Slowly and gracefully the three ships joined formation with the massive supercarrier. Though the Invictus with its three kilometers length was an impressive sight for anyone to see. She was simply a speck, however, compared to the majestic might of the Twenty Kilometer long vessel. The differences didn't end there. The Invictus was mostly smooth and, aside from a few main turrets and the lines of Point-defence Guns, had a flat and sleek appearance. Ark Imperial was littered with 'small' turrets. Small being at least tens of meters high and wide which boasted multiple barrels per turret, the ventral section mounting dozens of skyscraper-sized antennae for fire direction of the vast array of weapon batteries.

The entire broadsides were covered with launch bays, each as tall as city blocks, twelve double columns along each side. The launch bays were flanked by four lance turrets which were hundreds of meters long, about as many meters wide and equally high. Each turret boasting six barrels, which themselves were of no small size. The turrets turning to survey the great void surrounding them with their imperious gaze.

Unlike most imperial vessels the ship didn't boast a sharp-looking, and well decorated, armored prow. Instead it had a more blunt, sleek-looking nose devoid of decorations, aside from fleet colours. Just short of the bow, an entire complex of armoured superstructure, gold-lined and covered in antennae and sensor-discs, adorned the front-third of the ship. The middle section housed several dozen nuclear missile silo's firmly entombed in the central spine of the ship. And where the fore section was impressive with its cathedral superstructure, the aft section made the former seem like a mere village church. The main bridge was a huge complex of majestically ornamented cathedrals with richly decorated and finely crafted side-churches serving as auxiliary segments.

To see the ship with your own eyes was awe inspiring to say the least. Price had seen the vessel on the sensor and vid-screens within his own CIC. But now he was looking at it with his own eyes through the canopy of his Raptor shuttle was another matter. The realisation of scale and grandeur was finally sinking in, though he still barely could grasp it. He was on his way to report to High-Admiral Byzantane as ordered. He would have taken his own Viper, but given the circumstances it didn't seem like a good idea. So a Raptor shuttle it was, be it escorted by two Vipers, which peeled off when his craft set in for landing.

Slowly the relatively small craft floated through the gaping maw of the port-side hangar deck, which seemed to go on forever, and finally touched down with a gentle bump. Moments later the deck began to move the shuttle inside the bowels of the Carrier, into the pressurized upper crew-decks.

Two minutes later the Pilot got the green-light and opened the outer hatch of the craft. The four marines Price took with him, as a precaution and honour guard, exited first and took attention on either side of the hatch. Price followed soon after. When he looked up he was faced by two double rows of arms-men flanking his walkway. Whether this was an Honour-guard or a means of intimidation, Price couldn't decide. Probably both.

Slowly and with upright stance Price stepped off his vessel and walked to meet a heavily decorated man standing before him in the middle of both arms-men rows.

Though he had put on his best Dress Grays, he was pale and bare in comparison to the other officer. The Imperial High Admiral having row after row of medals and ribbons displayed on an ornate golden breast-plate, his Pale White uniform trousers lined with golden thread.

Price stopped two steps in front of him and saluted sharply as a fleet officer should.

"Commander Price of the Battlestar Invictus reporting as ordered."

The next few seconds both men looked each other squarely in the eye, assessing the other man.

Finally the other returned the salute with two fists crossing his chest, in the traditional Imperial Aquila salute.

"High Admiral Byzantane of His Divine Majesty's Ark Imperial. Welcome aboard, Commander. Follow me to the Situation Room if you please. Leave your Arms-men here." Answered the man with a calm but uncompromising voice. "The others have arrived before you."

Price fell in line to the side of the admiral and followed him through the corridors. He immediately realised both men were flanked by the very same arms-men that formed his welcoming committee. He didn't know if he should feel like a guest or a convicted criminal. Either way, he did all he could to hide his discomfort. Intimidation always was a tactic to press others in line.

