Blueblood IC

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Things were going quite well for Tobias. He had managed to calm down the tempers of Rose and Mithna, if at least temporarily, and simultaneously maintained his image in everyone's eyes, as was apparent by their expressions. That is, aside from Ismina. Why does she keep looking at me... Has she figured me out? Maybe she just has an innocent crush on me. That would certainly be entertaining. Glancing at her, they briefly made eye contact, before she quickly looked away, seemingly embarrassed. Well. Second theory it is.

 

Laughing to himself at Mithna's confused expression in response to his wink, he walked back to his seat and continued eating the curry. "By the way, Eryn, nice job on the food. It is delicious." Quickly realizing the danger in his last statement, he added, "And Lonn. Thank you to you as well." Glancing around at his crewmates, and double-taking at the half-naked and bloodied Draegan, he noticed something that amused him. Mithna sure seems to be having trouble speaking to the Admiral. Her cheeks are just about as blue as her hair. I ought to remember this detail.

 

"Tobias... I'd like to speak with in my quarters..."

 

Tobias blinked, raising an eyebrow slightly. Well. This certainly is forward of her. I wouldn't have really expected it from someone who is typically so shy. I suppose that I might as well go with it. He smiled, nodding his head and beginning to stand before the announcement went off and she went away to what he only could assume to be some sort of top-secret fancy planning room. "Oh well."

 

=======================================================================================================

 

Tobias scratched the back of his head quietly as they docked, mostly unsure of what their operations on this planet would be. I guess the recent panic has hindered our briefings... Seeing the wannabe-cowboy approach Lonn and quickly pull a gun on the Admiral hardly surprised him. It isn't unusual for backwater planets like this to not be the biggest fans of the Alfar Empire. Although this kid is the only one doing anything about it, I feel that a lot of these people would be glad to shoot the Admiral.

 

He opened his mouth to speak to the cowboy, but before a word could come out Mithna had aimed her rifle at the kid's chest. "Yeah... I would listen to her if I were you. She is a stone-cold killer, though I imagine you already assumed as such by her intimidating height and 'battle armor'. On an unrelated note, where exactly did you receive that hat? I would to have one for myself."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"If you still want to check the inventory of our units, Daiki, it would be best that we head off to the hangar rather than the bridge. I can only imagine the bridge as a mess, since we are more than likely approaching the end of the warp tunnel. I will be taking elevator Beta right next door; you are free to meet me down at the lower decks."

 

As quickly as Herrman said that, Daiki finished his curry broth, and saw Herrman gone. Damn he's fast... he thought as he excused himself and thanked Eryn again as he made his way to elevator Beta. There, he saw Herrman...along with a new person that was talking to him: Lucius.

 

Lucius...to Daiki...he almost was like a Space Jehovah's witness...just without the suit...and the constant bothering of "Would you like to know our blah blah blah". To Daiki, he was thankful that Lucius wasn't like that, as it would be pretty annoying of someone like that to be popping up around the ship.

 

“You can rest assured that our combat preparation could not be better, the hangar took surprisingly little damage from the assault and we've stocked enough for a full campaign.”

 

"Well that is good to know." Daiki said, finally approaching the two with a smile. "Sorry about making you wait Herrman. And its nice to see you again, Lucius." he said as he gave off another friendly smile. "Hopefully I haven't caused an inconvenience, since I asked Herrman this. I'm basically needing to see what each Mecha/Valkyrie is capable of and strengths and weakness. If I know this, we can figure out how to build up on each other's strengths and compensate for people's weaknesses."

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

“I shall take my leave now."

 

With that, Lonn got up from the table and left, his plate entirely clear of food. Seeing his plate empty gave Eryn a slight feeling of satisfaction. She was happy that Lonn enjoyed the food they had cooked together, although she was also a bit off-put by Lonn's lack of commentary on the fight that had begun to brew between his subordinates. Eryn then turned her attention back to her own plate, and began to eat in content silence, her misgivings temporarily suppressed by the taste of the curry. She savored each bite, letting the heat cascade gently over her tongue in an increasing wave of intensity. Despite her penchant for making sweets, spicy food was something Eryn immensely enjoyed.

 

After some time had passed, most of the other crew members finished their own meals and left the table. Eryn was one of the last to finish eating, and after she was done, she stayed behind for a time to assist other like-minded crew members in cleaning the mess hall. She didn't stay too long though, as a rumbling from the ship's hull indicated to her that the Mjolnir would soon re-enter real space, and the crew had little idea of what to expect one they de-folded. An announcement by a bridge crew member of the ship's intercom confirmed this, and Eryn hastily made her way toward an elevator located near the mess hall, in one of the adjacent corridors.

 

---

 

A few minutes later, Eryn stepped out of the elevator into a corridor on deck 14: one of the lower decks that housed crew member residences. 14 in particular was home to many female crew members, with the Alfar crew having the more advantageously positioned rooms with easier access to the elevators. Eryn, being a hybrid and therefore considered a member of a lesser race by technicality, was housed at the very end of a hall that was two corridors away from the nearest elevator. In other words, her room was rather far removed from any activity, and was most definitely not what would be considered "Prime real estate" on the Mjolnir. Still, It did posses a porthole window to space, which was rather nice for stargazing whenever the ship happened to be anywhere close to a star cluster.

 

The room itself was identical to the rest of the rooms on deck 14: about 9 by 9 feet with a bed on the left wall and a closet on the right. Next to the bed was a desk, and there was a dresser located on the wall that contained the door, on top of which sat three small, potted cacti and a few pictures of family. There was also a small refrigerator in a corner. Eryn's room was still a bit messy from the rush to make it to the graduation ceremony on time earlier that day. How pointless it all seemed now that they were running for their lives and half the crew was missing or dead. Eryn shuddered as the dreadful image of the Minerva's bloodstained foot lifting away from the mass of mangled body parts and pools of mixed red and blue blood filled her mind again. She looked down at her pants (all that was left of her uniform after she discarded the soaked shirt) , which too were stained with red and blue. She could still remember how warm those stains felt at first, and the sme-

 

She fought the images away as hard as she could as she removed her pants an tank top, laying on her back on her bed in her underwear for a moment once they were off. She grabbed her bandaged arm again as it throbbed, the wound having not entirely closed yet. As she lay there, her mind wandered, thankfully, to other thoughts. Specifically, she thought about how sour dinner had gone, and about Lonn.

 

Eryn was glad that Lonn had enjoyed their cooking, but more importantly she hoped that she'd managed, at least on some level, to befriend him. It wasn't that she intended to improve her own lot in life by doing so, but rather that, during the few hours they'd spent together, Lonn had struck her as being.... apathetic? Almost the right word, but there was something more to it...

 

Eryn had always been rather adept at reading people, since doing so allowed her to (usually) accurately judge how accepting of her existence a person might be. In Lonn's case, it seemed as if there were some crucial part of him missing; a piece of a device necessary for it to run at full capacity. Perhaps he'd left that piece of himself with his sister at the academy. Or maybe there was no piece at all, just a component shaped void in the machine that was Lonn Alfadir, waiting to be filled once someone managed to discern how to fabricate it. Either way, Lonn seemed rather detached because of it. Lonely, in fact. The look of wonderment and positive surprise he'd worn when she presented him with the tray of cookies she'd baked had really solidified this impression of him. It was like he'd never experienced something like that before.

 

Despite her misgivings about Lonn's failure to so much as comment on the situation that had developed at the table (as well as her still-simmering frustration with the brazenness of a certain blue-haired Alfar girl), Eryn felt a strange, alien emotion grow within her as she thought over her first impression of her commander. Pity? Why was that? Of all the people in the universe to feel sorry for...

 

Before she could think about it any further, Mithna entered her mind again. While racism was nothing new to Eryn, the fact that she'd been so brazen about it made Eryn furious. Her face changed to a deep purple color as she stood up, facing the three helpless plants on her dresser. If one payed enough attention to them, they would notice that the poor plants shook a little before their caregiver laid into them with a violent verbal tirade. "YOU SPOILED, IGNORANT, CONCEITED BRAT! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE AFTER I SPENT THREE HOURS SLAVING OVER THAT FOOD AND MAKING SURE YOUR PRECIOUS ADMIRAL DIDN'T HURT HIMSELF IN THE PROCESS! YOU'RE LUCKY YOU EVEN HAVE ANYTHING TO EAT AT ALL WITH THE SITUATION WE'RE IN. YOU, WHO CAN'T EVEN FLY YOUR MACHINE WITHOUT IT HOLDING YOUR HAND FOR YOU, HAVE THE GALL TO TELL ME TO LEARN MY PLACE?! YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T PUT A BULLET IN YOUR THICK HEAD FOR SPEAKING TO ME THAT WAY YOU USELESS FAILED ABORTION!"  Eryn stood there a moment, breathing heavily with fists clenched as her anger subsided a bit. The Mjolnir shuddered again as the ship entered real space, a convenient transmission from the bridge indicating that they'd be docked at a planet called Root in roughly an hour. That was her cue, and Eryn quickly composed herself and finished changing into a pair of rather short, comfortable shorts and a tight-fitting white tee shirt. She then quickly made her way toward the hangar.

 

---

 

About ten minutes later, Eryn appeared in the hanger, having donned her white and grey flight suit, and carrying her helmet with her. Her flight suit was tight fitting, and was rather.... flattering to her figure, to say the least. As she made her way toward the cubicle the her Silver Bullet stood in, she overheard a familiar voice speaking some amusingly familiar nonsense.

