Fantasy Starfallen

[Corrosion]

Morale didn't exactly shoot up as the princess began to list the side effects. "I think I understand," Conway said. "I understand that there are several... side effects of teleportation. I'm familiar with the effects you just mentioned. I just hope we all survive the transition in one piece."

As the princess uttered the apparent literal magic words to activate the circle, Conway couldn't help but ask. "Wait, why do I have to close my eyEEEESSSS —"

His vision warped. In an instant, he was seeing his body seem to fade away before his very eyes. He lost all feeling in his everywhere. He felt himself shifting between time and space itself. All the while his HUD was going completely haywire, though he wasn't exactly paying attention. He was too busy trying to comprehend just what the fuck was happening to him.

Another agonising moment later, it was over. He felt feeling returning to his body, solid ground beneath his feet. He didn't realise he was holding his breath. Conway exhaled and breathed heavily. Then he blinked several times to regain his bearings.

He was indoors, that was for sure. The room they had reappeared in was poorly-lit by several torches, and there were wooden tables and chairs pushed to one side. A number of guards were stationed around the area.

Conway wondered why his armour's low-visibility mode hadn't kicked in yet.

Then he realised that his HUD was missing. His armour's exoskeleton was fine, but his HUD seemed to have shut off during the transition.

As he reached up to reactivate it, the feeling immediately hit him hard. Nausea, vertigo, and a massive migraine. And more. Every single side effect described by the princess had materialised all at once. It was even worse than that one time he went out for a night of drinking with a few friends and forgotten to detox. Coughing once, Conway turned to his squad. "Is everyone okay?"

Few of his squad replied affirmative, the others mostly with grunts or other sounds of discomfort.

"Oh, god, feels like my fucking insides just got scrambled." Muttered Adler, swaying slightly.

There was the sound of heaving behind him. Erickson was bent over with his hands on his knees, while Ash was next to him with her hand on his back. "Just fine," He groaned. "Just fine and dandy."

Relieved that they were still in one piece, Conway took a second to reboot his systems. "Where are we?" He asked.

----------------------------​

"Sir, I've just detected another massive surge of energy." Miller reported. He suddenly flashed orange. "Whoa, what the hell?"

"What is it?" Decker asked, leaning in.

"Apex Squad... they're gone."

"Define 'gone'."

"Well, their vitals and IFFs just completely disappeared off the scopes. It's like they just phased out of existence." Miller blinked and glanced upwards. "Wait, I'm detecting their signatures again." The holographic map shifted and moved, moving into the city and stopping directly on the diagram of the capitol building of the city. There were several blinking dots that represented each member of the squad within.

Decker frowned and stood upright. "They just travelled more than two dozen klicks in a near instant."

The A.I. was busy typing on several holographic panels. They didn't really serve much of a purpose for him, really, but just like his avatar, were supposed to convey action and help the humans on the ship better understand what he was doing. "It's pretty sketchy, but from what I've been able to gather, I believe the circle converts a person or object into an energy pattern and then 'beams' them to designated target location, in which it is then reconverted back into physical matter." Several charts and diagrams appeared, each one showing how the system worked. "In short, basically what our scientists have been trying to do for years."

"And these natives, despite their level of technology, have already managed to accomplish." The captain scratched his chin in thought.

"Exactly!" Miller nodded. "It might have something to do with this 'magic' of theirs."

"Magic?"

Miller brought up a set of images of the princess summon a ball of electricity from apparently nowhere that had been captured by Apex Squad's helm-cams. "The natives claim it's magic, but it seems to be more of a type of undiscovered energy unique to this planet. I've run a scan, and it's basically in everything, from the people to the animals to the plants. Heavier sources seem to interfere with sensors."

Decker stood up straight and placed his hands behind his back. "I want a full composite scan of this magic. See what it can do."

"Aye, sir."

 

[StarryKnights]

It seemed everyone managed to arrive in one piece, though some were looking a little worse for wear.
Fawkes beamed. “Good job you guys! Don’t worry, it’s gets easier from here, first time is always the worst”.
He still remembered his first time using the circles, he’d blown chunks everywhere, much to the chagrin of his elder sister.
Only one of the outsiders seemed to get that sick, so that was a good thing.

Anice stepped around the nauseous men and stood outside the circle.

“Take a moment to collect yourself, as Fawkes said, the first time is always the hardest”.
And they’d be doing this again before the day was out, the circle would be their way back to the camp near their ship.
Hopefully that trip would be much smoother.

“Princess”, Anice turned as her name was called, a short, blonde haired woman with light green eyes was approaching her. As she passed the other guards they inclined their heads out of respect.
She wore a simple green tunic which hung past her waist, and carried a knotted wooden staff fixed with crystals and leaves at the top. Her blonde hair was so light it bordered on silver, and her ears were long and slender. She carried a small piece of parchment.

“The scribe just got this, it’s from Captain Morlock”, the elf handed the parchment over, and gave the outsiders a quick, but intense glance.

“And these...are the outsiders then?”, her voice held a hint of distrust, which wasn’t surprising to Anice.

“Yes Luthien, they are. In time they will be meeting with my father. Until then, we are going to...escort them through the palace. Where are the others?”.

Luthien didn’t seem thrilled about babysitting the outsiders. “Emieline and Drax are both with your mother and brother, shall I send for them?”.

Anice shook her head. “No, they can remain at their post, you and I shall take the outsiders to a secure room while we wait for Morlock to converse with father. He should be arriving soon...”.
She looked back to the circle.

“When you and your men are ready Sergeant, we will move to a different room”. One that wasn’t as dark for one.

After Conway and the others were feeling a bit better, Anice lead the small procession out of the room and into the hall, which was brightly lit by these floating balls of light which hovered near the ceiling.
The stone floor was covered by a rich, soft blue carpet, and the walls lines with paintings of royal looking faces.

Anice lead the way, with Fawkes at her side, then there were three soldiers between her and the outsiders. Directly behind the group was Luthien, who watched them all with narrowed eyes.
One false more and she’d see to it they drew their last breath.

_+_+

Once the path was clear, Morlock was able to travel back to the palace, he wasted no time in heading straight to the throne room, where the king was waiting.

“Morlock”, Ramus face was rather impassive as the captain of the guard knelt at the foot of the steps which lead to the throne.
To the king’s right sat the queen, Her Majesty Orsina. To his left was a smaller throne, where the crown prince Terran sat. Currently the teen was looking fairly concerned, as he’d heard the rumors regarding an outside force falling to the ground.

Standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the thrones were two imposing figures. One was a large, reptilian looking man with fierce silver eyes and dark green scales. The other was a cloaked cat looking woman with tan fur and turquoise eyes. Both nodded to Morlock, but remained silent as the queen spoke.

The queen appeared calm, but there was a worried edge to her voice as she spoke.

“Are our people unharmed? What of Anice and Fawkes?”.

Morlock rose and clasped his hands behind his back. “None of our citizens were harmed in the crash. As for the princess and the young prince, they are both safe, and in the castle. No doubt Fawkes is following Anice around...and she is...escorting our guests to a secure location in the palace”.

Ramus sighed.
“And what of our guests...what are they...how did they come to be here?”.

That was a difficult question to answer, but Morlock did his best. He explained that late this evening an alien ship crashed landed in the farm lands, and it was carrying a large number of some sort of an advanced life form.
He didn’t know that these outsiders were human, but they possessed creations that went well past anything in Edreign.

The dwarves most advanced technology paled in comparison.

“For the moment, these outsiders wish us no harm. Their leader...this Captain Decker, has sent an envoy to speak with you. He promises to attend as well.,though not in person”.

“How then?”, Ramus asked.

Morlock shook his head. “I know not sire, but I’m sure it has something to do with their technology. I will speak with the princess and then return with an update”.

Ramus waved his hand. “You have my permisson to leave, make haste”.

Morlock gave another short bow before turning and exiting the throne room.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway glanced upwards when he heard Fawkes. He hadn't even noticed that the kid was standing there the whole time. "It gets easier?" He asked somewhat skeptically. "Right."

A platinum blonde woman approached the princess and handed her a piece of paper. A physical pen and paper letter, it seemed. Conway hadn't seen one of those before. In fact, they had gone out of use years ago. Only hardcore traditionalists still used them, and it was a slow and lengthy process, especially when compared to email or instant messaging.

