Here's the new one. It isn't TES yet, and I actually don't have a clue what I really want to do. All I wanted was to get an X-COM soldier into Tamriel. No better way to do that than with the biggest Elerium explosion in history. Hey, if it can create anti-gravity fields, hot plasma and big explosions it might just be able to make a rip into another dimension.



Prologue: Cydonia or bust.

Yet another bolt of superheated plasma flew past him at almost the speed of light. He came out of hiding and ran over to another row of chairs, firing of a few shots over his shoulder as he went. He skidded to a halt and dove behind the chairs. How long had this been going on? Twenty seconds?

,,Way too long for a single firefight. We’ve got to finish this one before the bugs creep up our back.” He thought when the chair in front of him was vaporized.
,,Damn! Terence, cut the playing and just vapo the whole room with a Blaster Bomb!” He shouted as he got up and fired at the two robed figures on the other end of the room. At least he managed to sent one of the aliens on a single trip to the afterlife. He didn’t got the chance to target the next one because the now empty clip popped out of his weapon.

He dropped the Heavy Plasma and aimed his much smaller but still powerful pistol.
,,Terence, what’s taking you so long?!” A quick glance showed him that Terence would never finish his job. His head had been cleanly blown away by a Plasma blast.
,,Damn, I’m the only one left.”He managed to kill the remaining alien more with luck than skill and lowered his pistol.

The room had been pretty much wasted from the plasma flying back and forth but the big thing that took up the far end of the room still seemed to be in good shape. He walked over to what was left of Terence and picked up the huge tube-like launcher.
,,If that big thing over there controls every bug in the system, I might as well make sure I take it out by using the biggest explosive ever seen.” He muttered to himself as he slipped one of the silvery football-shaped (American-style) Blaster Bombs into the launcher and began to type in the waypoints.

,,Why do you want to do that? It will only result in your death as well as mine. Don’t shoot me. There are better options.” The voice in his head was very convincing and he noticed that his hand moved on its own and cancelled all the waypoints.
,,No, the Avenger was blown up just after landing. I’ll be stuck on Mars till I run out of air anyway. We knew it was a suicide mission even before we left Earth. I’d rather go out in a big bang and take you monsters with me.” He told himself and his shaking hand typed in another set of waypoints.
,,Hasta la vista, baby. ” He spoke with a smirk and pressed the firing button.

The elerium-powered bomb shot out of the tube and raced towards the big alien thing at the end of the room. Just before reaching it, it stopped in mid-air and slid to the left in a manoeuvre that only anti-gravity propulsion could do. It then slammed into the wall and exploded.

What the man didn’t know was that there was a large number of Elerium Powercores standing right behind that wall. The Elerium inside those was also added to the already titanic explosion. The Explosion spread outward and completely vaporized the Alien device but began to change as it spread. It turned pinkish and then golden. The explosion was far different than every other explosion he’d ever seen. He didn’t get a chance to wonder about what happened for the explosion smacked into him like a giant skyscraper falling on top of him. He lost consciousness from the blow.

And the blast blow him straight to hel... Oblivion!

It will be intruiging to see how this man from a futuristic realm interacts with the somewhat "medieval" theme of The Elder Scrolls. Looking forward to seeing how that goes.

Cool start, sir. Somehow, I missed out on X-Com, but it is always listed as one of the legendary games. I was probably off trying to get Red Crystal to work or something.....

X-COM is definitely one of the best squad-based warfare games ever. Sure, it can't beat the new ones in terms of graphics or complexity but it is still good. I like how every action has mayor consequences. Your troops are very vulnerable even with the best armour. That's one reason why X-COM: Apocalypse was a dissapointment. Your troops were like walking tanks there. If I have to critisize it, it has to be the lack of civilians outside the Terror sites. There were never any farmers to worry about while all the barns got wasted by explosives.

Anyway, back to the story. Here you'll see one of the big problems assosiated with landing in a not so advanced society.



Chapter 1: By the Divines, there are people inside those Dwemer machines!

The colourful group of bandits moved along the rough path. Their last raid had been a good one, and they were on their way to their camp to celebrate. Suddenly, their leader stopped.
,,By the Daedra! Our camp, it’s ruined!” He blurted out and watched at the strange objects that were littered around what used to be the bandit’s camp. What looked like a metal man was sitting right in the pit they used as a toilet.

The bandits drew their weapons, ranging from sticks to a rusty Iron sword.
,,Lookie here, those filthy Dwarves decided to use our spot to dump their trash.” One of the bandits laughed. The leader frowned but said nothing. He already had enough worries with the Imperial Legion on his tail. He carefully moved over to the metal man.
,,Right, well it looks like one of those Dwarven things I once saw in a museum.” He muttered as he leaned in closer, with his sword ready at all times.

The metal man looked very odd to him. Even the face looked odd with what looked like two eyes made out of Ebony and a flexible horn of sorts protruding from one side. He tapped the biggest eye with his sword. The eye didn’t sound like Ebony. In fact none of the materials the man was made from seemed like anything he knew.
,,Right, whatever you are, I bet you’ll fetch a nice sum on the black market.”

,,There you are, Palladius Morcus. In the name of the Imperial Legion, you are charged for robbery, theft, murder, trespassing and….smuggling Dwemer artefacts has just been added to the list.”
The leader growled when he heard that familiar voice.
,,Not now, you stupid Legion woman.”
,,You’ll never get me alive! Get them, boys!” He shouted as he turned around.
The Legionaire captain smiled.
,,I hoped you were going to say that. I really prefer to hack you into little pieces anyway.” She responded.

The fight was short, but vicious. In the end, none of the bandits survived. The Legionaires hadn’t gotten away without a scratch either, and the healing potions were more than welcome.
,,Captain? What do we do with all this stuff that’s lying around?” One of the freshly healed Legionnaires asked.
,,It doesn’t quite look like Dwemer in the end. We’ll take it to my husband. He’d love to take a look at all this.”

The Legionaire grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
,,Did you say something?” The captain said with a smile.
,,It’s just that the damn mage always seems to be there to take the glory but he never is there to help us out when things get rough.” The Legionnaire complained.
,,Well you didn’t complain when you drank one of the healing potions he provided. Now load it all on a cart. We’ll start with our steel man over there.”
The Legionnaire got all red but managed to recompose himself enough to bark a few orders.


,,Ow, my head hurts. How long have I been out? There’s still some oxygen in the tanks so it can’t have been more than two hours. That blast should have vaporized me. I wished it did, I don’t want to suffocate.” These and several more thoughts went through his head. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of trees and a blue sky.

,,Earth? What am I doing on Earth? Did the bugs bring me here? They would rather pull me through an autopsy so it can’t have been them. A rescue-mission? No, unless X-COM managed to find enough Elerium to fill up the Lightning and then somehow flew it all the way to Mars, any attempt to retrieve me would take months. Even if there was a second Avenger, they would never have arrived on time. So I can’t possibly be on Earth.” He realized that the only explanation for his current location was that he was dreaming. But the shaking felt very real. It felt as if he was lying on the back of a truck that was being driven over a very rough road.

