United States Government Intranet
According to some of DARTs research, Originium Arts machinery is something that IS possible and is actively utilized in this world.
We are going to see if we can... develop something with that.
- General Dynamics Representative in Columbia
Things in Lungmen have cooled down, tomorrow the UN is going to let the forces there find some time to relax.
- New Syracuse Command Center
FrostNova is still on ice, we don't know when we should wake her up.
- The Doctor of Rhodes Island
"Of a ship long lost"
Michael hurried into the lighthouse, the thunderous noises of the battle outside fading a little. Jordi was flanking him, while Specter and Skadi hurried ahead. They were well inside the Lighthouse now. Flanked by 3 Marines and 2 Inquisitors to act as extra support.
Irene joined soon after, running up to Michael and moving beside him. "Jordi! You have the key, right?!" The Aegirian turned and held up a little bag, "I've got it! Take a left here!"
The marine's only concern was to get them to the Control Center, and to get that lighthouse running. He froze for a second, Jordi looking at him, "What is wrong-?" The firing of Michael's SMG cut him off. Skadi and Specter ahead began to clash with a bunch of Seaborne that had appeared.
Irene joined with precision firing of her Hand cannon, pulverizing most of them.
"Drop 'em!" one of the 3 marines following the group ordered as 3 M5s joined the chorus. Michael looked at Jordi, reloading his SMG at the same time, "Come on, our forces outside are buying as much time as they can!" he began to run off, "Point the direction of where we need to go!"
"Right right, uhm," he had his book opened and looked up towards the Seaborne, "Go past them, and find a hallway that has Aegirian markings, that'll take us to a staircase that will-" Michael had to open fire, because a few of the Seaborne was getting close.
"Say again?" Michael posed, putting some more Seaborne down. He heard part of what he said, and he began to react accordingly. "Skadi! Specter! Tear 'em apart!"
The seaborne in this part died, letting loose cries of pain. Michael relaxed and so did everybody else. Jordi began to point the way again, "Take a right here, hurry." He nodded in response to him, and he began to gesture at the Marines and at Skadi and Specter who still had their weapons brandished and on high alert.
"Pick yourselves up, let's move!"
The group began to move again, heading down the hallway. "Come on Jordi." Michael muttered, running with the Aegirian, "Get us there safely."
"Up these stairs then!" he reports, pointing up. The Marines taking forward, the buttstocks of their rifles over their shoulders due to how close quarters this might get.
Skadi and Specter moved ahead, and they stayed ahead when they reached a floor that was several dozen meters above the ground. The sounds of the conflict becoming a little distant. The group halted their movement when Jordi began to yell out, "Here it is!" he reports, standing before a door. Holding his notebook out. Standing on either side of the door, Michael and the 3 other marines, as well as the Inquisitors, waited.
"Hold on, there might be hostiles in here..." he reaches to a pouch on his vest. Grabbing a flashbang, he pills the pin. Nodding at the marine standing opposite of him, she goes and slowly opens it for him.
Once the door opened significantly enough, Michael threw the flashbang in, its pin clinging on the floor harmlessly. A second later, the grenade went off, the deafening noise reaching everybody outside. It wasn't bad, but for the Terrans, it was a little disorienting.
Which is what the grenade was made for.
The 4 Marines quickly entered the room, guns at the read. Michael put his SMG down, "Oh... it's clear." The other 3 marines joined him, pointing their guns in a rest position. Jordi stepped forward.
"This is it!" he steps over to a console, tapping it, "Just as the records and what the old blueprints say." He began to touch it, looking around and checking all the situations. "Its off... Uhh..."
Michael steps forward to Jordi, everybody else getting in the room, looking around, "What is it?"
"Well, there's no power, but!" he pulls out his notebook, and shows the tower, "There is a power source located somewhere at the base of the tower. If we can this on, we can get this Console working which, if I remember correctly," he starts flipping the pages, carefully, "Aha... it starts controlling Signal Recording."
"Signal recording?" Questioned Michael, Skadi joined, looking at the Console.
