨ̈̆̀ͬͮ̚͟͝ͅḯ̈̄̏̇ͥͧ̇̏ͤ̂͏̷͙̖͍̝̹̫̩̠̮̺̖͙̗̙̹̤͖̪̙͢n̵̢̧̽̏͌ͧ̽͏͖̮̲̲͚͉̪͍̝̱̙̯g͈̼̘͔̳̳̜̰̫͉̣̙̰͔̅̂ͣ̅̌ͩ̅ͩͯͮ͌̾ͦ̆̀͛̽ͧ͜͝ͅ.̵̖͈̘͚̳̞̣̮̫͉ͤͪ̍̄͐̿͛ͩ́̍̓̓̔̂̓̃̀͘ ̴̙͕̮͍̲̫̬̮̗͓̗̿ͥ̈́͑́̀̓̾ͬͨͮ̇̿̂͛͘ͅͅÖ̴̵̖̻̹̭̦͕̞̜̖̳̟́͒ͣ̚̚͟f̷̡̮̞̻̲̭̞̰̮͚̫͎̬̫͍͓̂ͣ̊̑͌̆̓ͩ͋ͬ̉ͣ̉͂̏ͅf̿ͬͭ̂ͣ̓ͨ̑ͤ̇͑̂̀̑̚҉͏̼͈̘͚̠͎̥͎̕è̸̹͚͙̪̣͇͇̱̝̟̱̣̹̒̈́͒ͤͩ̂̊͒̉̒̆ͫ̂̏̇̒͑̀ŗ̶̴̷̨̬̜̖̼̺̝̝̩̮̳̠͉̯̺̫͖͕ͬ͋ͩ̃ͥ͐ͯ̌̅͊̀̆ͭͭ ̶͇̯͚̳̱͚̜͎̠̳̱̻́͂ͪ̐̽̋̓ͬͧ͗̓̈́ͧ̀͜ͅt͉̩͙͚̫͈͍̯̻́͗ͦ̔̊̎̐͟͝ͅh̗̣͓̭̩̣̺̺̯̭̙̻͓͗̈͑̉̃̆̅͌ͪ̑͛͌͑ͤ̽ͯ͡͝ͅe̶̮̠̰͙̹͓̻̭̹̟͉̟̪̫̺͗̆ͨ̏́̚͠͡ͅ ̸̛̱̺̗͇͚̹͉̼̒̌̇̔̄̌̇̍̃͆̾̂ͭ͐ͪ͗ͅf̨̫̪͔̠͙̭͈̮͖̜͇̮̓͋ͣͤͪ̈́͗̔͋͋ͩ̔̅͘̕͠͠ä̷͖̼͉̩͕͋ͨ̎̽ͪ̀ͭ̚̕͘ͅr̭͖̜̠̪̹̎̃̍͊̕͟e̪̞͍͎̘̠̩̹͉̪͈̥̲̰͔͓͇̓̈̇͌̀̚ ̴̹͚̳̗͈̦̰̳̫̪͚͗͋̋̂͛̆͌̈͛̌̚͜͡t̵͍̻̪͔ͥ͊ͥ̓̆̉̊́͟ǒ̢̤͚͔̪̤̗͍̗ͧͪͭͩ͛̃ͫ̅ͯͪ̅̈̂̂͘͝ ̷̡͚̝̙̩̱͙͎͍̞̲̪͖͗ͩ̉͂̿̏͝ͅt̷̵̫͔̰̣̙͓̞̣͔͓̣͙͍͖̝̠̭̭͚ͪͦͬͫͮͫ̐͗̑̇͆͗ͤ̃̕̕͠h̶͓̗̥̙ͬ͂ͧ̑̑̇́ͭ̇̎͘͢ë̸̛̤̺̟̻̤͓͖̒ͫ̄̐ͫ̅̄̓̓͆͛͊̚̚ ̵̴̛̠̰̫̹̪͔̖̆ͭ̓͑ͪ̊̏̆͛̎͒̂̅̑̃̊͗ͬo̶̰͔̲̞̟̦̼̱̤͓̮̦͈̳̰̯̅̅̌̿̃̓̅̈̇̈́͒̉ͣ͛͌͘͘͜͠ṇ̵̸̛̟̮͕̥̱̞͍ͨ̇́͋ͅe̅͛̑̔̅̓̿̄̌̄̎ͫͬ̀̓̑̚͏̴̸̷͔̞̗̰̲̝̯͕̼̼͍͙̩́s̳̗͓͓̗̞̖͍̦̳̰̳̐ͭͪ̆̒͊͋͑̉̊͆ͧ̏ͮ͛͗̆̈́ͩ͟͜ͅ ̢̧̠͙̦̻͓̹̫̮̥͕̭̻̲̲͓̟̳̣̇̈́̒̇ͬ̈ͦ̒ͩ͢͞i̧͆ͦ̉̂ͧ̽̔̆̈́ͯ̾̆ͬͥ̀̀̕҉̙̬̩̠͖͎͕͎͇̹͎̦̘ņ̸̛͔͔͓͓̝̟̬̻̪͓̗̞̺̱ͯͭ̔̌̏̈́͘̕-̵̵̛̙͓̗̦̝̗̯͈͙͎̭̙̯̠̝͙̯̍͋ͬ͆̋ͪ́̅ͨ̏̔ͩ̆̅͛ͤ͞ͅͅb̷̑͆ͮ͋ͬͫ͢҉̼͙̦̝͙̤̣ͅȩ̮͙̺̱͎̟̰̻͍̤̤̪̭̪ͦ̎̉ͩͨ̌̀t̡͎͕͍̼̻̗͖͉̔͆̿̇ͨ̀̚w̖͕̼͓͎͉̼̭͖̟͎͚͎̌̅̎͒̿͛ͬͥͬ͊̏̇̋ͫ͝ͅe̡͈̟̞̖̞͇̭̖͚̦̜͆̿̉̐̔ͧͥ̑̀͘͜͢ë̶́ͫ̌ͯ̀͏̞̮͓͉̣͍͙̯͇̪̬̤̙̠ͅn̫̥̬̬̻͙͈̟̽̂ͮ͐̉̌ͫ̄͑ͫ͗̄ͪ̉̓̂͛͒̃͝͝͠