Conway noted that the other guards seemed bow their heads when the woman passed. Probably a high-ranking official of sorts. Oddly enough, she appeared so be carrying some sort of wooden stick thing with crystals and leaves at the top. He didn't miss the icy look she gave his squad, either. He was starting to get familiar with that look in this new world they had crashed on.

The woman's name was Luthien, or something along those lines. His HUD immediately designated her as such.

The sergeant nodded at the princess' words and turned to his squad. "You ready to move, guys?"

He got all affirmatives this time.

He turned back to the princess and nodded. "We're ready, ma'am."

She led them out of the designated teleportation room and into a larger area that was thankfully well-lit. It had sufficient lighting to not warrant the need for low-vis mode. A royal blue carpet covered the floor, and paintings of what Conway assumed were royalty hung on the walls.

Come to think, Conway hadn't seen actual painted portraits of people before. Everything was holographic.

The rest of Apex was having a muted conversation with each other over their squad comms.

"Bloody hell, would you look at this place?" Pierce seemed to be quite impressed. "It's just like those fantasy novels I liked to read as a kid. You know, with the knights and princesses and magic and all that?"

"Nope, I have no idea." Adler shook his head. "Can't say I'm a fan of that genre. I prefer historical fiction. Like... uh, Sojourn."

"Adventure!" Cried Erickson quite suddenly. "I fucking love that kind of thing."

"I prefer infodocs." Spoke Grader. "Especially those on stellar movements."

Ashworth barked a laugh. "Wow, you actually read that shit?" She asked, dubious. "God, those books are almost as boring as you."

"Keep talking, Ash. Maybe if stopped running your mouth for a second you'd actually learn a thing or two from those books."

The squad shared a laugh. Even Conway let out a small chuckle at that.

To the outside observer, it must have seemed quite odd to see the armoured Marines have a wordless conversation simply by bobbing their heads up and down.

Torres hadn't said a thing, however. Even with his reflective visor in place, it wasn't hard to tell that his eyes were darting around the place, his grip on his rifle hard. His look was mirrored by Luthien.

Shaking his head, Conway turned to the princess and reactivated his helmet speakers. "Princess," He called out. "So... we're on our way to meet your father, right? I guess that would be the king of this place, correct? If you don't mind me asking, what's he like?"

 

[StarryKnights]

The air was tense, the castle staff were all nervous and in awe of their strange visitors. The majority of the servants were dressed plainly, all scurried to stay out of the way of the princess and her strange envoy.

Fawkes was the one watching the soldiers closest though, his head tilted to the side as he tried to think of a reason for the strange movements the outsiders were making. Their heads were bobbing up and down as if they were communicating, but he couldn’t hear anything.
Maybe they were using some kind of communication magic?

Well, it probably wasn’t magic, given how confused they all were by the teleportation spell. It had to have something to do with the helmets the outsiders wore, he wondered if he could convince one of them to let him wear it.
He doubted his sister would allow something like that…

He wasn’t sure where they were taking these outsiders, but as the leader spoke up, Anice blinked, and then smiled.
That told Fawkes they weren’t going to meet their father yet, and for that he was grateful. He didn’t like seeing the old geezer.

“I’m afraid we aren’t meeting the king quite yet, he needs time to prepare. Though I imagine the meeting will be arranged soon”.
She pondered the presented question for a moment before continuing.

“...My father is a stern, calculating man. He’s the kind that values strength and dedication, and he dislikes needless chit chat. I suggest when you speak you keep your responses short and sweet. Also, try and meet his gaze, he will try and intimidate you, don’t back down. And don’t stare at my mother, or my other brother. Both will likely be present during the meeting, do not address them unless they address you”.

Terran would be there because as the crown prince, he needed to gain first hand experience when it came to matters as delicate as negotiating with an outside force. The Queen was always present during such meetings, she had a good even head on her shoulder and could pose her own questions if she saw fit.

“...He can be off putting, but deep down he is a just ruler, and his main priority will be ensuring the safety of his...our people”, she looked to Conway.

“As I imagine you’re priority is to look out for your people Sergeant, and represent your needs and position with as much tact you can”.

The princess lead the group to a smaller diner room, there was a large, unmade table in the center and a fancy chandelier made of clear green crystals up above.

“This is a spare dining hall, used to entertain guests. We will wait here while father prepares, when he is ready he will send word to find us”, Anice headed to the front of the room as Luthien closed the door behind everyone.

“If you have other questions I will do my best to answer them”, Anice took a seat at the head of the table.
Luthien moved to stand behind the princess, staff in hand she watched the door and the outsiders, wary of any movement from either.

Fawkes stood at her side, but he was watching the outsiders with curious eyes. All this standing around proved to be boring though, not even five minutes elapsed before he piped up.

“So what are those things on your heads?”.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway took in the princess' description of her father. From the looks of it, he sounded like any other official or planetary governor. The good ones, to be exact. In fact, the king sounded like someone who knew how to get shit done, and well. The princess' mother and other brother was also a new revelation. He guessed that would make them the queen and prince, respectively.

"I see." He nodded. Although he briefly wondered why a meeting hadn't been scheduled yet, he had to remind himself that the natives didn't have A.I.s or personal assistants to organise a meeting for them in mere moments, and that they had to rely on much slower methods to get information around. "I understand your father only wants to best for his people. After all, that's the core trait of any good governor."

The ones who weren't corrupt beyond measure, at least.

The rest of the journey was wordless and mostly silent, with the heavy metallic footsteps of the Marines echoing throughout the hall. The other members of Apex were still discussion various topics of course, but nobody could hear what they were saying.

The envoy was eventually led into a relatively small dining room with a table in the middle and a chandelier above. Typical setup that had hardly changed in hundreds of years. It was a spare dining room for guests, according to the princess.

"How long do you think this will take?" Conway asked, watching as the princess took a seat at the head of the table. He threw a quick glance at Luthien, before turning back to the princess. "Actually, I do have some questions I'd like to ask, ma'am." He took a step closer. "That circle thing we went through just now... how does it work?"

Meanwhile, Adler was beginning to get quite uncomfortable with Fawkes' constant staring. "Is there something on my face, sir?" He asked. However, the young prince quickly answered a second later. "Huh? What thing on my head?" Adler's free arm shot upwards instinctively, when he realised that Fawkes was likely asking what his helmet was.

"Oh, this is my Modular Combat Helmet," He informed, tapping the side of his helm. "Protects my cranium from a lot of things, from blunt force trauma to high-velocity rounds and flying shrapnel. Comes with a heads-up display, or HUD. Projects information such as squadmate statuses, vitals, equipment, and marks out friendlies. Also comes with a built-in water dispenser and waste disposal system, so I won't drown in my own vomit if I throw up in here."

 

[StarryKnights]

Luthien’s attention snapped to Conway as he approached the princess’ chair, so long as she breathed she would ensure none of these heathens laid a hand on her lady.

“Watch yourself outsider, you speak far too freely”, she spoke, gruffly. “Know your place an-”

Anice raised a hand, cutting the elf off. “Peace Luthien, the sergeant and his men are not accustomed to our mannerisms and customs, it’s foolish to berate them for such things. Besides, I do not mind”.

“...Yes, my lady”, Luthien inclined her head, but continued to watch Conway closely.

“Forgive my associate, she’s a bit of a stickler when it comes to rules”, Anice flashed a smile.
“As I said I’m happy to answer any questions you might have, though I have no real way of knowing how long before my father sends for us, it could be minutes, it could be hours. One does not rush the king”.

Though if they were kept waiting for too long, Anice would send Luthien to get an update on the situation, she didn’t want to waste the sergeant's time.

“As for your follow up question, we’ve already told you how the circles work. It’s magic, though it seems this is not a satisfactory answer...”.
She pondered whether or not she ought to explain the depth of her statement, revealing the secrets of their magic would be giving a potential enemy knowledge of their power…

“There exists in this world an energy, unseen for the most part. It’s in all life in the world, from the many races that call it home, to the plants and animals that we share it with. It is this energy...that we harness with our spells, gestures and implements. It is this which fuels our magic”.