"Sounds, its useful but..." Irene sighed looking out the door and back towards the stairs, "We got to get the power on... right?"
"Yep..."
the 3 Marines gave a thumbs up, alongside the inquisitors. The marine that assisted in the breaching and clearing earlier, smiled, "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it, shouldn't be that hard, right?"
The 5 exited the room, heading for the base of the the building. Irene didn't look so good, and Specter noticed. "What's wrong little birdie?" Irene held her head, as if she was sensing something horrible. Steadying herself, she waved off the shark.
"Nothing... nothing... it's... nothing."
Outside, the sounds of LAVs and Hellfire rockets were the primary sound of fire support that was ringing throughout the entire. Inquisitor Dario, alongside some other Inquisitors, had gotten their lanterns out and activated them.
The bushmasters rang out again, focusing on the strongest appearing Seaborne that were causing problems for some Inquisitors that moved to make some melee attacks. At the sight of the lanterns, or perhaps its effects, the Seaborne backed away from the units.
A few marines got injured by the ranged attacks some of the floating Seaborne, which they will forever complain about.
Smokton on the M240B was reloading it, lifting its cover and was about to get a fresh belt of ammo on it, when she noticed somebody approaching from the water. "Hey Inquisitor Dario!" she calls out, pointing in the rough direction. Gladiia was next to look, finishing her cutting down of a Seaborne.
Her eyes began to glare, while Ulpianus readies himself. Smokton slaps down the cover on the gun "A new seaborne?" she aimed the sights of the gun right on him. Gladiia shook her head, hopping on the LAV while it was firing endlessly at a group off.
"He does look like he is seaborne, but look at his appearance." Smokton looked more closely, her eyes off the sights of the gun as she began to look at him. She noticed that the creature had what looked like the armor of a knight from the days of yore. He had a weapon that vaguely looked like a spear. And he was riding on a creature that vaguely represented a Horse.
The LAV had not taken notice, but Gladiia has. "Skadi has told of us that familiar scent. Kazimierz, that's where he is from."
"That a country here?" Smokton questioned, watching him approach the group. The Marines had not taken notice of him, and neither has the inquisitors on the ground. Due to the fact that he was approaching from an angle that was not a conflict zone, he was not seen by the forces battling it out with the Seaborne.
A LAV close to him finally did take notice. The turret turning, while the driver began to reverse to make the gun reach him faster. He moves to strike. The LAV's frontal armor deflected his attack. He ducks beneath the armor of the light vehicle, causing Gladiia to propel herself forward.
She was going to engage him in a fight, especially since when she rounded the LAV's side, she saw him using his lever to start slowly trying to flip the armored vehicle. He was about halfway to doing that, when Gladiia's attack reached him. Her hook wrapped around his arm, and she yanked, shifting him away from the vehicle.
The crew was not taking any more chances, especially since they began to drive off, the gun facing behind and shooting.
Smokton began to join, firing off the machine gun. The figure faces her LAV now. Gladiia had retreated her hook, and was ready to unleash another attack. But then, the figure vanished. Smokton didn't notice, but for Gladiia and Ulpianus, they saw him leaping high into the air.
A ferocious, and angry roar rang out, as the figure began to heard towards the lighthouse. With a vicious strike, the figure hits the Lighthouse, the Eye of Iberia groaning at the hit.
Michael was overwatching Jordi when the entire room shook. "Woah, woah, careful!" he yells, spreading his posture out to keep himself steady. "What-?"
Jordi who was looking over the console stopped what he was doing and looked around frantically, "W-what was that?!" Specter had left the room, Irene confused as to why.
Michael's communicator turned on, "What the fuck was that?!"
"D-don't worry about! Just get to the fucking power center!"
With Irene, she was a little nervous, feeling the Tremor. "What is happening out there...?" She fell into her thoughts, fearing for Dario and the others down there.
The figure turned his head up. Dario was approaching unimpressed. The LAVs and Smokton was not engaging him, because of Dario. "Don't fire, lets see if they could bring reason to that sonuvabitch."
