//------------------------------// // 3 - Just a short expedition // Story: Janon - The Resident "Wise" Guy // by Starmarine61321600 //------------------------------// I wake up at 0800. It's been six weeks since I arrived. Quickly I get dressed for today in my fatigues as we are heading on an expedition outside. The fatigues were a black camo. We designed them for hiding in the shadows of the forest. Which thankfully were plentiful. Over my black T-shirt, I put on a black coat. Not my coat, a military coat. Personal one won't fit in my empowered form. This coat has exterior pockets and goes to my knees. I button up the coat and grab my vest. The vest is custom-made and capable of stopping .50 caliber rounds downside is that it weighs at least 40 pounds. Frank's armor can shrug off 30mm rounds so mine is a downsized version of it. Strapping on my vest and other body armor pieces I am now covered head to toe in armor not like I'm going to get shot at but it's nice to be prepared. I reach out my hand grab my jump kit and tighten it around my midsection. Finally, I grab my helmet. Its head flickers on as I place it on my head. “Greetings Pilot reestablishing neuralink to Titan…connection reestablished.” The helmet's AI rings out before getting replaced by the voice of my Titan. I won't be embarking, him today but he’s one of my failsafes. Plus his sensors are extremely helpful. “Greetings, DT9852. We are heading on an expedition outside. You are to stay at a distance and watch over us as we journey into the forest.” DT9852 is a custom Titan of my design. He resembles a Destroyer class Titan with some major differences. Instead of a shoulder-mounted charge gun, he has a Plasma Railgun on his shoulder. In addition to this, he has a Mual, a big ass hammer, and a Predator Cannon. In addition to the gun shield of the Predator, he has energy shielding and a void shield. Joshua, Albert, and Hammond helped design this custom war machine. The members of the expeditionary security each have their own, but they are primarily construction and agriculture titans using guns. DT on the other hand is a heavy Titan weighing in at about 53 tons prioritizing armor and firepower over mobility. Granted he’s still no slouch but certainly slower than the ATs and CTs. Typically I have him sit in the distance and use his Plasma Railgun to fire powered shots at attackers. “Roger that, Pilot.” While I can't see him directly I can tell he's walking down the underground tunnel to the outside just by the vibrations he causes with each step. Having dealt with that I grab my Rsh-12 revolver and holster it to my hip. Turning to my bookshelf I flip a switch and a section of the floor begins to rise. My personal collection of weapons. As it fully deploys I grab my rifle. It's actually a minigun modified to be a rifle. Still functions the same way just with the addition of a stock, pistol grip, and conventional trigger with a guard. It's based on an XR338 minigun and weighs 80 lbs. I call it the RM338. It's a hefty gun but it packs a heavy punch. For today's expedition, I don't see anything big happening so it's currently in its 800 rpm mode with ammunition for 45 seconds of continuous firing in my backpack which I put on before slinging the rifle to my back over the bag. The bag also holds other supplies for the expedition but DT and the others hold most of the supplies. I'll meet with them at the armory. Out of the 46 clones, only 10 come on expeditions. They form the expeditionary security force which consists of Jack, George, Anne, Joshua, Grant, William, Mcgraw, Laguna, Marcus, and of course Frank. We just call it the EF for short. My walk to the armory is a short one, I greet Alfred and Lucy on my way there. “Morning Alfred.” “Good morning, sir.” He says with a shallow bow. “Morning Lucy.” “And what a fine morning it is.” She waves with a smile. As I arrive at the Armory I find the EF all geared up in their armor and jumpkits. Jack notices my arrival and looks up. “Good morning, sir, What’s the plan?” He asks holstering his 1911. “Nothing much, just another exploration mission. Today we are looking for this.” I hold up a photo of a destroyed castle. “It’s called the Castle of the Two Sisters. It’s the old Castle to the Royal Sisters.” “What do we plan on finding there?” Joshua asks fixing the cross necklace on his neck. “Hopefully nothing. I’m just wanting to see if anything is different.” I answer knowing it’s a little different than the usual mission. “We’ll still collect food and supplies as we go.” “Roger that.” Grant gives one last check around the room to his comrades. “We’re ready when you are.” “Then let’s get going.” We take little time heading