It was sunset before Ceridwen, Harpy, and Faelanx made it back to the Tower. They had walked back with an urgency they didn’t feel on the way to the other half of the portal room.
Ceridwen was a little out of breath, “Harpy, can you get the vid to the lander asap?” She immediately pinged Mako.
“On it, Boss. We had a signal as soon as we came out of the tunnel.”
Mako answered, “You guys, OK?”
“Yeah, we are fine. We are sending a cut right now. Mako, there is a backside to the portal.”
Mako didn’t respond for a second. “Backside?”
“Think of it like this. Imagine you are in a house looking out a window. Normally, you would see what’s outside the window. Except this is a portal, so you see through the portal. To be more exact you see what is on one side of the portal. Now imagine you are outside of the house, looking at the window. You don’t see inside the house because it’s a portal. You see what is on the other side of the portal.
“This means that we have another way to watch the Shins even if we collapse the tunnels. And I think I may have the start of a plan so that we can secure the portal completely.”
Mako considered this. “What’s on the other side of the portal?”
“On our side it’s the other half of the dome filled with broken equipment. One the other world, it’s a sheer cliff face. I think the portal sliced through it. And I think an explosion, or something destabilized the mountain on the other side of the portal so that it crumbled away. Harpy is sending a cut now.”
“It’s good to have some options. We’ll start making plans on how we collapse those tunnels. We’ve already started producing explosives and gathering more detailed scans of the mountain over the tunnels. We’ll know more tomorrow, but I find it unlikely that we are going to make it through this without collapsing those tunnels. As far as securing the portal, how would we do that? Take the city?”
“Taking the city might be the necessary end result, but what if we could shrink the portal down and lock it into a vault? One that we control.”
“How would we shrink it down?”
“The first step would be determining if we can synthesize the materials, we need to do that. If we can, then I think we should be able to reduce the size of the portal. Maybe even close it. If we can't, we may have to do some testing to find a suitable material we can synthesize.”
A notification popped for everyone.
----------------------------------------
New Planetary Quest! Are You The Gatekeeper? Secure the portal between worlds.
- Determine if the necessary material can be synthesized.
- Establish necessary manufacturing capacity.
- Secure the Portal Between words.
- Do not close the portal permanently.
- Irragen points awarded upon completion.
----------------------------------------
New Colony Quest! Industrial Age. Reconnoiter the ruins located 36 kilometers SW of the lander. (Chain Quest)
- Recon the ruins.
- Irragen points awarded upon completion.
----------------------------------------
“So, no closing the portal.” Ceridwen noted.
Mako frowned to himself. This was the first sign of an agenda that might not be in the best interest of the colony. Maybe it was. But he didn’t have enough information to draw any conclusions. “If we can do it without closing it permanently then fine. But we need to secure it. If we can control that then it radically improves our situation here.”
"I wonder why one is a 'Planetary quest' and one is a 'Colony quest'." Ceridwen noted.
Mako thought about it. Unless there was another group out there that could complete the planetary quest, it was going to be done by the colony. "I think it has to do with the scope of impact. The Planetary quest must have a greater planet wide impact compared to the colony quest. Either that or there is someone one else on the planet that could complete the planet wide quest. But I don't think there is."
"That sounds right. We should keep an open mind though."
----------------------------------------
A short time later. Skeet pinged Mako and the leadership. “There are a group of Shins heading for tunnels. Sending you a stream.”
Mako saw about a dozen Shins walking through the city and heading toward the tunnels. They weren’t wearing identical armor, but it was all similar. It was all leather with straps and buckles that were colored black and dark tans. There were knife hilts sticking out from various places.
Likewise, the Shins had black painted patterns on their bodies. The patterns were black circles and random lines of varying width and length. The lines were mostly vertical with a few horizontal. The lines extended from or connected the black circles of different sizes. It struck Mako as a more urban pattern of camouflage than a jungle pattern. Or perhaps they were tattoos. He wondered if it was possible to tattoo scales.
“These must be our scouts.” Mako said. “They looked dressed in some type of camouflage, but those bright crests are going to stick out like billboards.”
