A/N: This chapter is taking longer than I expected....

Part 3

“Bazz…I sincerely hope you know what you’re doing.” Marneus’ voice echoes with worry down the hallway while being accompanied by booted feet marching towards the command deck.

“~Oh, that’s his name? It doesn’t feel as if the Young Blood is the only other person within my relic. What parasite fills your body, Young Blood?~” the consciousness asks from the surroundings within the ship.

A spike of rage clouds his eyes for but a moment as Ninurta reels at the comment of being called a parasite. He could hear Marneus’ boots as they rounded a bend in the ship and finally stepped out into the confines of the command deck. The first thing that Bazz sees however, is the grim look on the Commander’s face.

“So you are the Blessed One…” Ninurta’s voice echoes softly in the interior as he feels something within the atmosphere.

A surge of energy flows throughout the chamber, all flowing from the confines of every bulkhead, nook, and cranny of the ship. Not a few moments pass before a softly shining, ethereal form of a robed woman floats a few meters from Marneus. Her body being heavenly in the extreme and if one stared long enough they would be enraptured by her beauty. Her eyes reveal an earthy hazel with veins of vibrant green stretching out from her pupils. A soft flowing of light brown hair settles slightly in an honest bun atop her head as a small crown of tree roots and exotic small flowers appears around it. The deck suddenly smelling of petrichor and all manner of flowering scents. Lily and lotus being chief among them.

“~I guess you may call me that. I am first and foremost the Patron of Human Race. I am known by many names: Gaia, Bhūmi, and Anat being some fair examples among the cultures that I represent. They are but words to put towards a being the humans have no comprehension of. I am only known to a chosen few in this age as— ~”

“Kishar, Youngest of the Pantheon of Gods and lover of Anshar the Mad… otherwise known as one of the betrayers and murderers of my people.” Ninurta interrupts in a slow heavy tone with a soft underlying growl.

Surprise blossoms on the being named Kishar, not exactly expecting to be interrupted but even still not expecting to be named the last two titles being given to her. Marneus however, was a completely different story seeing as his face had drained of all color given the state at how the conversation was turning.

~Be careful Ninurta, I don’t want to be hunted from one end of the galaxy to the other by an entire species…~

~Ku’sh, you don’t even understand my reasoning. So if you would be so kind, shut up~

“Boy…”Marneus starts quietly.

“Be silent mortal. I would have an audience with your so-called ‘Patron’.” Ninurta’s voice echoes within the interior of the ship with barely concealed anger.

As she floats towards him, he states, “Had it not been for your Astral Aura, I would not have recognized you.”

Flinching at the hostility, he looks up to the floating lady as she reaches forward slowly going to touch the arm of the bronze giant.

“I would not if I were you. I barely tolerate your presence here anymore than I tolerate being trapped within this foreigner.” Ninurta says quietly while glaring at her with a subtle flaring of crimson energy behind his eyes.

~Oi! You were the one that decided to merge with me, asshole!!~ Bazz says in protest.

Pausing for but a moment, Kishar retracts her hand as she gives a thoughtful look. A playful glint humor’s her eyes as she begins speaking once more.

“~May I know your name, oh namer of titles? ~”

Thinking for a moment, Ninurta deigns to respond.

“I am…or was, Ninurta of the Anunnaki. The Avatar of War and Hunting, Huntsmaster of the Great Game, King of Assyr, Byandi, and Galash, and the Prince of Conquest.”

Surprise once again blossoms on her face as she starts lowering to the floor of the ship. Placing a slender hand on her chin as she thinks for a moment, Bazz is silently cursing himself for allowing Ninurta to take over. Before long, she stops moving only to stare directly into his eyes.

“~And why would you name me betrayer and murderer? I don’t ever recall betraying or murdering your people.~ she asks with an upraised eyebrow while holding an inquisitive gaze.

“YOU LEFT MY PEOPLE TO DIE!! I WAS THERE WHEN YOU AND THE OTHER GODS ABANDONED US AT THE GATE OF UTAAK!! DON’T YOU LIE TO MY FACE SAYING THAT YOU DON’T RECALL BETRAYING AND MURDERING MY PEOPLE!!!” Ninurta roars in a demonic filled fury, his energy surging outwards in an explosion of blinding white light.

The light envelops everyone within the room and Bazz could feel the presence of the Goddess and Marneus join his as their psyche was pulled into his chest.

As the light fades, their surroundings change to what seems to be a light bridge in the middle of a world surrounded by heavy energies and magicks. Ninurta slowly opens his eyes to gaze on the landscape around him filled with the moon light casting projections across everything it kisses. Luscious forests hiking over mountainous terrain stood hanging at the backdrop of a gentle valley, which is filled with rolling hills proceeding before him. Turning around, he sees the last of his warriors, his people, standing in their livery of intricately designed white plated armor. Each one handcrafted to perfection from Divinium cores with wards and runes scribed throughout the veins of Ocitron being laced within the cloth elements of the armor.

All manner of cloaks and robes adorned the many warriors as they readied themselves for battle. Each one either polishing their armor, sharpening a blade, or adding extra enhancements to the runes.

He brings his mace towards his face, slowly scrutinizing every detail. Sharur was an interesting weapon, the last creation given to his people by the First God. It was a large golden weapon, easily reaching a height of 2 meters had it been resting its head on the ground. It was an enlarged version of a flanged mace, except each of the flanges were bladed with bright red trim with each one overreaching the pointed filial while seeming to be softly humming with energy. As he looked at it, an underlying killing intent seeped out of the weapon, as if it had a will of its own, and was wishing to break bone and pulverize flesh.

Looking up, he peers through the entirety of the army, gazing softly at the end of the light bridge as the cityscape rose up into the heavens. Gypseum buildings, glittering, gleaming, each with a rainbow of colors creating a glorious hallucination of the marvel of the capital city Utaak. Crystal skyways choked with refugees as they rushed towards the evacuation areas. Swaying gold encrusted ships, each overladen with external ports filled the skies above the city as well as its surroundings as the beam-transports moved their people in the hundreds towards the sky.

A lightning clap steals his attention back towards the front of the light bridge as he stares at his people being evacuated.

“~You should be running, Ninurta. You may be the Avatar of War, but you are not the Avatar of Victory. Even you can be slain.~” A feminine voice sings out behind him.

Turning to gain a look at the being behind him, his face hardens into a grimace as he begins to speak.

“And what would you have me do, Blessed One? I am not a coward, it is not in my blood to run and hide from the hordes of Daedim and the Primes that lead them. And even then, what would that accomplish as they would find us anyway?”

Making the final turn, he notices that it isn’t just one being that stands before him, it was five. The one at the front, judging by the position she stands in, would be the speaker who stares up at him. Soft footfalls turn with a fair wind as she walks forward in slow agonizing steps.