to the reception area. “Morning, Pluff.” I greet her with a smile. “Morning, Janon. Heading out on another expedition I see” “That we are.” “Well then let me get that door open to the outside.” She says typing in a few commands into her terminal. “I’ll open the door once you reach it.” I nod, “Thank you. Pluff.” As we walk up the corridor to the ramp William approaches me. “So have you ever made contact with any sapient natives of this world?” He asks knowing this world has some form of civilization. “No, I’ve been holding off on it. Something’s telling me they’ll make contact with me when they’re ready.” I answer knowing someone besides Discord has been watching me. Not only that but I have a pretty good idea who, Cosmos is or at least the Commonwealth is. “Makes sense. Don’t want to startle them. I doubt they have anything like this.” William says lifting his rifle. It’s a fully automatic electromagnetic assault rifle. Something the Commonwealth probably doesn’t, hopefully, doesn’t have. “They don’t. They have magic and basic pre-musket firearms.” I add as we approach the door. A large drill-like machine slid to the large gear-like door unscrewing its internal locks. The sound of various moving parts fills the room. The four yard thick door is pulled forward by the machine before being rolled out of the way. The forest greets our eyes; it's weirdly both a calming and sinister sight. We step out of the vault and the door closes behind us with a loud hiss. “Okay let’s get moving, the target is Southeast of here. It’s in a clearing, hard to miss it.” I say leading the way through the forest my RM338 shouldered and DT watching in the distance for any threats. “This damn forest doesn’t get any less freaky,” Laguna says with a groan as she trudges through the mud and water. “Reminds me of back in the colonies. Had to trudge through waist-deep mud one time.” George says not bothered by it at all. Jack stops mid-step and turns to George, “Wait colonies? What colonies?” “The United Colonies. Well, the United States.” He answers walking past the man. “Hey, Janon!” Jack yells out running to keep up. “Is George based on George Washington? I mean I know you based the second batch on famous people and characters.” “No, technically he’s a combination of like twenty George’s throughout the first 150 years of America’s existence,” I answer before stopping and raising my hand gesturing for the others to stop. “What is it?” Marcus asks, suddenly nervous, aiming his rifle in front of him. “I heard somethi–” Before I have a chance to finish a manticore jumps out at the man. Not having a chance to react, the creature slaps the man into a tree. Branches falling off the tree from the impact. I let go of my RM338, its sling keeps it on my side. My hand flies to my waist and unholsters my Rsh-12 and I fire a single shot directly into the Manticore’s skull. Not even giving it a chance to yelp in pain. The others quickly move their way to Marcus forming a perimeter around the man. Laguna speaks up her voice calm and collected despite the situation, “His heart isn’t beating.” Not turning around her I ask, “Have you tried resuscitating him?” My voice was calm as well but still a hint of worry sneaking through. We all were on edge. “He’s dead. Fucker caved in his skull.” She says her voice now conveying the loss. I don’t answer, instead firing another round into the manticore’s skull. Joshua walks to Marcus’s body and blesses it. “I wish thee safe passage to the afterlife. Ol’ Ancient One please grant my friend safe passage to the stars. Let him sleep at last. For he deserves every second of it” The priest says a tear rolling down his cheek. “God DAMNIT!” I yell out “DT, get over here we got a man down. 1 KIA.” “Roger that,” DT says as he quickly dashes here. “Maintaining perimeter,” He says his minigun faces one direction and his shoulder railgun faces the other scanning the surroundings. “Grab him and let’s head back. We’ve lost enough in this hell hole. I’ll summon a drone or something to scout instead.” My voice shows the loss has taken a toll on me. As DT grabs Marcus’s lifeless corpse we hear a branch snap, all of us quickly turn to face the direction the sound came from our weapons following. DT’s railgun aimed at the source as well. A fog covers the source of the sound. The quiet hum of our Gauss rifles and DT’s railgun fills the forest as they charge up. The fog fades revealing Discord with a look of panic. “I’m friendly,” he says, his hands flying into the air. I raise my hand the others quickly discharging their weapons, “Wrong fucking time Discord.” “What do you mean?” Discord asks clueless about the situation “We just lost a man out in