Exploration

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***

3rd January 2019

Northern Uncharted Region

Krishnan Roy was a man on a mission. He had been tasked with leading the scouting and exploration missions on land while the 'Grey Fleet' explored the coastline. If first contact ever happened, they were supposed to introduce themselves as representatives of the 'Republic of Kalinga'. Apparently, the populace was somewhat happy that they won't have to live under the heel of the Central government of India anymore. Their future may be unsure, but they are now free just like their ancestors were. He was feeling nervous and giddy about what his immediate future might hold but that was nowhere enough to dampen his spirit.

'Will the natives of this world have unknown pathogens that would kill us, or would our pathogens kill them?" Krishnan mentally shrugged as he peered into the distance and saw snowy mountains, the likes of which you would see in the Himalayas. 'I wonder if the streams will feed the Mahanadi and make it a perennial river instead of a seasonal one.' he thought.

"Sir, our drone has caught something!" One of his subordinates yelled over the radio.

"I will be right back," Krishnan said as he looked at the mountains one last time and returned to the base camp.

***

The repurposed agricultural fixed-wing drone had some unusual footage for the crew. There was a jetty about 20 kilometers north of their locations. Several boats were moored to the piers and there were some huts as well.

'It's a fishing village, most likely.' Krishnan thought

"Okay team, we are going to make first contact with the natives in this world. We will split into two teams. Team A will be the ones meeting up with those locals while Team B would remain here and continue surveillance. I want Team B to report back to Bhubaneswar in case something goes wrong and team A is not able to make it. Also, notify the Grey Fleet about the location of this village. I doubt this village is a permanent settlement, and no one is going far on just sailboats. The mainland must be somewhere close. "

The scouts soon reorganized themselves into two teams and soon Krishnan was on his way to the fishing village with armed police officers.

***

Central Calendar 3rd Day of the 1st month of the Year 1635,

Fishing Outpost of the Quila Kingdom

Gamas looked at his sorry haul of fish and wondered if the Gods were punishing him for some unknown, unspoken reason. The crops had failed yet again this year and with his pitiful fishing, it seemed like his family would have to skip meals to survive the year. He was one of the few 'Explorer-Captains' who were tasked with finding fertile islands for growing food for the Quila Kingdom, and while their current location showed promise, everyone knew that it would take a long time to set up farms and get the harvest. With the shadow of the Lourian kingdom looming over them, he found little hope in the future.

In his self-loathing, he almost missed the loud rumbling noise approaching him. His sharp bear-ears perked up and he picked up his trusty harpoon, thinking that it might be a wild beast about to attack him. His fellow fishermen had similar ideas and almost everyone was armed and ready. The few women in this outpost were shoved off into the huts for their safety.

Soon, three rumbling beasts were in front of them. But they were no ordinary beasts! They looked like they were covered in metal armors of a dark greenish color and had a very shiny, almost mirror-like forehead. There was a weird grill attached to the mouth of the beast and it looked angry!

But before they could apprehend the beasts, their sides opened! And humans poured out of its belly! The regurgitated humans walked towards their group.

The human who looked like the leader was wearing a crisp blue shirt and khaki trousers. He was shaved and had a dusky skin tone.

"Good morning gentlemen, I am Krishnan Roy, representative of the Republic of Kalinga. I come in peace and wish to talk to your leader." the blue shirt guy said with his hands raised in the air.

Unsure of how to proceed, every beastman looked at each other until someone yelled "Gamas is our leader!"

Gamas lowered his harpoon and cleared his throat." Ahem. Yes, I lead this group. What is it that you want, humans? I am afraid I have not heard of this 'Kalinga' Republic in my travels."

"Oh, thank goodness there would be no communication problems!" Krishnan breathed a sigh of relief "Kalinga and her people were transferred to this world not too long ago. We are looking for possible alliances in this new world. May I ask which country you are from?"

"The Quila Kingdom, some hundred miles to the north," Gamas replied.

"You traveled a hundred miles for fish?" The blue-suited man, Krishnan asked.

"Well yeah. Fish are getting scarcer by the day near our seas. We have been instructed to spread out and look for islands where we can get fish and food from."

"Oh, my best wishes to you. However, this region is under the control of the Republic of Kalinga, and if you wish to avoid any further misunderstandings with my people then it would be great if you could get us in touch with your higher-ups."

"Uh sure, but would you explain to me what that beast is?"