“Looks like a dozen of them?” Achilles added as he was also now watching. “Two squads?”
“Normally I would say sending out a squad of scouts would be strange. But perhaps they have a different methodology.” Merlin said.
As the scouts were passing through the gate room, Skeet said “I didn’t expect this many scouts. I only have 4 drones ready to follow.”
“I wouldn’t have expected this many either.” Mako replied. “This will have to do.”
The scouts left the tunnel, and most didn’t stop. One of them looked up almost exactly at a drone and shifted their head as if trying to track a sound. They looked around for just a few seconds and disappeared.
“What the fuck?” Mako yelped. “Skeet, can you see them on a different spectrum?”
Skeet spoke with panic in her voice. “I’m looking. I’m looking.”
Mako’s view changed to another drone that was using infrared. There were barely visible footprints on the ground, that went from a normal stride to a more elongated one. Soon they too faded, getting lighter and lighter with each step.
“I’m sorry, Mako.” Skeet said.
“These guys are full of surprises. Send a cut of that to everyone on patrol.” Mako said. He opened the coms to everyone on patrol. “The Shins just sent scouts from Tedexa Goran. And they are invisible.”
“What? What do you mean invisible? Like camouflage?” Panzer said. Then he saw the cut. “Well, damn. Nothing on other spectrums?”
“No. If you hear something and nothing is there, aerate the area.” Mako ordered. “Although I don’t think we’ll hear them coming.”
The patrols all acknowledged the order.
“Skeet, did you get the drones across the portal?” Mako asked.
“Yes, but that wench, Harpy, stole my thunder.” Skeet said with amusement in her voice. “I’m trying to find a place where I can watch over the tent camp unseen yet still transmit and receive. I really need a wired relay running from the tower to the backside of the portal.”
“Put it on the to do list.” Mako said. “But we’ll make it a priority.”
----------------------------------------
Mako opted to go with a slightly heavier weapon loadout for his excursion to Tedexa Goran along with an increase in the amount of ammo he would normally carry. He went with dual Magnetars because they were heavy enough for most purposes and yet could be used along with his onboard targeting to be used for precision shots. But he expected that if this went bad, he would need close range power. Along with a tac-shield, he chose a Hyperion Vortex V-618G. This was something like a shotgun but looked more like a minigun with a rifle stock. This unit also had 3 grenades that were activated with a pump action. It was loaded with hellfire incendiary rounds. And of course, his kit was rounded out with a machete.
He checked his stats. He still has 15 undistributed attribute points. He felt like he should apply them somewhere. They potentially will make a difference. He noticed that the effectiveness of his Menacing Honormark depended upon the Control score of the affected. Since Control was his weakest stat, it was possible that he would be affected by an effect like that. It just seemed like a good idea to try and balance out his numbers anyway. He mentally added his undistributed points to Control.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Name: Mako
Variant class: 3
Tier: 1
Level: 15
PHENOtype: not selected
Attributes
Stats Score Modified Durability: 6 32 Utility: 5 29 Vigor: 6 35 Control: 21 29 Power: N/A N/A
Attribute points to distribute: 0
----------------------------------------
He couldn’t say he felt any different or noticed any change. It felt a little anticlimactic. It was mildly surprising that the change was made to his unmodified score. Upon further consideration, he decided it made sense. This system was indeed changing them, or it would be, if it was real.
He made his way to the cargo bay to leave and was about to check out with Mushishi, when he saw a group of armored personnel in the cargo area. Panzer, Boomer, Zerk, Howie, Buccaneer, and Jhakaas were waiting for him. “What is this?”
“We figured you could use an escort, and some back up in case the lizards get handsy.” Jhakaas said. “Except for Buck. I told him we were getting donuts.”
“What? No donuts?”
“The donuts are in lizardtown.” Jhakaas winked.
“Ok, then. I’m in.” Buck shrugged.
“Listen, guys. I don’t know how this is going to go but the idea is to walk in, talk to them, and walk out.”
“Oh, is the Vortex your talking stick?” Jhakaas asked innocently.
Mako smiled. “I mean, I’m not stupid. I like to be prepared.”