 

"Hopefully I haven't caused an inconvenience, since I asked Herrman this. I'm basically needing to see what each Mecha/Valkyrie is capable of and strengths and weakness. If I know this, we can figure out how to build up on each other's strengths and compensate for people's weaknesses."

 

Eryn giggled a little bit as she made her way over to a cubicle containing one of the Mjolnir's many Beowulves. Beneath the massive machine's feet stood Lucius, Daiki, and Hermman, who were apparently discussing the Mjiolnir's mech compliment. Daiki, of course, had concocted a rather flimsy excuse to get a better look at the machines currently stored in the hangar, most likely, Eryn guessed, in order to pick out some equipment for the mech design that he'd been working on in his datapad so frequently. She made her way over to daiki's end of the circle. She saluted Lucius, the ranking officer in the conversation, before  tapping her co-pilot on the shoulder, flashing her usual, friendly smile. "You know, Daiki, the ship has mostly mass production models on board, and a lot of them. I don't think you'll find much of anything out of the ordinary on board." She turned to acknowledge Herrman as well before continuing in a respectful tone. "If i may interrupt you three though, the ship will be landing rather soon, and I think it might be a good idea for some of us pilots to be on standby, just in case." She addressed Lucius directly as she continued "With your approval of course, although I've already reported myself in to the bridge."

[Cray-Crow]

Thankfully, the rest of the meal went on without so much of a disruption. If they had any, people kept negative comments to themselves, and most of the commentary was about how well the curry was prepared by Admiral Lonn and Eryn. Without much word, the Admiral rose from his seat and stated he was departing for the evening, and soon after, several others vacated the mess hall, as well. Only Draegan and herself remained, but he, too, left without saying much. It troubled Lore marginally, but the discomfort was there, nonetheless. Despite how long this ragtag company of bluebloods and red, pilots and non-pilots has surrounded one another, Lore felt a disconnection. Unsure of how to confront such a dilemma, she left to her own room.

 

Lore opened a cabinet above her mini-fridge and grabbed a can of tuna. Pulling its opening device, she began slurping its contents. The Mjolnir was due to arrive on Root, a planet designated to be the rendezvous for what was remaining of the royal fleet. She's heard little about it, how the denizens live in floating bubbles above the barren ground. Her hand found itself on her wound. It seemed completely healed now, and did not bring any discomfort while she moved her body. Whatever those two did before really helped her.

 

As the hangar doors opened, the new environment's dry, arid air flowed in. Lore's skin singed slightly. I will not like it here.. Stepping foot onto this planet, Admiral Lonn's company was greeted graciously by what could be assumed as this populace's royalty, but before pleasantries were complete, a small boy rushed up to the Admiral, wielding a gun trained at his face. Mithna immediately met the boy with her own weapon, clearly demonstrating that the boy was making a grave mistake. Tobius assured the boy that Mithna was intent on blasting him away. "Indeed. This is not where you do this, boy." Seeing as Mithna had the seemed to have the situation under her control, Lore looked to the rest of the individuals who greeted them. "Do you not think we could speak elsewhere, eh no disruptions?"

[Aix]

Such offences would have zero tolerance in the Empire, to impudently brandish a weapon at a high-ranking officer, and an Archduke no less, was high treason and worth of immediate execution that Lonn was almost ready to execute this boy right here with a quick-draw strike of his sword. The monomolecular-edge would've sheared through flesh and bone in a split second as if it were parting water and ended the boy's life before he had a chance to even register it. Lonn had then realized that such a practice may be considered barbaric on this alien ground, especially as this boy owed the Empire no allegiance, and then considered simply severing the boy's fingers along with the gun so that he may be fitted with a prosthetic later. There was little point in negotiation, however, evidently this child was acting against his state and Lonn had little sympathy for troublemakers.

 

His crew decided to act in a more diplomatic manner than he would have intended, with the exception of Mithna whose bold actions he for once approved of, and managed to dissuade the boy somewhat. Lonn decided to see this out, it was, again, no longer necessary for him to take action as the boy lowered his gun. With an wry inward sigh, he figured that he had done little today, in the kitchen Eryn basically took over, his crew's dispute in the dining hall was settled by itself and now this potential assassin was also warded off by ones other than himself.

 

 

While the blonde Alfar chick had calmed him down a bit, Dane Silvers was very discouraged by the sight of a spunky blue-haired girl pointing a gun at him. However, another spunky looking guy, another Alfar, managed him to cheer him up a little in complimenting his hat. He put the gun away, stuffing it into his holster. "Howdy, yall," he said, managing to put up a cool front. "I'm just a space cowboy, is all, making sure this planet's safe." It was then, in a last-ditch effort to save face by the old government official, which Dane was safely dragged away by two soldiers. "Hey!" he protested, but to no avail. "I'll getchu a hat later, cowboy, just come visit by the palace up top."

 

 

"I am terribly sorry," spoke the old man. "He is a rather misbehaved child. The Mayor has little time to be a father and properly discipline his children." Lonn was confused for a second before he realized that the boy before him had been a rather important person. It was rather fortunate he had not inflicted any bodily harm on the child then, but by the boy's dress and attitude, it was easy to mistake him for little more than a plebeian. He wondered if it would have been forgiveable considering the offence the boy had first placed upon him.

 

"It is forgiven, no harm has been done," said Lonn to the man, managing a very genuine-looking sympathetic smile despite his rather foul inner mood.

 

"Ah, you are most magnanimous," spoke the old official, giving another deep bow. Alfar were very inclined towards such shows of submissiveness, especially from Lesser Races, and Lonn nodded approvingly at him. "The Mayor would like to see you, if you do not mind he will receive you in Valent Palace." With a gesture, the soldiers behind the man parted, revealing a sleek black limousine, a rather old-styled one simply exuding class, and this Lonn had to approve as well.

 

"I shall take a small escort, if you do not mind," said Lonn, gesturing to the soldiers behind him and snapping his fingers twice discreetly, signalling them to form two ranks behind him.

 

"Ah yes, very well."

 

 

The city was rather run down and had very dull architecture, with flat buildings and a few old skyscrapers behind them, and Lonn frowned at subjecting his crew to such a lowly environment, but there was little they could do. They ascended in a spiral, heading towards the top of a large symmetrical hill which a great deal of the city was built and Lonn was given a vantage point outwards towards the slums below. Of all things, this was perhaps most alien to him, Central Asgard was home only to Alfar nobility and never once had he gotten a glimpse at how the poor lived. He didn't care to search it up either, but his sharp eyes picking out the forms of dirty little shanties and huts below, he couldn't help but feel a bit of pity. They hadn't even bothered building proper housing complexes for their workers, indeed their situation must be rather grave.

 

Alas, they reached the top and, stepping out, Lonn confirmed that it was indeed a mockery of his step-father's palace, the place where he had grown up. At that moment, he could not help but feel a stab of nostalgia. His thoughts, again, wandered towards his sister, but he stopped himself before he would lose himself in reminiscence.

 

"This way," spoke the old official, even though it was dead obvious where the main entrance was, however Lonn nodded at him nonetheless.

 

 

In a downsized version of the great Central Hall of Valhalla, the leader of Root and its colonies greeted them. The hall, unlike the real Valhalla, was fitted with seats in a Congress-style arrangement, but staying faithful to the original against the back wall in the centre was a raised throne. However, the Mayor was standing rather than sitting, and gestured to them to take seats before he would himself, but Lonn politely declined, unwilling to lower his eye level even more with this man. For a moment or two, perhaps, the two men sized each other up before the Mayor finally decided to speak and introduce himself.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The sounds of conversation from elsewhere in the hangar did find their way to the Kal'dar Knight's ears, and so he cracked an eye to look in the direction from whence they came.  He could not hear much, and could make out less, from this distance, but all the same he saw three figured he was fairly certain he could recognize.  Curious, and finding himself in the mood for a respite from being alone with his thoughts, the male stood up from where he rested and lowered the lift to the floor of the hangar before stepping off.  There was a fair bit of activity in the hangar, mostly from the lower-ranked pilots and the various engineering crews moving about and trying to work.  It brought fresh emotion to the knight's heart to see that many of the units were lacking their pilots, and those that did not had either understaffed maintenance teams or else completely lacked them but for now there was nothing that could be done.  The gears of military bureaucracy had to be allowed to turn, and more than likely there would be several reassignments to maintain the units which still had pilots.

 

"...I don't think you'll find much out of the ordinary on board."  The words, spoken in a familiar voice, brought Draegan out of his reverie and turned his attention to the group before him.  "If I may interrupt you three though, the ship will be landing rather soon, and I think it might be a good idea for some of us pilots to be on standby, just in case."  The words came from Eryn, and the Kal'dar smiled as his gaze passed over the girl, and soon enough he was able to identify the rest of the pilots in the group as well.  Lucius, one of the remaining wing commanders on board so far as Draegan could tell, Herrman, a Pilot without a specifically assigned mech due to his ability to function equally well in any of them, and Daiki, something of a rival of his, were present in the group along with Eryn as well.  The knight couldn't help but laugh just a little bit at Eryn's earlier comment on the arsenal of mechas present.

 

"Well, not much out of the ordinary if you do not count the perhaps dizzying number of custom units and their assigned pilots."  Draegan punctuated his sentence with another laugh as he approached and towered over his fellow pilots.  He kept his arms at his sides with his palms forward, and a pleasant smile on his face belied the emotional turmoil contained beyond the facade.  "And if I am going to be honest, I have to say that I'm not much fond of the idea of staying on standby when we could be out and about.  I mean we haven't been given any orders to stay aboard the ship, so why not see if we can't give these people a demonstration of the Empire's military prowess?"  He left the question hanging in the air, wanting to see how the others would respond to it.  In particular, his gaze was on the aforementioned wing commander with a questioning eyebrow lifted in his direction.