Krishnan looked a little confused, but then replied emphatically "This is a car! A carriage without horses, if you will. Come, I will show you its features."

***

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Quila Kingdom

Metsal was having a brain-numbing headache in his office. The Lourians were building a massive navy if the reports regarding the increased import of wood and iron from the Parpaldian Empire were true.

'Why would they need to build so many ships if not for a war?' Metsal sighed and started penning down his thoughts. 'Surely they intend to attack Qua-Toyne or our kingdom. The current king of Louria has the ambition of 'uniting' the Rodenius continent and killing all elves, demi-humans, and beastmen. That piece of filth!'

After a few minutes of venting his thoughts on the piece of paper, the wizened dwarf decided to take a break when he saw his assistant stumbling into his office.

"Lord Metsal, we have priority transmission from Explorer Gamas. They have come in contact with people who claim to be representatives of the 'Republic of Kalinga' and want to establish diplomatic contact with us!"

"Republic of Kalinga? I have never heard of it before. I wonder if it's a band of settlements that organized themselves into a country. What do those representatives have to say?"

"They want permission to visit our country and establish mutually beneficial ties. Their words, not mine."

"Huh, they are going to be disappointed. Nothing but barren land and burning water here. But I suppose it won't hurt to talk. Allow them passage to our port when they arrive, send two ships as escorts when they arrive in case they are up to mischief."

The assistant bowed and walked out of the office to relay the orders to the concerned authorities.

***

Central Calendar 3rd Day of the 1st month of the Year 1635,

Twenty miles off the coast of Southern Louria

"This design is fast, but I need more simplicity if we are to mass-produce it." Vice-Admiral of the Lourian Navy Sharkun commented as he watched sea trials of prototypes of new Man 'O Wars that would be used for the upcoming conflict.

"Of course Lord Sharkun, that has been our goal ever since we started this project. But the funds that we were allocated for the design of the ship are simply not enough. If we had 20% more funding this year then we can even make modifications to include a bow-mounted magicannon."

"Oh don't you try to fleece the kingdom! If you were not one of our biggest shipbuilders I would have had your head on a spike!" Sharkun growled. "Now, I want you to….."

"Ship ahoy! To the east!" the lookout yelled and the sailors looked in that direction to find two behemoths floating in the water."

'What is that? That's a ship? It's almost like a palace!' Sharkun thought before composing himself. "Men! Stay sharp! We don't know the intention of the ships. Fire a warning shot to tell them they are invading our territorial waters."

The cannon was fired and it landed about a hundred feet in front of the leading grey ship. The shot scared the sailors piloting the ships, for they started to slow down.

The captain of the ship that Sharkun was on yelled loudly, his voice amplified by a piece of magic equipment. "HALT! YOU ARE BREACHING THE TERRITORIAL WATERS OF LOURIA! STATE YOUR INTENTIONS OR PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!"

A loud voice responded. "WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INTRUSION! WE REPRESENT THE REPUBLIC OF KALINGA AND WE WISH TO INITIATE DIPLOMATIC TALKS!"

'Kalinga republic? Never heard of it.' Sharkun thought. He saw several men on deck waving at them. 'At least they are all humans.'

After a few moments of contemplation Sharkun decided to talk to them. This was partly to judge this massive ship which he suspected to be of Mu origin. 'Does Mu intend to expand its influence in the region around the Third Civilization? Do they intend to battle against Parpaldia?' Sharkun thought hopefully. If the two superpowers fought and wore out each other, it would be that much simpler for Louria to pick up the pieces. Hell, they might become a superpower themselves if they play their cards right!

"Men! Stay sharp! We have to present ourselves as excellent sailors of the Lourian Navy." Sharkun yelled his orders. Soon he saw a hatch at the side open and a metal beam lower itself. There were stairs on the beam and Sharkun and his men boarded the vessel using those stairs.

Once onboard the ship, they were welcomed by a gruff but smartly dressed officer. He was wearing a sky blue shirt and black trousers and a black jacket. Following him were four other sailors with white uniforms, and a few with navy blue overalls. None of them wore armor, but they all had a metal contraption with them.

"Greetings Lourians! I am Captain Jairam Shinde of this ship KNS Ranjit and I am pleased to have you onboard and apologize for the accidental intrusion into your territorial waters."

"I am Sharkun, the Vice-Admiral of the Lourian Navy," Sharkun emphasized the difference in their ranks. "Apology accepted. But I should warn you that I cannot guarantee your safety if this happens again. Now, I believe you want to talk diplomacy?"