They went through corridors and bulkheads that were more than the name suggested. If anything, the corridors alone were tall and heavily decorated. Not bare and to the point like his Battlestar was. Ornaments and statues of many sizes stood in small altars imbedded in rows along the walls. Higher up towards the ceiling, thick walkways crossed paths between immense church-like archways. Every bulkhead or hatchway had stone-like skulls serving as consoles embedded at shoulder height.

Far below where more crossing walkways, though thinner and less ornate, more like simple metal walkways with railings. A sprawling mass of people bustling along each one and in the, what Price could best describe as pit, far below that. It was a surreal experience to the Colonial Commander. The ship he was in was virtually a city. He guessed by his surrounding the ship had its own class system and, presumably, culture and society on board. Price's bewilderment at this realisation going completely unnoticed by the High Admiral, the commander making a heroic effort to remain focused on the task at hand.

Everyone quickly got out of the way of the armed group. Every now and again one of the arms-men rudely pushed aside anyone not paying attention and standing in the way. Conduct Price wouldn't use against his own men if it wasn't absolutely necessary, unless he wished to lose the respect of his men in the long run.

Five minutes later they entered a richly decorated church nave, marked Situation Room with expertly crafted golden lettering. The centre was dominated by a charting table next to an electronic one. The rear walls were lined with stained glass windows. Each window depicted what seemed ancient characters which either build a ship, fought enemies or worshipped some heavily armored man with a Halo surrounding his head. In the centre of the rear wall a giant golden statue was embedded of the same man, but this time holding out a giant sword in front of him. Closer to the exit, rows of elevated seats were placed facing the centre tables. Where applicable, some sort of green-ish electronic screen was mounted just in front of the statue. Clearly this room was used for extensive fleet briefings.

Two men in blue navy uniforms were already waiting at the centre tables, Commander Lemere and Geiss it seemed. They seemed to be discussing files that laid bare on the table. When walking closer Price noticed it was a three-view of his own ship laying on the table. Other files looked like assessments of himself.

Without looking the High-Admiral knew the question Price was about to ask.

"These files allowed me to get to know my adversary before he would set foot on my ship. I am sure you'd understand."

Slowly Price approached the table and let the paper sheets go through his hands. Clearly the admiral had asked for the assessment of his liaison, Lieutenant Goradin. Unfortunately he couldn't understand the characters imprinted onto the pieces of paper.

"And, what have you found?" Price simply asked.

"You are capable of following orders...... And breaking them." the admiral replied calm but with a rumbling and judgmental undertone.

"You are talking about Babarus. About McCallun. If I had waited for the man to give orders before taking action I would not be standing here. He would have lost a number of ships and others would have to take their place. Ships which could be of use elsewhere" Price answered. "Faced with this predicament with no orders I followed the directives I was taught at the Naval Academy."

"And what directive would that be?"

"When in doubt win the war." a short silence meant the Admiral was not yet satisfied. He continued:

"It means I have to do what it takes to complete my objective. In this case I called for reinforcements and held the line that way. Hardly disobeying orders."

Though he could not say it, Byzantane could agree at least partly to the sentiment. However not every captain in the fleet was capable or competent enough to warrant such liberties. Let alone the loyalty to be trusted to do so in good faith. Even if this was no factor, they still had the commissars to contend with. Some would shoot you on the spot if you didn't execute given orders exactly as given, regardless of the circumstances. An eternal annoyance and grave danger to admirals and captains of a lower birth or of less competence, but a great relief to those in the upper naval classes as Byzantane was.

At any rate, as the session would progress he would decide how to handle the man on this subject.

"Unless we are here to chit-chat on past actions, I suggest to get to the point." Growled Commander Geiss with a cigar in his mouth. "This war isn't going to wait."

"Do we have intel on the current situation in Orar?" Price began.

Slightly taken aback by this sudden disruption from his thoughts, Admiral Byzantane walked up to the charting table.

