Humanity reaches out for the stars and finds the greater galactic community, however, it is the galactic community left shocked when they find humanity is far from alone! The United Hyrule Kingdoms finds it's place in the great wide galaxy.
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Eternal Paragon (Mass Effect/Legend of Zelda fusion)
- Thread starter WhoaMama
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Chapter 1
New
WhoaMama
Know what you're doing yet?
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(2157 CE)
Captain Vormia Simdus was not used to feeling conflicted. He believed the world was black and white and arguments of grey were for those that couldn't correctly follow orders. He knew the laws and LIVED the rules of engagement. He was a Turian in the most pure sense of the word, and what did a Turian have if not rules? Still, sometimes, like now, the rules contradicted themselves.
"Do we have an identification of the ship?" He asked, though already knowing the answer.
"Negative. It doesn't match any known ship designs by any known race." One of his officers responded.
How could it? The ship was largely made of a dark metal, but it's hull was decorated by a swirling artwork of what appeared to be stone. Stone! Not just that, but dancing with the stone were lines of glowing blue light. The entire aft half of the ship was overflowing with the stuff in a large bulky shape that narrowed as it reached the bow. The front of the ship coming to a point that at this distance looked like it was meant to skewer an enemy ship. The pointed nose however was mostly bare of the odd glowing stone design, but instead was a smooth black metal. It was a design completely foreign to any sort of of ship that any race used. Hell, he couldn't think of any race that WOULD use such a design.
"Sir- there- well-" One of his officers dithered.
"Speak up!" He stated sternly. He didn't have time for someone to find their words. Whatever this ship was, it was clearly trying to interact with and possibly even start the Mass Effect Relay. Possibly one of the most illegal actions that could be preformed for very good reasons. Going around activating relays was likely the only thing more stupid than creating an unshackled AI.
"Sir. Ship is giving off standard levels of eezo readings, but they are giving off some of the highest mana readings we've ever found."
What? Both eezo and mana? How? The two never interacted well with each other. They didn't even have the grace to at least cause an explosion when they met. The two energy forms always met and just fizzled into nothing like water and fire. Not that most races could get much mana in one place anyways. Even if they could gather sufficient mana the energy liked to avoid behaving in a consistent way that could be quantified, observed, or even measured. The last great breakthrough was that they could now have sensors detect that there was, in fact, mana in an area and it's measurements tended to be boiled down to "some" or "a lot". The only reason most ships had the sensors to detect mana was to avoid it, so that it wouldn't interfere with their eezo systems.
For a ship to have high levels of mana, and the unfamiliar design? It was very unlikely that someone had progressed that far in ship design without notice. This was likely a first contact scenario; something that hadn't happened since his own people were found and invited to join the various races at the Citadel. An incredible and vital moment that usually set the tone for interactions with the species. Something that was too important for him to handle and instead something that absolutely should be passed up the chain.
But they were activating a Mass Relay, and who knew what was on the other side? Another Rachnii swarm? More of these strange ships ready to invade? There was no telling but it was a threat that could not be ignored. No rule book had ever stated how to interact with First Contact while they were also doing something as dangerous as activating a mass relay. So he had a choice to make, and there was enough there that most other people in his place would have hesitated and gotten word from above before deciding what to do.
But Captain Simdus had been raised and trained to be a weapon wielded by the Turian Hierarchy. A gun to protect the galaxy.
So he did what guns do.
"Fire on the ship." He ordered, and like good Turians, his crew followed orders.
Their forward cannons released a slug to travel at near the speed of light towards their target. The enemy's ship was small, most likely a research vessel of some kind. Hopefully the round didn't hit anything too vital and they would disable the ship or at least be able to save most of the crew. He didn't want them dead, he just wanted them to stop and until they knew what frequencies and language these aliens communication was not an option. If he tried to communicate, they might rush their work in relay activation.
There was no way to tell, and he made his choice. It was a shame that it would end in the loss of-
A shield made of lines of light, much like the designs on the ship, burst into existence on the ship only to shatter like glass a moment later. A shield of some kind? Regardless, the attack was a success, though the ship still stood, the bizarre glowing lines lit up brighter than even before. They still had power, though he could spot some debris from destroyed metal floating in space. It was astounding that such a ship managed to take one of their shots. The Persistent wasn't a capital ship by any means, but it's main guns were the best money could buy.
"Report! What's their damage?" He asked.
"Target hit. Hull breached, but detecting only minor amounts of vented atmosphere. No detectable systems damaged."
That's it? Whatever that brief flash of shielding was, it had to be the best damn shielding in the galaxy for a ship so small.
"Sir. I have something." Simdus walked over to peer over the officer's shoulder at his display.
"Show me." He ordered.
The video played, slowed down to extreme levels. Not enough to catch the round moving at the speed of light, but rather, at the moment of impact. The shield design he'd seen for an instant was correct, but he had been wrong about one thing. It wasn't one layer of shield, it was four, each a short length apart. The round still went through all of them, but obviously they did their job to ensure superficial damage.
Incredible.
"Sir, the ship has started to release...energy readings."
"What kind?"
"All of them? I'm getting electromagnetic waves, small burst gama waves, their eezo core is giving a controlled release, they're doing the full course of energy readings, even the lights on the outside are pulsing."
"As a result of damage?" He asked.
"One moment...no sir. All readings are pulsing at the same time, and they are pulsing with prime numbers. They are trying to set up communication."
"Their attempts to interface with the relay?" He questioned.
"They stopped."
Their first response to being attacked was to attempt to communicate and they stopped pushing their luck with the relay? That did bode well.
"Respond back in kind on radio waves." He ordered his science officer before turning to one of his communications officers. "Get the Council on the line. This just left our paygrade."
"Setting it up with VI. They have something similar sir. Communication has sped up." The science officer responded before sitting back in his chair. "This should take only a few minutes, depending on their language complexity. We won't have all the fine strokes of their language, but we could understand the individual words and a simplified syntax soon."
Not enough time for the Council to respond. He'd have to handle it himself.
Captain Simdus flared his mandibles at the thought. Him? First contact? He wasn't a politician, he was a soldier! What an awful idea to have him be the first to speak with a new race. He'd already shot them, justly, but that wasn't likely to endear him to them. Still, he would be the first to speak with them; that was the kind of thing that got your name in the history books.
"They're hailing with a video feed." His officer informed.
This was it. Anything he ever did again would likely never matter anymore. The only thing that people would care about with his name was this contact; how very disrespectful to his spotless military record.
"On screen." He ordered.
The blue holographic display in the middle of the CIC jumped to life in the form of a humanoid. They looked in many ways similar to the Asari. Eye, nose, ears and mouth all very much like their blue allies; they even had breasts too. Though there were clear differences, a mass of something red and fibrous came from the top of the skull and traveled down their back. A fur of some kind? The creature's nose was also greatly larger than an Asari too. She was adorned in jewelry of various kinds, but appeared to have some form of uniform on as well that mixed aspects of ancient plate armor and modern military dress.
"This is Captain Urboru of the HRN Nayru's Spirit. Identify yourself and kindly explain why you thought it was a good idea to put holes in my ship." The creature said, voice smooth, steady, and confident and eyes that gazed through the feed with challenge.
"I am Captain Simdus of the THS Persistent and enforcer of the will of the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council. You were breaking the law and preforming actions that endangered all of the races of the Citadel with your reckless actions. Activating a Mass Relay can and has brought in threats that could wipe out life in the galaxy."
The line went silent and the alien's facial structure changed little except for a quirk of an eyebrow and a pursing of her lips. Though he couldn't guess what that body language actually meant.
"I see. Well, Captain Simdus, we had no way of knowing your law, nor had that experience ourselves. In the future, we would appreciate it if you would kindly attempt to communicate before you decide to murder a ship full of innocent people." The woman intoned simply. He had no real way of being sure if the contempt he was detecting in her voice was part of a rush job done by the VI.
"I stand by my actions. I couldn't take the risk. However, I would appreciate if you would wait for reinforcements to arrive. A politician suited to contact will arrive in a few hours." Captain Simdus ordered as he made a subtle gesture for his crew to be ready for the worst. If they didn't like the idea of reinforcements arriving, they might flee or attack. He would stop either.
The alien stared at him for a few long beats before showing teeth. "That's fine, so long as you can wait with my reinforcements."
"Captain! Contact! Ships coming on line. Five, seven, no twelve new ships just appearing on sensors."
He ignored his first instinct to demand more information. The line was still open and to do so would make him look weak. The ships had likely been operating on low power near by. An impressive amount of stealth capabilities in a ship by even Citadel standards. That or they teleported in somehow, which was a far more terrifying prospect. Twelve ships were a lot to deal with, even if they weren't particular good ones. If they all had shields like the first? They didn't stand a chance.
"Is this a threat?" He demanded of the alien.
"No. A Gerudo has not begun a war in two hundred years and I refuse to be the one break that. This is honesty. We wouldn't want your political ship to show up and get spooked after all. Please, invite your politician and I'll invite mine." The woman said with all teeth showing. Usually meant aggression, but not always in all species. Sometimes the bearing of teeth was a welcome and a show of good health, as persistent poor health often effected the teeth of many species. He somehow felt it was both aggression and a welcome.
He didn't much care for this new race, though he had to admit they had spirit. They had discipline and military power to back themselves. They already seemed like an annoying enemy to face.
Still, it wasn't his problem anymore. Now it was up to the politicians.
xxxxxxx
Selare D'lanto felt like a maiden again; excitement, wonder, and anxiety came over her in a storm she hadn't felt since she defended her first dissertation three hundred years previously. A first contact scenario often came only once in even an Asari's life and she was chosen for the first physical meeting. Sucking up to Tevos's sister for two-hundred years was finally paying off!
"Have you seen this section? High levels of mana detected on their ship. Is it part of their machinery or the people themselves?" Her Salarian compatriot asked as he poured over the incredibly small document that had been provided to them before they were shoved into the first ship available to travel to the meeting location.
"Supposedly. Those sensors are about as trustworthy as an Omega drug dealer. It's just as possible they have a single person with a mild gift on board. Our approach shouldn't hinge on the idea that they have some new unknown talent for mana manipulation. Our primary goal is making sure that they have what it takes to join the galactic community." The Turian dourly replied. As was standard for a Turian, his mission seemed to be to dampen all feelings of joy.
"The possibility must be considered and discussed. The social implications could be massive! There is not much else to go on anyways." The Salarian rebutted.
Selare tuned them out as the two began to argue. The mana didn't seem particularly important to her, though she recognized that might be bias on her part. The Asari as a whole had basically no magical aptitude. Mana was not common in Asari or on Thessia. No, what interested her was the intricate artwork on their ship. It implied something important about the civilization that they dedicated visual appeal to their ships.
That was the importance of sending more than one species on these sorts of missions. She would be interested in their art and culture, the Salarian will question their scientific discoveries, and the Turian would mostly care about their military. Different cultures to see different points of view, and gain better understanding of the people. They didn't have the time to grab someone from every species in Citadel Space, but the three Council Races would function well enough; even if the Volus will probably bitch about not being included later.
Still, Selare felt strongly that she would have the best connection with this new species though. From the descriptions, they looked more similar to Asari than they looked like any other species. Physical appearance was important for first impressions and she'd have a leg up. She debated trying to apply some makeup to make herself even more presentable. Though there was no telling what aspects of physiology she should emphasize for this new race, so it would likely be better to look as natural as possible. They could even have some manner of taboo about makeup.
Doctor D'lanto again looked at the picture in the report of the new species. The features were more sharp than the average Asari, and the head of fibers cascading down their head looked positively captivating, not to mention the passionate gaze at the time of the captured image and, well, she was quite certain this new species would be popular among young maidens. Hell, if she were a few decades younger she'd be tempted to make overtures of romance herself. The armor invoking images of valiant Justicars out to save pure maidens and take them home to-
The ship rocked suddenly, jolting her from her thoughts. The other two ambassadors were leisurely standing up and approaching the airlock. She had apparently spaced out and missed their approach! How embarrassing. She quickly stood, smoothed out her outfit, and then followed after. There was a brief decontamination process both when leaving their ship as well as again when entering the new one, though they had a very different feel.
The alien's ship's decontamination process left the room smelling of some manner of wild flower and fresh rain.
It honestly left her wondering if that had actually been any sort of decontamination at all or just something to make them smell more pleasing. The room itself also was made up of that same smooth black metal and stonework that the outside of the ship had, though with no signs of the glowing blue lines. It appeared to just be a staple of their ship design!
The apparent door out of the room had a symbol of some kind on it as well, a coat of arms of some sort that displayed three golden triangles and a red avian of some kind.
The ship's door opened and on the other side lay what appeared to be a conference room. It had to be. There was a large table in the center of the room with seating around it. The table was solid and thick as well as bolted solidly to the floor. The chairs were curious though, some had a high back, others were just stools built low and sturdy, and one or two built higher up as if to give someone of small stature a view of the table. Why would they need all these different chair styles? Off to one side of the room there also sat a large rounded...rock. They just kept a big rock in the room? Why? Some form of cultural purpose?
"The conference room is the first room in the ship? Strange." The Salarian noted.
"Security concern. It keeps you from having to invite strangers into the heart of your ship to do business. It shows militant safety but also frequent enough cooperation that they felt it a necessary design. Promising." The Turian ambassador noted.
The door on the other side of the room opened on the opposite side of the room and the Captain of the ship from the report walked into the room and Selare's eyes widened and mouth dropped open. She was massive! The bronze skinned creature stood more than a full head taller than a Krogan! That didn't even count the vibrant red fibers that puffed out from her head giving her the appearance of another half a head taller before it cascaded down her back. The woman wore bits of armor that appeared decorational to her eyes, as well as white and sky blue cloth in the form of military dress. She stood tall, and walked forward with the force or a typhoon. A presence that existed in those with a great force of will and deadly ability to back that will.
"Quite a bit of diversity. Sexual dimorphism?" the Salarian ambassador muttered, jolting Selare into realizing the alien captain hadn't been alone.
Others had come into the room in two lines. These ones around the height of an Asari and without the darker skin or vibrant hair. These were more covered in armor than the captain, and all six of them entered the room caring large tower shields and what looked to be spears. How medieval! Fantastical as well!
"Greetings. I am Captain Urboru of the Nayru's Spirit, a science vessel for the Hyrule Royal Navy. We welcome you to our ship and offer our hospitality." The Captain stated before spreading her arms away from her body and bowing slightly at the waist and giving small incline of her head.
Oddly, it was the Turian Ambassador that took the lead. "We thank you for your hospitality, and we come in a spirit of peace and understanding. However, I wish to make it known that I am armed. Will this be a problem?"
Doctor D'lanto snapped her head to the side to glare at the Turian. He brought a GUN to negotiations? Was he stupid?
The captain of the ship looked down at them searchingly before shrugging her shoulders.
"That is acceptable. Know, if you draw your firearm for any reason as the Illuminated speaks with you, you will be killed immediately." The Captain accepted easily.
Her Turian comrade gave a nod of approval at the threat against his life! His mandibles even twitched in amusement! Fucking Turians! Still, she had a pressing question.
"The Illuminated?" Doctor D'lanto asked. It sounded like a rank or position. Possibly religious? The protectiveness meant it was someone important, if to no one else but the giant captain.
"I will let her speak for herself. She will be in shortly, but before she arrived I felt I should warn you that it is in your best interests to not be disrespectful to the Illuminated. It would be taken...personally."
"Is that a threat?" The Salarian asked. His tone not offended, but genuinely curious.
The Captain shook her head and her military decorum broke for a moment as she placed a hand to her head and sagged for a moment. "No! I didn't mean to imply it would be dangerous to your health or that she would hold disrespect against you. It is our people at large that will not take kindly to an Illuminated being treated with disrespect. It is a position only able to be filled by those having shown a history and ability of great wisdom and dedication. If you show disrespect on your first meeting like this, it will be a back-step for your people in dealing with us in the future. The Illuminated are the most politically powerful people we have and we aren't going to let you near them if we don't think you're going to treat them well."
Selare nodded her head immediately in appreciation. It sounded very much like one of their Matriarchs. Many an alien species had found themselves unable to get their proposals with the Asari accomplished due to a perceived slight on the part of the employees of a matriarch. Without the matriarchs input requests will be "lost" or shifted to the bottom of the tray. When you dedicate hundreds of years of your life to someone you tend to get very protective of them.
"We will be sure to be careful." Selare promised.
"Good. Then might I introduce the Illuminated Zelda, one of the Lights of the Kingdom." The Captain stated as she stepped to the side clearing the path from the door further into their ship. The door slid open to show three figures, all of them surprising.
The one in the center looked similar to the other members of the ship aside from the Captain, though her form was hunched over, her skin wrinkled, spotted, and creased. She stepped forward with a dignified air but it was more of a shuffle of the aged and infirmed. The strands on her head was a grey color and was a great deal thinner than the Captain's mane.
This was what their elderly looked like? They...didn't age gracefully.
The two other forms entering the room were far more mystifying though.
One was a mix of a humanoid and avian, complete with beak and wings for arms! They were covered in a thick layer of feather and wore a similar uniform to the Captain though without the bits of armor. Most of their mass appeared to be torso and wings and the legs were particularly short.
The last one was the most shocking.
On the other side of the old person was a creature about as tall as a Volus whose appeared to be some manner of...living plant! The skin was made of a living wood and it's head had leafage about it! Where it's mouth would be there was a large open...snout? She didn't have a better word for it, but it mystified her.
There was no way that all three of them were the same species! Did...did this race already have contact with other races? Did they already have their own federation of species!?
"Hello. I am Zelda. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am excited for the opportunity for our cultures to learn from each other." The old woman spoke up, her voice cracking but her eyes shown with enthusiasm. She gestures with one had to the creature that defied everything Selare knew about biology. "This is Denni, he is not a member of our government but instead a distinguished member of Hyrule's Merchant Guild. He's more of an expert on any economic questions you might have, so he thought it prudent he be here. Just known that he is here to answer your questions and NOT to try to set up any contracts or business at this time."
The wooden creature let a sound that sounded like frustration to Selare's ears.
The small wooden creature was a merchant? One important enough to be invited to a First Contact meeting?
All three of the ambassadors stared in silence at what just occurred. This was not First Contact with another race, it was with three! The implications and questions raced across all their minds and the three of them were left unsure what to say. Did they have another Citadel as well?
The silence dragged on for an uncomfortable amount of time.
"Is there a problem?" Zelda asked.
"No! No problem, just...we did not expect to find multiple species in cooperation." Doctor D'lanto said.
"Oh? Are you not also different species cooperating? Why should we not be as well?" She asked as she took her seat at the table, sitting down in a high backed chair. Denni got into one of the raised chairs while Captain Urburu took a seat at one of the low stools. The three ambassadors took the implied invitation and sat down as well, though the rest of the room's occupants remained standing.
"Our people have had first contact with many species over our history and it has never been with more than one species at the same time. Universally, it has been an experience of meeting a single race as they are making their first steps into the stars. We've never met anyone that had met sentients of other planets already." Doctor D'lanto said with bepuzzled joy.
"Other planets? You mean you are not all from the same planet?" Zelda asked, surprised.
"No?" The Salarian ambassador refuted before asking in wonder, "You mean to tell me that your planet has three separate sentient races?"
Three separate sentient races on a single planet? How was that even possible? Even a single species reaching the point of civilization was a rare gift in the galaxy and this one planet somehow managed to hold three? There would be Asari coming to this planet to study it for their entire lives! There would be literal generations of Asari dedicated to figuring out how this happened!
"Three? No no no, not at all." Zelda refuted, shaking her head.
The Asari Ambassador sagged and she wasn't sure if it was in relief or disappointment. It was just a miscommunication, of course. There was no way-
"Hyrule is the home of sixteen separate sentient races, though our government only represents nine of those races, and we are now spread across seven planets." Zelda answered simply.
"S-Sixteen!?" The Turian ambassador asked in shocked denial. "There is no way-"
"It might be more. We have documentation of some other races that we haven't been able to find to still be living." A sudden deep voice sounded behind them.
They wiped around and looked in shock at where there had previously been a rock, there now stood a being as large as any Krogan. The creature appeared to mostly be made of living stone! He was as wide as he was tall and had massive arms and stubby legs that he used to shuffle towards the table. On his arm was a single piece of armor and around his neck a white and blue scarf like the uniforms of the military men.
A man of living stone.
What the hell had they stumbled on to?
XXXXXX
Already posted over on SB, but I'm gonna take it over here because I'm working on making a new chapter for it. Posting them as I edit them and trim up a few mistakes.
Captain Vormia Simdus was not used to feeling conflicted. He believed the world was black and white and arguments of grey were for those that couldn't correctly follow orders. He knew the laws and LIVED the rules of engagement. He was a Turian in the most pure sense of the word, and what did a Turian have if not rules? Still, sometimes, like now, the rules contradicted themselves.
"Do we have an identification of the ship?" He asked, though already knowing the answer.
"Negative. It doesn't match any known ship designs by any known race." One of his officers responded.
How could it? The ship was largely made of a dark metal, but it's hull was decorated by a swirling artwork of what appeared to be stone. Stone! Not just that, but dancing with the stone were lines of glowing blue light. The entire aft half of the ship was overflowing with the stuff in a large bulky shape that narrowed as it reached the bow. The front of the ship coming to a point that at this distance looked like it was meant to skewer an enemy ship. The pointed nose however was mostly bare of the odd glowing stone design, but instead was a smooth black metal. It was a design completely foreign to any sort of of ship that any race used. Hell, he couldn't think of any race that WOULD use such a design.
"Sir- there- well-" One of his officers dithered.
"Speak up!" He stated sternly. He didn't have time for someone to find their words. Whatever this ship was, it was clearly trying to interact with and possibly even start the Mass Effect Relay. Possibly one of the most illegal actions that could be preformed for very good reasons. Going around activating relays was likely the only thing more stupid than creating an unshackled AI.
"Sir. Ship is giving off standard levels of eezo readings, but they are giving off some of the highest mana readings we've ever found."
What? Both eezo and mana? How? The two never interacted well with each other. They didn't even have the grace to at least cause an explosion when they met. The two energy forms always met and just fizzled into nothing like water and fire. Not that most races could get much mana in one place anyways. Even if they could gather sufficient mana the energy liked to avoid behaving in a consistent way that could be quantified, observed, or even measured. The last great breakthrough was that they could now have sensors detect that there was, in fact, mana in an area and it's measurements tended to be boiled down to "some" or "a lot". The only reason most ships had the sensors to detect mana was to avoid it, so that it wouldn't interfere with their eezo systems.
For a ship to have high levels of mana, and the unfamiliar design? It was very unlikely that someone had progressed that far in ship design without notice. This was likely a first contact scenario; something that hadn't happened since his own people were found and invited to join the various races at the Citadel. An incredible and vital moment that usually set the tone for interactions with the species. Something that was too important for him to handle and instead something that absolutely should be passed up the chain.
But they were activating a Mass Relay, and who knew what was on the other side? Another Rachnii swarm? More of these strange ships ready to invade? There was no telling but it was a threat that could not be ignored. No rule book had ever stated how to interact with First Contact while they were also doing something as dangerous as activating a mass relay. So he had a choice to make, and there was enough there that most other people in his place would have hesitated and gotten word from above before deciding what to do.
But Captain Simdus had been raised and trained to be a weapon wielded by the Turian Hierarchy. A gun to protect the galaxy.
So he did what guns do.
"Fire on the ship." He ordered, and like good Turians, his crew followed orders.
Their forward cannons released a slug to travel at near the speed of light towards their target. The enemy's ship was small, most likely a research vessel of some kind. Hopefully the round didn't hit anything too vital and they would disable the ship or at least be able to save most of the crew. He didn't want them dead, he just wanted them to stop and until they knew what frequencies and language these aliens communication was not an option. If he tried to communicate, they might rush their work in relay activation.
There was no way to tell, and he made his choice. It was a shame that it would end in the loss of-
A shield made of lines of light, much like the designs on the ship, burst into existence on the ship only to shatter like glass a moment later. A shield of some kind? Regardless, the attack was a success, though the ship still stood, the bizarre glowing lines lit up brighter than even before. They still had power, though he could spot some debris from destroyed metal floating in space. It was astounding that such a ship managed to take one of their shots. The Persistent wasn't a capital ship by any means, but it's main guns were the best money could buy.
"Report! What's their damage?" He asked.
"Target hit. Hull breached, but detecting only minor amounts of vented atmosphere. No detectable systems damaged."
That's it? Whatever that brief flash of shielding was, it had to be the best damn shielding in the galaxy for a ship so small.
"Sir. I have something." Simdus walked over to peer over the officer's shoulder at his display.
"Show me." He ordered.
The video played, slowed down to extreme levels. Not enough to catch the round moving at the speed of light, but rather, at the moment of impact. The shield design he'd seen for an instant was correct, but he had been wrong about one thing. It wasn't one layer of shield, it was four, each a short length apart. The round still went through all of them, but obviously they did their job to ensure superficial damage.
Incredible.
"Sir, the ship has started to release...energy readings."
"What kind?"
"All of them? I'm getting electromagnetic waves, small burst gama waves, their eezo core is giving a controlled release, they're doing the full course of energy readings, even the lights on the outside are pulsing."
"As a result of damage?" He asked.
"One moment...no sir. All readings are pulsing at the same time, and they are pulsing with prime numbers. They are trying to set up communication."
"Their attempts to interface with the relay?" He questioned.
"They stopped."
Their first response to being attacked was to attempt to communicate and they stopped pushing their luck with the relay? That did bode well.
"Respond back in kind on radio waves." He ordered his science officer before turning to one of his communications officers. "Get the Council on the line. This just left our paygrade."
"Setting it up with VI. They have something similar sir. Communication has sped up." The science officer responded before sitting back in his chair. "This should take only a few minutes, depending on their language complexity. We won't have all the fine strokes of their language, but we could understand the individual words and a simplified syntax soon."
Not enough time for the Council to respond. He'd have to handle it himself.
Captain Simdus flared his mandibles at the thought. Him? First contact? He wasn't a politician, he was a soldier! What an awful idea to have him be the first to speak with a new race. He'd already shot them, justly, but that wasn't likely to endear him to them. Still, he would be the first to speak with them; that was the kind of thing that got your name in the history books.
"They're hailing with a video feed." His officer informed.
This was it. Anything he ever did again would likely never matter anymore. The only thing that people would care about with his name was this contact; how very disrespectful to his spotless military record.
"On screen." He ordered.
The blue holographic display in the middle of the CIC jumped to life in the form of a humanoid. They looked in many ways similar to the Asari. Eye, nose, ears and mouth all very much like their blue allies; they even had breasts too. Though there were clear differences, a mass of something red and fibrous came from the top of the skull and traveled down their back. A fur of some kind? The creature's nose was also greatly larger than an Asari too. She was adorned in jewelry of various kinds, but appeared to have some form of uniform on as well that mixed aspects of ancient plate armor and modern military dress.