"Yes, I indeed do. Two days ago, our Republic was transferred to this world, and we wish to build friendships and alliances for the sake of mutual prosperity."

"You say you were transferred? How do you expect me to believe that?" Sharkun asked

"Frankly, even we have not come to terms regarding this phenomenon. We are still struggling to believe that we lost all our loved ones and there might not be a way back home." Jairam let out a heavy sigh. "Why don't we move to the office in my cabin? It would certainly be more comfortable there."

"Very well then, lead the way captain."

Sharkun and his men were led through the impressive ship which appeared to be completely made up of metal, even the doors! Soon they were in the captain's cabin. The room was oddly cool compared to the scorching heat outside. 'Must be some wind and ice magic' he thought.

In his office, Captain Shinde gave a short speech about his country and its people, its culture, and its technology. He even showed him pictures of cities of his country, which frankly did little to stifle Sharkun's skepticism. He was still of the belief that this 'Kalinga' was a Mu outpost or a puppet state.

He was even more stunned when he found out that Kalinga had no concept of magic. Their citizens did not have any mana, and their mines did not have any mana stones. This discovery just reinforced the idea of Kalinga being a vassal of Mu, at the very least. But he kept his mouth shut for the time being.

"I am very impressed Captain Shinde. I would be talking to my superiors about your offer. They would not have any issues hosting your nation's diplomats."

A few hours later, Captain Shinde was informed about the Lourian Palace accepting the offer of opening diplomatic relations. Sharkun and the eleven ships that were with him would escort the two steel ships to the port nearest to Jin-Hark, the Lourian capital.

***

That midnight, two boats silently drifted towards the iron ships in the cover of the moonless night. The boats were manned by heavily armed sailors. Their objective was to board and take control of at least one iron ship.

'Soon, very soon..' Captain Drakos muttered under his breath. 'The Kingdom would be forever grateful to me for my actions tonight.'

He had acted without the approval of the Vice-Admiral, but that was alright. Surely he would be forgiven when he brings Mu's secrets with him! Unifying the Rodenius continent and culling those filthy demi-humans would be so much easier if he were successful.

As they got close to the stern of the ship, a bright light shone upon them.

"Stop right there! What do you want?" A sailor yelled from the deck of that ship. Only to be silenced by a crossbow bolt, courtesy of one of Drakos's men. They flung their grappling hooks and climbed onto the deck.

As soon as they made their way through an iron door, a loud beeping noise started resounding over the ship. It seems like their presence had been discovered.

"Don't be alarmed! They don't know our exact location. Stay close and keep your crossbows at the ready."

A while later they bumped into two guards armed with metal contraptions. His men did not hesitate in riddling them with crossbow bolts. But one of the guards yelled their location out loud before dying.

Not a few seconds later, Drakos heard loud repetitive noises from behind him and then everything faded to black.

***

In his cabin, Vice-admiral Sharkun was awoken by a commotion. The captain of his ship had taken a few of his toughest sailors with him and left to attack the iron ships!

"That IDIOT! This is terrible, get me the voice amplifying artifact! We have to warn the captain of those ships immediately before something horrible happens!"

Before he could communicate with Captain Shinde, the cannon on one of the iron ships turned towards them, fired a few times and Sharkun saw one of his ships spontaneously exploding.

'They targeted the powder room, from THAT distance?' Before Sharkun could process what was going on, another ship went up in flames.

"RETREAT!" Sharkun yelled and the ships unfurled the sails and tried turning around. But it was too late for them. The ships kept exploding, the sailors kept dying. One of the ships tried to buy them some time by firing its cannon at the iron ship, but they were just too far away for the shots to hit.

As the ninth ship of his eleven ship fleet burned to cinders, his sailors started jumping into the water to avoid the fiery fates of their brothers. Sharkun resigned himself to his fate and whispered a prayer, right before his ship went up in a fiery blaze.

***

The Secretariat, Bhubaneswar, Republic of Kalinga

The cabinet of ministers and other important officials were pouring over the newly acquired information from both land and sea exploration teams. Krishnan had discovered a fishing village and it had led him to a rabbit hole of new, almost unbelievable information.

"Magic, huh?" Nitesh rubbed his eyes. "Is this for real or is my lack of sleep finally getting to me?"

"We only have the word of a fisherman. For all we know, he might have seen technology he could not comprehend and label it as magic." Birju replied

"But Chief Minister, Krishnan saw that fisherman make a fire out of nowhere with just his fingers!"