She held up her hand again, this time a small flame flickered in her palm. Luthien tensed a little, she wasn’t convinced these outsiders should be trusted with such knowledge.

“All spells big and small work the same fundamentally, the user is bending this energy to their will, and shaping it to cause whatever effect they desire. In the case of the circles, they focus the energy in the designs etched on the floor, break down who or whatever is standing in them and transport them to the appropriate location”.

Luthien sighed. “My liege, is it wise to be sharing so much, we still aren’t certain if we can trust these...humans”.

Anice sighed, folding her fingers the flame flickered and disappeared.
“Luthien my friend, you must learn to be less guarded. These people are our guests...and given they are going to be in Edreign for some time, it’s best they understand”.

The sooner they accepted the truth of this matter the better.

“...So, in short sergeant, the circles work the same as all spells and incantations. By bending this unseen energy to our will, we can harness great power, power that can be used to help, and hurt”.

She looked to Fawkes, smiling as his eyes lit up. “Though I hope it never comes to that, a conflict between our people wouldn’t be productive, and Fawkes seems to be quite intrigued by all of you”.

The prince wasn’t even listening, he was too busy absorbing Adler’s words.

“That’s soooo cool”, he rocked back and forth on his heels with a grin. He cocked his head to the side. “Does it let you talk to one another, that is what you were doing in the hallway right?”.

Anice blinked, she hadn’t noticed anything odd in the hall.
While she wanted to question Fawkes on what he meant, she didn’t get a chance as there was a knock at the door.

“Enter”, Anice called, and the door opened, revealing Captain Morlock.

“Captain”, the princess rose from her seat.

“At ease, I’m here to get an update for the king, so he may prepare for this meeting”, he looked to Conway and his men. Eight in total, all wearing some sort of armor.

“We are waiting for father’s summons, and having a...friendly chat”.

What do you make of our guests Princess? Morlock’s telepathic communication started up as he addressed the Princess verbally.

“I’ve been told the meeting should be within the hour”.

They seem nervous and on edge, natural responses to being trapped on a strange new world. They don’t believe in magic, and they speak eloquently. Their leader, Elias Conway seems to lead his men well. I believe he will be the primary speaker.

Their Captain informed me he would be joining as well, though not in person.

Oh, well that will be interesting.

All the while, Anice and Morlock ran through a basic and dry progress check, where the princess relayed the events that lead to their arrival in the spare dining hall. It was nothing interesting, but Morlock was listening intently.

And Fawkes was bored to tears, he wanted to keep asking their guests questions...
He didn’t want the meeting to start because that meant going before his father. He leaned against Anice’s chair, sighing.
After the meeting these outsiders would leave, and he’d probably never see em again…

Morlock looked to Conway. “I will return when the king is ready, I ask for your patience as we prepare”, he inclined his head before taking his leave.

Once he was gone and the door shut, Fawkes let out a yawn.
“Sis, if he was any more boring, he’d put people to sleep”, he chuckled as Anice sat back down.

“Boredom is a side effect of peace little one, don’t take it for granted”, she pat his head. Fawkes just rolled his eyes.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway paused mid-step as the princess' associate began to chide him for 'speaking too freely'. "My apologies, ma'am." He said, rather taken aback by the woman's sudden outburst. "I didn't mean to offend."

However, the princess quickly moved to defuse the situation, informing Luthien that the Marines were in no way used to their customs. She was right, after all. The UEG was progressive and egalitarian, which meant that all citizens were allowed to speak freely at any time and could ask whatever questions to whoever they liked, no matter the position.

"It's fine, ma'am," Conway nodded. "It's just that back where I'm from, we're free to ask whatever questions we like to anyone. I understand that our cultures and customs are vastly different."

Out of habit, he glanced over at Torres, who was standing behind him. His grip on his rifle was tense, and his status indicated that he was agitated. "Don't do anything stupid." He told him over the squad's comms.

"Yes, sergeant." Torres said through grit teeth.

While Conway wasn't exactly satisfied with the answer, Torres had enough self control not to fuck everything up.

He spared another glance at Luthien. She was glaring at him with a mistrustful and icy look. Oddly enough, she reminded him of Torres.

Conway stood a respectful four paces away from the princess, as was standard when addressing superiors. Anice may not have been his superior, but it changed little.

As the princess began to explain how the circles and magic worked, he still found it hard to take in, especially how magic was some kind of energy field around the planet. It just hardly made any sense, really. "I'm sorry, ma'am. It's just that it's still hard for me to come to terms with this information." He studied that tiny flame in the princess' hand. "You see, it's common knowledge that magic isn't real, and has been for hundreds of years." He said. "As Torres said earlier, things people thought to be magic hundreds of years ago have since been disproven by science."

Luthein seemed to be quite adamant about Anice sharing the knowledge of magic with the Marines. The princess, as before, told her to less guarded, and continued with her explanation.

So apparently the people of Edreign could harness the power of magic and bend it to their will. Wow. The eggheads were going to have a field day when they found out.

If they found out, that is. The crew was probably stranded on the planet for the rest of time.

"Yes, I'm sure conflict would be unwanted and unnecessary," Conway nodded. "We've already got a war on our hands. I'm sure no one wants another."

The princess and sergeant glanced over to Fawkes. The young prince seemed to be enthralled by Adler's explanation of his MCA. He wasn't even sure if Fawkes actually even understood what Adler had just said.

"Absolutely!" Said Adler. "Squad comms let us communicate directly to each other no matter where we are."

There was a knock on the door, and after permission was granted by the princess, an older man stepped in.

"Captain Morlock, I presume?" Conway asked. He'd been given images of the guard captain during the briefing, but he hadn't seen the man in person. Morlock seemed to regard Conway and his men for a second, before turning to the princess and informing her that the meeting would begin in an hour.

An hour, huh? That gave them some time to spare.

The captain turned to Conway after a few words with the princess, asking for their patience. "I understand, sir." The sergeant nodded.

With that, Morlock left the way he came.

With him gone and an hour's worth of nothing, boredom began to find its place in the Marines. Some were having a muted discussion, while others were messing around with their holotools.

Conway decided to make use of the time he had. "Princess, may I ask a few more questions?" He asked. "What exactly is the history of this place?"

 

[StarryKnights]

Anice cocked her head to the side, her blonde hair falling into her face at the gesture.
“What a strange world you come from”, she commented with a smile as she tucked the wayward strands back behind her ear.

Arcadian society was built on respect for those above your station, it wasn’t proper for a commoner to address members of the royal family and advisers freely, unless they were in court.
Anice rarely stood on such ceremony, but Luthien and other members of the court were more proper.

“Don’t worry about it sergeant, in time you and you’re men will learn, you seem to be quite capable”. Her gaze shifted to Torres as he rose behind Conway, the grip on his weapon was a dead give away for the aggression he had to be feeling.
Anice got the feeling it went well beyond being stranded on an unknown planet.

Oddly enough, it reminded her of Luthien, the elf was more than a little prejudiced against humans, yet she served Anice above all others. Such irony was not lost on the princess.

The reason behind the elf’s loyalty was a long one, and not one she’d be telling to these outsiders any time soon.
She could however, give them more information about the world they lived in while they waited, it seemed her father was keen on drawing this out.

“I’m sure it’s difficult to accept, after all, it seems to fly in the face of everything you believe”, she closed her fist, extinguishing the flame.
“But make no mistake sergeant, in Edreign, magic is so real, it’s practically mundane”, she chuckled.

While she talked with Morlock, Fawkes was still enthralled with these strange helmets.

“Oh my gosh that’s so cool! Some people use telepathy to communicate with each other here, but I’ve never seen it done with a helmet!”, the boy beamed.
The boy inched closer to the outsiders, he wanted a closer look at their armor.

“Oh man, the dwarves would kill for stuff like this”, he chuckled. “what else does your helmet do? Oh, and your armor...and that...uh...what is that?”, he pointed to the rifle.

Anice smiled, Fawkes had yet to lose his child like curiosity, some thought it was unbecoming for a prince. Anice didn’t care, she was content so long as he was happy.
With an hour to kill she imagined the boy would be pestering these outsiders for as much information as he could.

And she’d do the same...in a less obnoxious manner.