[Raine]

 

Lucius grit his teeth as he pressed a receiver against his ear. The ship’s chatter was keeping him up to date with the landing party. The admiral apparently decided that it would be for the best to wander off into the heart of un-allied territory with only a dozen men with pee shooters. “Curse that man,” Lucius muttered to himself. Lucius heard a familiar voice in the distance, it was Eryn. It pleased him to see her active again, he felt that the last battle was particularly rough on her but never got around to checking on her condition. He noted to himself to remember to be more concerned with his pilots as a good commander should.  “If you need the information, Eryn, I’ll give you my clearance. I trust you’ll make good use of it, however…”

 

At this time, Draegan arrived, Lucius never had much liking toward Draegan. He always felt him to be arrogant and self-assertive but morally he appreciated how he interacted with both humans and Alfar being a minority himself. “We shouldn’t be so reckless, Draegan. I admire your enthusiasm but we need not be hasty, the colony has yet to show whether it was be friendly or not. We cannot endanger that possibility especially now when we are most vulnerable.”

 

Lucius turned to Daiki and Herman, they seemed fit enough, no, they seemed more than ready. As a commander, he had the authority to issue a mech launch however the risk of causing diplomatic turmoil with the colony was high. Lucius called to his pilots to gather their attention, “Attention! It appears our beloved admiral is as bold as he is charismatic. Unfortunately, his antics appear to be a bit risky for my comfort”. Lucius side-stepped and rattled his fingers over the computer console. In a heavy mechanical hiss, the hangar lit up and the sound of moving metal filled what was still air as locks and paths were conjured.

 

“We are soldiers. It is our duty to dirty our hands and remain cautious for the sake of our champion and make sure his heroic antics don’t turn to tragedy. It is our duty to protect him even without direct orders as such I am issued that all mech pilots present; Daiki, Herman, Draegan, and Eryn. We are to be our admiral’s eyes and ears when he cannot see or ear.  This will be your first time flying since we left the Academy. I hope you got good marks.” Lucius hit the console once more and unlocked each of his pilot’s mechs, “I’ll issue commands once we leave, I set a private radio channel between our units. I want radio silence with the Fleet and the admiral’s unit until necessary. This is stealth operation.”

 

OST: GC - Ready to Go

 

Lucius left his squadron to move to his Valkyrie. He felt his blood begin to boil, a cocktail of anxiousness and excitement pumped through his veins. His feet were light on the steel woven catwalk of the hangar as he moved to his mech. This would be his first mission commanding since graduating, he was ready. He knew how to command small units better than even Ismina at the Academy. As he approached his Valkyrie unit, the top drew up and revealed the pilot compartment. He placed his hand over the metal, it felt… welcoming.

 

Lucius jumped in and entered his acceptance code into the mainframe. Endless series of displays and statistics flooded his vision as he reached into his shirt and pulled out his necklace of a cross on a beaded chain. He hung the rosary in the corner of his vision and darkened his vision, “God, watch over me as I descend once more into the dangers of this world. The men and women who accompany me into this darkness fight with me for your noble cause. Soon, this world will become beautiful. For there will be no refuge for those who hide from your gaze.” Lucius’s eyes filled with malice.

 

He tapped his right ear to turn on his communicator, “You are not members of the Imperial army. We are now no one, this is a stealth mission unless overridden by the admiral or called into action by other official channels; you are not representative of the Empire. Stay quiet, stay hidden, and keep your eyes open and you will serve to protect the one man who could change this world for the better.  Eryn and Daiki, I want you two work the outside; I want to know about this colony and the surrounding landscape as well as have a perimeter in place in case things go south. Draegon, Herman, and I will stay more within the city limits; we need to be there for the admiral and ensure those who would commit evil have evil inflicted upon them first.”

 

"LAUNCH!"

[Mugendramon]

Stardust Speedway

 

With the appearance of Draegan down at the hangar, Lucius seemed to brim with a sense of righteousness. This made Herrman ponder as to the implications, whether the Kal'Dar's alien presence made him more aware of the situation outside rather than his words themselves. Orders were orders however, and the robot obeyed with little hesitation. Riding combat-ready units into a neutral colony was not the best of ideas, but Lucius had not checked into the high-encryption databases as he had -this world could very well be hostile from its looks alone.

 

This did not mean he could disobey Lucius; not on that basis. Herrman himself should not have access to those encrypted files in the first place. So striding at the expected speed, Herrman walked into a Valkyrie's cubicle. He had no choice but to choose an armed one, as this was allegedly going to be a bodyguard operation.

 

The cherry picker took him up to the Aves' cockpit, which the cubicle controls had already opened for him to step into. (He would have to step into the machine this time, so his unmoving carcass would not bring up any sort of suspicion or worry once his mind has synced with the Valkyrie.) Herrman took his place in the cockpit, which shut in front of him.

 

"All systems check;" Herrman said into the intercom, without having so much as turned the machine on. "Catapult, prepare for Unit V-42 immediate deployment."

 

A confirming buzzer echoed, and Herrman transferred into the machine, taking a meager second and adjusting his sensory capabilities to his new temporary optics. The unit had been unhooked from the cubicle and was now slowly moving toward the catapult to launch out into the colony.

 

Lucius's instructions had been clear and reasonable, which meant Herrman could follow them without too much worry; unavoidably keeping an eye out for any slips on his commanding officer or turn wingman.

 

"Launch."

 

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The Beast

 

The Alfar prince stepped through the main hall. Grandiose and blone as they come, Elijah thought with a scoff. He offered the man a seat, which he politely declined; out of pride no doubt. Any trace of a cordial smile which might have been on his face until that point faded slowly. The mayor stepped down from the podium on which his pompous chair laid.

 

Now at the same level, he could see this boy (he could not possibly be more than 25 years old,) was about the same height as himself. He stretched a hand out for the Alfar, and held it sternly in front of him.

 

"Elijah Silvers, honorary member of the Galactic Trader Commitee and Mayor of Vayr, at your service sir. Or would you prefer to be addressed as Admiral?

 

"I do hope my son wasn't too big a nuisance, but you know how kids are!" Elijah lightened up, starting to pace toward a discreet side entrance, gesturing politely for the man and his escorts to follow him; "Please, do follow me to my office. It's not nearly as; no, luxurious is not the word, grand as this hall; but I get the feeling you're not used to sitting lower than anybody else." 

 

Elijah now started down a wide and tall corridor, coiling upwards around the outside of the hall and leading up to his private office. Every so often, he would take a glance over his shoulder with a half-smile, as to check whether the Alfar man was still trailing behind him.

 

"Come to think of it," the mayor eyed the royal boy with a playfully raised eyebrow; "what brings you and your, if I may, rather voluptuous ship, to the edge of the known Galaxy and onto our little colony?"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"If i may interrupt you three though, the ship will be landing rather soon, and I think it might be a good idea for some of us pilots to be on standby, just in case. With your approval of course, although I've already reported myself in to the bridge."

 

The young pilot turned to see Eryn with the group, as he smiled. And hearing this was music to his ears. Finally, some action! he thought, as he waited to hear what Lucius had to say, However, Lucius wasn't the next to answer at all.

 

"Well, not much out of the ordinary if you do not count the perhaps dizzying number of custom units and their assigned pilots. And if I am going to be honest, I have to say that I'm not much fond of the idea of staying on standby when we could be out and about. I mean we haven't been given any orders to stay aboard the ship, so why not see if we can't give these people a demonstration of the Empire's military prowess?"

 

This came from Draegan, and it seemed he had to agree with Eryn's plan/idea. This was three so far (counting Daiki) who liked the sounding of this plan, as finally Lucius began to speak.

 

“We are soldiers. It is our duty to dirty our hands and remain cautious for the sake of our champion and make sure his heroic antics don’t turn to tragedy. It is our duty to protect him even without direct orders as such I am issued that all mech pilots present; Daiki, Herman, Draegan, and Eryn. We are to be our admiral’s eyes and ears when he cannot see or ear. This will be your first time flying since we left the Academy. I hope you got good marks.”

 

These were the words Daiki needed to hear. Following the other's lead, he made his way to his own mecha. The D-Perado X MK 3...Daiki's "baby" as he often called it (as what young man doesn't call their machine baby when the time calls for it), was finally getting its turn in action. Now being behind the controls of his own mecha and not the training ones or simulations...he was free to test the very limits of his "baby".

 

The pilot got onto the cherry picker as it lifted him up to D-Perado's chest cockpit. As it lifted him into the air, Daiki tapped his side and tapped his foot on the platform as he hummed to himself (in a terrible way, to be honest).

 

Nibun no Ichi Instrumental

 

He finally arrived at the cockpit as it opened and allowed Daiki entrance into it. The cockpit closed as he sat down, accessing all the controls to power it up. He placed his holo-pad into a small empty spot as it snapped into place. From it, the power stats and weapon states pulled up for him.

 

"Looks like everything's green!" he said as he cracked his knuckles, only to hear Lucius once again.

 

"Eryn and Daiki, I want you two work the outside; I want to know about this colony and the surrounding landscape as well as have a perimeter in place in case things go south."

 

"Consider it done. Let's get this going, Eryn!" he smirked as he prepped the controls once more, as he smirked. "Rikuto Daiki! D-Perado X MK 3! Ikuzo*!!"

 

*Translation - Ikuzo: Japanese for "Let's go!"