,,Wherever I am, I doubt that I’m in the hands of the good guys. Come on Gerard, time to get back on your legs and get the hell out of here. You don’t need any freaking civilians who think they’re dealing with some sort of robot.” He tried to move his arm, but had to give up after a bit. He was simply too heavy to move. A quick glance at the small display in front of his eyes showed the weight of his situation.
,,Brilliant, that blast knocked the Elerium out of position. Without those rocks to create an anti-gravity field, my suit weighs a ton. I can’t even lift my hands far enough to remove my helmet. On top of that, my radio got fried so I can’t ask for help. Wow, I never dreamt that I would suffocate while there was a whole atmosphere to breath just beyond my helmet.” The rest of his airtank was used to voice some profanities that no one managed to hear.

And the plot heads in the hoped-for direction. Looks like there is going to be some fun in store- misunderstandings, fights, alliances of convenience, fights....

More update-goodness. Due to several problems involved with the Cyrodiilic language and English, I have decided to go for a magical translating amulet that will show up in the next one.



The Breton who appeared on the doorstep of the building was practically jumping once he got sight of the Imperial Patrol, and what they had brought.
,,Lovely, sweetie. I’ll have it brought to my room right away.” Anything else he might have wanted to say was muffled by the hand covering his mouth.
,,Don’t call me sweetie in front of the guards.” The captain whispered.

,,Sorry, but I really like this. It is somewhat similar to Dwemer, but there are quite a few differences with what we know. There are no holes to breath through, so it is clear we are looking at some sort of construct and not a heavy suit of armour.” The captain turned around and ignored her husband.
,,Alright men, let’s get drunk.” She said and marched of to the nearest tavern.

The Breton and several other mages who had appeared attempted to lift the metal man off the cart but soon found out that they lacked the needed muscle.
,,Right, we’ll do this the easy way.” The Breton muttered as he rolled up his sleeves. Several feather spells later, He could easily carry it all by himself and wasted no time to get to his room.

,,Alright, let’s see what we have here.” The Breton grabbed a few scraps of paper and enthusiastically began to write on what he saw.
,,Main bulk of it is made from an unknown type of metal. It looks like it is made out of several large pieces that are very smooth. Looks like the blacksmith who made this one is a true master. Two black and round eyes made from a different kind of unknown material. They’re different in size. Maybe that means that one eye is for long-distance viewing and the other for short-distance? One horn sticking out of the side. It is too flexible to be used as a weapon, maybe it is for decoration. All known constructs are Dwemer in origin, so there is a large possibility that this is a previously unknown form of Centurion.”

He leaned in closer to one of the shoulders.
,,What do we have here? It looks like some sort of symbol that’s like a small bump in the shoulder-piece. A skull above a….cross? Well, there is a skull and this thing is clearly very robust so I suppose it is meant for combat. Wait, what’s this near the neck?”
He carefully touched the small button in the thing’s neck with a finger. There was another button on the other side. He pressed both at the same time and with a loud click, the head was separated from the rest of its body. He carefully lifted the head up.
,,Hmm, the whole head can come off. Maybe for maintenance? By the Divines, there are people inside those Dwemer machines!”

He had to take a few deep breaths to calm down.
,,Keep calm, Andre. There has to be a reason why a Nord would suit up in weird armour with no way to breath. Talking about breathing, it looks like this fellow has recently suffocated.”
He ran out of his room and into the main hall of the building.
,,I need a healer, quick!”

Several hours later.

He awoke with a really bad feeling. He was thirsty, hungry and his body ached all over.
,,Right, this is so weird. This is the second time in a row that I face certain death and I still wake up somehow. Hmm, I can move my fingers. Someone must have removed my suit. Did X-COM find me?” He opened his eyes rather hesitatingly. Who he saw definitely wasn’t a member of X-COM. Or else a robe-craze had suddenly took form while he was off blasting bugs on Mars.

The man said something that sounded like complete nonsense. The only thing that was clear was his name, Andre Charien.
,,Lovely, why didn’t I decide to learn every language in the world while I had the chance? Hmm, I bet he won’t understand me either. I’ll just forget about my cover and tell the real story. He won’t know anyway.”
,,Gerard Dreyfus, commander of North Division beta squad. I’m a member of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. As by the agreement of pretty much the whole world, it is your duty to take me to the nearest military base where I can hitch a ride back to where I came from. Of course you’re too dumb to know what I’m saying, so some booze in the meantime would be great.”

The Breton, Andre, didn’t understand a thing of what the man was saying.
,,Oh, it must be one of those Skyrim peasants that run around in animal skins. Don’t ask me where he found that armour though.”
He turned to an assistant who had been quietly standing in the corner.
,,Go and fetch one of those Clearvoice amulets.” He ordered while he looked at the weird Nord.
,,And tell the alchemists to make a meal and get something to drink for this guy while you’re at it.” He added.

Hehe, many drinking references in this post

This is steadily intriguing me, too bad I might be a little too young for X-Comm, because I've never heard of it before this. Sounds sorta like Starcraft too me, though maybe it's not a RTS game.

Hrm... this will be interesting to say the least... Odd question: When will the Space Marines fall from the sky in drop Pods? (Warhammer 40K)

Going strong- excellent humor and great descriptions. I forsee much fun ahead...

Mallet, I doubt that you're too young for X-COM. I only got involved with it about two(?) years ago. You can get it at various places, including the big internet. Just check google.

Darkhunter, no space marines. I'm not all that familiar with Warhammer 40K but from what little I do know, they'd totally own X-COM. (Normal humans with maybe psionic powers using Plasma weapons that can blast through brick walls and walk around in big flying suits with maybe a miniature tank for backup vs SUPERSOLDIERS wearing POWERED ARMOUR and actually using TANKS and such. Not to mention planetbusting spaceships.)

Well, update time. I'll have to think the next bit over. I intend on working with the differences between earth armies and the Tamriel version.




Gerard had no idea why they suddenly seemed so intent on hanging a funny necklace around his neck. He really didn’t need one.
,,Get that thing away from me! I’m a soldier, a tough guy! I don’t need any fancy jewelry!” He shouted while making some futile attempts to push away the necklace. It appeared he was still weakened a bit from his ordeal.
,,There you go, Nord. Now you did have some very funny ideas, getting into a suit of armour that didn’t allow you to breath. But our healer had just the spell to heal you. Welcome to the Kvatch Mage guild, where we study magic for knowledge and profit.”

Gerard had to blink a couple of times. So the damn man did know English.
,,Nord? Are you trying to insult me? And what the heck is this nonsense about magic and stuff? Are you some kind of fantasy nerd? And you should have told me earlier that you could speak English!” He shouted at the Breton.
,,There’s no need to be so rude. I only deal with fact, not fantasy. Cyrodiil isn’t like back in that frozen pit you call Skyrim. This is the most civilized province on the continent of Tamriel and so we deal with magic because magic is the civilized way to solve problems. And I don’t speak English, you are wearing a Clearvoice amulet that translates things.” Andre replied rather fanatically.
,,I don’t know anything about Cyrodiil or Skyrim but I do know every continent on the planet by name and location! There is no continent named Tamriel! And finally, magic doesn’t excist, only sufficiently advanced technology and a tiny bit of Psionics.”