"Our recon flights performed by Fury fighters have given us these picts." the Admiral replied while laying out big green-tinted recce etchments. "The depictions before you were taken this morning in orbit of Picus. An Agri-world. As far as we know the planet was taken two months ago, though we have picked up sporadic Vox-traffic from loyal elements"

"A bloody miracle if they'd lasted this long" Commander Lemere bellowed.

"We could take advantage of that." Price added while looking at the overall system chart. "All of the system is occupied, correct?"

"Almost. Only Anvil 206 is still in our hands. But who knows for how long" The admiral replied.

"If I may, Sir?" Price began while taking out a colored pencil from his inner pocket.

Byzantane nodded while others gathered closer.

"As I see it only Anvil is in our hands" Price began while encircling the planet with his pencil, "And our only assets are ships and the resisting elements on Picus.." he said while encircling the outer planet.

"It seems only logical that we retake Picus and use it as a base of operations to gather our forces before we push the system." Price drew a new line connecting Picus to Anvil.

"Nice idea. Only a pity we don't have soldiers." Geiss scoffed.

'We only need to hold what we have at Picus. We are no invision force until reinforcements catch up. My ship can provide Close Air Support to the boots we have down there. Letting them rot is a waste of manpower and loyalty." Price concluded.

The commanders went on arguing the plan, High-Admiral Byzantane let the noise fade to the background and pondered. He had been playing with the same plan for days, only he lacked the means to pull it off. He would have to keep the enemy fleet and ground forces at bay at the same time. With only his ship to work with, powerful as it may be, it was not enough. Now it may just work. He had two Imperial escorts to work with, plus a small carrier.

The plan was sound. The downside was that it would depend on the loyalty of this outsider. If he could keep his word they would succeed. If he failed or decided to leave, or Throne forbid, turn against them... At best they would lose the planet. At worst he would lose some small-craft and the carrier, and having to start all over again!

Then again, the man had gained the confidence of multiple fleet commanders. Even a few Admirals seemed to commend his actions. Now it would come down on a matter of trust. The very same subject they touched upon earlier.

The arguing between the commanders rose in volume and pushed Byzantane out of his thoughts. Geiss didn't seem to like the plan. Too risky for so small a force. They would sure take a lot of hits. He may lose his ship. Which, given the difference in armor and shielding, was the most likely.

"Enough!" Byzantane called and the voices died down.

"If we wait, regaining a foothold in the system will get much harder. And in turn will increase the time it would take to retake the system. We have but one choice, which would ultimately come down to one simple fact."

The Admiral slowly turned around to face the outsider in his gray uniform and looked him square in the eye for the second time that day. "Can we trust you, Commander Price?" he asked calm and slowly.

"My men know all too well what it is like to lose their world, Gentlemen." Price began, turning away from the table. "These men on Picus are fighting to keep theirs. My men will support them without hesitation. You support us in space, and we will do whatever is in our power to support the men on the ground." He concluded with great confidence.

The Imperial men turned to one-another. Lemere nodded to the Admiral, giving his approval. When the Admiral turned towards Geiss he just stood there with crossed arms, grunting for a second before shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever, lets just get this over with." he growled.

"It has been decided then." Byzantane began. "We go in with our combined might, destroy what ships we can in orbit and drive off the rest. Once in position the three of our ships create a protective screen while Invictus supports our troops. Imperial Troop ships and Naval Forces should arrive no longer than a day later." He faced each of the commanders: "If there are no further notions to add I suggest you return to your ships and prepare for battle. Dismissed"

With the gathering concluded, the present ship-captains began to exit the room.

As the last commander stepped through the door, the Admiral looked up from the plotting table he saw Price still standing at the table's edge.

"You're still here. You have more questions to ask, Commander?" Byzantane inquired calmly, his steel gaze fixed on Price.

"I do have a few which, in my opinion, affect the mission indirectly. If you have a moment." Price answered just before throwing a look at the door-guard that hadn't left.