[Aix]

"Sir shall quite suffice," replied Lonn taking the man's hand. "I am Lonn Alfadir, Archduke and Admiral of the Ninth Imperial Fleet." That much of an introduction was enough, it about matched the length of Elijah's and Lonn didn't care too much for touting the titles he didn't exactly earn. He regarded the man's small talk with polite smiles but otherwise impassiveness, and simply nodded appreciatively and followed the Mayor through the palace with his escort close on their tail. Every now and then the Mayor would look back, and Lonn raised an eyebrow at this, but he made no comment. He cared not to tour this place, no matter what, it was inferior in every way to the baroque halls of Valhalla and even that had bored Lonn after his four years of residence.

 

"Come to think of it, what brings you and your, if I may, rather voluptuous ship, to the edge of the known Galaxy and onto our little colony?"

 

"Why we are merely taking a little vacation to this wonderful planet of yours." Lonn gave a slight smile at his jest. He had deliberated what to speak and prepared himself to reveal little to this man, in fact, there was no reason at all to say anything, except to ward off possible and misguided suspicions. Telling him that they had been pursued by the Federation would place them in a disadvantageous position as this man, no doubt, would take advantage of their plight and the higher ground. He could very well prepare to sell them out when the Federation arrives. Lonn was left to fabricate some details and leave most out. "The details, of course, of my mission cannot be disclosed to outside parties, but I intend to use Root as a rendezvous point for when the rest of my Fleet returns before I head on to the negotiate with the Union," he said while gesturing to his escort to stay behind as he and Elijah entered the private Mayoral office.

 

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Even particularly large mecha were lost in the roiling sea of clouds beneath the flying colonies with nothing more than large pillars of rock as landmarks. No matter how many times he saw it, no matter how much of the last few days he had spent diving in and out of them in his Zestien, Jules was lost in the spectacular sights. Busy as he was, fighting the dragons, he had little opportunity to enjoy himself. Sunset would soon approach and he intended on stopping for the view on his way back, allowing for his squad to return on ahead. There were ten of them, eleven including him, approaching the city of Vayr.

 

It was time to end this silly conflict with a coup de grace directly on the administrative centre. Finally, Halir would be able to claim the riches of the Pandora Mine and properly flourish. He and his squad were scouting out paths passing right through the skybound colonies of Root directly to the heart that would allow for similar groups of mecha to assassinate the Mayor. The Mayor, of course, was an abomination, thus this underhanded tactic was more than justified. Many of the settlers of Halyr hailed from Federation star territories and thus held very strong diplomatic beliefs.

 

"Well, here we are," spoke Daphne, as she pulled up beside him on her mech. "Let's get out of here before they actually register our presence."

 

Jules was all too ready to agree when something caught his attention. "Wait a minute, what is that ship?" he said, narrowing his eyes as he zoomed in on his mech's screens. The Mjolnir was unmistakably different from the other ships. In fact, its sleek form marked it out as a warship while its decoration confirmed it as a flagship. "Let's get closer, we need to confirm this situation. Send John back to report our progress and findings."

[a bad post]

"A space cowboy...?" Ismina arched an eyebrow, "what in the world..." thankfully before the boy could put his foot in his mouth again he was dragged off by two of the guards. From the way the old man spoke of him it seemed that the boy was quite the troublemaker, though his reasoning did not quite sit well with Ismina.

 

"Then it is as much his father's fault, as the boys own," Ismina said with a disapproving frown, "if a parent cannot take the time to educate their child in proper etiquette and manners, this put lightly since he did just point a gun at a stranger, barring the fact that it was the Admiral, and in no way is that ever proper, then it is the parent's own fault for the child's improper actions."

 

Despite Ismina's chastising, Lonn seemed to be unperturbed (at least outwardly) by the boy's disrespect, though close examination of his face showed he had probably wanted to cut the boy down his middle. Thankfully the situation diffused itself before the Admiral took... aggressive negotiations. 

 

The old official bowed deeply before the guards behind him parted showing off an older model limo, and while not quite as grandoise as the ones on Odin it was certainly nothing to sneeze at.

 

At the snap of the Admiral's fingers though those behind including Ismina snapped to attention forming to single file ranks behind him. Following the Admiral to the limo Ismina took a seat near the door, allowing the Admiral and the stuffy old officials to talk diplomacy. Her job at the moment remained to be to keep an eye on their environment and find escape routes, and good places to hole up should a fire fight arise. Though at the speed they traversed the city, heading to the central palace, the task proved quite difficult.

 

----

 

Once in the palace Ismina found her job much easier eyeing all of the guards with a look of suspicion, studying them to look for any signs of potential hostility. Finding none she returned her attention to the mayor, giving him an appraising look stood back as both he and the Admiral had their pissing contest over who would sit down first.

 

Really...? Was their damn pride so important to them they wouldn't even sit before each other. Frankly Ismina wanted to leave this podunk little planet anyway. It seems the mayor was ready to give them the grand tour though, guiding them through the palace, the mayor would glance behind to look at them every so often as though to make sure they were still there.

 

"Come to think of it, what brings you and your, if I may, rather voluptuous ship, to the edge of the known Galaxy and onto our little colony?" The mayor asked, and while Ismina felt inclined to answer on behalf of the Admiral it seemed he had the situation well under control.

 

Ismina had more than a few protests when the Admiral decided to go into the Mayor's office alone, her mouth was left hanging open when he entered the door. 

 

"Oh well..." Ismina sighed leaning against the wall, "it'd be rude of me to just go charging in there... I wish he would've at least taken one of us in there just in case."

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

 “If you need the information, Eryn, I’ll give you my clearance. I trust you’ll make good use of it, however…”

 

Eryn Assumed the Lucius was referring to detailed technical readouts of the mech units sotred on board, but before she had a moment to discuss this any further, something caught her attention. She looked over her shoulder and saw Draegan make his way over to the growing circle of pilots, a friendly smile on his face. She acknowledged him with a grin and a nod of her own as he made his way to her side and spoke.

 

"Well, not much out of the ordinary if you do not count the perhaps dizzying number of custom units and their assigned pilots. And if I am going to be honest, I have to say that I'm not much fond of the idea of staying on standby when we could be out and about.  I mean we haven't been given any orders to stay aboard the ship, so why not see if we can't give these people a demonstration of the Empire's military prowess?"

 

The Kal'dar laughed a little bit as he mentioned the Mjolnir's mech compliment. Eryn, who's own mental tally of mecha on board that could be classified as "custom units" (which in and of itself was a misnomer, as pilots rarely, if ever, were allowed design or extensively modify their machines) was rather small, turned her head to Draegan and incredulously raised an eyebrow. She then briefly stood on her tiptoes in order to be able to accurately give Draegan a pat on his shoulder blade. " That's right Drae, I'm not counting those five mechs." Eryn spoke in a condescending, but most certainly playful and entirely harmless tone, and let out a small giggle when she was done with her sentence. 

 

However, Eryn wasn't much of a fan of taking a launch without orders to do so, especially launching into what could end up being hostile airspace. Waiting on standby in case the pilots were needed was one thing, but deploying was an entirely different story. Lucius seemed to agree with her sentiments.

 

“We shouldn’t be so reckless, Draegan. I admire your enthusiasm but we need not be hasty, the colony has yet to show whether it was be friendly or not. We cannot endanger that possibility especially now when we are most vulnerable.”

 

Herrman and Daiki looked on in silence as Lucius continued, although Eryn noticed that Herrman wasn't so much looking at Lucius as he was staring blankly in his general direction. Odd, for sure, but there wasn't much time to ponder it as Lucius continued.

 

“We are soldiers. It is our duty to dirty our hands and remain cautious for the sake of our champion and make sure his heroic antics don’t turn to tragedy. It is our duty to protect him even without direct orders as such I am issued that all mech pilots present; Daiki, Herman, Draegan, and Eryn. We are to be our admiral’s eyes and ears when he cannot see or ear.  This will be your first time flying since we left the Academy. I hope you got good marks.”

 

He had apparently changed his mind about launching on a sortie, much to Eryn's chagrin. Still, she showed little to no signs of any misgivings as Lucius unlocked their units' restraints from a master command console. 

 

“I’ll issue commands once we leave, I set a private radio channel between our units. I want radio silence with the Fleet and the admiral’s unit until necessary. This is stealth operation.”

 

Remaining hidden wasn't the worst idea, since it would certainly reflect poorly on the fleet if their units caused trouble for a neutral civilian population. With Lucius's orders given, Eryn donned her helmet and made her way toward her white mech, which of course stood out like a sore thumb in the dull grey of the hangar.

 

---

 

Eryn shook her head from side to side while she stood on the rising cherry picker, trying in vain to rid herself of an itch the was caused by her long hair being bunched up in her helmet. At last, she gave up and resorted to removing it to scratch. Sighing as she rose higher, she elected to put her hair up tp prevent further problems: something she despised doing. Her ponytail was complete by the time she reached the Silver Bullet's torso, and with a good hop she jumped onto its collar, grabbing onto the bullet's neck joint for support as she opened the cockpit hatch and climbed into her unit.

 

It took but a moment for the Bullet's systems to boot up, the turquoise light of the heads-up display filling the otherwise dark cockpit. On the mech's exterior, the 34 sensors that made up its head's array glowed a bright blue. so bright, in fact, that it was impossible for an observer to tell that the Bullet's optics were not simply composed of one large visor. Soon the unit's camera feed was onscreen, followed by the altimeter, speedometer, fuel readouts, radar, comm channels, and lastly the unit's targeting lock box, which descended from the top of the camera feed to the center as it calibrated itself. "MAIN SYSTEM: ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE." The familiar words echoed in Eryn's ears at their typical loud volume, and she found herself muttering "Hello to you, too" to the machine's computer in both acknowledgement and slight protest to its volume.