Dressed in billowing robes of purest silver silk, trimmed with hint of gold along the edges as they ran their way up revealing her remarkable bust. A bust which was golden in complexion, leading to a thin and elegant face with sleek and sharp facial features. Eyes that echoed the silver orbs of the moon, both without pupils stared up at. Long pointed ears poked out beneath her glossy raven black hair.

“~We would not walk this path if we were you. It is not our place to join the Fate of the First. ~” She states calmly.

Looking at the other figures, he takes in the young gods and goddesses. One goddess to his right, presumably finishing the last process of forming, was short enough to not even have the top of her head reach up to his thighs. Pieces of stone and sediment, brought out a distinct form of a female body with an assortment of glowing crystals forming a dress and hair. Trace lines of energy formed the veins within her body and released outward as she shifted from one foot to the other. Glowing eyes the color of ice gazed up at him in a curious yet cautious tone.

Another god stood to his left. Gazing down at her, to which he could only assume it was a her judging from his experience with reptiles, he looked at her still forming blood red scales. She had no visible nose to speak of except for two small slits in the middle of her face. Gold tinged large scales were starting to form on her crest, looking to be running down her back as she softly swayed with the smooth winds blowing through the landscape. She was lean, slightly muscular… if you could call a still forming being to be lean. Blackened eyes stared up at him slightly, bouncing the moon light off her corneas.

At the back, were two small children, looking about maybe 4 or 5 years old. The one on the right had little brown curls grace her head as she stood there while not even being able to meet the knees of his towering height. The rest of her body still forming, with bits of code leaking out from her body as she fidgeted in place in her plain white sundress. She too was staring up at him, but not in curiosity, more of a queer gaze one gives to a being that she has no knowledge of. The little boy next to her seemed to be of a slightly different sort with dark skin and golden brown eyes, dressed in a small purple judogi with a stick in his hand. Bald of head and grinning away at his surroundings, he seemed to be a quizzical sort of child, constantly fidgeting and looking around, not really understanding what was going on but was interested nonetheless.

“Were are your forces, Gods of the Pantheon? Are you not here to honor your word?” He asks as he looks back into the leading figures eyes.

She shakes her head slightly as she turns around to look at the expansive view of the tree line along the mountain range’s ridge.

“I have seen your fate Nakian. It is time to for the servant to become the master within the current skein of Fate.” She says quietly but just loud enough for only him to hear.

Ninurta’s face contorts in anger for but a moment before he reigns in his emotions to speak in a civil tone.

“And why would you do this? Speak plainly.”

“~We would help you had we more time, but current events have thus spired out of control. Avatar, your actions here have confirmed my fears and thus the Eldim will become the sovereign protectors of the galaxy in your people’s stead. ~” She speaks again.

As she speaks, energy begins swirling hundreds of meters overhead. Individual strands of energy begin forming clusters as they change through a multitude of colors. Each strand circling into a massive circle around the length of the light bridge, which in itself was a thousand meters from end to end. As the energy stabilizes, a solid color of deep purple stretches across the circle. Ambient extra energies rip through the circle, leaving a storm of lightning to herald the completion of a mass portal.

“~Remember Avatar, through your actions we have decided to leave you. ~” She continues.

Ninurta’s eyes narrow as he realizes the reason for her visit. Everyone in his surroundings start leaning forward slowly being brought to their knees.

“You abandon your oath Goddess?” he asks in a low cold voice.

His Aura sharpening all around him till the point that his Lines of Power become surging conduits of power as they grasp on to the surrounding energy currents sucking them inwards.

“~Goodbye, Ninurta…the once famous Avatar of War. You will not be missed. ~” she says with a final note and a thunderclap echoes in the surroundings as she and the others phase out of existence.

As she does this, the torrent of energy hanging above them finally settles, and the roars of otherworldly beings comes surging through. Looking up, Ninurta’s already hardened face contorts in rage as the implications of the last comment echo within his mind.

“YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD NOT LEFT US, GODDESS!! AS SUCH, THE LAST LIVING AVATAR WILL ENSURE THAT OUR TECHNOLOGICAL AND MAGICAL MARVEL’S AND EXPERTISE BECOMES NEAR IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO REPLICATE!!!” he roars up at the sky, staining the air with the psionic energy being poured through his voice. As he finishes, he begins to see the first of the hordes of the Daedim surge forth from the portal down into the skies above his army.

“~Enough~”

Kishar’s voice breaks through the atmosphere accompanied by a sharp white light that eventually faded back to their previous placements on the ship.

~What the hell was that? ~ Bazz states softly.

“~I would remind you of your customs Nakian. Your philosophy doesn’t— ~”

“My philosophy is dead, Goddess! My people are dead! My culture, dead! Everything that I held dear is gone!” Ninurta shouts at her with hate filled eyes.

Marneus leans on the side of the ship, watching the drama unfold.

“I am a lone Spirit of an Avatar for a people that no longer exists. I was one of the pinnacles that upheld my society, and now I have no people to hold up! And it is all. Your. FAULT!” Ninurta states angrily as he points towards her.

Absolute silence envelops the ship as the two stare each other down. Not a moment later, almost all ambient light dims as she strains the fabric of reality around her. Her body starts to become more corporeal as she gathers the energy around her.

“~And what would you have me do, Nakian? There is nothing that I possess or have the power to— ~”

“I would say butcher your own people. Feel the stain of their hatred wash over you as you rip them to ribbons.” Ninurta interrupts.

She becomes silent as she begins to feel a bit of annoyance at the creature standing in front of her.

“~I would remind you that you are in my domain here. Even if you are indeed my elder in this, you have become powerless in this day and age~” Kishar states in a cold voice as she lifts her head to look up into his face.

Silence rises up to greet her at this statement, Ninurta seeming to ponder what he should do before a smile brightens his face and a predatory glint gleams within his eyes. Reaching up with his hand pointing towards his heart in an open handed form, he says,

“And I can obliterate your cradle of power if I wished to. Just one strike to end this hosts life, and this entire solar system and the surrounding systems are destroyed.”

~Wha- Oi!! HOLD THE FUCK UP HERE NINURTA!!!!~ Bazz tries to roar through his own mind.

He began tuning out his Host’s cries as his anger was surging through his veins. Marneus and Kishar’s eyes widen at this provocation, fear beginning to edge its way into the commander’s eyes accompanied by sweat starting to bead on his brow. Both of them taking a step back as they try to come up with a suitable response. Finding none, Marneus looks towards his patron’s face, searching for some hope that there may be a way out of this.

Slowly, an empty smile graces her face. It was a smile of knowing you held a decisive battle with an embittered opponent and won. She starts slowly walking around him in.

“~What say we make a deal Nakian?~”

Ninurta’s eyes shift and a crease splits his forehead as his eyebrows furrow down in suspicion. His hand doesn’t waver in the slightest as he poses his question.

“What could you possibly offer me that would lessen my hatred of you?”

She waits for a few moments before responding.