The two stared at each other for a while.
,,Right. If there is no Tamriel and magic doesn’t excist, then how do I light that candle over there?” Andre finally spoke and launched a small fireball at the candle. Gerard’s eyes went wide at the sight.
,,Eh, implants?” He stammered.
,,And what’s an implant?”

,,Right, this is really getting weird. I might even start to think that this is not earth! But then why the hell am I talking to a human here? The bugs sure as hell didn’t do enough abductions to get enough people to put up a whole industry. I refuse to believe that everything in this room is made by just a handful of people. What did the lightbulbs at base call this, a parallel universe? Hmm, I’ve seen weird things in the last couple of months, I can handle this.” The X-COM soldier thought to himself.
,,So let’s assume that this is Tamriel and that magic does exist. That means I’ll likely will be stuck here for a while. Got any jobs? I used to be a top-class elite of the elite soldier.”
Andre smiled.
,,Good, my wife is captain in the legion which upholds the law around here. She recently lost a few good men and I’m sure she’d like a good replacement. I’ll introduce you tomorrow. But now, eat.”

Well it's good to hear I'm probably not young enough for X-Com, I guess it just went under the radar where I am...

You have a nice, humorous story going on right now. Perhaps I'll be inspired to get X-Com from reading this.

Looking forward to the next post. I wonder if he'll be able to handle a sword/bow/weapon...

Alright if not W40K (you're right by the way Cloudy...) how about the pitiful marines from Starcraft?

Heh heh heh that X-Com is totally lost

Oh yeah. OH YEAH. "Sweetie", eh ? "Clearvoice Amulet", eh ?? The next thing I know, we'd be seeing something like that fantasy weapon of mine... Dwemer ASMD Shock Rifle BUT I LIKE IT ! KICK MUCHO BUTT, EARTHLING !!!

Even though I´m not at all familiar with the X-com I find this story amusing and intriguing! A very nice approach and I´m looking forward to see how it´s turning out!

Starcraft Marines? Oops, Starcraft is one of those games I've heard about, but never seen. Sorry, but no. This story was specifically meant as a X-COM TES cross-over. The only sci-fi universes I'm sufficiently familiar with for a story is Star Trek, Star Wars and X-COM. I picked X-COM cause it is my favourite. (Though phasers are arguably much better guns than the plasma weapons from X-COM)

And if anyone wants to know more about X-COM, I suggest you visit www.xcomufo.com.




The food was surprisingly good. So was the alcoholic beverage he received.
,,So they aren’t total barbarians here. Good, gods know how good it was to get drunk after having half your squad turned into zombies. I better not ask them what I’m eating though. I might not like the answer.” He thought to himself as he ate it all.
,,Now I want you to take me to my suit and get some tools.” He demanded once he was done.

The mages took him to where they’d dropped all of his equipment. He made a quick list of what there was. His trusty Heavy Plasma was dropped in a corner and a three of the banana-shaped clips were lying on the other end of the room. He made a small mental calculation and concluded that he could pull the trigger 96 times. Not too shabby, considering that a Heavy Plasma had the firepower of a big Rocket launcher with the speed of an automatic rifle. There were a bunch of grenades, his motion detector, a medical kit and his Plasma pistol. Finally, his Flying Suit was lying in the center of the room next to a pile with bits of alloy.

,,Let’s see where the problem is.” He muttered and removed the back piece. He ignored the dents in the outer shell and instead focussed on the internals. All things equal, the anti-gravity module was surprisingly simple. All you needed was a lump of E-115, also known as Elerium, a few particle accelerators and some alloys to transfer the anti-gravity field. The problem was simple enough. It looked like the Elerium had shot loose out of the clamp and knocked one of the particle accelerators out of position.

Fixing it wouldn’t take more than a few hours. The only real problem was the fact that his chance of finding more Elerium to fuel it were practically zero.
,,Just how did you breath in it?” The Breton asked for the tenth time.
,,Never heard of internal tanks filled with compressed air?” Gerard mumbled and pulled out the broken particle accelerator.
,,Annoying idiot.” He thought to himself.

Next day.

,,And this is where we garrison the legion.” Andre concluded as if he was a tourist guide. Gerard looked at it with a frown. The whole thing looked like a medieval castle and the ‘guards’ looked quite a bit like Roman Legionnaires.
,,So, where’s Julius Ceasar?” He joked.
,,Eh, who?” The Breton replied.
,,Nevermind, I guess this isn’t Rome after all.”

,,Swee…Captain, I brought you a volunteer!” The Breton shouted across the plaza.
Gerard wasn’t paying too much attention. He was occupied with looking at all the guards.
,,Pathetic. This place is pathetic.”,,Right, a Nord?”
Gerard looked at the woman in front of him who was, like everyone, dressed up in the local armour.
,,For your information, I am not a Nord, whatever that may be. If you like to put a tag on me, call me an European. Now I suppose that you’re in charge here, captain?” He emphasized the word ‘captain’. Just to show that he wasn’t impressed.
,,I’d better not tell her that I outrank her, at least if we were using Earth standards. I’ll just play along cause I’m the stranger around here."

The captain frowned.
,,An European? Must be some sort of religion. Fine, since you look rather well-muscled to me, I’ll give you the big one.” She said and handed over a huge sword. Gerard took it with a sceptic look.
,,A sword? You expect ME to use a sword? I think you don’t get it. I’m a soldier, I use guns! Guns, not swords, guns!” He blurted out but managed to calm himself down soon enough. He just realized that there likely weren’t any guns on the planet with the exception of his own Plasma weapons. And he wasn’t planning on using the irreplaceable clips of those.

The captain rolled her eyes.
,,Whatever. You are a member of the Imperial legion now, so I expect you to use that Steel Claymore. As for me, I’m Audania Rulician but you will refer to me as captain.” She shook her head.
,,Andre, just take him back with you and make sure he’s ready for the job tomorrow.” She said and walked away.
Gerard flashed a short salute at her back and also turned around. He already had a plan.
,,Do you mage guys know a way to create electricity, the stuff you find in Lightning?” He asked his Breton companion on the way back to the mage guild.
,,Well, we do know a few spells that create lightning. Why do you want to know?”
,,You’ll see.”

Lets see how dear Gerard does with a sword instead of his Stubber (Sorry Stubbers what I call most guns... having play W40K Wa-ay too long)

Wooo! I can't wait to see Gerard in action with a sword. I'm sure it might be hilarious!

I agree. This IS tunring out to be rather interesting.

Mind you, this is after all a professional soldier/murder-death-killer/asswhooper from Terra we're talking about here now we'll just see how military training makes one well adaptable to all sorts of weapons... I can just feel it in me bones - this guy is gonna kick 2 much butt ! [with or without Plasma and/or Shock weapons]

yeah, but unfortunately said professional soldier/murder-death-killer/asswhooper from Terra has only fought aliens for the last few months and a sword is pretty much worthless against those. So he'll have to improvise while he's gunless.