Tightly gripping his spear like weapon, the figure was preparing to stand. He bent his legs, in anticipation for another leap, when Dario strikes. His weapon hitting the knight-seaborne(?) on the head.
"What are you doing here?" Dario questions, looking down at the figure. An LAV loaded AP just incase. "You continue to provoke the country of Iberia, march upon areas restricted to you, and are damaging a precious site for the people of Gran Faro."
The figure only stared, Smokton leaning over the MG, watching intently. "Look at yourself, do you even hold a single bit of human-birthed dignity within you?"
Slowly, a noise came from the figure, only heard by those closest. Smokton was able to hear it, despite the deliberate hum of the vehicle's power plant. "Dig... nity...?" it hoarsely spoke out, causing Dario to hum in contemplation.
"Oh, it seems that some of your Vocal Chords are intact, are they not?" The figure began to speak, a bunch of garble that Smokton was not able to understand. Gladiia stood back and watched it all occur before her, while Ulpianus continued to turn some Seaborne into sushi alongside some Marines, who had resorted to Bayonets.
"The sea... it doesn't need..." Smokton let out a noise of curiosity, "Need?"
"Crush... the waves... trample... the great fire above..." Smokton grabbed the gun and charged it, a cartridge flying out that she caught as soon as she saw it. "End... the suffering."
Dario looked more curious and interested, staring him down, "Things should not... remain the same.... for the great tree, it makes it roots in this land..."
The High Inquisitor felt like he got enough of the attributes of this person - if it still can be considered a person - and he interrogated. "Your posture... your armor... and that weapon of its craftsmanship..."
"You're from Kazimierz, aren't you?"
"I..." Smokton didn't like his tone, her gun lining up as the LAV also began to line up with the Bushmaster. "I'm... I am..."
He began to lunge at Dario, screaming, "Knight!"
Dario quickly held up his lantern at the same time Smokton depressed the trigger of the MG. 5 rounds went out and into the back of 'Knight'. An arts attack flew out of Dario's lantern, and struck at the Knight. Although Dario dodged out of the way, and that because the Knight had lunged at him.
The arts attack didn't do much to him, and the Knight began to mutter something again, "Ocean's waves... and... slithering steel..." He began to prepare another leap. The lantern will not do much to him... but...
The Knights stepped again, and in a voice of Authority, he warned, "You dare seek to destroy the Eye of Iberia?" He lifted his Lantern again, "The inquisition shall refuse it!" He lets out another attack of arts and interrupted the Knight, who let out a cry of agony. "Now!"
The Knight screams, "The soil, the Soil shall not-!"
Soon, a figure came out of the Lighthouse, and she looked much better than ever, especially as she comes over to the Last Knight and strikes him sharply on the head, knocking him to the floor. "Good night... Mr. Knight."
Dario sighs, Smokton getting off the LAV with heavy duty Handcuffs. Dario sighs, and turns to the figures whichr evealed herself to be specter, "Where are is Ulpianus and Gladiia?"
The latter waved from the LAV. Preparing her hook. Ulpianus came back, covered in Seaborne flesh. "It appears that this Knight has brought along friends..." he gestures outwards, showing a USMC LAV directly engaging some Seaborne that had followed with the Knight.
The Knight began to get up again, and Smokton was unfortunately in his path. Stryking out, the Marine Sergeant got sent flying back at the LAV. Her backpack doing enough to cushion much of the force. But it didn't mean that it didn't hurt like a bitch. "Motherfucker-!" she let out, reaching for her pistol.
"Hmmm?" Specter, "Oh... I see." Dario observed her and her mannerisms. She acted much differently than the last time they met. Moving over, her weapon drawn, she approached the Knight which was about to be the target of Smokton's angry pistol shots.
He rised, and was walking towards the Lighthouse. In a language that Smokton could not understand, she spoke to the Knight. She was ignored as the knight continued on, only paying her a brief glance.