"This is Captain Urboru of the HRN Nayru's Spirit. Identify yourself and kindly explain why you thought it was a good idea to put holes in my ship." The creature said, voice smooth, steady, and confident and eyes that gazed through the feed with challenge.
"I am Captain Simdus of the THS Persistent and enforcer of the will of the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council. You were breaking the law and preforming actions that endangered all of the races of the Citadel with your reckless actions. Activating a Mass Relay can and has brought in threats that could wipe out life in the galaxy."
The line went silent and the alien's facial structure changed little except for a quirk of an eyebrow and a pursing of her lips. Though he couldn't guess what that body language actually meant.
"I see. Well, Captain Simdus, we had no way of knowing your law, nor had that experience ourselves. In the future, we would appreciate it if you would kindly attempt to communicate before you decide to murder a ship full of innocent people." The woman intoned simply. He had no real way of being sure if the contempt he was detecting in her voice was part of a rush job done by the VI.
"I stand by my actions. I couldn't take the risk. However, I would appreciate if you would wait for reinforcements to arrive. A politician suited to contact will arrive in a few hours." Captain Simdus ordered as he made a subtle gesture for his crew to be ready for the worst. If they didn't like the idea of reinforcements arriving, they might flee or attack. He would stop either.
The alien stared at him for a few long beats before showing teeth. "That's fine, so long as you can wait with my reinforcements."
"Captain! Contact! Ships coming on line. Five, seven, no twelve new ships just appearing on sensors."
He ignored his first instinct to demand more information. The line was still open and to do so would make him look weak. The ships had likely been operating on low power near by. An impressive amount of stealth capabilities in a ship by even Citadel standards. That or they teleported in somehow, which was a far more terrifying prospect. Twelve ships were a lot to deal with, even if they weren't particular good ones. If they all had shields like the first? They didn't stand a chance.
"Is this a threat?" He demanded of the alien.
"No. A Gerudo has not begun a war in two hundred years and I refuse to be the one break that. This is honesty. We wouldn't want your political ship to show up and get spooked after all. Please, invite your politician and I'll invite mine." The woman said with all teeth showing. Usually meant aggression, but not always in all species. Sometimes the bearing of teeth was a welcome and a show of good health, as persistent poor health often effected the teeth of many species. He somehow felt it was both aggression and a welcome.
He didn't much care for this new race, though he had to admit they had spirit. They had discipline and military power to back themselves. They already seemed like an annoying enemy to face.
Still, it wasn't his problem anymore. Now it was up to the politicians.
xxxxxxx
Selare D'lanto felt like a maiden again; excitement, wonder, and anxiety came over her in a storm she hadn't felt since she defended her first dissertation three hundred years previously. A first contact scenario often came only once in even an Asari's life and she was chosen for the first physical meeting. Sucking up to Tevos's sister for two-hundred years was finally paying off!
"Have you seen this section? High levels of mana detected on their ship. Is it part of their machinery or the people themselves?" Her Salarian compatriot asked as he poured over the incredibly small document that had been provided to them before they were shoved into the first ship available to travel to the meeting location.
"Supposedly. Those sensors are about as trustworthy as an Omega drug dealer. It's just as possible they have a single person with a mild gift on board. Our approach shouldn't hinge on the idea that they have some new unknown talent for mana manipulation. Our primary goal is making sure that they have what it takes to join the galactic community." The Turian dourly replied. As was standard for a Turian, his mission seemed to be to dampen all feelings of joy.
"The possibility must be considered and discussed. The social implications could be massive! There is not much else to go on anyways." The Salarian rebutted.
Selare tuned them out as the two began to argue. The mana didn't seem particularly important to her, though she recognized that might be bias on her part. The Asari as a whole had basically no magical aptitude. Mana was not common in Asari or on Thessia. No, what interested her was the intricate artwork on their ship. It implied something important about the civilization that they dedicated visual appeal to their ships.
That was the importance of sending more than one species on these sorts of missions. She would be interested in their art and culture, the Salarian will question their scientific discoveries, and the Turian would mostly care about their military. Different cultures to see different points of view, and gain better understanding of the people. They didn't have the time to grab someone from every species in Citadel Space, but the three Council Races would function well enough; even if the Volus will probably bitch about not being included later.
Still, Selare felt strongly that she would have the best connection with this new species though. From the descriptions, they looked more similar to Asari than they looked like any other species. Physical appearance was important for first impressions and she'd have a leg up. She debated trying to apply some makeup to make herself even more presentable. Though there was no telling what aspects of physiology she should emphasize for this new race, so it would likely be better to look as natural as possible. They could even have some manner of taboo about makeup.
Doctor D'lanto again looked at the picture in the report of the new species. The features were more sharp than the average Asari, and the head of fibers cascading down their head looked positively captivating, not to mention the passionate gaze at the time of the captured image and, well, she was quite certain this new species would be popular among young maidens. Hell, if she were a few decades younger she'd be tempted to make overtures of romance herself. The armor invoking images of valiant Justicars out to save pure maidens and take them home to-
The ship rocked suddenly, jolting her from her thoughts. The other two ambassadors were leisurely standing up and approaching the airlock. She had apparently spaced out and missed their approach! How embarrassing. She quickly stood, smoothed out her outfit, and then followed after. There was a brief decontamination process both when leaving their ship as well as again when entering the new one, though they had a very different feel.
The alien's ship's decontamination process left the room smelling of some manner of wild flower and fresh rain.
It honestly left her wondering if that had actually been any sort of decontamination at all or just something to make them smell more pleasing. The room itself also was made up of that same smooth black metal and stonework that the outside of the ship had, though with no signs of the glowing blue lines. It appeared to just be a staple of their ship design!
The apparent door out of the room had a symbol of some kind on it as well, a coat of arms of some sort that displayed three golden triangles and a red avian of some kind.
The ship's door opened and on the other side lay what appeared to be a conference room. It had to be. There was a large table in the center of the room with seating around it. The table was solid and thick as well as bolted solidly to the floor. The chairs were curious though, some had a high back, others were just stools built low and sturdy, and one or two built higher up as if to give someone of small stature a view of the table. Why would they need all these different chair styles? Off to one side of the room there also sat a large rounded...rock. They just kept a big rock in the room? Why? Some form of cultural purpose?
"The conference room is the first room in the ship? Strange." The Salarian noted.
"Security concern. It keeps you from having to invite strangers into the heart of your ship to do business. It shows militant safety but also frequent enough cooperation that they felt it a necessary design. Promising." The Turian ambassador noted.
The door on the other side of the room opened on the opposite side of the room and the Captain of the ship from the report walked into the room and Selare's eyes widened and mouth dropped open. She was massive! The bronze skinned creature stood more than a full head taller than a Krogan! That didn't even count the vibrant red fibers that puffed out from her head giving her the appearance of another half a head taller before it cascaded down her back. The woman wore bits of armor that appeared decorational to her eyes, as well as white and sky blue cloth in the form of military dress. She stood tall, and walked forward with the force or a typhoon. A presence that existed in those with a great force of will and deadly ability to back that will.
"Quite a bit of diversity. Sexual dimorphism?" the Salarian ambassador muttered, jolting Selare into realizing the alien captain hadn't been alone.
Others had come into the room in two lines. These ones around the height of an Asari and without the darker skin or vibrant hair. These were more covered in armor than the captain, and all six of them entered the room caring large tower shields and what looked to be spears. How medieval! Fantastical as well!
"Greetings. I am Captain Urboru of the Nayru's Spirit, a science vessel for the Hyrule Royal Navy. We welcome you to our ship and offer our hospitality." The Captain stated before spreading her arms away from her body and bowing slightly at the waist and giving small incline of her head.
Oddly, it was the Turian Ambassador that took the lead. "We thank you for your hospitality, and we come in a spirit of peace and understanding. However, I wish to make it known that I am armed. Will this be a problem?"
Doctor D'lanto snapped her head to the side to glare at the Turian. He brought a GUN to negotiations? Was he stupid?
The captain of the ship looked down at them searchingly before shrugging her shoulders.
"That is acceptable. Know, if you draw your firearm for any reason as the Illuminated speaks with you, you will be killed immediately." The Captain accepted easily.
Her Turian comrade gave a nod of approval at the threat against his life! His mandibles even twitched in amusement! Fucking Turians! Still, she had a pressing question.
"The Illuminated?" Doctor D'lanto asked. It sounded like a rank or position. Possibly religious? The protectiveness meant it was someone important, if to no one else but the giant captain.
"I will let her speak for herself. She will be in shortly, but before she arrived I felt I should warn you that it is in your best interests to not be disrespectful to the Illuminated. It would be taken...personally."
"Is that a threat?" The Salarian asked. His tone not offended, but genuinely curious.
The Captain shook her head and her military decorum broke for a moment as she placed a hand to her head and sagged for a moment. "No! I didn't mean to imply it would be dangerous to your health or that she would hold disrespect against you. It is our people at large that will not take kindly to an Illuminated being treated with disrespect. It is a position only able to be filled by those having shown a history and ability of great wisdom and dedication. If you show disrespect on your first meeting like this, it will be a back-step for your people in dealing with us in the future. The Illuminated are the most politically powerful people we have and we aren't going to let you near them if we don't think you're going to treat them well."
Selare nodded her head immediately in appreciation. It sounded very much like one of their Matriarchs. Many an alien species had found themselves unable to get their proposals with the Asari accomplished due to a perceived slight on the part of the employees of a matriarch. Without the matriarchs input requests will be "lost" or shifted to the bottom of the tray. When you dedicate hundreds of years of your life to someone you tend to get very protective of them.
"We will be sure to be careful." Selare promised.
"Good. Then might I introduce the Illuminated Zelda, one of the Lights of the Kingdom." The Captain stated as she stepped to the side clearing the path from the door further into their ship. The door slid open to show three figures, all of them surprising.
The one in the center looked similar to the other members of the ship aside from the Captain, though her form was hunched over, her skin wrinkled, spotted, and creased. She stepped forward with a dignified air but it was more of a shuffle of the aged and infirmed. The strands on her head was a grey color and was a great deal thinner than the Captain's mane.
This was what their elderly looked like? They...didn't age gracefully.
The two other forms entering the room were far more mystifying though.
One was a mix of a humanoid and avian, complete with beak and wings for arms! They were covered in a thick layer of feather and wore a similar uniform to the Captain though without the bits of armor. Most of their mass appeared to be torso and wings and the legs were particularly short.
The last one was the most shocking.
On the other side of the old person was a creature about as tall as a Volus whose appeared to be some manner of...living plant! The skin was made of a living wood and it's head had leafage about it! Where it's mouth would be there was a large open...snout? She didn't have a better word for it, but it mystified her.
There was no way that all three of them were the same species! Did...did this race already have contact with other races? Did they already have their own federation of species!?
"Hello. I am Zelda. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am excited for the opportunity for our cultures to learn from each other." The old woman spoke up, her voice cracking but her eyes shown with enthusiasm. She gestures with one had to the creature that defied everything Selare knew about biology. "This is Denni, he is not a member of our government but instead a distinguished member of Hyrule's Merchant Guild. He's more of an expert on any economic questions you might have, so he thought it prudent he be here. Just known that he is here to answer your questions and NOT to try to set up any contracts or business at this time."
The wooden creature let a sound that sounded like frustration to Selare's ears.
The small wooden creature was a merchant? One important enough to be invited to a First Contact meeting?
All three of the ambassadors stared in silence at what just occurred. This was not First Contact with another race, it was with three! The implications and questions raced across all their minds and the three of them were left unsure what to say. Did they have another Citadel as well?
The silence dragged on for an uncomfortable amount of time.
"Is there a problem?" Zelda asked.
"No! No problem, just...we did not expect to find multiple species in cooperation." Doctor D'lanto said.
"Oh? Are you not also different species cooperating? Why should we not be as well?" She asked as she took her seat at the table, sitting down in a high backed chair. Denni got into one of the raised chairs while Captain Urburu took a seat at one of the low stools. The three ambassadors took the implied invitation and sat down as well, though the rest of the room's occupants remained standing.
"Our people have had first contact with many species over our history and it has never been with more than one species at the same time. Universally, it has been an experience of meeting a single race as they are making their first steps into the stars. We've never met anyone that had met sentients of other planets already." Doctor D'lanto said with bepuzzled joy.
"Other planets? You mean you are not all from the same planet?" Zelda asked, surprised.
"No?" The Salarian ambassador refuted before asking in wonder, "You mean to tell me that your planet has three separate sentient races?"
Three separate sentient races on a single planet? How was that even possible? Even a single species reaching the point of civilization was a rare gift in the galaxy and this one planet somehow managed to hold three? There would be Asari coming to this planet to study it for their entire lives! There would be literal generations of Asari dedicated to figuring out how this happened!
"Three? No no no, not at all." Zelda refuted, shaking her head.
The Asari Ambassador sagged and she wasn't sure if it was in relief or disappointment. It was just a miscommunication, of course. There was no way-
"Hyrule is the home of sixteen separate sentient races, though our government only represents nine of those races, and we are now spread across seven planets." Zelda answered simply.
"S-Sixteen!?" The Turian ambassador asked in shocked denial. "There is no way-"
"It might be more. We have documentation of some other races that we haven't been able to find to still be living." A sudden deep voice sounded behind them.
They wiped around and looked in shock at where there had previously been a rock, there now stood a being as large as any Krogan. The creature appeared to mostly be made of living stone! He was as wide as he was tall and had massive arms and stubby legs that he used to shuffle towards the table. On his arm was a single piece of armor and around his neck a white and blue scarf like the uniforms of the military men.
A man of living stone.
What the hell had they stumbled on to?
XXXXXX
Already posted over on SB, but I'm gonna take it over here because I'm working on making a new chapter for it. Posting them as I edit them and trim up a few mistakes.
Chapter 2
New
WhoaMama
Know what you're doing yet?
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AN: Warning. This chapter is incredibly exposition heavy. That said, this might be the last of the first contact stuff and we're going to jump forward afterwards.
Ambassador Tyrix Decmus had mixed feelings. The Turian Hierarchy had sent him to the meeting with the explicit orders to gauge the new race's military and probe at the possibility of them becoming a new client race. They had initiated first contact and they would thus, theoretically, have first rights to make the newcomers a client race; not that the Asari or Salarians would be likely to actually let that just happen without their own overtures to do the same. It was becoming exceedingly clear that he wasn't going to manage either of his goals as he didn't have enough of an understanding of mana to judge their military strength and the newcomers were not likely to be a client race to anyone.
Why would you submit to another race when your own government and planet was made up of numerous species itself?
Despite the irritation he felt at not being able to fulfill his mission, he felt a respect rise for the United Federation of Hyrule. The soldiers that came into the room showed true discipline; they did not move, they did not cast their gaze around the room, they did not sway or scratch at an itch, nor even adjust a grip on their weapons. The meeting had gone on for more than three hours at this point and not one of them so much as twitched. The presence of medieval style armor and weapons on the military personnel implied a strong military tradition that held respect for what came before. They advanced, but did not forget their past.
It was a very Turian view, which he wasn't sure was a good thing. They seemed like they would make great allies and terrible enemies. If the various races of Hyrule differed as greatly as the people already in the room?
"I beg your pardon, but I must ask. Your guard you came in is of a race of avian origination. I know it is unlikely, but I do wonder if your race is capable of self powered flight?" The Salarian ambassador, Lersik, asked.
The avian glanced towards the Illuminated, who gave him a slight nod before her guard switched to something closer to parade rest and spoke up.
"My race, the Rito, cannot truly fly. However, due to our biology and the aid of an innate mana ability near every member of my race can at least glide on air currents, so long as we are not greatly weighed down. Gaining altitude is only possible for us in incredibly strong updrafts."
A boisterous laugh came from the being of living stone sitting next to the Illuminated. It did not escape him that the most physically imposing creature they had seen yet had been the one purposefully set to be of surprise to them with his presence. The specific minutia of what the Hyrule Federation was trying to communicate with that maneuver could be debated, but he was certain of the broad strokes of it. "We can surprise you, don't fuck with us," was a pretty obvious.
A large stone hand smacked loudly against the Rito's back, a motion that made numerous medals hanging from the blue scarf on the rock person's neck jump and sway.
"Ha! No need to hold back Hosh! We're trying to make friends here. You can tell the full truth." The creature, the Goron, stated with a wide smile and a voice that sounded almost...jolly.
The Rito, Hosh apparently, gave a sigh before speaking again. "It is not unheard of for the occasional member of my race to manage to obtain full flight, however, the number is somewhere around one in one hundred thousand to one in a million depending on the era. Currently, it is closer to the later than the former."
"Truly? That is astounding! Would a Rito that can fly be willing to come in for testing? We would love the opportunity to study the phenomenon." Lersik asked excitedly.
"You would have to ask the individual." The Illuminated cut in.
That choked conversation immediately. The Illuminated had been polite, courteous, and clever in their interactions but the warning by the Captain had made all his fellow ambassadors hesitant around her. After all, it was made clear that them offending her would, at minimum, have them removed from the opportunity of future communication with these people. However, the quiet allowed him to ask something that he had long wondered after.
"Pardon my rudeness, but you have sat yourself at the table and you have spoken up, but I have not caught your name nor your rank. Would you do us the courtesy of giving us that?" Tyrix asked the large rock man.
The creature scratched at the back of his head with a sound of stone scraping stone. "I guess I didn't, did I? My mistake. I am General Gor Kob of the Hyrule Royal Army. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The General stated with what seemed to be genuine joy and a carefree attitude that Tyrix wasn't sure he liked in a general. It seemed to have a contradictory image to the discipline he had seen in all other aspects of the military thus far. Perhaps it was just something to do with the Goron race?
"The pleasure is ours...sir?" The Asari ambassador questioned.
"Sir is fine, though my race is monogendered, so ma'am is just as valid, though we tend towards masculine terminology, so to avoid confusion it would probably be best to go with that, but you aren't likely to insult a Goron by using either." Came the low rumbling reply.
Lersik leaned forward in interest at the statement, but Doctor D'lanto gave an incredibly unprofessional gasp of surprise and continued to hold her mouth open in shock before practically screaming, "My race is monogendered too!"
"Really?" The general asked in mild surprise.
"Yes. We are universally female." The Asari said and as she began to expand on that statement further, Tyrix got a sinking feeling in his gut.
No, she wouldn't.
"My race procreates by-"
She would.
Tyrix kept his face schooled and did his best to not verbally throttle his fellow ambassador. It astounded him that an individual Asari could live for centuries around other races and never realize that most of them didn't share the Asari's blasé attitude about mating. She couldn't do a broad general statement either, oh no.
"-the mind meld lets us join with someone on a very personal and more intimate level and the process imparts some of that essence into the offspring along with doing a recombination of-"
Across the table, the Illuminated had the same face she held through the whole meeting, but he noted she was blinking at more than twice the rate she had previously. The Rito turned his beak away and had the universal body language of 'I want to NOT be here'. The general simply nodded along with the statments. The Captain of the ship, the one with the dark skin and the dark red fibers on her head meanwhile leaned in and seemed to enraptured in what was being said.
At least no one seemed to be disgusted.
"-thus my race prefers to find mates of other races to bring their strengths into the Asari." Doctor D'lanto finished, though as her eyes aligned on the Goron general and began to open her mouth again Tyrix was willing to risk being rude to speak up and prevent whatever follow-up she had to that lecture.
"If I might be so bold. We have spoken much of our respective cultures and what the Citadel has to offer newcomers to the Galaxy such as yourself, but I was wondering if you could clarify some questions I had about your political structure?" He managed to insert before the Asari could talk any more about mating habits of the Citadel species, or worse, start to ask the large rock man about his own mating habits.
"I would be happy to!" The Illuminated said with enough eagerness that Tyrix was confident he had just made the correct choice.
"It can get a bit complex, but at it's base we are, essentially, a Republic. Policies that effect multiple planets are decided by a Senate made of representatives based on population and race." The Illuminated stated.
"Race and population? How so?" Lersik inquired.
"Well, overall population decides how many seats the planet gets, but each of our signatory races has at least one guaranteed seat per race." Zelda responded.
"Why? Would population enough not suffice for a fair amount of voice?" Tyrix asked.
"No. The various races produce offspring at wildly different rates from each other and some races have very specific needs. The Zora, for example, produce children at a tenth of the rate of my own, but they will not be able to expand or create new settlements without very specific requirements of the water of where they intend to settle. That water purity won't matter very much to most other races, and without that voice they would end up having to resort to violence or trade disputes for their voices to be heard."
"The majority can still drown them out though. If population bears weight at all, then a species with ten times the number the number of people will heard to a much greater degree." Tyrix stated.
"Yes. That often happens, but it isn't all that rare for a settlement consisting mostly of Hylians to select a Zora, Goron, or one of the other races to represent them. It isn't a perfect system, but we do our best to make it work. The Senate itself is meant to mostly stick to matters regarding the military, the establishment of new colonies, education at the university level, interplanetary trade, and taxes in regards to those stated issues. Occasionally they have been known to pass the occasional law in regards to religion or justice as well, but this is meant to be done sparingly."
"Meant to." Tyrix noted dryly.
Regardless of race, political overreach was a fact of civilization. It just naturally arose from someone deciding they knew best. Even with the best of intentions it was natural for any sentient to believe they were right and people that disagreed with them were wrong. Then all it takes is a few people doing things for the "greater good" then the position has more power than it rightly should. Then suddenly the position is filled by people that want it for the power and perks and not just a cause and things begin to fray.
"Meant to, yes. No political system is perfect." Zelda agreed easily.
"You are a republic, but your military has 'royal' in it's title. Where does a monarchy fit into it?" Lersik asked and Tyrix wanted to slap himself in the forehead. He had failed to put those details together.
"We have a Royal Family that stretches back as far as our recorded history. Hyrule was once an individual nation and its king utilized it's more advanced technology to take over most of the world in a single lifetime. That empire, while going through it's share of reshaping and wars, is what eventually became the United Federation of Hyrule. The name Hyrule became synonymous with the planet itself and the name stuck. Through all the wars and upheavals, the Royal Family has maintained importance and a centerpiece of our culture. The position is mostly ceremonial at this point though." The Illuminated informed.
"It has no political power, but your military is named after it?" Tyrix asked doubtfully.
"I didn't say it has no influence. The Royal Family tends to have an easier time getting into positions of power. Being a member of the family by itself only gets you a room at the Royal Palace. Technically, they don't get any money from the government except for what it costs to run the household of the castle."
He wasn't fond of the idea of a royal family. It was inefficient and led to incompetence finding it's way to power easily, but if it worked as the Illuminated described then he could at least tolerate it. Being privileged because of who your parents were was not a phenomenon unique to royalty, every race and culture had their equivalent.
"Pardon my rudeness, but I have a question." Doctor D'lanto spoke up and Tyrix mentally prayed to the spirits that it had nothing to do with anyone's mating habits. "Your position is stated to be an Illuminated. How does that fit into your political structure?"
Tyrix blinked and resisted complimenting the excellent question.
The Illuminated sat back in her chair and gained a look on her face that Tyrix could only describe as contemplative before seeming to come to a decision.
"That seems to me to be the sort of question one should be discussed with refreshments." The elderly woman stated and gave a motion of her hand that sent two of the guards out of the room. "Most of our food is levo-amino based, but we have a few things that are dextro-amino."
"Thank you for the hospitality." Tyrix stated while inwardly dreading. Dextro food prepared by a Levo based race was almost universally an awful experience. He would make sure to eat a polite amount, but he likely wouldn't enjoy it.
xxxxxxx
Ambassador Lersik was having the time of his life. His position, while prestigious, didn't truly matter in the grand scope of things. He would give his report, but more credence would be given to the STG reports that would come later, when stealth units landed on of the alien's planets and got the information as they taught their own people rather than what they presented to others. The information he provided would matter, but they would have also gotten all this information from hacking into the Asari and Turian servers and obtaining the information for themselves. They would do that regardless of what he reported.
His biggest goal was simply to not embarrassing himself. He was not given any real agenda to probe for or information to fish for. He was just supposed to leave a good impression of the Salarians and maybe pass on information of where to look for juicy information. However, the more that the meeting passed the more he found himself excited for the future of the Federation joining the Citadel races. The scientific advancements they could make just on looking into the biology of all their races was astounding! The Goron race alone would keep scientists busy for centuries!
The Hyrule Federation would make a large splash in the galactic community from their culinary achievements alone. They served a variety of meats, vegetables, and carbohydrates to the table as well as some sort of tea that smelled floral and tasted refreshing. Even the dextro-based food served to Tyrix smelled appetizing and judging by how quickly the Turian ambassador finished his serving and retrieved more, they were a deft hand at producing culinary works that could appeal to most races in the galaxy.
Then, General Gor Kob's meal arrived and Lersik found himself stare in disbelief as the a plate holding a literal rock was placed in front of the Goron.
"Rock sirloin! Zelda, you shouldn't have!" The General announced before taking hold of the rock and raised it to his mouth.
Lersik began to doubt that the meal was actually a rock. Perhaps it just was prepared in a way to make it look rock like, or just the outer layer was crusted with-
The Goron took a bit into and chewed on his meal with the sound of grinding rocks. All three of his fellow ambassadors sat in disbelief as this alien ate an actual rock in front of them.
How could a rock provide the nutrients to sustain a living thing? The ingredients to rocks would require much more energy to break down and process than could possible be obtained through the chemical reactions from the ingredients. It defied his entire understanding of how an organic could work.
How exciting!
"So, as I promised, an Illuminated is part of the Lights of the Kingdom." The elderly woman stated as she held a cup of a dark liquid that she cradled just under chin as something precious. "Our job is travel about the whole of the Federation and go to areas that are suffering from corruption or poorly organized political structures and to fix the problem. We are allowed to cut through the red tape of politics and give complete political overhauls."
Lersik almost laughed outright. They got rid of their monarchy indeed. Ha!
"That seems an unsafe amount of political power to give someone." Tyrix stated politely.
"It's a rare position. There has never been more than a hundred Illuminated existing at the same time and there are rules to the position. We are not allowed to own any property during the duration of our time in office. We get a ship and a few personnel and body guards to attend to us. All our food and supplies are picked up from military bases and is of the same quality our soldiers receive. The position also requires extensive amounts of training and testing."
"That is still a lot of power. Who hands out your orders? Who do you answer to?" Tyrix asked.
"The Senate can remove our status as Illuminated, but otherwise an Illuminated can do as they see fit and go about it how they wish. No one gives us orders, they merely send requests and we are free to tackle them or seek out our own causes as we see fit." Zelda sated calmly and sipped are her steaming cup.
Lersik found himself amazed that such a position could exist! All that power with strict rules about not being able to obtain wealth? There was certainly ways around it, but the idea of the position was intriguing! It sounded similar to the STG and the Justicars of the Asari. No, wait, it bore a resemblance to something else more.
