Chapter 24: Joint Operation Part 1
August 26th, 2053
United States, Washington DC, White House Situation Room
“Are we secure?” President Bennett asked as she briskly walked into the situation room. She was called out of a meeting with the joint chiefs for an urgent message from Fort Roanoke.
“Affirmative, Madam President,” General Thompson replied. “The line is secure and the connection is stable.”
As President Bennett took her seat, the display at the end of the table flickered to life. It was low resolution and had a lot of static, but she could make out the face of Lieutenant General Reed. Until now they had been relying on a physical connection running through the portal to communicate with the other side, but the technicians finally figured out how to compensate for the portal’s interference.
“Lieutenant General Reed, do you copy?” President Bennett asked optimistically.
“It’s a bit patchy, but I read you, Madam President,” he answered, though his voice was a bit distorted.
“What's the situation over there?”
“The Empress has requested military aid dealing with a violent rebellion in one of their northern provinces. Rebels took over a few villages and are growing a sphere of influence.”
“So there are freedom fighters rising up against the Rontak Empire?” The President asked. If that were the case, she’d be more inclined to side with the rebels than the Empress. Although that would certainly have unfavorable diplomatic consequences. Neutrality seemed to be the most prudent course of action. It wouldn’t be smart to start fueling proxy wars with their current, extremely limited geopolitical understanding of Kraffnia.
“Not exactly,” Reed said. “They’re more like a terror group mixed with organized crime, extorting resources from civilians in exchange for not slaughtering them. If the intel relayed from Ronta by Ambassador Smith is accurate, they’d definitely qualify as a terrorist organization by our standards.”
“That certainly changes things,” President Bennett said solemnly. “How reliable is the intel? What degree of confidence can we have that the Empress isn’t trying to use us to target dissidents opposed to her regime?”
“Ultimately, we can’t be certain of that,” Director Delano replied. “However, the intel is consistent with what we know of criminal elements in the Rontak Empire. Extreme violence is not uncommon on a small scale, and our arrival could very well have provided the opportunity for them to organize and become a more significant military threat.”
“I’ve already deployed a surveillance aircraft to the region to see if we can verify the Empress’s intel,” Lieutenant General Reed said. “If there is a roving band of criminals out there, we’ll know about it by the end of the day.”
“Alright, for now we’ll proceed under the assumption that the Rontak intelligence is accurate and given in good faith,” the President decided. “Lieutenant General Reed, what's your assessment of the viability of military action?”
“I have confidence in our ability to neutralize the so-called ‘Bandit Lord’, Gamlyn Pardkh, but we don’t have much actionable intel,” Lieutenant General Reed answered. “We don’t know the layout of the village he’s in, or even if he's still there. We don’t know how many hostiles we’re dealing with, how many civilians are in the mix, or if there are any mages in play. We’d essentially be going in blind.”
President Bennett did not like sending US troops into combat with so many uncertainties. Even the most risky missions usually had better intel than this. But with no satellites and no network of assets, they were extremely limited. Granted, their technological edge was a massive advantage; the odds were still in their favor even with all the unknowns. But it still didn’t sit right with her. Unless…
“Is the Empress willing to lend us her cooperation if we move forward with a military strike?” She asked.
“Indeed she is,” Lieutenant General Reed answered. “In fact, she’s already promised us the full cooperation of the local city garrisons and a contingent of knights from her Order of the Dragon.”
That would certainly solve some of their intelligence problems. The Rontaks would also be more familiar with the tactics the terrorists would be likely to employ: how they’d fight, where they’d hide, how sympathetic the local population is, etc. With their help, they might just be able to pull this off.
“Very well then,” the President decided. “Whether or not these are legitimate rebels, they’re terrorizing innocent civilians and we’ve been asked to put a stop to it. I think it's time we show the new world that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”
August 27th, 2053
US Duremar Territory, Fort Roanoke Air Base
Daniel, Liv, and Benny were waiting for Commander Ralva from the Order of the Dragon to arrive. She was being flown in from Ronta to take part in the first US-Rontak Empire joint military operation. The rest of the Fourth Deep Recon Team was already aboard two Albatrosses that would take them to the Marlonk province.
The airfield was alive with activity. Military aircraft launched and landed, trucks ferried fuel and munitions to planes, and the roar of engines drowned out everything else. There was a lot to do; most of it didn’t have anything to do with their operation. Daniel saw a transport plane appear in the distance from the east.
“That’s gotta be them!” Benny shouted as it got closer and came in for a landing.
The transport plane’s landing gear hit the ground with a screech. It taxied off the active runway and lowered the rear ramp. Before it even hit the ground, five people in distinctly Rontak attire ran out, escorted by airmen. The three marines ran over to them.
“Commander Ralva!” Daniel shouted over the howl of multiple aircraft engines. They looked a bit frazzled from all the noise and commotion of a military airfield on alert. “This way! We’re airborne in thirty seconds!”
