Contingency Plan Ravernal

Qua-Toyne Principality - Rodenius Sea

Central Calendar - March 31st, 1639

The Second Fleet of the Qua-Toyne Navy calmly sailed across the waves, the wooden vessels being pushed along by the winds. Rays of sunlight peaked over the horizon as the sun rose from beneath the ocean, which caused the waters to softly glow. Continued tensions with the Lourians had meant a greater number of ships on patrol, dilligently guarding Qua-Toyne's waters from the militaristic supremacists.

Captain Vansen rubbed his eyes as he walked across the deck. He took a moment to slow down and enjoy the view, the pristine and clear sea stretching out for kilometres in every direction.

His admiring was cut short when a lieutenant tapped his shoulder. "Captain?"

Vansen turned towards the man. "Yes, lieutenant?"

"I've spotted some ships in the distance," he replied, still holding his telescope in one hand.

At this, the captain perked up. "It's not the Lourians, is it?"

"I can't tell from here. There's about a dozen of them, two larger than the other ten."

Vansen pondered that for a moment. "Pass me that telescope, would you?"

"Yes sir. The ships were around that direction," he said while gesturing to a point in the distance. Captain Vansen grasped the telescope and carefully adjusted it while he scanned the horizon for the supposed fleet. After a few moments, he too spotted the twelve ships. The rising sun illuminated their hulls, and while they were still too far away to identify clearly, their angular designs and larger size didn't quite scream Lourian. 

"I say we investigate those vessels. There shouldn't be any other patrols in the area besides us. Helmsman!"

A burly man at the wheel snapped to attention. "Yes, sir?"

"Steer to the northeast. We are going to intercept those ships in the distance."

He nodded in reply and cranked the wheel to the right. The deck suddenly sprang to life as the sailors adjusted the sails and prepared for a possible conflict. Rowers below deck strained their muscles as they forced the wooden ship forward, and crackling manacomms directed the other ships in the patrol fleet towards the unknowns. The fleet in the distance had turned towards them, and Vansen was surprised at how quickly the ships were moving. Before they had been vaguely recognisable shapes over the horizon, but now they were clearly visible as ships. Their sails had seemingly been furled, and yet they cut through the water much faster than even his own ship. It wasn't long before the two fleets met, and the crew marvelled at the strange warships. Even the smaller ones were larger than the Qua-Toyne sailing ships, while the two larger ones towered over their masts. The ships were adorned with what seemed to be cannons, larger ones in the center of the deck with smaller ones forming a ring around the sides. What was originally thought to be a mast was instead a steel tower, with glass windows and strange objects placed on it. 

When he saw the crew on the vessels, he wondered if he had been drinking too much lately. They stood on two feet like men, but they wore no clothes and their bodies were as metal as the ships they stood on. The majority of them paid no attention to the wooden ships in front of them, but one on a large ship waved towards him. He cautiously waved back in reply, his mouth slightly agape as he struggled to find something to say.

"Who, no, what are they?" the lieutenant asked, utter confusion written on his face.

Vansen managed to find his voice again after hearing the man's words. "I... do not know. Whoever they are, we still have our duty to fulfil. Ready your gear, sailors! We shall investigate those metallic ships!" 

The two fleets met after a short while, and the iron sailors gently placed ladders onto Captain Vansen's ship after it had furled its sails. One of them then made their way down to talk, and he noted that this one seemed to move more like a human, compared to the stiff and precise movements of the other sailors. Said other sailors stood guard nearby, clutching strange looking staves that reminded him of a musket. They stood completely still, surveying the deck and watching the human-like one descend.

He was the first one to speak after they were standing face to face. "Where do you come from, sir?"

The being opened their mouth to reply, but the words that came out were unrecognisable. There were certainly patterns in it that signified it wasn't speaking gibberish, yet none of the men understood a lick of what the metal man said.

"Excuse me?"

They didn't seem to understand Vansen either, as they seemed to silently sigh and slump their shoulders in defeat. After a short pause, they began moving their hands and gesturing carefully in the absence of a conversation. A point to themselves, and then a wide sweeping motion which ended in them facing due south.

The lieutenant had walked over next to the captain to express his thoughts. "So they've come from the south? But that would mean they came from Qua-Toyne."

"I believe that sweeping motion might mean they went around Rodenius," came a reply from Vansen. "It would certainly make more sense than us never noticing these foreign people in our own country."

The captain nodded, and then copied what the metal man had done, only without the sweeping. In response, they looked to the south, and then nodded in understanding, too.

"I feel quite silly doing this..." he mumbled. 

The alien then pointed at themselves with one hand, and at Vansen with the other. Afterwards, they used both to point towards the direction of Qua-Toyne. As the miming continued, Vansen noted that this person was incredibly calm and seemed to plan their every movement to the millimeter. There were no mistakes or second-guesses to speak of, as a human may have been more clumsy or awkward in this situation.