this hell hole of a forest. Then you just waltz up like nothing happened, that's what happened!” Jack says annoyed by his cluelessness. “Jack, calm down. We’re all hurting.” I reason in an attempt to defuse the situation. One that seems to work. “We lost Marcus. Manticore caved in his skull.” “I’m sorry for your loss.” Discord shows a bit of compassion. Perhaps there was more to the Draconequus than just pranks. “Can you please teleport us to the cave?” I know he can. I just want to know if he’s willing to. “The sooner we get home the better.” “With pleasure.” Discord teleports us to the cave or at least where it was. “I could have sworn it was here last time.” Discord is confused at the lack of a cave. Without saying a word the EF walks through the rockface into the cave. Discord following behind. “Clever.” As we approach the door his demeanor shifts. “What is that?” He asks a loud hissing sound fills the room as the door slides back rolling away to reveal the left of the corridor. “Okay big door, nice.” he notices the thickness of the door and comments on it, “Why is it so thick?” “It’s meant to survive a direct impact from an A-Bomb," Frank answers being the only one not affected by Marcus’s loss. “A-Bomb? What’s an A-bo–OH!” Discord says realizing what he’s inside, a fallout shelter. As we enter the reception area Pluff lays eyes on Marcus’s corpse. She begins to sob. They weren’t a thing or anything but they were close friends. “Jack, call the Sickbay and get Sylvester and Ester here ASAP. Tell them it’s to perform transcendence.” Jack nods and grabs Pluff’s landline, dialing for the sick bay. A few moments later Ester and Sylvester arrive in a rush. Ester says as he enters the room “We came as soon as we could what happe–,” they look at Marcus’s body in DT’s with a solemn look. “Bring him this way DT.” I nod for DT to follow them and he does. transcendence is the act of ascending to the Ancient One’s realm, a non-material plain of existence for those who’ve earned it. Marcus certainly does. Discord speaks up again, “So you now have a town down here? It’s been like two weeks.” “It’s been two months.” I quickly respond, slightly annoyed at him for not visiting up until now. “Oh…my bad,” he responds with less confidence. “But yes, I have room for 100 occupants. Not a lot but if I were to expand downward it could hold upwards of a few thousand.” I answer proud of how I’ve used his gift. “I feel like I made a good decision accepting your deal,” Discord says a smile forming on his mouth. “How about a tour?” I ask as I gesture toward the map of the facility. “That sounds wonderful.” Discord answers I turn to the EF, “You’re all dismissed. Jack tell me when they have Marcus ready for transcendence.” “Will do,” Jack responds the others disperse and likely want to forget today's events. Cosmos walked through the Ancient One’s realm. Technically it was the Ancient One’s mind which is different from where those of transcendence go to. Those who transcend go to Babtua. It’s a shapeless realm taking the form of wherever the person thought they’d end up going. Granted for those who believed they’d go to hell or some hellish realm, the Ancient One would search their mind to find where they deep down wished to go. Cosmos is currently in Cientan, the realm where Hestia, Keepers, and Curators go to have meetings with one another. Cosmos was heading to a meeting with Faust and the Ancient One. “Hello, my child,” the Ancient One booms. His form currently is that of a pony. He took the form of whatever lifeform he was meeting with due to his true form being the size of galaxies. “Hello, Father,” Cosmos says with a slight bow. One the Ancient One doesn’t approve of. “What did I say about bowing?” “Not to do it.” “And yet you still do.” “It’s in their nature,” Faust says as she walks toward the pair. “I know that,” the Ancient One responds with a sigh. “After the first thousand years, it got old and after a few billion years it’s just annoying. You are of equal standing to me. Same for all life. That is how the Architect taught me and how I teach you.” “It's a habit,” Cosmos responds. “Most of the time it’s safer to bow than not to.” “Agreed,” Faust says with a nod. “Anyways to the topic of the meeting. Janon.” Cosmos opens a viewing window to Equus. Showing Janon currently giving Discord a tour of his underground facility. “How do we proceed?” “That is a very good question.” the Ancient One says and summons a tea room. “How about we discuss it over a cup of tea.” “I’m not one to turn down a surely divine cup of tea,” Faust says as she trots to the table and takes a seat. “Fine by me,” Cosmos says, as he joins the two Hestia at the table.