General Tobias Carter was many things. Some called him cold, other efficient, or a no nonsense kinda of guy. But something he was not, was warm, caring. That intimidated some, but in the military, they care little about such things. They wanted results. And General Carter was efficient, if anything. He wouldn’t have climbed up the military ladder if he wasn’t.

He currently sat in the scientist’s lab, or rather, his living room. Some soldiers were moving around in the background, dusting the room, moving furniture. They were setting it up to be a temporary operation center. Kepler was standing at attention, waiting.

“At ease private. Start from the beginning.” He said sharply.

Kepler started recounting what had happened, his arrival, the town, his lessons in their language and finally the attack that led him back here. The General sometimes interrupted him to ask about their numbers, equipment, but mostly about the magic he had seen, or their weapons.

Once Kepler was done, General Carter was silent for a long time. Finally he spoke.

“I know that it is not considered proper, but I would like you to give us your personal recording of the events.” He started. Kepler hesitated, but before Kepler could answer, he continued.

“Understand that I do not ask this lightly. As you have seen, we are dealing with something completely foreign, and information is key. In those recordings are a lot more information than you could ever tell us yourself, details, images. It will be crucial in the future.” He paused, considered something, but didn’t continue.

“General, with all due respect, is that really necessary ? I wasn’t gone for that long, and you, or whomever you chose to send through, will soon know as much as me.” Kepler was nervous, this was his second time in front of a General, and last time, it was to welcome them into the military. Not exactly a chatting opportunity.

“With all due respect private, I don’t care what you think, I don’t care about your thoughts inside that recording. I want information and I will have it. Legally we both know I have no means of forcing you. However, I do hold sway over your military future, among other things.” He paused.

“I’ll be expecting the recording tomorrow at 0600 sharp, you can edit out personal thought if you want, but leave everything else in it. Dismissed.”

Kepler stood there, unable to process what had just happened, when he heard the General repeat that last word, and he moved away from habit more than anything else.

Once Kepler had left, one of the generals aids came up to him.

“Was that wise General? You know the repercussions this could have. We have no right to demand a private recording. If words get out... ” He didn’t sound nervous, more cautious.

“That man is a soldier, and I’d like to think he’ll understand how much this helps us. We need to know more now. You do realize this will change the world ? What is one private recording in the face of this, nothing.” He said with finality.

“Enough about that, we will see what he does tomorrow. What about our reptilian friend? Has he woken up yet?” He asked as he got up to go to a side room. It had originally been a guest room, but was set up with some basic medical equipment. The latest equipment was on its way, the incident had happened barely two hours ago.

They walked into the room to see the alien reptile form laying on the bed, a breathing mask and some monitoring devices set up. He was stable, or at least that was the consensus between the medical staff they had managed to order in from a local hospital.

“Can we wake him up?” He asked one of the doctors.

“General Carter, we can try.” One of the doctors said, she was in charge, until experts arrived.

She changed a setting in the breathing equipment, and soon the reptile woke up. Alarmed by everything foreign around him, a room full of humans. His eyes went round, and he quickly tried to rip of all the things attached on him.

“Out, all of you.” He asked sternly. The medical staff quickly filed out of the room, leaving only the General and his aid.

“Get me Kepler in here, fast.” His aid quickly left, and the General was alone with the reptile. They stood at the same height, and it was eyeing the General critically. Looking around the room, with no windows. Screens were showing different paintings which changed every few seconds, furniture of material he had never seen.

The atmosphere was tense, but right now, Tobias knew it was the best time to be civil, so he indicated the bed with his hand, inviting the thing to sit. Plus, it was a treasure trove of information.

Kepler soon arrived, and stood at attention.

“What is your name?” He asked the reptile. Kepler didn’t react at first, until the General looked at him. He quickly tried to translate it.

“Zosk.” It said. It hadn’t taken a seat, and looked ready to run. Where he wasn’t sure, they were currently blocking the only exit.

“Age ?” He asked, and Kepler tried to translate it, but he hadn’t learned the word. They talked for a bit until he showed them the number using his fingers. He only had 4 on each hand, and showed them both hands twice then held up three fingers.

“Nineteen? He’s young. Good. Don’t translate that.”

They continued on for a while, but the responses were limited, it was hard to get real information out of it. But it was a good start. The General had only asked basic questions which the reptile would have no reason not to answer. It was important to get him used to answering, otherwise he would be even more reluctant come the real important questions.

After a while, they brought food, they didn’t know what it ate, but they had brought a large array of different foods. The reptile was more at ease now, but it was still wary of him. They soon found out the reptiles were herbivores.