It was almost as if the letters had a mind of their own, shifting and writhing at the edge of vision but solid and dead when in full view.

A commotion came in over the radio. "Sir, there are survivors but- ... -some of them-...-some of them aren't acting right! The first two we met looked alright, but Juni, well. Well sir, she bit me. Right in the leg sir. Terrance was with me when it happened, then Dr. Dale jumped out from behind some boxes and stabbed him in the shoulder with a pen!"

The Captain growled into the radio. "Change of plan. You secure that area, and wait for us to meet up with you. Is that clear?" He gestured at the guard near the mural. "You take Leremy and Shisu into the next room, find our VNL man. Dead or alive: makes no diference. Those techs always have a recorder on; I want to know what we're up against."

The radio flared up again. "Sir, before you go: when Terrance dunked the Doc, he perked up a little. Not too talkative now, but he went on and on about dimensions and "them" looking for a thin area in-between. I read the manual before we came Sir, and if we can do it-...-well, no speculation Sir."

"Good work, if he coughs up any more intel, you send it here." The Captain pocketed the radio and followed his team though to the next room. Inside there was a single entrance to the cargo bay, barricaded with tables and plastic chairs. Voices could be heard on the other side. The Captain looked from side to side at his team. "On two."

"One." Four rifles sighted the door.

"TWO!" The captain's boot dropped.

Fragments of plastic followed the surviving table into the room as the team rushed in, and were met with an implausible sight. Two fully armored knights and a coated pistoleer stood in the middle of the room, flanked by a man covered in flasks and a shaking young man in a tabard. They could have been taken for Ren-Faire thespians, if not for their equipment.
The armor of the two men, though outwardly medieval belied the trademarks of a contemporary combat-chassis: a servo here and there, bundles of myomer fibres flexing between the plates. The weapons too, behind their leather-wrapped hilts and polished wood stocks carried the thread-lines of electronic connections and the glow of arcing electricity. The only thing missing was the batteries: in fact, there was little evidence of a proportionate power source on any of their technology.
The knight with the shield was passing bread to the others and was surrounded by a huddle of frightened A.C.T. personnel.