“~Information. ~” She states seductively with her mirthless smile stretching slightly across her face.

Ninurta continues to watch her as she goes behind his back, his hand still not wavering in the slightest.

“Go on.”

She reaches up from behind him and floats upwards, her lips reaching softly towards his ear.

“~ I’ll tell you the truth. The reason why we left you. And… something to give you some manner of hope. ~” she purrs into his ear.

He freezes at this. It was something he had not expected. Information is a mighty currency, even amongst the Gods of the Pantheon. His hand starting to waver, Kishar continues to walk around until she comes full circle to stand in front of him. Looking down with a curious gaze, he asks the fated question.

“And what would be the cost for such information?”

All transactions come with a price. That is the way the galaxy works. If you wish for something badly enough, you must be willing to pay the associated price.

“~All I ask, is that you help my little Marny with this war of his. Like it or not, I feel each and every one of the deaths that are incurred on my people. With each snuff of a flame, my power grows weaker. Do this, and the information is yours. ~” She asks quietly with a fluttering of her robes.

She turns around, her back facing him as she walks towards Marneus. Lowering his hand, Ninurta eyes her with a complicated gaze.

“And how do I know this information will be worthy of my time?” He asks her quietly.

A slow chuckle escapes her lips as she turns around floating towards him.

“~Because this information is something that concerns you greatly. Additionally, you have no way of verifying if my words hold the truth. Even if you did, all of those party to this information are the Gods of the Pantheon, and they will hardly grant you this information with any casual wave of their hand. They would ask something of you that I am sure your host would not take kindly to.~”

~What the hell kind of deal are you pulling me into Ninurta?!~ Bazz asks cautiously.

He considers what she is saying before she begins speaking again.

“~Let me put it in simpler terms for you. Either help me by protecting my people and reap the possible benefits, or kill yourself now, destroying the only chance that you will get to know the truth of what happened that day. ~”

Silence settles around them as Ninurta contemplates what to do. Each second going by feels agonizing as Kishar and Marneus waits for his answer.

Slowly, Ninurta begins bringing his thumb towards his lips. Nicking it slightly, it was just enough for some blood to begin dripping down to the ground. Kneeling down, he begins speaking with a commanding voice, each word staining itself upon the air as he swipes his thumb across the decking in a half circle.

“I, Ninurta, the Avatar of War, do hereby swear, to protect the humans, unto the end of the current predicament that they now face. I will act to the best of my ability in all of the capacity that they require. And should they—”

“Jeezus mate, you could’ve just said a simple yes and it would be over by now!” Bazz interrupts in an irritated tone as he wrestles control back from his entity.

The Lines of Power returning to their previous places as he starts to stand up. Confused at what happened, the Goddess and Commander turn towards each other with puzzled faces.

“~And here I was admiring the fact that I would finally get to witness the famous Nakian Blood Oath.~” Kishar states with a pout spreading across her face. “~Oh well, I’ll take what I can get. Tell the Nakian the deal is struck Young Blood. His help, for my information. ~”

Standing back up, he immediately wipes the excess blood on his suit. Turning towards Kishar, he begins in a bright tone.

“Alright. Just so you know, I was already planning to help finish this war, with or without his help.”

A warm feeling envelops him as the small Goddess rushes towards him, embracing him in the best way she could.

“~Thank you Young Blood. I didn’t expect you to – ~”

“I’ve already planned out most of what is happening in space. I might as well finish what I started. Even this overanxious Avatar won’t be able to stop me from doing that, I assure you.” Bazz interrupts as he looks down at her tiny floating body. “That being said, I might have a way to end this with the least amount of bloodshed.”

Releasing him, Kishar goes over to stand next to Marneus. A curious look spreads across Marneus’ face as he faces him.

“What do you mean, boy?”

Looking down at the pair standing there, he feels some sort of connection between the two. As if they were more than just the gruff Commander acquiescing to his patron.

“I would like to parlay with the Shakurian Commander. Do you think that can be arranged, Marneus?” He asks with a slight cocking of his neck.

Surprise riddles Marneus’ face as he hears the question. It wasn’t something that he had anticipated at this stage of the conversation.

“I’m not sure, boy. There would need to be some ground rules in place just in case something went wrong. Like who will be there, what sort of –”

“Marneus this isn’t my first time parlaying with an enemy that I have no knowledge of. Just make it happen please and try to make the terms reasonable for both sides of this conflict.”

Taking out his PDA, he stares at it for a moment. Punching in a couple numbers and says, “Give me some time,” and brings it to his ear.

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

Somewhere in the Sol System, Unknown ship name…

A black robed figure with a grinning mask stands up from his command chair within the center of the bridge. Walking around, he stretches his limbs from the lack of use after having been stuck in the same position for a week. Walking towards the front of the bridge, he stares out through the wide viewport into the vastness of space, silently contemplating the positions of the ships within the backdrop of the star at the center of the system.

~What are they waiting for?~ he thinks as he stares at the Shakurian Fleet hanging in orbit above Jupiter.

“-Solitaire, I’m intercepting a direct vid hail from Yordam Station being aimed towards The Anteaus. Would you like to view it?-” a female voice chirps from his chair.

“Direct it to the main viewports around the ship please.” He says as he walks over to his chair.

The viewport dims, returning the dimly lit bridge to once again be filled with absolute darkness. As he sits down, the entire pane slowly brightens with a grainy image showing the familiar face of the Alliance Commander-in-Chief. Behind the man is a backdrop of a small cozy ship with little else being of remarkable note.

“This is Commander Marneus Yordam addressing the commanding officer of The Anteaus. I have come to question the reason as to why you are directing your enmity towards us. I would like to extend an invitation to you in the hopes that we can discuss this in person.” Marneus says with a small smile on his face.

~Curious, what is he trying to do? ~

As he questions the motives behind the man, the recording resumes playing.

“The meeting place will be aboard one of the hangars of Yordam Station. You are encouraged to bring any number of your entourage with you as a sign of good faith. We will also limit the number of participating Spacers and soldiers to a select few within our security detail.”

Scrutinizing the surroundings of the ship behind Marneus, Solitaire notices something peculiar.

“I sincerely hope for a positive response.”

“Freeze frame!” he speaks tersely before the recording ends.

Getting up from his chair, he walks to the viewport and tries to make out something behind the man’s head.

“-Something catch your eye Solitaire?-” a dual toned voice chimes from the chair.

Looking carefully behind the Commander’s head, he spots something that seemed eerily familiar.

“Has there been a response from the Shakurian flagship?” He asks as he studies the object closely.

“-None as of yet.-” the female voice chirps.

“-I sense mixed emotions radiating from the bridge of vessel. Chief among them however is rage. It taints the air around them as if– -”

“Tell them to accept the invitation but to only bring one squad for a security detail.” Solitaire interrupts the dual toned voice as he walks back to his chair.