Gerard looked at the metal structure he’d made with more than just a bit of pride. He wasn’t an engineer, but he still knew how to do the simple things. Getting those mages to give him the needed resources had been the easy thing. He just needed to say that it all was for the pursuit of knowledge.

,,Good, start firing those spells of yours.” He spoke to the assembled mages and waited till his new toy was struck by lightning. He picked up one of the few scraps of alloy lying around and held it within the now glowing metal structure while making sure he kept clear of the lightning dancing around. The alloy in his hands became surprisingly soft and he carefully shaped it into a simple tube.
,,This is what we call electro-magnetism. It is the only way you can manipulate these alloys. Once you get them outside the magnetic field, they become the toughest metal in the known universe. For your information, this place isn’t the known universe so there might be tougher stuff lying around.” He explained while he molded a second tube.

,,And now, we’ve got a gunpart.” He whispered as he held up the two tubes.
,,It looks like a staff to me.”
Gerard rolled his eyes and sighed.
,,Mages.”
,,A gun is a bit more complex than that big strip of steel you guys call a sword. This is just the barrel. I’ll draw down the rest of the design on a bit of paper and take it to a smith in the morning. For now, I’m hungry so I’m gonna see if I can’t get something to eat.”

The next day he went back to the fort. This time, he was alone. As he’d said to Andre, getting lost was deadly in his profession. Just the fact that he was still alive should be proof enough that he wouldn’t get lost in the city. He dropped in by one of the local smiths to drop his design for the simple rifle and then continued on his path.

He looked at every guard he passed with some worry.
,,Come on, these guys are just like the local police. What could possibly be so dangerous about this job?” He told himself. But he also realized that where he came from, the police didn’t find it necessary to dress up in heavy armour and wield big swords. He was grateful for the fact that he wasn’t running around in guard armour. He didn’t want to find out just why the guards where dressed up like that.

To his embarrassment, he did got lost a couple of times when he ran into the wrong alley. As a result, he was a bit late for his meeting.
,,You’re late…European. I do hope you learn to be on time.” The captain told him dryly.
,,My name is Gerard Dreyfus. I won’t bother you with my military rank cause I’m in the wrong army anyway. Anything you want me to do for my money?” Gerard responded in exactly the same tone.
,,Just show me how you can handle that sword of yours.”

Gerard took the sword out of its scabbard that hung on his back.
,,Right, this is just like tennis. Just give it a big swing.” He muttered to himself and swung with all the strength he could muster, which was a lot. He forgot to remember the weight of the sword and failed to slow it down, causing him to spin around, lose his balance and fall on his back.
,,Yeah, just laugh. Morons. I’d love to see you laugh when you’re standing in front of a Sectopod.” He grumbled and crawled back up to his feet amidst lots of laughter. His second attempt was more careful and he noticed that the sword was more controllable if he swung it around in large sweeping arcs that were much slower than his first swing.

,,It needs some work but it will do. You’ll patrol with me today. Just stay out of the way and see how it is done.” Was the captain’s comment. Gerard muttered a few not so polite words under his breath but managed to keep his expression neutral.

I wonder what Gerard is going to use for ammunition for his gun in-the-making. Is he going to forged bullets, or somehow make plasma... only time will tell.

Hopefully that time will come quickly!

I doubt he could make plasma... prehaps he'll find some use for magic (Wouldn't he be surprised by Life drain bullets?)

I can wait besides... they might laugh and make jokes about him now, but once he gets his gear up & running... bwhahahahaaa...

I was thinking of bullets personally. The Plasma used in X-COM is exotic and very destructive. And he needs Elerium for it which is a substance he can't find in Tamriel. But I am thinking of magic in some ways. Maybe he'll tie a ring with a light spell to it to act as a lasersight?
And oh yeah, when he finds it necessary to take out the big stuff. Let's just say that no castle wall can handle the mighty powers he wields.




Back on patrol, he devoted most of his time looking at the people. He began to see the need for all the heavy gear the guards used. While most people were unarmed and looked like simple citizens, there were also a few who openly paraded with clubs, bows, axes, swords and other stuff that could be quite lethal if properly wielded. In fact, some looked like they easily could go toe-to-toe with one of the guards.
,,Oh dear, I seriously doubt that all those weapons are just for show. I’d better start practicing with a sword before someone knocks my head off. Maybe I can get the captain so far that she’ll allow me to trade in this big lump of steel for something smaller and more manageable.” He forced a thin smile on his lips at that thought.
,,What did I get myself into?”

The captain put a hand on his shoulder and pointed at a dark-skinned human among the crowd.
,,See that bump under his clothes? Let’s see what you think of it, sir Dreyfus.” She spoke.
Gerard looked at the man she was pointing at.
,,Hmm, looks like a big grenade. I’d say, enough to blow you in two. Oops, wrong planet. Looks like a pointy object. Sorry, I’m not the expert on what people carry under their clothes around here.” He responded.
,,That bump has the exact shape of a Dwemer cog. Trading in Dwemer artefacts is illegal. I’ll go and interrogate him, see how he responds. You stay here and keep out of trouble.”

While the captain went to talk to the dark-skinned man, Gerard leaned back against a wall. His attention soon drifted to more interesting things.
,,Now you look like a dependable friend, Nord.” Gerard looked around to see who had spoke to him but didn’t saw anyone. He then looked down and saw what looked like a child. Except that this child had the features of an adult and weird pointy ears.
,,Oh my god.” Gerard muttered.
,,Elves, can things get any weirder?”

The little Bosmer had apparently seen Gerard’s words as a signal to continue.
,,You see, there is this bad man and I can’t get rid of him. Then I thought, why don’t I hire a strong adventurer to dispose of that man?”
Gerard, who already felt where this was going, interrupted the Elf.
,,No, I don’t rough up people for money. Well, I do but I don’t rough up people without a very good reason. I only rough up people who are ruining the planet. So why don’t you ask the guards?” He said as he looked down on the little man.

The Bosmer looked around agitatingly.
,,Are you crazy? There is no crime. I just don’t like it that he’s nosing into my business. I can’t tell the guards that!” He whispered. Gerard began to see the full picture.
,,In the name of the United Nations of Earth…..eh, nevermind. What I was trying to say is: You’re under arrest, punk! Put your hands where I can see them! You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can be used against you at court. You have the right to hire a lawyer. If you can’t afford one, you will receive one for free. Do they even have lawyers here?”

He stopped at the sound of a big yell.
,,European, get over here!”
He looked up and saw that the Redguard was running away, with the captain in pursuit. Gerard weighed his options. He could either continue arresting the little Elf in front of him for what was likely a simple crime or help chasing the sword-bearing man. He chose for the latter and ran off.

Ahhh, Gerard runs into his first elf, and one of the annoying sorts too!

At least he handled it moderately well. I wonder how catching the crook will go.

He's about to get Swords: lesson 101

I suppose lesson 101 is: Don't use a sword if you don't know how to use it? Anyway, here's the chase.



He easily overtook the captain thanks to his lack of armour. That was perhaps the advantage of the police on earth, they didn’t had a lot of metal to slow them down. Then again, on earth you had donuts so things were quite equal. Shaking of the thought, he went into a small alley that ended in a wall with a small door.