The Captain growled at the apparent leader "You there! Drop the.. bread, and put your hands where I can see them. This is your only warning!"

The knight turned and looked at him. A few seconds passed.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Somewhere over the Southern Continent



It had taken some very hectic maneuvers to obtain the creature. When it had been discovered floating outside the saucer, the Commander ordered it shot: on their lowest settings the electrolasers could be used to stun targets rather than incinerate them. Even so it took two shocks that would have mincapacitated a fully grown human male before the delicate being had dropped out of the sky.

Thanks to the quick actions of the remaining A.C.T. team the creature had been netted out of its strange, slow fall and it now lay here on her table. Even then, it had not been the end of their difficulty. The creature was remarkably strong for its size, and when it awoke it broke one of its restraints and, affected one of the orderlies with some sort of phermonal attack. The Biologist sat back in her chair and looked it over.

It was subdued now, and she had gotten to perform the full range of tests on it. There was so much to do she had had an extra desk moved into the operating room so that she wouldn't have to switch rooms just to put down her notes. Physically it looked like a small human female: 1.2 meters tall, fair build, reddish iron-based blood, same anatomy, same facial features. It came clothed in a lightweight green toga-like garment with a necklace and bracelet made of an aluminum alloy, all with fractal patterns and floral motives. The garments had been swapped out for a plastic gown earlier and now were in the process of being analysed two labs over.

The main oddities were the eyes and the feet. The eyes were very human, brown in color, but with a thin gold ring around the pupil; her observations had shown it was a naturally-occurring compound set into the outer aperture of the iris. The feet were odd not in their shape or dimension, but in their development: no calluses, no abrasions, very little musculature. As far as she could tell, they had never been used. If this was true, as she suspected, it lent heavy credence to the idea that these creatures spent most of their lives in the air.

Reaction-less flight in a biological organism would be the discovery of the decade, but there was still much work to be done. Her patient stirred in her sleep. Yes, still much work to be done, scientifically, but ethically as well. No matter the amazing qualities these creatures possessed, it was plain to see that they were both sentient and well-cultured. Morality could be moved aside in the name of science, but only for a time. Soon they would have make a decision regarding the creature's fate.

The Biologist looked over at the her data entry for the creature. Genetically human, with a few key deviations, she had decided on "Homo Sapiens Alfa" for her reports. Informally, she called them Faeries. Small, humanoid, flying: it was meant as a joke, but it seemed more fitting now. A call flashed on her communicator; summons to the Commander's office. She took another look at the Faery sleeping on the table, then walked out into the corridor.

[Camelone]

Remin Base, Hecate
The Grand Inquisitor glanced over to the ACT troopers pointing guns at him and his group, though could not understand what they said. "Squire see if you can't find anyone who can speak our languages." He said as he remained still, holding onto the Blessed Sacrament and guarding it with his body until he could distribute it properly.

Feeling the guns trained on him the squire put his arms straight in the arm and slowly inched over to the huddled group of ACT personnel "Does anyone have the abilities to translate?" He asked timidly staring down the barrel of a gun trained directly on his head and he could do nothing about but pray that someone could diffuse this situation.

An older gentleman stood up from the group slowly "I have been able to translate your language."

"Excellent can you tell them to not point a gun in my face?"

"Squire!" The witch-hunter growled out.

"Sorry I meant, can you please tell them to lower their guns?"

The man did as he was told but by the looks of it the leader of the enemy squad had other things in mind "He doesn't think so, he thinks that you're the cause of what happened here.

"Sir can you please inform the captain that he should take a look at us and see that we are not as bloody as we should be if we made all those devil sculptures out there and that he walked in a priest giving out Communion." The gruff sounding paladin said as he kept his weapons leveled towards the new group.