“-And why exactly are we getting involved? I remember you making a bet with Discordiae about which side would win.-” the female voice chirps with her voice lilting upwards.

“Because there is something aboard the little Commander’s ship that has intrigued me and the only way that I will be able to see it is if I go down there myself. That being said, tell the Alliance and the Shakurians that I will be joining them as the Arbiter of the meeting.”

Finishing the conversation, he stares at the frozen screen of the recording. The reflection on the mask showed something behind the Commander, a massive human body with a golden glowing head was slightly visible at the edge of screen.

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

Aboard The Anteaus

The pounding of boots on cold steel plates reverberates throughout the hallways of the The Anteaus. Squads of troopers dressed in their skin tight suits bustle with energy throughout the ship as they get ready for what they see as the tipping point of the assault before their take-over of the Human Alliance.

One squad in particular each dressed in a black suit, is settled within the armory. Each one of the five going over in painstaking detail of making sure each of their mech-suits were up to par for the assault. External power supply, fuel for individual jump thrusters, and scented oil for each of the weapon pieces, armor components, and locking mechanisms. The mech-suits were small, each one coming in four pieces. One for each limb, two had extra bits in place for their wrapped tail as they were a central part of space combat.

Looking closer at them, almost all of the female troopers had their helmets off, laughing and cracking jokes at one another. All but one. A bulky figure, whose sex couldn’t be discerned, had its helmet still on sat in the corner grinding a whetstone against a single large curved blade with a hook on the end. The trooper continued to sharpen its sword as it studied its surroundings with the rest of the squad went about their rituals. Looking at the figure compared to the rest of the troopers, it was a larger specimen by far when it came to overall size.

The average size of troopers could be said to stand anywhere from 170 to 190 cm, roughly weighing in anywhere from 70 to 90 kg. The trooper in the corner however, overlapped the biggest of them by a good 40 cm sporting an extra 30 kg worth of muscle. As such the trooper had little in the way of extra space being how big it was.

Finishing the last stroke of the whetstone, the trooper fishes into its front pocket before pulling out its gloved hand with a small bottle with a piece of cloth affixed to the cap. The trooper goes about its business as it cleans the blade shavings from it, seeming not to pay attention to its surroundings.

If the trooper had, it would have been a very enlightening conversation it could hear about the predicaments of the higher officers.

“…you think the Admiral will go through with it, Mu’xuan?” Cheng’fi, who is a tannish-brown plated with Shakurian with bone spikes sticking out from her overarching brow, asks quietly.

“I’m not sure. I don’t see a reason for it seeing as we are already butchering their people left and right. Doesn’t make any difference to me seeing as I always get the most kills anyway. Don’t I, Cheng’fi? What do you say Qian’ki?” Mu’xuan, a willowy bright green Shakurian with cold yellow eyes and white stripes crossing down her neck.

“If we completely annihilate the humans, wouldn’t there be a chance we may never get the artifact back?” Qian’ki, a chocolate plated Shakurian with horns running down her head and onto her back.

“See, I never saw the point of the artifacts, Qian’ki. Better to eliminate a potential enemy today than to find a knife in your back tomorrow.” Mu’xuan chides.

“It is the Admiral’s decision, and it is her decision that we will abide.” Cheng’fi.

“Yes, yes, we get it already. Sheesh, I only wanted to kill more humans. They make the most interesting sounds when they are exposed to the cold vacuum.” Mu’xuan says as she begins waltzing towards her locker.

“Psycho…” Cheng’fi mutters before turning to her own gear.

The minutes pass as the squad finishes the last remaining maintenance checks on their gear in quiet solitude. Right before they finish however, everyone within the room suddenly keels over from a sudden acceleration of the ship. As they look around in confusion, a chime signals above them that someone was contacting them.

“-Squad Aun, report to the bridge.-” a low voice tersely states before cutting out.

As soon as the words were uttered, all six of them finish what they are doing leave. Most of their gear was completely stored away while they put on their helmets, and head out into the hallway heading to the bridge only to be met with the resistance of a closely packed hallway filled to the brim with personnel. By rough guesstimate, there were close to 100 people crowding them but they soon found themselves trying to squeeze their way through. Most of the recognizable teams were easily sorted through by their suits seeing as their color orientation scheme was different than everyone else.

White belonged to the medical team, bright green belonging to the young trainees being taught through their discipleship with each corresponding mentor having a small green triangle patched on their chest. A few bright orange suits could be picked out of the crowd as the main engineers and forgers of each individual mech-suit. Lastly, there were the even fewer black suited troopers watching over their contemporaries as they scanned the corridors in a vain attempt to spot the problem.

“The hell is happening?”Cheng’fi asks in a bewildered tone. “Shas’er, run through the matrix channels to get a rough idea as to what is happening here!”

A few moments pass as they stand there not being able to move as one of them fetches the information as they wait for the commotion to subside.

“Internal feeds within the ship state that we are on an accelerated approach towards the Human Alliance.” The woman named Shas’er states quietly through the internal comms built into their helmets.

Mu’xuan cracks her knuckles as she starts heading out into the corridor.

“About time! Let’s go kill some humans!” she says as she attempts to get through the throng of people.

The rest of the team sighs and attempts to follow her, all except the biggest trooper. Watching its smaller comrades as they attempted to make their way through the crowd. The more they struggled however, the more they found they couldn’t move through the crowd. And so, with the burly trooper growing tired of their struggling, it raised its hand into the air followed by a blooming of bluish energy springing from the hand.

Almost simultaneously, everyone except the trooper’s teammates had been lifted up into the air. Mixed looks of shock and fear immediately spreading across each of the faces of the crowd as everyone had been lifted up by at least 5 meters.

“Th-thanks Aun!” Qian’ki’s voice says quietly through the comm.

A casual nod of the head is all that the trooper named Aun gives as they all start running through the corridor. After the initial group had been cleared, Aun puts the people down before they start getting antsy.

The minutes pass as they race through the hallways, reaching the bridge in a record time of 3 minutes. Breathing slowly to reduce their heart rates, they stand to attention and walk onto the bridge. What greets their eyes is the familiar sight of numerous aides and serfs rush around the bridge as they go about their business relaying orders and fixing numerical values.

Standing at the edge of the bridge, where the front viewport is located, is the Admiral. A lone figure against the backdrop of the stars. She was dressed in her customary Shau, a customary robe of honor that denotes the rank that one has attained within the empire (Think toga). None of the serfs or aides dared approach her as they knew that she was awaiting a group of people.

The team walks up behind her and immediately falls to attention in a line. The seconds pass as she seemingly doesn’t take notice to their presence. As they stand there however, they start becoming drawn to the Shau, noting the desire to wear one of the hallowed robes.

“At ease ladies, I don’t need you being formal here.” Admiral Wan’er’s voice breaks them out of their trance.