"...tragic, it seems like you will not listen to language no more, nor shall you pay attention to your sight," she draws her weapon, "even while in a state of delirium, are you still driven by the will you have left? To march on like a clock?"
He did not respond, and in fact, he gripped his weapon. "..very well, come then."
She had drawn her weapon, and Smokton had her Pistol ready, aimed at his head.
"Let us share this dance."
Jordi began to tap the control panel, eyes bulging in excitement, "I got it, I got it!"
Irene and Skadi looked over, Michael too, "Is that the control panel?"
"Yep," he began to touch and feel everything, "I'm... not sure on how it is looking, it is so different than the diagrams and drawings that I have." he scratched his cheek. The communicator came back online, and the marines spoke, "Hey Jordi, Buddy, mind telling us how to fucking work this system?"
"R-right!" Michael turned the communicator into video mode, what the marines were seeing was projected to the control room through a little screen on the communicator.
As Jordi began to explain how to get it working, the sounds of escalated fighting began to roar up, just as the Marine managed to get the power system down there working. "W-what is happening out there? Such violent sounds..."
"We might be underestimating the dangers that are outside..." she sighs and looks out any sort of window, "At this rate of conflict, trying to stall for technicians might be..." she shook her head.
"No, even if they arrive, the amount of blood to repair this lighthouse under these conditions..." she turns to face Jordi, "You, just... hurry, we're racing against time right now. Please, just try and get all the information you can out of here, while the Marines and Inqusition-"
Jordi let out a triumphant noise, "O-okay, okay! I got all the logs, the control panel is still responding to the commands, and thanks to the 3 Marines and Inquisitors, the tower is still active!"
Irene blinked impressedly, Skadi looking down at the fighting, while Michael whistled, "Great job kid, you work fast."
"What's next?" Irene question, deciding to look at the panel herself to start deciphering what she can. "How long will it take for the Entire lighthouse to be rebooted and up and going?"
"I... I can see what i can do," he taps the panel, "While the panel is still responding to all input, it shouldn't take too long to restart it," he gets his notebook out, and pulls out a page of what looks like older notes. Michael had opted to take his grenade launcher out, and was launching 40mm out the window.
"Well, in the notes my parents have left me, it shouldn't be too hard-" he stumbled a bit as he looks over the panel and starts pressing thing, "But its my first time ever actually working a machine like this, so we're still looking at time, and a serious gamble... we need to people to-"
The control room shook, and Michael got away from the window. Skadi was bumped by him retreating from the opening and he apologized under his breath. "Guard this damn place-" Michael finished, taking his communicator out, "Damnit, can you guys get a fucking Gunboat or 2 over here?"
"Carriers got a couple of old Barges that have weapons platforms, they're on their way. ETA 15 minutes."
At the sound of the ETA, Jordi only began to work faster, trying to follow the notes as much as he can. The violence down there only picking up.
A few minutes passed, and the fighting only picked up. Jordi was working the panel a little quicker, a bit of a Scowl upon him, "Almost there..."
"This is already taking a while, is it not?" Irene commented, looking down at the battle, while Michael was sending off grenades at groups of Seaborne.
"S-sorry, I'm doing my best its just-" Irene stops him, sighing, "No, it is not your fault. It is mine, I... don't enough patience for this."
She goes up to him, and began to speak some questions and conversation with him. Michael looks at Skadi, "You're itching to be down there, aren't you?"
The Abyssal Hunter kept her silence, looking down herself and only giving a simple hum. "... it is tempting to be down there..."
"Yeah... same here..." he fired another grenade again, before noticing a glow near the base of the tower. "What the hell is that...?"
The LAVs had resorted to their Coaxial machine guns and AP rounds. Specter and the last knight continued their little deadly dance. Smokton went into the LAV to try and find some ammo for her rifle and for the M240B.
"You only care to assault the lighthouse, why?" Specter questioned, preparing another attack, "Why do you cling to your will of destroying it?"
The knight was still conscious to respond, "Waves... great... titanic waves... swallow... the sky" it let out in a hoarse tone of voice. Nearby, some of the Seaborne are starting to exhibit signs of confusion and disorientation.