There he found the culprit who was banging on the door in an attempt to break through.
,,You’re under arrest. Drop your weapons and kick them across the floor towards me. Do not even think of making any sudden moves. I’m as lethal as they get and you don’t want to mess with me.” Gerard shouted as he blocked the only way out of the narrow alley. The man stopped banging on the door and looked at the soldier, giving Gerard a good chance to see what he was talking to.

The man’s skin was very dark and had a greyish hue. His ears were pointed like those of the Elf he tried to arrest earlier, though this man was at least a head taller than the little bugger. The most notable feature were his crimsonred eyes.
,,Creepy.” Gerard mumbled to himself. He noticed the balcony the man was standing under, with two slender wooden pillars for support.

,,I won’t surrender, Nord. Die, Fetcher!” The man spat and drew his sword, which appeared to be a longsword made of a strange black crystal. Gerard stumbled backwards while he tried to wrestle his own sword out of its scabbard. He leaned back and evaded the first blow which struck the wall instead and a strange glowing cloud erupted across the blade’s surface. As a result, the Dunmer lost his balance for a moment and Gerard got his chance to unsheathe his sword.

It didn’t help much. Not only was he a complete amateur with the big Claymore but he also simply didn’t have enough room. He just couldn’t beat the man with his sword. He stepped back to evade a couple and then managed to parry the last blow by pure luck. He dropped his Claymore and grabbed his opponent by the wrist before lunging forward with his full weight. One elbow to the face, and the Dunmer staggered backwards. He had already dropped his sword after Gerard crushed his wrist. Gerard picked up both swords and pointed them at the Dunmer.
,,As I was saying, you’re under arrest. Any last words?” He spoke in a grim tone.

The Dunmer smiled and raised his hands as if he was going to surrender. Instead, a black cloud flowed out of his hands that obscured Gerard’s vision.
,,Oh, you’re going to pay for that, bugbrain! No one is allowed to blind me!” Gerard shouted and smacked away the pillars that held up the balcony. The wooden platform crashed down on the Dunmer and pressed him to the floor.
,,For the third time, you’re under arrest.” Gerard growled and pressed the tip of the long sword against the Elf’s neck.

Fortunately, the captain had managed to catch up before the Dunmer would have done anything that would put Gerard in the position to arrest him for the fourth time. Maybe the fact that she’d found a few guards to join her was one of the reasons why the Dunmer was suddenly so calm.
,,You got lucky, sir Dreyfus. They’ll take it from here.” The captain told and motioned towards the guards.
,,No need to thank me. Can I keep his sword? I can’t handle the damn Claymore. It’s too clumsy.” Gerard complained which caused the captain to frown.
,,Go ahead. Just keep an eye on it. Ebony weapons are valuable. Enchanted Ebony weapons are even more valuable.” She muttered.

Oookay, here's an idea: since he is a sort of a Commando, why not make him a Hand-to-hand specialist ? Say, let him beat the crap out of annoying s'wits who are breaking The Law ?...

Well, I had him fail the introductory's test so he won't be a guard. But hey, he can still go beat up bandits in the country side. And I think I'm going to keep the 'angry cop' attitude. Oh boy, I can't wait to write the next update. Bandits against ex-alienhunter with a primitive rifle.


Gerard looked at his new sword for a while. He had no idea of what was valuable in this place and what wasn’t. So if this sword was so valuable, then how did a simple smuggler get one? He decided to ask.
,,There are several ways to obtain one. One way is to be filthy rich and buy one. Another is by becoming an adventurer and getting lucky. Yet another way is to have an illegal trade that is quite profitable. Dwemer artefacts are valuable on the right markets and unfortunately adventurers run into smugglers almost all the time.”

Fortunately, the rest of the day was spent without any further incidents. Needless to say, Gerard was very relieved when they approached the castle again. He might be a walking miracle with a gun, but he was just an amateur with a sword. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had noticed his lack of skill.
,,You’ve failed the test. You’re not good enough to become a guard. You’re too serious about trying to capture the criminals alive. I can’t have a guard who puts the life of a smuggler before his own. Maybe you can ask my husband for work. The mages usually have need for someone to scour the country-side for whatever those mages do.” The captain told him as plain as if she was commenting on the weather.

That stung him. He knew she was right but it still stung him. He’d been chosen for a top-secret project before and had been the only line standing between Earth and the aliens but now he’d failed to become a simple cop. It stung him. His weakness was that he couldn’t bring himself to kill a human, or someone who was almost human. He swallowed hard.
,,I get it. Bye.” He whispered and left.

The smith turned out to know his job. Despite never having even heard of a gun, the green-skinned man had managed to make a fine twin-barreled rifle with the help of Gerard’s sketches. He’d even corrected small mistakes. Gerard paid the Orc before heading back to the guild hall where he told the news.
,,Too bad. But she’s right about one thing. We are always in need of strong people to scour the land. That’s the problem with pursuing knowledge. You usually lose your muscles.” Andre said with a small smile.
,,We do need a couple of plants. Maybe you can go look tomorrow? Don’t forget to pack your weapons though, bandits are all over the place these days.” He added.
Gerard frowned.
,,Damn, I guess I’ll start making bullets then. I’ll need a bit of iron, a bucket with water and a metal tube for the bullet itself. I’ll also need paper and something that explodes when you pound on it. Do you guys have that?” He asked.
Andre grinned.
,,More for the pursuit of knowledge? I’ll see what I can do.” He chuckled.
,,No, this is for the pursuit of firepower. Till I can handle a sword, I’m going to pack a rifle.” Gerard replied in a more serious tone.

...... man Jack you've made an extremely interesting story. You have my rapt attention......, but I'm more of a Halo person myself.


Oh and about starcraft marines their one of the most versitile infantry in the game

Alchemists are the key here. Alchemists!

Hopefully Gerard becomes armed before running into those bandits, it would be shame to have him stabbed to death.

most pitiful excuse for power armour ever...

Back on topic... Giving up the life of a guard? Good for him!

Yea, Instant Slaughter



Fudge... I officially like this guy now. Get him to "Lucky Lockup", Balmora, any bloody given night, and I'll give'im a lesson or two in alchemy, along with few (FEW ?!) rounds of Sujjama.


DOuble-barrel shotgun ? OUCH. That will hurt. A LOT. Bwhahah...

Maybe Starcraft marines are versatile, but they'll be hard pressed to be more versatile than an X-COM soldier. The average X-COM soldier is well skilled in the use of: Stunning weapons, Laser weapons, Plasma weapons, Projectile weapons (worst guns in the game, but they can still handle them.), Grenades, Rocket launchers, melee weapons (the stun-rod), medikits, motion detectors and the insanely powerfull remote-controlled Blaster Bomb.

If you're unlucky, you run into a psy who can take over your mind from a distance. And an X-COM soldier never fights alone.

And now, Gerard learns rule number 1 in TES: No underground area is uninhabited.




Chapter 2: Out in the woods.

,,From blowing up aliens with high-tech weaponry to collecting flowers in a forest. What a life.” He muttered to himself with a chuckle and cut off a leaf from one of the plants he’d been looking for.