“Right, which is why you need back up.” Panzer said.
“Fine. Everyone on their best behavior. Except for Jhakaas. He needs to be on Panzer’s best behavior.”
“One more thing, boss. I know you were planning on walking, but what do you think about a little flight?” Jhakaas asked.
“We aren’t supposed to use it unless it’s an emergency.” Mako reminded him.
“I know but hear me out. One, we don’t want to get sidetracked or attacked by scouts before we talk to them. Two, it’ll give an option for a fast retreat if we need it. Three, it’s really fucking awesome.” Jhakaas counted on his fingers.
“He has a point with the last one.” Buccaneer said.
----------------------------------------
30 minutes later they were cruising over the jungle sort of heading toward the mountain entrance.
“Why is this going to take an hour of flight time? It should be minutes.” Mako said to Greezee.
“I was told you wanted the scenic route.” Greezee responded.
“I don’t want that much scenery.”
“20 minutes?”
“Fine.” Mako replied and added, “once we disembark, take this back up to a holding pattern. And don’t land until you get the order.”
“You got it, boss.”
Mako made his way back to the jump seats in the cargo area.
“You think we’ll have magic powers, too?” Zerk asked.
“Totally. I need to figure out how to turn invisible.” Jhakaas said.
“I wonder if we’ll be able to fly.” Buccaneer said.
“I want to be bullet proof.” Howie said.
“They don’t have guns here.” Panzer said as if pointing out the obvious.
“People still do. Besides you have to be pretty tough to be bullet proof. I’m sure it’ll have other benefits.”
----------------------------------------
The Heyerdahl was soon hovering over the ground near the mountain entrance. They all exited quickly and Greezee immediately started gaining altitude as the ramp closed.
Mako took a deep breath. He had no idea how this was going to go. He kept reminding himself that all of this was more or less theatre. He wasn’t really meeting the alien leader of a medieval group of asshole magical reptiles. But he wanted this experience in case this was how it was going to be. In case there actually was an asshole alien reptile leader. How many times in history had this kind of first contact gone wrong. In a sense it already had gone wrong. There were 3 dead squads of Shins. If it were his own people that were dead, Mako doubted he would be in a diplomatic frame of mind.
They headed in. They encountered nothing in the tunnel except the self-igniting torches and quickly made their way to the Gateroom. Mako knocked.
The viewport slid open. “Who are you?” a gruff voice asked.
“I’m Mako Nagata of the Colony Ship Oracle. I’m here to see the one you call Dominant.”
“Uh,” The viewport slid closed. “It’s a bunch of people here to see the Dominant.”
“Who?”
“They said something about a colony ship.”
“Are they Dwellers?”
“Definitely not.”
“Dwarves? We had those Dwarves go through.”
The viewport slid open and dark green eyes looked over them. The viewport slid closed. “Not unless they are really tall, scrawny dwarves.”
“Who’s scrawny?” Jhakaas complained.
“Should I let them through?”
“I don’t think they can do that.” the other voice responded.
“What should I do?”
“Maybe you should send someone to ask the Dominant.” Mako suggested.
“Maybe we should send someone to ask the Dominant?” The doorman asked.
“Oooh, Jedi mind trick.” Buccaneer sniggered.
“Fine, I’ll go.”
The viewport slid open. “It’ll be just a minute.” It closed again.
Mako turned to face his group. “I guess they don’t get a lot of visitors.”
“We, in fact, do not get a lot of visitors.” The voice stated.
“What’s your name?” Mako asked. Although he was pretty certain this was Balgor.
“Uh, I’m not sure... I should say.”
“I don’t see any harm.” Mako suggested.
“Yeah, I suppose. I’m Balgor.”
“Nice to meet you Balgor.” Mako said. “I’m Mako.”
“Uh...nice...to meet you as well.” Balgor sounded very confused. “Say, are you guys elves?”
“No, we are humans.”
“Huh, humans. Never heard of them.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what are you?”
“I’m an orc. All the guards in the city are orcs. Oh-” Balgor hesitated. “I guess I shouldn’t have said that.”
“That’s ok, Balgor. Your secret is safe with me.”
