Chapter 4 – First Contact

RonTheBlackCat

Nearly forgot to mention something: There are time zones. Primopolis is 3 hours ahead (New World Time) and 6 hours ahead (Our Time) from Washington DC. Industropolis is 4 hours ahead (New World Time) and 8 hours ahead (Our Time) from Washington DC. The top time is the New World Time at wherever that place is while the bottom time will be Our Time in Washington DC. The Kingdom of Albea is in the same time zone as Washington DC.

Basically the bolded will be like this:

New World Time of that location

Our Time of Washington DC

Location

Colored Quotes: 

The green represents all native languages (Even if they are different)

The black represents English

The blue represents Latin/Common Language/Imperial Language (Basically the same thing)

Buckle up people cause within a few chapters, the jet fighters are gonna fly and the warships are gonna sail.

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace" - George Washington

0511 (Early Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1022 August 26th, 2019 CE

About 40 Miles Off the Coast of Florida

As the steamship got closer, a smaller ship seems to have appeared from one of the armed ships.

“Look at that! They seem to be sending some people over.”

Captain Raoul looked through his spyglass.

“Let them approach us, we outnumber them and I don’t see any weapons.”

1022 August 26th, 2019 CE

Petty Officer First Class Glenn Jackson was on the RHIB with 11 other seaman and petty officers. They were each carrying an M4 carbine rifle that they received from their destroyer’s armory. They were on their way to the steamship.

“Remember, our job is to only tell them to follow our ships so we can get them to land and probably get them to some diplomat that flying into a port in Key West. Don’t raise your weapons unless you're threatened”

“Yes, sir!”

Oh boy… I’m definitely not qualified for this. They shoulda send some sort of diplomat or something.

A few minutes later

They arrived and positioned their RHIB next to the steamship. A rope was thrown down to them

That seemed quite hospitable of them. Well… up I go.

Ah… well… this was as expected…

What greeted Jackson on the ship was a few men aiming what seemed to be ancient muskets at him. Jackson’s men also got onto the ship and they raised their rifles upon seeing the situation. The moment was tense until a man that was dressed in what seemed like what a captain of a ship from the 18th century would wear stepped forward and offered what seemed to be a handshake.

Huh… seems like the handshake is multiversal… is multiversal a word?

Jackson gladly shook his hand smiling. The 18th-century captain smiled back.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Petty Officer First Class Jackson of the United States Navy. I came from one of the ships over there.”

He just stood there and stared at Jackson in confusion.

“What? Sorry, I didn't get that. Can you repeat that.”

What… ah, crap… language barrier… of course! This is a different world.

“Ummm… do you understand me?”

Then the captain turned to someone next to him.

“Rowley, try speaking the Common Language to them.”

“What do I say, sir?”

“Just tell them ‘Nice to meet you’ and see how he responds”

The man that the captain talked to looked at us and spoke.

“Nice to meet you”

Uhhhh… still not English but it sounds weirdly familiar…

One of the seamen behind Jackson spoke up.

“Sir, I think that's Latin.”

Jackson looked behind him at the seaman that spoke up. The seaman explained.

“I learned it in high school.”

“Then do you understand what they are saying?”

“It seems like they said something along the lines of ‘Nice to meet you’. I don’t quite remember much about what I learned in Latin so I can’t really speak it.”

“Any of you guys know how to speak Latin?”

Jackson’s entire team shrugged.

Uhhh… guess I could try gesturing…

Jackson started pointing at the deck of the steamship and then pointing at the fleet. Then he started gesturing in a waving motion towards his fleet.

This feels dumb…

The captain was confused at first but something sparked in his eyes. He started by pointing to himself and then at his ship and then pointed towards the fleet. Jackson immediately nodded and hoped that he understood.

0515 (Early Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1030 August 26th, 2019 CE

Captain Raoul watched as the weirdly uniformed men that came from those ships got off of his ship. A sailor piped up.

“What did they want Captain?”

“I think they wanted us to follow them.”

“Follow them?”

“They may be trying to bring us to their base. I think we should follow.”

Another sailor joined the conversation

“But Captain, it could be a trap.”

Discussion among the other sailors started to erupt. Some wanted to turn back while others wanted to sally forth for adventure. The Captain raised his voice.

“They are too poorly armed to make this trap successful. We could stay a distance behind them but still follow. We were tasked with this job and I want to see it through. Chief Mate Rolfe.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Have we gotten a reply from the Magusians.”

“Seeing that our magraph operator has yet to report, I believe it takes around 15 minutes to get a message to them using magic.”

0820 (Early Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1040 August 26th, 2019 CE

Primopolis, Septentrio Magus Imperium, Domum (Imperatoria) Continent

A tired and haggard man was sitting in his chair looking over papers on his desk. Although he was only 51, he looked like someone who just turned 65. There was pounding on the door.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

Colerius Arstant, the 4th Emperor of the Septentrio Magus Imperium, calmly replied.

“Enter.”

“Your Majesty!”

Colerius looked up from his papers.

“Yes? You have cal…”

His personal messenger cut him off and started rapidly speaking.

“WegotreportthattheshipwesenttohadgottenhadseenothershipnotMachianasbutonFormido.”

Colerius smiled lightly and started chuckling.

“Your Majesty?”

His personal messenger was a fumbling young man named Robertus Casca. The main reason that he was Colerius’s personal messenger was that he was fast. However, there was a problem. The problem was that he was fast at everything. Speaking included. But this made the day feel easier for Colerius. Something calmed him about this overexcited and bumbling young man. Colerius smiled.

“Calm down, Robertus. I couldn’t understand what you said. Now, what report?”

