Commander Bello was slumped aboard the Repressior orbiting the earth, paralleling the Doom that Enka had put into orbit via the darkness. Despite her weakness, she had infinite powers, which was nonsense. Weak infinity and strong infinity?

No one, not even Carnage, could fathom her mind, but one thing was certain, she loved her children.

All these concepts were swirling in a cup of coffee that the man was stewing.

He had his feet propped up on the dashboard, rough and unfinished, but operational, like everything else on the ship. Done without art but in a hurry. But it worked and had proven itself.

The kobolds came and went with their reports on the sections to which they were assigned and one of them got agitated and transmitted a message to a kobold carno who hurriedly called Bello on the screen of the officers' deck, well, the deck of the persons in charge.

Tiamat was curled up like a hydra in the center of the huge ship, having tea with Darkia and Kate. Arnold and Vermithrax were sitting and lying against their mother's paw.

Arnold: "Mom? Do you think we'll see them again soon?"

Kate purred and guarded the pups fiercely and had ruled out any possibility of them being separated.

They too needed Kate and her powerful healing powers, rare among dragons, and even rarer among ice dragons.

Arnold: "Mom? Does it really hurt when you become human again?"

Kate smiled at Arnold, "I'll try again at big events.

Arnold: "I miss daddy...I'm scared..I have a bad feeling..."

Kate salivalessly licked his yarn in a gesture of affection.

"We're all looking out for him and Grandma is here. He's safe..."

Tiamat stared at Arnold and wanted to say something but she put her 3 heads down. Two had grown back in the meantime... probably a mercy from Enka. The other two were already budding and the former Infernal Goddess was gathering mana whenever she could but nothing could match her huge pile of gold in Faerune and the nourishing energy it provided by catalyzing mana into divine energy.

Tiamat: "Tss."

This was not lost on Darkia who was looking at Tiamat with her heads on the ground, on her front legs and looking out the window into deep space..

Then Tiamat turned to Darkia.. "Can't you go look for them in the shadows and bring them back here?

Darkia lowered her head a little, contemplating the ground covered with a resin looking like stone.

"No... there's like a gravitational barrier and a paradox. It's Nicolai... he has like a tool, a lens that bends dimensions and he could cut the link between my soul and my body. In any case it is dangerous, especially for children. I don't think he would use this power but I don't even know if he is aware of its power or even its existence, but I feel a very heavy presence radiating from this lens.

Suddenly red lights lit up and began to spin like sirens all over the ship and a message was transmitted.

"Alert, an unknown ship is approaching, please report to your stations immediately... this is not a drill!"

Tiamat: "Darkia, go to your ship... I'm taking charge here with Sarah and Bello. They will need me here..!"

In a flash, Darkia vanished into smoke and Arnold and his sister followed Kate to the ship's command post.

Huge doors opened to let Tiamat and Kate into the room and they took their respective seats, in front of a giant screen.

Bello: "Your majesty Tiamat, I think you are more used to commanding a ship than we are.

The former infernal goddess thanked the commander for his wisdom.

"Open the main screen."

The kobolds complied. Although the ship had an AI, its robustness was also based on its simplicity of repair and everything that was not critical remained manual. So an advanced AI could not take control of the ship.

Bello: "It's an Ummite reconnaissance corvette with shuttles of an unknown model".

Tiamat: "I see that!... Zoom in a little!"

A lot of electronics had been salvaged from enemy wrecks and old ground shuttles... Hans was a king of salvage!

Kobold operator: "I'm getting a 3 phase shifted beam..."

Bello :" It's a video message!, open an isolated analog channel... you never know.."

Tiamat: "Fear, nothing, human... I still have charm spells just in case!!!"

The image was projected on a large screen and we saw an officer with a helmet with 1 pair of horns... probably a noble and of Elven ethnicity. It was a surprise... behind him... humans?"

Bello stood up from his seat and looked at the others. "Did you see??? humans are on board!!!"

A transmission on another screen... it was Darkia aboard the Bucephalus..."

Yes, I noticed. There are humans on board... that changes everything!"

Ummite Prince Sapros: "Hello, people of earth... I see you have a relatively advanced civilization with your ships... not bad!... but I have been on a huge journey to investigate the disappearance of our God and Guide Tyrann. My divinatory sensors brought us here."

Tiamat turned one of her heads toward Arnold and then returned to her position.

Arnold was afraid. "Mom...they are coming for me??.they want to put me back on ice??.like dad???. I'm scared..."

Tiamat "You have nothing to fear with us... one shot from the cannon, and they are pulverized.."

Arnold: "Aunt.. I am afraid.."

At these words, Tiamat's ego swelled. She wanted to protect the little ones and especially to look after Hans. She had no confidence in Enka.

The prince turned his head towards his advisors and he removed his helmet, revealing his long white hair.

"Excuse me, I think you are intelligent dragons, and my helmet must be an insult to you.."

Tiamat: "At least an intelligent interlocutor... "

Prince: "With the disappearance of our Guide, the empire has partly collapsed and our new Emperor Volkor is desperate to know the truth. And what has become of the people of this planet. Whoever you are, we are in diplomatic negotiations."

Tiamat looked at Sarah, the chancellor, with a nod.

Sarah stood up, "I am Sarah, the chancellor representing the people of Earth.

Appearing in the picture, the prince was shocked.

"Humans?? here?"

he turned his head to his advisors.

"I wish to meet you in the flesh... would it be possible? And these intelligent dragons?"

"Thank you for the complimentary term, but I would have preferred "Your Eminence Tiamat..."

The prince turned pale at this name.

But he was not a coward. and a shuttle arrived in front of the huge ship, the Repressior.

The prince had embarked with representatives of the races in an unarmed shuttle.

Indeed, the destroyer's immense cannons were larger than anything they could have imagined and the ship was 10 times the size of Tyran's flagship, destroyed in the last battle.

After magical and technical scans, a tubular bridge docked with the Ummite shuttle, and to their surprise, the adapters and connectors were compatible. they were parts of their old ships. This did not escape the trained eye of the Ummite Elf.