The viewport opened again. “They hate elves. It’s better that you guys aren’t elves.”
Oh, Balgor is chatty. “Why do they hate elves?”
“Don’t know. Some sort of ancient rivalry.”
“Are elves dicks?” Jhakaas asked.
“Yeah, kind of? They don’t like orcs or the Shing’risgi or anyone that isn’t an elf.” Balgor paused for a second. “At least, that's what I’ve heard.”
Mako thought about asking what Balgor knows about the tent camp, but he didn’t want to cause the orc trouble. It might be useful to have an ally in the camp. “Are there a lot of slaves in the Tedexa Goran?”
“Uh, yeah. You want to buy some? Almost everyone who isn’t a Shing’risgi is a slave of some type here.”
“Are there different types of slaves?”
“Well, some are here working off a debt. They will be free once their debt is paid, if that ever happens. Those are usually the smart ones. Others belong to the city. They technically aren’t slaves, but they can’t just leave without permission. But a lot are...personal slaves, I guess you’d say. They are as much property as any beast or piece of furniture. Although, some of them are sworn followers.”
“Are the orcs slaves?”
“Technically not. We are the second kind. Our people were conquered about 100 years ago and now we serve as city guards for the Shing’risgi.” Balgor paused in thought. “Do you have slaves?”
“Our people do not abide slavery.” Mako almost said in any form. But there was a history among humans and even currently it was suspected there were hundreds of thousands of slaves on Earth that were hidden. And if he were being honest, some corporate employment contracts nearly amounted to serfdom. But even so, it was all technically illegal.
“Here they come.” Balgor said in a low voice.
Mako could hear armored steps echoing down the tunnel. There were quite a few. A moment later he heard a gritty if not sibilant voice. “Open the door.”
The viewport slid shut and the door opened. The 2 orc guards stood on each side of the door. Blocking the tunnel were 5 Shing’risgi. The one in the center wore a more elaborate mask. They stood a full head taller than the other 4 Shins. They also had a more elaborate armor with a familiar chest piece that Mako couldn’t place where he’d seen it before. In addition to the standard spiked vambraces, they had bands that covered their upper arms and full boots and greaves that covered most of their legs. The metal of the armor all had a blueish, gunmetal tinge to it that sort of matched the bright blue crest of the individual and brought out the pine green skin color.
The other 4 Shins looked to be like bigger spear adepts except for the gold sash they wore across their chest. One of them was shifting with what appeared to be nervous energy. That one looked ready to bolt.
“I am Sorodexis Drarok, The OrcMonger. General of Tedexa Goran and Counsel of the Dominant. What business have you with the Dominant?”
“I am Mako Nagata, Defense Archon of the colony ship, Oracle. I am here to discuss terms for mutual coexistence in this part of our world.”
The general made no change to his face, but their posture shifted at the mention of the word ‘Oracle’. It shifted further at the mention of ‘discussing terms’. They stared at each other for a moment before a decision was reached.
“Follow me. Any act of aggression will be met with a swift death. Is that understood?”
“Do we have a guarantee of safe passage?”
Mako could make out the look of confusion.
“What do you mean?” They growled in irritation.
“I will not let my people be attacked without retaliating. If someone attacks my people, we will respond. By guaranteeing safe passage, you agree that your people will deal with any incidental aggressors so that we don’t have to.”
The idea of someone deciding to attack someone being escorted by the General was ludicrous. “I guarantee safe passage to the Dominant. The Dominant will have to provide a guarantee of safe passage out.”
Sorodexis looked at the PROAKs held by the rest of Mako’s party and didn’t react. Perhaps they looked like clubs rather than ranged weapons to him. Mako’s Vortex was compacted on his back. His Magnetars were on his hips, but they didn’t seem dangerous to the Shins.
Mako’s mind was blown for a second. Had these Shins assumed they were unarmed this whole time until it was too late?
“Follow me.” Sorodexis turned and started walking away. 2 of the Adepts started walking him. The humans passed through the door and followed. The last 2 Adepts brought up the rear.
Mako heard the heavy steel door slam shut behind him.