Soon after some convincing from their translator they lowered their guns and the Terrans did likewise, the Grand Inquisitor went back to distributing Communion to the group and to the few ACT personnel who thought it would be a good idea. After that was concluded the two groups began quickly assembling a code to download into the Terran and ACT networks to more easily translate between the two languages, the work went quick.

"Captain do you have any idea where the person who did this could be located? Where is the largest room that they would have enough space to conduct a ritual of great size?" The Grand Inquisitor asked, his translator a bit shaky.

The Captain hesitated, not trusting the Terrans. "There is the main lab but we haven't gotten there yet."

"Captain if you can help us we can end this threat to your people here and now, you are out of your element here and need our help. We have experience with this type of thing and have a good success rate against them. If they are allowed to continue this rampage of theirs unhindered they may unleash horrors that we may not have the proper equipment to combat. It is difficult to battle Hellspawn that are water based and blood chilling." The Inquisitor argued.

Seeing the merit in the Inquisitors words the Captain relented and gestured for him to follow him. With some quick orders the Inquisitors group quickly fell into line and followed the ACT troopers, the squire couldn't help but notice the disdain that one of the troopers held for them 'We might not have convinced all of them.' He thought making a mental note to watch him and nudged the witch-hunter to watch him, an angry and vengeful soul was easy to manipulate.

As they approached main lab the grotesque scenes got worst prompting the squire and one of the ACT troopers to lose their lunch at the sight. Getting to the door the two groups lined up alongside the doors, holding up three fingers the Inquisitor nodded and did so as well. Counting down silently the two groups burst in to see the sight of a raging vortex suspended in the air above a dissection table which held a screaming man who was being ritually cut by the scout.

The scout had yellow eyes and torn up skin, symbols etched all around her and blood dripped from her fingers. Looking over to the two groups she smiled a sickly sweet smile that sent a shudder through the groups.

"God protect us." The paladin said dumbstruck as the vortex continued to rage about, two vampires dropped down from the vortex and hissed at them before charging.

Both the Inquisitor and Captain yelled out "Open fire!" At the same time as the creatures charged.

Laughing the scout stuck her hand out and threw the whole group backwards, slamming them hard into the wall disorienting them as the vampires closed. Reacting the quickest the witch-hunter removed a pistol and sword and engaged the first vampire. Slowly both groups began reorienting themselves and engaged the vampires, the paladin went over to help the ACT, saving a few of them.

"Captain we need to close the breach!" The Inquisitor yelled "Break the sword and get me close enough to exorcise the demon!"

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Remin Base, Hecate

The Captain charged his weapon and fired a railslug at one of the vampires. The shot took off the creature's arm and flung it into the wall, but it did not seem to kill it. Even now it was regenerating; drawing blood to itself out of the water and off of the surrounding walls. It continued to lash out at the struggling team despite the best efforts of their attending knight.
Across the room the Witch-hunter pulled a curious device out of his belt and planted it in the chest of his opponent, who began to writhe and screech in anger. As he prepared a killing blow however, the Hunter was caught off-guard by a tentacle emerging from the now foot-deep water. The phantom limb wrapped around his sword-arm and was joined by others who began to pull him down into the off-green lake.
"Captain, now!" The Inquisitor yelled, fending off a tangled appendage "Destroy the sword!"

The Captain, momentarily distracted by the horrors around him focused on the woman below the vortex. As the tatters of her uniform blew in the salt breeze she lifted the sword high above her bloody and struggling victim; her blood-shot yellow eyes gleaming with anticipation.

The sword fell... and with a wicked screech shaved ceramic sparks from the Captain's railgun.