A marine was firing his M5 at some, when his rifle clicked, "Damnit-!" he began to reach for his pistol as a creature began to approach his position from the right.
Ulpianus was quick to save his life, stomping on the creature, before cleaving it apart. The marine let out a whew, "Thank you!" he had his pistol out now, shooting at seaborne and running back to the LAVs. Ulpianus only nodded, while the Marine shot some Seaborne that was near him.
The knight still spoke, "Even... stalks of the wheat... be consumed by the silence... everything, mighty and mini... reverted back to nothing..."
Dario held up his Lantern and Hand cannon, firing at some Seaborne, "He is able to speak to us, but no longer command what is his kin... they are in disarray," he looks at the LAVs, "Finish them, let us bring an end to this."
He aims his Lantern, and casts an attack, disorienting the Knight greatly, causing him to roar...
Which was swiftly shut up by Specter, who landed a powerful blow on the Knight. Surprisingly, he didn't react. She noticed too. "...quite a surprise, Mister Knight, you are not moving like clockwork again..."
She was about ready to strike, "You are showing movements of a human, unique to the knights of the nation up north... what are you exactly?" she questioned, going in. The knight did not notice, as he stared up at the Lighthouse.
"Clouds... sprawling hills... pillars of ash..." he gestured, as if to make Specter imagine what he was 'seeing', "arrayed across a hotbed of forever decay... the tides...they'll not end... for they are... unending"
The seaborne seem to react again, and the Knight began to stood. Dario stepped to Specter, and pulled her aside, "You have been injured, Laurentia" he hears slithering from behind him, which was quickly shut up by the sound of the 25mm firing and striking another Seaborne down.
"It appears so... I must have gotten scratched up on accid-" before she could finish, she seems to begin spasming out. Dario sighs.
"Step aside, you are no longer in shape to fight."
Specter, or Laurentia, began to recover, "You've been hardly touched, yet you are struggling to stand... have you contracted an Illness in Sal Viento?"
She responded, slowly, "... the scent of the Sea is rather intoxicating... that is all High Inquisitor." The knight began to speak again.
"Knight... a comrade... why, why must you gag on the air... and endure the flames? You'll never taste... the fruits of a true civilization-" he let out a gag like noise, falling to the ground.
Smokton looked upward, seeing pipelines activate with what look like energy flooding on through. The battered body of the lighthouse began to glow with energy, as at the top, eyelids, literal eyelids began to open up. There seemed to be a light washing over the Knight, and he roared.
"Where... are they?!" he screamed, looking out towards the Ocean. Laurentia moved to strike down her weapon, and the LAV that Smokton was on began to fire off some AP at him. He dodged it with force that seemed impossible.
He re-appeared again, at the waters, a steed appearing out from beneath the water.
The knight began to ride it off into the ocean. Smokton sighed as the LAV fired a few AP in disgust. "...he'll probably get caught by the New Essex."
She looks over at Specter and Dario, who began to talk with each other. She began to look up towards the tower, seeing the Nethersea grow and head towards a section that seems like the control room, where 40mm grenades was coming from.
10 more minutes pass, and the Marines were reporting that their ammunition was running dry. Thankfully, and soon enough, Irene, Skadi, Michael, and the rest exit out. They were short a Marine and there was a wounded Inquisitor following with.
"Hey!" Jordi yells out, Dario taking notice. Skadi quickly moved over to Specter, while Michael got up to his Sergeant. "I've... i've got coordinates of a ship that has been sending signals here for 6 decades!"
Dario froze in his tracks, and Gladiia stopped attacking, looking over at him, "You... what?"
Irene had her gun and blade drawn, and she was quick to join the fighting. The 25mm guns no longer barked. They were dry, and the onyl thing the LAVs can do was use its Coaxial guns to tear down more seaborne.
M919 Soldiers began to fire at the Nethersea with their weapon, trying to burn as much as they can. Dario looked at Jordi, who was giving the coordinates to Smokton and himself. "This ship... it has been resting out here for a while. I do not understand why its still out there."
