Ranath, the female Dominion representative, came back to Karthreth and Bregs who were waiting in a shaded spot just off one of the main roads in the capital. Breg has a similar build to Karthreth, but has a large scar across his face. He has shoulder length hair, while Karthreth’s has a shorter one that doesn’t reach the neck.

As she approaches, both of them notice her and begin to ask her about what she found out so far. She begins to relay what she found.

“It’s just as Nazaam stated, the U.S. really did appear very recently out of nowhere. And they really did beat back some of the major provinces from the Tillerian Empire with methods not seen before. However, the intelligence regarding the U.S. military is shaky at best, and wholly unreliable at worst. But, there is one common word or phrase that is mentioned. And that's “Artifact.”

Karthreth puts his hand on his chin to contemplate. “Artifact? The thing which describes unknown contraptions and designs of the gods?”

While there are many different terminologies across different countries, the word “artifacts” is synonymously used to describe the unknown, almost divine devices which seem to defy the common understanding in this world. No one knows where they come from, nor how they work or their purpose.

Karthreth continues. “Can you tell us anything about the artifacts the U.S. military used?”

“Some point to strange land contraptions which moved like it was alive, but wasn’t a creature. Some have described almost divine retribution from the skies which delivered fast punishment. In fact, I received information concerning the location of one of these artifacts.”

“Really, how far?” Bregs stated bluntly.

“Right here, in the Quenlari port in the capital. Remember the U.S. has a consulate building here. Apparently, they have these metal ships which occasionally ships supplies to the U.S. consulate building.”

Both Karthreth and Bregs became confused.

“Why would the U.S. need a supply ship for their one consulate building?” Both of them thought. Then, they both realized the same thing that Ranath realized when they heard that piece of information.

Ranath continued. “We might be able to figure out more from observing the U.S. consulate building and ship than all the brokers combined. I hear American military soldiers are stationed at their consulate building.”

“To protect what? It’s just representatives from their country right?” Bregs again stated bluntly.

Karthreth responded in thought. “Unless the people in that building are high ranking officials or they have something else to guard in that building. Of course, we can only guess at this point. They seem to be different in many aspects from what I can tell.”

“You are correct with that sentiment” Ranath continued to point out other odd things, such as attire, language, and having a seemingly encroaching hold on the region without any intention of attacking.”

Ranath suggested to Karthreth that maybe they should conduct more information gathering, however, he had a better idea in mind.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Karthreth begins to lay out his plans bluntly. “Let’s just go and see the weird ship and their consulate building ourselves. It’s not like there are any restrictions. From what I can tell, they don’t seem to be keeping this a secret if they are just showing it off.”

Ranath, being the more cautious, is hesitant. Bregs is all for it though with a nod. “I also want to see their ships and weapons.” Ranath could only agree with them as they head towards the closest location which is the docks of the Quenlari capital.

***

The three Dominion representatives arrive at the busy docks where they are greeted by many ships busy unloading their goods. The most eye-catching of all of them is a metal ship which is currently moored against the sturdiest area in the port. All of the ships in the port are made of wood, so the metallic look of the ship stood out like a sore thumb in the dock.

The ship is not anything impressive weapon wise. No cannons or firearms seem to come from the ship. To the representatives, it's just a regular shipping vessel if they exclude the extraordinary fact that it's metal and doesn’t have any sails.

“So this is one of their ships. I thought it would be much bigger, but I suppose this isn’t their warship.” Ranath comments.

Bregs and Ranath commented on the ship, but Karthreth commented on something else.

“What are those moving carriages? They seem to move without any horses or magic.”

The two look to see that there are cars and trucks near the ship. They were loading pallets of cargo and supplies.

Ranath begins to explain to Karthreth that those appear to be similar artifacts that she has heard of from her intelligence reports. They don’t seem to move by any conventional means that they know of.

Bregs comments “Should we follow them? We might be able to see something interesting.”

Karthreth comments and decides to send Ranath by herself to follow the trucks that are preparing to leave the port.

In the meantime, Karthreth and Bregs would head to the U.S. consulate building to see the people behind the phantom new power in the region.

***

When Karthreth and Bregs arrived near the front of the consulate building, they didn’t stand out as much since they were in the middle of peak foot traffic on the street. It’s around mid-day, so many were moving about. Karthreth and Bregs head off into a discreet corner where they could casually stand around while looking at the consulate building.

More than the ship, the building stood out much more. The design of the building is almost similar to a castle or fortress in the middle of the capital. Furthermore, it has its own driveway into the complex and has guards at the gate to stop anyone from entering.

The grey building contrasted heavily with the beige buildings surrounding it.

“Are you sure this is the right building boss? This is less of a consulate building and more of a fort at this point.”

Karthreth could only confirm as the locals pointed to this building. But it isn’t that weird to be suspicious.

The building had fences and gates which blocked anyone unauthorized from entering. Furthermore, the guards wore what could only be described as military uniforms which were of a strange green patterned color. Normally, the two guessed that the gates would be closed for the most part. However, they are now open to let in Quenlari officials running from nearby government offices.

Karthreth looked and commented. “It seems my friend's colleague is approaching the Americans for aid in their crisis.”

Bregs spoke. “Isn’t this kinda bad? They seem to have closer ties with the Quenlari Kingdom.”

“The King ultimately decides who to side with. So it's not clear yet.”

Then, Ranath appears from behind them. She begins to state what she had seen.

“The trucks from the port entered the back of the consulate building. I would have followed, but the back entrance is gated. Pretty decent security considering this is only a consulate building.”

Then, a loud sound emerged from a distance. Ranath heard it first, but she could not recognize it. Soon, it became quite loud, and a huge metallic object came near the U.S. consulate building and descended into the back of the building.

The three could only look in awe of this huge metallic flying piece of equipment. Soon, the noise died down and the huge artifact disappeared.

“Ranath, what the hell was that?” Karthreth responded.

“Sir, it's probably one of those artifacts. Similar to the ones from the docks, but this one flies.”

Bregs followed up. “If they had more of those things, wouldn’t an invasion be pretty easy for them? I never saw something like that before.”

Karthreth becomes silent and only looks towards the U.S. consulate building with an expression Bregs and Ranath have only seen at the height of the civil war.

“Ranath” Karthreth says out loud.

She immediately responds. “Yes captain.”

“Send word to the council immediately to begin intelligence gathering on the Americans immediately.”

“Yes sir.”

She runs off.