"What do they mean now?" the lieutenant asked.

"They want us to take them to Qua-Toyne."

"Is that not risky sir? What if they are here to invade?"

"With only twelve ships? Even if they are made of steel and larger than ours, they would not stand up against our entire navy. The valiant wyvern knights would blast them from the skies as well."

The lieutenant let out a sigh. "Alright then, sir."

Vansen turned to his crew, who had been staring in silence at the entire exchange. "Men! These... foreign folk wish to be escorted to Qua-Toyne! Contact Maihark and set sail with these steel ships!"

A man sitting next to a manacomm device snapped to attention and relayed the message to the coast as the massive white sails unfurled. The gigantic sheets quickly caught the wind, and the rowers below deck strained once more as the two flotillas picked up speed towards Maihark.

Qua-Toyne Principality - Maihark Coast

Same day

On board one of the Francis-class frigates, diplomatic unit D-6 reviewed the report from the G43 expedition.

Aerial reconnaissance had confirmed the existence of a Contingency server rack, which was being carried into some kind of storehouse at a coastal city. The primary aim for first contact was to retrieve the databank without antagonising the locals, which was easier said than done with the presence of a language barrier.

The flotilla had been intercepted by a small fleet of sailing vessels, which had thankfully not been hostile and agreed to escort them to shore after a professional game of charades. The Contingency ships had to slow down to not outpace the wooden ships, but they were finally close to the shore in preparation to dock.

It was a tight squeeze, but after a lot of careful and minute adjustments, the frigate managed to dock at the harbour. It dwarfed the other ships scattered around the city, and a crowd had gathered to stare at the huge metal construct that was floating in front of them.

Sounds of steel creaking could be heard as combat units manually extended a bridge to connect the ship and the pier. A few of them disembarked first to clear away the crowd, their appearance alone scaring away some and the rifles in their hands sending a clear message to the rest. After the onlookers had dispersed, D-6 calmly walked off the Akkarrian ship and onto foreign soil.

The city itself bore some resemblance to the descriptions found in common fantasy novels, if not more idealised than them. The streets were surprisingly clean for the era, and the citizens appeared to be well fed and clothed. There were also the reptillian creatures that had tried to intercept the G43 circling above, eyeing the flotilla docked at their port.

The man who D-6 had guessed to be the captain walked off his ship as well, and the robot extended their hand to shake. Thankfully, the concept of a handshake existed in this dimension, and the captain followed suit. 

In D-6's other hand was a sketchbook and a pencil, prepared in the likely scenario that neither side could understand each other. They couldn't say what a server rack was, but drawing it was certainly possible. Using a photo taken of one of the remaining databanks as a reference, they began sketching it out in methodical and perfect movements, perfectly capturing the photograph in its storage onto the paper. 

Many of the men nearby stared in amazement throughout the process, and before long an identical replica of the picture was displayed on the page, rendered in graphite. A large question mark was then added onto the page next to the sketch, and the diplomat showed their finished work to captain and the nearby guards of the city.

---

"He's an amazing artist, I'll give him that," muttered one of the guards.

Captain Vansen had been left confused yet again after the metal man had drawn... something. Watching them draw was something to behold, with strokes and movements so precise that it would make even the finest painters seem like an amateur. What they had actually drawn was another story. A tall box with a strange tail rested on the high-quality paper, with a question mark placed directly next to it.

He turned to the guards. "Do any of you lot know what this bizzare object the foreigner has drawn is?"

One of them spoke up. "I remember seeing something like that being moved into one of the storehouses."

Vansen pondered for a moment. "I would wager that the question mark means they are asking about it. Perhaps it is theirs?"

"I'll send word to the capital. We'll need their permission for anything regarding those boxes. It's a matter of national importance, supposedly." The guard turned and took off in a brisk walk towards the garrison in the city, carrying with him a critical message.

After the guard had left, the captain turned towards the metal man and put up his hand, signifying that they will need to wait. The being nodded in reply and then returned to board their massive steel ship once again.

Qua-Toyne Principality - Government Conference Area/Lotus Garden

Same day

The Qua-Toynian government was engaged in a fierce discussion, a stark contrast to the calm and serene clearing they were gathered at. Talks had already been heated at the start of the conference, as the topic had been about the alien machine that had blatantly intruded on Maihark's airspace. However, a report had come in not too long ago about a fleet of twelve steel ships sailing in the Rodenius Sea, which had been intercepted by the Second Fleet. 

"And I am telling you, if these two things are related then they are surely here to invade!" shouted the Foreign Minister.

Prime Minister Kanata raised his hand."Calm down please, Matara. Twelve ships is not an invasion fleet, I assure you."