They herded the Rontaks into one of the Albatrosses, which promptly lifted off the ground. Daniel and Benny showed them to the seats lining the cabin on either side of the Rhino magnetically locked to the floor. They secured their harnesses for them before taking their own seats. The noise from outside finally subsided as the ramp closed up.
“Good to see you again, Commander,” Daniel said cordially, now that he could be reasonably heard. “Though I wish it was under better circumstances.”
They felt the Albatross shift as it transitioned into flight mode.
“Likewise,” Ralva replied, clutching her safety harness.
After the Albatross got up to cruising speed, Ralva began her briefing on the situation in Marlonk. The Rhino made the hold a bit cramped, but there was a space near the front of the vehicle large enough for them to gather.
“Emily, do you copy,” Daniel said, talking to the other half of his team in the other Albatross.
“Loud and clear!” she replied.
“Alright, go ahead, commander,” Daniel said, nodding to Ralva.
Ralva brought them up to speed on all the available intel on the self-proclaimed Bandit Lord, Gamlyn Pardkh. Some of it was a bit… alarming. It was hard to tell what made Pardkh a ‘Bandit Lord’ rather than a rebel leader. Daniel couldn’t exactly blame him for rebelling against the Rontak Empire.
“So let me get this straight,” one of the marines said, “You guys pillaged one of your own cities, and now someone from that city is organizing a rebellion against your empire, and you want us to deal with it for you?”
Everyone stood silent and looked around as they realized the implications of the simplified, but not inaccurate, description of events. There were genuine reasons for Pardkh to organize a rebellion. The United States never had any qualms about interfering in other countries, but this felt like they were blatantly supporting an oppressive, authoritarian regime over freedom fighters.
“Sir, are you sure we’re on the right side here?” Liv asked.
Daniel wasn’t sure how to answer. He had the same doubts about their mission as the rest of the team. Luckily, Ralva answered for him.
“You want to know if you’re on the ‘right side’? She asked, annoyed. “Do you know what befell the people of Kashtan? Any who would not join the Bandit Lord or submit as his slaves were killed. All but five. Those five, he sent out to neighboring villages to demand their submission and instill fear. It was a stroke of good fortune that one of them stumbled upon a town with a mana comm; otherwise, we would still be oblivious to the situation. A few days later, the town sent another mana comm message to Count Padlion, saying that the bandits were approaching in force. They haven’t sent anything since.”
That shut down their ethical questions pretty quickly. This mission just became black and white; shoot the bad guys, save the civilians.
Ralva finished briefing them. Every detail they could get was important, no matter how small or insignificant it seemed. When she finished sharing the Rontak intel, Daniel took over the briefing.
“Our primary objective is to locate and neutralize Gamlyn Pardkh as a threat to the Marlonk province,” he said. “ Our secondary objective is to see how well we can integrate and work with the local Rontak forces. I want to make this very clear: we are to give them our full cooperation. They’re our allies now and we will treat them as such. And we expect the same in return.”
That last part was directed at Ralva and her knights.
He went through and explained their standing orders, which were admittedly not much to go on. Their general directive was to cooperate with the Rontaks and to jointly come up with a suitable plan to accomplish their shared objective: the elimination of Gamlyn Pardkh’s terrorist cell. To facilitate their broad objectives, they were armed to the teeth and ready for anything.
They had gear for a direct engagement, a covert infiltration, guidelines to negotiate with Pardkh, or any other situation they might find themselves in. LMGs, Spike-B missile launchers, various grenades, marksman rifles; anything a marine could want.
In addition to their more standard kit, they were also given some new equipment to field test. They shed their typical bullet resistant body armor for stab proof variants, given the type of weapons they were likely to encounter. Additionally, RnD gave them supplemental chainmail armor, designed to protect against slashing weapons. They were also given mithril bayonet attachments for their rifles, specifically designed to penetrate Rontak plate armor. It was a weird mix of anachronistic equipment and modern technology.
Lacking many certainties, the briefing was pretty short. They’d pretty much be figuring things out as they went. They didn’t even have an official LZ yet. They were set to rendezvous with a Rontak garrison mustered by Count Padlion, but without an accurate map, they didn’t have an exact location yet. Recon planes were still mapping out the operational area, though. By the time the Albatrosses reached the Marlonk province, they’d have more to go off of.
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“Lieutenant Ramirez, we need you in the cockpit,” the pilot said over the intercom. “And bring one of the Rontaks.”
Daniel and Liv shared a confused glance, but it sounded urgent. Without wasting time, he took Ralva up to the Albatross's cockpit. He entered his authorization code on the keypad and heard a mechanical click as the door unlocked and slid open. Ralva looked around with her mouth agape, evidently taken aback by all the camera feeds and instrument displays.
As they walked in Daniel asked, “What's the situation?”