 

Once the boot sequence was complete, Eryn motioned her mech toward a nearby wall, its footsteps shaking any nearby equipment slightly as it walked. The wall contained a hand weapons rakc, on which was mounted the Bullet's normal loadout: Two automatic laser rifles (One heavy and one medium) and a heavy laser sniper rifle. Eryn Grabbed these three weapons and attached the twin rifles to the Bullet's hip hardpoints. She also took what appeared to be a light machine gun from the rack. This device, however, was in fact a gun camera used to take pictures in reconnaissance missions. No doubt it would come in handy once they were airborne. With its loadout in hand, Eryn motioned her machine to the nearest catapult. As she stepped into the catapult's footlocks, Lucius's voice came over the radio, and Eryn turned the Bullet's head toward his Valkyrie, which was secured on a smaller Valkyrie catapult nearby.

 

“You are not members of the Imperial army. We are now no one, this is a stealth mission unless overridden by the admiral or called into action by other official channels; you are not representative of the Empire. Stay quiet, stay hidden, and keep your eyes open and you will serve to protect the one man who could change this world for the better.  Eryn and Daiki, I want you two work the outside; I want to know about this colony and the surrounding landscape as well as have a perimeter in place in case things go south. Draegon, Herman, and I will stay more within the city limits; we need to be there for the admiral and ensure those who would commit evil have evil inflicted upon them first.”

 

Before she could acknowledge the orders, Daiki chimed in.

 

"Consider it done. Let's get this going, Eryn! Rikuto Daiki! D-Perado X MK 3! Ikuzo!"

 

"Ever eager, as usual." Eryn Thought to herself as she saw Lucius take off, followed by Herrman's own Aves right behind him. She turned her sights back to her own catapult, which was now sparking with elecricity along its rails. The hangar door opened to reveal Root's skies as Eryn bent the Bullet's knees and opened its thruster array, allowing all 30 of its forward thrusters to be brought to bear. Its head sank into its chest as well in order to reduce drag during the launch

 

"Eryn Strayde, Silver Bullet taking off!"

 

With that, Eryn was forced back into her seat as the combination of the catapult and the Bullet's thrusters sent it rocketing forward. Once airborne, the white mech quickly overshot the D-Perado, its acceleration allowing it to cover the distance much faster than its wingman. The Bullet's head returned to its normal position as Eryn motioned spun her machine around with a fast burst from the attitude thrusters, all the while keeping the boosters in the feet at a steady burn rate to maintain altitude, and flew back toward Daiki. When the Bullet was close, a small cable shot out from its left wrist and magnetically attached itself to the D-Perado. This was a contact link: a device that was roughly analogous to a phone line that allowed mech pilots to quickly and easily communicate with each other through the use of a wired connection between machines. Due to the wired nature of the communication channel, it was impossible for anyone to intercept comms given via contact link, making the device especially useful for stealth sorties like this one.

 

"We should start by doing a flyby of the city's superstructure. Maybe get a few pictures of the hover engines with this gun camera. After that, I suggest we do a flyby of the surrounding airspace and a few of the higher mountain peaks sticking up though the cloud cover. This way we  can get a good idea of the general area. I'll probably photograph those too so that we can provide Lonn with an oaccurate map of the area if and when he requires it. I want you at my Six o'clock, alright Daiki?" Eryn's face on the comm feed was stern, yet still displayed her usual warmth and openness. She waited a moment and listened for Daiki's reply before retracting the contact link and flying away from the Docks toward the underside of the city, gesturing with the bullet's arm for Daiki to follow and flying at a speed slow enough for the D-perado to keep up. 

 

Soon, Eryn hit the cloud cover, and her white mech vanished into it as she continued toward the city's massive hover engines, flying as cfar from the superstructure as she reliably could. She jumped a bit when the Bullet's computer spoke again. "TEN SIGNATURES DETECTED ON INGRESS VECTOR TOWARD MOTHERSHIP AT HIGH SPEED. ADVISE YOU INTERCEPT."

 

Eryn immediately radioed in to the rest of the squad. "I've got ten bogeys on my long range radar. At the speed they're going, they should show up on your machines' systems in roughly four seconds. I'm changing course to intercept and investigate." Her message sent to the squad on their encrypted channel, Eryn once again spun the Bullet around and opened up the back thruster arrays, igniting the 14 thrusters located behind the SiBull's shoulders. She stayed in the clouds as she moved out toward the signatures, using the bullet's white color to keep the mech hidden until she could boost up from under the ten bogeys and buzz the unidentified machines with a flyby. This way she'd know if they were hostile and she'd be able to engage or communicate with them at her discretion. For all they knew, it could be nothing but a flight of civilian craft, although the enormous speed at which they were traveling indicated that they were most likely valkyries or fighters of some sort.

 

When she was underneath the center of their formation, Eryn motioned the bullet onto its back, using its foreward thrusters for a vertical boost at high speed out of the clouds. The bullet came screaming out from under the ten unit formation at high speed, a sight surely able to intimidate and grab the attention of the unknown machines.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Draegan simply shrugged as he heard Lucius chiding him for being reckless.  He honestly didn't think much of it, after all why shouldn't they show anyone they came across just how powerful the Empire's military machine was?  It could easily go a long way towards making the situation safe if they were to up front demonstrate the firepower at their command by parading their mechas down one of the main streets.  Still, as far as he knew anyways, Lucius was his superior and so it would reflect poorly upon him to not obey orders.  The earlier comment from Eryn on the other hand did receive a response.  The young woman was soon to find one of the Kal'dar's elbows gently digging into her side, and that smile of his now involving a roll of his eyes if she were to look him in the face.  He almost missed their next set of orders.

 

"We are soldiers.  It is our duty to dirty our hands and remain cautious for..."  Draegan tuned out Lucius after a little while of hearing what he was saying.  While he certainly respected the flight commander's ability in both combat and, well, command, he had a very low opinion of his zealous nature and that was exactly what he was seeing at the moment.  All the same, he caught enough of what was being said to realize that he needed to get going back to his unit as they were preparing to launch.  Given the distance of his unit from where they were, the Kal'dar was quick on his feet back to the cherry picker that would take him up to the Gerridon's neck.  There was also the fact that the integration process took a bit longer than most other sorts of activation sequences for mecha.

 

The knight was humming a folk-song of his people to himself as he rode the cherry picker up to the neck compartment on his unit, thankful that the lifts had variable height settings to allow him to reach the higher access point that the Gerridon had in relation to most of the other units.  The carapace on the back of its neck split open and exposed the darkness into which he stepped and relaxed while the integration process began.  Numbness came and went as his senses were expanded by the extra equipment within the armor symbiote, and in another few moments the Gerridon was active and moving to the weapons rack to collect its weaponry.

 

A thought occurred to the young man as he was loading up for a potential battle, locking the two-handed hilt for his preferred melee weapon onto a hip hardpoint, and the Assault Rail Cannon onto a back hardpoint.  A few strides brought him over to a separate portion of the hangar to which he gained access through his security clearance and from which he emerged carrying a large piece of equipment in the Gerridon's arms.

 

"I'll be packing a tactical sensor array," he spoke, his voice projected over the private comm channel which Lucius had set up for them.  "It should give us a bit more in the way of warning in the event of any incoming hostiles."  Of course before he could say much about where he intended to set it up, Lucius came over the comm channel again.  Draegan only paid attention to what he said concerning that it was a stealth mission, and that the wing commander, himself, and Herrman would be staying within the city for whatever reason.  That did change his plans a bit, but not enough to make him second guess them.  He gave an affirmative over the comm channel again, before shutting off his broadcasting and making his way back to the launch catapult where the Gerridon had been stored in preparation for just such an eventuality.  Lucius, Herrman, Daiki, and Eryn sounded off before the knight was even properly locked in and that brought a smile to his face.

 

"You're getting slow, Draegan."  A chuckle followed his statement as a notice from the Mjolnir's computer told him that he was locked in and ready to launch.  Nodding his head, and by extension the Gerridon's, he reactivated his transmitter to speak.  "Sir Draegan launching in 3...2...1..."  The Gerridon was sent hurtling forward by the launch catapult while the knight within allowed it to drop below the cloud cover, before finally activating the thruster pack on its back to regain some control.

 

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Draegan's chosen course had taken him along under the city before rising up from the cloud cover and dropping into a relatively empty space on the other side.  Shutting off the thrusters entirely, the Gerridon began moving about in search of a location to set up the tactical sensor array and quickly found one.  The piece of high-end military hardware certainly did look out of place among the dilapidated buildings on the far side of the colony from where the Mjolnir had docked, but its location inside of a presumably burned-out or otherwise ruined habitation structure made actually spotting it a difficult prospect from the outside.  The thing was about the same size as his rail cannon, and he managed to fit it in through a hole in one of the walls on an upper-level before activating it.

 

The device hummed as it activated, and quickly clamped down into the floor of the structure it had been set upon before automatically deploying several small antennae which were hardly noticeable among the broken pieces of metal sticking up from the roof of the building.  The sensor array booted up for several moments, before connecting wirelessly to the other units in action around the sky colony.  Sighing quietly, Draegan settled in for what he expected to be a very boring duty of sitting and waiting at the ready in case a threat came up.

 

At least he was settling in, until the longer-range sensors in the array detected ten signatures, presumably belonging to Mechas, and relayed them to the Gerridon and the rest of the scouting party.  The transmission from Eryn confirmed what he already knew, and, exactly as she had predicted, mere seconds later the Gerridon's own sensors had picked up the front of the incoming formation.  From what he saw of them, he had one particularly disturbing conclusion he drew.

