[The Ascendency of the Lost Shards] A Lost Hope Returns

Reaver

Reaver

One Thousand Club
In the borderlands to the west a group of beast men glance up. Seeing a green craft soaring overhead the lead shaman wonders. What could this foretell.


Aboard the craft a slight lethargy is taking place as according to the ship clocks it is the middle of the night. Tensho the shift lead of the sorcery department frowns as he checks his readings. Then blinks. Turning to one section that hasn't been used for almost a century he activates the pole readers. A smile alighting upon his face. Turning to the current head of watch. “Sir, your gonna want to get the Lords and Ladies up. We're home.”


Cheers ring out at the announcement as Yoshan at comms starts to frown. “Perhaps we might want to hold up on the celebration. There is a distinct lack of chatter on the network. It could be that they simply changed how they communicated or something major.” A look at his readings. “I am getting a slow pulse of what looks like an IAM terminal. It'll take time to sort the message out.”


Tetsuo frowns as he hears the chatter. “Get a bead on our exact location.”


The Nav shift head glances at his read outs the smile on his face dying. He starts barking orders to his assistants. Turning to the center. “We should of passed out of the borderlands days ago. I can confirm this is Creation but the west has shrunken greatly. I think …. I think something is seriously wrong.”


A wince from Tetsuo. “All stop. Find us a place we can set down for a bit. Send runners to the shift heads and get all the information they can. I want to know the exact essence nature of reality by oh eight hundred. Also get a full review of the current condition of crew and ship. We will have to make a report to our lords of what is happening.”


Even as the bridge flows with activity the night wears on.


You have all been summoned the next morning. You've head a rumor that the ship just passed into creation. Within the meeting room the bosun has collected the various reports that were requested of the various stations. The meeting room is a large room with a table of orichalcum and starmetal in the middle. From long experience you know that it can be programed to project images and receive input directly from the AS. You can even see the patched damage when that energy projecting lizard behemoth pierced the hull.


Standing at the rear of the room talking with one of the members of the sorcerer department stands the old dragon blood most simply call Bosun. A nod at the other member the Bosun would move to the foot of the table. “My Lords and Ladies as you were informed we are now back in creation. Near as we can tell some sort of catastrophe hit it in the time since we left. The dragon lines seem to have shifted slightly and creation itself has greatly shrunk. We can't get in contact with any of the major bases in the area. To make matters worse the reports from engineering have stated that the ship is near critical point of damage.. Our communications team have managed to partly decode a broken message.” Tapping a few points on the table the message comes up. “This is what we have so far.”


“They turned on us those misbegotten bastards of a lizard. Kill any and all ….. they can't be trusted. The feast was a trap.” The person on the video is a women who seems bloodly and wounded. The sign of a Dawn glowing brightly on her head.


With a few taps he closes the message and brings up an overview of the ship. “From that message it is apparent that Creation is in some form of civil war or is against the mandate of the Solar Deliberative. This situation is grim. We are in desperate need of repair and resuply. We are lacking intelligence and I think it is safe to assume that the Blessed Isle is not a safe location for us at this time.”


A shake of his head then a wry grin “My Lords and Ladies as always we stand ready to do your bidding. We've faced more terrifying things then this the crew stands ready to be commanded.”
 
One of the members of the Science and Sorcery department comes in handing the Bosun a note. "Well the good news is we have our general location and time of the season. We are in the north east of creation and it is the 14th of Ewer near as we can tell. As for the year well that's the bad news. We got a vague time from when the message was transmitted. It was approximately the year 3699. I am going to change the year stamp for ship logs to begin from our departure. So today would be the 14th of Ewer year 312."
 
Aurelia shifted slightly to study the faces of her compatriots, specifically those native to Creation. Nothing she wore since learning the Dreaming Courtesan Style was understated, but it was good she’d chosen a more subdued set of darker colors. To her this announcement had not come as a surprise, she’d read bad news in the tightness of the crew’s eyes and the strained hush when they spoke. She had also been awake when the ship was first supposed to cross into Creation, nervous to see the land she was supposed to play a great role in. The wyld there looked no different than the wyld before it, and stating so had prompted some apprehension. No, brighter colors would have been a celebration for what was surely shocking and potentially dangerous news.