“Uh, yes your majersty! I mean your majesty!”

Robertus started calming down.

“We got a message from the Albean ship that was sent to check out the disturbance that was felt by the Great Magus. It appears there was a group of mysterious ships there. They don’t seem to belong to any known nation. It is possible they came from Formido and was related to the disturbance.”

Colerius was immediately interested.

1230 August 26th, 2019 CE

Near Key West, Florida

Rear Admiral Kennedy was standing in the bridge. When the team sent to establish contact with the steamship came back, they learned two things. First of all, it seems that the people on the steamship seem to speak Latin. Washington was informed about this. They are now trying to get a Latin translator to the diplomat in Key West. Second of all, their guns are even more ancient than the steamship. They seem to be using some type of matchlock musket. Now they were closing in on the Key West. It took them an hour longer than expected because of the slow speed of the steamship. It really seemed to be from the 19th century.

0615 (Mid Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1230 August 26th, 2019 CE

The sailors had noticed the giant ships seemed to be much faster than their ship. It greatly confused them and they wondered if these weird ships came from one of the empires. No ship that big could be that fast unless it was from one of the empires. It couldn’t possibly be from the Magusians since the Magusians asked them to come here. They hoped it wasn’t a trap by the Machians. On the other hand, the lack of weaponry on the weird ships felt a bit reassuring. They also noticed that they were closing in on what seemed to be a small island with what seemed to be a city on it. The Magusians had given Captain Raoul many orders through the magraph. First of all, Captain Raoul needed to observe these ships and learn more about them. Second, the Magusians wanted him to contact them immediately through the magraph if these mysterious people lived on the Formidon continent. The Magusians also told Raoul to stay there if they lived on Formido. The Magusians would send diplomats that would arrive within 7 days to establish relations with them and learn how they were able to live on Formido. From what Captain Raoul could see, it seems like they lived in a big city on an island that was very close to Formido.

“Rolfe, tell the operator to tell the Magusians that they seem to live very close to Formido on an island.”

“Yes, sir.”

0623 (Mid Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1246 August 26th, 2019 CE

Key West

Captain Raoul, Chief Mate Rolfe, and a few sailors including Rowley stepped down onto what seemed to be a port and surveyed the area. The giant ships also docked near them. Two men dressed in suits approached him. One of the men spoke.

“Hello! Do you understand me?”

Rowley was excited and quickly looked to his captain.

“Sir! They can speak Common Language!”

Rowley then looked towards the man.

“Yes!”

The man shook hands with Rowley.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Luke Hoffman. I’m a translator.”

“I’m Rowley Paulin. I’m also a translator. The man to my right is the captain of my ship, Jacob Raoul. He can’t speak the Common Language.

“Common Language?”

“What you are speaking right now.”

“Ah.”

The captain interrupted.

“Rowley, what is he saying?”

Rowley explained.

When Rowley stopped explaining, Luke started talking.

“To my right is a diplomat representing the government of the United States of America. Clark Underwood.”

“United States of America?”

“My country’s name.”

Rowley and Luke turned towards their superiors and explained what had just been said. The captain proceeded to shook hands with the diplomat. From this point on Luke and Rowley translated whatever was said.

“As you know I’m Clark Underwood, a diplomat assigned to you. I will be representing my government. I hope we can get along.”

“Likewise. I’m the Captain of this ship. We are Albeans sent here by the request of the Septentrio Magus Imperium.”

“Albean? Septentrio Magus Imperium?”

"Countries. My country’s name is the Kingdom of Albea. We are allied with the Septentrio Magus Imperium. The Septentrio Magus Imperium may send actual diplomats to meet with you. We are only here because they requested us when their Great Magus felt a disturbance.”

Clark was confused.

Great Magus? Disturbance? What is he talking about? I suppose I should just go along.

“Well, we don’t know much about this world since we only arrived here about a month ago. We are Americans.”

The difference between how time was told was somewhat confusing but the translators were able to explain to each other what they were talking about.

“Arrived here only a third of a season ago?”

“Yes, my country was inexplicably transported here from our world.”

Now it was Raoul’s time to get confused.

“We ourselves don’t understand what happened. Anyways, what are your current plans? My government will accommodate you in every way possible.”

Raoul decided to think about it later.

“We will be staying here for about 7 days while the diplomats from the Magus Imperium travel here.”

“Since you are staying here for a while, I suppose you can visit one of our bigger cities.”

“Bigger city?”

“We are currently in a small city called Key West.”

Raoul thought to himself. Well, there is no palace or castle or anything here. They must be taking us to their capital. Probably another island.

“If you don’t mind, Luke and I will be boarding your ship. One of our ships will lead you there.”

“How will the Magusian diplomats know where we are?”

“Once our ships spot them, we will guide them over.”

Luke and Clark boarded the steamship and Captain Raoul told his crew to set sail and followed one of the armed American ships towards the city called “Miami.”

Captain Raoul personally went to the magraph operator and gave a message about what he found out. He also told the magraph operator to ask for Magusian diplomats.

0300 (Early Hour), Quiet 88th, 195 AE

2200 August 26th, 2019 CE

Industropolis, Mach Imperium, Domum (Imperatoria) Continent

“Your Highness, we have gotten reports from the spies we sent to the Septentrio Magus recently. The new wireless telegraphy technology has proven its use. There is some information on here that may interest you.”

Desmond Industrus, the 5th Emperor of the Mach Imperium, was viewing the report that his servant gave him. His advisor was talking to him.

“A possible country on Formido… that’s interesting. It is possible that they are descendants of the people that we sent there decades ago.”

“Well sir, then that means that they should still be your subjects.”