He’d left early that morning, feeling quite confident in his abilities to deal with any bandit he might encounter. Most of his confidence came from the new rifle on his back and the bag filled with hand-made bullets at his side. He’d also decided to bring along the Ebony longsword for when things became a bit too close-range for comfort.

So far, he hadn’t encountered anyone and had began to believe that all those bandit stories were exaggerated. He whistled a tune while he put the leaf in the bag with ingredients. The sun had reached its highest point and it was getting rather warm. Gerard also felt a bit hungry. Luckily for him, he spotted a door inside a rock not too far away from the road.

He moved over to investigate. The door looked like it could fall out of its hinges at any moment.
,,This place must have been abandoned for a while now. They probably moved to the city. It’ll be the perfect place for lunch in there.”
He opened the door and walked inside, pleased with the cool air.

A flickering on the walls told him that the place wasn’t empty after all. It looked like there was a campfire burning. Gerard rounded the corner to see three people sitting around the expected campfire.
,,Hi, everyone. It’s pretty hot out there, so mind if I join you for a moment?” He spoke in a cheerful voice to draw their attention.

The three Imperials looked around and began to laugh when they saw that Gerard hadn’t drawn his weapons.
,,Foolish Nord, did Skyrim freeze your brains? We’re bandits who rob people. Do you have anything valuable on you?” One of them said with an evil grin as they all stood up and drew their weapons.

Gerard muttered a few curses, took out his rifle with one hand, put his other hand in the small bag at his belt to take out two bullets and shoved them inside the barrels of his rifle. It all took just a bit longer than it had taken the bandits to draw their daggers. He took aim and pressed the trigger.

The bullet shattered a big cup near the campfire. The bandits all recoiled in shock as the huge bang echoed through the cave and a small puff of smoke came out of the rifle. Gerard brought his rifle around and aimed it at the nearest bandit.
,,Yeah, I’ve got a bunch of bullets to the head if you don’t shut up, Muton breath.” He said with his teeth bared.
The bandits re-evaluated their situation and stepped forward again.

Another bang and another puff of smoke, this time accompanied by a scream as the bullet severed the bandits hand from the wrist. The hand was still holding the dagger when it hit the floor. Gerard made use of the confusion to reload. He was quite impressed with his rifle.
,,Last warning. Get out of here and think of a different profession. If I see you again, I’ll tear of all your limbs. The same goes for your friends. Now drop your weapons and beat it!”

Once the bandits had cleared the cave, Gerard emptied his rifle and sat down near the campfire. His reluctance towards killing people didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to inflict permanent damage. He calmly picked up each of the daggers and stuck them behind his belt. He might be able to make a small profit from selling them. He sat down near the campfire and had his lunch.

After his lunch, he looked around the rest of the cave for anything he might be able to use. The bandits he’d scared away hadn’t been very succesfull lately, and he only came up with some shoes, clothes and a few coins.
,,Just why do these bandits steal clothes? Clothes aren’t a rare commodity.” He muttered to himself and shook his head. He went outside to find the remaining flowers he had been looking for. There were no more bandits to be seen.

I just thought of something... Imagine when he gets back to the future in Full Deadric with an Ebony longsword

There's just something about that line that makes me grin

More more!

So Gerald just owned a bunch of bandits

But like I said I prefer Halo.

And now I like him even more next time, aim for the knees


Enchanted, even !

I figured it was time to bring out the big stuff for once. Well, not the biggest stuff but size isn't everything.



When he arrived back at Kvatch, the mage guild was in total chaos, with mages running all over the place. Gerard reached for the rifle on his back but the laughing faces of the mages stopped his hand. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t anything to worry about. He looked around till he spotted Andre the Breton.

,,Hey, what’s going on here?” He shouted above the noise and grabbed the Breton by his arm.
,,What? Oh, Gerard. It’s good to see that you’re back with the ingredients. We’ve just received wonderful news. The Emperor is coming!” Andre shouted back.
Gerard blinked.
,,The Emperor? You mean there’s actually an emperor coming to visit this hall?”
,,No, not an emperor. THE Emperor. Uriel Septim himself will visit Kvatch tomorrow.”

Every single citizen of Kvatch had lined up on the streets the next day in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Emperor. Among those people was Gerard Dreyfus who was wearing a robe he’d borrowed from an Orc mage. Andre had kept bugging him to wear a robe for hours. Gerard had finally agreed in the end, though he still felt a bit ridiculous in the deep blue robe.

He put his hand in one of the robe’s pockets and felt the reassuring shape of his old Plasma pistol. Wearing weapons openly was forbidden on this day but he’d already learned that being unarmed in Tamriel was a bad idea. If this meant that he might spent a some of his irreplaceable Plasma clips, so be it. Dying was an option he would never consider. Besides, he knew that he wasn’t the only one who carried a hidden weapon around.

The parade came in view. First came the local Kvatch garrison with Andre’s wife, the captain who had told Gerard he wasn’t good enough, among them. Then came Legionnaires from the capital who were finally followed by people who Andre identified as ‘Blades’. Then an open coach came in sight and Gerard finally got to see the Emperor.

Uriel Septim looked like an old, frail man and who could be crushed any moment by all the jewels he wore as a sign of his rule. But a single look at the man’s face told Gerard that this truly was an Emperor and a man he could respect. Uriel Septim had seen and endured terrible things but he clearly hadn’t been broken and he kept his head up in a proud manner.

An odd movement in the crowd on the opposite side of the street caught Gerard’s attention. A small group of people had begun to follow the Emperor while sticking to the shadows. This triggered Gerard’s instincts, which had been honed by the most terrible enemy a human had ever faced. He began moving himself to keep up with them and brought his hand in his pocket where he gripped his pistol.

The further they walked, the more worried he became. As the Emperor neared the castle, the streets became less crowded and all the guards seemed to become less wary as they knew that they would be alone soon. Alone, but unaware of the people who stalked them. Gerard ducked inside an alley and got rid of the robe. He didn’t want to trip over it if trouble came knocking. He wore his X-COM uniform underneath. It had originally included a Kevlar vest, but they’d learned after the first engagement with the aliens that Kevlar was totally useless against Plasma. As a result, the Kevlar vest had been removed to reduce weight, thereby also eliminating all of its defensive properties. Gerard decided that he would keep his distance if possible.

Gerard came out of the alley and ran to catch up with the parade. Just before the Emperor reached the gates of the castle, the stalkers struck.

Uriel Septim was tired. He wasn’t the youngest and things like this were hard for him. He would prefer to just stay home and in his bed but if the people never saw him, then why should they follow him? His mind drifted off towards more pleasant things, such as the bad he would take. He could see the gates to the castle. Just a few more minutes, and he could rest.

A sudden shout woke him from his dreams and he looked around to identify the source. A group of people wearing strange robes had thrown themselves on his Blades. Magicka engulfed them and frightening suits of armour took shape.
,,Bound armour? These aren’t normal assassins. What is going on?” The Emperor thought.
One of the assassins broke through the lines and jumped on the coach.
,,The Mythic Dawn claims your life, Emperor!” The Assassin shouted fanatically and raised an Ebony mace. The Emperor closed his eyes and awaited the blow.