“Contacts, sir: wyverns,” the pilot answered. “A few dozen just took off from the forest below us.”
It was difficult to make anything out from this height, but the co-pilot zoomed in on one of the exterior cameras to get a better look.
“Wait, look at the way they’re flying!” Ralva exclaimed, pointing to one of the monitors showing zoomed in footage of the wyverns. They flew chaotically, not in any sort of discernable formation. “Mounted wyverns can’t roll and twist like that, they’d throw their riders. Our saddles restrict their movement to prevent it. Those are wild wyverns.”
Just as she finished and Daniel was about to sigh in relief, a beam of white light shot up from the ground, just missing the Albatross. They all shielded their eyes; the blinding beam was right in front of them.
“What the hell was that!” The pilot screamed, banking hard to the right to avoid flying into the light
“I have–aggh–no idea,” Ralva replied frantically, holding on to a handle to steady herself.
“That looked like light magic!” Daniel said, as he recalled Elmot using it against the forest ghoul on their mission to Miretan.
He checked the display screens again and saw that one of the wyverns wasn’t as lucky as they were. It must have been hit by the light because it was spiraling out of the sky, back towards the forest. Dark shadowy tendrils lashed out of the tree canopy, grabbing the falling wyvern and pulling it down into the forest. They saw a dull flash of light that looked like a fireball, but it was quickly snuffed out.
“I don’t know what the hell is down there, but I’m taking us up to 7,000 meters,” the pilot said. The Albatross tilted back as it began gaining altitude.
“What's going on?” Liv shouted from the hold.
“Get everyone strapped in!” Daniel called back to her. “Be ready for evasive maneuvers.”
Turning his attention back to the ground, Daniel saw trees shaking in a line as more wyverns were chased off the ground; whatever was down there was moving. The trees swayed too much, too unnaturally, even for something large pushing through them. It was like they were bending out of the way of something.
“First light magic, then dark magic, and now life magic…” Ralva muttered.
Whatever was down there was heading towards the edge of the forest. A flock of panicked wyverns burst out of the treeline, taking to the sky unimpeded by the tree canopy. A dark shape leaped out of the trees into the air, catching one of the wyverns in its… mouths?
“It's a cerberus!” Ralva exclaimed.
“A what?” Daniel exclaimed.
From what they could see on the video feed, the creature was a massive three headed wolf. It was easily the size of a house. As soon as it landed, all three heads ripped the wyvern apart and swallowed the pieces whole.
Luckily, neither it nor the wyverns paid the Albatrosses any attention; they were too high up to be noticed. The wyverns scattered in all directions while the cerberus used its magic to disorient and ensnare its low flying prey. Beams of bright white light shot randomly into the sky, but none of them came close like the first one.
“What is that thing?” Daniel asked.
“A cerberus,” Ralva said, more calmly. “They’re gigantic beasts that roam the land hunting large animals.”
“Yeah, no shit,” the co-pilot interrupted.
“What do you do if it attacks a population center?” Daniel asked, curious.
“They don’t tend to hunt people or livestock, but they will if provoked,” Ralva answered. “They prefer larger prey like dragons, hydras, or basilisks. This one must be desperate for food, or else it wouldn’t be going after those wyverns.”
“Basilisks and hydras?” the pilot asked. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t just hear that.”
“Good call, dude,” the co-pilot commented as they left the cerberus behind on the ground.
With the situation resolved, Daniel and Ralva rejoined the rest of the 4th Deep Recon Team in the hold and explained what happened. Of course, they all had questions, which Ralva and her knights were glad to answer. Daniel made sure to record what they said so that command would have a first-hand account of the cerberus.
Cerberuses, basilisks, and hydras all qualified as megafauna. Ralva was baffled by the notion that supersized animals were impossible on Earth. No one had an explanation for how it was possible on Tempestia. Their best guess was magic; ordinarily a superstitious catch-all for anything unusual, but here it was a legitimate possibility. Just another mystery added to the growing list.
August 27th, 2053
United States, Washington DC, White House Briefing Room
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President Bennett was about to receive a long awaited briefing on magic, but her mind was preoccupied with the joint anti-terrorist op she ordered yesterday. If all was going as planned, there were American service members already heading deep into Rontak territory.
So much could go wrong so far from home. Their ‘allies’ were unreliable at best and a hindrance at worst. At least in direct combat; the Rontaks were definitely an asset when it came to intelligence. They had a lay of the land, so to speak. She had her doubts about it but was still resolved that it was a reasonable course of action.
They had to start building relations with the Rontak Empire, and this was a good way to do it. Providing military aid to quell a violent insurrection would probably sway some of the nobles who didn’t care about relief efforts. Those types were more likely to look favorably upon a show of force.