"That matters not," Dario comments, Gladiia more curious, "What matters is that you have the coordinates... " the latter felt a patch on her neck, and she looked hopeful. Could it be...
The Seaborne seemed never ending, and it was getting tiring as more Marines retreated to the LAVs to switch to alternative weapons.
"Come on you big lighthouse..." Michael comments, "Don't you have some safeguards up there? Some Security Systems maybe?" Dario sent out more Arts attacks, burning at some Seaborne.
There was a lot more Seaborne swarming the area. Michael felt his Grenade launcher and held it tightly, sending more the last 3 grenades the mag had. Skadi was already cutting at as much as she can, but even then, that was not enough as more seemed to come from the Nethersea.
But then, Splash
"Hey!" Smokton yelled, pointing out over the horizon, "We got help!"
Soon, 2 barges, flanked by River boats, began to approach. All of them, armed to the teeth with marines, machine guns, and MK19s, got close to the island, before opening fire. The Seaborne's attention was redirected to the approaching offenders-from-the-sea.
Slowly, but surely, the threat here was beginning to get reduced, as the barges hit the reef, and the marines exited, with napalm-based flamethrowers to boot. Burning at the water and at the creatures that was giving the group so much trouble.
A few Defiants, flew around the lighthouse. And was deploying marines elsewhere, while their own weapons began to open fire on the Nethersea, burning it with High Explosive.
It was over in a matter of minutes. All of the marines from the initial group, fell down to the ground and let out sighs of exhaustion. Dario set his weapon down and looked at the approaching Marine reinforcements that was stepping up to him.
"Sir!" the lead marine of the group, saluted.
Dario acknowledged him with a nod and a salute, mimicking the somewhat universal sign of respect for soldiers. The marine put his hand down, "We're here to help clear out the Lighthouse and to ensure that it stays running, per Smokton's orders!"
"Good... it is good that you Marines are willing to help us," Jordi began to head up to Smokton with the Coordinates and started to explain what it all meant. A few fireteams' worth of marines with incendiary ammo began to head into the lighthouse, and got to work.
The Inquisitors regrouped with Dario and began to report what they can to him. The High Inqusitor sighed and began
Michael sighs, and goes to Skadi again, complementing her fighting, "You did awesome as always." Laurentia, Gladiia, and Ulpianus regrouped with the 2. Michael showed signs of exhaustion. Ulpianus looked over at Gladiia with suspicion, but the later shrugged him off.
Smokton got out to speak with Dario and Jordi, and while Irene was going to speak with Dario, wondering what the plan now is, Michael reached into his backpack and got out some Rations.
Seaborne, cooked to a good enough point to where it was safe for them to eat. Michael held out his rations to the Abyssal Hunters. Skadi near him looked at him, as he offered, "Hey, you guys wanna try this?"
Ulpianus waved his head no. Gladiia curtly responded, "No... thanks." Laurentia shook her head no, although she was amused at him asking.
Michael shrugged, "Suit yourselves, it's pretty good-" Skadi took some of his rations and ate it. Causing his eyes to widen in amazement, Ulpianus to audibly choke, Gladiia to let out a very deep sigh of exasperation, and Laurentia to just laugh, "Hey, save me some!"
Skadi slowly chewed, before swallowing. Amusement lined her face, "...agreed."
As the Defiants began to fly off in the distance, fellow Marines began to rest, go into the LAV and lay down, go against some rocks and nod off. They were lucky, they began to rest. The fresh batch of Marines were working on clearing out the lighthouse with flamethrowers and other pieces of equipment they brought.
For the New Essex and the officers of the USMC down here, things just got a whole lot more interesting. Smokton looked at Jordi with a raised eyebrow, as he began to show a picture of something. Something that the Iberian Inquisition wanted back. With an eye half-closed in confusion, she leans back and looks at the Inquisitors, and then at Jordi.
"So that is the grand ship that Iberia is hellbent on getting back?"