"I don't know that-" Tyrix began.
"They are the political version of a Spectre." Lersik interjected and he could see the light of recognition shine in his fellow ambassador's eyes. An apt comparison! Oh, this would be a juicy bit of information for the STG to investigate. He greatly hoped he would be kept in the loop for this particular bit of information.
"What is a Spectre?" Zelda asked and suddenly everyone at the table was acutely aware of the fact that if they understood things correctly, they were conversing with the highest political power of the Hyrule Federation and not just some ambassador.
And she just asked about one of their most contentious issues. The Spectre was a position often debated to be of dubious ethics after all. The three of them teamed up to give it the best spin they could and emphasize the ideals of the position. A small handful of the most talented soldiers allowed to act with little to no oversight was often something various politicians disliked the idea of, regardless of how prettied up the words were. The Illuminated nodded along with their explanations and gave a few questions of her own, but she seemed unimpressed with the position's existence. That impression didn't improve when the topic of the Council came up.
"There are just three races with a single representative on the Council?" She asked.
"Yes. Though they are representatives of the governments of their people and can be replaced on the intent of their species government. They are meant to only represent the interests of their own government." The Asari ambassador stated.
"But the will of their entire race is just distilled into a single person, and only three races, your three races, get to have a seat on the council and only those three get to vote on the decisions that effect the whole of the Citadel Space?"
"Well...yes." Doctor D'lanto replied. "But most other races have their own Ambassadors that speak for the interests of their people to the council. It also only has powers in areas not claimed by any individual race. It is more meant to help with disputes among the various races and instigate cooperation."
"But their votes don't matter except for how they can sway the major three races?" She pressed.
"Well...yes, but that's an oversimplification! They have influence and voice still." The Asari representative continued.
"Uh huh." Came the unimpressed reply.
Silence descended on the table.
Lersik blinked and swallowed thickly, he was beginning to realize an issue with the current negotiations. They had all entered negotiations taking for granted that the other races would wish to enter the galactic community.
"Your people would have quite the say in matters from the beginning. You have a surplus of unusual technology and ability. You would be able to easily leverage that for political capital. You have much to gain as well from our knowledge too. Being a mana based society, I image your understanding of eezo is not as advanced as our own." Lersik offered.
"True. We have no intention on missing out on an exchange of cultures, knowledge, and trade. We welcome all of that, as well as visitors of all races." Zelda responded and the three ambassadors let out a mental sigh of relief.
"Excellent. After you speak with your own people, we would be happy to set you up with a an embassy and we can likely give you a few colonies-" Tyrix began before being cut off.
"I'm sorry. That's unnecessary." Zelda stated firmly.
"Well the embassy is just to give you an office on the Citadel near where the political action, so to speak, is occurring." Tyrix stated.
"Oh, my apologies, I meant that we do not need any colonies from you." Zelda answered.
They were turning down colonies? Why? It made no sense. Expansion was important for any society and to not take it when freely given seemed unwise. The Illuminated did not yet strike him as unwise.
"Why do you not need them?" He asked.
"Well in the next five years we are going to have-" Zelda paused and considered the statement before looking to the dark-skinned Captain. "How many terraforming projects?"
"Three are to reach completion in the next five years, ma'am. Another three in the two years following." The Captain reported with the ghost of a smile. "Four if you count the one that's all water that is going to be basically just for the Zora."
Seven planets being terraformed across the next seven years? Either their society was dumping all of its resources into terraforming other planets, an unlikely prospect, or the Hyrule Federation had methods to terraform planets at a rate thought impossible. That was the sort of technology that changed the face of the galaxy.
"I...see. You have given much for us to consider. We shall return to our ship and report what happened to our superiors and we can schedule further meetings to discuss our cultures and the possibilities of trade." Tyrix offered.
"Of course. Notify us when you are ready and we will be more than happy to escort you to a nearby settlement of ours. We will treat you as guests." She replied as everyone stood and the ambassadors were all escorted back to the airlock.
It did not escape their notice that the Illuminated made no mention of trying to get someone into Citadel space. An act that Lersik was certain was purposeful and with a message. A very simple message.
"You want us more than we want you."
How interesting!
Ambassador Tyrix Decmus had mixed feelings. The Turian Hierarchy had sent him to the meeting with the explicit orders to gauge the new race's military and probe at the possibility of them becoming a new client race. They had initiated first contact and they would thus, theoretically, have first rights to make the newcomers a client race; not that the Asari or Salarians would be likely to actually let that just happen without their own overtures to do the same. It was becoming exceedingly clear that he wasn't going to manage either of his goals as he didn't have enough of an understanding of mana to judge their military strength and the newcomers were not likely to be a client race to anyone.
Why would you submit to another race when your own government and planet was made up of numerous species itself?
Despite the irritation he felt at not being able to fulfill his mission, he felt a respect rise for the United Federation of Hyrule. The soldiers that came into the room showed true discipline; they did not move, they did not cast their gaze around the room, they did not sway or scratch at an itch, nor even adjust a grip on their weapons. The meeting had gone on for more than three hours at this point and not one of them so much as twitched. The presence of medieval style armor and weapons on the military personnel implied a strong military tradition that held respect for what came before. They advanced, but did not forget their past.
It was a very Turian view, which he wasn't sure was a good thing. They seemed like they would make great allies and terrible enemies. If the various races of Hyrule differed as greatly as the people already in the room?
"I beg your pardon, but I must ask. Your guard you came in is of a race of avian origination. I know it is unlikely, but I do wonder if your race is capable of self powered flight?" The Salarian ambassador, Lersik, asked.
The avian glanced towards the Illuminated, who gave him a slight nod before her guard switched to something closer to parade rest and spoke up.
"My race, the Rito, cannot truly fly. However, due to our biology and the aid of an innate mana ability near every member of my race can at least glide on air currents, so long as we are not greatly weighed down. Gaining altitude is only possible for us in incredibly strong updrafts."
A boisterous laugh came from the being of living stone sitting next to the Illuminated. It did not escape him that the most physically imposing creature they had seen yet had been the one purposefully set to be of surprise to them with his presence. The specific minutia of what the Hyrule Federation was trying to communicate with that maneuver could be debated, but he was certain of the broad strokes of it. "We can surprise you, don't fuck with us," was a pretty obvious.
A large stone hand smacked loudly against the Rito's back, a motion that made numerous medals hanging from the blue scarf on the rock person's neck jump and sway.
"Ha! No need to hold back Hosh! We're trying to make friends here. You can tell the full truth." The creature, the Goron, stated with a wide smile and a voice that sounded almost...jolly.
The Rito, Hosh apparently, gave a sigh before speaking again. "It is not unheard of for the occasional member of my race to manage to obtain full flight, however, the number is somewhere around one in one hundred thousand to one in a million depending on the era. Currently, it is closer to the later than the former."
"Truly? That is astounding! Would a Rito that can fly be willing to come in for testing? We would love the opportunity to study the phenomenon." Lersik asked excitedly.
"You would have to ask the individual." The Illuminated cut in.
That choked conversation immediately. The Illuminated had been polite, courteous, and clever in their interactions but the warning by the Captain had made all his fellow ambassadors hesitant around her. After all, it was made clear that them offending her would, at minimum, have them removed from the opportunity of future communication with these people. However, the quiet allowed him to ask something that he had long wondered after.
"Pardon my rudeness, but you have sat yourself at the table and you have spoken up, but I have not caught your name nor your rank. Would you do us the courtesy of giving us that?" Tyrix asked the large rock man.
The creature scratched at the back of his head with a sound of stone scraping stone. "I guess I didn't, did I? My mistake. I am General Gor Kob of the Hyrule Royal Army. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The General stated with what seemed to be genuine joy and a carefree attitude that Tyrix wasn't sure he liked in a general. It seemed to have a contradictory image to the discipline he had seen in all other aspects of the military thus far. Perhaps it was just something to do with the Goron race?
"The pleasure is ours...sir?" The Asari ambassador questioned.
"Sir is fine, though my race is monogendered, so ma'am is just as valid, though we tend towards masculine terminology, so to avoid confusion it would probably be best to go with that, but you aren't likely to insult a Goron by using either." Came the low rumbling reply.
Lersik leaned forward in interest at the statement, but Doctor D'lanto gave an incredibly unprofessional gasp of surprise and continued to hold her mouth open in shock before practically screaming, "My race is monogendered too!"
"Really?" The general asked in mild surprise.
"Yes. We are universally female." The Asari said and as she began to expand on that statement further, Tyrix got a sinking feeling in his gut.
No, she wouldn't.
"My race procreates by-"
She would.
Tyrix kept his face schooled and did his best to not verbally throttle his fellow ambassador. It astounded him that an individual Asari could live for centuries around other races and never realize that most of them didn't share the Asari's blasé attitude about mating. She couldn't do a broad general statement either, oh no.
"-the mind meld lets us join with someone on a very personal and more intimate level and the process imparts some of that essence into the offspring along with doing a recombination of-"
Across the table, the Illuminated had the same face she held through the whole meeting, but he noted she was blinking at more than twice the rate she had previously. The Rito turned his beak away and had the universal body language of 'I want to NOT be here'. The general simply nodded along with the statments. The Captain of the ship, the one with the dark skin and the dark red fibers on her head meanwhile leaned in and seemed to enraptured in what was being said.
At least no one seemed to be disgusted.
"-thus my race prefers to find mates of other races to bring their strengths into the Asari." Doctor D'lanto finished, though as her eyes aligned on the Goron general and began to open her mouth again Tyrix was willing to risk being rude to speak up and prevent whatever follow-up she had to that lecture.
"If I might be so bold. We have spoken much of our respective cultures and what the Citadel has to offer newcomers to the Galaxy such as yourself, but I was wondering if you could clarify some questions I had about your political structure?" He managed to insert before the Asari could talk any more about mating habits of the Citadel species, or worse, start to ask the large rock man about his own mating habits.
"I would be happy to!" The Illuminated said with enough eagerness that Tyrix was confident he had just made the correct choice.
"It can get a bit complex, but at it's base we are, essentially, a Republic. Policies that effect multiple planets are decided by a Senate made of representatives based on population and race." The Illuminated stated.
"Race and population? How so?" Lersik inquired.
"Well, overall population decides how many seats the planet gets, but each of our signatory races has at least one guaranteed seat per race." Zelda responded.
"Why? Would population enough not suffice for a fair amount of voice?" Tyrix asked.
"No. The various races produce offspring at wildly different rates from each other and some races have very specific needs. The Zora, for example, produce children at a tenth of the rate of my own, but they will not be able to expand or create new settlements without very specific requirements of the water of where they intend to settle. That water purity won't matter very much to most other races, and without that voice they would end up having to resort to violence or trade disputes for their voices to be heard."
"The majority can still drown them out though. If population bears weight at all, then a species with ten times the number the number of people will heard to a much greater degree." Tyrix stated.
"Yes. That often happens, but it isn't all that rare for a settlement consisting mostly of Hylians to select a Zora, Goron, or one of the other races to represent them. It isn't a perfect system, but we do our best to make it work. The Senate itself is meant to mostly stick to matters regarding the military, the establishment of new colonies, education at the university level, interplanetary trade, and taxes in regards to those stated issues. Occasionally they have been known to pass the occasional law in regards to religion or justice as well, but this is meant to be done sparingly."
"Meant to." Tyrix noted dryly.
Regardless of race, political overreach was a fact of civilization. It just naturally arose from someone deciding they knew best. Even with the best of intentions it was natural for any sentient to believe they were right and people that disagreed with them were wrong. Then all it takes is a few people doing things for the "greater good" then the position has more power than it rightly should. Then suddenly the position is filled by people that want it for the power and perks and not just a cause and things begin to fray.
"Meant to, yes. No political system is perfect." Zelda agreed easily.
"You are a republic, but your military has 'royal' in it's title. Where does a monarchy fit into it?" Lersik asked and Tyrix wanted to slap himself in the forehead. He had failed to put those details together.
"We have a Royal Family that stretches back as far as our recorded history. Hyrule was once an individual nation and its king utilized it's more advanced technology to take over most of the world in a single lifetime. That empire, while going through it's share of reshaping and wars, is what eventually became the United Federation of Hyrule. The name Hyrule became synonymous with the planet itself and the name stuck. Through all the wars and upheavals, the Royal Family has maintained importance and a centerpiece of our culture. The position is mostly ceremonial at this point though." The Illuminated informed.
"It has no political power, but your military is named after it?" Tyrix asked doubtfully.
"I didn't say it has no influence. The Royal Family tends to have an easier time getting into positions of power. Being a member of the family by itself only gets you a room at the Royal Palace. Technically, they don't get any money from the government except for what it costs to run the household of the castle."
He wasn't fond of the idea of a royal family. It was inefficient and led to incompetence finding it's way to power easily, but if it worked as the Illuminated described then he could at least tolerate it. Being privileged because of who your parents were was not a phenomenon unique to royalty, every race and culture had their equivalent.
"Pardon my rudeness, but I have a question." Doctor D'lanto spoke up and Tyrix mentally prayed to the spirits that it had nothing to do with anyone's mating habits. "Your position is stated to be an Illuminated. How does that fit into your political structure?"
Tyrix blinked and resisted complimenting the excellent question.
The Illuminated sat back in her chair and gained a look on her face that Tyrix could only describe as contemplative before seeming to come to a decision.
"That seems to me to be the sort of question one should be discussed with refreshments." The elderly woman stated and gave a motion of her hand that sent two of the guards out of the room. "Most of our food is levo-amino based, but we have a few things that are dextro-amino."
"Thank you for the hospitality." Tyrix stated while inwardly dreading. Dextro food prepared by a Levo based race was almost universally an awful experience. He would make sure to eat a polite amount, but he likely wouldn't enjoy it.
xxxxxxx
Ambassador Lersik was having the time of his life. His position, while prestigious, didn't truly matter in the grand scope of things. He would give his report, but more credence would be given to the STG reports that would come later, when stealth units landed on of the alien's planets and got the information as they taught their own people rather than what they presented to others. The information he provided would matter, but they would have also gotten all this information from hacking into the Asari and Turian servers and obtaining the information for themselves. They would do that regardless of what he reported.
His biggest goal was simply to not embarrassing himself. He was not given any real agenda to probe for or information to fish for. He was just supposed to leave a good impression of the Salarians and maybe pass on information of where to look for juicy information. However, the more that the meeting passed the more he found himself excited for the future of the Federation joining the Citadel races. The scientific advancements they could make just on looking into the biology of all their races was astounding! The Goron race alone would keep scientists busy for centuries!
The Hyrule Federation would make a large splash in the galactic community from their culinary achievements alone. They served a variety of meats, vegetables, and carbohydrates to the table as well as some sort of tea that smelled floral and tasted refreshing. Even the dextro-based food served to Tyrix smelled appetizing and judging by how quickly the Turian ambassador finished his serving and retrieved more, they were a deft hand at producing culinary works that could appeal to most races in the galaxy.
Then, General Gor Kob's meal arrived and Lersik found himself stare in disbelief as the a plate holding a literal rock was placed in front of the Goron.
"Rock sirloin! Zelda, you shouldn't have!" The General announced before taking hold of the rock and raised it to his mouth.
Lersik began to doubt that the meal was actually a rock. Perhaps it just was prepared in a way to make it look rock like, or just the outer layer was crusted with-
The Goron took a bit into and chewed on his meal with the sound of grinding rocks. All three of his fellow ambassadors sat in disbelief as this alien ate an actual rock in front of them.
How could a rock provide the nutrients to sustain a living thing? The ingredients to rocks would require much more energy to break down and process than could possible be obtained through the chemical reactions from the ingredients. It defied his entire understanding of how an organic could work.
How exciting!
"So, as I promised, an Illuminated is part of the Lights of the Kingdom." The elderly woman stated as she held a cup of a dark liquid that she cradled just under chin as something precious. "Our job is travel about the whole of the Federation and go to areas that are suffering from corruption or poorly organized political structures and to fix the problem. We are allowed to cut through the red tape of politics and give complete political overhauls."
Lersik almost laughed outright. They got rid of their monarchy indeed. Ha!
"That seems an unsafe amount of political power to give someone." Tyrix stated politely.
"It's a rare position. There has never been more than a hundred Illuminated existing at the same time and there are rules to the position. We are not allowed to own any property during the duration of our time in office. We get a ship and a few personnel and body guards to attend to us. All our food and supplies are picked up from military bases and is of the same quality our soldiers receive. The position also requires extensive amounts of training and testing."
"That is still a lot of power. Who hands out your orders? Who do you answer to?" Tyrix asked.
"The Senate can remove our status as Illuminated, but otherwise an Illuminated can do as they see fit and go about it how they wish. No one gives us orders, they merely send requests and we are free to tackle them or seek out our own causes as we see fit." Zelda sated calmly and sipped are her steaming cup.
Lersik found himself amazed that such a position could exist! All that power with strict rules about not being able to obtain wealth? There was certainly ways around it, but the idea of the position was intriguing! It sounded similar to the STG and the Justicars of the Asari. No, wait, it bore a resemblance to something else more.
"I don't know that-" Tyrix began.
"They are the political version of a Spectre." Lersik interjected and he could see the light of recognition shine in his fellow ambassador's eyes. An apt comparison! Oh, this would be a juicy bit of information for the STG to investigate. He greatly hoped he would be kept in the loop for this particular bit of information.
"What is a Spectre?" Zelda asked and suddenly everyone at the table was acutely aware of the fact that if they understood things correctly, they were conversing with the highest political power of the Hyrule Federation and not just some ambassador.
And she just asked about one of their most contentious issues. The Spectre was a position often debated to be of dubious ethics after all. The three of them teamed up to give it the best spin they could and emphasize the ideals of the position. A small handful of the most talented soldiers allowed to act with little to no oversight was often something various politicians disliked the idea of, regardless of how prettied up the words were. The Illuminated nodded along with their explanations and gave a few questions of her own, but she seemed unimpressed with the position's existence. That impression didn't improve when the topic of the Council came up.
"There are just three races with a single representative on the Council?" She asked.
"Yes. Though they are representatives of the governments of their people and can be replaced on the intent of their species government. They are meant to only represent the interests of their own government." The Asari ambassador stated.
"But the will of their entire race is just distilled into a single person, and only three races, your three races, get to have a seat on the council and only those three get to vote on the decisions that effect the whole of the Citadel Space?"
"Well...yes." Doctor D'lanto replied. "But most other races have their own Ambassadors that speak for the interests of their people to the council. It also only has powers in areas not claimed by any individual race. It is more meant to help with disputes among the various races and instigate cooperation."
"But their votes don't matter except for how they can sway the major three races?" She pressed.
"Well...yes, but that's an oversimplification! They have influence and voice still." The Asari representative continued.
"Uh huh." Came the unimpressed reply.
Silence descended on the table.
Lersik blinked and swallowed thickly, he was beginning to realize an issue with the current negotiations. They had all entered negotiations taking for granted that the other races would wish to enter the galactic community.
"Your people would have quite the say in matters from the beginning. You have a surplus of unusual technology and ability. You would be able to easily leverage that for political capital. You have much to gain as well from our knowledge too. Being a mana based society, I image your understanding of eezo is not as advanced as our own." Lersik offered.
"True. We have no intention on missing out on an exchange of cultures, knowledge, and trade. We welcome all of that, as well as visitors of all races." Zelda responded and the three ambassadors let out a mental sigh of relief.
"Excellent. After you speak with your own people, we would be happy to set you up with a an embassy and we can likely give you a few colonies-" Tyrix began before being cut off.
"I'm sorry. That's unnecessary." Zelda stated firmly.
"Well the embassy is just to give you an office on the Citadel near where the political action, so to speak, is occurring." Tyrix stated.
"Oh, my apologies, I meant that we do not need any colonies from you." Zelda answered.
They were turning down colonies? Why? It made no sense. Expansion was important for any society and to not take it when freely given seemed unwise. The Illuminated did not yet strike him as unwise.
"Why do you not need them?" He asked.
"Well in the next five years we are going to have-" Zelda paused and considered the statement before looking to the dark-skinned Captain. "How many terraforming projects?"
"Three are to reach completion in the next five years, ma'am. Another three in the two years following." The Captain reported with the ghost of a smile. "Four if you count the one that's all water that is going to be basically just for the Zora."
Seven planets being terraformed across the next seven years? Either their society was dumping all of its resources into terraforming other planets, an unlikely prospect, or the Hyrule Federation had methods to terraform planets at a rate thought impossible. That was the sort of technology that changed the face of the galaxy.
"I...see. You have given much for us to consider. We shall return to our ship and report what happened to our superiors and we can schedule further meetings to discuss our cultures and the possibilities of trade." Tyrix offered.
"Of course. Notify us when you are ready and we will be more than happy to escort you to a nearby settlement of ours. We will treat you as guests." She replied as everyone stood and the ambassadors were all escorted back to the airlock.
It did not escape their notice that the Illuminated made no mention of trying to get someone into Citadel space. An act that Lersik was certain was purposeful and with a message. A very simple message.
"You want us more than we want you."
How interesting!
DesertChocolate
Getting some practice in, huh?
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WhoaMama, I cannot explain how excited I am. I've always loved both these franchises and I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this idea.
And you've said just enough that I'm insanely full of questions! I want to know so much more. I want to know how much of the games are melded together into this timeline of this universe, how much technology has been taken from things like BOTW, where the hell my boy Link is, what the modern weaponry looks like. I'm practically buzzing with excitement at what you've already written already. The interactions were a shit ton of fun to read, and I really want to see what the other encounters will be like. Does Hyrule replace Earth in this univer- Nevermind, don't need to know.
LOOK. I'm so goddamn hype and I can barely contain it.
And you've said just enough that I'm insanely full of questions! I want to know so much more. I want to know how much of the games are melded together into this timeline of this universe, how much technology has been taken from things like BOTW, where the hell my boy Link is, what the modern weaponry looks like. I'm practically buzzing with excitement at what you've already written already. The interactions were a shit ton of fun to read, and I really want to see what the other encounters will be like. Does Hyrule replace Earth in this univer- Nevermind, don't need to know.
LOOK. I'm so goddamn hype and I can barely contain it.
WhoaMama
Know what you're doing yet?
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Thanks. This was a story that arose from realizing how similar many of the races of Hyrule are to the races of the ME games. As for what this is canon to, I will say it is canon to BotW but other than that, it's on a "what feels right" kind of basis since time bullshit in Hyrule's history makes certain things...wonky. I will say that TotK is NOT canon to this because honestly, I had stopped writing this for quite some time because of how much I hated the story direction taken in that game.
And absolutely feel free to drop questions and stuff here, I fucking LOVE to world build this.
Oh, and no, the general conceit here is that instead of Earth, they have Hyrule. The next chapter will cover a lot of how Hyrule's weaponry works. I'm scanning over it now looking for grammar issues and anything needing smoothing, but it will be posted later today.
DesertChocolate
Getting some practice in, huh?
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There's a few questions and suggestions I have. Some of them are probably fairly obvious, like who among the Hyrule folk discovered eezo and how to actually use it with mana, what place the Goddesses have in their modern society is. I like the idea that the ships have way more water inside them than most Mass Effect ships just in case a Zora joins the crew.
The Illuminated, as a concept, fascinates me. If they're just a more spread out version of the one hero and one heroine thing Zelda does every generation, does that mean they have powers beyond what normal Hyrule folks have the way that Link and a few others seemed to be literally built different.
And then there's the technology. Things like the Sheikah slate runes are such a powerhouse in Zelda if they end up even slightly capable of making more. Not necessarily overpowered either. Magnesis, remote bombs, stasis, cryonis, Mass Effect has equivalents of varying degrees. But the most useful and powerful ability is the storage space. I don't know how you'll implement that whole thing into the story, but I'm excited. There's more tech stuff, but the slate is where my brain went.
On the other part of things, food in Zelda is going to be so popular. I don't know if you'll give the food even part of their in game effects, but eating something like that is going to amaze so many species when they realize what it can do. Which can be blamed on mana I suppose. The idea that mana has rules that make it so you can't distill the effects of the food through chemistry and HAVE to make it into a meal is kinda funny and would make scientists of the universe scratch their heads in confusion.
Okay, one more thing to gush about. I cannot wait to see more interactions. Hyrulians are going to be fascinated with certain cultures of the ME universe... and disgusted by others. Batarians are going to be a problem very quickly, and I cannot wait. It's a good excuse to show what the warriors of Hyrule can really do now.
Sorry for the rampant speculation here.
WhoaMama
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Don't apologize for speculation. It nourishes me. lol
So, I have not decided who discovered Eezo first, but it is earlier in the time line than Earth did, namely because what instead took them a very long time was how to seal the systems with a high enough degree that they COULD put it in their ships. Mana and Eezo degrade each other, so having an Eezo engine onboard has to be sealed up REALLY well to not degrade the enchantments onboard. That was the big breakthrough that occurred shortly before start of the series.
It is not so much that they are Zelda's and Links, so much as they are the ones that filled the roles for Zelda when she no longer was in the picture. It is inspired by her actions and lifestyle. The system was so built around the last incarnation that they couldn't NOT have someone like her. Even if it took many more and there are some bad egg Illuminated that get through every now and again, but it largely works. They are not, however, magically as capable as The Princess.
So the Slates are something that can't really be mass produced but that can make one. However, generally one person doesn't need the full abilities of the slate. Magnesis is a known rune that appears on a lot of construction sites and similar. Remote bombs have also received a lot of investigation and they have figured out many ways of how to make a magical thing go boom very well. Stasis is one of the HARDEST for them to replicate though and generally requires a higher level magical adept to use. And yes, Storage Space is by far the MOST useful thing they've developed. The Citadel both wants it and is TERRIFEIED of it coming into their space because of what that would do for smugglers.
And yeah, the food is something that the Hylians are known for, but it's ability to like power you up and such is something that is widely debated, because it is also tied to the chef's magical ability with it. You can have five different chefs produce the same meal with the same ingredients and it would be hard to tell if it has an actual difference, or some people just had a psychosomatic reaction/where in a better headspace because of how much they liked the meal. I will say the food doesn't just like...heal wounds like in the game though. That is the realm of a full Health Potion (this worlds answer to omni-gel).
Seeing all the various cultures bouse off each other is great fun and a blast in this fic.
Chapter 3
New
WhoaMama
Know what you're doing yet?
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(2183 CE)
Lieutenant Joelle Urboru studied every piece of her armor closely, she didn't have the gift of mana to truly do maintenance on the magical aspects of her armor but she could make sure there were no cracks or signs of wear on them, plus all the mundane electronics and programming was something she was more than capable of seeing to. Three other techs had already looked the armor over before it was brought to her, but when you were strapped into something roughly as expensive as an armored personnel carrier and were planning on using it to drop into the real shit, you made sure everything was quadruple checked.
