Towards the Present We Go, Langobards AAR (The Steppe Wolf MOD)

[blklizard]

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2063

The GSCs led the way by first blowing down the gates barring them from the large structure. If the alien robots had hoped the gates would hold out, they would be sourly disappointed. The GSCs led the way while the APZs escorted the Langobards party Joan had assembled. She had decided to go personally this time not wanting to be left out of the loop all the time. She argued that she had plenty of bodyguards including her K9P.

The Langobards party made steady progress while the GSCs eliminated what threats remained inside the structure. There was minimal resistance but none of the Langobards were complaining. It was nice having the upper hand for once after being hunted by the aliens so often. Soon, they would learn why they were brought to this place and maybe why the alien resistance had been so weak.

The GSCs were soon found attacking a gate which, while dented, still held up against their attacks. It seemed rather odd that this section of the large structure was so well reinforced but it was an indication that something important was hidden behind the gate. Once the APZs added their firepower to those of the GSCs, the gate eventually gave in revealing a large room with a number of large robotic soldiers.

 

[blklizard]

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2064

THe robotic soldiers were of poor design as they looked very pitiful. Some might assume that their design files were corrupted resulting in the abomination they became. They had one large disproportion arm while a tiny weapon that could fire beams on their other army. They couldn't really move quickly either as they slowly closed the distance between them and the GSCs. Their tiny beam weapons were only making scratches on the GSC armor.

A few shots from the GSCs saw them destroyed with ease. Joan and the Langobards watched from a safe distance and they felt insulted these robots were in the inner sanctum of alien fortress. Joan started to wonder if this might be a trap where they were lured inside. They hadn't find any evidence of alien forces in the immediate vicinity but the aliens forces might be in the outskirts and could be marching at them right this moment.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Certainly an odd design for a robot. Maybe they were made with the scraps leftover from making the other robots.

 

[blklizard]

Certainly an odd design for a robot. Maybe they were made with the scraps leftover from making the other robots.

That's probably the case.

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2065

Once the dust of the battle settled down, Joan and the Langobards realized that they weren't alone in the room. The alien robots were dispatched with but there was a young woman hiding in the corner. She was clearly terrified and tried to make herself insignificant. However, there was no place for her to hide so she sat at the corner probably hoping that they would not notice her at all.

Joan walked over and knelt down before the young woman who was quite attractive. There was clear fear in her eyes and, despite Joan not being armed, she still seemed terrified. When she tried to converse with the young woman, Joan discovered that they didn't speak the same language. This was going to be problematic since she had a lot of questions that this young woman might be able to answer.

Havoc was with them but even he didn't speak the same language as the young woman. This was very puzzling since he explained that, prior to the alien invasion, all humans on the planet used the same language. There were a few dialects here and there but he could still understand the dialects more or less. The language the young woman spoke was completely foreign for him.

 

[blklizard]

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2066

The woman was very nervous during first contact but she was soon fitting into the crowd despite the language barrier. She was quite likeable and preferred to observe the Langobards from a distance. As soon as the stranger boarded the ship, Joan ordered her crew to take off. There was nothing else awaiting them in the this city so they might as well leave before anymore alien welcome parties arrived.

Joan decided that she needed to befriend the woman and find a way to communicate properly. That structure was the last place she and the Langobards expected to find another human. They performed some medical tests on the woman in the Apocalypse medical bay where she was confirmed very healthy. There were no detected foreign objects like maybe a bomb inside her.

For the next week, Joan spent time with the woman and the two of them communicated largely with hand gestures. The two of them took a liking to one another almost immediately like they were sisters who got separated a long time ago. Meanwhile, the engineers aboard the Apocalypse were working on a translator and, luckily for them, one of the APZ offered to aid them claiming it had superior knowledge of such devices.

 

[blklizard]

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2067

The Apocalypse, with no actual destination, flew in the air aimlessly. A skeleton crew was in the cockpit where they just looked out for any hostile alien ships they might encounter. Overall, the Langobards felt surprisingly carefree at this point with no alien forces actively seeking out their demise. The addition of the APZs had certainly greatly bolstered their confidence in fending off enemy forces.

The engineers and the APZ were still working on the translation device and, last Joan heard, they were coming close to completing the prototype. How well the prototype depended entirely on how different the woman's language was from that of the Langobards. Joan, still waiting for the device's completion, took the woman to her room where she showed a picture book summarizing the Langobards history.

Someone on the Apocalypse was gifted in drawing and, during his free time, created this picture book. When Joan learned of the book, she quickly duplicated it and distributed to many Langobards. This was one of the few ways they could remember the home they left behind. The book also reminded them the constant question of how they were getting home. With little to do at this point, they were asking themselves the question again.

 

[Michaelangelo]

At this point Earth has probably been destroyed by one of the many enemies the Langobards have acquired over the years. I can barely even remember them at this point.

 

[DKM]

At this point Earth has probably been destroyed by one of the many enemies the Langobards have acquired over the years. I can barely even remember them at this point.

Remember back in the good ole' days when Rome was the Langobard's biggest worry? Yeah, those were the good times.

 

[blklizard]

At this point Earth has probably been destroyed by one of the many enemies the Langobards have acquired over the years. I can barely even remember them at this point.

We'll revisit this time soon enough.

Remember back in the good ole' days when Rome was the Langobard's biggest worry? Yeah, those were the good times.

That was like millenniums ago.

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2068

There was much excitement when the translator prototype was ready for testing. Joan invited the young woman to the lab where they could do a test run of it. To not get the woman overly nervous, she only had a dozen or so people, including the technician and engineers, present for the test. Joan hoped they had some success so they could learn where the woman came from.

No new location was specified on the Apocalypse computer so the Langobards were moving around like a headless chicken. Their only consolation was the lack of alien forces pursuing them. Oddly enough, the robots had all but given up on chasing them down. The attack on the very lightly guarded alien capital was quite awkward already. Joan couldn't shake the feeling something significant had happened and they were still in the dark.

Once everyone was ready and the prototype was turned on, the young woman spoke into the prototype. Her words took a few seconds to be processed by the prototype but it eventually came out somewhat understandable to the Langobards. The woman said her name was Akilina and she came from a planet called Earth. A group of robots had kidnapped her before she was rescued by the Langobards.

 

[blklizard]

The Apocalypse Campaign (6)

Chapter 2069

After hearing about the history of Akilina's Earth, the Langobards were certain that this planet was different from their own. After their travels through all the dimensions, this didn't seem as absurd of a scenario. Though, the Langobards are still at a loss as to what they should do at this point. The Apocalypse sensors indicated no new locations for them to investigate leaving them rather blind.

Joan was saddened to hear how the humans in Akilina's dimension were facing a terrible threat as well. It seemed like humans just weren't getting any breaks thus far. She wondered if there would ever come a day when humans could just peacefully exist and expand to uninhabited planets. Growing more homesick with each passing day, Joan also wondered if she would ever return home.

Two weeks after Akilina's arrival, those in the Apocalypse were terrified to find their ship rocking very violently. The initial assumption was that their ship was ambushed again. When Joan arrived at the cockpit, she was informed that no enemies had been spotted. However, they were experiencing large turbulence which appeared out of the nowhere. It seemed like they were warping whether they liked to or not.