“Well, to sum the history of the entire planet would take more than an hour, but I can verse you on Arcadia history. You see, Arcaida was founded after the great civil war, where ancient man, along with their fellow slaves, rose up against the tyranny that was the Elven Empire”.

Luthien stiffened at the mention of the empire, but didn’t speak a word.
“In the past, the elves ruled the majority of Edreign, and they enslaved many of the races living here. Humanity was one of them...nagaji and tabaxi were the other enslaved races. After the civil war, the land the empire ruled was divided among the victors, Arcadia is the country humanity founded”.

There was a lot more to be explained, but she didn’t want to overwhelm the man. “I’m sure that brings up more questions than answers, but I’d like to pose a question”. She flashed a curious smile.

“You’ve mentioned a war several times now, what pray tell were you fighting against?”.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway couldn't help but grin slightly at the princess' reaction. That head tilt was actually pretty damn cute, he had to admit. Still, he raised a brow at the princess' comment. His world was strange? That was saying something about a world where fucking magic existed in everyday life, and that dismissing the concept was completely ridiculous. Actually, the last part made sense. If he lived with magic his whole life and someone came up to him and said it was a whole load of bullshit, he'd he skeptical too.

"I'll admit it really does go against hundreds of years of scientific advancements," Conway shrugged. "It'll probably take some time getting used to, but I'm sure me, my squad, and the crew of the Filial Piety will come to terms with it, no matter now adamant we may be."

He glanced over to Adler, who was in rather deep conversation with the young prince.

"Telepathy, huh?" He asked. "Isn't that the thing where people talk to each other without talking? And aren't dwarves those little short people with beards and live in caves?"

Fawkes, however, was rapid-firing questions so fast that even Adler was quickly getting overwhelmed.

"Whoa, there. Slow down, kid." He leaned down on one knee to Fawkes' height. "Now, to answer your question, this..." Adler patted his rifle. "Is my rifle. Advanced Coil-propelled Assault Rifle Model 2838, or just ACAR-38. Standard-issue Marine weapon. Fires 8.41x63mm armour-piercing ferromagnetic tungsten rounds at speeds exceeding mach six." He held out the weapon, although he made sure that the prince was unable to grab it. "A rifle is a Marine's best friend. There are many like it, but this one is mine."

Conway shot Adler a rather disapproving look. He wasn't very comfortable with his subordinate revealing all this information, but given how neither Decker nor Miller had contacted the squad with a few less than friendly words, it probably wasn't classified data. Besides, it was mostly just a brief description of the weapon, anyway, and not the actual schematics.

He turned back to Anice as she began to relay the history of the planet. It was a very brief history, but enough to be informative. After she had finished, Conway was silent for a while. "So Edreign was under control of the Elven Empire, who enslaved the other races, but there was a rebellion by the slaves, which included humanity and several other races. What are they called again?" He asked, trying to remember the other races. "Anyway, the slaves eventually won the war, and the land was divided among the victors."

He nodded in thought. "These elves you mentioned... if I recall correctly, according to ancient literature, they're essentially long-lived or immortal relatives of humans with pointy ears who see themselves as superior to everyone else." Conway shrugged. "That's according to the books, anyway. Elves, like magic, are, well, stuff of fiction created by some very creative minds hundreds of years ago where I'm from."

The princess decided that it was her turn to ask a few questions. He expected her to ask about the Marines, or their technology, or the United Earth Government. Instead, she asked about the war.

"Ah, yes, the war. The Vaskran War." Conway stiffened slightly. "Four years ago, humanity made first contact with a reptilian alien race known as the Vaskran Hierarchy. It's kind of disputed how the war started, but it's generally agreed that the vaskrans invaded the colony world of Cascade with a massive fleet without provocation. While the UEG managed to repel the invaders, the incident exploded into war not long after."

Torres muttered something about 'fucking lizards' under his breath.

"It's still ongoing, and the conflict has so far spanned dozens of solar systems and hundreds of planets, each one a separate front. Humanity's already lost billions of lives in these long four years, and no conclusion has so far been predicted. Marines like myself are soldiers, and are deployed planetside by ships such as the Filial Piety to fight the alien enemy, one world at a time. In fact, before we crashed here, my squad and I was about to deploy to a colony known as Tribute in order to repel an invasion."

He let out a short sigh. "I joined the Marines four years ago, when the war began. I've been fighting for that long, and I've seen my share of horror. I've seen more death and destruction in four years than most people see in their lifetime."

 

[StarryKnights]

Anice nodded. She sure hoped they were able to adjust, else wise they’d go mad here.
She glanced over to Fawkes, who was absolutely enamored by one of the marines, who was displaying their weapon.

Anice couldn’t help but stare for a moment, the rifle, as it was called, was truly something alien. She was reminded heavily of the dwarves and their magitech, enchanted arms and blades meant to inflict major damage.
She hoped she’d never see the weapon pointed at her people, though she’d never admit this to Conway and his men, she feared their spells wouldn’t protect them.

Fawkes inched closer to the marine, tempted to reach out and touch the gleaming arm, but thought better of it.
After a moment he seemed to remember that he’d been asked some questions, because he prattled off the answers.

“Yeah! Telepathy is some pretty popular magic, but it’s not easy! Project your thoughts to others can be very taxing, few can do it on a large scale or over great distances”.
He paused there, wondering if he should mention that Morlock could do both.

A quick glance at his sister, and her stern expression, told him the answer was no.

“And the dwarves are short, but they don’t all have beards. And they don’t live in caves...well, not all of them do”, he chuckled.
“But some still live in the underground holds, I wanna go see one someday!”.

Luthien visibly stiffened as Conway relayed the history back to them, and more so when he aske dof the other races. Hearing her own kind be dismissed as a mere myth was more than she could bear.

“One of these elves is in front of you, human”, she spoke in an icy tone.
Anice cast her a look before continuing.

“As Luthien said, she is an elf. And they are a long lived fae race, why, Luthein herself is well over a century are you not?”, she looked to her guard, who flashed a grin.

“Closer to one twenty by you’re standard my liege”.

Anice nodded. “The tabaxi are a race of feline folk, they bear cat features such as a tail, paws and fur. They are agile and wily by nature, one of my other guards is a tabaxi, no doubt you will meet her later. The last race that was enslaved were the nagaji, which are lizard like people covered in scales and sporting scales. Of course, there’s also the dwarves, who are a robust people, and the vishkanya, who ruled their own country to the north during the days of the elven empire”.

This was a lot of information to be dumping onto the men, but what they shared was just as overwhelming.
To be caught in such a devastating war...that literally spanned the cosmos…

“...Conflict on such a large scale...I can scarcely imagine it. Such violence hasn’t been seen in Edreign in some time”, Anice sighed.
She wondered if these...other life forms could find Edreign, that would be catastrophic.

“...My sincere...condolences for all you and you’re men have gone through, Sergeant”, Anice spoke with a small frown.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway immediately did a double take. He looked over to Luthien, studying her intensely. "I'm sorry, princess, but did you just say that she's a..." He froze when he suddenly noticed her unusually pointy and elongated ears. The trademark traits of elves, described in all those fantasy stories. Conway wasn't much of a fan and hardly knew anything about the genre, but elves, dwarves, knights, and dragons were some words that just kept popping up in practically every single story, and had been for hundreds of years.

"A hundred and twenty..." The sergeant muttered in thought at the elf's age. That was almost the average human life expectancy of a hundred and fifty-two years of age. And yet, Luthien still looked no older than twenty. Perhaps the biology of the elves made it such that their metabolism was much slower than humans', thus vastly increasing their lifespans and slowing the ageing process.

Or maybe it was something else. He didn't know. He was a Marine, not a scientist. Miller would no doubt come up with a much better explanation than he ever could.

"So elves, a race of cat people, a bunch of lizards, short humanoids, and some other guys." Corporal Reyes muttered through the comms. "Great. Just what we needed. Federal Command ain't gonna like this if we ever get rescued."

Reyes did raise a good point. After humanity's disastrous first contact and subsequent outbreak of the Vaskran War, the UEG began to impose a new law which dictates that in order to ensure the human race's continued existence, all intelligent non-human extraterrestrial life (if ever encountered) should be treated with suspicion and even hostility, and if proven to be hostile, human military units were authorised to terminate with extreme prejudice.