"There can be several scientific explanations. The fisherman might be trying to impress Krishnan with sleights of hand and petty tricks. I know Krishnan is capable, but he's young and easily impressionable."

"What about the Burning Water and Burning Rocks though? Do you think our petroleum and coal problems have been resolved?"

"Feh.." Ravi smirked. "If this 'magic' is real, then for all we know, this burning water could be just simple water that is cursed to burn. There are a lot of variables and I don't feel we have enough information for making diplomatic contact with a nation yet."

"On the other hand, I think it would be extremely prudent if we take action as soon as we can. This Quila Kingdom is poor, ill-equipped, and still in the middle ages. They have not yet realized the importance of the oil they are sitting on if it indeed is oil. If we play our cards right, we can short charge them."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Chief Minister. But isn't that a bit too greedy?" Nitesh asked

"You say it as if it's a bad thing. Greed has been the driving force of humanity ever since its inception. I don't see how this should be any different." Birju said. "What about the Grey Fleet's report?"

"The fleet split into two groups. The first group consisted of the KNS Rana and KNS Karmuk. They traveled to the north and found a landmass. This might be the Rodenius continent of which the Quilla Kingdom is a part." Nitesh continued, "The second group consists of KNS Ranjit and KNS Kuthar. They explored along the shorelines and are currently close to the fishing village Krishnan is at. They encountered a fleet from the Lowrian Kingdom and unfortunately had to sink the fleet after the Lowrian sailors tried to attack the ship."

"Any survivors?" Birju asked.

"Eleven survivors have been taken prisoner, including their Vice-admiral."

"Have they managed to send any information back to their headquarters?" Ravi asked.

"Regrettably, yes. However, they are under the impression that our sailors are from Mu. I have advised the COs of the ships to play along with the lie." Nitesh replied.

"Extract as much information as you can from the sailors and then do whatever you want with them. Have the Vice-Admiral jailed as a political prisoner. Once we have enough intelligence about the Louria Kingdom, we will use him as a bargaining chip. And tell Krishnan to continue diplomatic talks with Quilla." Birju instructed.

***

Fishing Outpost of the Quila Kingdom

Whatever Krishnan was expecting, it certainly was not this. 'Wolfmen, Bear-men and catgirls? What witchcraft is this?' He paced in the room that was allotted to him by his hosts. The world they transferred to was in the pre-medieval age, technologically speaking. The natives have never seen a car or heard of one. Gamas, their leader was a very well-traveled man and he had heard rumors about a 'horseless carriage' in the distant country of 'Mu' but he had not seen anything like that in the 'Third Civilization Area'. Krishnan was more than happy to tell him about the features of his Mahindra Thar SUV.

The presence of 'magic' also shocked Krishnan. There were spells to create wind, fire, and lightning. The strongest nation in the known world, the Holy Mirishial Empire used magic to make 'Iron Dragons' and extraordinary ships and weapons (at least according to Gamas). Krishnan stayed quite tight-lipped, telling Gamas only the vaguest of information about Kalinga, and pretended that he had never heard of flying machines.

The presence of 'Burning Water' and 'Burning Rocks' intrigued Krishnan. He had a feeling that Gamas was talking about crude oil and coal when he moaned about everything at the Quila Kingdom being on fire, be it water or rock. On further questioning, his suspicions were proven correct!

Krishnan and Gamas exchanged notes until sunset. The Kalinga delegation had a basic knowledge of global geopolitics now. There were five superpowers, with the nearest being the Parpaldian empire. It projected power through fear and had been expanding rapidly. 72 countries were under its control and the Empire's thirst was not showing any signs of getting quenched.

'Kalinga would be in a spot of trouble if the Parpaldian Empire sets its sights on us. But how are we going to fight against a well-established and trained army and navy? Our police forces deal with criminals, not war-hardened soldiers!' Krishnan had relayed his newfound knowledge and concerns to the Secretariat at Bhubaneswar and had received an order to go ahead with the diplomatic route. KNS Kuthar was on its way to provide extraction and travel to the nearest port of Quilla Kingdom for Krishnan and his men. The only caveat was that the team would not be allowed entry into Kalinga until they have been checked for possible infections and viruses.

Gamas alerted him about the message from his higher-ups. They were ready to entertain the diplomats of Kalinga. Krishnan could not have asked for anything better.