 

"Their formation suggests a scouting party," he stated over their private comm channel, meaning specifically for Eryn and Lucius to hear.  "They've spread out to take the greatest possible advantage of their sensors, and in all likelihood they'll each be looking in a different direction.  Expect to be spotted if you approach them."  He did certainly hope his warning reached Eryn in time to help her, but then the Silver Bullet was probably the most agile piece of hardware on the Mjolnir and so there was little to worry about.  "KAS Gerridon is ready to engage, nonetheless."  As he spoke he made his statement true, Rail Cannon and Great Sword hilt coming into his symbiote's hands but the melee weapon not activating.  No sense in becoming a radiating beacon to the incoming scouts until it was necessary to do so.

[Mugendramon]

Flight

 

Herrman launched out right after Lucius's AVES, followed by the D-Perado, the CyBull and after a short interval, the Gerridon. The group split up as Lucius had arranged, and Herrman found himself boosting through Vayr's airspace in more or less circular patterns, always maintaining a visual with what he assumed was the town centre; Lonn would surely be there, and Herrman needed absolute reassurance that he had things under control.

 

Admiral or not, this was still a mostly detached neutral planet. Herrman had no reason to immediately fear any sort of attempt against Lonn's life, but having little information on the colony's political status as regarding the rest of the Union, any other such surrounding colonies (were there even any more? This place could be a forward point, the  only forward point from this dead world to the rest of the Union) or even the possible dangers of the world below; they did live up here after all.

 

The feed from the other pilots reached Herrman's comm unit. His senses immediately sprung to action and his whole self turned toward the source of the feed. The clouds were blocking his visual, he would need to leave the centre's proximity to approach. Through the feed, both Eryn and Draegan described a scouting party of some sort; this meant the colony was either protected (meaning there was something of value to protect, Herrman noted quickly) or being targeted. With only one way to find out, Herrman shifted his body with his side thrusters and dashed through the air toward Eryn and Draegan.

 

The clouds split asunder after the AVES' speed cut through them. The brake boosters allowed Herrman to steady himself at a comfortable angle.

 

Presently, both his radar feed and visual confirmed the presence of the colony's units. They looked alien in design, not modeled after known life for the most part. Their formation hovered still at the moment; and judging by their light disposition, the crafts were designed for speed... meaning they had stopped dry. (Had they stopped at the sight of the ship?) They did not appear heavily armed, meaning that their role as guards was unlikely. The other possibility was left as the only, and Herrman's thoughts turned to Lonn.

 

"All of you please listen up." Herrman's comm systems tuned themselves instantly into the encrypted frequency; "These units are almost undeniably hostile. Maintain a safe distance and look out for any signs of thruster activity. Crafts this light should not be holding their position like this."

 

He realized in a nanosecond that he had basically just barked an order and needed to cover it up. "Uh, kind of obvious I suppose. Still, V-42 on standby and ready for engagement."

[Astolfo]

Her gun was trained perfectly onto Dane's heart, ready to pierce it with a laser any moment, when that blond idiot of an Alfar spoke up. Her eye twitching at the sarcasm, without turning, she spoke. [color=#008080]"Would you like to die?"[/color] A smell of fish came up, and she could tell Lore had arrived too, even before she heard the oh so irritating voice. Holding her gun up even as Dane belted his ancient toy he called a gun, she lowered it only after he had been taken away by the elders. Keeping her gun in her hand, her lip curled slightly, but when she heard that grandpa's next few words, her eyes widened. [i][color=#008080]That runt's the son of a mayor? Now I'm disgusted at the thought of seeing the mayor. Tch.[/color][/i] At Lonn's signal, she immediately joined part of the ranks that formed.

Riding in the simplistic ground vehicle, Mithna scanned the entirety of the architecture, registering it within Jin's database for future reference. All in all though, this planet was a disappointing one. A little more than disappointed at having to stand outside, rather than joining the Admiral inside, she didn't show it however. Standing resolute near the door, she was mentally prepared for anything that might be thrown at her. Ismina had been one of the others that had been selected to accompany the Admiral, and Mithna heard her disappointment as well on having been left outside. Ismina being one of the few girls she didn't mind talking to, Mithna spoke up. Adora was close as well, and since she didn't mind the blond haired girl particularly either, she spoke to the two of them. [color=#008080]"I trust Lonn to be able to more than well handle his own, but it makes me irritated, leaving him with those cretins. What do you think? I really wish that he'd have taken at least one of us in there, even if as backup. I'm getting a bad feeling."[/color] What she omitted was that she certainly wouldn't having been the one to accompany her beloved Admiral. While she was waiting for their reply, she made sure there was a full energy supply, and that all her military weapons were strapped as they should be across her body. Muttering to herself that a single attempt on the Admiral's life, from any of these lowlifes, would be the last thing they ever did, she fidgeted slightly, restless.

[Aix]

The Mother Will Comes Again

 

The office’s door shut by itself with a click. Elijah, now sighing with relief at his newfound privacy, sat down on the chair behind his desk. He sunk right in, and his face looked like sighing again. Instead, he beckoned for the Admiral himself to take a seat. At this point, surrounded by his own walls, there was no facade to keep up (or keep him standing up).

 

Lonn sat down as Elijah had gestured him to, but, unlike Elijah, he kept a stiff, upright posture, caring little for the comfort, and cut straight to the chase. “I hope you have something important to discuss with me. My time is not to be easily wasted.”

 

The mayor chuckled sheepishly before saying anything. “Why, I do;” he began, not even looking down from the ceiling toward the Alfar; “but something you said earlier caught my attention.

 

“You intend to bring an entire fleet to Root.”

 

Lonn nodded in affirmation, while beginning to deduce this man's concerns. “Yes, I do.”

 

Elijah finally looked at him, but kept himself from grunting. “Do you even begin to understand the implications this could have, to both your fleet and our colony?”

 

“You needn’t worry, we don’t have any hostile intentions. We are yet fully stocked, or very nearly so, and shall take nothing from your colony. I intend merely to stay here while my fleet gathers itself before heading onwards,” said Lonn. “I promise you no trouble from my men.”

 

“Listen. I didn’t ask you what your plans are, kid.” He did allow himself a sigh this time. “I said there are implications  to your being here. I’m sure you know this, but the Union’s affiliated territory (like say, this planet) is strict neutral ground.”

 

Lonn’s eyebrow twitched slightly at the condescending term of address, and though he mostly reformed his poker face, he was unused to insult. “I am quite ready to deal with any implications.”

 

“Yes, yes; I’m sure your fancy flagship, whatshername…?”

 

“Mjolnir, the hammer of the war god,” said Lonn, answering in addition with the ship’s naming convention.

 

“Never heard of that one. Weird how divinity works,” Elijah added. “Point being; you and your ship can get out with shooting at basically anything. But what do you think happens in the grand scheme of things? Do you think nobody’s going to know that one of the biggest weapons in the Galaxy docked -along with all of its fleet- in neutral ground?”

 

“I would like to know the point of this strategy lesson,” said Lonn, sitting back, somewhat annoyed at being lectured.

 

Elijah’s coy smile flashed for a moment before curling back down. “Well, truth be told I did not expect to have to say all that to an Admiral of all people, sir.

 

“The point is I really cannot let you stop by our colony like this. Our… political situation, is rather unstable as it is. We are humble miners, as you surely know. What we mine, is not so humble by comparison. If the Federation found out you and your fleet are in this of all places, all hell could break loose.”

 

“So you are rather worried about us staying here,” said Lonn.

 

“You did say your supplies were nearly full.”

 

“Indeed it is possible for us to remain independent of you.”

 

“Then again, it is not…” Elijah raised an eyebrow with malice in his eyes; “what an impasse.”

 

Lonn detected the threat in the other man, but remained firm.

 

“If you go, the Federation might just find out you ‘visited’ one of the most relevant resources in the entire system. Yet, I can’t just let you stay here; lest my- er, Vayr’s political enemies make the same case I am. Do you see any way for us to work this out?”

 

The mayor stared, his chin resting on his hands, expectant.

 

“I am quite certain you already have something in mind,” said Lonn, really starting to dislike this man.

 

“Bravo, sir.” Elijah leaned back on his own puffed chair, producing a loud squeak. “What if, and I repeat, what if, one of those options was taken off the table?”

 

Lonn sighed, and deliberately decided to throw things apart. “I will depart now, with my ship and fleet if that is what you please. Goodbye, Mr. Silvers. It was a pleasure speaking to you,” he said standing up to leave.

 

Elijah’s grip on the moment slipped like it had never been there. He got up with a start, and came very close to grabbing the alfar by his sleeve.

 

“You can’t leave like this! I’m offering a mutual exchange here. I… I apologize for the tone I have employed thus far. ...Sir.”

 

The alfar Admiral very nearly smirked at the sudden reversal of the situation. “Is that so?” he said, then, with a very tired-sounding sigh, he sat back down. “Very well, I shall listen to you for a moment longer.”

 

“Thank you,” Elijah replied, sighing his words out and sitting back down himself. “The resources of this planet are mostly under my administration. Nonetheless, there are small independent groups who believe otherwise. One of them, possibly the most prominent, lies in another colony by the name of Halyr.

 

“Halyr is only a few hundred standard kilometres toward the west of this colony. Over the recent weeks, they have launched wave after wave of scout parties in the surrounding grounds below.” Elijah adopted a distinctively firmer tone. “Being a peaceful and undersupplied planet, Root lacks very powerful physical weapons. As such, we have no realistic way of keeping those scout parties away from our airspace.