There was a sudden green flash that penetrated through his eyelids together with the burning sensation of superheated air. The Emperor coughed to clear the burning air out of his lungs and opened his eyes to see why the assassin hadn’t struck. The assassin’s head was completely vaporized. It had been the only part not protected by the Daedric armour. Said armour had disappeared upon his death.

,,Hello sir. Are you alright?” Another man had jumped on his coach, this one was a Nord who was holding a small hammer by its business end. The man’s eyes focussed on something and he raised the hammer. A blinding green flash erupted from it. This was definitely not a hammer. The Emperor suddenly realized that it was the strange weapon the man was holding that had been responsible for the vaporization of the assassin’s head.
,,Who is he?”

Now then... I wonder how he'll take actually being shot at with magic?

Damn the Mythic Dawn, damn them all!

It's interesting to see Uriel get involved with this now. Can't wait to see what happens.

Well, he is human. Humans (from earth) have never been exposed to Magicka. Here comes some drama. Have fun. I bet Mazelure loves the alien I described.




Gerard was impressed. At first he’d thought that the armour was just an illusion but it turned out to be very real and capable of standing up to his Plasma. Fortunately these Blades seemed to be quite capable to hold their own against the assassins. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered and one of the assassins had managed to lock up the Legionnaires inside their own castle. Gerard clearly wasn’t looking at amateurs.

He jumped off the coach and landed on the street, right in front of a Nord who had broken through. Gerard raised his pistol in an attempt to end the fight quickly but the weapon flew out of his hand and landed on the coach. Gerard didn’t follow the gun’s trajectory. Whatever just happened, he knew that the Nord was responsible. Gerard whispered the word he’d hoped he would never have to say, cause it really sounded annoying enough the first time he heard it.
,,Battlemage.”

Gerard made a few distracting moves with his feet and lunged at his foe. One hand gripped the Nord’s axe while the other slammed in the man’s face. Gerard vaulted over the Nord and slashed at his back with the captured axe upon landing. While the axe failed to penetrate the Daedric armour, the force of the blow was enough to drive the Nord to his knees. Gerard raised the axe above his head for the finishing blow when the Nord managed to lay a hand on his foot.

All of Gerards muscles were blocked into position. The Nord got up and faced him. He was making a big show of spitting out his broken teeth and wiping the blood out of his face. The Daedric armour had spent its time in Tamriel and vanished.
,,You’re a good warrior. It will be an honour to kill you.”
Gerard would have responded with several not so polite words if his paralyzed tongue hadn’t stopped him.

The Nord began weaving a spell and shards of cold ice formed between his hands. There was a green flash and the spell dissipated. The Nord sank to his knees with a questioning look on his face. There was a huge hole in his back where the hot plasma hat struck.
,,Quite an interesting weapon. It shows that size isn’t everything.” The Emperor dryly remarked with Gerard’s Plasma pistol in his hands.

The remaining assassins were soon wiped out and the Blades returned to check on their Emperor.
,,Are you alright, milord?” Their leader asked with a wary look at Gerard. He kept his hand near the handle of his sword.
,,Thanks to this man, I am.” The Emperor responded and dug in his pocket.
,,Here, take this ring. It will mark you as a man favoured by the Emperor. And this is yours if I’m not mistaken. Now would you please tell me your name?”
Gerard took his pistol and the ring.
,,You can call me, X-COM.” He responded.

,,Well, sir X-COM. I have a proposal. Would you like to join my blades and become my personal guard. You will be rewarded for your service. I’ve noticed that you are quite good at protecting people.” The Emperor continued.
,,Unfortunately, I’m not good enough.” Gerard said and walked away.

He went back into the alley and leaned against the wall. His eyes saw the past.
,,I’m sorry.” He whispered as two tears ran down his cheek.

The unbelievable noise of the Skyranger rang through his head. He was sitting a bit away from the rest of the squad with one exception. Claire Dreyfus. Like any recently married couple, they spend as much time together as they possibly could. A slight change in the high-pitched whine of the engines told them that the Skyranger was preparing to land. He looked out of the window and saw the shapes of buildings nearby. It looked like they would land in the middle of the street.

,,Great. Why couldn’t the damn bugs leave us alone for just one week?! Did they have to attack this city now?! We’ve just got married three days ago!” He shouted over the noise of the engine. His wife rolled her eyes.
,,Well sorry, but I think you forgot to ask them! Now shut up and save the planet!” She yelled back with a smile.

The Skyranger touched down and its engines finally ended wrecking everyone’s ears. The Commander sitting at the back of the plane right next to the miniature tank waved.
,,Hey, lovebirds! Get out there and make yourselves useful. The HWP will go to the west, you’ll clear the east, Jeff and Barry will clear the south and I’ll take everyone who’s left to the north. Now move it.” He ordered.

With a rumbling sound, the engines of the miniature tank came to life and it rolled down the platform. Almost instantly, its turret swung to the left and released an armour-piercing shell. There was an unearthly scream and then silence.
,,Hostile detected and eliminated. Continuing patrol.” The soulless voice of the tank reported.

Gerard and Claire were the last to leave the plane. They dropped down the ramp and peered into the darkness. Gerard sighed.
,,Night, why do the bugs always have to attack at night?” He muttered.
,,Maybe they’re from a dark planet?”

Gerard chuckled.
,,You know what? You just could be right. Let’s start with that building. Anything that moves and isn’t human is toast.” He said and began to creep through the darkness.
Once he got close, his wife stopped him.
,,What?” He asked in a slightly annoyed tone.
,,I’ll go in and you stay behind to cover my back. I’m cuter and you would only manage to scare any humans you ran into.” Claire responded.
Gerard muttered something under his breath.
,,Sure, I’ll protect you. I’m good at it.”

He ducked behind a low fence. The silence and the darkness was scary. For a few minutes, he didn’t hear a thing. Then, a sudden sound caught his attention. He looked around till he saw the silhouette of an alien standing on the other side of the street. It looked vaguely like a humanoid insect with crab-like scissors on its front limbs. It turned around and Gerard could swear it was looking right at him.
,,What the heck is that?” He whispered to himself and raised his rifle. When the creature began to move towards him, he fired.

The bullets merely bounced of its hard shell as it rushed forward with a speed closer to that of a sportscar than that of a small humanoid being. It ignored Gerard and the bullets and instead entered the building that Claire was investigating. Gerard got up and ran after it. He slowed down once he got near a flight of stairs. If he ran around like a maniac, he would be asking for an ambush.

He slowly ascended the stairs as silently as he could. At the top, he peeked into the corridor before him. Something was moving in the shadows, something human. He could see the corpse of the death alien lying a bit further away.
,,Great shooting, Claire. You must have hit a soft spot.” Gerard grinned as he lowered his gun and approached his wife. That grin soon froze.