Turning around, she cut an interesting figure compared to the squad arrayed before her. She was short, only reaching Qian’ki’s chest who happened to be the shortest of the group standing at 170cm. Although she was short, she was slim in proportion to the rest of them.

The squad immediately relaxes and Mu’xuan hunkers down on the floor so that she can get comfortable.

“Something has come up ladies. As such, I will be pulling you from front line duty, effective immediately.” She continues.

She lets this sink in as she walks off the podium to stand directly in front of them.

“Permission to speak freely, Admiral?” Cheng’fi asks seemingly calm.

The admiral may not have been able to hear it but almost all of them were grinding their teeth in anger within their helmets.

“You may.”

“Why? Why would you pull your best from the front line?” She asks.

Wan’er stares at her for a moment before turning around to look at Yordam Station ever enlarging within the forward viewport of the bridge.

“It is because you are the best that I am doing this.” Wan’er states simply.

“That doesn’t—”

“There are Travelers within this system.” She interrupts.

Confusion wracks their brains as they struggle to understand.

Sighing, she begins briefing them on their assignment.

“We have been invited to parlay with the Human military leader in an attempt to facilitate the betterment of our needs. Simply put, they are trying to end this conflict with the least amount of bloodshed possible.”

She begins turning around in a slow manner.

“I would not have agreed to this simply on the premise that they are an inferior race within the galaxy and can’t be trusted any farther than they can be thrown… which is saying quite a lot considering how far we can throw them. I was under the impression that they were doing this in order to hold one of the higher officers or in fact the princess hostage in which case they would have been able to negotiate the terms of how we would repay the damage done to their fleet. However, I have been given a succinct text-only message from the Travelers.”

She stops suddenly, gazing intently at the ground. The squad starts fidgeting uncomfortably as they wait in anticipation.

Looking up, she begins smiling as she resumes speaking.

“The message stated and I quote: ‘Agree to their terms and bring only a select few for a security detail. I will be joining this parlay and will be playing the Arbiter to ensure no foul play. Signed: Solitaire.’”

All of their eyes widen at this revelation, not expecting this at all.

“The leader of the Travelers…” Cheng’fi mutters quietly.

“The Guardian of the High Council and its protectorate states… what could he be doing here I wonder…” Mu’xuan says with a bit of reverence.

Looking down at Mu’xuan, Wan’er’s smile drops slightly as she resumes her briefing.

“And just to remind you, it has been some time since they last recruited and an even longer time since one of our own has held an honored position within their ranks… And who better to impress Solitaire, than one of our Dragoons?” she says as she nods towards the largest person in the room.

“That’s great for Aun and all but the way you say it… there just doesn’t seem to be any chance for the rest of us!” Mu’xuan states angrily.

Glancing down at her, Wan’er’s face twists into a sneer.

“And when was the last time you survived a fight with a Force Dragon from within the Belt by yourself, Veteran Mu’xuan? Tell me something that equates to that level of prestige, and then I will believe that you will have an equal chance.”

Mu’xuan quickly becomes silent at the remark, leaving Cheng’fi to step forward with her own questions

“Then why not you, Admiral? Isn’t the famous Red Eyed Dragoon worthy of the same honor as you are giving Aun?” She asks curiously.

Wan’er sighs and looks down for a moment before looking straight at Cheng’fi.

“There are many reasons as to why I cannot, first among them is the fact that I am too old.” She answers before Cheng’fi asks another.

“On another note, why would he even be recruiting seeing as he is the Arbiter for the negotiations? Wouldn’t this be—”

“Showing a front of aggression should tip the balance in our favor as well as show the superiority of our forces on and off the battlefield. As such, your orders for now are to accompany me to the negotiations aboard the Station. That is all.”

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

Kishar’s Chariot

Marneus and Bazz have moved onto the flight deck. Looking around Bazz could see the numerous amounts of buttons and blinking lights that were flashing all around him. The childish urge to push all of them rose to the forefront of his mind as he crouched down to looked through the vibropane.

“-Commander! We’ve received a hail from the Shakurian Commander! She says that she will agree to the terms of your invitation along with a roster that shows the number of people that she is bringing!” a young voice exclaims through the PDA.

Looking down in surprise, Marneus immediately picks up the PDA and then promptly responds.

“Good, good. Now if there isn’t—”

“-Wait! There is a second hail!-” the voice interrupts.

“…What do you mean there is a second hail, Lieutenant?! I told you to send out only one fucking transmission!”

Silence rises up to greet them as they speed on towards the station. Looking out at the station through the main viewport, what began as a dull spot that blocked out the sun began getting bigger. Inversely, the bigger the station grew in the viewport, the longer the silence grew within the flight deck, making the awkward situation downright unbearable for the occupants.

“Sir…We have a Traveler within the system…” The voice returns in a serious tone.

Looking over at Marneus, Bazz watches as the color drains from his face and takes on a pallid color. Curious at the reaction his friend was giving, he started searching his memory for the time when he heard the name.

“Who… who is it that is here Lieutenant? Which Traveler signed the hail?” he asked in a strained voice.

It takes a moment as the man on the other side of the line to state a single word.

“…Solitaire.”

Watching the Commander, Bazz watches as Marneus goes from grim faced to almost looking as if he is about to pass out.

“…Shit.” He mutters quietly and begins massaging his temples.

“……Sir… what do you want us to do?” the lieutenant’s voice asks quietly.

Uncomfortable silence returns as Marneus sits in his chair continually massaging his temples while trying to relieve the stress he is feeling from that succinct title. Seeing as Marneus wasn’t in the position to order anything, Bazz decides to take control of the situation.

“Lieutenant, what is your name if I may ask?” He asks politely.

“…Troyda, Lieutenant James Troyda. Most everyone just calls me Troyda.”

“Very nice to meet you Troyda. Would you mind preparing a place for us to dock our vessel while we figure out what to do?” he asks as he continues to watch Marneus.

“…I think I can have that arranged. Hold on a moment….” Troyda responds promptly, as if glad that someone was making headway.

As the Lieutenant walks away from his station, Bazz asks the question that has been bugging him.

“Marneus, I remember reading about the Travelers within your diary but there wasn’t much that was stated other than that you were fearful of what they are. This person with the title of Solitaire especially…why is it that you are afraid of them?”

Marneus in turn finishes massaging his temples and sighs heavily. As he looks up, he could see the quizzical looks being directed towards his charge.

“The Travelers are the Guardians of the Synedrion in its entirety, each band protecting the borders without and within. They are the lawkeepers of Space, the best that the galaxy has to offer, and comparable to being a one man army. They go where the Council tells them, and are effective in the extreme.” He says with a serious tone.

“One man army?” Bazz asks.

“Yes, a one man army. That is the closest description that I can think of to describe them. When I was patrolling with Cleo through a system of space near our colonies, the fleet came into contact with what seemed to be a massed pirate fleet. Mind you this was a couple years back, before we had even considered researching into the gene modification and human augmentation.” He explains softly.