"Thirty minutes out. Prepare for drop." A voice crackled over the speakers in the ceiling, making Urboru's heart pound in her chest, she let out a subtle exhale to calm herself before speaking up.
"Alright, time to put on my ballgown, hook me up." Urboru stated loudly as she began to step in the exoskeleton of her suit.
"Aye aye Lieutanant. We'll make sure you're the prettiest girl there." Came the nervous soprano of Limi'Hussar, a Quarian junior technician that managed to actually have enough mana ability to join in the Iron Knuckle program.
"Well with how much we spent on it, I'd be scandalized if she doesn't compare." Urboru stated as she donned her communications cap and shoved her hair voluminous red hair into the confines of the material. "Plus, ya know, be filled with all kinds of holes."
"Actually, if it gets through the armor it's really going to be more of a squish situation than a holes situation." Came the gravelly voice of her chief technician, the Goron's massive hands easily lifting the plates of armor and delicately placing the hundreds of pounds of enchantment, electronics, and alloys she didn't even know the name of in place. Then he used a drill that was comically small in his hands to fasten the plate into place. "You'll be fine. This armor is my best work yet."
The Iron Knuckle Mark VII was a thing of beauty and a true culmination of the cultures of Hyrule. The very idea of the Iron Knuckle was an ancient Gerudo position and was uniquely suited to a Gerudo, most species of Hyrule didn't have the sheer size and strength to be able to use the machine or, conversely, were too wide and heavy to move quickly in the suit. The Zora contributed the software, the Shiekah the electronics, the Gorons crafted it all together, and numerus other inventions from all the races of Hyrule. In fact, to her understanding, some adjustments had been made from a clever bit of enchanting the Lizalfos had done.
Each piece of the armor specifically angled for deflection, each enchantment synergizing with the rest to make the whole worth more than the sum of its parts, the onboard VI set to filter and interpret strategic data from a vast array of sensors and updates being broadcasted on both enemy and ally channels. Plus, there were the toys that came with it.
"Deploy the shield please." Limi'Hussar asked after the first layer of armor was in place, a sensor in hand ready to check the power draw and output of the mana lines.
The bulwark jumped into place immediately, a glowing great shield large enough to cover all eight and a half feet of the armor and extended five feet wide. It was a sight to behold and there was little that wasn't attached to a spaceship that could punch through it. Flanking was an issue, but the idea of an Iron Knuckle was to hit hard and fast enough that flanking just didn't become an option for the enemy.
"Looks good. Turn on the AX-150." Limi'Hussar requested as he handed her the six foot pole topped with a blue ball that lit up Urboru pressed the button. The AX-150 was the culmination of the technology that once terrorized the world during the Age of Calamity, only now it fired 70 times a minute and had three times the explosive yield of the ancient Guardians.
Though most soldiers just called it 'the Death Stick.'
The armor was assembled in short order, soon covering her in a literal ton of steel with the glowing lines of Hyrule's Mana-Tech lighting up in crisscrossing blue. Gorgorun and Limi'Hussar continued their meticulous work as Gorgorun spoke up.
"Wish I could drop with you on this one. I don't like you going solo." Gorgorun grumbled as he used a stylus to press keys on a keyboard much too small for Goron fingers.
"There's a lot to not like about our situation Gorgorun. The Hegemony caught us with our pants down. If we don't take down those AA guns before our reinforcements show up to find out why all communications got jammed then there's gonna be a lot of dead soldiers. I'll handle this one and hit them hard and fast. You're going to the bigger fight anyways."
"That still leaves you with fighting more than fifty men by yourself, at best." Gorgorun grumbled as he placed the spiked helmet into place, the display lighting up her vision and showing her all the system checks the Goron and Quarian had just preformed.
"Just fifty? And here I hoped they'd have something that could actually scratch the paint." Urboru said, the helmet now projecting the voice in a deep synthetic baritone.
"Drop point arrival in five. I can't keep this bird near those AA guns for long, so when I say 'go' you've got less than two seconds before you miss your window." The pilot's voice cracked again over the speakers.
"Aye aye." Urboru acknowledged before walking towards the hatch while Limi'Hussar scrambled to secure anything lose that could blown around by the winds about to rush in.
"Minimum fifty. It's probably closer to a hundred and they aren't chumps, plus, they'll know we're coming."
"Drop point reached in 5. 4."
Urboru smashed the button and the hatch flew open, the winds of Skibliz howling into and carrying with it the sent of fresh cut wood and rich soil, soon to be replaced by burnt flesh and metal.
"A hundred to one? Now that seems more fair." Urboru joked as she stepped towards the open door, each step a thud that shook the room.
Gorgorun gave an exaggerated eye-roll. "Fine then. I better not have to run all the way back here to save your ass."
"2. 1. Go go go!"
Urboru gave a two finger salute and tipped out of the hatch and into the atmosphere leaving with a cheery, "Sav'orq!"
She dropped through the air like a stone, her VI highlighting the AA guns the Hegemony had set up as well as their current target vectors. The weapons barked to life and fired rounds after the Hylian ship. The speedy personnel carrier banked and turned, avoiding the rounds before jetting off over the ridge of nearby mountain, where it would land and offload troops to go after the second AA gun.
Urboru was rocked and jostled inside her armor as it plummeted towards the ground at dangerous speeds, the bumps and buffeting of the wind not more than a car on a bumpy road, which part of her regreted; it would have been nice to feel the wind in her face.
"Warning. Deploy thrusters to avoid sustaining damage and loss of life on landing." The VI's melodious female voice informed. She ignored it. Breaking too soon would just make her a target for the AA gun. "Current speeds beyond recommended threshold. Certainty of fatality rising. Please deploy booster." The VI again spoke.
The Lieutenant ignored the voice again, trusting her own mental math and a gut feeling from logging hundreds of hours in this suit to land her safely. Even as she felt the sky quake above her as a round from the AA battery narrowly missed her falling form. Sweat began to trickle down her back and she took long deep breaths and she waited- waited-
Now!
The two boosters on her back jolted alive with blue fire and attempted desperately to slow her descent. She activated her mana shield as well to cause more drag as well as help shield her from the branches and tree trunks she smashed through on her way.
The cacophony of felled trees and screaming branches followed in her wake, the jets on her back keeping her facing the correct direction by blindingly fast adjustments by the VI until she smashed into the ground on her feet at speeds that left a mere two foot long trench, her jets shutting down to cool afterwards. The things couldn't make her fly, but they could give her the occasional boost when she needed it.
"HRN Pegasus, Iron One has landed. Heading to objective." She broadcasted. She got a wave of static in response. Though it was expected, the first thing the Hegemony did when they came into the system was block all their communication and shoot down any long range satellites.
The Iron Knuckle briefly considered waiting for some of the enemy to come into the forest to find her so she could ambush them out of position, but she discarded the idea. The major weakness of mana shields was they only really blocked from one direction, a weakness not shared by their Citadel counter part and if she let them get into the forest she might find herself flanked by people she missed in the attempted ambush.
She turned her shield off and began to press forward, slowly at first but quickly building up speed as her steps shook the leaves of the trees around her until she was a full run as she reached treelined. She burst into the clearing and noted what she was up against. Batarians were expected, Bokoblins and Moblins as well, though the occasional Lizalfos was new. The Lizalfos had resisted the Hegemony for years, despite the Bokoblins and Moblins seeming to take to the Batarian way of life like a fish to water. That they were helping with this assault was troubling news she needed to make sure got passed on at the end of her mission.
Still, as surprised as she was to see them, they were more surprised as she leveled her Death Stick at them and made it spit out exploding light on the densest clusters of soldiers she could spot. Bodies and limbs flew in all directions as the Gerudo continued her forward charge, again igniting her mana shield before her, the long Death Stick poking out through the energy shield to keep up it's disastrous weapons fire. She hefted the large polearm with a single arm and swung it through the air to point at priority targets with a grunt that filtered into a baritone on the outside of the armor. "Ter!"
Finding the right speed was the key to operations like this. She needed to continue forward, but couldn't speed by so fast that she didn't manage to take out all the people behind her. The hillside also had perilous footing, as the Hegemony leveled the trees that had been in the area to make room for their own base and logs, branches, and leaves littered the ground in unsteady masses, making the whole area smell thick of sap even through her suits air filtration system.
The Batarians, Moblins, Bokoblins, and Lizalfos managed to start to gain their wits about them and began to scramble to the deployable cover they had set up. It wasn't much, not even up to a Gerudo's hip, but it was more than enough for Bokoblins, Batarians, and Lizalfos; which left some very distressed and desperate moblins. Still, the wonders of a weapon that had shockwaves made most of the cover useless, after all, if it just explodes next to the cover, they can be sent flying out of cover. On she went at the pace of someone going for a leisurely jog. Wood and bodies cracked and broke beneath her feet as she passed, occasionally having to fire her back jets to prevent her from falling on the unsteady ground; not that you would be able to hear those sounds over the steady fire of the Death Stick and the cacophony of the enemy doing their damndest to rain death upon her.
The rapid forward motion soon began to slow as with an eclectic buzz wasn't so much as heard as it was felt, the Iron Knuckle armor briefly sparking with ambient electrical charge before a field of energy snapped into place ahead of her, the shield rising ten feet in the air.
"That's bad. Scan the structure, display all information on it as soon as hostiles on this side of the shield are neutralized." She muttered, before turning her gun to take out everything outside of the shield.
"Acknowledged." Her VI responded.
It took two minutes for her to finish wiping out ever remaining hostile still in sight. The last handful had been easy on account of them being Batarians that all broke from cover to fruitlessly smash their fists against the energy shield and cry out for the shield to be brought down. It appeared they didn't appreciate her company for some reason.
"Scan resulted in errors. 98.7% chance that physical structure of energy projection is shielded from scans." The VI reported.
Urboru muttered a Gerudo curse under her breath. Pounding on an energy shield by herself wasn't likely to do much. She'd rather be blocked off by two feet of steel than an energy shield.
"They can't hide the energy itself. Display the readings from the energy field. I want modulation, output, and frequencies displayed." Urboru ordered. In the blink of an eye the information was displayed.
"That's a lot of modulation, so no frequency matching, enough energy there that my Death Stick can't just punch through..." She muttered to herself, trailing off. Then the grace of Nayru struck her. With this much power and energy, the physical structure can't be more than a few inches behind the shielding! "Computer, access onboard omnitool. Make a Goron Clay penetrating charge, but mix it so that it releases the energy nighty degrees up from the tip."
If she began to dig into the dirt or tried to clear away debris the shield would just adjust, but it didn't go under the dirt until there was a opening for it to move to. Meaning she had her key.
"Charge manufactured." The VI informed.
A wicked smile infused her voice. "Hey. Bastards. Knock knock!" One her pauldrons lifted briefly and seconds later the missile fired, burrowing into the ground just before the energy shield.
Then there was a muffled "whoomp", a rain if dirt, and a fizzle as a small expanse of the shielding faded. She was through before all the dirt hit the ground, Death Stick calling out on everything that looked remotely tactical, but it was far less successful than her first volley. They were prepared for her now, organized. Fifty-one soldiers were opening fire on her, a few even firing missiles. The flashes of the impact from all the munitions impacting her shield began to blind her to anything on the other side of it.
"Warning: Mana Shield being overwhelmed, failure imminent."
"Cluster bombs, center on the last viewed areas of highest enemy concentration. Fire all available bombs!" She ordered.
Both pauldrons lifted and six distinct "whoomps" sounded out followed by a cacophony of explosions rocking the hillside.
"Suck on that you-" In the time she was blinded, the situation had changed. Rolling into sight was a tank with a barrel in custom "fuck-you" size and it wasted no time in spreading that message. The spiteful slug impacted her shield with enough force that her back jets had to fire to keep her upright, the entire frame of the Iron Knuckle shook, the shield began to crack.
Then the shell exploded into roaring lightning, the electricity scorching the wood around her set it ablaze.
"Shit. Enchanted rounds!"
She leveled her Death Stick on the tank and began to fire. One round hit it clean, but as her second began to fire the air around her fizzled and her armor lifted from the ground.
"Warning: Biotic effect detected! Count-" her VI began, but was cut off as the tank again shot a round into her shield just as the biotic effect around her faded. Her feet were a mere inch off the ground, but it was more than enough. The shell smashed into her shield like a hammer from Demise and the shield shattered into shards of light, sending her sprawling on her back, her jets firing wildly to prevent her fate, but gravity wasn't to be denied.
The Iron Knuckle shared much in common with a turtle, most notably, being put onto it's back made it near impossible to right itself on it's own.
"Computer, Overload the tank! FUBAR!" Urboru yelled as she pulled her arms into the central area of her mech and began to feel at her sides for her sidearm, as the Iron Knuckle gained several hundred thousands rupees of damage as the chest and all of it's components exploded outwards, letting her escape from the confines of her armor.
Urboru dashed from the suit and prayed to the Goddesses that her VI managed to overload the tank's systems to give her the precious seconds she needed to find cover. She held her breath as her feet pounded the ground, her pistol coming online at the same time as her small heater mana shield. The smaller projection would provide her some protection, but it was hard to protect your entire body from bullets with something the size of a Goron dinner plate.
The enemy began to poke their heads out of cover; that is, what ones were left. Her pistol barked three times, and a curious Bokoblin's head exploded; another six rounds killed a Batarian and dissuaded the rest of the enemy from getting too curious.
Urboru took the fact she hadn't died to tank fire yet to mean her VI managed to succeed in disabling the tank's main gun, but that wouldn't last long. She needed to move, preferably towards the tank.
"Woman!" The garbled voice of a Batarian yelled out and the battlefield fell to a hush. "Surrender now and you will live."
Uboru risked a quick glance over her appropriated cover to see a Batarian sticking his head out of the top of the tank to yell at her, the asshole in charge she presumed.
"That's pretty tempting. Terms?" She shouted back as she grabbed the corpse next to her hiding spot. A Batarian soldier whose entire shoulder had been blown off. In moments she tore off his armor and found what she was looking for, his shielding component. Her suit she wore under the Iron Knuckle armor was fitted to be able to run the Citadel's Element Zero based shielding, but didn't have the power core for it; it interfered with the mana based Iron Knuckle too much.
The full body regenerating shielding of the Citadel was going to be much more helpful than her tiny mana shield.
"The terms are that you thrown out your gun in the next ten seconds or I splatter you on this hillside." The Batarian commander yelled back.
Urboru knew enough of what happened to Batarian prisoners, female prisoners in particular, to know she'd sooner kill herself than let herself be captured. Though time would only help her.
"I am interested in not being splattered! Can you guarantee me safe treatment?" She yelled out as her hands quickly slotted the shield unit into her armor, activating her omnitool to do some quick soldering to let the damn thing work.
She deactivated her mana shield and with a flicker the alien shielding came online over her, though not likely at anywhere near it's max efficiency due to her rushed work, but it would have to do.
"Ha. Sure. Safe treatment guaranteed." The Batarian scoffed.
"Well in that case-" Urboru popped up from cover and began to fire at the Batarian-In-Charge. She scored two hits before he ducked back into the tank and began to shout muffled orders, but Urboru was already off, leaping over cover and dancing between obstacles as she headed towards the tank with all the speed she could muster, pistol barking at any enemies on her way.
A Lizalfos fell clutching its throat, a Moblin keeled over onto two Bokoblins after its kneecap exploded. Shots fired against her, bouncing off her shields, which quickly began to scream in protest before breaking from the panicked fire of her enemies.
Being eight feet tall and having a significant part of that height being legs did a lot to help the Lieutenant cover ground quickly. The barrel of the tank focused on her once again, and she flicked her omnitool on to again delay the weapon's fire.
Her shield collapsed and a shot scrapped through her side, blood spurting from the wound and making her stumble, but she pressed on, mentally counting down in her head how long she had before the tank could fire again, as she reached zero, she threw herself to the side in a mad tumble that sent her spiraling further than intended as her former location erupted in a spray of dirt and thunder.
The electricity stung her skin and the shrapnel dug into flesh. She got up, and ran again, quickly pressing a button for quick injection of Healing Potion. The vehicle began to pivot and turn, trying to get away, but it was facing the wrong direction for the hover technology on the tank to travel quickly. Just as the potion finished it's work, she reached the vehicle and leapt on.
The tank suddenly lurched forward, trying to knock her off, but she grabbed hold of the barrel of the tank's gun and steadied herself, resulting in the tank only succeeding at crushing the body of a Bokoblin that had been chasing after her. She held on for dear life as the tank twisted its gun around, hit it's boosters, and in general doing it's best impression of a bucking horse. Her shields refilled and drained several times as shrapnel from fabricated cover and discarded wood slammed into her, but she held on, inching her way closer and closer to the tank's entrance.
Then, she pulled a hilt from her belt and a sword made of mana sprang to life, though her active shield made the image of the blade flicker in it's brightness, the sword worked well enough to open the tank.
The Batarian inside managed to score a few shots on her shield before Urboru yanked the gun from the alien's hand and bodily lifted the much smaller man. Her pistol rested against his temple, past his shield, and suddenly the Batarian went incredibly still.
"So, how did it go? Surrender in the next ten seconds unless you want to splattered across the hillside?" Urboru panted, "Fair warning, I'm bad at counting."
"Lay down your arms!" He shouted through clenched teeth. "We surrender!"
xxxxx
The Batarians all surrendered easily after that, they threw down their weapons and obediently let themselves be stripped and tied up, most of the Hyrule natives did no such thing though, they ended up running off into the woods in a chorus of panic and rage. That was going to be something she'd have to handle later.
"Position Two, come in!" A voice came from a terminal the Hegemony had set up at the base of the AA gun. "We are repelling attackers. Do you need reinforcements sent your way?"
Urboru cursed under her breath. If the other AA gun was offering to send in reinforcements then chances were that Gorgorun and his squad were on the backfoot. They needed back up.
The Gerudo's eyes scanned over the camp, placing pieces together. She glanced at her Iron Knuckle, the Death Stick, and the Batarian tank and things began to click together. She had an idea, a mad one, but it could work.
She walked over to her downed armor and began using her omnitool to strip parts off of her mech-suit. The omni-tool was an incredibly handy invention from the aliens of the galaxy. To many people thought the tool existed mostly as a computer, but it could do so much more. The hard-light could act as a screwdriver, a hammer, a drill, a soldering gun, and anything else a handyman needed.
It took her roughly fifteen minutes of non-too gently ripping apart her suit while having the VI run weight calculations for her, but soon she had the exoskeleton stripped of everything but its power source and the jets on the back. The jets couldn't work to lift the whole armor, but stripped of all the excess weight? That could make it soar.
In comparison, the changes to her Death Stick were extremely minor, it wasn't that hard to change it from being a gun into being a bomb.
The last thing she needed to do before she left just involved running some cables from the AA gun to the Batarian tank.
"Hey." She yelled out towards the Batarians. "You guys should start running." Then she attached the cables running from the AA Gun to the tank a triggered the power to go critical. The tank's circuits began to spark and smoke in seconds. The AA gun's would take a little longer.
"Wh-what did you do!?" One of the Batarian's yelled at her, even as they shuffled away awkward while all being tied together.
Urboru ignored him to get into her suit as quickly as possible, an easy prospect when it was just the frame.
"Hey!" The Batarian yelled as something deep in the AA gun began to whine upwards, growing louder and louder by the second.
"Big gun go boom!" Urboru yelled for the simpleton and used both hands to lift the Death Stick. Without much of the parts of the suit that gave her advanced strength, it was a laborious process, but with some effort she managed lift it between her legs like she was some sort of witch flying around on a broom.
Now, she needed to leave. She had no real way to steer, the jets weren't meant for that, but she was going to ride the whole thing over the mountain in the distance and drop an improvised explosive on the best target she could see in a few seconds, all the while she would have no form shielding and any stray shots would be able to just go through her like a hot knife through butter. The Element Zero based shield would interfere with the mana batteries of the shield.
It was a great plan.
"Let's fly!" She shouted as she triggered the jets and shot into the air like she was loosed from a bow. She barely managed to cross her legs in time to keep the Death Stick from being yanked from her grip. The jet's couldn't be fired continuously but instead in a burst every few seconds.
"Shiiiiit!" She yelled out in exhilaration, fear, and pain. Without the armor, the heat of the jets made her back feel as though she instantly had an angry sunburn on her back; a miscalculation, but it was too late to back out now.
The initial thrust petered out and her stomach felt the drop as she again began to fall. She pressed the trigger for the jets to fire again, but nothing happened.
"Come on, come on, come on." She muttered again and again as she started to pick up downward momentum before finally triggering again, causing her to slam against the frame of the Iron Knuckle and her back to grow yet warmer. But, she noted, she was significantly higher than she had been at the height of the first jump. She was gaining altitude. It would work. She grit her teeth, tightened her grip, and prepared for the long haul.
XXXX
Gorgorun didn't like their odds. Things had initially had worked wonderfully to their advantage, and that should have tipped him off. They had been making their way into the enemy's position, his soldiers keeping their shield wall in front of them and advancing at a steady and reliable rate, occasionally swapping out when a shield got too hot for a fresh one to step in place, all the while he would lob explosives at any gathering of the enemy that got too cocky or was posing too much of an issue for his men.
Then rocks around them came to life; or rather, the Lizalfos that had changed their skin to appear to be rocks began to move. In seconds, his trope of thirty men was cut down to twelve, and that was only by him bodily picking up two Lizalfos and smashing them into the other ambushers. He yelled, threw most of his explosives on hand, and made himself the pressing target long enough for his men to reform their shield wall.
The plan worked, but he was showing the wounds for it.
"Stand tall! We'll kill ten of them for every man they scratch!" He shouted as he reached into his pack for a large blue crystal. A handy thing for defense, but not one he expected to use on this mission. It released a dome of shielding for a while, but it a stationary spell, it wouldn't travel with them. This was a strike mission, the longer they stayed stationary, the lower their odds.
He glanced about and felt pride in his men, all of them facing outwards towards the enemy, protecting him and trusting him to have a plan. He had to have faith in the Fires of Din inside all his men, and that they could find a way to turn the tides. He slammed the crystal into the soil and held his hands on either side of it, mana falling out towards crystal like a lava flow as he muttered an ancient chant of his people. Energy built and roiled until it burst forth from the crystal, cloaking them in protection.
"I will handle shielding us Brothers! Focus on fighting back! These monsters will fall before us!" Gorgorun shouted as he maintained his position, letting his energy flow into the crystal at a steady rate. His personal stores would not last particularly long, but in the meantime, he could help lower the enemy's numbers and let his troops shields regain some energy.
Though as he glanced up, it became evident that someone on the enemy's side knew of this magic. The enemy wasn't pressing on them, they were taking cover and firing the occasional round to keep them pinned. He could only keep the shield up for so long and the enemy seemed to realize that.
The minutes ticked by and nothing was changing. He needed a game changer of some sort to-
"Is that...a missile?" One of the soldiers asked aloud, making Gorgorun's head snap up. Whatever it was, it was too distant and traveling too fast for him to tell what it was, but he could swear her heard frantic Gerudo curses in the distance.
As the figure fell towards them all, the form became more clear and Gorgorun almost stopped the flow of mana into the shield keeping them alive. Not that it mattered over much, since the enemy had also stopped their assault to stare up in shocked aw as well. It was the sort of thing that every sentient knew, immediately, would a great story to tell and that no one would ever believe them. No one sane would believe they saw a Gerudo flying through the air while encased in a half-assed metal frame, vibrant locks of red hair thrashing in the wind and a massive metal pipe between her legs while her clothes were literally on fire and she released a stream of curses in at least four languages with the most prevalent being Gerudo; few languages could curse as satisfyingly as the Gerudo tongue.
Then, the figured dropped what Gorgorun realized was a Death Stick and allowed it to fall down towards one of the three supports for the enemy AA gun. Specifically, the support that was on the same side as Gorgorun and his men.
"Brace yourselves! That madwoman-" He began to yell but was drowned out as the very Fist of Din manifested only a few hundred feet away. Light as bright as the sun flashed and the sounds of air shattering and the earth crying in pain shook all present. The wave of force knocked much of the enemy onto their face and seemed happy to try and bury them as dirt rained from the sky onto their forms.
It was impressive, but Gorgorun's eyes snapped back to the sky, looking for the burning form of the woman that dropped the bomb. He managed to spot her just as her form smashed into the top of the AA gun, though she screamed out in pain as did so.
He began to heave a sigh of relief, until he saw the insane woman pull out a pistol and begin firing at something on the AA Gun, a moment later there was unmistakable sound of a high tension cable snapping and whirling through the air.
Then the gun, rising up about 90-feet in the air began to let out an ominous groan.
"To arms! Get ready for the shield to drop! Rush the enemy and punch a way out! Scruff, Leadfoot, Biggs, you're covering our backs! Everyone else, follow me and be prepared for melee!" Gorgorun shouted as the AA gun's metal changed its groaning to screeches of rending mental and defeat. As the structure tipped over towards the enemy's position the madwoman he let pilot his Iron Knuckle slowly changed from climbing down the side of the enemy's weapon to running down it as it tipped far enough to make that possible, until finally she disappeared from sight as the tower hit the ground and spat dust and debris into the air.
He dropped his barrier and pointed with a single finger. "Charge!"
His men rushed at the stunned enemies who were still trying to figure out what had happened when a six foot tall man made of stone barreled towards them with a hammer forged of mana and was the size of a Bokoblin began to smash into them, his men following behind. Though as he fought, he couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled from him.
"Hahahahaha! That mad witch will never live this down!" He yelled, even as he signaled for one of his men to fire a flare to let the air support know they could move in.
xxxxx
Urborun panted heavily as she leaned her side against the downed tower, the sounds of fighting beginning to fade. Red Lions, Hyrule's smallest flying personnel carriers began to fly to their position, dropping fresh troops or hovering in the air and releasing fire on fleeing enemies.
"Thistle, come in!" Her Omnitool called, making Urborun blink in surprise. Communications were back up. Some ships must have shot down the satellite blocking communications. "Damn it, Lieutenant Urboru, answer me!"
Her fuzzy mind connected that was Gorgorun and he was calling for her. Then realized she should answer that.
"I'm here. I'm good." She answered back and shifted her weight, causing her to wince. "Good within a certain definition."
"You in one piece?" The gruff Goron asked.
"Think so. Though I'm pretty sure I've got a broken rib and I do know that I've got burns on my back that are going to require Fairy Healing. I'm also covered in blood, but I can't say how much is mine."
The radio went faint and she had to strain her ears to hear "How do I ping her position again? Was it this button?" Then there was a rough grating sound and a few beeps as Gorgorun messed with the Omnitool until he either figured it out, or one of his soldiers helped him.
"Alright, I have your position. Stay there, we'll come pick you up." He ordered.