She pushed those thoughts aside as a cadre of scientists were escorted into the room by Secret Service agents. They each took a seat around the table and prepared their laptops and assorted documents. One of them stood out however, thanks to his pointed ears. He must be the native elf assisting with their research. She noticed the Secret Service agents keeping a particularly close eye on him.
“Welcome to Washington, Doctors,” President Bennett said. “I’m very eager to hear what you have to say, so without further delay, the floor is yours.”
“Thank you, Madam President. It's good to be home, even if it's brief.” Dr. Alexander Barlowe said. He was head of research at Fort Roanoke. “You and I are acquainted, but here are the rest of my senior staff. Dr. Richard Goodman, head of anthropology, Dr. Alan Webster, head of material research, Dr. Ruth Greene, head of biology, Dr. Martha Hines, head of… ”
Dr. Barlowe went on for some time, introducing his department heads.
“...And this is Elmot. He’s an elven mage that was liberated from the Rontak Empire. He’s been vital to our research into magic.”
Elmot didn’t say anything, but he had a translator droid beside him interpreting the meeting for him. His purpose for attending the briefing was to answer any question the President or other attendees had that Dr. Barlowe couldn’t.
Dr. Barlowe began explaining the basic principles of magic. “Tempestian magic is powered by nine different types of mana, categorized as basic mana, elemental mana and advanced mana. Elemental mana is further divided into–”
“Yes, I’ve read your preliminary reports, Doctor,” the President interrupted. “What breakthroughs have you made?”
“To start, we’ve reverse engineered some of the Rontak Empire’s mana communication devices. The fundamental principles are actually similar to radio-based communication but dependent on mana instead,” Dr. Barlowe explained. “With Mr. Elmot’s assistance, we were able to construct our own mana comm using parts from salvaged Rontak versions. We’ve already identified several obvious improvements from their crude technology to incorporate into our next round of prototypes.”
“Is it possible to intercept mana comm transmissions or develop countermeasures?” General Thompson asked.
“That should be relatively easy,” Dr. Barlowe answered. “It should only be a matter of applying the same principles behind electronic countermeasures. But we need more time to familiarize ourselves with mana comm magic before we can make a practical attempt.”
“How long until we can listen in on Rontak mana comm transmissions?” Director Delano asked.
“We can do that right now,” Dr. Barlowe answered. “They don’t use any sort of encryption, but for high level communications they use a series of codewords to validate who is sending and receiving the message. Ultimately, that doesn’t stop anyone on the right frequency from listening though. That's not really a problem for them because mana comms are so rare. The two biggest limitations are range and the quantity of functional mana comms in our possession. Just like radio waves, mana comms have a limited range. We can listen to open mana comm transmissions whenever we want, but the trick is having enough of them to find anything worth listening to. Most of the broadcasts we’ve overheard were either provincial logistics or personal messages between nobles.”
“I’ll be assigning one of my agents to observe all future mana comm experiments, doctor” Director Delano said. “We’ll be the judge of what’s worth listening to.”
“Madam President, is that really necessary?” Dr. Barlowe complained.
“I’m afraid it is, Doctor,” President Bennett answered. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but you’ll just have to deal with it for now.”
“Understood,” Dr. Barlowe conceded.
Dr. Barlowe gave them some technobabble about the inner workings of the mana comm. Then he finished up with a summary of what equipment and materials would be necessary to start producing American made mana comms. After the presentation on mana comms ended, he moved on to mithril.
“As you know, the mithril we acquired from Miretan displays properties similar to steel. We were able to work it fairly easily and began manufacturing mithril bullets, which have proven to be very effective in field encounters with demonic entities,” Dr. Barlowe explained, clicking through slides showing the corpses of demons riddled with bullet holes. “However, we’ve run into some trouble analyzing the material’s composition. The alloy from Miretan has a small amount of carbon and a high amount of impurities, likely the result of their crude forging techniques. Upon isolating the mithril itself, we’ve confirmed that it is its own atomic element. The trouble is, it doesn’t have a spot on the periodic table.”
President Bennett racked her brain trying to understand how something like that could be possible. Before she could get anywhere though, Dr. Barlowe continued. “Our limited testing suggests that it belongs in spot number 26, iron. But mithril and iron are most definitely different elements.”
“Are you certain it's not an error in testing or faulty equipment?” Secretary of Science and Technology Peter Myers asked.
“As certain as we can be at this time,” Dr. Barlowe responded. “While the emergence of magic prevents us from saying anything with absolute certainty, mithril and iron have a number of different physical properties clearly differentiating the two. For example, mithril emits a soft glow and displays minimal magnetic properties.”
Dr. Barlowe paused for a moment before continuing. “Forgive my bluntness, Madam President, but we don’t have the slightest idea how this is possible; quite frankly, it shouldn’t be. We’ll need more funding, equipment, and personnel to even have a chance at unraveling this conundrum.”
“Believe me, you’ll have it, doctor,” President Bennett assured him. “Please continue.”