The yellow eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed in anger at the ACT officer. The Captain had caught her swing in-between the rails of his weapon and now struggled to twist the sword away from her intended prey.
With inhuman strength the possessed Scout slowly grated the tip down towards the torpid survivor, the blade chipping and cracking the superconducting rails as it inched it's way forward.
The demon spoke through it's cracked smile:

"Wa̺̮̳͈̜̦͙t͕̱̟̙̓͑̇̊̚c̎͋h͙̙͓̗̫̍ ̻̮͉̝̎̈ͩ̋̓̌́y̪̲̫ͩͤͥ̅̈́̔̚o̰͇ͯu͔̙̙ͥ̏̎̅ͯ̏ͭͅr͉̟̲̽̉͆ͭͨͮ̍ ̖̥̖̌ͭͪc̻̼̅͆̎̚o̙m̰̉ͯ̏͗̄r̰̳̣̖̅͋̅̋̊̚ͅa̖̣̣͈̩̋ͤͨ̂d̫̖ͮ̔̋̿̓e̺͓͓̣̗̺͉̒ͦ̏͊̓s̭̗͕͔̻̻̦͛͋ ͎͖̯͚ͪ̂pͦ̂ͣȅ̉r͈͕̤̤̲̎̓̐̽ͅi̙̬̥̱̞̪ͣs̬h̪͈̞̍̓ͭ̃ ̭͚͈̣̏ͨ͋̋͛ͬ̏C͈̰̦͍ͭ̒̑ă̤͐̏ͩͫͨ͑p̏ͮ͐ͮ͋ͤ̚t̥͉̫̲̤̬̰ͩ̿̊̚a͚̯̝̦͙̦̿̈́ͦi̻̬̗̲͓̫͒̽ͪ̑͆n̻͈̲ͪ͊̓̊ͫͤͦ,ͫ ̗̼̲̀a͈̤̪n̫̣̲̰͙͎͚ͪ̓ͥ̋̆d̐̋̈ ̥̥r̳̥͙̦ͮ̒eͨ̏̔͌v̰́e̹ͮ͒̊̎l̆͋̂ ̱ïͨn̖̮͖̞͒̓̓͆͌ͥ̚ ͕̖̪̚t͉͉̙ͣ̉h̘̤͚̜̦͓̐ͦ̐ͭͫͧe̦̪̭͔͗̉̄ͧ͛̍̚ ̮̯̈́ͯ͑͌̇̅̆g̝̥̣̖͓̱͗̾l̆or͍̖̓ͭͪͤͧ̚y̬̙͉̗͌ͭ͗ͨ̚ ͇̩͙̬͕̟̖ō̞̥͌f̬͉̫ͦ̈̒ͤ̊͊̚ ̱̺̣̠̱͓M̘̝ͤ͗͋̉a̲̦̔ͨ͑w̻̰̗̤̰ͪ̀ͩ͂a̦͍͖̫ͣ͆t̮ͮ̋̆͊̇,͍̬̋ͧ̊̑̌̚ ͔̳̮̟̝͖͆̈ͥ̈́̑͐Lͯ̓̉̉̋o̞r̥̗̽̈́͒̀̎d̽̏̒̂̄̈́̾ ̝̳̪ò͔̟̹̩̅f̞̪̙͇ͦ̒ͬͅ ̜̥̜͈̟͕̽̾ͦD̀̏̉̈́͌ͫe̫͖͈̊̄̈aͮͦͤͧ̅t̼͙͉̄̚h͎̤̘͊̌̉͌̓̆.͓̦̹̳̻̰͔̇̽̏̆"̖͔̣͈̠͇̲ͤ̏͌ͦ͑ ̫̤͕̜̩ͮ͋̔͂ͤ"Ḧ̦̞͈͓͓́̚e͕̼̖ͯ̆͂̈̾̐ ͈̞̌̾̿͊͆̈́à̩͍̙̫̲ͧr͎̞̰̿̉ͅr̭̘̺̱͍̔̽i͍̱͔ͪͨ͂͗̔͛v̤̏̂e͇͎̪̊ͨ̏š̭͙͓̝͎̫̦̈ͨ͋ͫ͋ ̞̯̊̽͌̒ͫ̈̐n̘̋o̦͉͙̠ͩ̆̓w̒ͦ,̼̌͑̈́ͫ̂͑ ͥ̂t̹͎̭̥͇͉õ̺͉̙̽͑ͬ ̟̥̣̞̹̫m͍̈̈́̐ͅā̺̰̩̙͓͈̗ͦk̦̐͑͗͗ê̘ ̬̱͙̗̜̟̜ͤͨ͒p̂ͪͭ̓ͤ͛u̩̠̬̖ͬ̄̍͒̾r̻̟͔͙̘͗̔ͧͬ̏̒ͅe̻͗̍̍̚ ̠̇ͥ̇ͨͭͅtͮ͋ͮh̦̺̦̺̟̘̿ͦ͐ḭ̪͚͎̓s̥ͥ̉̓̆ ̳̙̩̤̭̭̂b̫̺̗̺̫ͬ̀͒͐ͩͩ̈o̟͖͕̙ͧ̏̑̌̂̃̚d͈̺̟̝̰́̀̌ͬͅy͇̦̱̣̹ͫ̆ͮͨ̌ͅ ̞̹̲̭ͧ́ͫ̐͐̂ͮḟ̫̿̃͑̈́ͣͅő̱̘̤̦̗̦̝r̮͎̫̮ͩ͂ͧ̌̅͂ ̙̥̾̓t̝̱̙̩̪h͚̞̹̜̳̥̟͊̐͂ë̥̳̯̗̗ͭ ̖̗̳͖̘͚̂̍ͪ̉͂ͩ͌c͇̝͔͖̐̈̂̚o͔ͪ̎̾̀̆͛m̰̩̘͔ͮ̏͌ͩ͋i̳̱͇̜̜̗͗̑ͪͤ̑̉n̻̔̄͆ͅḡ̜͚͍͋̀́ ͕͓͚̫͑ͧͦȍ̙̞͎͎̓͆͐ͯ̈f͚̙͉̜ͫ̃͆͋̔ ̮̘̪̱̼̄t̻͍̫̫̥͖ͪ̈ͯ̒ͥḫ̝͙̪̯͕̂̆̑̃ͤͪ͗e̼͎̯̜ ̼͖̆H͙͈̜͎̳̬̳os̠͓ͫ͊ͤ̉͑ẗ̻̪̩̞̺́.͓ͦ͊̆̽"͉̱̯͎̿ͫ̂ͭ̂̇̚