 

“All I really ask of you is to issue a, should we say, warning? to Halyr. To make sure they stay off our tails. We will provide shelter for your flagship and fleet, while also making sure to monitor any communications going out of Root to ensure your location remains hidden.”

 

“I suppose it would not be difficult,” said Lonn, coolly, but as Elijah looked as he was about to reach his hand over for him to shake it he stopped him for a second. "Give me a day or two to consider. Please understand I do take deals quite seriously. I trust that you will at least for the coming day or two prevent word of my fleet getting out?"

 

Elijah looked at the alfar, and confirmed that he appeared to be favouring the deal, before offering his hand again with a nod. This time, Lonn took it.

 

They shook hands, and Elijah stood to walk over towards a cupboard. He opened it and took out a bottle with a smirk on his face. All he’d had to do all along was stroke the pretty boy’s ego? He was really getting rusty at this.

 

“Do you drink, Admiral? You look a bit young.”

 

Now, this may have been a sore point with him in the past, and he almost grimaced, but he did not want grant this man even the slightest reason to condescend. “I would not mind a cup,” he said casually.

 

“It’s decided then,” Elijah added as he took two ornamented glasses along with the bottle; “let’s drink to a fine average, uneventful day.”

 

Lonn creased his eyebrows. His day had been anything but uneventful, and for the second time, he had to stop his thoughts from wandering back. With an inaudible grunt, the alfar reached for the glass, hoping then to find some reprieve in the wine.

 

The glasses were poured and then clinked; while Elijah finished with a hushed “and to Halyr’s last”, Lonn downed his drink quickly in one gulp before turning away, hoping to conceal the blood rushing to his face, and hurrying for the door.

 

“I shall be going now.”

[Raine]

 

OST - Green Eyed Jealosy

 

                Lucius threw his head back as his undone hair clouded his vision. He and his Valkyrie floated quickly in the labyrinth of industry resting on colony keeping out of sight as his pupils sporadically found the radar and the flashing dot signaling Lonn’s approximate position. He had swiftly guided his mech into the water treatment systems near the mayor hall, luckily, his entourage are all too conventional soldiers to turn off their communicators.  Lucius kept his microphone off, having the incoherent buzz of radio traffic citizen, civilian police, his own army’s, and, most importantly, the channel he set up with his reinforcement squadron.

 

                His squad didn’t need to be coddled, they were pilots and capable of acting rationally and effectively. However, if only he could say the same about the admiral. “Oh, Lonn, look what you’ve gone and done. For a heretic, you sure make everyone worry about you mighty greatly.” Lucius relaxed in his seat and brushed his fingers over the rosary, “How dull, my God, that you would choose such a reckless and faithless champion to aid me. I suppose your will can not be helped. I can only clean up after you after all,” he voice was soft and comforting in the privacy of his Valkyrie.

 

                Lucius’s ear twitched as Eryn’s voice came through the communicator, “I've got ten bogeys on my long range radar. At the speed they're going, they should show up on your machines' systems in roughly four seconds. I'm changing course to intercept and investigate. “

 

                “Oh, dear, Eryn you will never find yourself a man if you keep yourself so tense, you cannot see how blessed we are.” Lucius put himself in attention in the cockpit and tied back his hair again, “Nevertheless, I suppose I should maintain my decency as a commander. That’s what you want right?” His right hand grasped the movement controller on his right as he flipped on his mic with his opposite hand when just then another message came through, “These units are almost undeniably hostile. Maintain a safe distance and look out for any signs of thruster activity. Crafts this light should not be holding their position like this. "Uh, kind of obvious I suppose. Still, V-42 on standby and ready for engagement." It was Herman, typical; he seemed the type who would enter these situations willingly.

 

                Lucius pulled up a detailed scan of the area, Eryn was already tailing the 10 units. “Hey, Eryn,” he said into the squad channel, “you’ve convinced me you’re willing to do what in necessary, but you realize that you’re outnumbered 10:1 at the moment?” Lucius thought of something, “Maintain your distance but make sure they can still see you, I have an idea.”

 

                “Daiki, Herman, Draegan; do me a favor and move yourself closer to me, I want to make a perimeter between these unknowns and the colony.” Lucius turned off his mic for a moment and cleared his throat, he made sure his identifier was disabled on his Valkyrie. Lucius switched his channel from the squad to an open public channel with enough range for his new friends to hear him. A deep breath, “Attention! You are entering restricted airspace! You are currently in pursuit by a member of the Root Airforce Patrol, turn around or face immediate action!”

 

                Lucius switched off the public, he disliked lying but his ass was covered now. That communication was on an open channel meaning it was picked up by the colony, they now know that patrol officer spotted unidentified units. Lucius prayed for them to attack first, most likely they’re not hostile and will turn however if they are hostile units intending to engage Root forces, to be defeated by their guests, the benefits of his launch would be worth it. The noble Empire guests of the vulnerable Root colony who came to save the day, what a wonderful story that would make. 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"We should start by doing a flyby of the city's superstructure. Maybe get a few pictures of the hover engines with this gun camera. After that, I suggest we do a flyby of the surrounding airspace and a few of the higher mountain peaks sticking up though the cloud cover. This way we  can get a good idea of the general area. I'll probably photograph those too so that we can provide Lonn with an accurate map of the area if and when he requires it. I want you at my Six, alright Daiki?"

 

Daiki was happy to oblige and divulge himself with Eryn's plan. As the cable was retracted, he maintained his spot at Eryn's six. D-Perado X kept up with Bullet as the two pilots kept their mission to a "T". However, he got the next message which was encrypted by Eyrn...

 

"I've got ten bogeys on my long range radar. At the speed they're going, they should show up on your machines' systems in roughly four seconds. I'm changing course to intercept and investigate."

 

"Crap...hang on Eryn I'm coming to help!" he said, preparing to follow Eryn's lead, until another message was received. This time...by Lucius.

 

“Daiki, Herman, Draegan; do me a favor and move yourself closer to me, I want to make a perimeter between these unknowns and the colony.”

 

Daiki began to grit his teeth a bit, really itching to hurry up and strike at the unknown mechs...but also knew at the same time it was unethical...especially with a time as this. He knew Lucius and half of the other group did plan for ethical standards with this, mainly being not firing unless fired upon as well as trying to find out if they were friend or foe. Nevertheless, Daiki followed orders given by Lucius and moved into formation with him and the others.

 

To be honest right now...he really hoped they would strike first.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Draegan sighed as Lucius' first order after being made aware of the situation was to have them form a defensive perimeter.  Sure, it was the logical thing to do as they had no real idea about who these pilots were or why they were so close to the capital of this world, but it wasn't any fun.  Well, at least it got him away from the location of that sensor array, which by now should have been feeding detailed information on the scouting party, mostly valkyrie-sized units from what Draegan could tell.  The Knight was just preparing to move out, making certain that the protective shielding for the portable sensor array was activated so they would get some warning if it was attacked, when he heard the message that Lucius had broadcast to the entirety of not just the approaching scouting party but also the entire civilian population that had any sort of wireless communication, AND the Admiral without whose permission they had just deployed.

 

"Attention!  You are entering restricted airspace!  You are currently in pursuit by a member of the Root Airforce Patrol, turn around or face immediate action!"

 

If anyone were watching the Gerridon, and given that it wasn't exactly subtle there probably were people watching, they would see the giant biomechanical symbiote bring its right hand into contact with its face with sufficient force that the contact could be heard for at least a hundred meters from the source.  The Kal'dar could not believe what he had just heard, and had an absolutely terrible opinion of the idea Lucius had for a cover identity for them.  All the same, the Kal'dar began making a course towards Lucius' location while sticking to the very edges of the colony.  He wanted to be close to the action if anything started up.

 

"Lucius,"  he began, speaking over their private communications channel.  "I mean no offense, but that may just be the single worst cover for us you could have come up with.  The moment they see the Silver Bullet, or really any of the units we have, they'll know we're flying things far more high-end than this little backwater could possibly afford.  I mean look around you, the population of this colony lives in squalor.  How could they possibly afford any of this?  Not to mention the fact that if they see me, and recognize me as a Kal'dar, they'll almost certainly be suspicious given that my people have no ties with this place."  Having said his piece on the wing commander's words, Draegan shut off his transmission again and simply waited for whatever was going to happen next to happen.  He didn't like having to be reactionary, because at the moment they had little idea of what the apparent enemy's plans were and they could be taken off guard if they made an attack.  He considered an idea, and decided that it was something he could handle the repercussions from when they had them.  Right now, he felt that it was more important to be ready than to worry about being yelled at by a superior officer.  Thus it was that he opened a channel back to the Mjolnir, specifically the hangar bay, and used a bit of his authority as an officer to get things moving with a message to the pilots that knew his voice.

 

"Pilots, get to your units and be ready to launch at the first sign of combat unless otherwise ordered by an officer of equivalent or superior rank than myself."  The instant he finished speaking, the line of communication was cut to reduce the chances of it being traced by the enemy.  He couldn't be certain if they would be getting ready, but if nothing else he'd done what he could to assist in the Mjolnir's combat readiness if things should go wrong.  Furthermore, he was willing to deal with Lucius yelling at him for this.  He'd gotten good at tuning out the Zealot.  

[Raine]

 

OST

 

Inside the confines of his mech awaiting enemy forces; Lucius, wide-eyed and mouth gaping, started convulsing. Draegan’s words echoed from his communications, he was breaking silence and disobeying. He was threatening the mission and breaking protocol for his own sake. What did he want? Glory and fame for some battle he was hell-bent on? Lucius froze, his fingers reached solemnly for his mic switch and turned it off momentarily, “Stupid fucking reptile! How dare you endanger God’s plan with your pride!” Lucius placed his hands over his ears and pressed over his head, “No! No! No! I damn you and your stupidity, you cold-blooded simpleton!” He took a deep breath and calmed himself, “You too were chosen, unfortunately.”

