Origins of Chivalry: Chapter 12

[Arthur Talon]

Hex'ma Prime -

The party of questers materialized in the middle of a vast grassland. The single sun was high in the vibrant cerulium sky broken by only a few puffy white clouds. Insects buzzed in the warmth of a summer sun, and without any breeze it was a little too warm.

"Well, this is a bit of a shock to the system. It has to be at least 35 Celsius," Arthur said wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"Yeah, but this is the planet in my vision," Astrid said. She spun around trying to get her bearings. "There," she pointed, "That game trail. We need to follow it."

Arthur gave Diana a skeptical look, shrugged, and adjusted the phaser on his hip and started to fall in behind Astrid.

[Diana Talon]

"Feels good to be off the ship though." Diana said, trying to be positive, a trait that she definitely inherited from her mother and grandmother. "Reminds me of those Marine hikes Livvy's dad made us go on when mom and dad were on their annual 'honeymoon' trips."

"I honestly don't mind the heat... " Gale said with a smirk.

"Huge ass shock." Alex said with a slap upside his head. "Pyroboy is cool with the heat."

"Boys, be nice... " Diana said and shook her head. "So Astrid... how... far do you think where we're going is from here?"

[Astrid Vogler]

"I don't know," she admitted. "In my vision I walked a ways, but it wasn't this hot either so I don't have a clue."

"Great," Xander muttered under his breath as he checked his phaser rifle again.

"Relax Xan!" Livvy chided her twin brother. "There were no ships around, and the locals are at bow and arrow level of development and the closest settlement is over 50 kilometers away."

Xander give his sister a distinctly Klingon expression of disgust which only served to exaggerate his cranial ridges. He slung the rifle over his shoulder though. "You didn't come unarmed," he said pointing an accusing finger at her back were her bat'leth hung crossways.

"Standard away team proceedure," she said logically.

"Where in the regs does it say to bring a useless bat'leth to a potential gun fight?" He demanded. "You ain't even Klingon, but you strut around like you are one."

"We both have the same Klingon great-grandmother," Livvy said with annoyance. Just because you like to pretend that you don't isn't my-."

"Guys!" Arthur shouted in annoyance cutting Livvy off. "I swear you two act like you are ten, and not not 25 and older than Di and I. Stop the bickering and stay alert. we don't know what's over the next horizon. The kemocyte on this planet makes our tricorders useless."

[Diana Talon]

"I normally hate agreeing with Arthur, but he's right... and the ship's sensors are still being repaired, so we can't even count on it to help." Diana replied. "Course, Art... Xander, the bat'leth is useful... it won't run out of ammo and she's good with it." she winked at Livvy. "Although I do hope you brought something with more firepower. Because we are not walking all the way back to the landing zone to get you something."

[Livvy Sandoval]

Livvy stuck her tongue out at Diana and pointed at her buffer band, "I have BFG stored for just in case."

"Big Freaking Gun?" Arthur asked.

"Big Friendly Gun," Livvy said with a mischievous grin. "I use it when I need to reach out and touch someone." She pressed a button and an oversized rifle that had to weigh at least 15 kilos, and it was as long as she was tall beamed into her arms.

Arthur laughed, "If that's your "friendly" weapon I don't even want to know what your scary weapon is."

"You don't," she said grinning. "I call her Jill."

"Only you would give names to your weapons," Xander said in exasperation.

[Alexander Calhoun]

"Hey I call mine Kamilla." Alex said as he patted his heavy phaser pistol. "Named it after a girl I liked. Married some boring dude after high school. I think she's got like 20 kids and already on hubby number 4... still hot."

[Astrid Vogler]

"Men," Livvy said with a edge to her voice. "Always think with your crotch. It's a wonder we are all lesbians."

"I don't know," Astrid said. "Some aren't so bad. Of course my last relationship was with a woman so... well, maybe I ain't the best opinion on the matter."

They crested a rise and there was the stream with it's tree. "We're here," Astrid said.

"Yeah, but where is 'here'," Livvy said skeptically. "There's nothing but a tree."

"Exactly," Astrid said. "It's a marker."

She lead them down to the creek's edge. Astrid reached for her belt and drew her knife and at the base of the tree she dug. She didn't know why, hust something told her that she must. A nugget of information in the back of her mind.

Her blade struck something solid with a metallic scrape. With considerable determination she extracted a hard ball of earth. With excitement Astrid plunged the ball into the nearby water to clean it, and when it emerged from the water there was a multifaceted blue gem similar in appearance to a very large sapphire. It was about the size of a golf ball, and fascinatingly it has a soft blue glow.

"What the hell is that?" Arthur demanded just before a white light enveloped the entire party.

* * *

Astrid was sitting on the front porch of her house, though she had no idea how she knew this. All around her tall mountain peaks were capped with snow, and the air was fresh and clean, and the temperature was warm, but just a bit of a bite to need a hoodie.

A child was at her breast nursing greedily, with tufts of a red hair on his infant crown. A tow-haired girl all of about two or three was wearing a flowered sub dress. She giggled as she played a with a brindle boxer, its tongue lashing out in excitement.

"Molly, you father's going to be home soon. Come in and let's get you cleaned up for dinner," Astrid shouted.

She stood up with grass in her yellow hair and streaks of dog hair and saliva across her face and dress. "Okay mom!"

[Arthur Talon]

Arthur and Diana were in a large stone hall. There were hearths on either side of the room blazing. In the center of the room was a round table. The walls were lined with coats of arms and several wall sconces providing a dim yellow-orange glow to the room.

An ancient looking man with a staff in his gnarled fingers hobbled into the hall. His white beard hung to his belt, and the white hair on his head was thin and wispy. "Welcome to Camelot children of Arthur."

[Diana Talon]

"Children of... I'm so not your daughter Artie." Diana said with a disgusted look on her face.

[Arthur Talon]

The frail looking man gave Dianna a smile, "No, my dear you are not a child of your brother. You two represent the last of your line to carry the blood of King Arthur. Sit please," he said indicating the table.

"And yes, I know your parents still live, but their destiny lies elsewhere. Allow me to introduce myself. You know me as Merlin the Magician." He snapped his fingers, and a Narlin woman stood before them. "Your Narlin friends call me Narla." A snap of the fingers again and a younger version of Merlin appeared wearing a Terra Alpha Alliance Naval uniform, "And my people call me Q."