“Unlike conventional materials, mithril’s inherent physical properties can be significantly augmented beyond their natural state by the infusion of mana from an external source.”
“In English, please, doctor,” General Thompson asked.
“It means that a sample of mithril can have properties like tensile strength and hardness artificially increased without altering the dimensions or mass of the sample,” Dr. Alan Webster, head of material research, cut in as he flipped to a slide split between two graphs. “This graph shows the stress-strain curve for a mithril sample with no infused mana, and this graph shows the stress-strain curve for a sample infused with the mana stored in one crystal. As you can see, the yield strength for the infused sample was 15% higher than the control sample.”
“And is this the case for all physical properties?” Secretary Myers asked.
“Excellent question!” Dr. Webster beamed. “We’re still running tests, but we hypothesize that it is possible to selectively enhance certain physical properties and leave others unchanged. Unfortunately, we can’t provide a definite answer at this time.”
Dr. Webster flipped to the next slide and continued. “Based on our limited testing, the physical enhancement is dependent on the mass of the mithril being infused and the amount of mana that has already been infused. However, due to our limited supply of mana crystals, the exact relationship is inconclusive. According to Mister Elmot, the more mana already infused, the less of an effect adding more will have.”
“I should point out, Your Excellency, that it becomes more difficult to add additional mana, not just costly,” Elmot said with the aid of his translator droid. “There is a maximum amount of mana that I or any mage could infuse, even with a plentiful supply of crystals. That limit is based on skill and knowledge, and I am rather lacking those in this field.”
Dr. Barlowe concluded by comparing the properties of mithril to several types of steels. It was on par with most of them, but showed promising versatility. Since they were only working with base mithril, he also highlighted the potential for mithril alloys to significantly outperform steel alloys.
“A recurring motif in our research has been a lack of mana crystals,” Dr. Barlowe said. “Since we have no mana capacity of our own, our tests relating to magic have been almost entirely reliant on scavenged mana crystals. It is vital to our research that we secure more as quickly as possible.”
“What makes them so important, doctor?” Secretary Myers asked.
“So far, we’ve been dependent on indigenous magic users, such as Mister Elmot, to help us in our tests. But we’re using mana at a rate far greater than what their natural mana pools can replenish, which is slowing us down. That's where mana crystals come in. They act as a sort of magical battery that can be called upon on command. I cannot emphasize their importance enough. We need them for nearly every experiment, and because of our limited supply, we have had to be extremely selective about our research.”
“I understand, Doctor,” President Bennett said. “We’re already taking steps to secure more mana crystals for your research. The Rontak Empire is sending us shipments of mana crystals and mages to aid in your research. Their slow travel speed means that it's taking longer than anticipated, but you’ll get them in due time.”
“Thank you, Madam President,” Dr. Barlowe said professionally, though visible excitement flashed across his face.
“What kind of results can we expect once you receive your additional resources,” President Bennett asked.
“Our research is still in its infancy, and as such I cannot promise any conclusive findings,” Dr. Barlowe said. “However, I expect us to make rapid breakthroughs once we have a steady supply of mana crystals to experiment with.”
“What about military applications?” General Thompson asked.
“I assume you want to know if we can provide your soldiers with magical shields and active camouflage,” Dr. Barlowe presumed.
The President was curious as well. The Rontaks used magic to accomplish feats that the United States had no technological equivalent of. Despite advancements made by DARPA, active camouflage was still far from practical for military use. And any sort of energy shielding remained solely in the realm of science fiction. However, if the Rontak Empire was able to use magic based shields, surely the United States could too.
“Among other things,” General Thompson replied.
“As of right now, no,” Dr. Barlowe said. “The illusions and shields created by Rontak mages were not devices like the mana comm. Instead they were casting magic, relying on individual mages using their own mana to create those effects. As of right now, no one from our side of the portal has the skill or mana pool to perform that kind of magic.”
General Thompson was obviously disappointed to hear that, as was the President.
“However, that is not necessarily a permanent limitation,” Dr. Barlowe added. “Elmot?”
“One of your soldiers I have befriended has shown an interest in magic,” he said, assisted by a translator droid. “By transferring my own mana to him, he was able to perform basic feats of magic. His mana pool remains miniscule, but through continued study and practice it will grow over time.”
“This is significant because it proves that even people with no inherent mana pool at all can learn to use magic,” Dr. Barlowe added. “With enough time and training, it might be possible for our soldiers to use their own magic in the field. But I have to emphasize the might. This is all just speculation as of now.”
General Thompson requested that it become a priority and the President agreed. She noticed him typing away at his keyboard. It seemed he was eager to oversee this project himself. She was fine with that; it meant one less thing she had to personally worry about.
“What do you have now in terms of practical applications, Doctor?” General Thompson asked, looking up.