“What are the chances that this was a war waged against one or two of the Solar Deliberative?” Throughout her time on the Enterprise, everyone was sure to elaborate on how glorious and righteous the Deliberative was. If they were to be believed at all, no one would want to raise a hand against the entire institution. Her question might also distract from such a potential, lightening spirits long enough to proceed with ship repairs in case the worst had occurred.
 
Ikki as usual didn't wear much when it came to clothing with his mid section exposed and legs as well with his sort of white silk skirt and opened blue vest. He was one of the original crew member, one of the celestial who came on the ship from the very beginning and had proven to be quite the survivor. After being alive for so many years and shapeshifting into different bodies, he had learned to become very comfortable with his human form. Still at the moment, when it was announced that they were in the year 3699, it must have been something wrong. They had only be traveling for three centuries. He couldn't even fathom who would dare to stand against the Solar deliberative when Aurelia asked her question. Since they came into creation, Ikki had a strange feeling and couldn't put his handle on it, never having felt something like this before.


"One or two of the Solar deliberative. I suppose it could be possible but while they did have quarrels back then, it was never to the point of a full blown war and destroying most of creation with it. But if the date is correct, we are most likely dealing with extremely powerful celestial exalts who had been alive for more than thousands of years. I'll recommend to land far from any settlements until we assess the situation and try not to anger any Lawgivers territory."


Of course, Ikki at this time had no idea on how much creation had changed and there was no such thing as Lawgivers rulers all over creation.
 
Quartermaster Yushoto Ayame, temporarily breveted to head of Navigation, pores over the reports handed into her by her subordinates and frowns deeply. "Excellencies...we seem to be dealing with more than just a reduction in size here. Sensors report hardly any airship traffic. Major thoroughfares are missing, and those remaining show no sign of mass transits taking place. Shipping lanes aren't giving off any of the normal Essence signatures for powered craft. We can't pick up any guidance beacons from docking facilities, either. What little we've observed indicates...a basically pre-industrial culture." She says this as if hoping someone will contradict her.
 
Souren shifted uncomfortably in his seat, since the death of his wife and Lunar mate he had been somewhat detached from reality, after all that had happened in the last few years he was looking forward to returning home, but these were very troubling news, and with great concern he turned his attention to the matters at hand.


"We'll have to try to contact any living Exalts of our time at some point, if the power of the Solar Deliberative was overthrown in the Realm, there might be a possibility that there are pockets of resistance somewhere in the Threshold if they managed to last this long, they might still be hiding somewhere, and even if most of the Exalts in the Deliberative were killed, we should be able to find or contact their current reincarnations, however I think our first goal is to assess how much of Creation and it's cities have changed, do we have any reading on which cities or settlements are closest to us?"
 
Lycurgus bared his teeth slightly, in a grimace as he took in the news. In his estimation, much more time had passed since they arrived, and for all the worth of the Silver Lady, more probably had changed in the interim. As it was, they were in likely hostile territory for all they knew.


"Let's not proceed too far ahead, right now. For all we know, there's a hostile force over the next mountain range - and we NEED repair and resupply as soon as possible."
 
The Bosun taps a couple buttons and the Enterprise comes up. "Lord Lycurgus is correct. The ship is in critical condition. We can fly and fight but we are close to loose some of the major systems. As you know our main reactors energy is corrosive when we use it to power the secondary weapon systems. We have maybe five minutes of use with them before the leads are burnt off. The sheath is at 75% efficiency and we are down to support struts in some locations."


The Bosun taps some more keys. "We have a Battle Carrier and two Chariots fully repaired. We are needing many of the mystical materials and the current Lord of Shaping isn't ready to retake the mantle to make us what we need." Tapping some buttons. "What we need is mainly raw materials, we have the crew to fix everything but not the materials to repair them. Our ground armies are fairly intact if not a little green. We lost about a third of them in the previous battle and thus promoted the trained mortals and young Dragon Bloodeds to fill the ranks back up. Luckily we had spares for their equipment."