It was time for the next step, he had lost too much time already, in his opinion. The General turned to Kepler.

“Make a friend private, will you? Make it at ease.” He said as he strode out. The living room was now neatly organized, tables with holoscreens, and his own desk overseeing the room.

“Natalie, how long until the first convoy gets here?” He asked out into the room, not looking up from his screen.

“It should take them another twelve hours at least sir, they haven’t left Elon yet and are still packing everything you asked for.”

“Tell them they have six hours, no, five. We have no time to lose soldiers. Once the council hears word of this, they will do everything to stop us from going through.” Not everyone understood why, but they knew better than to question the General.

“Get Dr. Pierce in here.” He asked no one in particular.

Soon, Maximilian was in front of the General, standing, but not at attention. He was a civilian after all, and they had worked together, long ago.

“Can you start up the portal at will Dr. ?” He asked.

“Wormhole, General, and yes, but it is not stable yet, and I would not recommend using it yet.” Max responded.

“How long until you can make it stable then?” He asked, eyeing the scientist.

“That is impossible to tell now, and it would merely be conjecture on my part to tell you a precise timeline.” The Dr. answered, not seeming intimidated at all.

“Conjecture away then, I need something to work with. You do know time is of the essence Dr. Pierce ?” He asked, his patience was limited with, especially with that man.

“If I had to guess, a few months, perhaps a year. Maybe less. As I said, this is terra incognita for us scientists. And why would time be of the essence? Don’t you understand how amazing this discovery already is? It’s going to change the world Tobias.” The General winced at the use of his first name. Even if they had worked together before, it didn’t warrant the familiarity, especially not in front of his command. Looking him in the eyes, he sent a message directly instead, as not to be overheard.

Time is of the essence Maximilian, simply because of politics, as always. Your breakthrough will change the world, I am very aware, and because of that, some people will be very upset. As you have already seen, there are innumerable resources on the other side. How do you think the owners of the major corporations holding the monopoly on water, food and other necessities will react once all they sell plummets in value. And I hope you are not naive enough to think politicians aren’t puppets to these people.

He soon received a response.

I understand your reasoning, but you forget, time is something we all have in excess. What is another ten years, twenty? You do understand, even if they oppose it now, it will be used, in time, as all discoveries are, especially something like this.

Gritting his teeth, he sent another message back.

I am not as optimistic as you Max, and I fear to wait twenty years to finally have Mars breathing a sight of relief from the strain of resources. Get ready to have the portal up in a few hours.

The silent exchange didn’t go unnoticed, as they stared at each other. In social circumstances, it was considered bad manners, but here, it only meant something big was going on.

Seven hours later, several ships landed around the testing chamber. Robots carrying large cargo containers, setting up all around the chamber, overseen by soldiers, fortifying, but also assembling smaller vehicles to go through the portal.

In the living room turned command center, they could see everything on a big screen that had been set up. Piles and piles of crates could be seen, some had an armor logo on them, others sword logos, food, power generators and batteries. But to some peoples surprise, there were even another type of logo seldom seen these days. Guns.

One of the soldiers in the command center stood up and asked.

“Sir, why did you bring guns? Aren’t they outdated and useless?” He asked, unsure.

“In our culture, they are useless yes, because of the power armors. The ability to harden metal with electricity has all but made projectiles useless, especially with our ability to make energy in spades, and another source of power needs to be used to go through, as you all know. But you have to think what we are up against. They are a medieval society using magic. They still use arrows, and that tells us they do not have a method of stopping projectiles perfectly.” He lectured. He had lived before power armors were a thing, when war had been all about distance and firepower. Nowadays, only the biggest ships used cannons, and only because powermetal technology was limited when reaching extreme energy levels.

The guns they brought were old, as old as he was perhaps, but they would do the job. The problem didn’t lie in offense, but their defensive capabilities. They knew lightning magic seemed to bend the laws of physics, ignoring the path of least resistance to reach its target, which was problematic. And who knew what else they would be up against, but a good offense was the best defense, an adage as old as the world.

He turned back to look at how things were progressing when his chief of logistics stood up.

“Sir, we are ready to proceed, we only need the portal to start the operation.” He said stiffly.

“Good, tell Dr. Pierce to start it up, we need a forward base protecting us when we go through as soon as possible, so tell the men to make it fast, I want it up in the next hour.” He said as he eyed the big screen.

Someone barged in, opening the doors violently and yelled.

“Stop this operation at once General. You are out of your jurisdiction !”

God-damn politicians and their meddling.