“One of the more promising fields of magic is runeology,” He answered. “Unlike casting magic, not all runes require a mana pool to function. Some can provide their effects so long as there is ambient mana for them to draw on. Dr. Finch?”
“We’ve classified runes that require an external mana source as active, and runes powered by ambient mana in the environment as passive,” Dr. Janet Finch, head of runeology, explained. “The Rontak Empire uses water runes on their shields to combat the effects of wyverns and fire magic.”
Then she brought up a video. Scientists in lab coats were huddled around a Rontak shield laying on a table. She paused the video and pointed to the screen. There was a seemingly insignificant symbol carved into the top right corner of the wooden shield.
“At first we weren’t sure what this symbol meant,” she said. “We thought it was just a cultural mark, or an insignia. But it turns out that it's a water rune.”
She unpaused the video, and one of the scientists tapped it with his finger. The rune glowed and dark blue magic particles swirled around it as the shield began bleeding water. After about a minute, the water stopped and the glow faded away, along with the magic particles.
“This was an active rune,” Dr. Finch continued. “As you can see, the water is finite because the rune can only store a small amount of mana itself. This is that same rune supplied with a mana crystal,” she said, switching to a new video.
There was a plastic container with an identical blue water rune drawn in marker on the inside surface. A mana crystal sat on a stool next to the container. This time when the rune was tapped, it glowed brighter and a dense stream of magic particles flowed from the crystal to the rune.
Water began flowing out of the rune, slow at first, but it quickly picked up; the flow of magic particles also increased proportionally. Water gushed out of the rune, filling the container all the way to the top. Then, the stream of particles stopped, and the mana crystal was visibly dimmer.
“Testing confirmed that the liquid was 100% pure H2O,” Dr. Finch added.
“Incredible,” President Bennett said. “Clean, safe drinking water created out of thin air...”
“Not thin air,” Dr. Barlowe corrected. “According to Mister Elmot, the mana crystal was depleted to roughly half its initial store of mana. As we know from our limited supply of mana crystals, they are not infinite. They do have limits.”
The President wondered how common mana crystals were. Could they be used to send large quantities of water to arid regions? If runes could create water, seemingly in violation of the laws of physics, what else could they do? Could air runes be used to create a breathable atmosphere on spacecraft? Were air runes even a thing?
“This is only the beginning,” Dr. Finch continued. “There are countless other runes we have yet to experiment with. The potential applications are endless. General, how would you like endurance runes drawn on your soldiers’ body armor? Letting them sprint at full speed without getting fatigued.”
“Very intriguing, doctor,” General Thompson commented.
“There is one more consideration,” Dr. Finch added. “Runes have a stronger effect the finer they are drawn. For reasons we have yet to understand, a rune drawn with great care and a bit of artistic flare will be more powerful than one scribbled on a napkin. Likewise, the smaller the rune, the more powerful it is relative to its size. Four water runes that take up the equivalent space of a single larger rune will be able to produce more water with the same amount of mana.”
President Bennett could see where this was going. “Nanotechnology,” she said.
“Indeed,” Dr. Finch said. “With modern nanotechnology we can inscribe microscopic runes over a large area with relative ease. According to Mister Elmot, we could even outperform the best elven runesmiths.”
“Assuming your boasts about being able to draw runes smaller than the eye can see is true,” he commented through the translator droid.
The President disregarded his comment. She knew that their ‘boasts’ were the basis for all modern computers, among other things. This was very promising, though. Their sole shortcoming compared to the Rontak Empire was magic. With modern technology able to perfectly inscribe runes at any desired size, they could potentially rely on that to close the magical gap.
“What applications of runes are feasible for testing?” President Bennett asked, curiously.
“Too many to count,” Dr. Finch replied, clicking to a slide filled with bullet points. “Since we don’t yet understand how or why runes, which are just pictographs, have magical power we are limited to just the runes Mister Elmot and other indigenous research assistants are aware of. But Elmot said that the northern elves have entire libraries filled with books documenting runes.”
An entire library filled with runes? President Bennett could only imagine the possibilities. Even just the few runes they knew of had intriguing applications. Among the highlights that caught her eyes were protection runes for body armor, fire resistance runes for high temperature components, and healing runes drawn on bandages and medical equipment. Perhaps the most significant, or at least immediately relevant, potential applications were damage runes inscribed onto bullets.
She asked whether or not that would allow their traditional ammunition to kill demonic entities, but the scientists didn’t have an answer. Elmot wasn’t sure how powerful the runes would need to be in order to cause significant harm to a demon either. She ordered General Thompson to conduct a field test with droids at the earliest opportunity.
“Speaking of demons,” the President Began, “Have you made any headway on demonic entities, doctor?”
“After weeks of analysis we, unfortunately haven’t been able to identify a single compound from any demonic remains,” Dr. Barlowe admitted. “Our best hypothesis at this point is that demonic compounds are different from conventional substances in the same way that mithril is different from iron. However, again, we haven’t made any progress on understanding what that difference is.”