The Arms-men on guard kept looking at the holstered sidearm on the Colonial's waist. Realising the gaze of the guard compliment, Price slowly un-holstered his pistol, ejected the magazine and cycled the chamber, proving the piece was empty before placing it at the table. Satisfied the guard walked away after the commanders, closing the door behind him.

"What is on your mind?" Byzantane asked, slowly hanging back at the table.

"My men, sir."

"Explain"

"Let's assume for now my ship serves the Imperium well throughout the war and survives with most of my crew alive. What is to happen then? What will we become? We have no home to return to. My fear is that, at the end of this conflict, we will still be bound to roam the stars in the hope of finding a home. Their actions, their sacrifice, forgotten. I appreciate your need for my ship in this conflict, but my men may ask why we Colonials are fighting a war that isn't ours."

"Your men lack a reason to fight?" The High Admiral asked wearily, the Imperial lord evidently not wanting to deal with an unwilling outsider. "You stated otherwise mere minutes ago. Explain yourself!"

"Don't get me wrong Admiral. I ask them to fight, they'll fight. I've proven that to men before you. They are concerned with the aftermath."

Byzantane paused for brief moment. "I see your position, and the aftermath depends on your service and conduct." he answered, before he took another few moments to think, crossing his arms.

"Since you've proven yourself in more than one occasion, I suppose I can tell you this much: It is not uncommon for veteran Guard Regiments and old navy personnel who have expended usefulness to be awarded a place to call home after a large conflict. Sometimes this can be in the form of a planet, other times simply a backwater station, and only to those who can't effectively serve the Imperium anymore. Given you are not of the Imperium, neither the Inquisition nor Obscurus high command will want you to remain in active service after you are no longer instrumental to the war effort. Now, I am not Ravensburg, only he can promise such things; but my guess is that you will be committed to strategic reserve and sent to some quiet backwater until the Imperium has further use of you. Provided your current track record continues. Does that put your mind at ease?"

"Can I repeat these words to my officers in truth?"

"I shall relay your concerns to Ravensburg. Until then, tell them you will likely be rewarded, which is very much true. I suspect a medal will at least be in order. Provided you continue to serve with loyalty and competence, of course."

"That is good enough for me. Thank you for your time Admiral" Price said while shaking the man's hand. The Imperial paused for second, but returned with: "Likewise Commander." before turning his back on Price and heading towards his command bridge.

After these words Price re-holstered his pistol and walked out the room after the escort commanders.

-----

The briefing room board Invictus was filled with the ship's High-Ranking officers and all pilots. The room was abuzz with the chatter of all present. The room was like an auditorium, sparsely decorated and to the point with screens for recon plates to be displayed. In front of the briefer-stage were row upon row of elevated seats, enough to seat every pilot aboard. This time there were not enough seats to go around so some stood at the side.

Suddenly the hatch near the stage opened with a loud click.

One officer turned around and noticed the Commanding officers, including The Blue, stepping through and called: "Attention on deck!"

The chatter was replaced with the sound of over two-hundred men snapping to attention.

Price took stance in front of the men with the others to his flanks. "At ease".

The men took their seats if they had managed to acquire one. The rest stood easy at their place.

"Gentlemen, we are on the threshold of reaching our objective given to us from Port Maw. The Orar Sub-Sector. This cluster of systems has been invaded by the very forces which have attacked us from the moment of our arrival in this sector. Now is the time to take the fight to them."

He paused and set the system map of Picus on the Briefing screens.

"Our objective? Secure a foothold on the planet Picus Prime and hold it until Imperial reinforcements arrive. Mr Goradin..."

Price stood down and the imperial Lieutenant took his place.

"The Plan is simple. Our combined fleet will make a straight line for the planet and drive off the enemy fleet. Our focus must lie on the destruction of the invasion ships as displayed on this Recce pict."

On the secondary screen a green-tinted picture lit up showing several warships and fat troop transports in orbit above the planet.