Conway just hoped that wouldn't have to happen. Those who had a personal agenda and burning hatred of non-humans such as Torres would probably would.

"That's war, princess." He said simply, nodding at the princess's condolences. "There's no need to apologise."

Adler was still chatting away with Fawkes. "That sounds exactly like our squad comms. Only, y'know, magic." He grinned. "So the dwarves live in underground holds, huh? Eh, I was pretty close. They're basically the same things anyway. Now, to answer thr question before that," He stood up to his full height and gestured to his armour. "This is standard-issue Marine Powered Combat Armour, Model 2839. Enhances the strength of the user by more than four times. Constructed from composite duratanium alloy, resistant to small arms fire. Later revisions, like the one I'm wearing right now, have ceramic plates built into the armour to dispel energy weapons fire."

Conway glanced around the room to see what everyone else was doing. Erickson was tapping on his holotool and occasionally fidgeting with his LMG. Ash and Grader were having an argument about their respective intelligence. Pierce was not so discreetly checking Luthien out. Reyes was by his side. Torres was still standing around, ready for anything.

He turned back to the princess. "Princess, I'd like to ask a few more questions." Conway began. "Does this world have dragons or anything similar?"

 

[StarryKnights]

Anice nodded a Conway’s words, that was the sort of response she expected from a man who’d been through countless battles. At some point, it became second nature, no doubt all of these men were more than used to bloodshed and loss. Such a desensitization could prove troublesome for her people, these outsiders were no strangers to drawing blood and she couldn’t help but wonder how many were like the jumpy solider. He seemed to be itching for an excuse to shoot something, Anice had no intention of giving him, or any of the outsiders a reason to harm her citizens.

The safety of the denizens of Arcadia, and in extension, all of Edreign, was a responsibility Anice had excepted early in life. She wanted her brothers to have a safe and peaceful world surround them, not one of strife and war. These people wouldn’t change that.

Fawkes was continuing to watch the outsider with eyes wide with wonder, marveling at their strange creations and beliefs.
How could someone not know what magic is, and rely on such strange weapons? The prince wanted to know everything he could about these outsiders, because they were the most interesting thing to happen to Arcadia in what seemed like forever.

He studied the armor with intense interest as Alder stood and explained what it was.
“Whoa...”, he giggled. “Your gear is soooo cool”, he looked to his sister.

“Can we show them some of our cool stuff sis?”.
Anice chuckled and shook her head. “I fear we don’t have the time, perhaps some other day Fawkes”.
The prince frowned at that, but didn’t argue. “We have enchanted armor, it can do all kinds of cool stuff! Sis says I can’t get it out now though...but maybe later”, he rocked back and forth on his heels, trying to think of something else to ask about.

“What is space travel like? It has to be super cool right!?”.
Seeing Fawkes so carefree and..childish warmed the princess’ heart, he couldn’t always be so bubbly and inquisitive, but given the...unusual situation they were in she didn’t see the harm here.

Luthien stiffened as Conway asked about dragons. “One such as yourself should mention the drakes so casually”, she spoke plainly.
Anice was a little taken back as well, but regain her composure quickly.

“...Well, that questions deserves a long answer Sergeant, and it will change depending on the people and culture you ask. The short answer is yes, there have been and still are dragons in Edreign”.
She thought for a moment before continuing. “In many branches of faith, dragons are revered as divine beings…and in nearly all cultures, they re credited with the creation of our world, and of life itself here”.

 

[Corrosion]

Adler grinned at Fawkes' awe at the Marines' gear. "Hell yeah it is." He said. "And this ain't even the most impressive thing we've got. Compared to the flashier stuff like the tanks, gunships, and combat walkers, standard-issue gear is boring in comparison. Well, the other guys have add-ons for their armour, such as Grader's rangefinder." He gestured over to his team's marksman.

Grader was still having a conversation with Ash. Adler gestured to Grader's rangefinder mounted on his helmet. It was sitting above his visor since it was not currently in use. While Marine power armour, and just about every modern armour with a HUD, came with an integrated rangefinder, the add-on module was more advanced, allowing the user to pick up targets from a far longer distance, which increased the effectiveness of their rifles. The standard weapon used by squad marksmen was the BXR-12 Designated Marksman Rifle. About as common as the ACAR-38, the BXR-12 had longer range and increased stopping power, owing to their use of the larger 10.5x78mm rounds.

"Well, space travel's pretty complicated," Said Adler. "Space is a vacuum, which means that there isn't any friction. No air means no air resistance. According to Newton's First Law, an object in motion..." He held up his hand and lay it flat and then moved it from left to right. "Stays in motion. That means that once an object begins to move in space, it won't stop. That means that spacecraft commanders have to be very precise when manoeuvring around in space. Of course, modern spacrcraft are equipped with inertia dampeners which help to prevent uncontrolled spins."

He leaned down again. "Although that's probably not what you want to hear. I won't bore you with the basics." He secured his ACAR to the mag-clamps on his back. "See, space is big. Like really, really big. This planet is basically even smaller than a speck of dust in comparison to this whole galaxy alone. That means stars and planets are really, really far from one another. I'm talking hundreds upon thousands of lightyears."

He paused. "Er, it's a unit of measurement for astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year. Now, say star system A is a hundred lightyears away from star system B. Say a spacecraft is travelling at ninety-nine percent the speed of light. It would take it more than a century to get to the system. As you can tell, space travel is pretty ineffective that way. That's why humanity invented the RIFT drive hundreds of years ago. Short for Relative Interdimensional Field Transit, the RIFT drive literally rips open space and time to enter an alternate dimension outside the physical realm." He mimicked tearing a hole in the air in front of him. "Basically tunnels through the alternate dimension known as the Riftvoid and significantly shortens the journey. Now that century-long journey can be made in less than a day."

Adler finished. That was the shortened version, of course. The full version of how exactly the RIFT drive worked was long and wordy and immensely complicated that Adler himself couldn't fully understand, to say little of a kid who had never seen a gun before and lived in a primitive society akin to Earth thousands of years ago.

"The... drakes?" Conway asked, recalling from someone that it was an alternate word for dragon. He noticed that both the princess and the elf seemed to be taken off-guard by his seemingly random and curious question. Apparently, dragons, or drakes, as the natives called them, were divine beings who were credited with the creation of the planet and all life on it. Conway wasn't much of a history buff, but that matched similar ancient legends of Earth, when primitive humans believed that a divine being or god was behind the creation of life and the planet, before the discovery of evolution and other huge steps in science.

Although Conway did find it odd that quite a number of people believed in the creation theory, even into the middle of the twenty-second century, when science was king and the driving force behind everything.

I... see." Conway slowly nodded.

"Sorry to break this up, princess, sarge," Corporal Reyes interrupted, stepping forwards. "But I want to know what time the meeting will be ready. I've just gotten word that the captain wants to have the meeting ASAP." He turned to the princess and the other natives. "That means as soon as possible for the uninformed."

 

[StarryKnights]

Tanks, combat walkers and gunships, all words that made Anice decidedly uneasy. These people and their weapons could pose a major threat to her country and world if they decided they weren’t keen on remaining peaceful.

Fawkes displayed no such fear though, and looked on with eyes wide with wonder as Adler pointed out the extra piece of gear his comrade had. It didn’t look like much to the young prince, by he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t cool as hell. His gaze shifted back to Adler as the mariene spoke of space travel, a topic that interested all parities listening.

Though Anice couldn’t make any more sense of it than her brother, she could guess the scope of which Adler spoke.
Never in all her years had the princess dwelled upon the size of the universe, but now she’d met people who had witnessed it’s vastness first hand. It was a humbling experience, one she knew her father would resent. Both as a king, and as a man of pride, Ramus wouldn’t like the fact these outsiders were leagues ahead of them in many areas, Anice hoped he didn’t attempt to compensate for this by sowing off just how much authority he had.
By all accounts he could condemn these outsiders to the brig, but doing so would insight violence.
Anice prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

“Whoa! Space is so...well, spacious!”, Fawkes chimed in with a smile. “Though I have to admit, you might as well be speaking Baxi for all I understand”.

“Baxi” was the slang term for the native tongue of the Tabaxi, hearing Fawkes say it made Anice groan.