Time seemed to blur and Urboru could almost swear that she just blinked and then Gorgorun was standing with her and a Red Lion was hovering just a few feet away. A pink sparkling drink was being shoved towards her face by stone hands larger than her head. She grabbed hold of the Fairy Potion and downed its contents so quickly that she barely registered its sweet taste.
Healing magics, perfected by alchemists working along the venerable fairies coursed through her and her back began to knit itself back together, her side tingled and stopped hurting, and abruptly her mind became clear.
Which meant she had gotten a concussion. Lovely.
She glanced around and spotted the men and women looking at her in awe. She straightened up and called out to the crowd. "What's the matter? Never seen a hero before? Stop gawking! Grab our dead and load up! Move, move, move!"
The assembled soldiers quickly dashed to fulfill their orders and not disappoint the eight foot tall woman made of solid muscle that apparently rode a Death Stick into battle. Gorgorun locked eyes with her and jerked his head towards the Red Lion, a subtle way of letting her know he'd take over and she could sit down for a while.
Something she sorely needed.
Limi'Hussar met her shortly after and began to help her remove the busted frame from around her.
"So," Limi'Hussar began cautiously. "are even half the things I heard from the soldiers outside true?"
"Did they claim I dropped an overloaded Death Stick and an entire anti-air tower on the enemy after showing up by flying through the air while on fire?" She asked.
"Something along those lines." He confirmed as he sawed through a piece of the frame that got welded where it really shouldn't have.
"Oh. Then yeah, that happened."
Limi'Hussar stopped his work to stare up at her, though she couldn't tell his expression through the Quarian's mask.
"So, what, does Urboru mean 'badass' in Gerudo?" He asked as he continued.
Urboru let out a harsh laugh. "Nah, that would be cool though. Something much more mundane." She said as she waved it away.
"Oh?" He asked as he continued his work, even as the Red Lion began to take off.
"Yeah. It means shepherd."
xxxxxx
Lieutenant Joelle Urboru studied every piece of her armor closely, she didn't have the gift of mana to truly do maintenance on the magical aspects of her armor but she could make sure there were no cracks or signs of wear on them, plus all the mundane electronics and programming was something she was more than capable of seeing to. Three other techs had already looked the armor over before it was brought to her, but when you were strapped into something roughly as expensive as an armored personnel carrier and were planning on using it to drop into the real shit, you made sure everything was quadruple checked.
"Thirty minutes out. Prepare for drop." A voice crackled over the speakers in the ceiling, making Urboru's heart pound in her chest, she let out a subtle exhale to calm herself before speaking up.
"Alright, time to put on my ballgown, hook me up." Urboru stated loudly as she began to step in the exoskeleton of her suit.
"Aye aye Lieutanant. We'll make sure you're the prettiest girl there." Came the nervous soprano of Limi'Hussar, a Quarian junior technician that managed to actually have enough mana ability to join in the Iron Knuckle program.
"Well with how much we spent on it, I'd be scandalized if she doesn't compare." Urboru stated as she donned her communications cap and shoved her hair voluminous red hair into the confines of the material. "Plus, ya know, be filled with all kinds of holes."
"Actually, if it gets through the armor it's really going to be more of a squish situation than a holes situation." Came the gravelly voice of her chief technician, the Goron's massive hands easily lifting the plates of armor and delicately placing the hundreds of pounds of enchantment, electronics, and alloys she didn't even know the name of in place. Then he used a drill that was comically small in his hands to fasten the plate into place. "You'll be fine. This armor is my best work yet."
The Iron Knuckle Mark VII was a thing of beauty and a true culmination of the cultures of Hyrule. The very idea of the Iron Knuckle was an ancient Gerudo position and was uniquely suited to a Gerudo, most species of Hyrule didn't have the sheer size and strength to be able to use the machine or, conversely, were too wide and heavy to move quickly in the suit. The Zora contributed the software, the Shiekah the electronics, the Gorons crafted it all together, and numerus other inventions from all the races of Hyrule. In fact, to her understanding, some adjustments had been made from a clever bit of enchanting the Lizalfos had done.
Each piece of the armor specifically angled for deflection, each enchantment synergizing with the rest to make the whole worth more than the sum of its parts, the onboard VI set to filter and interpret strategic data from a vast array of sensors and updates being broadcasted on both enemy and ally channels. Plus, there were the toys that came with it.
"Deploy the shield please." Limi'Hussar asked after the first layer of armor was in place, a sensor in hand ready to check the power draw and output of the mana lines.
The bulwark jumped into place immediately, a glowing great shield large enough to cover all eight and a half feet of the armor and extended five feet wide. It was a sight to behold and there was little that wasn't attached to a spaceship that could punch through it. Flanking was an issue, but the idea of an Iron Knuckle was to hit hard and fast enough that flanking just didn't become an option for the enemy.
"Looks good. Turn on the AX-150." Limi'Hussar requested as he handed her the six foot pole topped with a blue ball that lit up Urboru pressed the button. The AX-150 was the culmination of the technology that once terrorized the world during the Age of Calamity, only now it fired 70 times a minute and had three times the explosive yield of the ancient Guardians.
Though most soldiers just called it 'the Death Stick.'
The armor was assembled in short order, soon covering her in a literal ton of steel with the glowing lines of Hyrule's Mana-Tech lighting up in crisscrossing blue. Gorgorun and Limi'Hussar continued their meticulous work as Gorgorun spoke up.
"Wish I could drop with you on this one. I don't like you going solo." Gorgorun grumbled as he used a stylus to press keys on a keyboard much too small for Goron fingers.
"There's a lot to not like about our situation Gorgorun. The Hegemony caught us with our pants down. If we don't take down those AA guns before our reinforcements show up to find out why all communications got jammed then there's gonna be a lot of dead soldiers. I'll handle this one and hit them hard and fast. You're going to the bigger fight anyways."
"That still leaves you with fighting more than fifty men by yourself, at best." Gorgorun grumbled as he placed the spiked helmet into place, the display lighting up her vision and showing her all the system checks the Goron and Quarian had just preformed.
"Just fifty? And here I hoped they'd have something that could actually scratch the paint." Urboru said, the helmet now projecting the voice in a deep synthetic baritone.
"Drop point arrival in five. I can't keep this bird near those AA guns for long, so when I say 'go' you've got less than two seconds before you miss your window." The pilot's voice cracked again over the speakers.
"Aye aye." Urboru acknowledged before walking towards the hatch while Limi'Hussar scrambled to secure anything lose that could blown around by the winds about to rush in.
"Minimum fifty. It's probably closer to a hundred and they aren't chumps, plus, they'll know we're coming."
"Drop point reached in 5. 4."
Urboru smashed the button and the hatch flew open, the winds of Skibliz howling into and carrying with it the sent of fresh cut wood and rich soil, soon to be replaced by burnt flesh and metal.
"A hundred to one? Now that seems more fair." Urboru joked as she stepped towards the open door, each step a thud that shook the room.
Gorgorun gave an exaggerated eye-roll. "Fine then. I better not have to run all the way back here to save your ass."
"2. 1. Go go go!"
Urboru gave a two finger salute and tipped out of the hatch and into the atmosphere leaving with a cheery, "Sav'orq!"
She dropped through the air like a stone, her VI highlighting the AA guns the Hegemony had set up as well as their current target vectors. The weapons barked to life and fired rounds after the Hylian ship. The speedy personnel carrier banked and turned, avoiding the rounds before jetting off over the ridge of nearby mountain, where it would land and offload troops to go after the second AA gun.
Urboru was rocked and jostled inside her armor as it plummeted towards the ground at dangerous speeds, the bumps and buffeting of the wind not more than a car on a bumpy road, which part of her regreted; it would have been nice to feel the wind in her face.
"Warning. Deploy thrusters to avoid sustaining damage and loss of life on landing." The VI's melodious female voice informed. She ignored it. Breaking too soon would just make her a target for the AA gun. "Current speeds beyond recommended threshold. Certainty of fatality rising. Please deploy booster." The VI again spoke.
The Lieutenant ignored the voice again, trusting her own mental math and a gut feeling from logging hundreds of hours in this suit to land her safely. Even as she felt the sky quake above her as a round from the AA battery narrowly missed her falling form. Sweat began to trickle down her back and she took long deep breaths and she waited- waited-
Now!
The two boosters on her back jolted alive with blue fire and attempted desperately to slow her descent. She activated her mana shield as well to cause more drag as well as help shield her from the branches and tree trunks she smashed through on her way.
The cacophony of felled trees and screaming branches followed in her wake, the jets on her back keeping her facing the correct direction by blindingly fast adjustments by the VI until she smashed into the ground on her feet at speeds that left a mere two foot long trench, her jets shutting down to cool afterwards. The things couldn't make her fly, but they could give her the occasional boost when she needed it.
"HRN Pegasus, Iron One has landed. Heading to objective." She broadcasted. She got a wave of static in response. Though it was expected, the first thing the Hegemony did when they came into the system was block all their communication and shoot down any long range satellites.
The Iron Knuckle briefly considered waiting for some of the enemy to come into the forest to find her so she could ambush them out of position, but she discarded the idea. The major weakness of mana shields was they only really blocked from one direction, a weakness not shared by their Citadel counter part and if she let them get into the forest she might find herself flanked by people she missed in the attempted ambush.
She turned her shield off and began to press forward, slowly at first but quickly building up speed as her steps shook the leaves of the trees around her until she was a full run as she reached treelined. She burst into the clearing and noted what she was up against. Batarians were expected, Bokoblins and Moblins as well, though the occasional Lizalfos was new. The Lizalfos had resisted the Hegemony for years, despite the Bokoblins and Moblins seeming to take to the Batarian way of life like a fish to water. That they were helping with this assault was troubling news she needed to make sure got passed on at the end of her mission.
Still, as surprised as she was to see them, they were more surprised as she leveled her Death Stick at them and made it spit out exploding light on the densest clusters of soldiers she could spot. Bodies and limbs flew in all directions as the Gerudo continued her forward charge, again igniting her mana shield before her, the long Death Stick poking out through the energy shield to keep up it's disastrous weapons fire. She hefted the large polearm with a single arm and swung it through the air to point at priority targets with a grunt that filtered into a baritone on the outside of the armor. "Ter!"
Finding the right speed was the key to operations like this. She needed to continue forward, but couldn't speed by so fast that she didn't manage to take out all the people behind her. The hillside also had perilous footing, as the Hegemony leveled the trees that had been in the area to make room for their own base and logs, branches, and leaves littered the ground in unsteady masses, making the whole area smell thick of sap even through her suits air filtration system.
The Batarians, Moblins, Bokoblins, and Lizalfos managed to start to gain their wits about them and began to scramble to the deployable cover they had set up. It wasn't much, not even up to a Gerudo's hip, but it was more than enough for Bokoblins, Batarians, and Lizalfos; which left some very distressed and desperate moblins. Still, the wonders of a weapon that had shockwaves made most of the cover useless, after all, if it just explodes next to the cover, they can be sent flying out of cover. On she went at the pace of someone going for a leisurely jog. Wood and bodies cracked and broke beneath her feet as she passed, occasionally having to fire her back jets to prevent her from falling on the unsteady ground; not that you would be able to hear those sounds over the steady fire of the Death Stick and the cacophony of the enemy doing their damndest to rain death upon her.
The rapid forward motion soon began to slow as with an eclectic buzz wasn't so much as heard as it was felt, the Iron Knuckle armor briefly sparking with ambient electrical charge before a field of energy snapped into place ahead of her, the shield rising ten feet in the air.
"That's bad. Scan the structure, display all information on it as soon as hostiles on this side of the shield are neutralized." She muttered, before turning her gun to take out everything outside of the shield.
"Acknowledged." Her VI responded.
It took two minutes for her to finish wiping out ever remaining hostile still in sight. The last handful had been easy on account of them being Batarians that all broke from cover to fruitlessly smash their fists against the energy shield and cry out for the shield to be brought down. It appeared they didn't appreciate her company for some reason.
"Scan resulted in errors. 98.7% chance that physical structure of energy projection is shielded from scans." The VI reported.
Urboru muttered a Gerudo curse under her breath. Pounding on an energy shield by herself wasn't likely to do much. She'd rather be blocked off by two feet of steel than an energy shield.
"They can't hide the energy itself. Display the readings from the energy field. I want modulation, output, and frequencies displayed." Urboru ordered. In the blink of an eye the information was displayed.
"That's a lot of modulation, so no frequency matching, enough energy there that my Death Stick can't just punch through..." She muttered to herself, trailing off. Then the grace of Nayru struck her. With this much power and energy, the physical structure can't be more than a few inches behind the shielding! "Computer, access onboard omnitool. Make a Goron Clay penetrating charge, but mix it so that it releases the energy nighty degrees up from the tip."
If she began to dig into the dirt or tried to clear away debris the shield would just adjust, but it didn't go under the dirt until there was a opening for it to move to. Meaning she had her key.
"Charge manufactured." The VI informed.
A wicked smile infused her voice. "Hey. Bastards. Knock knock!" One her pauldrons lifted briefly and seconds later the missile fired, burrowing into the ground just before the energy shield.
Then there was a muffled "whoomp", a rain if dirt, and a fizzle as a small expanse of the shielding faded. She was through before all the dirt hit the ground, Death Stick calling out on everything that looked remotely tactical, but it was far less successful than her first volley. They were prepared for her now, organized. Fifty-one soldiers were opening fire on her, a few even firing missiles. The flashes of the impact from all the munitions impacting her shield began to blind her to anything on the other side of it.
"Warning: Mana Shield being overwhelmed, failure imminent."
"Cluster bombs, center on the last viewed areas of highest enemy concentration. Fire all available bombs!" She ordered.
Both pauldrons lifted and six distinct "whoomps" sounded out followed by a cacophony of explosions rocking the hillside.
"Suck on that you-" In the time she was blinded, the situation had changed. Rolling into sight was a tank with a barrel in custom "fuck-you" size and it wasted no time in spreading that message. The spiteful slug impacted her shield with enough force that her back jets had to fire to keep her upright, the entire frame of the Iron Knuckle shook, the shield began to crack.
Then the shell exploded into roaring lightning, the electricity scorching the wood around her set it ablaze.
"Shit. Enchanted rounds!"
She leveled her Death Stick on the tank and began to fire. One round hit it clean, but as her second began to fire the air around her fizzled and her armor lifted from the ground.
"Warning: Biotic effect detected! Count-" her VI began, but was cut off as the tank again shot a round into her shield just as the biotic effect around her faded. Her feet were a mere inch off the ground, but it was more than enough. The shell smashed into her shield like a hammer from Demise and the shield shattered into shards of light, sending her sprawling on her back, her jets firing wildly to prevent her fate, but gravity wasn't to be denied.
The Iron Knuckle shared much in common with a turtle, most notably, being put onto it's back made it near impossible to right itself on it's own.
"Computer, Overload the tank! FUBAR!" Urboru yelled as she pulled her arms into the central area of her mech and began to feel at her sides for her sidearm, as the Iron Knuckle gained several hundred thousands rupees of damage as the chest and all of it's components exploded outwards, letting her escape from the confines of her armor.
Urboru dashed from the suit and prayed to the Goddesses that her VI managed to overload the tank's systems to give her the precious seconds she needed to find cover. She held her breath as her feet pounded the ground, her pistol coming online at the same time as her small heater mana shield. The smaller projection would provide her some protection, but it was hard to protect your entire body from bullets with something the size of a Goron dinner plate.
The enemy began to poke their heads out of cover; that is, what ones were left. Her pistol barked three times, and a curious Bokoblin's head exploded; another six rounds killed a Batarian and dissuaded the rest of the enemy from getting too curious.
Urboru took the fact she hadn't died to tank fire yet to mean her VI managed to succeed in disabling the tank's main gun, but that wouldn't last long. She needed to move, preferably towards the tank.
"Woman!" The garbled voice of a Batarian yelled out and the battlefield fell to a hush. "Surrender now and you will live."
Uboru risked a quick glance over her appropriated cover to see a Batarian sticking his head out of the top of the tank to yell at her, the asshole in charge she presumed.
"That's pretty tempting. Terms?" She shouted back as she grabbed the corpse next to her hiding spot. A Batarian soldier whose entire shoulder had been blown off. In moments she tore off his armor and found what she was looking for, his shielding component. Her suit she wore under the Iron Knuckle armor was fitted to be able to run the Citadel's Element Zero based shielding, but didn't have the power core for it; it interfered with the mana based Iron Knuckle too much.
The full body regenerating shielding of the Citadel was going to be much more helpful than her tiny mana shield.
"The terms are that you thrown out your gun in the next ten seconds or I splatter you on this hillside." The Batarian commander yelled back.
Urboru knew enough of what happened to Batarian prisoners, female prisoners in particular, to know she'd sooner kill herself than let herself be captured. Though time would only help her.
"I am interested in not being splattered! Can you guarantee me safe treatment?" She yelled out as her hands quickly slotted the shield unit into her armor, activating her omnitool to do some quick soldering to let the damn thing work.
She deactivated her mana shield and with a flicker the alien shielding came online over her, though not likely at anywhere near it's max efficiency due to her rushed work, but it would have to do.
"Ha. Sure. Safe treatment guaranteed." The Batarian scoffed.
"Well in that case-" Urboru popped up from cover and began to fire at the Batarian-In-Charge. She scored two hits before he ducked back into the tank and began to shout muffled orders, but Urboru was already off, leaping over cover and dancing between obstacles as she headed towards the tank with all the speed she could muster, pistol barking at any enemies on her way.
A Lizalfos fell clutching its throat, a Moblin keeled over onto two Bokoblins after its kneecap exploded. Shots fired against her, bouncing off her shields, which quickly began to scream in protest before breaking from the panicked fire of her enemies.
Being eight feet tall and having a significant part of that height being legs did a lot to help the Lieutenant cover ground quickly. The barrel of the tank focused on her once again, and she flicked her omnitool on to again delay the weapon's fire.
Her shield collapsed and a shot scrapped through her side, blood spurting from the wound and making her stumble, but she pressed on, mentally counting down in her head how long she had before the tank could fire again, as she reached zero, she threw herself to the side in a mad tumble that sent her spiraling further than intended as her former location erupted in a spray of dirt and thunder.
The electricity stung her skin and the shrapnel dug into flesh. She got up, and ran again, quickly pressing a button for quick injection of Healing Potion. The vehicle began to pivot and turn, trying to get away, but it was facing the wrong direction for the hover technology on the tank to travel quickly. Just as the potion finished it's work, she reached the vehicle and leapt on.
The tank suddenly lurched forward, trying to knock her off, but she grabbed hold of the barrel of the tank's gun and steadied herself, resulting in the tank only succeeding at crushing the body of a Bokoblin that had been chasing after her. She held on for dear life as the tank twisted its gun around, hit it's boosters, and in general doing it's best impression of a bucking horse. Her shields refilled and drained several times as shrapnel from fabricated cover and discarded wood slammed into her, but she held on, inching her way closer and closer to the tank's entrance.
Then, she pulled a hilt from her belt and a sword made of mana sprang to life, though her active shield made the image of the blade flicker in it's brightness, the sword worked well enough to open the tank.
The Batarian inside managed to score a few shots on her shield before Urboru yanked the gun from the alien's hand and bodily lifted the much smaller man. Her pistol rested against his temple, past his shield, and suddenly the Batarian went incredibly still.
"So, how did it go? Surrender in the next ten seconds unless you want to splattered across the hillside?" Urboru panted, "Fair warning, I'm bad at counting."
"Lay down your arms!" He shouted through clenched teeth. "We surrender!"
xxxxx
The Batarians all surrendered easily after that, they threw down their weapons and obediently let themselves be stripped and tied up, most of the Hyrule natives did no such thing though, they ended up running off into the woods in a chorus of panic and rage. That was going to be something she'd have to handle later.
"Position Two, come in!" A voice came from a terminal the Hegemony had set up at the base of the AA gun. "We are repelling attackers. Do you need reinforcements sent your way?"
Urboru cursed under her breath. If the other AA gun was offering to send in reinforcements then chances were that Gorgorun and his squad were on the backfoot. They needed back up.
The Gerudo's eyes scanned over the camp, placing pieces together. She glanced at her Iron Knuckle, the Death Stick, and the Batarian tank and things began to click together. She had an idea, a mad one, but it could work.
She walked over to her downed armor and began using her omnitool to strip parts off of her mech-suit. The omni-tool was an incredibly handy invention from the aliens of the galaxy. To many people thought the tool existed mostly as a computer, but it could do so much more. The hard-light could act as a screwdriver, a hammer, a drill, a soldering gun, and anything else a handyman needed.
It took her roughly fifteen minutes of non-too gently ripping apart her suit while having the VI run weight calculations for her, but soon she had the exoskeleton stripped of everything but its power source and the jets on the back. The jets couldn't work to lift the whole armor, but stripped of all the excess weight? That could make it soar.
In comparison, the changes to her Death Stick were extremely minor, it wasn't that hard to change it from being a gun into being a bomb.
The last thing she needed to do before she left just involved running some cables from the AA gun to the Batarian tank.
"Hey." She yelled out towards the Batarians. "You guys should start running." Then she attached the cables running from the AA Gun to the tank a triggered the power to go critical. The tank's circuits began to spark and smoke in seconds. The AA gun's would take a little longer.
"Wh-what did you do!?" One of the Batarian's yelled at her, even as they shuffled away awkward while all being tied together.
Urboru ignored him to get into her suit as quickly as possible, an easy prospect when it was just the frame.
"Hey!" The Batarian yelled as something deep in the AA gun began to whine upwards, growing louder and louder by the second.
"Big gun go boom!" Urboru yelled for the simpleton and used both hands to lift the Death Stick. Without much of the parts of the suit that gave her advanced strength, it was a laborious process, but with some effort she managed lift it between her legs like she was some sort of witch flying around on a broom.
Now, she needed to leave. She had no real way to steer, the jets weren't meant for that, but she was going to ride the whole thing over the mountain in the distance and drop an improvised explosive on the best target she could see in a few seconds, all the while she would have no form shielding and any stray shots would be able to just go through her like a hot knife through butter. The Element Zero based shield would interfere with the mana batteries of the shield.
It was a great plan.
"Let's fly!" She shouted as she triggered the jets and shot into the air like she was loosed from a bow. She barely managed to cross her legs in time to keep the Death Stick from being yanked from her grip. The jet's couldn't be fired continuously but instead in a burst every few seconds.
"Shiiiiit!" She yelled out in exhilaration, fear, and pain. Without the armor, the heat of the jets made her back feel as though she instantly had an angry sunburn on her back; a miscalculation, but it was too late to back out now.
The initial thrust petered out and her stomach felt the drop as she again began to fall. She pressed the trigger for the jets to fire again, but nothing happened.
"Come on, come on, come on." She muttered again and again as she started to pick up downward momentum before finally triggering again, causing her to slam against the frame of the Iron Knuckle and her back to grow yet warmer. But, she noted, she was significantly higher than she had been at the height of the first jump. She was gaining altitude. It would work. She grit her teeth, tightened her grip, and prepared for the long haul.
XXXX
Gorgorun didn't like their odds. Things had initially had worked wonderfully to their advantage, and that should have tipped him off. They had been making their way into the enemy's position, his soldiers keeping their shield wall in front of them and advancing at a steady and reliable rate, occasionally swapping out when a shield got too hot for a fresh one to step in place, all the while he would lob explosives at any gathering of the enemy that got too cocky or was posing too much of an issue for his men.
Then rocks around them came to life; or rather, the Lizalfos that had changed their skin to appear to be rocks began to move. In seconds, his trope of thirty men was cut down to twelve, and that was only by him bodily picking up two Lizalfos and smashing them into the other ambushers. He yelled, threw most of his explosives on hand, and made himself the pressing target long enough for his men to reform their shield wall.
The plan worked, but he was showing the wounds for it.
"Stand tall! We'll kill ten of them for every man they scratch!" He shouted as he reached into his pack for a large blue crystal. A handy thing for defense, but not one he expected to use on this mission. It released a dome of shielding for a while, but it a stationary spell, it wouldn't travel with them. This was a strike mission, the longer they stayed stationary, the lower their odds.
He glanced about and felt pride in his men, all of them facing outwards towards the enemy, protecting him and trusting him to have a plan. He had to have faith in the Fires of Din inside all his men, and that they could find a way to turn the tides. He slammed the crystal into the soil and held his hands on either side of it, mana falling out towards crystal like a lava flow as he muttered an ancient chant of his people. Energy built and roiled until it burst forth from the crystal, cloaking them in protection.
"I will handle shielding us Brothers! Focus on fighting back! These monsters will fall before us!" Gorgorun shouted as he maintained his position, letting his energy flow into the crystal at a steady rate. His personal stores would not last particularly long, but in the meantime, he could help lower the enemy's numbers and let his troops shields regain some energy.
Though as he glanced up, it became evident that someone on the enemy's side knew of this magic. The enemy wasn't pressing on them, they were taking cover and firing the occasional round to keep them pinned. He could only keep the shield up for so long and the enemy seemed to realize that.
The minutes ticked by and nothing was changing. He needed a game changer of some sort to-
"Is that...a missile?" One of the soldiers asked aloud, making Gorgorun's head snap up. Whatever it was, it was too distant and traveling too fast for him to tell what it was, but he could swear her heard frantic Gerudo curses in the distance.
As the figure fell towards them all, the form became more clear and Gorgorun almost stopped the flow of mana into the shield keeping them alive. Not that it mattered over much, since the enemy had also stopped their assault to stare up in shocked aw as well. It was the sort of thing that every sentient knew, immediately, would a great story to tell and that no one would ever believe them. No one sane would believe they saw a Gerudo flying through the air while encased in a half-assed metal frame, vibrant locks of red hair thrashing in the wind and a massive metal pipe between her legs while her clothes were literally on fire and she released a stream of curses in at least four languages with the most prevalent being Gerudo; few languages could curse as satisfyingly as the Gerudo tongue.
Then, the figured dropped what Gorgorun realized was a Death Stick and allowed it to fall down towards one of the three supports for the enemy AA gun. Specifically, the support that was on the same side as Gorgorun and his men.
"Brace yourselves! That madwoman-" He began to yell but was drowned out as the very Fist of Din manifested only a few hundred feet away. Light as bright as the sun flashed and the sounds of air shattering and the earth crying in pain shook all present. The wave of force knocked much of the enemy onto their face and seemed happy to try and bury them as dirt rained from the sky onto their forms.
It was impressive, but Gorgorun's eyes snapped back to the sky, looking for the burning form of the woman that dropped the bomb. He managed to spot her just as her form smashed into the top of the AA gun, though she screamed out in pain as did so.
He began to heave a sigh of relief, until he saw the insane woman pull out a pistol and begin firing at something on the AA Gun, a moment later there was unmistakable sound of a high tension cable snapping and whirling through the air.
Then the gun, rising up about 90-feet in the air began to let out an ominous groan.