“It would help if we had more samples to work with,” Dr. Ruth Greene, head of biology, added. “Right now we have very few samples from the demonic creatures encountered so far. Their bodies dissipate very quickly, with only a small window to extract useful samples. It would greatly speed along our efforts if you could acquire more substantial demonic remains. Or the holy grail, a live specimen.”
“A live… You want us to capture a living demon?” General Thompson asked, mentally processing the doctor’s insane request. “Have you lost your mind?”
“A live specimen could provide us with as many biological samples as we need,” Dr. Greene said. “It would also give an opportunity to study their behavior in a controlled environment.”
“So you don’t just want us to capture one, you want us to bring it back to Fort Roanoke, to the portal?” General Thompson asked. “Has someone shown her the footage of what one of those things did to the 5th Deep Recon Team?”
“Absolutely out of the question, Doctor,” President Bennett declared. “The risk of it escaping is too great with the portal to New York City so close by.”
“I acknowledge the risk, Madam President, but think of the potential–”
“Request denied,” the President said bluntly, interrupting the doctor. “However, if you can draw up a plan as to how the hell we’re supposed to go about capturing one of those things alive, and a suitable location at which to contain it, then, and only then, can we revisit your proposal.”
“I understand,” Dr. Greene said. “My apologies, Madam President.”
The scientists continued presenting what new information they had on demons, which wasn’t much. They came in several different forms; in fact, each encounter has been with a different demonic species so far. All of them share a similar aesthetic though.
It was still unknown where the demons came from, but every encounter was within fifty kilometers of Fort Roanoke so far. They didn’t seem to share any characteristics with native tempestian life. Even their magic was unique; they exclusively used a type of mana categorized by indigenous mages as ‘demonic’ mana. It was a fitting name for it. Whenever they observed an instance of it being used on something other than a droid, the result was horrifying.
The President decided to ramp up production of mithril bullets and finish coating the domes around both sides of the portal with mithril as soon as they had a steady supply of it. The biggest hurdle was getting proper mining equipment to Miretan. It was proceeding slowly, but on schedule.
Eventually, Dr. Greene’s presentation shifted away from demons and towards conventional biology.
“I hope it goes without saying that you can’t just mash DNA from two separate species together and produce a viable organism. That's not how genetic engineering works,” she said. “But that's exactly what we see in the centaur. An analysis of their DNA shows that they have both human and equine DNA. By all common sense, they are an impossible organism that shouldn’t exist, and yet they do. We see something similar in a common livestock animal called the remble. They contain DNA from several different species we can’t identify, all spliced together in a way that we couldn’t possibly replicate.”
“That's not what's most alarming about this discovery,” Dr. Barlowe added. “The remble is the ideal livestock animal. It's easy to upkeep and it can produce most of what a farmer needs, all in one very docile animal. That led us to hypothesize that it was intentionally designed by a yet undiscovered advanced civilization.”
“And upon sequencing its genome, that hypothesis was confirmed,” Dr. Greene added. “Segments of its DNA contain anomalies that couldn’t possibly have occurred naturally, such as indications of cloning.”
“You mean there could be civilizations on Tempestia capable of advanced genetic engineering?” President Bennett asked for clarification.
“Or there was at some point in the past,” Director Delano answered. “The only evidence of such a civilization we have so far are these ‘impossible’ Tempestian organisms.”
“It's safe to say that the remble and centaur couldn’t have come about through natural evolution,” Dr. Greene asserted. “They were engineered. The question is: by who and for what purpose?”
For the remble, the answer was fairly obvious. Whoever created them wanted a docile and productive farm animal. But what about the centaur? Why would anyone create such a creature? What benefit would it bring? Was it simple curiosity and experimentation or something more sinister?
“Evidence of genetic engineering extends beyond centaurs and rembles,” Dr. Greene said. “After analyzing Mr. Elmot’s DNA, we’ve discovered that elves are a human subspecies. He shares several unmistakable genetic markers with us, but there are clear signs of genetic manipulation in his genome. The same can be said for dwarves based on DNA provided by a ‘Master Gervo of Miretan’.”
Gasps and murmurs filled the room as the recipients of the briefing reacted to that revelation. Elves and dwarves were really genetically engineered humans? Who would do such a thing?
“However, there are a few key differences between humans, elves, and dwarfs,” Dr. Greene continued. “ Dwarfs obviously have reduced height compared to us, but they also have greater muscle density, giving them strength comparable to a chimpanzee. Elven cells are far more resilient than our own and don’t break down as easily with age, giving them incredible lifespans.”
“Indeed, my people can live for many centuries, even millennia,” Elmot added, speaking through his translator droid.