Bazz watches him take a slow breath as he recalls the memories and waits quietly for him to continue.

“My fleet of 15 frigates was dwarfed by the enormity of their fleet. The odds were not good with being outnumbered and outgunned by a ratio of at least five to one odds of us surviving. As such, I had already prepared myself to die. My fellow shipmates all had looks of despair etched on their faces as they could only look into the face of such an overwhelming disadvantage.” He continues. “As such they hardened themselves in the face of such adversity and did what any brave and proud marine could, fight to their last breath.”

He takes another pause as he pulls out a tiny tin can from his pocket, uncorks it, and takes a mouthful of its contents before putting it away.

“We had a hell of a hard time with the pirates. Our frigates stood no chance seeing as they had modified all of their ships to include more guns than the ships themselves were theoretically able to carry. As such, we incurred heavy losses as ten frigates buckled under the combined weight of lance fire… it seemed as if they had no intention of taking the ships and instead were just toying with us.” He says with a dark look in his eyes as he tugs on the memory of that day.

“Ship parts floated in space as their controlled atmospheres leaked out into the void. Fellow marines becoming consumed in the coldness of the space as each energy strike obliterated another piece of a ship. So much….just so much… senseless destruction. It wasn’t until they had whittled my patrol down to three battered frigates before I caught a glimpse of the mark that was painted on the side of the ship that came close to the size of a heavy cruiser. A pair of crossed swords underneath a red dragon’s skull. The mark of one of the known pirate kings that I once saw in the Synedrion’s database archives.”

Looking up for a moment, he stares out of the viewport into the emptiness of space as he takes a small pause in his story.

“To cut back on the pain Marneus, I have a feeling one of these Travelers was nearby and decided to help you. Is this correct?” Bazz asks as he leans back in the chair.

Marneus continues to stare at the ever enlarging blot that was floating above Terra.

“…Yes. But it wasn’t just that they decided to help me, they completely annihilated the pirate fleet in a matter of minutes. It was as if a gigantic surging of energy had gripped each of the ships and crumpled them together to form a makeshift moon. I couldn’t believe my eyes! One moment we had been getting torn to pieces and the next we were saved. Just as we were about to thank them, a Psionic image of a grinning rictus with glowing yellow eyes seared through each of our minds…everyone that was left within the patrol had the same mind induced message burned within their skulls as the Traveler band moved away. The image came with a clear message: next time you are on your own… Ever since then, we’ve always been well aware of what they can do and why they are never to be crossed.” He says as he sits back down in the pilot’s chair.

Bazz turns to look out into the vastness of space as he contemplates what to make of Marneus’ story.

~Hmmm, I guess I should be wary of these Travelers if they are as powerful as he says. But then how many of them are there? What specialties do they – ~

Ding!

A Bounty has been placed on your head by “Lucky” Luciano!

A page blinks in front of him, interrupting his view of the exterior of the ship. Not knowing how to interpret what was happening, he points at the flashing I residing in the upper left hand corner and the page is exchanged with another showing the exact details of the bounty.

Wanted Dead-or-Alive:5,000 Credit RewardA leading crime lord has placed an unauthorized contract on the Spacer named Bazz.Available to anyoneExtra Reward may be given if captured alive

Staring at it for a couple seconds, a small grin spreads on his face as he knows exactly how to handle this. It would have to be handled later seeing as he was currently busy. Closing the page another small one pings in front of him awarding him +500 fame for being the first Spacer to gain a bounty.

~Does this game reward me for everything? ~ he thinks as he closes it and looks out towards the station.

Watching as the station had come closer, he starts memorizing the layout of it’s over all structure.

It was a massive piece of architecture measuring roughly 100km in length from top to bottom. If he was to liken it to anything he knew, it would look similar to a massive flanged mace. All manner of activity flew in and out of the arches as they drew closer to the station. Each of the larger portions of each arch looked to be around 30km in length with at least 15km worth of thickness running down the length of the arch. From the tip of one arch to the tip of the other on the opposite side, measured around 40km in diameter.

“-Sir? This is Lieutenant Troyda, we spoke a couple minutes ago. I have received clearance for you to land at hangar bay CR-1. -” the PDA pipes up shaking him from his reverie.

Picking up the PDA, he promptly responds,

“Thank you very much Troyda. I hope to see you there so I can put the name to your face.”

Looking over at Marneus, he sees the man’s face scrunch as he hears which hangar they would be setting down in and immediately leans over and tweaks a couple settings on the dash. The entirety of the ship lurches forwards and the ever encroaching view of the station becomes larger with every passing minute.

He sends a quick private message to Joker simply stating the pad that they were going to be landing on with the hopes of meeting his friend.

“But…sir…I’m not—”

“Make it happen Lieutenant, he isn’t the kind of person who needlessly does things without reason. Just don’t advertise that I am accompanying this Spacer to everyone. I already have a hard enough time just keeping up with what happens around him.” Marneus interrupts with a grumble and puts an end to the argument before it begins by promptly cutting the connection.

“CR-1…Why in the hell is he sending us to a cruiser docking pad? This ship isn’t big enough to warrant that kind of space.” He says as he looks over at Bazz.

“No idea…” Bazz says as he leans back in the chair.

Marneus sighs quietly and closes his eyes as he gets comfortable in his own chair. The minutes pass, turning into a short hour as they quickly make their way towards the station. Watching throughout the entire trip, Bazz begins to marvel at the massive proportions of the station as they near it and begin settling in for the final approach vectors.

As he gazed at the outward appearance of the station, he notes that there was a startlingly few amount of batteries and turrets mounted on the exterior of the station as they made their approach. Each weapon however was thankfully covering what looked to be a crucial point of the station. Exhaust vents, large viewports, docking shields… what looked to his trained eye for weaknesses were all covered. The only problem was that there was so few of them. Not only that, they seemed to be hastily made, as if someone had just slapped the pieces together and hoped that it worked.

“Hey Marneus?” he asks.

“Hmm?” Marneus grunts.

“What was the main use of this station?”

Opening his eyes slightly, Marneus looks out the viewport and follows the man’s eyesight towards the objects that currently garnered his attention.

“It was primarily a trade and information hub for the Alliance. It wasn’t designed for warfare if that is what you are thinking.” He says quietly.

Looking out through the viewport, Bazz notices that there are a coupe tiny figures working with plasma torches on some external plating. The more that he watched, the more he grew concerned for the risk that they were undertaking. Furthermore, the fact that he was the one who came up with the idea was highly unsettling seeing as he was about to make contact with an alien race that he wasn’t familiar with. This feeling came with the realization that he was missing something from his earlier strategy, and immediately asked what he needed.

“Marneus, tell me everything you know about the Shakurian Empire. Culture, military tactics, and overall behavior mapping primarily being the things I need to know.” He spurts out as he turns around with a serious glint in his eyes.

