A few minutes later, Gus was joined by the others in the boarding party.

His companions who escaped the prison with him had been re-equipped with weapons from the on-board armoury.

Aside from Sofia, who had a M1-E, a long ranged energy rifle, they were all equipped with IA-8 kinetic assault rifles. Each of them, including Gus, was also given a shockblade for close quarters.

They all also sported standard troop armour, light armour that could withstand a hit or two from a kinetic weapon, a gift that Gus had not received.

The only true variation in the weaponry lay with the two newest additions to the group.

Brin's armour, light, sleek, and slender, perfectly matched his arms of choice. He wielded twin daggers, stowed behind him on his hip; twin shortswords over his shoulders; a shockblade on the right of his hip; and a boomer, a heavy, short ranged pistol on the left of his hip. His armour was equipped with many gadgets that allowed him to close the distance and get into range, such as a shield on his forearm and a grapple on his gauntlets.

Conversely, Ciara's armour was bulky, causing her to take up almost double the area she did earlier on the deck. In her hands she held a huge machine gun, one that could easily be taken from the top of a mount. On her back, she carried two large grenade launchers, each easily within reach of her hands.

"Everyone ready?" Gus asked, receiving nods in response. "Okay. Do the two of you know anything about my Evolution?" Gus asked, addressing Brin and Ciara as they walked towards the Squire.

"Not really." Brin answered.

"We were only told to agree to some follower thing," Ciara added. "Mind explaining what it is?"

"It's a part of my ability, I can improve people that I declare. But, as far as I can tell, it has to be consensual from both sides. I can't just forcibly conscript people.

"So, you agree to it?" Gus asked, receiving nods of confirmation from the pair.

"Brin, Ciara.

I declare you followers."

From the outside, the ship was a smaller replica of one of the Knight transports. With its wings folded into two clusters on the top of the ship, it looked like nothing more than an oddly coloured, and oddly sized, storage container with a door. The nose of the ship was long, and stood at about half as tall as the main body of the ship.

"Well, isn't she a treat for the eyes!" Connor said sarcastically.

There was very little space inside the ship.

On either side, two rows of five small seats faced each other, taking up almost all the room in the ship. As they took their seats, they had to awkwardly contort their bodies in order for their legs to fit in the ship in an orderly manner. Thankfully, they were granted extra room due to Klaus, who had offered to pilot the vessel on the mission.

The ship was filled with an unsettling silence as it left the Orca, lifting and quickly slipping through the opening hangar doors. The only thing breaking the silence were the nervous breaths of the people inside, reminding Gus of the importance of their task.

'Oh, right. I have that to assign.'

Gus looked around the inside of the ship at his companions, mentally evaluating who would be best to carry the standard.

'Ideally it's not someone who already has a specific role, like Matty or Sofia. And I'd rather not have any of them lose their effectiveness in a fight...'

'Wait. How do I even get it back?'

*Would you like to summon the Standard (common)?*

"Yes. Summon."

The large pole appeared in his hands, taking the others by surprise. Brin and Ciara, who knew nothing of his Evolution, were especially taken aback by its sudden appearance.

Gus stared at the pole, consumed by his thoughts.

'It's got to be...'

"Krista."

"Huh?" she said, surprised by his sudden exclamation of her name.

"Take this," he said, holding the grip of the pole out towards her across the ship.

"This is that thing from yesterday?" she asked as she awkwardly took hold of the grip.

Gus nodded a confirmation. "It'll improve all of you, but the catch is one of you have to use it."

"A- are you sure? You want me to have it?"

"When I look at all of you, I feel like you're the best fit for it. Some people are already specialised in stuff, and this is probably the best way for you to, y'know, not be evil.

Speaking of, why are you all here? What are your reasons for fighting?"

"Why do you want to know?" Ciara asked defensively. "Why do you care?"

"It's something the Admiral mentioned to me. It made me realise I should know why the people I choose to fight with choose to fight. It made me realise I should care."

"I met my husband while visiting the Polaxia system. He died during the attacks," Sofia began. "Shortly after, I lost a child, I guess from stress or something. I guess I just want to help take it back, to put him to rest, to put both of them to rest, as stupid as it sounds. And I'll kill as many of them as I can until I do. I have to."

"I... wasn't a great kid," Connor said. "I did a lot of bad stuff, nothing too horrible. I was just terrible to be around. I wasn't a good friend, a good family member. I was extremely apathetic towards others, and I hate it. This war gave me a chance to redeem myself, to do something good. I won't let myself go back to what I was, but I'll do what I have to."

"I hated violence, but I know it can be necessary sometimes," Matty said. "As an engineer, I can help us without doing too much unnecessary stuff, inflicting too much unecessary suffering. I was never a pacifist, but I never saw much merit in using violence as a first option."

"We were marines before the war," Ciara said reluctantly. "It's just habit to us at this point."

"I was actually close to retiring," Brin added. "After seeing what they did, I couldn't let it stand. I had to fight on."

"Not that we have to worry about what we do to them," Ciara continued. "After all, they're only built in a lab."

"That's... not true. We don't know if they are or not. Even then, they're still sentient," Matty countered.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. We still have to pay them back for all of the shit they did to us, for all of the people they killed," she coldly retorted.

"So you would gladly kill civilians, if it meant paying back these things?" Connor asked.

"Of course. Wouldn't you all?" she retorted.

"Now I get why you hide your face behind that mask," Frank said, his voice rising. "You're despicable, you can't bear to look yourself in the face."

Ciara shook her head. "Typical medic," she sighed, "and a conscript at that. You don't understand what we need to do, what we're here for."

"We're here to protect our species. Not to kill innocents," Matty angrily said.

"They let it happen. They're not innocent."

"Of course they are. You can't blame the people for what the military do. How are they supposed to stop them?" Frank said loudly, almost shouting.

"I don't know what you're talking about back there, but you might want to be quiet and focus on staying in your seats," Klaus said over the intercom. "It's about to get real bumpy."