Signals And Some arduan History
11 Sep 2020Lord Scarfinger
Pope noticed some weird signals arising from MP Mar Ris' comms. These were not like the encrypted jibber jabber he picked up while Ris was contacting Dr. Rask or others of his fellowship, if you can call it like that. It was something very odd, almost like it wasn't emitting from Ardua at all. And it wasn't the first time he encountered this. It came to happen quite frequently. He didn't give it much thought the first few times, could be just a distortion caused by the weather occurrences or anything like that. But having it almost every day now, he had to investigate. Pope knew how to handle surveillance equipment and so forth, but wasn't a real comms expert. So he had to take his findings somewhere else.But first he wanted to tell the Director about this. He had an idea what it could be, even it seemed to be far fetched, yet it was in the back of his head and wouldn't leave him alone. What if this where some sort of communication with these insectlike aliens, he read reports from. Maybe Mar Ris was plotting something with them. "MacEllister couldn't do more than laugh at me." he thought.
Director MacEllister sat on his desk reading his daily briefing reports as his comms panel bleeped and lit up. He first tried to ignore it, he didn't want to be interrupted reading these, but the constant bleeping annoyed him. He even told his secretary, Kim, to not patch anything through until he tells her otherwise today. "Well, seems like she either ignores or simply forgot what I've told her." he thought to himself. Hesitant he answered and asked: "What is it?" "I know what you've told me, sir, but Agent Pope is here and says it is of mere importance to speak to you." Kim replied. "Tell him, I am busy right now. He should come after lunch." MacEllister said.
"I can't wait til then, John. Stop wondering about your coffee beans an let me in. You know I wouldn't be here unless itbis urgent. " Pope said into the comms panel at Kim's desk before she could say anything. Startled she looked up at Pope, not knowing what to do next. "How could this man talk to the Director like that?" she thought herself.
"Alright then, come in." you could hear MacEllister's voice from the other side of the comms link.
Pope strode over to the office door and entered...
John MacEllister and Randy Pope went way back together. Besides being best friends, they fought alongside each other during the Arduan wars. These wars began decades before they were born.
They were part of a special op team back then. Very often, just the two of them were sent on missions. And Randy Pope saved MacEllister's life more than once. A highly decorated, honored and ruthless soldier, killing everything in his way, Pope could have been at least a COC (Constable Of The Commonwealth) already. Pope a living legend, being often severely wounded, yet always surviving and fighting til there was no one else to kill left, he was deemed immortal at times, earning him the nickname "The Immortal Constable" among fellow soldiers. But him being quite hot headed and not always following orders, he wasted many opportunities for promotions.
MacEllister, an officer with no lesser decorations and honors, earned his promotions and positions with being a role model soldier after the wars ended. During the wars, he was nothing less than Pope, fierce and ruthless.
Watching these two fight together, was merely like watching two professional dancers dance with each other. Elegant and graceful, and a synergy unlike anything else. Like they could read each others' minds.
The VolTar Collective was a fierce enemy. The VolTaar Collective consisted of the Voltecs and the Taari, the two indigenous Arduan races living on the eastern continent Voltecyon. and the south eastern continent Taarue. They formed a coalition over political tensions with the western continent's race, the Mercia. These tensions ended up to become known as the Arduan wars. The Udaakian from the southern continent just formed an alliance with the Mercia, years after the wars began. They never intended to join the conflict nut had no choice as the Voltar Collective invaded Udaak for strategical reasons.
The Taari people, one of the original two Arduan races, all have long white hair, a pale almost snow white skin and ice coloured eyes. Whether blue, green, red, orange, or teal, always some icy shine in it. Their athletic, slim body types and their agility and quickness, made them quite challenging opponents in hand to hand combat. They took pride in their traditional martial art, Taarkio, every Taari had to learn from a young age on.
Voltecs, the second native Arduan race, were more the brute force in the collective. Each and everyone of them tall, unbelievable strentgh and stamina. You sometimes had to fear their female soldiers even more than their male counterparts. Voltecs were mercyless. Voltecs, unlike the Taari, came in all types of skin tones and hair colors. But you knew when they were coming, their deep voices chanting battle cries. Warriors from the cradle to the grave, they sent a sound of thunder ringing across the Arduan sky.
The Mercians and the Udaakis, originally eminated of descendants from earth, arriving on Ardua centuries ago. Treaties with Taari and Voltecs gave Mercia and Udaak to the new arrivals who came from the stars afar, searching for refuge. These treaties were reached without conflicts in the old days. Humans were welcomed with open arms by both races.
The Taari and Voltecs never really cared about these other two continents. Though they settled on Mercia and Udaak, they weren't comfortable with the climate there. Udaak was way too hot and humid for the Taari's liking. The Mercian continent, though milder as Udaak, didn't please them either. They prefer more colder and snowy weather.
Voltecs, have lesser problems with heat and humidity, yet don't like to leave their motherland. They had plenty of small towns scattered across Udaak, but more for the likes of hunting in the jungles and training their young warriors in survival tactics. Setting their children out in small groups in the jungles as soon as they turned 14, these had to find and return to one of the towns on their own. They were taught basics in combat survival during their childhood, up until they were moved to Udaak. This was an ancient traditional ritual by the Voltecs called "Ispep" meaning warrior in their native language. But after the treaties were reached, they moved most of their people back to Voltecyon. Finding ways to keep their tradition alive there.
Mercians, from human descent, came in all skin tones and human races as well. Like with their ancestors from earth upon arrival, a great diversity remained. But unlike earth, whether racism or other prejudices had ever found their way into this society.
Udaakis, due the climate on Udaak, could be compared to indigenous people from earth by their looks. They evolved into a neutral force on Ardua for many centuries. Just when the invasion began, they chose the side of the Mercians.