Folding his arms, Marneus takes the statement in stride and asks a short question, “Long version or short?”

“As much information that you can share with me. I need to know as much as possible so I’m able to exploit every avenue when it comes to the actual meeting.” He states as he leans forward in his chair.

Marneus waits a moment, quietly looking at the young man as he shuffled in his chair to get into a more comfortable position.

“*sigh*…well, we have at least an hour before we reach the docking pad. So it shouldn’t be too hard to explain the bare minimum.” He says after some quiet deliberation.

Leaning forward while simultaneously bringing his PDA to his face, he states a few words into the device and immediately a hologram opens up to give a panoramic view of a couple hundred files. Each one displayed had a different subject to cover.

“Time for a crash course then!” he says as they begin the lessons.

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

Yordam Station…

“Joker! Chief Joker?!” an anxious young man’s voice calls out from behind him within the confines of the hallway.

Looking back, he notices a young boy struggling to keep up with him despite the fact that he was still trying to get used to his new leg. He was dressed in a sage green jumpsuit that seemed to be a few sizes too big and had a pair of dog tags firmly tied to his wrist. He was slightly baby faced and had a shaved head that seemed to pair awkwardly with his looks.

“What’s up Leon? I didn’t take you for the creeping type.” He says while chuckling slightly. He doesn’t break or slow his stride in any significant way.

A small tinge of red creases the young man’s face as he blushes from embarrassment before retorting, “I most certainly am not creeping!”

“Haha, then why did you decide to follow me? I’m pretty sure I’m at least allowed to go for a walk now and again?” he states with another chuckle as he rounds a corner into another hallway. A pair of double doors stands resolutely at the end of the hallway, as if beckoning him to come towards it.

“This isn’t like you Chief! You usually never go for ‘walks’! The probability of you missing out on tweaking the engines for your new fighter after a patrol is—”

He stops suddenly as Joker turns around with a dangerous look on his face.

“So you have been creeping Leon!” he states in a low voice as he looks down on the young man.

Leon immediately begins stepping back a bit in fear as he has realized that he has intruded on dangerous territory. Leaning forward, Joker smiles slightly and pats the young man on the head.

“Why did you lie to me Leon? You know what I do to liars don’t you?” he says mischievously.

Stepping back a bit, Leon has look of confusion setting across his face as he is torn between the actions of what his chief is saying and what he is doing.

“But…I’m not creeping….” he whimpers softly.

“Sure you are Leon! Keeping tabs on someone and the statistics of what they are likely to do is called creeping!!” Joker roars as he playfully swats the young man on the head.

Cringing slightly from the sudden physical movement, he sheepishly raises his face to peer into his superiors eyes only to find a happy man staring down at him.

“I appreciate you keeping tabs on me but at least make sure that you tell me before you do. Now, I ask you again, why are you following me? Is it to know where I’m going?” Joker says as he removes his hand from the young man’s head and turns around and briskly walks towards the double doors.

His booted feet echo as they stride towards the doors only to slow once he notices that Leon wasn’t following.

“Are you coming Leon?” He asks as he turns around.

The young man stand within the dim lighting of the hallway as he looks at his superior.

“Where are we going?” he asks as he slowly walks forward.

A goofy grin spreads across Joker’s face as he states simply, “We are going to see my brother, who also happens to be with Commander Yordam!”

Leon’s eyes widen immediately at this remark. He hadn’t expected this to come to light. A meeting with the face of the Alliance is just too good a chance to pass up!

“Which hangar are you heading to in order to meet them?!” Leon quickly asks as he jumps forwards and grasps Joker’s hands.

“Ummm…CR-1. Why?” He asks with a confused look beginning to spread across his face.

“Oh, uh no reason!” Leon replies quickly as he immediately walks away in the opposite direction.

Watching the young man leave, Joker turns around and mutters, “Weird,” before he pushes a button next to the double doors, revealing them to be a nicely sized elevator. 30 minutes later, he exits through the double doors into a bright hallway that connected to other hallways that onto an expansive platform that must have been at least 15 km in length with around 4km worth of height and width.

The inside of the hangar bay was notably stark, as if a group had ritualistically clean everything from top to bottom. The reason he thinks this is because there wasn’t any noticeable smell of burning fuel, electrical discharge, or metallic tinge permeating the air. That being said, there was no ships currently docked, no crates to speak of, no trace to see that there was anything within the hangar other than him that had just walked into it.

Just as he starts to step forward, he notices a blot outside the bay shield in the distance against the backdrop of the stars. The closer it got, the more curious that he grew. Soon, it came into the shape of a small shuttle. He continues watching it as it descends towards the hangar that he is waiting in. As it begins landing, he notices how close to his position it is. Before he walks over however, he pulls up the quest info for the special event to look for something.

The Defiant Few Difficulty:BDescription:Requirements:The Human Alliance is under attack from the Shakurian Empire! Defend the Alliance Fortress till the end of the conflict!

Must be a Spacer

Quest Rewards:

Continuation of Human Homeworld

????

Failure of this quest results in the removal of Human homeworld within the game and all humans will regard Spacers of all races with hostility

Total Participating Spacers: 1,200

Total Participating Alliance Members: 6,786,542

Contribution Rating:

Janus-31,967pts

Baybee-27,890pts

……

……….

He keeps looking through the list of people participating and notes the lvls actively being gained as he watches the page continually refresh itself. As he sifts through the names of the Spacers, he finds one that really isn’t a name.

~The Founding Father…why do I get the feeling that that is Bossman?~

As he begins to wonder about his friend, he think back to the sub-quest that he picked up a while back as a result of his snooping around the lower reaches of the tower.

The Truth Discovered!Difficulty:CDescription:Requirements:[trYou have uncovered information that is critical to the start of this war! But only a certain few are able to understand its meaning and consequence as a result of what happened in the past. Find someone trustworthy to spill your secrets!

Someone Trustworthy must be known[/tr]

Sub-Quest Rewards:

????

As he continues to contemplate, the shuttle that he was watching earlier enters through the hangar shield and begins the procedures for landing. Oddly though, the shuttle continued to float through the hangar before coming to a complete stop a dozen meters from his position. As he watches it set down, he hears the familiar sound of multiple dings of elevators’ sliding onto the floor.

Ignoring them, he walks forward as the shuttle lands solidly with its exit ramp aimed towards the shield. As he nears the edge of the ramp, a young man’s voice calls out from the depths of the ship.

“Just a moment sir, I need you to keep back!”

Stopping his current trajectory, he changes course and moves to the side of the ramp and just as he clears the edge, five figures followed by bursts of air fly past him. Not understanding what was going on, he turns to face the figures only to become a bit wary of the people he was facing.

~Is that? There’s no way Corellec should have the schematics for that!~ he thinks to himself as he sees what the five figures standing before him have strapped to their bodies. Two men and three women were the makeup of the squad.