"To arms! Get ready for the shield to drop! Rush the enemy and punch a way out! Scruff, Leadfoot, Biggs, you're covering our backs! Everyone else, follow me and be prepared for melee!" Gorgorun shouted as the AA gun's metal changed its groaning to screeches of rending mental and defeat. As the structure tipped over towards the enemy's position the madwoman he let pilot his Iron Knuckle slowly changed from climbing down the side of the enemy's weapon to running down it as it tipped far enough to make that possible, until finally she disappeared from sight as the tower hit the ground and spat dust and debris into the air.
He dropped his barrier and pointed with a single finger. "Charge!"
His men rushed at the stunned enemies who were still trying to figure out what had happened when a six foot tall man made of stone barreled towards them with a hammer forged of mana and was the size of a Bokoblin began to smash into them, his men following behind. Though as he fought, he couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled from him.
"Hahahahaha! That mad witch will never live this down!" He yelled, even as he signaled for one of his men to fire a flare to let the air support know they could move in.
xxxxx
Urborun panted heavily as she leaned her side against the downed tower, the sounds of fighting beginning to fade. Red Lions, Hyrule's smallest flying personnel carriers began to fly to their position, dropping fresh troops or hovering in the air and releasing fire on fleeing enemies.
"Thistle, come in!" Her Omnitool called, making Urborun blink in surprise. Communications were back up. Some ships must have shot down the satellite blocking communications. "Damn it, Lieutenant Urboru, answer me!"
Her fuzzy mind connected that was Gorgorun and he was calling for her. Then realized she should answer that.
"I'm here. I'm good." She answered back and shifted her weight, causing her to wince. "Good within a certain definition."
"You in one piece?" The gruff Goron asked.
"Think so. Though I'm pretty sure I've got a broken rib and I do know that I've got burns on my back that are going to require Fairy Healing. I'm also covered in blood, but I can't say how much is mine."
The radio went faint and she had to strain her ears to hear "How do I ping her position again? Was it this button?" Then there was a rough grating sound and a few beeps as Gorgorun messed with the Omnitool until he either figured it out, or one of his soldiers helped him.
"Alright, I have your position. Stay there, we'll come pick you up." He ordered.
Time seemed to blur and Urboru could almost swear that she just blinked and then Gorgorun was standing with her and a Red Lion was hovering just a few feet away. A pink sparkling drink was being shoved towards her face by stone hands larger than her head. She grabbed hold of the Fairy Potion and downed its contents so quickly that she barely registered its sweet taste.
Healing magics, perfected by alchemists working along the venerable fairies coursed through her and her back began to knit itself back together, her side tingled and stopped hurting, and abruptly her mind became clear.
Which meant she had gotten a concussion. Lovely.
She glanced around and spotted the men and women looking at her in awe. She straightened up and called out to the crowd. "What's the matter? Never seen a hero before? Stop gawking! Grab our dead and load up! Move, move, move!"
The assembled soldiers quickly dashed to fulfill their orders and not disappoint the eight foot tall woman made of solid muscle that apparently rode a Death Stick into battle. Gorgorun locked eyes with her and jerked his head towards the Red Lion, a subtle way of letting her know he'd take over and she could sit down for a while.
Something she sorely needed.
Limi'Hussar met her shortly after and began to help her remove the busted frame from around her.
"So," Limi'Hussar began cautiously. "are even half the things I heard from the soldiers outside true?"
"Did they claim I dropped an overloaded Death Stick and an entire anti-air tower on the enemy after showing up by flying through the air while on fire?" She asked.
"Something along those lines." He confirmed as he sawed through a piece of the frame that got welded where it really shouldn't have.
"Oh. Then yeah, that happened."
Limi'Hussar stopped his work to stare up at her, though she couldn't tell his expression through the Quarian's mask.
"So, what, does Urboru mean 'badass' in Gerudo?" He asked as he continued.
Urboru let out a harsh laugh. "Nah, that would be cool though. Something much more mundane." She said as she waved it away.
"Oh?" He asked as he continued his work, even as the Red Lion began to take off.
"Yeah. It means shepherd."
xxxxxx
Chapter 4
New
WhoaMama
Know what you're doing yet?
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(2183 CE)
The HRN Silver Arrow zipped through the upper atmosphere of Hyrule with grace and precision, foregoing the typical blocky look of Guardian Tech to instead have a sleek body of silver metal and black stone while still carried the colorful mana lines of Hyrule's magitech, but the bands smaller and far more numerous than a typical Hylian ship. The Silver Arrow had received many upgrades across the last five years it's current owner had it. As an Illuminated, the current owner could not accept wealth or property from those they helped. They could however receive fuel and maintenance for their ship and the definition of maintenance could be interpreted very broadly.
Once little more that a yacht that looked pretty, the ship had been transformed. Gone was the extravagant dining area, the dozen rooms, and the spacious hold and in its place there now stood a mere four small bedrooms little better than a broom closet, a kitchenette that could barely hold food for four people on a week's journey, and a whole lot of engine. For it's size, the Silver Arrow was likely the fastest ship in all of Hyrule space.
"Silver Arrow, you're clear for landing." The radio cracked in the cockpit, "Good to have you back, Rising Star."
Zelda glared at the radio and contemplated sassing back at the operator. Rising Star was a ridiculous name that had be foisted on her for just doing her job. It was only impressive due to the age at which she had done it; not many could claim to have brokered and spearheaded a peace with the Quarians and setting them up with their own world within the Federation at the ripe young age of 18.
Most people didn't appreciate all the happenstance that had to line up for thing to turn out how they did. Her mentor, the Illuminated responsible for diplomacy at first contact, had gotten sick during negotiations with the Quarians and she just helped finish the job.
Her mentor made the journey, she just pulled it into port, to use a metaphor.
"Acknowledged. Pulling in for a landing." Zelda radioed back, deciding on civility. The Rising Star was not the worst she had been called. After all, people could still be calling her Princess, ugh.
The Silver Arrow zipped into the landing area at speeds that would irresponsible on most ships, but the Arrow's nimble handling and inertia dampeners allowed the space craft to zip into place with nary a bump or scratch.
With the press of a button, the pilot's chair spun around to let her stand up and give a generous stretch that allowed for a series of delightful pops on her back.
"Up and at em! Let's go!" Zelda called out.
The recognizable groan of a Goron sounded as Daru slowly rose from where he had been balled up in the corner of the cockpit. "Oh. We there?"
"Yes. Heading in in five. Just have to put my face on." Zelda groused. Were it up to her, she'd do all her negotiating in a set of oil stained overalls and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, but the expectations for the Illuminated demanded more pomp than that.
An Illuminated had to be elegant, graceful, and wise and most people were too dumb to realize that had nothing to do with dresses, overalls, or flight suits, but as her mentor had said, perception is reality.
"Do you require assistance?" a familiar voice asked, making Zelda jump out of her skin. One would think she'd stop after having it happen five times every single day. Zelda was quite positive she did it on purpose.
"No Impa. I'm fine."
Zelda turned around to glance at her protector. Impa had watched over her ever since her apprentice days and in all that time the older woman always looked exactly the same. Zelda wasn't sure if she was an older woman that looked young or a young woman that's grey hair made her look old. If nothing else, Zelda was certain the woman was older than thirty five. Most days at least.
Impa was tall by even Sheikah standards and stood a full head taller than Zelda's average Hylian frame. The grey hair of her people was kept only long enough to make a paltry ponytail that was barely long enough to stay tied and kept her hair tight to her head, so it was all scalp.
Zelda turned her gaze upwards to meet the expressionless face of her protector. Zelda was sure that she was smug though.
"Be prepared, we are to step out and head straight to the meeting in five." Zelda ordered.
"I am already prepared, Illuminated." Impa responded with a shallow bow. "I will be sure to remind you when the five minute mark arrives."
Of course she was already ready. The woman never wore anything besides her blue and grey armor nor did she ever wear any kind of makeup. All Impa ever had to do to get ready for the day was clean and prepare her armor and equipment.
Zelda went to her quarters at a quick step as Impa went out to organize the ship to be refueled and serviced. Zelda stepped into her room and a wave of comfort came with it. The room was small and decorated in a manner that some had described to her as 'Cottage Witch', though she preferred to describe as cozy. A tattered rug covered the floor, but it was still plush enough to feel endlessly satisfying to run her bare feet on. A tapestry done in the style of Antient Hyrule hung one wall and pictures from the breathtaking views she'd seen and the people she had helped hung on the wall opposite. The scent of paper and books filled the room and small potted plants grew on every surface, which was basically just her overflowing desk.
"Taz! Go time!" Zelda called to a small box in the upper corner of her room. The box shared many similarities to a bird feeder; It's bottom was wider than the rest of the box, allowing for something small to step out of the one central hole leading inside the box. It was another major source of greenery in the room as hanging plants and small budding flowers grew along the sides of the box.
At Zelda's call, a ball of light with thin wings darted from the hole.
"Already!? You're a mess!" Taz called as the small fairy began to dart about the room and gather up bits of ribbon and a tube of lipstick that the fairy wielded with two hands and a grunt. "How fancy you want?"
"Just enough to meet with Admiral Strong and Senator Ingo." Zelda answered. "We need to disembark in five."
"What!? That would mean giving you a look of dignified but not trying!" The fairy buzzed and darted at her face, "Do you know how hard it is to make it look like you aren't trying!?"
"Just do your best." Zelda replied as she set about disrobing and redressing, pausing for a moment every few seconds for Taz to dart in and assist with either hair or make up across the whole process. Zelda took it in stride, since the meeting wasn't a particularly important one. All the hard stuff had already been done; it was already decided that Hyrule would accept the Citadel's invitation to send someone to be considered for the position of Spectre, now they were just deciding who that would be. Senator Ingo would likely still need a token justification through the meeting as to why it was a good idea to increase their ties with the Citadel, but he couldn't undo the process.
The last few months had gone by setting this up, it would be nice to have this meeting go smoothly and wrap everything up in a neat little bow.
xxxxxx
Zelda absently smoothed her dress as she struggled to not look as bored as she felt as she shifted in her uncomfortable seat; for as expensive as the furniture clearly was it was a wonder that it could not also be made to be comfortable. The discomfort couldn't even be blamed on it being built to seat multiple races, as it was clearly sized for Hylians. Though Ingo was a man that cared far more about appearances than any sort of substance.
"-wonder why we should care about sending one of our best protectors to go into Citadel space to protect them. So far the only thing that the Citadel has managed to export to our planets is more people that don't appreciate our culture and values. I highly doubt we can receive much in this exchange."
On and on and on the Senator went, airing every grievance he had with the Citadel and how closer ties with them wouldn't do the Federation any good. Zelda had dealt with many like him previously, and she found that it was best to nod along and let them get their tirade out at the beginning, rather than try to interrupt. Truthfully, Senator Ingo wasn't not overly bad on the scale of politicians. He was a Traditionalist and was extremely concerned with efficiency, but he actually did his job. He was worth having around.
His personality just made having him around a trial onto itself. Ingo looked the part of the trying politician as well. Big bulbous nose, receding hairline, thin over his whole body except for a belly that stuck out bizarrely from his narrow torso all topped with ostentatious outfit that came from some fashion magazine two years out of date.
Ingo reached a spot in his longwinded spiel that he paused, seeming to search for something else to say on the subject and Zelda pounced on the opportunity.
"Thank you Senator. However, the Federation has deemed it prudent to send a soldier to be considered for Spectre status on the merit that it is a way to increase ties with them, which they so desperately want, while also not causing an enhanced economic impact on ourselves." Zelda said as she sat more upright and put on a smile of light topped with eyes of steel. "Now, since it is not up for debate if we are doing this, let us instead transition to the point of the meeting and select the person."
Ingo grumbled but didn't stand up to argue with her further. Admiral Strong, an older Hylian man gave a nod of appreciation to her when Ingo wasn't looking. She inclined her head to him in response before tapping a remote to display a page of candidates onto an overhead display. Most of the faces were Hylian, but Gerudo and Goron made a decent showing as well and the single face of a glaring Deku. All of them were good candidates she would be satisfied with, but she had a particular one in mind she planned to lean them towards.
Though the Deku was a hard line she didn't want selected. She'd read his dossier and she had no intentions on letting that psychopath represent the Federation.
The next hour was spent going over each candidate and the pros and cons of each decision. The entire time Zelda made sure to not commit to anything or show a strong opinion towards any particular candidate. The one she wanted would be one that Ingo would try to push for at some point in the discussion anyways, she just had to be patient. It took subtlety and restraint as they made their way through the list, though at some point she was confident that Admiral Strong caught on to her strategy and seemed to assist her.
"Well, what about Urboru?" Ingo asked. "She grew up in the military, it's in her blood."
"She would be used to not having a set home, moving from place to place and adapting to new people and cultures." Zelda noted with a considering look.
The Admiral leapt on to that being the first unabashedly positive thing she'd said about a candidate. "She's not your average military brat too. Her father and mother both served and stayed together through their entire service. She knows loyalty."
"She handedly crippled the Assault on Skibliz and got us the intel of Lizalfos beginning to join the Hegemony. It's not out of the question to suggest that her interference is the only reason that Skirmish didn't evolve into all out war." Zelda continued.
The room paused for consideration and Senator Ingo stroked his big bushy mustache in thought.
"Is Urboru the kind of candidate that can represent our interests?" Ingo asked.
Victory filled Zelda. He had already decided to support Urboru and once he put his name on her, he'd support almost any action she did publicly. Ingo was the type of support that a Spectre needed to be successful.
"She's the only-" Zelda began, only for a bang to sound at the door to the meeting room and a haggard Rito stumbled into the room. In an instant, Impa appeared in front of him, a glowing dagger of Guardian Tech informing him that stepping further would be unhealthy for him.
"What is the meaning of this!?" The Senator shouted as Zelda and the Admiral both stood from the table themselves, the Admiral placing a hand on the pistol at his side.
The Rito backed up a few steps, waiving his hands in surrender, "Sorry, sorry! Important news! The Hero has been found."
"What!?" Zelda demanded and the Rito meekly held up a data crystal in response.
Impa grabbed the crystal and held it up and away from her.
"Taz." Impa called with a voice of steel.
The fairy darted towards the Sheikah warrior from where she had been hiding up near the lighting fixtures in the room. The small fairy bobbed up and down around the small crystal a few times before releasing a tinkling sound.
"It's safe." She announced and in moments the data took the place of all the candidates they had previously.
Zelda dropped all semblance of decorum and quickly hacked the display to also show on her personal omni-tool where she quickly began to devour the dossier of a strikingly handsome blond Hylian with piercing blue eyes.
He looked so young. Only 19 according to his profile, less than a year of military service.
"How do we know he's the Hero?" Ingo demanded.
"He drew the Sword, sir." The Rito answered.
Already? It wasn't unusual for a candidate of the Hero to appear and be given an opportunity to draw the Master Sword from its pedestal, it usually happened at least a dozen times per year. Often just because people were overacting to some mild achievement on the part of a soldier, but it usually took a while to arrange for someone to make an attempt and she'd never heard of the soldier.
"Impressive." Admiral Strong announced, looking up at the display. "He killed a Thresher Maw that attacked his exploratory team while they made camp. Apparently, he beat it while half naked and wielding only a pocket knife and standard issue Guardian Spear. Saved the lives of all but one of his unit."
"How?" Zelda asked, stunned.
"Apparently, he stabbed his knife into it's head and held on while he discharged his weapon into it's eye socket until it died." The Admiral said jovially.
Zelda then understood why people had fast-tracked him to having an opportunity with the Master Sword. After a accomplishing that and fitting the physical description of The Hero so well, anyone in their right mind would expediate the process.
"What's his background?" Ingo asked sourly.
"He grew up on Makar in the city of Sabal, the major industrial city of of the planet. Parents died to a Bokoblin raid before his first birthday, transferring him to be raised by his mother's older brother, who then also died due to heart complications when Link was 13 years old. There are no records of him ever then passing into any form of foster care for orphanage." Zelda laid out, growing more sad as she went. The boy had certainly been met with a terrible fate.
"Explains the gang activity." Admiral Strong noted.
"Gang activity!?" Ingo asked in shock.
Zelda felt doubt grip her. Getting involved with a gang didn't fit what she saw on the rest of the information. Despite all that happened, Link's school records showed he never faltered in his grades or attendance, and Sabal never had a particular high crime rate to her knowledge. Zelda looked at the name of the gang and began to do her own research.
"He was on his own at 13. He just needed to do what he had to to survive. He's a survivor." The Admiral noted.
"You sound like you're suggesting he should be who we put forward to a Spectre." Ingo said, voice making very clear how stupid he found that idea to be.
"Why not? Who better than The Hero?" The Admiral asked with an easy shrug.
"Don't you think he has better things to do? Like stopping the Goddess Damned Demon King from from rising up and consuming all of the Federation!?" Ingo spat, red-faced and veins bulging. "The Hero defends Hyrule from threats and he can't do that if he's galivanting around some alien world!"
Zelda had to give some credence to his words. The Hero was always held in awe and wonder among the Federation, but they had access to their records and they knew what it meant when he appeared. The birth of the hero always lined up with some great threat that would wipe out nations or worlds, usually in the form of the Demon King, Gannondorf. The Hero was to be honored, but he was also a sign that something wicked this way comes.
However, the threat that showed up was not always Gannondorf. There might be a threat targeted at them from beyond their controlled systems. A threat not just to them, but the galaxy at large.
"Gentlemen." Zelda cut in, stopping the men from continuing. "I need you to consider, The Hero might be here because of the Hegemony. If he is, then gaining closer ties to allies will be helpful."
"We can get that support without sending The Hero! They probably wouldn't even appreciate what it is we are sending! Best to keep him close to home if we need him." Ingo argued.
"But Ingo," Zelda said as she leaned forward and gained a predatory gleam, "If Link is a Spectre he can go anywhere in their space. He can root out any threats without oversight and laws to hold him back. No threat can go to Citadel space to escape him."
Ingo stopped and a very similar grin to Zelda's began to cross his face.
"I suppose that is true. There is nowhere for them to hide." Then the grin fell as he thought further, "Would the Citadel accept him, considering the gang affiliations?"
Zelda scoffed and tapped a few buttons on her omnitool before the display pulled up a picture of Link and a small group of other children grinning and wearing similar clothing and standing in front of building displaying a fresh coat of paint announcing it to be the "Four Giants Soup Kitchen."
"The Bomber Gang isn't a criminal one. It's a group of children that came together to 'have fun and help people.' Literally, it's on their extranet website. They were handing out food to the homeless, capturing monsters and animals that came into the city, and helping old ladies cross the street. After his uncle died his first move was to join a group that committed reckless acts of charity." Zelda shouted as she pointed to the screen.
Ingo's mouth opened and Zelda could sear she heard him mutter something about "Sheer PR potential" before turning back to Zelda. "Very well. You've convinced me, we just have to convince the Senate now."
The circumstance just landed in her lap but Zelda began to act quickly. She needed to get this going before any other interested political party could try and stake claim on The Hero and bend his presence for their own desires.
"Then I ask for both of your help. If he is to be our Spectre, we must give him far more support than we initially planned. Give him the best ship, the best weapons, and the best crew we can throw at him. He will want for nothing in his quests." Zelda said with authority.
"There is also the matter of what to do after he goes out there. We've barely paid attention to the ambassador position that they offered us and the Zora holding the position now is not equipped to handle supporting The Hero." Admiral Strong pointed out.
"Good point Admiral. We need to be more aggressive with increasing our ties with allies if a great threat looms on the horizon." Zelda noted.
"Agreed." Ingo said, nodding.
"Yes." The Admiral said lightly. Too lightly. "We need someone to fill the position that knows how to handle politics well. Who has a long or impressive background in politics."
"Certainly." Ingo said, nodding along.
"Someone like the Rising Star, the youngest Illuminated in over a hundred years and whom everyone will already be whispering is The Princess." The Admiral continued making Zelda wince, however, before she could deny it the old man rounded on Ingo. "Plus being supported by a long experienced Senator that has deep connections all over the Federation and is willing to balance the Rising Star's youthful recklessness with cutthroat caution."
Ingo abruptly stopped nodding.
Just as the two of them began to open their mouths to argue, the admiral spoke again.
"Plus said two should step up, as this was all THEIR idea."
Zelda's face fell and she could swear she heard a snort of laughter from Impa behind her.
Damn the reward for good work!
xxxxxx
(Two weeks later)
The planet Makar was one of the more populated ones in the Federation. Terraforming had made the planet one of oceans and lush forests. It was the largest producer of both seafood and lumber in the whole galaxy with the city of Sabal being the location of the planet's largest space port and the largest concentration of carpenters anywhere. In said town, there rests a soup kitchen known as The Four Giants that helped those down on their luck or just hungry for a free meal and were willing to stand in line for thirty minutes to get it.
The attic of The Four Giants, however, served as the long time home of Link, orphan, soldier, heartthrob, newest wielder of the legendary Master Sword, and the best damn cook to ever grace the Lower West Side.
Link lay in his small bed, nestled between rafters and traced his fingers slowly over the old carvings he'd made with his first knife, back when he was just some desperate orphan.
Honestly, he was still basically just a desperate orphan up until two weeks ago, he was just a desperate orphan that the government had deemed could point a weapon at its enemies.
Then, he pulled a sword out of a stone and now...well things were different. He had a destiny, a mission, and the respect of people he'd never laid eyes on. Quite frankly, he rather hated that. All that attention and sickly sweet promises of favors. He hadn't done anything to earn that.
Link sighed and ran his fingers lightly over the Master Sword. Despite it being the source of all his problems, he found that having it near brought him comfort; like just acknowledging it was nearby eased the tension from his shoulders.
"Hey Link! Ya up here?" A familiar voice called and a smile tugged at his Link's lips.
"Yep." He answered and the redheaded form of Jim, leader of the Bomber Gang popped into view.
"You came back into town and didn't come say high to the gang yet? Shame!" Jim rebuked.
"Sorry Boss." Link said with amusement.
Jim stuck his tongue out at Link in a display of dominance before turning to look at the rest of the attic. it was dotted with home made sculptures, instruments, jewelry, paintings, and drawings. Every single one of them of impressive quality to just be left in a random soup kitchen's attic.
"Pick up any more hobbies while you were away?" Jim asked as he brought himself fully into the attic and popped himself a sack of laundry.
"Cartography." Link answered before reaching into his pack and tossing his latest project to Jim.
The Bomber Gang leader snatched it out of the air and gave it a look, pouring over the page for a moment before looking up at Link.
"How long you been working on this one? It's the Lower East Side right?"
Link gave a nod of acknowledgement before answering. "This afternoon."
Jim glanced back at the map and gave a muttered, "How did you get all the new streets too," before shaking his head and throwing the map back. "So, what are you doing back so early? I thought you were gonna be gone for another couple months?"
Link paused, considering how to answer. Some stuff was supposed to be classified, but he was under no illusions that him drawing the Master Sword would be made very public very quickly. He had already seen comments in news story about people asking if it was true that "The Hero" had appeared.
Besides, Jim wouldn't go around blabbing.
"We were out on patrol. Thresher Maw popped up while we made camp." Link began.
"Oh shoot! That's pretty fudged up man. You good? Any injuries? What happened?"
Link smiled at the concern and found it refreshing to again be around someone that would bother to censor their language; the military wasn't big on people who cared much about being heard giving profanity. "All healed already. We lost one guy, but I killed the Thresher Maw before it could do more."
"You killed it!? Way to go! Probably get a medal and a promotion!" Jim laughed, slapping his leg. "You're a big hero now!"
Link glanced down at the Master Sword and took a moment to acknowledge the irony.
"You could say that." Link nodded.
"So what next? Do you know yet?"
A sour look took over Link's face.
"Uh oh. Don't like the next assignment?"
"They are putting me in charge of a ship and sending me to explore Citadel space." Link said reluctantly.
"Your own ship!?" Jim yelled bolting upright. "They're sending out to explore the galaxy, see new things and new cultures? That's everything you ever wanted!"
Link sighed. That part was true. He joined up not just out of a sense of duty, but a desire to see the universe and explore the great wide yonder. It called to a deeper part of himself that longed to be challenged and to broaden his horizons. He had a sense of wanderlust so strong it seemed to physically hurt at times. In a lot of ways, the assignment was a dream come true.
"Not the problem." Link said shaking head. "They are putting ME in charge! Me!?"
"Oh!" Jim said, before laughing heartily and shaking his head. "That's nothing big! You're the best damn strategist I've ever seen. You beat everyone at every strategy game you've ever touched. You'll be a fine leader!"
"That's not the same." Link said, running a finger over the jewel on the Master Sword and he could swear he felt it give a comforting hum.
"Well, they aren't gonna send you off all by yourself. You'll have a first mate or something, right?" Jim asked.
"Yeah. Commander Urboru." Link stated.
"There ya go then! You just have to get along with them and they'll handle the crew." Jim concluded.
Link blinked and ran his mind through how the command structure worked. It mostly checked out! His awkward socializing wouldn't be that bad so long as the Commander was good at it! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad?
"Hey, is that a new sword? Did you make it?" Jim asked.
Link glanced down and a smile tugged at his lips.
"No. It's an old one."
"Oh. Well it suits you."
Link glanced back down and the sword and he could feel its weight not just in his hand, but in the very the mana and even the fate of the world. It wasn't a blade, it was THE blade. The ultimate weapon of legend that answered only to The Hero, and it chose him.
"I'm not so sure it does." Link muttered before standing up and slinging the blade on his back and began to head downstairs, Jim following after.
The dinner rush was in a few hours and the Four Giant's kitchen would need a helping hand. They always did.
xxxxxx
This is now caught up with SB. I'm working on last touches of the next chapter now. Though SB has some codex entries and stuff I might bring over here.
The HRN Silver Arrow zipped through the upper atmosphere of Hyrule with grace and precision, foregoing the typical blocky look of Guardian Tech to instead have a sleek body of silver metal and black stone while still carried the colorful mana lines of Hyrule's magitech, but the bands smaller and far more numerous than a typical Hylian ship. The Silver Arrow had received many upgrades across the last five years it's current owner had it. As an Illuminated, the current owner could not accept wealth or property from those they helped. They could however receive fuel and maintenance for their ship and the definition of maintenance could be interpreted very broadly.
Once little more that a yacht that looked pretty, the ship had been transformed. Gone was the extravagant dining area, the dozen rooms, and the spacious hold and in its place there now stood a mere four small bedrooms little better than a broom closet, a kitchenette that could barely hold food for four people on a week's journey, and a whole lot of engine. For it's size, the Silver Arrow was likely the fastest ship in all of Hyrule space.
"Silver Arrow, you're clear for landing." The radio cracked in the cockpit, "Good to have you back, Rising Star."