"Near as I can tell we are in the North East of Creation. We've solid readings on the poles but because of the change in creation we can't be precisely sure where we are. The Pole of Earth is still quite a distance away from us currently."
 
A pre-industrial society? Aurelia wondered what the Citadel Counsel would say in the case of a people returning to their home world and finding their brethren so reduced. The rules were clear about new species lacking in technology, as Creation now did, but these were both new and old people. Once more Creation failed to make much sense.


"Then the Enterprise must prioritize finding the resources for its repairs, should it not? If Creation is so different than what was told to this one, the Enterprise must be prepared for unpleasant surprises." She turned to the Bosun, "Is there a way to know whether there are more magic materials in the immediate area?"
 
"We can send out Earth Aspects to find pockets of minerals. Barring that we would need to find processed resources." A frown. "We do have automatons that could start mining for us. Still it is something we can work on, it will take time to gather such resources."
 
Ikki looked around the room and really wondered what happened in the last few thousand years. The sky weren't covered with airships and floating cities in the sky. He didn't see many of the majestic beasts floating in the sky. This creation was a whole new animal to say the least.


"I must admit, this I didn't expect. Let's not waste any more resources then we need to. I suggest that we land and start looking around for what we can gather around here for the repairs. Plus it would give me time to scout around this place."
 
"Do we want to land near a populated area, in order to have access to local resources?" asks Ayame. "Or are we going to avoid human and divine contact until we have a better grasp of the situation?"
 
"I would highly recommend staying away from overt contact until we have a better grasp, yes, Ayame. And repairs well pin place." Lycurgus stated firmly. "Better an exercise in ingenuity with our repair work than a major battle for survival."
 
"We could send a contact team to one of the major cities in the area. Keep the ship and the main forces here and on guard." Looking at his data. "We have transport for three missions with fully repaired airships." Tapping some keys. "We can send out three more but the ships are damaged, couldn't guarantee their combat capabilities."
 
"This one does not like the idea of sending out a team into a major city. If it was an attack on the Deliberative as a whole, would not the Dragon Blooded be targeted as well?"
 
"We could send a team of mortals led by one of the Celestials. Other then you Lady Aurelia none of the other Solars have distinct markings denoting their status."
 
"This one does not have distinct markings denoting its status, but understands the intended message." She shifted to look at Souren, "You voiced a desire to search for other Exalted. Do you wish to lead the expedition while others work to repair the Enterprise?"
 
"I should be able to walk unseen among the mortals or pass as one for the time being in case of some necessary backup. It's been awhile since I have seen creation and want to see it with my own eyes." As Ikki waited to see if Souren intended to go down on the field.
 
"I'll go, and I'll be glad to take Ikki with me, I don't plan on delaying us too much, just to get basic information of our current situation so we can better decide on a course of action"
 
"If my lords and ladies are decided then all is left is the giving of assignments. That and allocating of equipment. Would my lords heading to civilization wish chariot or battle carrier?"


Turning to look at the others. "Would the rest of you wish to accompany the scouting parties or aid in another task?"
 
Aurelia cast concerned looks around, "If Creation is pre-industrial in technology, chariots and battle carriers will be highly unusual. If there are working magitech vehicles, they are either too precious to fly regularly or the skies are controlled..."
 
"She is right, I think it's better we reach the settlements in the most discreet way, and I can't think of any other way than on foot. I could use the leg stretching to be honest."
 
"On foot it is." As Ikki picked up his wrack-staff, the pillar of heaven which for untrained eyes looked like a regular one but most people on the ship knew better than to think of it as just a regular wrack-staff.
 
"Let's gather provisions and get everything ready for the journey, I trust we'll be able to return soon and brief the rest of the crew on the situation outside, but if things are worse than we thought, we might have to wander off longer than planned." Souren stood up from his seat, looking at every other crew member, waiting if anyone else had anything to add.
 
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