The figures in particular were wearing dark green camouflage fatigues with a grey mech-suit overlapping them. The pieces of the mech suit weren’t particularly flashy, only acting as exterior body armor for the individual itself (think a mixture Mass effect armor and Iron man, and tone down the awesome). Each person had a specific amount of armor in proportion to what they were carrying as weapons as well as their overall stature. The heavy plated man with the largest pack held what looked to be a cross between a portable cannon and a minigun. Two of the medium plated women, each held a rifle with the make and model of each not really registering considering the fact that he had looked up on the INet all the different types of weaponry able to carried into battle.

The next two were sort of a puzzle, one was a medium plated man with a pair of sabers strapped to his sides, and the other was the least plated woman within the group. What was confusing about this was the fact that the person with the least amount of plates only had a pistol strapped to her thigh and no discernable weapons were there.

She steps forward, the one with the least amount of plates, and begins to look him up and down. Noting the number and color of stripes on his jumpsuit, everyone within the squad simultaneously stands to attention.

“Lieutenant Jamie Treshoda Urien, C.O. of Alpha Squad reporting for duty!” she barks out through her helmets speakers.

Looking at her oddly, he glances to the sides of the squad, each one standing as stiff as a board and waiting for him to release them from attention. Immediately he begins to feel giddy on the inside.

~Let’s see how long I can string them along! ~ he thinks as he begins to execute his on-the-spot general mode.

“Lieutenant.” He says coldly, the iciness of the tone making the rest of the squad cringe.

She however doesn’t break attention or even make any notice of the amount of danger hidden within his voice.

“Sir?” She asks before,

“DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!?!?” he roars out, startling the man with the sabers.

Her hand starts to shake as a result of the outburst.

“Sir I got here as quick as I—”

“DON’T YOU GIVE ME A FUCKING EXCUSE YOUNG LADY!! WHEN WAS THE TIME THAT YOU WERE TOLD TO BE HERE?!” he interrupts in another outburst.

Both of the women behind her start visibly shaking. The man with the sabers starts to not so subtly lower his body into a combat stance. Just low enough to be ready in case something happened.

“We were told to get here as soon as possible, sir. We received the message 2 hours ago and promptly left 1 hour 45 minutes ago.” She states, still not breaking attention.

“Oh really? That is pretty good time Lieutenant, but I have still been waiting here for 2 hours!” he states while lowering his voice. “Do you know what I do to people who make me wait, Lieutenant?”

“No sir, I don’t believe I do.” She states some trepidation beginning to show through her voice.

“I make them tell me one secret that they have locked away…” he states softly.

The man with the sabers gasps aloud at this but tries to cover it up.

“Drop and give me 50 soldier!” he says as he points to the man with the sabers.

He scrambles to comply. The rest of them stand up straighter, as if worried that any flaw that they make will make the man in front of them to dish out more physical punishment.

“Now, seeing as I am in a good mood and have no reason to doll out more punishment, I will not ask you for a personal secret of each of you.” He states in a jolly tone. Bringing himself to the attention of the Alliance Marine standard, he states, “at ease gentlemen and ladies. I am not for your good fortune here to see you.”

All of them relax and start taking off their gear, all except Jamie. She immediately takes off her helmet to get a look at the man in front of her with her own eyes. As she opens her mouth to speak, she is immediately interrupted by the mass of people entering the hangar behind Joker.

One man in particular stood in front of the crowd, as if he felt he was entitled to being there and didn’t want anyone to get in his way. Her eyes narrow as she watches the growing crowd of people enter the hangar, never letting her eyes leave the man she hated.

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

While flipping through the documents on the PDA, Bazz feels the ship touch down on something. Looking out the viewport, he notices that they had finally touched down on the station. As he starts getting up to leave, Marneus grabs ahold of his hand before he can go anywhere.

“It might be best if you leave the ship a little bit after I do, boy. My sensor is picking up more than fifty bodies outside the ship.” Marneus says as he points to the dashboard. “Wouldn’t want to alarm anyone and cause wide scale panic now would we?”

Looking down at the man, Bazz shrugs, sits back down, and immediately resumes looking through the documents. Sighing a bit, Marneus gets up and makes his way to the exit ramp, only to be met by the one face he did not wish to see.

“Greetings Commander! I was beginning to worry that you wouldn’t be able end this war. Now that you are back, I believe that we will be back on course with winning!” a grinning man with an unshaven face and unkempt brown hair.

A man that looked like he had just aged ten years while he was away on Terra’s surface.

“Major Corschev. How glad I am to see that your pitiful self is still alive against all odds.” Marneus says in complete deadpanned tone. The surrounding people cringe as they hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

The unkempt man attempts to smile slightly and tries to play off the sarcasm saying, “Oh don’t be like that, Commander. Seeing as you are back on the station, I can finally relinquish—”

“Before you go ahead with that Major, I think it best that you introduce the rest of us. That would be the most prudent thing to do wouldn’t you say?” A young woman’s voice cuts through, interrupting him before he could go any further.

Annoyance flashes across his face as he turns to look at the woman who spoke out.

“Then if you would be so kind, Spacer, introduce yourself. You and the other three should be very well able to do that can’t you?” he says with a sneer.

Marneus looks towards the woman who spoke, thankful that someone shut the annoying man up. Four figures split from the crowd, two men and two women. Looking at them all, he could already tell that they were a cut above the rest of the rabble that he had met while he was still staying at the station at the start of the month.

Just as one of the young men was about to open his mouth to speak, Marneus puts a hand up to silence him. Confusion plays out into the crowd as they become puzzled at the action.

“Before you start introducing yourselves, let me introduce a friend of mine. Quite possibly, he is the only one from amongst you Spacers that grew an interest with Terra and as such I believe that warrants attention.” Marneus speaks out loud enough for everyone in the crowd to hear.

“Now I warn you, he is a bit…large. So don’t make any quick moves towards him please. The last time someone did that he broke their legs. BOY!! YOU CAN COME DOWN NOW!!”

A few moments pass as the crowd waits for whoever else is inside the ship to come out. As the minutes drag on, everyone within the crowd feels a heavy thud echo from within the interior of the ship. Following it is another, as if it was the footfalls of a giant. The crowd starts backing away from the ship as they hear and feel the thuds getting louder. Suddenly, the thuds halt, as if someone had put a damper on it. A couple seconds pass as every pair of eyes is drawn to the entrance of the ship, not knowing what to expect.

Everyone within the crowd starts fidgeting, as if half expecting some boss monster to appear out of the bowels of the ship. Slowly, one by one, everyone begins to feel a change. It was a warm feeling, as pleasant as feeling the sun kiss your skin as you walk out onto a beach. Along with this came a feeling of comfort and weightlessness, as if each person became relaxed as they feel all of their worries drift away.

At this exact moment, a massive booted foot, steps out from within the confines of the ship.