Above them the portal began to sound with footsteps, wails, and trumpets.

The terrified Captain set his jaw and looked her squarely in the eye. Charging his weapon he managed a curt "Hrmph" before discharging the capacitors into the rails.

Rather than attempt to move down and through the projectile sabot, the lazy electrons released into the rails took the path of least resistance: through the blade of the sword. The section caught in between the rails melted and fused to the gun while the hilt of the sword burst into flames and the possessed scout was thrown from the makeshift altar.

The beasts reeled in pain, giving the squire enough time to go after the demon. As he approached the area where the Scout had landed he smelled burning flesh in the air. Reaching down, he lifted her head out of the water and looked over her injuries: her palms were seared and electrical burns arched down her torn-up skin, dancing around and between blasphemous inscriptions and etched runes.
As the Squire began his ritual litany the Scout's eyes snapped open, the demon howling through her broken teeth.

He arm shot up and burned fingers clasped around his throat, desperately trying to choke off the source of the words.

[Camelone]

Clutching at his throat desperately the squire tried to say his litany but was feeling his head grow dizzy from the lack of air to his lungs. Seeing the young man's struggle the Inquisitor threw his laser lance like a javelin impaling the possessed scout through one side and out the other side. The scout let out a horrifying screech as she was thrown off the squire who quickly continued his litany, after a few more lines the litany was complete and the scout went limp.

"Quickly grab the sword squire, throw it back through the portal!" The Witch-Hunter hollered before he cut himself free with the help of the paladin who left the ACT troopers to help his fellow Terran.

Grabbing the sword the squire hurled it through the portal prompting the portal to collapse in on itself as its anchor for this dimension was severed trapping the two still functioning vampires on this side of the divide.