“Come now Fawkes, lets not be crass. Also, if you dedicated more time to your studies, you’d be practically fluent in it by now”.
The prince just rolled his eyes.

The idea of warping across the cosmos was more than a little far fetched, Anice couldn’t see how these people were comfortable with that, but were skeptical of teleportation magic. By all accounts, the two sounded quite similar.

She wondered how it was more of the men weren’t as curious as Conway, he was the only one remotely interested in the new world they found themselves in. Perhaps the others were nervous, or hoping to be rescued.
Either way, Anice couldn’t blame them.

Luthien stiffened as a new outsider interupted the princess’s conversation with Conway, apparent their captain was eager to get this meeting started.

“Please inform your captain that the king will not be rushed, and he will simply have to wait”, she replied in an icy tone.

Anice didn’t like the tone, but echoed the sentiment.

“I’m sorry, my father is a...well, meticulous man. No doubt he is preparing his words as we speak, him along with some of his advisers. He will not be rushed, and any attempt to do so won’t be received well”.
She wondered how Terran was doing, he was required to attend these briefing sessions. No doubt he was bored out of his skull.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door, Luthien was quick to stride over, with a quick “I’ll get it”.
As she opened it, she revealed a tall, barrel chested lizard looking man with a set of horns which swept back from his head, and silver armor.
His green eyes scanned the room before looking to Luthein, who nodded and stepped aside, allowing him to enter.

“Princess”, he spoke in a thick accented voice, akin to a snake’s hiss. “His highness is ready to see the outsiders”.

 

[Corrosion]

By now, the other Marines had gotten even more bored than before, and some were idly wandering around the room, inspecting random objects that happened to catch their interest.

"So..." Pierce began, turning to Erickson. "What's your story?"

"Hm?" The other support gunner asked, putting down an unlit candle he had found on a cupboard. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know, why'd you join the Marines?"

Erickson paused for a bit as he considered the question. Then he shrugged absentmindedly. "Grew up in the slums on Makelo," He said. "Dad left my mom after I was born. She raised me from there. We were too poor to afford much, really, but we could still survive on minimum wage and support tokens." He sighed and ran his hand on the wooden surface of the cupboard. "So I decided to join the Marines once I was old enough. Anywhere's better than back home. Plus the pay's... decent. I can send the extra creds back home." Erickson turned to Pierce. "You?"

Pierce merely shrugged in response. "Grew up on Dover. Family was rich, studied at Panorama." He shrugged again. "Pretty much the opposite of you, really. I decided to join the Corps because it seemed fun, I guess. You know, see the galaxy as they say. Plus, I wanted to shoot a bloody alien in the face."

"I'm sure we all do." Erickson sighed, closing his eyes.

"Baxi?" Adler asked, not familiar with the term. "What, is that your version of Greek or something?"

The princess turned to lightly chastise Fawkes. "Whoa, come on now," Adler chuckled slightly. "You know, if you ever want to know more about us, you should ask Grader. He's smart." The Marines turned to his squadmate. "You're smart, right?"

"Smarter than you, if that's for one." Grader answered.

Adler turned back to Fawkes. "See?" He leaned in closer to whisper. "No he's not."

Reyes gave Luthien a rather displeased look that was quite obvious even with his helmet on, but otherwise said nothing. He turned away to relay the message to Decker.

Conway considered the elf woman for a while longer before he replied. "I understand, ma'am." He nodded. Just like any other politician, it seemed. Choosing their words carefully, planning exactly what to say, maybe even looking for ways to use their own words against them.

Then again, from the looks of it and Anice's descriptions, the king of the place also seemed to be quite an arrogant man, maybe even quite paranoid.

Just like any other politician indeed.

There was a knock on the wooden door as soon as the princes had finished her sentence. Luthien strided over and opened it up. The Marines all froze when they saw what was on the other side.

A fucking lizard person, almost exactly like the vaskrans they'd spent four years fighting and killing. It then spoke clear, unmistakable English with an odd accent, like the hissing of a snake.

Just like the vaskrans, when their words were translated by in-built translation software.

Combat instinct instantly kicked in. In mere moments, five rifles and two squad automatic weapons were raised, all aimed at the lizard person as the squad members adopted firing positions, safeties off and fingers on the trigger.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Ash cried in alarm. "What the fuck is that thing?!"

"It's a fucking lizard, man!" Erickson shouted back.

"It's one of them!" Growled Torres, speaking for the first time as he aimed straight at the creature's chest.

Conway too reached for the rifle magnetically clamped to his back, but had to force himself to stop when he remembered that this was a foreign planet far away from the vaskrans. To few eyes. Legs weren't digitigrade. Too short. Had a tail. Snout wasn't long enough. That... thing must be one of the lizard people the princess had mentioned earlier. "Squad, lower your weapons!" He barked. "Lower your weapons, now!"

The members of Apex did nothing at first. Then slowly, they complied, hesitantly lowering their weapons. All except Torres.

Conway stepped towards him. "Lower that gun, private." He ordered, his voice low.

"That thing's a fucking lizard! What if it's a fucking vaskran?" Torres shot back, not backing down.

The sergeant immediately proceeded to violently force the gun down as he grabbed the private by his neck guard and pulled him close. "You pull that trigger and I'll shoot you myself." He growled and let go, pushing him away. "Disobeying the orders of a superior is punishable by death. I don't want to come to that. Do you understand, private?"

Torres glared at him. "Yes, sergeant."

Conway turned around. "I... apologise for that."

 

[StarryKnights]

Fawkes giggled at Alder’s question. “No, baxi is what the tabaxi speak! It has an official name, but it’s hard to pronounce in common, so most people call it baxi”.
His sister shot him another disapproving glare.

“But, we’re not supposed to call it that...but anyway, whats Greek?”, he cocked his head to the side, glancing to the man Adler pointed out. There was an air of restlessness in the room, but Fawkes didn’t seem to notice it.

The marines were growing bored with waiting, Luthien irritated with the disrespectful outsiders, and Anice antsy, knowing her father was likely drawing things out in an attempt to unnerve their guests.
But Fawkes, he just laughed as Adler leaned in and whispered to him, confirming the young princes suspicions that this Grader fellow wasn’t as bright as he seemed to think he was. Despite the uncertainty of the situation, the prince was having fun and hoped that he could chat with his newfound friend for a while longer.

This peaceful air was shattered the moment Nakier stepped in, and all the marines pulled their weapons.

Fawkes let out a gasp as he was jerked backward by his sister, who had risen the moment she realized who was at the door. Face against her skirts Fawkes squirmed to catch a breath as Anice and Luthien drew their weapons, Anice her sword, Luthien held a ball of smoldering flame in her hand.

The room was deadly silent for a moment, with Nakier standing in the doorway, blinking in shock, as there were unfamiliar weapons trained on him.

Conway broke the silence, by issuing an order to stand down, his men followed through after a few tense moments and some objections.
Anice had feared something like this would happen, from what Conway had told her before the aliens these people had been fighting resembled the nagaji somewhat.

If they reacted like this every time they saw one, then it would only be a matter of time before someone was hurt...or killed.

“S-sis?”, Fawkes squeaked out in a soft voice, he looked up at her with wide, uncertain eyes, while Conway forced the last of his men to stand down.
Anice placed a hand on her brothers head, hoping the gesture would be enough to soothe his nerves. He clung to her skirt as she sheathed her sword.

She gave every one of Conway’s men a stern stare before speaking.

“...This, is Nakier, he is one of my men”, she motioned for the lizard man to step inside, which he did without hesitation.
“He is a nagaji, not a...vaskran. He is not your enemy, no matter how similar then may look. This goes for all the nagaji that live in Arcadia...and all of Edreign”.

Luthien still held the fire ball in her hand, and seemed to be itching for an excuse to use it. Nakier looked less dumbfounded and more on guard, as he wasn’t sure if these outsiders would listen to reason.

“...This sort of unprovoked violence will not be tolerated within the confides of my kingdom. I understand you’ve all come from a war, but that is no excuse”, she shot Conway an especially hard glare, given he was in charge of these men.

“Threaten anyone in this castle...no, this kingdom again, and you will have a new war to contend with”, she spoke matter a factly.