“Elves also have an additional organ in their abdomen. As best we can tell, it's a sort of biological mana crystal that gives them their high mana capacity,” Dr. Greene explained. “Elmot’s brain structure also has a few minor differences from ordinary humans. Our current hypothesis is that these alterations give elves greater intuition regarding magic.”
The purpose for creating elves was starting to become more clear. They were meant to have enhanced magical abilities compared to humans. But the question of ‘why’ still remained. The President made gathering information on the so-called ‘gene editors’ a top priority. If their genetic engineering was advanced enough to baffle biologists like Dr. Greene, then there was no telling what the rest of their technology was capable of. If they were still around, it was possible that they could be an actual threat to the United States, unlike the Rontak Empire. She made a mental note to look into creating new contingency plans regarding Tempestia.
The gene-editors might even hold clues as to how humans arrived on Tempestia in the first place. After all, humanity originated on Earth, there was no doubt about that. At some point in the distant past, another portal must have opened, but how and when? It remained a mystery for now.
As the meeting drew to a close, the President announced her intentions to create a new federal agency: the Federal Bureau of Magic. She offered Dr. Barlowe the position as the first head of research of the new department, which he humbly accepted.
As the scientists were filtering out of the room, Director Delano called Dr. Barlowe to stay a moment. Only President Bennett, Director Delano, Dr. Barlowe and General Thompson remained.
“Dr. Barlowe, I have classified the following information as Top Secret. Not even President Bennett has been briefed on this yet,” Director Delano said. “It should go without saying that what you are about to hear does not go beyond these walls under any circumstances. Please keep in mind that the NDA you signed regarding your research at Fort Roanoke is still in full effect.”
The Director of the CIA had sensitive new information to share with her and Dr. Barlowe? Well this was sure to be interesting. The President’s curiosity was piqued.
“I understand,” Dr. Barlowe replied.
“When former Emperor Rontus arrived at Fort Roanoke, he described detailed visions of several past conflicts on Earth. Primarily World Wars One and Two and the African Wars,” Director Delano explained. “We’ve thoroughly vetted all personnel who could have been in a position to leak such information and have yet to find an explanation as to how he acquired such knowledge.”
“That's very strange, Director,” President Bennett commented. “But why classify it as Top Secret?”
“Because of the former Emperor’s own explanation as to how he came by that information,” Director Delano said. “He claimed to have been granted a vision by a ‘deity’ showing him the capabilities of our weapons and tech. With no plausible alternative explanation coupled with the existence of magic we are forced to consider the possibility that the other side of the portal is home to what are essentially gods of unknown capabilities.”
“Director, you do realize what you are saying, don’t you?” The President asked.
“I do. And I would not come forward with this information without attempting to verify it first,” he replied as he started passing out folders labeled Top Secret in bold red letters. “These files contain all the information my agents have collected on Rontak religion so far. From what they’ve been able to gather, the Rontak Empire practices a form of polytheism. Different regions worship different gods to different degrees, although we haven’t observed any sort of overarching religious hierarchy. Local mages sometimes take on a priest-like role, but we haven’t seen any evidence of a larger religious institution.”
President Bennett read over the file in front of her. It contained a list of known names of ‘deities’ and where they were known to be worshiped: Gwuardon in the Rontak Valley, Levon on the Duremar Plains, Krittmack in the Rhinewood River Valley, etc.
“At a minimum these so-called ‘dieties’ have unknown intelligence gathering capabilities, posing a serious breach to national security,” Director Delano continued. “Local people mostly offer praise and reverence for their deities, mixed with a slight amount of fear. Apparently, they can cause natural disasters or magical ailments if they are displeased.”
“And how does one displease a deity,” Dr. Barlowe asked.
“We’re not entirely sure yet,” Director Delano answered. “My agents are still investigating.”
President Bennett was about to tell the Director to make finding credible evidence for these deities his top priority, but she had already made so many things priorities today. How would she prioritize all her top priorities?
“Doctor, do what you can to investigate these alleged deities, but do it quietly,” she decided. “I don’t want this information getting out.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin, Madam President,” Dr. Barlowe responded. “I don’t think we’ve found anything so far that could hint towards literal gods.”
“Just do your best, Doctor,” the President reaffirmed. “Do what you can when you can. I’m sure the CIA will come to you with anything they find.”
“You can count on it, Doctor,” Director Delano said.
In the meantime, President Bennett ordered General Thompson to begin preparing for cultural exchange missions across the new Duremar territory. There was a good chance they could learn more about Rontak religion just by conversing with the people. While the CIA conducted a more focused clandestine investigation, she would launch an open study disguised as a cultural exchange. No one would suspect that the US government was taking the Rontak polytheistic religion seriously. At least that was the hope.
After the briefing ended, she had another meeting scheduled with Ambassador Smith and other diplomats assigned to the other side of the portal. They had to settle on a strategy for the United States’ entrance onto Kraffnia’s geopolitical landscape. She sighed. It was going to be another late night.