Zelda glared at the radio and contemplated sassing back at the operator. Rising Star was a ridiculous name that had be foisted on her for just doing her job. It was only impressive due to the age at which she had done it; not many could claim to have brokered and spearheaded a peace with the Quarians and setting them up with their own world within the Federation at the ripe young age of 18.
Most people didn't appreciate all the happenstance that had to line up for thing to turn out how they did. Her mentor, the Illuminated responsible for diplomacy at first contact, had gotten sick during negotiations with the Quarians and she just helped finish the job.
Her mentor made the journey, she just pulled it into port, to use a metaphor.
"Acknowledged. Pulling in for a landing." Zelda radioed back, deciding on civility. The Rising Star was not the worst she had been called. After all, people could still be calling her Princess, ugh.
The Silver Arrow zipped into the landing area at speeds that would irresponsible on most ships, but the Arrow's nimble handling and inertia dampeners allowed the space craft to zip into place with nary a bump or scratch.
With the press of a button, the pilot's chair spun around to let her stand up and give a generous stretch that allowed for a series of delightful pops on her back.
"Up and at em! Let's go!" Zelda called out.
The recognizable groan of a Goron sounded as Daru slowly rose from where he had been balled up in the corner of the cockpit. "Oh. We there?"
"Yes. Heading in in five. Just have to put my face on." Zelda groused. Were it up to her, she'd do all her negotiating in a set of oil stained overalls and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, but the expectations for the Illuminated demanded more pomp than that.
An Illuminated had to be elegant, graceful, and wise and most people were too dumb to realize that had nothing to do with dresses, overalls, or flight suits, but as her mentor had said, perception is reality.
"Do you require assistance?" a familiar voice asked, making Zelda jump out of her skin. One would think she'd stop after having it happen five times every single day. Zelda was quite positive she did it on purpose.
"No Impa. I'm fine."
Zelda turned around to glance at her protector. Impa had watched over her ever since her apprentice days and in all that time the older woman always looked exactly the same. Zelda wasn't sure if she was an older woman that looked young or a young woman that's grey hair made her look old. If nothing else, Zelda was certain the woman was older than thirty five. Most days at least.
Impa was tall by even Sheikah standards and stood a full head taller than Zelda's average Hylian frame. The grey hair of her people was kept only long enough to make a paltry ponytail that was barely long enough to stay tied and kept her hair tight to her head, so it was all scalp.
Zelda turned her gaze upwards to meet the expressionless face of her protector. Zelda was sure that she was smug though.
"Be prepared, we are to step out and head straight to the meeting in five." Zelda ordered.
"I am already prepared, Illuminated." Impa responded with a shallow bow. "I will be sure to remind you when the five minute mark arrives."
Of course she was already ready. The woman never wore anything besides her blue and grey armor nor did she ever wear any kind of makeup. All Impa ever had to do to get ready for the day was clean and prepare her armor and equipment.
Zelda went to her quarters at a quick step as Impa went out to organize the ship to be refueled and serviced. Zelda stepped into her room and a wave of comfort came with it. The room was small and decorated in a manner that some had described to her as 'Cottage Witch', though she preferred to describe as cozy. A tattered rug covered the floor, but it was still plush enough to feel endlessly satisfying to run her bare feet on. A tapestry done in the style of Antient Hyrule hung one wall and pictures from the breathtaking views she'd seen and the people she had helped hung on the wall opposite. The scent of paper and books filled the room and small potted plants grew on every surface, which was basically just her overflowing desk.
"Taz! Go time!" Zelda called to a small box in the upper corner of her room. The box shared many similarities to a bird feeder; It's bottom was wider than the rest of the box, allowing for something small to step out of the one central hole leading inside the box. It was another major source of greenery in the room as hanging plants and small budding flowers grew along the sides of the box.
At Zelda's call, a ball of light with thin wings darted from the hole.
"Already!? You're a mess!" Taz called as the small fairy began to dart about the room and gather up bits of ribbon and a tube of lipstick that the fairy wielded with two hands and a grunt. "How fancy you want?"
"Just enough to meet with Admiral Strong and Senator Ingo." Zelda answered. "We need to disembark in five."
"What!? That would mean giving you a look of dignified but not trying!" The fairy buzzed and darted at her face, "Do you know how hard it is to make it look like you aren't trying!?"
"Just do your best." Zelda replied as she set about disrobing and redressing, pausing for a moment every few seconds for Taz to dart in and assist with either hair or make up across the whole process. Zelda took it in stride, since the meeting wasn't a particularly important one. All the hard stuff had already been done; it was already decided that Hyrule would accept the Citadel's invitation to send someone to be considered for the position of Spectre, now they were just deciding who that would be. Senator Ingo would likely still need a token justification through the meeting as to why it was a good idea to increase their ties with the Citadel, but he couldn't undo the process.
The last few months had gone by setting this up, it would be nice to have this meeting go smoothly and wrap everything up in a neat little bow.
xxxxxx
Zelda absently smoothed her dress as she struggled to not look as bored as she felt as she shifted in her uncomfortable seat; for as expensive as the furniture clearly was it was a wonder that it could not also be made to be comfortable. The discomfort couldn't even be blamed on it being built to seat multiple races, as it was clearly sized for Hylians. Though Ingo was a man that cared far more about appearances than any sort of substance.
"-wonder why we should care about sending one of our best protectors to go into Citadel space to protect them. So far the only thing that the Citadel has managed to export to our planets is more people that don't appreciate our culture and values. I highly doubt we can receive much in this exchange."
On and on and on the Senator went, airing every grievance he had with the Citadel and how closer ties with them wouldn't do the Federation any good. Zelda had dealt with many like him previously, and she found that it was best to nod along and let them get their tirade out at the beginning, rather than try to interrupt. Truthfully, Senator Ingo wasn't not overly bad on the scale of politicians. He was a Traditionalist and was extremely concerned with efficiency, but he actually did his job. He was worth having around.
His personality just made having him around a trial onto itself. Ingo looked the part of the trying politician as well. Big bulbous nose, receding hairline, thin over his whole body except for a belly that stuck out bizarrely from his narrow torso all topped with ostentatious outfit that came from some fashion magazine two years out of date.
Ingo reached a spot in his longwinded spiel that he paused, seeming to search for something else to say on the subject and Zelda pounced on the opportunity.
"Thank you Senator. However, the Federation has deemed it prudent to send a soldier to be considered for Spectre status on the merit that it is a way to increase ties with them, which they so desperately want, while also not causing an enhanced economic impact on ourselves." Zelda said as she sat more upright and put on a smile of light topped with eyes of steel. "Now, since it is not up for debate if we are doing this, let us instead transition to the point of the meeting and select the person."
Ingo grumbled but didn't stand up to argue with her further. Admiral Strong, an older Hylian man gave a nod of appreciation to her when Ingo wasn't looking. She inclined her head to him in response before tapping a remote to display a page of candidates onto an overhead display. Most of the faces were Hylian, but Gerudo and Goron made a decent showing as well and the single face of a glaring Deku. All of them were good candidates she would be satisfied with, but she had a particular one in mind she planned to lean them towards.
Though the Deku was a hard line she didn't want selected. She'd read his dossier and she had no intentions on letting that psychopath represent the Federation.
The next hour was spent going over each candidate and the pros and cons of each decision. The entire time Zelda made sure to not commit to anything or show a strong opinion towards any particular candidate. The one she wanted would be one that Ingo would try to push for at some point in the discussion anyways, she just had to be patient. It took subtlety and restraint as they made their way through the list, though at some point she was confident that Admiral Strong caught on to her strategy and seemed to assist her.
"Well, what about Urboru?" Ingo asked. "She grew up in the military, it's in her blood."
"She would be used to not having a set home, moving from place to place and adapting to new people and cultures." Zelda noted with a considering look.
The Admiral leapt on to that being the first unabashedly positive thing she'd said about a candidate. "She's not your average military brat too. Her father and mother both served and stayed together through their entire service. She knows loyalty."
"She handedly crippled the Assault on Skibliz and got us the intel of Lizalfos beginning to join the Hegemony. It's not out of the question to suggest that her interference is the only reason that Skirmish didn't evolve into all out war." Zelda continued.
The room paused for consideration and Senator Ingo stroked his big bushy mustache in thought.
"Is Urboru the kind of candidate that can represent our interests?" Ingo asked.
Victory filled Zelda. He had already decided to support Urboru and once he put his name on her, he'd support almost any action she did publicly. Ingo was the type of support that a Spectre needed to be successful.
"She's the only-" Zelda began, only for a bang to sound at the door to the meeting room and a haggard Rito stumbled into the room. In an instant, Impa appeared in front of him, a glowing dagger of Guardian Tech informing him that stepping further would be unhealthy for him.
"What is the meaning of this!?" The Senator shouted as Zelda and the Admiral both stood from the table themselves, the Admiral placing a hand on the pistol at his side.
The Rito backed up a few steps, waiving his hands in surrender, "Sorry, sorry! Important news! The Hero has been found."
"What!?" Zelda demanded and the Rito meekly held up a data crystal in response.
Impa grabbed the crystal and held it up and away from her.
"Taz." Impa called with a voice of steel.
The fairy darted towards the Sheikah warrior from where she had been hiding up near the lighting fixtures in the room. The small fairy bobbed up and down around the small crystal a few times before releasing a tinkling sound.
"It's safe." She announced and in moments the data took the place of all the candidates they had previously.
Zelda dropped all semblance of decorum and quickly hacked the display to also show on her personal omni-tool where she quickly began to devour the dossier of a strikingly handsome blond Hylian with piercing blue eyes.
He looked so young. Only 19 according to his profile, less than a year of military service.
"How do we know he's the Hero?" Ingo demanded.
"He drew the Sword, sir." The Rito answered.
Already? It wasn't unusual for a candidate of the Hero to appear and be given an opportunity to draw the Master Sword from its pedestal, it usually happened at least a dozen times per year. Often just because people were overacting to some mild achievement on the part of a soldier, but it usually took a while to arrange for someone to make an attempt and she'd never heard of the soldier.
"Impressive." Admiral Strong announced, looking up at the display. "He killed a Thresher Maw that attacked his exploratory team while they made camp. Apparently, he beat it while half naked and wielding only a pocket knife and standard issue Guardian Spear. Saved the lives of all but one of his unit."
"How?" Zelda asked, stunned.
"Apparently, he stabbed his knife into it's head and held on while he discharged his weapon into it's eye socket until it died." The Admiral said jovially.
Zelda then understood why people had fast-tracked him to having an opportunity with the Master Sword. After a accomplishing that and fitting the physical description of The Hero so well, anyone in their right mind would expediate the process.
"What's his background?" Ingo asked sourly.
"He grew up on Makar in the city of Sabal, the major industrial city of of the planet. Parents died to a Bokoblin raid before his first birthday, transferring him to be raised by his mother's older brother, who then also died due to heart complications when Link was 13 years old. There are no records of him ever then passing into any form of foster care for orphanage." Zelda laid out, growing more sad as she went. The boy had certainly been met with a terrible fate.
"Explains the gang activity." Admiral Strong noted.
"Gang activity!?" Ingo asked in shock.
Zelda felt doubt grip her. Getting involved with a gang didn't fit what she saw on the rest of the information. Despite all that happened, Link's school records showed he never faltered in his grades or attendance, and Sabal never had a particular high crime rate to her knowledge. Zelda looked at the name of the gang and began to do her own research.
"He was on his own at 13. He just needed to do what he had to to survive. He's a survivor." The Admiral noted.
"You sound like you're suggesting he should be who we put forward to a Spectre." Ingo said, voice making very clear how stupid he found that idea to be.
"Why not? Who better than The Hero?" The Admiral asked with an easy shrug.
"Don't you think he has better things to do? Like stopping the Goddess Damned Demon King from from rising up and consuming all of the Federation!?" Ingo spat, red-faced and veins bulging. "The Hero defends Hyrule from threats and he can't do that if he's galivanting around some alien world!"
Zelda had to give some credence to his words. The Hero was always held in awe and wonder among the Federation, but they had access to their records and they knew what it meant when he appeared. The birth of the hero always lined up with some great threat that would wipe out nations or worlds, usually in the form of the Demon King, Gannondorf. The Hero was to be honored, but he was also a sign that something wicked this way comes.
However, the threat that showed up was not always Gannondorf. There might be a threat targeted at them from beyond their controlled systems. A threat not just to them, but the galaxy at large.
"Gentlemen." Zelda cut in, stopping the men from continuing. "I need you to consider, The Hero might be here because of the Hegemony. If he is, then gaining closer ties to allies will be helpful."
"We can get that support without sending The Hero! They probably wouldn't even appreciate what it is we are sending! Best to keep him close to home if we need him." Ingo argued.
"But Ingo," Zelda said as she leaned forward and gained a predatory gleam, "If Link is a Spectre he can go anywhere in their space. He can root out any threats without oversight and laws to hold him back. No threat can go to Citadel space to escape him."
Ingo stopped and a very similar grin to Zelda's began to cross his face.
"I suppose that is true. There is nowhere for them to hide." Then the grin fell as he thought further, "Would the Citadel accept him, considering the gang affiliations?"
Zelda scoffed and tapped a few buttons on her omnitool before the display pulled up a picture of Link and a small group of other children grinning and wearing similar clothing and standing in front of building displaying a fresh coat of paint announcing it to be the "Four Giants Soup Kitchen."
"The Bomber Gang isn't a criminal one. It's a group of children that came together to 'have fun and help people.' Literally, it's on their extranet website. They were handing out food to the homeless, capturing monsters and animals that came into the city, and helping old ladies cross the street. After his uncle died his first move was to join a group that committed reckless acts of charity." Zelda shouted as she pointed to the screen.
Ingo's mouth opened and Zelda could sear she heard him mutter something about "Sheer PR potential" before turning back to Zelda. "Very well. You've convinced me, we just have to convince the Senate now."
The circumstance just landed in her lap but Zelda began to act quickly. She needed to get this going before any other interested political party could try and stake claim on The Hero and bend his presence for their own desires.
"Then I ask for both of your help. If he is to be our Spectre, we must give him far more support than we initially planned. Give him the best ship, the best weapons, and the best crew we can throw at him. He will want for nothing in his quests." Zelda said with authority.
"There is also the matter of what to do after he goes out there. We've barely paid attention to the ambassador position that they offered us and the Zora holding the position now is not equipped to handle supporting The Hero." Admiral Strong pointed out.
"Good point Admiral. We need to be more aggressive with increasing our ties with allies if a great threat looms on the horizon." Zelda noted.
"Agreed." Ingo said, nodding.
"Yes." The Admiral said lightly. Too lightly. "We need someone to fill the position that knows how to handle politics well. Who has a long or impressive background in politics."
"Certainly." Ingo said, nodding along.
"Someone like the Rising Star, the youngest Illuminated in over a hundred years and whom everyone will already be whispering is The Princess." The Admiral continued making Zelda wince, however, before she could deny it the old man rounded on Ingo. "Plus being supported by a long experienced Senator that has deep connections all over the Federation and is willing to balance the Rising Star's youthful recklessness with cutthroat caution."
Ingo abruptly stopped nodding.
Just as the two of them began to open their mouths to argue, the admiral spoke again.
"Plus said two should step up, as this was all THEIR idea."
Zelda's face fell and she could swear she heard a snort of laughter from Impa behind her.
Damn the reward for good work!
xxxxxx
(Two weeks later)
The planet Makar was one of the more populated ones in the Federation. Terraforming had made the planet one of oceans and lush forests. It was the largest producer of both seafood and lumber in the whole galaxy with the city of Sabal being the location of the planet's largest space port and the largest concentration of carpenters anywhere. In said town, there rests a soup kitchen known as The Four Giants that helped those down on their luck or just hungry for a free meal and were willing to stand in line for thirty minutes to get it.
The attic of The Four Giants, however, served as the long time home of Link, orphan, soldier, heartthrob, newest wielder of the legendary Master Sword, and the best damn cook to ever grace the Lower West Side.
Link lay in his small bed, nestled between rafters and traced his fingers slowly over the old carvings he'd made with his first knife, back when he was just some desperate orphan.
Honestly, he was still basically just a desperate orphan up until two weeks ago, he was just a desperate orphan that the government had deemed could point a weapon at its enemies.
Then, he pulled a sword out of a stone and now...well things were different. He had a destiny, a mission, and the respect of people he'd never laid eyes on. Quite frankly, he rather hated that. All that attention and sickly sweet promises of favors. He hadn't done anything to earn that.
Link sighed and ran his fingers lightly over the Master Sword. Despite it being the source of all his problems, he found that having it near brought him comfort; like just acknowledging it was nearby eased the tension from his shoulders.
"Hey Link! Ya up here?" A familiar voice called and a smile tugged at his Link's lips.
"Yep." He answered and the redheaded form of Jim, leader of the Bomber Gang popped into view.
"You came back into town and didn't come say high to the gang yet? Shame!" Jim rebuked.
"Sorry Boss." Link said with amusement.
Jim stuck his tongue out at Link in a display of dominance before turning to look at the rest of the attic. it was dotted with home made sculptures, instruments, jewelry, paintings, and drawings. Every single one of them of impressive quality to just be left in a random soup kitchen's attic.
"Pick up any more hobbies while you were away?" Jim asked as he brought himself fully into the attic and popped himself a sack of laundry.
"Cartography." Link answered before reaching into his pack and tossing his latest project to Jim.
The Bomber Gang leader snatched it out of the air and gave it a look, pouring over the page for a moment before looking up at Link.
"How long you been working on this one? It's the Lower East Side right?"
Link gave a nod of acknowledgement before answering. "This afternoon."
Jim glanced back at the map and gave a muttered, "How did you get all the new streets too," before shaking his head and throwing the map back. "So, what are you doing back so early? I thought you were gonna be gone for another couple months?"
Link paused, considering how to answer. Some stuff was supposed to be classified, but he was under no illusions that him drawing the Master Sword would be made very public very quickly. He had already seen comments in news story about people asking if it was true that "The Hero" had appeared.
Besides, Jim wouldn't go around blabbing.
"We were out on patrol. Thresher Maw popped up while we made camp." Link began.
"Oh shoot! That's pretty fudged up man. You good? Any injuries? What happened?"
Link smiled at the concern and found it refreshing to again be around someone that would bother to censor their language; the military wasn't big on people who cared much about being heard giving profanity. "All healed already. We lost one guy, but I killed the Thresher Maw before it could do more."
"You killed it!? Way to go! Probably get a medal and a promotion!" Jim laughed, slapping his leg. "You're a big hero now!"
Link glanced down at the Master Sword and took a moment to acknowledge the irony.
"You could say that." Link nodded.
"So what next? Do you know yet?"
A sour look took over Link's face.
"Uh oh. Don't like the next assignment?"
"They are putting me in charge of a ship and sending me to explore Citadel space." Link said reluctantly.
"Your own ship!?" Jim yelled bolting upright. "They're sending out to explore the galaxy, see new things and new cultures? That's everything you ever wanted!"
Link sighed. That part was true. He joined up not just out of a sense of duty, but a desire to see the universe and explore the great wide yonder. It called to a deeper part of himself that longed to be challenged and to broaden his horizons. He had a sense of wanderlust so strong it seemed to physically hurt at times. In a lot of ways, the assignment was a dream come true.
"Not the problem." Link said shaking head. "They are putting ME in charge! Me!?"
"Oh!" Jim said, before laughing heartily and shaking his head. "That's nothing big! You're the best damn strategist I've ever seen. You beat everyone at every strategy game you've ever touched. You'll be a fine leader!"
"That's not the same." Link said, running a finger over the jewel on the Master Sword and he could swear he felt it give a comforting hum.
"Well, they aren't gonna send you off all by yourself. You'll have a first mate or something, right?" Jim asked.
"Yeah. Commander Urboru." Link stated.
"There ya go then! You just have to get along with them and they'll handle the crew." Jim concluded.
Link blinked and ran his mind through how the command structure worked. It mostly checked out! His awkward socializing wouldn't be that bad so long as the Commander was good at it! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad?
"Hey, is that a new sword? Did you make it?" Jim asked.
Link glanced down and a smile tugged at his lips.
"No. It's an old one."
"Oh. Well it suits you."
Link glanced back down and the sword and he could feel its weight not just in his hand, but in the very the mana and even the fate of the world. It wasn't a blade, it was THE blade. The ultimate weapon of legend that answered only to The Hero, and it chose him.
"I'm not so sure it does." Link muttered before standing up and slinging the blade on his back and began to head downstairs, Jim following after.
The dinner rush was in a few hours and the Four Giant's kitchen would need a helping hand. They always did.
xxxxxx
This is now caught up with SB. I'm working on last touches of the next chapter now. Though SB has some codex entries and stuff I might bring over here.
Chapter 5
New
WhoaMama
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Jaibron slowly flicked through his messages and he idly hummed to himself, stopping only briefly to take a sip of his kelp tea and kick his legs slowly in the water behind his desk.
"With wry amusement: You are in a good mood today." The Elcor sharing his office noted. A delightful fellow that he'd come to quite enjoy the company of. At first he thought their way of talking a bit queer but he'd grown to quite like the large alien. The Volos ambassador had complained far too many times about having to share an office with the Elcor and Jaibron decided to fix the situation. They'd shared an office since, and he found the grey hunched alien to be an absolute delight with a sharp wit and sense of humor.
Truly, Xeltan and he had quite a bit in common. Jaibron was of an odd genetic variant that popped up in Zora occasionally, one that made him large and rounded like a pufferfish that had been startled, instead of the sleek form that most of his fellows tended to take. He could still swim better than the average Hylian, but no where near as well as most of his species. Walking, however, was an almost herculean task. Even in Kingdom space, the world was just not made for his ilk.
And to think, it was once a mark of the blood of kings.
However, Xeltan had a similar life. The Elcor were similarly large and incapable of doing many tasks that other species handled with ease. The two had found quite a bit of kinship in his time as Ambassador over their shared troubles. Though it soon evolved into appreciation of food, art, and jokes. Truly, one could reach out a hand and find friendship anywhere!
"I say Xeltan, it is a good day! How can I not be in a good mood! The representative of Binary Helix is set to come by, and she always brings those delightful puffed shellfish. What are they called again?"
"With uncertainty: They are called ashrin cakes." Xeltan stated before shuffling a bit. Ah! His friend was going to give him a good ribbing! He always shuffled like that when he thought something was funny. "With amusement: You are already so round, should you always make such efforts to accept food from every party that comes to the office?"
"Bah! My genetics said I would be large and round, I might as well get some enjoyment out of the deal too, eh! Ah ha!" Jaibron said, slapping his belly in amusement. "Besides, it is not my fault that the Citadel has assumed that because they were served food at first contact that food must always be a part of political negotiations!"
"With barely concealed greed: Your secret is safe with me Zora, so long as you share in the bounties." Xeltan responded.
"But of course!" Jaibron responded as he leaned only forward enough that he didn't tip over in a very shallow bow. "Your silence is appreciated!"
Jaibron was then distracted as he got a ping on his console indicating a high priority message. Such a thing was not unsual, as he received messages all the time that the various other Citadel governments seemed to send him everything marked high priority. The Zora took his time getting to it. Jaibron was under no illusion about his position after all. He was not a particularly adept politician. Sure, he was very good at being charming and likeable, but the job was much more than that. It was paperwork, seeing under schemes, and seeing how the big web of information fit together.
He was rubbish at all of that. He caught the broad strokes and knew the individuals well, but that was all. He was assigned this position because most of the Hyrule government did not seek to get closer ties to Citadel space. There was trade certainly, but his assigned job was to pass on great deals when he saw them, but to otherwise not insult people overmuch as he ignored them. He held the line, that was all.
Thus it was Jaibron was caught quite by surprise when he went to check the priority message and saw it was not from one of the alien races, but instead from Hyrule. He clicked it and promptly choked on his tea.
"With concern: Are you alright?" Xeltan asked.
Jaibron waved him off as he continued to read the message even as he was racked with a coughing fit. Then he read it again.
"I can't believe it." He mumbled as he scanned it over again, just to be sure. There was no two ways about it. "An Illuminated. Here?"
"With curiosity: One of your political Spectres sent you something? Moving up in the world are we?"
Jaibron did not respond. The last line of the message was full of meaning and he couldn't help but shudder. There, in bold at the end of the message sat a single line that meant both hope and a harbinger for dark days ahead.
The Sword has been drawn.
A single sentence that would make most of the Citadel raise an eyebrow, and might even take it as some sort of metaphor for war or conflict. They wouldn't understand its importance. Its meaning.
"Xeltan, my friend, I think it is time we discussed a much closer military agreement." Jaibron stated firmly, placing his hands upon the desk.
"With dread: How ominous." Xeltan noted.
XXXXXX
"Is this a joke?" Sparatus asked in disgust, looking at the response to Hyrule's selected candidate. A candidate that was barely more than a child and who had but one, admittedly impressive, act to his record. His mandibles twitched as he looked at the picture. The United Federation of Hyrule was always a pain in the ass to deal with. The Terminus systems at least had the decency to stay at each other's throats enough that they didn't have to remain constantly vigilant against them. Hyrule retained a united front and seemed content to just do their own research on non-mana based technology after the Quarians accepted their offer for colonization.
The worst part was that the Federation truly didn't need their help. They asked once for help against the Batarians and never again.
"I thought it was an insult too." Tevos agreed from her spot in the meeting room. It was a small closed door meeting between the three councilors and was far away from any sort of camera or recording device. Except for whatever STG might have managed to slip into the room that hadn't managed to be detected, of course. "My sources in their space have assured me that it isn't a slight. They think this particular soldier has the spirit of a figure in their mythology within him. The Hero, as he's called."
Spartus grunted. He wasn't so sure in Hyrule's lack of insult, but he wasn't one to throw disrespect to spirits. He just couldn't see spirits choosing someone that was so unproven.
"Perhaps, but look at these reports. They've practically doubled their defensive budget and put forward plans to fast track soldiers through training. A departure from their standards in an extreme. I don't like it." Sparatus stated gravely. Hyrule's military was an odd thing. Hyrule tended to prefer to have small groups of highly specialized and impressive units rather than fill in with a bunch of grunts. To suddenly just want bodies to throw at an issue pointed to war.
"The Hegenomy did land on one of their outer worlds and apparently recruited another of their...less accepted races." Valern noted. "They intend on not merely standing by. It's a political maneuver, to get their people on side and embolden for the oncoming military action. By allowing this person to be granted Spectre status as well, they can be allowed to track down and head off Batarian interests and support within Council space."
An excellent point. The Batarians had always been a problem, but since they picked up the strays Hyrule had cast aside, the Batarians had grown greatly more dangerous. It would be only correct for Hyrule to clean up its own mess. Damn hypocrites priding themselves on integration and mutual support, but having three separate races that had been shunned from society.
"If their goal is so clearly intended to support their interests in Citadel space, it goes against the very spirt of the Spectre program. They are meant to be for all of the Citadel species and not just Hyrule's interests. We can't allow this." Spartus stated firmly.