“...I...apologize if I startled you”, Nakier spoke up, causing Anice to look to him. “I merely wished to escort you to the throne room, the king is ready to see you all”, he looked to Anice, silently questioning whether or not this incident would be reported to the king.

“Do not apologize Nakier, you are not in the wrong”, she looked back to the marines, her gaze settling on Conway.

“...Keep your apologies outsider, just see to it this doesn’t happen again. I will keep this incident from my father, if only to spare my people a bloody conflict”, she scowled.
“After all, I do not wish for my men to become so accustomed to violence, that they shoot first and ask questions later”, she flashed a sneer before turning her back on the unit.

“Now, gather yourselves, steel your nerves, and follow us”, she headed for the door, pausing only to glance to Luthien.

“...Dispel that fireball Luthien, I need you to take Fawkes to his room”, her order cut through Luthien’s anger, sighing she closed her fist, allowing the fire ball to fizzle out.

“Come little one”, she walked over, took Fawkes by the arm and escorted the young prince out of the room.

Once they were out of the room Anice spoke again.

“...Let us be off”, she headed out the door, expecting Conway and his men to follow. When all of them were out the door, Nakier followed them out, guarding them from the rear as Anice lead the way to the throne room.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway nodded slowly. "Understood, ma'am." He silently breathed a sigh of relief that none of Apex opened fire, and the fact that he had managed to stop himself from doing the same. There was nothing he could do to quell battlefield instinct, especially since he was by far the most veteran member of the squad. Torres could be forgiven for now, mostly since he was the newest member of Apex and hadn't been in a single battle... yet. He was a man fresh out of boot camp, and Tribute was supposed to be his first deployment before everything went to shit.

Still, he knew that if that was how every Marine (especially the ones with a personal vendetta against the aliens) reacted when they saw something that even remotely resembled a vaskran, it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt or killed. Most likely one these... what was it? Nagaji or something?

He had no doubt that the captain had seen everything, and he dreaded having to explain to him.

The Marines of Apex tensed up when Nakier stepped into the room, each of their eyes on him. Even with their visors it wasn't hard to tell that they were all giving him looks of pure malice and hostility.

The lizard man seemed to be quite dumbfounded and on guard, as would someone who had just been on the other side of an entire Marine squad sans one. Still, Nakier (surprisingly) aplogised for startling the Marines and announced that he was there to take the squad to the throne room to see the king.

The princess turned to the squad and gave them a hard look, and told them that she wasn't going to inform the king of what happened in order to prevent some diplomatic conflict from breaking out.

Ash in particular seemed to bite back a snarky remark that shooting first and asking questions later was exactly what Marines do.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll see to it that it won't happen again." Conway nodded.

Luthein still had a fireball in her hand, and it was only with some words from the princess that she deactivated it.

With that, the princess led the squad out of the room and down the hallway.

The mood was noticeably infinitely more icy than before.

 

[StarryKnights]

Luthein was furious, the aggression these savages had shown was more than enough of a reason to see them all blasted to kingdom come. Humans were volatile by nature, but these...these outsiders were even more so. Luthien couldn’t see how someone as dignified as Anice was a part of the same species.

12“Come little one”, she ushered Fawkes down the hall, not giving him a chance to look back and watch as the group exited the dining hall.

“But Luthien”, the young prince protested as they made their way down the ornate hall and past all manner of paintings.

“No buts! Your sister was clear, she doesn’t want you near these savages”.

“They aren’t savages!”, Fawkes replied, the pair moved into the residential wing of the palace, where the royal family was housed. Fawkes’ room was located at the far end of this wing, he had a smaller room that paled in comparison to that of his siblings.

“I’m not going to argue with you about it”, Luthien fixed the prince with a hard stare as she opened the door to tbe bedroom, revealing a cluttered space befitting a young prince. Stay inside until someone comes to get you, understand?”.

Fawkes crossed his arms, but the look Luthien gave him made him relent. “Fine”.
Luthien closed the door, turned on her heel and made a beeline for the throne room.

Anice lead the way silently, pondering whether she was making the right call in not reporting the incident in the dining hall. On the one hand, these outsiders had nearly open fire on one of her men, who had done nothing to provoke such a reaction. On the other hand, she was aware that the nagaji resembled the enemy these soldiers had been fighting, and such a visceral reaction was likely apart of why they were still alive now.

Such reactions were likely necessary on the battlefield, but they were no longer at war. At least, they weren’t at war yet.
She sighed slowly and cast a glance backward toward the group. Most didn’t strike her as hostile, she remembered how Fawkes had been getting along well with one of them. The issue was, she couldn’t ignore the threat these outsiders posed to innocent nagaji civilians living in Arcadia, and the world at large.

She supposed the best thing could do, outside of reporting the altercation to her father, was to keep a close eye on these outsiders in the hopes of dissuading them from acting rashly again.
The group was approaching a set of large, ornate golden doors. There were two guards stationed out front, wearing gleaming armor bearing the same colors as Anice’s. They both bowed and turned round as the princess approached.

Anice paused and turned to address the group before they went inside.

“When we get inside, it is in your best interest to kneel, do not make direct eye contact with with the Queen or the Prince, even if they address you. My father likes his answers short and to the point, so don’t drone on”. She looked each of the squad members over before settling on Conway.

“Should you and your men act appropriately, I see no reason this meeting shouldn’t go over smoothly”, she spoke with a curt nod before turning around. The guards pushed the doors open, and Anice lead the way into the throne room.

The stone floor was covered in a deep blue carpet, which stretched from the door way to the foot of the stairs which lead to the throne. The stairs leading to the thrones themselves were smooth, polished black stones, at the top of which there were four chairs. The largest in the center was where the king sat, he watched as the group approached with an unreadable expression. To his right sat the queen, a serene looking older woman with long brown hair and green eyes.

To her left, there was an empty throne, presumably Anice’s.
To the king’s left there sat a young boy, with light brown hair and bright blue eyes, he perked up as Anice approached the foot of the stairs and kneeled.

“Father, these are the representatives of our...guests”, she rose. The king regarded her for a moment before nodding, Anice ascended the steps and took her seat at her mother’s side. The two exchanged words briefly, but they were too quiet to be over heard.
A few silent minutes crept by before the king spoke.

“I am His Majesty, King Ramus the Valiant. To whom do I have the...honor of speaking to?”.
His voice was somewhat gravely from years of making similar speeches, but there was no trace of any sort of animosity.

 

[Corrosion]

----------------------
CHAPTER THREE
ARBITRATIONS AND NEGOTIATIONS
----------------------
​

No one spoke throughout the long walk to the throne room. The Marines had dropped all conversations on their comms, and each one occasionally threw Nakier an incredibly hostile glance, fingers tightening around their coilguns. Their heavy, metallic footsteps reverberated throughout the halls, noticeably much heavier than before. More... stompy this time round.

Luthien had taken Fawkes off somewhere, probably because she didn't want him to be with the Marines. Conway couldn't blame him. The peaceful introductions in the dining room had almost been ruined all because a member of the planet's native lizard people bared a passing resemblance to the vaskrans the UEG had been fighting. Besides, he was just a kid, so what did he know about interstellar warfare?

He realised that when the crew met the cat people Anice had spoken about earlier, it would probably provoke a similar reaction. Humanity was understandably xenophobic considering how the first intelligent alien race they had encountered after over eight centuries of searching turned out to be bloodthirsty and hostile.

On the other hand, the war united most of humanity. Where they had been divided before, humans had the natural tendency to put aside their differences and fight against a common enemy, one bigger than anything faced before.

Conway turned his attention to the princess. She was walking ahead and hadn't turned back once. In fact, she seemed to be deep in thought, given by her general posture. The sergeant wondered what about. Most probably, she was dwelling on the incident, perhaps wondering if she should report it or not, and to the king, no less.

God, Conway really hoped she wouldn't. Torres had already very nearly fucked up first contact not even five minutes after meeting each other. If she did, well, that would probably ruin whatever chances of peaceful cooperation the crew had. Not only that, but he'd probably have brass up his ass and be knee deep in shit.