"Well we solved one problem and now have another!" The old alchemist said as he was barely dodging the vampires attacks and let out a scream as he blocked an attack with a rather thick leather bound book. "Somebody help me!"

The ACT troopers reacted the quickest and laid down some covering fire to allow the alchemist to scramble away from the beast before they had to focus on their own undead foe. Recovering from his ordeal the quickest the witch-hunter he sprinted over to the ACT's vampire as the paladin distracted the other one, "Alchemist the fire!" he yelled so as to get a vial of red liquid. Vaulting over the ACT he grabbed hold of the vampires neck and threw him to the ground and stuck him to the ground with his sword before smashing the vial that erupted into fire onto it making it scream in agony. Removing his sword he rushed the second vampire from behind and stabbed it right through the back "Drink this you abomination!" He said before pouring holy water down its throat killing it.

The entire room relaxed with the final vampire dead and the demon removed from this dimension, the Inquisitor could be seen off to the side holding the scouts head in his lap as he spoke to her and with a nod from the scout he baptized her and gave her Final Rites. A few moments passed before she closed her eyes and ceased to breath. "May you reach Heaven at your own time." He said before he moved onto the victim on the table and began repeating the process.

[Anonymous Contact Team]

Planet Hecate, Unknown Universe

Many months have passed since the incident, and all is not well on Hecate.

The other explorers we met have begun converting the local humans to their religion. Their technology and appearance has had a profound impact on the minds of this young culture, and they have found much acceptance among the people. The rulers however were not swayed by their claims of a far-off deity; where the explorers claimed evangelism the nobles saw subversion. All visitors have been banned from the island, and the nation is on the brink of a civil war between the new converts in the surrounding areas and the old regime based mostly in the capitol.

Yet this has not kept our spies out of their cities, and it would be foolish to assume these knights have any more difficulty at espionage than us.

The Fairies are aware of our presence, and it seems they have reacted poorly to our abductions.

They believe us in league with our more primitive cousins on the island, and many have joined and mobilized a large force against both us and the native humans. Their fear of the water has kept them off the island in numbers, but our scouts have seen them preparing ships and slaves at the eastern coasts. It seems if they will not cross the waters, then their servants will do it for them.

Our base near Carthio has no such water protecting it, and has been under siege from an army of fairies and their slaves for almost a month now. The swords, claws, and arrows of the slaves and creatures don't do much against ceramic plating and railguns, but there is little defense against the magic of the fae. The sixth bunker was destroyed by a meteor that our satellites didn't pick up, weapons malfunction and ricochet off of invisible barriers, and about 250 of our contractors have died in every way from having the flesh melt from their bones to being overwhelmed by swarms of axe-wielding zealots.



Most of our saucers were destroyed in coordinated attack by the enemy; they flew up in droves and melted holes in the hull through which they boarded the craft, the autoguns couldn't target them fast enough. We managed to save one but the others had to be scuttled before they could fall into enemy hands. Without air support we've burned a perimeter around the base and fortified our position - but they come silently at night in the air and we've detected them digging towards us from underground. They outnumber us 1000 - 1 and as soon as they figure out that we don't have enough guns to shoot them all at once they're going to swarm over the walls and overwhelm us. Blast doors will only buy us time against them, we need to evacuate and nuke the site to prevent reverse-engineering. But not before we've finished our mission.

Our last saucer is being outfitted for high atmospheric flight. Our best (read surviving) crew will pilot the craft over the southern capital and drop into atmosphere where they will collect samples of the flora and fauna before making an attack on the city. The autoguns have been replaced with a bank of electrolasers that derive their power directly from the craft's primary capacitor battery. We've found that while lasers do little against the fae, the electric shock is conducted by their magical barriers. This should allow the ship enough defense to succeed in an attack on a target depleted of soldiers. The raid on the city will focus on looting items of value and destroying property. Once the damage is done, the ship will again make high atmo and return to base; hopefully over the heads of an army returning home to save their city.



The knights remain silent. Their primary fleet left in the manner that they arrived in, but a single ship remains in geo-synchronous orbit above the island of humans. Time will tell if they still have a role to play.