He leaned against the wall for support, unable to believe what he saw in front of his own eyes. Something had infected her, something that was tearing her up from the inside. A crab-like scissor shot out of her shoulder and tore off an arm. He could see the alien growing. Gerard staggered forward and pulled a grenade out of his belt.
,,I’m sorry.” He whispered as he shoved it down the mouth of the zombie that used to be his wife. He ran and didn’t stop when the sound of the explosion reached him.

,,It was a Chrysalid. You killed it but it was already too late. Its egg was inside you, growing. I had to kill it and you before it was mature and would tear itself a way to freedom. It was later that our Psionic people found out that the victim is fully aware of his surroundings and the pain till the Chrysalid emerges and kills its host.” He whispered to a death ghost as he sat in Kvatch’s alley. He knew he had made the right decision, but his heart couldn’t accept it.
,,Is killing the only thing I’m good at?”

Wow, this post was amazing, that memory of Gerard's past shows real emotion. Very dramatic indeed. I can feel Gerard's pain.

I wonder if the Emperor will be able to convince Gerard to change his mind. That or at least give him a hug.

Lol probably not, but the hugging.........

Jeeze... quite an emotianal bit bit .. hey whats this *wipes his face* Damn it, you got me all sad... a lots of stuff better die now ... or I'll have to go beserker in Morrowind and rip something to shreds... (Runs toward the Exrise Office screaming incohensively)

nah, he's got better things to do. Like getting his behind inside the castle before more assassins show up. Ahem, I am nearing the end in the story which is good since I'm leaving on saturday and won't be on for three weeks. I might drag him out again someday.




It took a few hours for him to make up his mind and go back to the guild hall. By then, the sun had already set.
,,Andre, I want to learn how to heal.” He declared once he’d arrived.

Several months later.

,,Take one drop a day and you should be back on your feet again in no time at all. Well, I’ll be off. I hope you feel well soon.” Gerard said, saluted and walked out of the door. He had become a relatively good alchemist and used his skills nowadays to heal people. It was much less adrenaline filled than blowing up ugly things, but the change of pace was a good one.

He counted his money and decided he could go out and have a drink at his usual spot.
When he entered, he found it to be unusually quiet.
,,Hey, Elanor? Why’s everyone so down?” He asked the owner of the small tavern.
The Bosmer didn’t answer while he poured down the Flin.
,,Remember Jedar, the farmer? One of my customers found him this morning, death.” The Elf responded when Gerard repeated his question.
,,Death? How? Last time I saw him he only had a minor case of the flu. I gave him some tea.”

,,I’ll tell you how, Gerard. He’d been torn apart. There were footprints nearby, footprints of a Daedra. The footprints led to a area where the grass had been burned and turned to ash.”
Gerard frowned He’d heard of the Daedra. There had been rumours of strange black rings that burned the ground appearing in the woods lately. Daedra were one of the suspects. At first he had dismissed it as fantasy, but now he wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe those rumours were true and those rings had something to do with this Daedra that killed Jedar. He remembered the old Redguard. It couldn’t have been a simple animal that took him out.

He put his glass down to think. Why would these rings, and consequently Daedra, take a sudden interest in the nearby forest? His own mind yelled invasion, but that was an assumption that would be in place if he was on Earth. Tamriel was not earth, and invasions weren’t done by a bunch of rings in the woods.
,,Alright, I’m going home. It’s too early in the morning for mysteries.” He proclaimed, paid for his Flin and left.

He’d barely stepped onto the street when the sky began to darken and clouds rapidly formed overhead.
,,Rain? Blast it all.” He muttered and began to walk faster.
A bolt of lightning split the sky in two and thunder echoed through the city.
,,Man, the weather sure changes fast here! You’d think it was caused by something supernatural!” Gerard shouted at the sky. It surprised him that there was a complete lack of rain. Then, it was proven that the weather change was indeed supernatural.

An enormous ring made of an ominous black substance formed in front of him. A red aura emanated from it and the ground was blackened.
,,Oh great, it IS an invasion. Looks like the little ones in the forest where just used for scouting.” Gerard muttered to himself and drew his Ebony sword just in time to decapitate a lizard-like creature that came out of the portal the ring had formed.
,,I hate it when I’m right!” He didn’t wait to see what else might come out of the portal. He turned and ran as fast as he could to the mage guild.

,,Andre, start packing!” He shouted as he burst through the door. Andre turned around to aks what was going on, but Gerard had already jumped up the stairs and locked himself into his room.
,,Right. As if I would go outside in this weather. Just listen, it’s storming outside.” The Breton muttered and went back to his studies. A few minutes later, the door was thrown open again.
,,Who is it this time? Divines have mercy!”

Outside.

,,You two, get to our left flank!” The captain had rushed to meet the Daedra together with the rest of the legion as soon as possible. The streets were flooded with the otherworldly beings. The Legionnaires were both outnumbered and outmatched. She saw a Daedroth entering the mage guild. Worries about her husband filled her mind but she fought it off. Right now she had other priorities than the Breton.

Just a few moments later, something crashed through the walls of the building and landed on the street. Something else landed on it a second later. The Captain looked at it and saw to her surprise that it was the metal man she’d found in the woods a few months ago. It had smacked the Daedroth straight through the wall and then jumped out after it.
,,That thing can actually move.”

Gerard raised himself up from what was left of the Daedroth and aimed his Heavy Plasma at the incoming swarm of Daedra.
,,Alright, punks. I’ve got an interplanetary reputation as the best shot in the galaxy. Are you hungry? Eat plasma, Daedra scum.” He growled and pulled the trigger.

Brilliant green blasts of Plasma flew forth and carved into the ranks, vaporizing flesh and bones. The grass around Gerard burst into flames when the air became superheated. That was the real reason why he was wearing a sealed suit of armour. While his Flying Suit was inadequate to stop the plasma from heavier weaponry, it did keep the user of a Heavy Plasma nice and cool when his environment was turned into an inferno.

Once he’d made sure he’d created some breathing room, he ran back inside.
,,Andre! There is this big interdimensional gate or something outside! How do I destroy it?!” He shouted at the Breton who was still cowering against the back wall.
,,Umm, something like that must be similar to a recall spell. It requires tremendous amounts of Magicka. I’d say that you must go through and destroy whatever is powering it.” Andre managed to stammer.
,,Got it. I’m on it.”

Gerard went back outside and saw the mass of Daedra approaching. He looked the other way to see the Legionnaires behind him.
,,Evacuate the city! I’ll take care of that gate!” He spoke and faced the Daedra again.
,,Right, blasting my way through will take too much time and ammo. I’ll have to fly over their heads. That means I’ve about 40 minutes before I run out of fuel. Here goes.”

He rose up into the air and sped towards the gate the Daedra where still pouring out of. On the way, he had to dodge a few spells but except for that, nothing tried to stop him. He reached the gate and flew through the red aura at full speed.

Wow...This story is really nice...

Sci-fi versus Fantasy! Which will be the victor? Only Jack knows! And hopefully you'll give us the answer soon, eh Jack?

Also, didn't you know? Drinking Flin in the morning is a sign of alcoholism?

Great, this story is really picking up. I like the combination between Elder Scrolls and X-COM. An actual mod in which you can be a big metal man firing plasma at everything that moves would be really great. Keep up the great work Jack!