[240104.06 Ancient ch`Rihan]
After the minor battles were over, and the interrogation had ended, and the POWs had been dealt with, the crew members and the friendly-natives rested themselves near the newly-won Argine Mines. Rhagarokk sits on a hill, his 'ordinary' kaleh lying nearby, looking out over the captured mines. Rylan, still splattered from the skirmish, quietly walks up and takes a seat on the ground a little bit away. "So..." he addresses the Leih, motioning a hand towards the mines, "there they are. Now what to do with them?"
Rhagarokk turns his head to look at Rylan, "We may na need them after all, it turns out."
Still looking at the mines, Ry slowly turns a questioning brow in the Leih's direction as the words had sunk in. "Okay... what'd I miss?"
"After interrogating some of the soldiers," Rhagarokk explains "it appears that the Gilligama historical 'super-weapon' is none other than a warp core, from what I can tell from the description. Enough antimatter to lay waste to any clan that trouble au...once."
"Once would be enough..." Ry almost smirks, but manages not to. "Where's this ancient warp core, then? Did we learn that.... and can we use it for our own ship?"
"We have a location, ie, thanks to some creative coercion from our officers." the Leih gives a half-grin. "And I'd have to examine it to tell, but there's a good shot even if it's inert I can get it working again." then adds in a mumble, "Must be leftover from a Fartravel Ship..."
"Well...." Ry thinks about this as he looks back to the mines, "It's a good bet that if io managed to make it out... then whoever has this core knows about us already. We can get the troops moving again as soon as au`rh ready."
"Ie," Rhagarokk sighs, "we should probably hit it shortly after we rest. It's just..." he trails off to leave the sentence hanging.
Ry waits patiently a moment for him to finish, but when it became apparent the Leih wasn't going to, he asked, "Ie? Just...what?"
"tr`Sorek got the Ruling Queen...." Rhagarokk answered, bringing Ry's previous thoughts back to him again, "Sure, she wasn't a nice person, but she's fairly important to history. I've never actually been on a mission this far back with these little resources....and all the TAG officers on board are young, they do na know all the protocols of the situation. What if we've destroyed the future, Rylan?"
"Ie..." Rylan mumbles, feeling the headache returning. Growing quiet for a time to think about it, he finally breaks the silence with, "But there's gotta be a way to fix it. I mean, couldn't we get the warp core and come back...to like, before tr`Sorek did what he did? We could save her that way...right?"
"Ie, it's possible." Rhagarokk agrees, then pauses a moment, "Only the Wildstrike is na in any shape to make a Slingshot jump twice. I'm na even sure about making it once. If we do, we'd have to get repaired in an alternate future, and who knows what it'll be like once we arrive..."
"Ie...this does na bode well...." Rylan rubs a hand over his forehead, then looks tiredly back towards the mines again. "Well, right now I'd say our priority is getting that core before they decide to use it against us for all this." he nods towards the battlefield, "Then we can relax... sort of... and figure out what to do about Her."
Rhagarokk nods, "I concur, although we're na ready to march again yet. Were those Gai`Shian or Rei`Krannsu, I'd say we go right now, but..." he gestures to the crew, "They're na; they're people like D`Tarik and Tacrun."
"Ie..." Ry agrees, chuckling at seeing the purple monstrosity walk through the camp of troopers before turning serious again. "But as young as all of us are, we've been through a lot...more then the others, but they're quickly catching up to things. They'll do alright." After a moment another thought occurred to him and he suddenly asked, "The history books, rekkhai...would they change now, with us being here? Maybe we could get a clue of what's going to come if they did..."
Rhagarokk grins and lies back against the grass of the hill, "Au watch too many holovids...when objects are temporally displaced, such as the history books or us, they cease to become a part of linear time and so are na affected by its alteration." he instructs the boy, "Otherwise, the universe would be destroyed by paradox."
"Well, still..." Rylan said, "if it's predestination then all we have to do is figure out what, exactly, it is that we're supposed to do, and it'll work out." then thinks silently to himself, *I hope...* Changing the subject back to the first problem to tackle, he asks, "Exactly how far is this warp core anyway? Maybe we can hit them under cover of darkness? Perhaps with cloakers?"
"Ie...actually, now that you mention it, if we can figure a way to haul the thing it probably will be better to go in with a small cloaked team." Rhagarokk agrees, "Then we get it back here, then to the Morrhae`Vnu, fix everything up, and blast back to the future as quick as we can."
"Depending on how far it is, we may be able to divert all power to the transporter and simply beam the thing over to us. We'd still have to get a fix on it.... barring that working," Rylan shrugs, "I'm sure we'll figure out something. They had to have a way to get it from a Fartravel Ship to wherever they're keeping it now." He grows quiet a moment, watching the others below them and letting his mind wander. Speaking quietly, he continues, "Like...get a cart that's rigged with a cloaker. That would carry the fvadt thing....have to be shielded from the antimatter, but it can be done..."
"The antimatter should be contained within the core..." Rhagarokk agrees, "I think we can do it. I just hope that I have a job when I get back..."
"Ie, me too..." Ry stands to leave, "Eisn will be setting in a few hours, I best go check on cloakers. Anything else, rekkhai?"
Beginning to get up as well, the Leih answers, "Na, na that I can think of right now...gather the Usual Suspects and some Agency operatives for the operation later tonight. Let's get this done and deal with the consequences."
"Ie, rekkhai..." Rylan complies, heading off to get things ready.
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