"They could be an advance force then, no?" Foreign Minister Matara fired back. "The Second Fleet is oh-so-kindly taking this mysterious set of vessels directly to our largest trade hub, may I remind you!"

Before the Prime Minister could try to reassure Matara again, a man stumbled into the Lotus Garden, panting profusely as his signature attire of a messenger dripped with sweat. 

"ThetwelveshipsfromRodeniusSeaarrivedatMaiharkandoneoftheforeignpeoplegotoffandtheydon'tspeakthecommontonguebuttheyaskedfortheweirdboxwithatail-"

Kanata raised his hand again, cutting the gushing stream of words off. "Slow down there, friend. I assume your message is urgent, but what use is it if we cannot hear what you are saying?"

The messenger nodded frantically and took a few deep breaths before speaking again with a firm voice. "A report just came in from the Maihark garrison, saying that the twelve ships intercepted by the Second Fleet arrived at the city. An individual who appeared to be a VIP got off from one of the larger ships and proceeded to draw a perfect depiction of the unknown box that had been stored at Maihark, with a question mark next to it. Captain Vansen of the Second Fleet has put forward the suggestion that the foreigners are looking to retrieve the artifact, and they are requesting that the steel man be shown it to confirm this theory."

When he had finished speaking, the garden fell into a thoughtful silence. From the report, it seemed that this fleet had shown no signs of hostility whatsoever. A brief chatter opened up between some of the more paranoid officials who wished to drive the invaders away while they had the chance, but Kanata silenced them with a valid point: how could they support two wars at once?

The Lourians to the southwest have long been a repeatedly brought up topic in the past, with their not-so-subtle goal of the subjugation and extermination of all demihumans. Scouting forces along the border had noticed a steady increase in their forces over recent months, and it was agreed that an invasion was inevitable at this rate. 

While they did have an ally in the form of the Quila Kingdom, their meager forces were only propped up by the immense strength of their beastmen. Furthermore, they lived in poverty compared to Qua-Toyne, and the huge mountain ranges along with the desert wastelands separating the two made logistics difficult. 

The sheer masses of infantry that the scouts had seen would mean even diverting every single soldier and wyvern in the country to the border would be a bloody and long fight. To provoke the people of this unknown country who had the capability to laugh in the face of wyverns and construct ships that dwarfed even the biggest sailing vessel would be suicidal.

Convinced by the Prime Minister's words, the officials at the conference cautiously agreed one by one to allow the foreigners access to the strange box, with armed escort by their side.

Kanata relayed this decision to the messenger. "Tell the Maihark soldiers to escort the foreigner to the artifact while keeping an eye on them. If the foreigner wishes to take the artifact with them, allow them to do so."

Foreign Minister Matara interjected before the runner could leave. "Is it really wise to give away this mysterious object to equally mysterious people? No strings attached?"

The Prime Minister considered for a moment. "If they wanted it for nefarious purposes, why didn't they simply fight their way to the storehouse? Besides, Ruven has been pouring over it for weeks and he's gotten nowhere. I believe we've found three of those things so far and they are doing nothing but wasting space."

"Very well," Matara conceded. He nodded towards the messenger, who promptly nodded back and took off in a sprint.

The meeting was dismissed shortly after and a little while later, Kanata was sitting in his office, lost in his thoughts. This strange nation which they didn't even know the name of boasted powerful technology like the two superpowers of Mu and the Holy Mirishial Empire. For what purpose did they want the strange box?

Qua-Toyne Principality - Maihark Storehouse

Same day

Things had turned out quite smoothly on D-6's end. After a fair amount of time waiting for the presumed messengers to relay the message and more rounds of gesturing with some helpfully added pictures, the natives had agreed to take them to the databank under armed escort.

The server rack stood tall in front of the diplomat, in an unexpectedly pristine condition from when it disappeared. Some dirt and scratches had found their way onto the outer shell, but the more delicate hard drives inside were secure. The surrounding men watched intently as D-6 scoured the object from top to bottom, double and triple-checking the servers.

After a while, they slowly nodded in confirmation, and then turned to the nearest soldier while simultaneously sketching out a new diagram. In it contained a simplistic representation of D-6 and several combat units hauling the databank onto their ship, which would then depart.

A couple more armed men gathered to look at the image, and then gave a nod of confirmation. D-6 silently opened their internal communications and gave a specific string of instructions to the rest of the fleet. Soon after, eight combat units came marching in a line to the storehouse and easily managed to lift the heavy databank with their mechanical strength.

The robot stuck out their hand one last time to firmly handshake several of the men before leaving as well, boarding the Francis-class and coordinating efforts to take the databank aboard. 

The flotilla of twelve left about an hour and a half after it had first arrived, carrying precious cargo for their leader back home on Sector Zero.