 

Lucius turned on his mic, “Draegan, I can’t allow you to call into the field any units. I have good reasoning for the things that I do being the commanding officer of this squad.” Lucius crossed his arms and scanned his radar ensuring his time before contact. He began to claw at his forearm, “If you feel incapable of acting like a real soldier, go back to the ship. Go eat something on the house and we’ll drop you off as a deserter at the most backwater deserted planet in this arm of the galaxy.” Lucius moved into the mic, “But, until you decide, I want you to grow a pair of scaly balls and follow orders. I would greatly appreciate and prefer to use your talent to kill exceptionally well to my advantage for the next 10 minutes. After that, you can do whatever that devolved oxygen-deprived mind of yours thinks is best.” Lucius switched out. …maybe he was too mean…

 

Lucius checked his comms, no one was launching. In order to keep the peace, this had to go the way Lucius wanted. Lucius could not risk insubordination. In quick succession, he typed a message to Eryn, Daiki, and Herman in privacy away from Draegan. Be careful… Lucius stared into the distance awaiting their contacts.

[Mugendramon]

 

As soon as all six members of the divided party had achieved a visual of the Zestein, Lucius addressed them with a very frail deceit. Herrman would have, under any other circumstances, reminded him this plan could not possibly work. But Lonn's life was possibly in very real danger, if the weaponry these craft possessed was as destructive as it looked.

 

Lucius had given him direct orders; he, in turn, had moved to fulfill them post-haste. Always maintaining a visual, the AVES' side thrusters moved Herrman horizontally through the air. Now placed directly in front of the unknown craft, at a distance of about five hundred metres, their alignment made one thing obvious to Herrman –they were positioned towards the central building of the colony. Whatever their actual intentions, it was a certainty that they would have come into contact with Lonn.

 

A written message, from Lucius, made a part of him buzz as it displayed on the unattended cockpit. He interpreted it; 'Be careful'. Herrman noted Lucius had a tendency to clarify things already tacit in his instructions.

 

"Identify yourselves," Herrman finally said in open broadcast.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

The alfar stepped out of his office and the hiss of the hydraulics let Elijah know the door was closed behind him. With a small smirk on his face, the man took both empty cups and carried them to a small ceramic counter in a corner.

 

On this counter laid a fine handkerchief, which Elijah took as he began to hum. Getting Halyr off his ass would now be as simple as wiping the remaining wine off these cups. For a moment Elijah felt bad, wondered if he should have offered the Admiral a better harvest. No, he told himself, poor kid was just drinking it out of pride.

 

Pride, huh. Elijah remembered, back in his own twenties, how he used to show some sort of pride. Honor, even. He remembered, now clenching his fist, that in this life it was survival of the fittest; not the proudest. He'd have never made a name for himself by playing fair. He'd have never gotten himself this proverbial goldmine, literal darkalmine, by following the rules.

 

Did he regret some of his darkest moments? Some. Shoving his own father into bankruptcy always stung him to a degree. But in a life like his, there was usually no room for remorse. There certainly was none now.

 

If Lonn Alfadir had to sink so he could swim and Halyr could drown, then he would spill as much wine as needed be.

 

Wine, or oil; or blood.

[Aix]

"We have been detected," said Daphne, stating the obvious, and Jules sighed - partially at the fact that they had been detected already, and the fact that Daphne was so crushingly dull and acted so much like a robot that he found it unpleasant to be around her. There were many times, though, that he appreciated her tremendous piloting skill and the fact that she followed orders to the letter.

 

"It's weird that we are detected already," commented Jules, but Daphne gave no reply. He looked closer and realized that they were very top-notch models, not ones you'd see on Union-affiliated territories. Likely, they came from that really gaudy warship docked on Vayr. What support had that man called in now? However, there was really something not quite right about this situation. They should have been identified immediately as Vayr's enemies, as unidentified Zestiens could only belong to Halyr. Playing on his suspicion that these people didn't actually know the situation on Root, he opened up the open broadcast.

 

"We mean no harm!"

 

However, the other side insisted that they identify themselves, and Jules found himself in a very tight position. He stayed silent as long seconds ticked by.

 

"We are diplomatic envoys from the colony of Halyr!" To his surprise, Daphne had spoken up this time, albeit still in a rather drab tone. It was questionable whether they should identify themselves as Halyrites, but there was no other plausible explanation to their origin. The best lies contained a grain of truth within them and Jules could only hope these people believed them not to be hostile, their mission was to avoid combat if possible, though if anything, their ten units should be able to overpower the opposition's six.

 

==============================================

 

A lone Zestien was heading full speed back, when something caught his eye. The dragons' silver scales glinted off the sun and, so focused on returning as fast as he could to his wife and children, he had noticed them far too late. There was only a roar as a shadow overtook him.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The KAS Gerridon, which had been making preparations to link up with the rest of the squad, froze in place as its pilot received the transmission from his "commanding officer."  It was all the Kal'dar could do to not immediately engage the ignorant zealot after the multitude of insults and threats that had been sent his way, and the Armor Symbiote in which he was embarked began shaking with rage.  Was this human so completely incompetent as to be unable to recognize the wisdom in combat readiness, along with the flaws in maintaining his ridiculous plan at this stage?  Draegan decided that he was, and that it would be best to enlighten him. Thus it was that he reopened the encrypted communications channel their squad was using.

 

"Lieutenant JG Yishmale," he deliberately mispronounced the human's name, an insult which would draw one of his people into a test of honor, "One of the first things we were taught was part of what it meant to be a good soldier: to recognize when a commanding officer has given an order that does not make sense, or when it would be detrimental for the whole of the force to continue following a standing order.  Your plan was good and sensible, maintaining radio silence to mask our identities and moving to offer the Admiral protection, but the moment you announced to the enemy that we were members of a force which anyone who can see our units will know we cannot possible be it stopped being sensible to maintain radio silence with the flagship.  Furthermore, their current distance and position implies that they are capable of drawing clear line-of-sight to the Mjolnir.  Therefore, it is sensible to assume that they can see it and, if they were to simply look closely enough at our units, link it and us together by the NINTH FLEET INSIGNIA PAINTED ON THEM."  He took a moment to calm himself again before speaking, it wasn't exactly the time to turn this into a shouting match.  "Thus, I felt it prudent to ensure that the pilots still aboard our flagship would be ready and able to defend themselves if-"

 

He was cut off by a blaring alarm klaxon transmitted to him from the long-range sensors he had set up, and when he looked again at the information coming in and felt himself grow confused.  The sensors were tracking multiple signatures from several kilometers past the scouting party they were preparing to potentially engage, and it was these signatures that made no sense to him.  Well, they did make sense to him but to see them here did not.  He began patching the rest of the squad, including Lucius, the information the sensors were picking up on these new potential arrivals.  "Heads up everyone," he began, his voice much calmer than it had been, "I'm tracking multiple biomechanical signatures approaching from the same vector as our new friends.  Not that it's going to effect too much at this stage, but I think we ought to give them a heads-up about it."  Draegan shut off his transmitter as he finished speaking, and simply waited to see how the others reacted while planning to alert both the pilots he'd gotten on standby earlier and this newly arrived scouting party if he was the only one who saw fit to.

[Mugendramon]

 

 

The response from the bizarre craft formation came quickly, and satisfied Herrman. Despite the undoubtedly offensive nature of the constructs, they had identified themselves without hesitation. To this extent, Herrman decided, they could be trusted.

 

But the AVES did not budge an inch. They came from a different colony (neighboring? Far away? The crafts did not look like they would fare well in sustained flight, so the former was more likely), and were headed toward the colony with no other sign of detection than the incidental contact the SyBull had made with them.

 

"Please excuse us. We have not been notified of your arrival. As per protocol," Herrman lied through his proverbial, currently nonexistent, teeth; "please state your business."

 

Meanwhile, through his enhanced faculties, he typed a written message to be transmitted to Draegan and Lucius; it was written so fast that he could not have read it out loud quicker than it was finished.

 

       "Draegan, sir; I would recommend that you keep your hostilities to a minimum at the present time. We are dealing with potential hostiles who could very well represent a direct threat to the Admiral and an inner dispute would put us in a very undesirable situation. We need our reaction time at our sharpest.

       "Lucius, sir; Lieutenant Commander Draegan is not wrong to request assistance. However combat-ready the totality of our units may be, we do not presently know this party's intentions beyond their alleged purpose as ambassadors. Nor do we know the full extent of their firepower. At the very least, I would also recommend that we keep a decent number of units on standby for deployment."

[a bad post]

The hiss of hydraulics to her left caused Ismina to turn observing, and as soon as the Admiral emerged from the Mayor's office she fell into step next to him casting him an odd look noticing the redness in his cheeks and the uncomfortable look on his face.

 

"Sir...?" Ismina whispered, had the Mayor done something to embarrass him? She wasn't used to seeing the Admiral so flustered, "Might I ask what transpired in there, or at least to what our orders are? Were able to secure supplies from him...?" Ismina trailed off hardly paying attention to the Admiral anymore, "I certainly hope we have enough money, surely they won't offer supplies for free.... You didn't threaten him, did you?" Ismina thought this over a minute, realizing she was still 'talking' to the Admiral.

 

"Oh... Ah... hahaha... I apologize sir, perhaps I should let you explain the situation first..."