"I agree." Tevos stated, making Spartus glance up in surprise. Tevos had always seemed to advocate for Hyrule intersts. Unsurprising, since the Asari had gone crazy for Hyrule culture and art and...well other things Asari were known for. Despite not having any race as long lived as the Asari, Hyrule had a recorded history that was longer than most any other species had. Tevos couldn't speak out too much against Hyrule without looking bad to her own people. He suspected the same here.
A high and mighty "however" was coming.
"However," Tevos began; Sparatus gave himself a mental pat on the back as she continued, "look at the intercepted message from Hyrule to their Ambassador. They are sending two more people increase political ties with us. A well respected senator, and an Illuminated."
Sparatus sat up in attention. An Illuminated in Citadel space?
Hyrule had been consistently reluctant to allow the Illuminated to leave Hyrule space. The Illuminated were not trained in war and were specifically for maters of politics and economy. One being deployed to the Citadel could only be for furthering political ties with the rest of the races in Citadel space.
"This is...unprecedented. Why the sudden shift and intent on cooperation?" Spartus asked.
"Because of the boy. This Link of theirs." Tevos stated.
Spartus almost snorted at the statement. As if there was only one "Link." Sparatus had meet maybe three dozen people from Federation space. Eight of them were named Link and another five were all named Zelda. They weren't even all Hylian. The Federation just seemed to love those names.
"In Hyrule's Legends, there is a sword, the one mentioned in the message to their ambassador. The Master Sword they call it. Being able to draw it from it's place in its pedestal is considered proof that the individual is The Hero. Supposedly, their candidate drew this sword."
"So?"
"So, the myth of the Hero says he's always there for a reason. He doesn't appear at any old time, but when a grand threat faces their world. If bad things aren't already happening, they believe that the arrival of The Hero is a mark that something bad is going to happen. I don't think the Federation knows what is that they are prepping for right now. They know The Hero is here to fight a great darkness, and they aren't sure what that darkness is yet."
"Let me get this straight." Sparatus said with all the contempt a Turrian could muster. "Hyrule is changing their political goals, and making decisions that are going to impact the lives of trillions of sentient beings and are going to spend mindboggling sums of money all because some kid pulled a piece of metal out of a rock?"
Turians were no strangers to giving honor and importance to spirits, but this was ridiculous.
"That's what my contacts seem to believe, yes." Tevos said simply in a clipped tone. The Asari Matriarch appeared to share his opinion on the matter.
"We must consider that they are the foremost experts of mana manipulation in the galaxy. Perhaps it is true. Perhaps it is not. But perhaps it is only a culture that would have these sort of priorities and beliefs that would be capable of taking a skill like mana manipulation and use it as the backbone to a spacefaring empire. Regardless of their reasons and its validity, we can use this. We have something they want now and they are willing to come to bargain for it." Valern interjected.
Sparatus stopped and considered the Salarian's words. It was true, regardless of their reasons, they could now see about consolidating more trade agreements and more favors from the Federation. If they were scared of some imaginary threat, it would be all the easier to be to their advantage.
"Fine. Assign a Spectre to study the kid for a while. We'll see if he's worthy. If they approve, he has my blessing." Sparatus grumbled.
Valern and Tevos exchanged glances and gave nods of their own.
"Approved." Tevos announced and pressed a button to set the wheels in motion.
Sparatus hoped that Hyrule assigned a good babysitter to the poor barefaced kid that suddenly got all of the eyes in the universe on him. There was no way some random 19 year old was ready for the pressures ahead, but if Hyrule wanted to sacrifice one kid for their goals, he couldn't stand in their way.
xxxxxxx
AN:
Not super happy with the Council scene for now but it will do. I was rereading through this because some people were liking it and it just reignited my desire to write in this fic again. I really enjoy this story, though what the story in TotK did made me really kind of want to stop writing this. I...don't like TotK. It took me a while to realize it, but I just don't like that game. It's a perfectly fine game and is impressive on a technical level, I just didn't like it.
In other news, I think I might stick with this for a while and give it at least a few updates. I do very much enjoy it. As always, feel free to leave a comment below!
Also also, I think I'm going to cross post this over on Royal Road under my profile there.
"With wry amusement: You are in a good mood today." The Elcor sharing his office noted. A delightful fellow that he'd come to quite enjoy the company of. At first he thought their way of talking a bit queer but he'd grown to quite like the large alien. The Volos ambassador had complained far too many times about having to share an office with the Elcor and Jaibron decided to fix the situation. They'd shared an office since, and he found the grey hunched alien to be an absolute delight with a sharp wit and sense of humor.
Truly, Xeltan and he had quite a bit in common. Jaibron was of an odd genetic variant that popped up in Zora occasionally, one that made him large and rounded like a pufferfish that had been startled, instead of the sleek form that most of his fellows tended to take. He could still swim better than the average Hylian, but no where near as well as most of his species. Walking, however, was an almost herculean task. Even in Kingdom space, the world was just not made for his ilk.
And to think, it was once a mark of the blood of kings.
However, Xeltan had a similar life. The Elcor were similarly large and incapable of doing many tasks that other species handled with ease. The two had found quite a bit of kinship in his time as Ambassador over their shared troubles. Though it soon evolved into appreciation of food, art, and jokes. Truly, one could reach out a hand and find friendship anywhere!
"I say Xeltan, it is a good day! How can I not be in a good mood! The representative of Binary Helix is set to come by, and she always brings those delightful puffed shellfish. What are they called again?"
"With uncertainty: They are called ashrin cakes." Xeltan stated before shuffling a bit. Ah! His friend was going to give him a good ribbing! He always shuffled like that when he thought something was funny. "With amusement: You are already so round, should you always make such efforts to accept food from every party that comes to the office?"
"Bah! My genetics said I would be large and round, I might as well get some enjoyment out of the deal too, eh! Ah ha!" Jaibron said, slapping his belly in amusement. "Besides, it is not my fault that the Citadel has assumed that because they were served food at first contact that food must always be a part of political negotiations!"
"With barely concealed greed: Your secret is safe with me Zora, so long as you share in the bounties." Xeltan responded.
"But of course!" Jaibron responded as he leaned only forward enough that he didn't tip over in a very shallow bow. "Your silence is appreciated!"
Jaibron was then distracted as he got a ping on his console indicating a high priority message. Such a thing was not unsual, as he received messages all the time that the various other Citadel governments seemed to send him everything marked high priority. The Zora took his time getting to it. Jaibron was under no illusion about his position after all. He was not a particularly adept politician. Sure, he was very good at being charming and likeable, but the job was much more than that. It was paperwork, seeing under schemes, and seeing how the big web of information fit together.
He was rubbish at all of that. He caught the broad strokes and knew the individuals well, but that was all. He was assigned this position because most of the Hyrule government did not seek to get closer ties to Citadel space. There was trade certainly, but his assigned job was to pass on great deals when he saw them, but to otherwise not insult people overmuch as he ignored them. He held the line, that was all.
Thus it was Jaibron was caught quite by surprise when he went to check the priority message and saw it was not from one of the alien races, but instead from Hyrule. He clicked it and promptly choked on his tea.
"With concern: Are you alright?" Xeltan asked.
Jaibron waved him off as he continued to read the message even as he was racked with a coughing fit. Then he read it again.
"I can't believe it." He mumbled as he scanned it over again, just to be sure. There was no two ways about it. "An Illuminated. Here?"
"With curiosity: One of your political Spectres sent you something? Moving up in the world are we?"
Jaibron did not respond. The last line of the message was full of meaning and he couldn't help but shudder. There, in bold at the end of the message sat a single line that meant both hope and a harbinger for dark days ahead.
The Sword has been drawn.
A single sentence that would make most of the Citadel raise an eyebrow, and might even take it as some sort of metaphor for war or conflict. They wouldn't understand its importance. Its meaning.
"Xeltan, my friend, I think it is time we discussed a much closer military agreement." Jaibron stated firmly, placing his hands upon the desk.
"With dread: How ominous." Xeltan noted.
XXXXXX
"Is this a joke?" Sparatus asked in disgust, looking at the response to Hyrule's selected candidate. A candidate that was barely more than a child and who had but one, admittedly impressive, act to his record. His mandibles twitched as he looked at the picture. The United Federation of Hyrule was always a pain in the ass to deal with. The Terminus systems at least had the decency to stay at each other's throats enough that they didn't have to remain constantly vigilant against them. Hyrule retained a united front and seemed content to just do their own research on non-mana based technology after the Quarians accepted their offer for colonization.
The worst part was that the Federation truly didn't need their help. They asked once for help against the Batarians and never again.
"I thought it was an insult too." Tevos agreed from her spot in the meeting room. It was a small closed door meeting between the three councilors and was far away from any sort of camera or recording device. Except for whatever STG might have managed to slip into the room that hadn't managed to be detected, of course. "My sources in their space have assured me that it isn't a slight. They think this particular soldier has the spirit of a figure in their mythology within him. The Hero, as he's called."
Spartus grunted. He wasn't so sure in Hyrule's lack of insult, but he wasn't one to throw disrespect to spirits. He just couldn't see spirits choosing someone that was so unproven.
"Perhaps, but look at these reports. They've practically doubled their defensive budget and put forward plans to fast track soldiers through training. A departure from their standards in an extreme. I don't like it." Sparatus stated gravely. Hyrule's military was an odd thing. Hyrule tended to prefer to have small groups of highly specialized and impressive units rather than fill in with a bunch of grunts. To suddenly just want bodies to throw at an issue pointed to war.
"The Hegenomy did land on one of their outer worlds and apparently recruited another of their...less accepted races." Valern noted. "They intend on not merely standing by. It's a political maneuver, to get their people on side and embolden for the oncoming military action. By allowing this person to be granted Spectre status as well, they can be allowed to track down and head off Batarian interests and support within Council space."
An excellent point. The Batarians had always been a problem, but since they picked up the strays Hyrule had cast aside, the Batarians had grown greatly more dangerous. It would be only correct for Hyrule to clean up its own mess. Damn hypocrites priding themselves on integration and mutual support, but having three separate races that had been shunned from society.
"If their goal is so clearly intended to support their interests in Citadel space, it goes against the very spirt of the Spectre program. They are meant to be for all of the Citadel species and not just Hyrule's interests. We can't allow this." Spartus stated firmly.
"I agree." Tevos stated, making Spartus glance up in surprise. Tevos had always seemed to advocate for Hyrule intersts. Unsurprising, since the Asari had gone crazy for Hyrule culture and art and...well other things Asari were known for. Despite not having any race as long lived as the Asari, Hyrule had a recorded history that was longer than most any other species had. Tevos couldn't speak out too much against Hyrule without looking bad to her own people. He suspected the same here.
A high and mighty "however" was coming.
"However," Tevos began; Sparatus gave himself a mental pat on the back as she continued, "look at the intercepted message from Hyrule to their Ambassador. They are sending two more people increase political ties with us. A well respected senator, and an Illuminated."
Sparatus sat up in attention. An Illuminated in Citadel space?
Hyrule had been consistently reluctant to allow the Illuminated to leave Hyrule space. The Illuminated were not trained in war and were specifically for maters of politics and economy. One being deployed to the Citadel could only be for furthering political ties with the rest of the races in Citadel space.
"This is...unprecedented. Why the sudden shift and intent on cooperation?" Spartus asked.
"Because of the boy. This Link of theirs." Tevos stated.
Spartus almost snorted at the statement. As if there was only one "Link." Sparatus had meet maybe three dozen people from Federation space. Eight of them were named Link and another five were all named Zelda. They weren't even all Hylian. The Federation just seemed to love those names.
"In Hyrule's Legends, there is a sword, the one mentioned in the message to their ambassador. The Master Sword they call it. Being able to draw it from it's place in its pedestal is considered proof that the individual is The Hero. Supposedly, their candidate drew this sword."
"So?"
"So, the myth of the Hero says he's always there for a reason. He doesn't appear at any old time, but when a grand threat faces their world. If bad things aren't already happening, they believe that the arrival of The Hero is a mark that something bad is going to happen. I don't think the Federation knows what is that they are prepping for right now. They know The Hero is here to fight a great darkness, and they aren't sure what that darkness is yet."
"Let me get this straight." Sparatus said with all the contempt a Turrian could muster. "Hyrule is changing their political goals, and making decisions that are going to impact the lives of trillions of sentient beings and are going to spend mindboggling sums of money all because some kid pulled a piece of metal out of a rock?"
Turians were no strangers to giving honor and importance to spirits, but this was ridiculous.
"That's what my contacts seem to believe, yes." Tevos said simply in a clipped tone. The Asari Matriarch appeared to share his opinion on the matter.
"We must consider that they are the foremost experts of mana manipulation in the galaxy. Perhaps it is true. Perhaps it is not. But perhaps it is only a culture that would have these sort of priorities and beliefs that would be capable of taking a skill like mana manipulation and use it as the backbone to a spacefaring empire. Regardless of their reasons and its validity, we can use this. We have something they want now and they are willing to come to bargain for it." Valern interjected.
Sparatus stopped and considered the Salarian's words. It was true, regardless of their reasons, they could now see about consolidating more trade agreements and more favors from the Federation. If they were scared of some imaginary threat, it would be all the easier to be to their advantage.
"Fine. Assign a Spectre to study the kid for a while. We'll see if he's worthy. If they approve, he has my blessing." Sparatus grumbled.
Valern and Tevos exchanged glances and gave nods of their own.
"Approved." Tevos announced and pressed a button to set the wheels in motion.
Sparatus hoped that Hyrule assigned a good babysitter to the poor barefaced kid that suddenly got all of the eyes in the universe on him. There was no way some random 19 year old was ready for the pressures ahead, but if Hyrule wanted to sacrifice one kid for their goals, he couldn't stand in their way.
xxxxxxx
AN:
Not super happy with the Council scene for now but it will do. I was rereading through this because some people were liking it and it just reignited my desire to write in this fic again. I really enjoy this story, though what the story in TotK did made me really kind of want to stop writing this. I...don't like TotK. It took me a while to realize it, but I just don't like that game. It's a perfectly fine game and is impressive on a technical level, I just didn't like it.
In other news, I think I might stick with this for a while and give it at least a few updates. I do very much enjoy it. As always, feel free to leave a comment below!
Also also, I think I'm going to cross post this over on Royal Road under my profile there.
DesertChocolate
Getting some practice in, huh?
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Ah... well, the idea of the Ganon troopas deciding to team up with assholes makes a little too much sense. And now I'm running through the list in my head of problems that follow that. Like those giant enemies covered in armor rather than the mechas we fight sometimes. Zelda enemies also tend to be STRONK even when tiny. This is super cool and super terrifying. At least the Krogans will be happy I guess.
Does anyone, ever, actually agree to this? Batarian's have a rep for being horrible after all
Oh, I guess she pulled an uno reverse.
This makes so much fucking sense it physically hurts me. I love this so much.
Zelda in overalls is hotter than Zelda in a dress, just saying.
Impa! I'm so excited
Also, I wonder how much research there is on the way that not just Zelda and Link seem to keep coming back. Hell, even if they don't reincarnate some archetypes of people seem to come back, like Rito turning in Mipha.I'll be honest, I really vibe with Zelda's version of a spaceship. That is beautiful.
How did I forget about the fairies holy shit?
I love Zelda in this so far. Also, I'm glad the Quarians have an actual home here. Never made sense they couldn't just give them a good planet in canon. So does this mean the Hyrulians are helping them stay healthy too? I'm assuming.
Well done calling back to the intro
I'm excited to see him in action. Link in any setting is way stronger than he should be, and seeing that in action in the Mass Effect universe will be awesome. Do you have some idea of how powerful you want him to be?
...Fairly powerful, at first glance. Link, you crazy son of a bitch.
Being Link really is pain man. Seriously, I'd be terrified to name my kid Link in case I get turned into his sad backstory.
Oh damn, that's actually heartwarming.
"I'm sorry, but you're good at your job. Your life will be pain from here on out.
I liked it! You revealed a lot about the worldbuilding. I love the idea of them being befuddled by Hyrulian folk just ignoring the Ganon monsters, not knowing the truth behind them. It's good stuff!
All around, this story is fantastic. I'm terrified I'm gonna end up replaying Mass Effect for the ninth time just because of this.
WhoaMama
Know what you're doing yet?
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It came from me realizing that Bokoblins are kind of culturally used to being slaves. The Batarians grabbed them and they just went "Oh, so business as usual" and the Batarians had a moment of "Oh, it's so nice to have someone in with the program"
Yes, because dying now or undergo immense pain to possibly escape later IS a thing some are willing to take the gamble on. Much lower rate of surrender to Batarians than most races though.Does anyone, ever, actually agree to this? Batarian's have a rep for being horrible after all
Gerudo piloting an Iron Knuckle mech suit is literally what made me take this from an idea I was talking about, to one I HAD to write down. It might have started with the similarities of the various races, but the mech suit was the clincher.
Based.
Well, there's that, but also it's going to be a running joke that the other races are kind of pissed at how much Hyrule reuses names. If you took any group of 100 Hyrule people. Species does not matter. You'll probably have at least five people named either Link or Zelda. It just appears in their legends too much for them to NOT like naming their kids that.Impa! I'm so excited
This Zelda is one that I made with the goal of emphasizing what an Illuminated is SUPPOSED to be. She is the platonic idea of a Hylian. She has a care for nature. She has a love of people. She cares for their history. She has a duty she holds as more important than her own life. Each of the things in her room are supposed to exemplify aspects of this.
It's okay. A LOT of people tend to forget about them in setting too. They aren't warriors and are never really involved in trade. They are often forgotten. Some scientists are fascinated by them due to them being more mana than flesh though along with utter bafflement of how someone goes from regular fairy to great fairy.
Hyrule legit had an issue with having too much land to settle without having enough people, so they reached out. There is some friction about them from both the Hyrule perspective and the Quarian one. They still have some disagreements, such as Quarians not being as paranoid about not letting eezo leak into the environment. (Hyrule is MUCH more strict about it than most other races far beyond what other races would consider a "safe level" of Eezo release). But there are currently Quarians in the military that don't remember living full time on a ship now, and that's huge for them.
On pure physical might, he's roughly Captain America. Stronger than he should be for sure. He can occasionally go beyond with use of magic or a magical item, but that's his standard. However, his level of skill is where he gets truly bullshit.
Codex Entry: Hyrule's Pre-Modern History
New
WhoaMama
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Codex Entry: Hyrule's Pre-Modern History
Much of Hyrule's long history is shrouded in mystery but there is strong evidence that the civilizations of Hyrule had been building cities and civilizations since long before any other race except perhaps the Asari and even that is debated, however these civilizations had a great tendency to fall or lose much of their technological progress on the regular. Hyrule claims it is due most often to the Demon King (see Codex Entry on Cycle of the Hero) rising up and devastating civilization, though some scholars have suggested it is a symptom of Hyrule's continued reliance on magic. Regardless, it is difficult to parse out how much of what is written is history and how much is religion, myth, or hyperbole.
Definitive records though begin to arise shortly after another disaster that took place that the locals had dubbed "The Calamity." Following this tumultuous time Hyrule entered an explosion of technological growth and the magical technology series known as "Guardian" technology found it's way into the hands of the average citizen of Hyrule, (the nation, not the planet). This technological explosion was headed by Princess Zelda (one of many that and a source of headache for many a historical researcher) as well as the Mother and Father of Magitech, Purah and Robbie of the Sheikah Tribe. During this time numerous quality of life inventions were made and much of the next fifty years post-Calamity were used to build infrastructure and population of the nation.
Then King Alephus Xavius Hyrule came to power and set his sights beyond his nation's boarders. No other nation they came across had the necessary infrastructure nor technology to compete with the rising empire. Within one hundred years Hyrule controlled most of the planet via either diplomacy or conquest, through that same 100 years, Hyrule also developed and deployed their first artificial satellite into orbit around their planet as well as developing a series of towers placed through the planet that could not only allow for long range instant communication, but also a network of teleportation that allowed them to move individuals near instantly everywhere on the planet that Hyrule had a presence. (Teleportation being limited by Terry's Law where teleportation beyond three individuals at a single instance of teleportation's increases at a cost so exponential as to be infeasible to accomplish.)
To this day, there are sections of Hyrule still not under the governments control nor slated to be made to join. These so called "Black Zones" are also frequently the most magically potent areas of the planet and the scientific community by and large has come to the common agreement that heading into the stated "Black Zones" is not advised.
Due to the ability to communicate instantly and the teleportation network, the great empire built by Hyrule did not collapse in the wake of their conquest. Following the 100 Years of Conquest, there began to rise frequent issues of corruption and sentient rights violations on the part of the government resulting in a civil war that ultimate resulted in another leader rising to power in Hyrule (also named Princess Zelda) that created the Prime Mandate guaranteeing certain rights to all citizens and peoples regardless of race or origin (see related codex for further details) and further created the position of The Illuminated.
In the wake of the short Civil War and Hyrule again gaining a refocus on technology for exploration and and the betterment of its people Hyrule created it's first off-world colony on its moon. In the following 150 years to reach the moment of first contact the nation of Hyrule used it's technology to begin terraforming every single planet within their reach. Magitech proved far more suited to the terraforming of planets than what the rest of the races in the galaxy are capable of and the Federation of Hyrule began to terraform planets at a rate that they had difficulty providing a population to settle said terraformed planets.
Then, in the year 2096 Hyrule again reported the rise of "The Demon King" named Gannondorf, who again united several races under his banner (including Bokoblins, Moblins, and Lizalfos) and raised them to having their own power and led them on a mission of conquest that resulted in the capture of twelve planets, eight of which still are held in the hands of the races that followed Gannondorf, but said planets are also extremely divided and made up of more than 2,000 individual nations across said planets. Gannondorf himself was defeated on the planet Nabooru and locals claim he was not defeated, but instead sealed away and all of Hyrule's military is extremely protective of the planet, making it the largest concentration of Hyrule's military forces; to an even greater degree than what their home planet contains.
Over the course of this war, (dubbed the Cataclysm War) a Prothean ruins was discovered and orbital weapons using eezo had been developed to help defeat the Warlord Gannondorf. The Illuminated that is credited for being the political leader of Hyrule at the time (Again named Zelda) emphasized the importance of this new technology and the importance of finding a way for it to work in harmony with their own mana based technology, finally culminating in the events of First Contact between the Federation of Hyrule and the races of the Citadel, where the daughter of previously mentioned Illuminated (also named Zelda) brokered the first meeting of both governments.
Much of Hyrule's long history is shrouded in mystery but there is strong evidence that the civilizations of Hyrule had been building cities and civilizations since long before any other race except perhaps the Asari and even that is debated, however these civilizations had a great tendency to fall or lose much of their technological progress on the regular. Hyrule claims it is due most often to the Demon King (see Codex Entry on Cycle of the Hero) rising up and devastating civilization, though some scholars have suggested it is a symptom of Hyrule's continued reliance on magic. Regardless, it is difficult to parse out how much of what is written is history and how much is religion, myth, or hyperbole.
Definitive records though begin to arise shortly after another disaster that took place that the locals had dubbed "The Calamity." Following this tumultuous time Hyrule entered an explosion of technological growth and the magical technology series known as "Guardian" technology found it's way into the hands of the average citizen of Hyrule, (the nation, not the planet). This technological explosion was headed by Princess Zelda (one of many that and a source of headache for many a historical researcher) as well as the Mother and Father of Magitech, Purah and Robbie of the Sheikah Tribe. During this time numerous quality of life inventions were made and much of the next fifty years post-Calamity were used to build infrastructure and population of the nation.
Then King Alephus Xavius Hyrule came to power and set his sights beyond his nation's boarders. No other nation they came across had the necessary infrastructure nor technology to compete with the rising empire. Within one hundred years Hyrule controlled most of the planet via either diplomacy or conquest, through that same 100 years, Hyrule also developed and deployed their first artificial satellite into orbit around their planet as well as developing a series of towers placed through the planet that could not only allow for long range instant communication, but also a network of teleportation that allowed them to move individuals near instantly everywhere on the planet that Hyrule had a presence. (Teleportation being limited by Terry's Law where teleportation beyond three individuals at a single instance of teleportation's increases at a cost so exponential as to be infeasible to accomplish.)
To this day, there are sections of Hyrule still not under the governments control nor slated to be made to join. These so called "Black Zones" are also frequently the most magically potent areas of the planet and the scientific community by and large has come to the common agreement that heading into the stated "Black Zones" is not advised.
Due to the ability to communicate instantly and the teleportation network, the great empire built by Hyrule did not collapse in the wake of their conquest. Following the 100 Years of Conquest, there began to rise frequent issues of corruption and sentient rights violations on the part of the government resulting in a civil war that ultimate resulted in another leader rising to power in Hyrule (also named Princess Zelda) that created the Prime Mandate guaranteeing certain rights to all citizens and peoples regardless of race or origin (see related codex for further details) and further created the position of The Illuminated.
In the wake of the short Civil War and Hyrule again gaining a refocus on technology for exploration and and the betterment of its people Hyrule created it's first off-world colony on its moon. In the following 150 years to reach the moment of first contact the nation of Hyrule used it's technology to begin terraforming every single planet within their reach. Magitech proved far more suited to the terraforming of planets than what the rest of the races in the galaxy are capable of and the Federation of Hyrule began to terraform planets at a rate that they had difficulty providing a population to settle said terraformed planets.
Then, in the year 2096 Hyrule again reported the rise of "The Demon King" named Gannondorf, who again united several races under his banner (including Bokoblins, Moblins, and Lizalfos) and raised them to having their own power and led them on a mission of conquest that resulted in the capture of twelve planets, eight of which still are held in the hands of the races that followed Gannondorf, but said planets are also extremely divided and made up of more than 2,000 individual nations across said planets. Gannondorf himself was defeated on the planet Nabooru and locals claim he was not defeated, but instead sealed away and all of Hyrule's military is extremely protective of the planet, making it the largest concentration of Hyrule's military forces; to an even greater degree than what their home planet contains.
Over the course of this war, (dubbed the Cataclysm War) a Prothean ruins was discovered and orbital weapons using eezo had been developed to help defeat the Warlord Gannondorf. The Illuminated that is credited for being the political leader of Hyrule at the time (Again named Zelda) emphasized the importance of this new technology and the importance of finding a way for it to work in harmony with their own mana based technology, finally culminating in the events of First Contact between the Federation of Hyrule and the races of the Citadel, where the daughter of previously mentioned Illuminated (also named Zelda) brokered the first meeting of both governments.
WhyNotTentacle
Making the rounds.
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Bokoblins fitting into the Hegemony in the slave caste and doing well is just...so fitting but also so very very sad. It's a great detail and I love what it says about the story. Bokoblins with biotics is also a great mental image.
WhoaMama
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Nah, the codex is just focused on the political leader each time. Link is literally the most common name in the Federation of Hyrule.