The group eventually came to a set of double doors, very ornate ones decked in gold. A pair of guards stood on both sides, their armour bearing the same colours as the princess. They both bowed as she approached. Probably elite guards of some sort, considering how their armour seemed to be much higher quality than the soldiers the Marines had encountered earlier on.

Before going in, the princess stopped and turned to the Marines, informing them what to do. Kneel, don't make eye contact with the queen or prince, and get straight to the point. The first two didn't make much sense, really. No one kneeled when facing superiors, even the president, and why weren't they allowed to make eye contact with the queen or prince? It was standard to look a superior in the eye in order to show sincerity.

Conway wasn't in the mood to argue, not did he think it was appropriate to. So he simply nodded. "Understood, ma'am." He turned back to his squad. "Be on your best behaviour, guys. Don't do anything stupid, or so help me."

With that, the princess led the Marines into the throne room. It was rather large, that was for sure, and probably the fanciest and most elegant place he'd ever been in. The floor was covered in the same blue carpet that seemed to cover the entire floor of the palace, leading up to the throne. The throne, or thrones considering how there were four chairs in total, were on a raised platform, with black stairs leading up to them.

Sitting on the chairs at the very top were what Conway was very sure was the royal family. King, queen, prince, if he recalled correctly. The last throne was empty, though that was probably Anice's. Oddly enough, Fawkes seemed to lack a throne for himself. Wasn't he a prince too? Maybe he was simply too young, or something like that.

The princess made her way to the stairs and kneeled, addressing her father and showing him the Marines.

Conway took a breath and made his way forward. However, before he could, his helmet beeped once, indicating that he was receiving an incoming transmission.

"This is Captain Decker." Came the voice of Captain Decker through his helmet. Of course he'd been listening in. "We may be guests on this planet, and you may be meeting with the king of this nation, but you are Marines of the United Earth Government, and the UEG does not bow to any foreign power, and never will. You will not kneel to anyone."

Conway paused for a bit and seemed to be quite confused, before nodding slowly. "Understood, sir."

The transmission was ended, and he continued his way forward. He stopped at the base of the stairs but did not kneel like Anice. Instead, he simply stomped his right foot once and went to parade rest, waiting for the king to speak first. Several minutes passed without any comment. Was the sergeant supposed to speak first?

He got his answer when the king finally spoke up, introducing himself as King Ramus the... Valiant? Was that a title? A description? That was rather odd.

"My name is Sergeant Elias Conway, NCO of Apex Squad, 227th Infantry Battalion, United Earth Government Marine Corps. Acting representative of the crew of the United Earth Government Naval Command vessel Filial Piety." He introduced, like he had done many times before when addressing superiors, excluding the last part.

Get straight to the point. Don't drone on.

"I'll get straight to the point, sir." He turned to his holotool and detached its holographic projector. "My squad and I are only here to act as representatives of the crew of the Filial Piety. Captain Decker will do the diplomacy."

He tossed the disc-shaped projector onto the ground in front of him. A second passed with no activity. Then, the disc suddenly lit up. A swarm of holographic particles swarmed around the area above it. Then they all seem to condense in the middle, and soon enough, a perfect scale model of Captain Decker appeared dressed in his clean and crisp grey naval uniform highlighted by golden streaks. He was standing still with his hands behind his back, an impassive expression plastered on his face. The hologram was slightly translucent and had a blue tint to it.

"King Ramus," Said Decker, his voice even grainier than the king's front decades of yelling orders to his crew. "My name is Captain Anthony Decker. I'm the captain of the United Earth Government Naval Command ship Filial Piety.

 

[StarryKnights]

To say things were tense in the throne room would be an understatement. The air was heavy with anticipation, Anice wondered if Conway would follow her advice to the letter, or if he would take his own course of action.
At her side she could sense how uneasy her mother was regarding the situation, more than likely she wished that Terran didn’t have to be present for this.

As the future king this sort of hands on experience was vital to the young prince, but it came with it’s risks.
If Conway and his men choose to attack now, they could potentially wipe out the entire royal family, sans Fawkes. Anice shuddered to think of her younger brother, forced to take the throne at such a young age.

He was safe in his room at the moment though, Anice couldn’t afford to be distracted by her concern at the moment.

This potential threat was why there were plenty of guards standing off to the side, directly behind Anice’s throne was Tuvera, the tabaxi member of her elite guard. No doubt she was keeping a wary eye on the situation, though for the moment she choose not to reveal herself.
Nakier maintained his position behind the marines, though he didn’t show it the nagaji was on edge.

These outsiders were openly hostile toward him, and he questioned the wisdom of allowing them to keep their weapons as they addressed the king.
Well, only one of them was addressing the king, the leader of the unit, Sergeant Elias Conway.
They acted as the representatives of their vessel, the Filial Piety.

He did not bow as he addressed the king, a fact that did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room. As he tossed a strange disc looking device to the floor everyone tensed, Tuvera inched out of her hiding spot and watched with an intense gaze as the hologram flickered to life.

Terran let out a gasp as the figure of Captain Decker spoke, it’s voice grainy but perfectly understandable.
Ramus stared the hologram down for a moment before speaking.

“...Captain, I will be blunt. What are your intentions now that you and your men are, for lack of a better term, stranded in our lands?”.
He leaned forward in his throne.

“I’ve been told that while you possess the means to repair your vessel, you lack the ability to return from where you came from. This indicates you and your men may be stuck in Arcadia, and Edreign as a whole, for some time”.

If that was the case, then the nations were going to have to find a way to incorporate these strange humans into society. Given their skeptical attitudes toward magic and some of the races, Anice was unsure if these men could integrate with her people.

Orsina was watching the group with a curious but guarded expressions her brows knitted together in a curious frown.
These men looked so human, to think that such life dwelled outside of their world…
It was truly astounding.

Terran looked intrigued, but overall frightened, as these outsiders with their shiny armor and strange weapons came off overtly as threatening. He wished wholeheartedly he could’ve sat this meeting out...

 

[Corrosion]

As Decker and the king spoke, Conway and his squad were busy scanning the room for potential threats. While he seriously doubted if the guards or anyone else in the area could have the slightest chance of posing a threat to a fully armed and armoured Marine, it would be a critical error to underestimate anyone, especially with this magic both the princess and Luthien had displayed earlier. His HUD had recorded the temperature of the fireball in the elf's hand earlier, and it registered just slightly above the temperature of normal fire.

Which is to say, hardly a threat to powered armour, designed to protect the wearer from such temperatures for a limited time.

Still, the natives likely had far more lethal methods, like how Fawkes had innocently suggested 'calling lightning down' to impress the Marines. Surge protected and EMP hardened as it was, Conway didn't want to see how his armour held up to said lightning.

His HUD had already identified around a dozen potential hostiles, including the royal family itself. They were highlighted in yellow as unknowns (friendlies were blue, civilians green, and hostiles red).

"Sarge, look." Erickson said, motioning forwards. Conway followed his gaze and noticed a cat-like humanoid emerging from the shadows. The rest of the Marines also took notice, as they all tensed up. However, it was nowhere near the hostile reaction that Nakier had gotten when he made his appearance. Instead, the Marines seemed more curious than anything else.

"Must be the cat race the princess talked about earlier." Reyes noted. Least he had been paying attention, unlike the others.

"Fucking nonhuman sons of bitches." Spat Torres.

Conway glowered, but didn't move. "Not another word, private." Although he couldn't see him, he could feel Torres glaring at him. He was getting used to that by now.

Decker was calm as ever. He was used to speaking with superiors and officials by now. "To be honest, our only goal now is surviving until a recovery fleet arrives." Said the captain. "Without its RIFT drive and my ship grounded, likely permanently, it is highly likely that we will be stranded on this planet for good if our distress beacon isn't picked up."

He looked downwards and made a motion with his hand, causing a set of diagrams to appear next to him. One was a turnaround model of the Filial Piety with its damaged subsections highlighted in red, and the others were different charts and diagrams, mostly displaying the vital resources the ship required for repairs.

The captain continued. "My ship was critically damaged before our arrival, and requires raw material for repairs in order to restore it to operationally ready condition. Therefore, I request access to mineral deposits in Arcadia, namely heavy metals, and in return, the Filial Piety will willingly ally itself with the Kingdom of Arcadia. In the event that a recovery fleet does arrive, then I will stand as a representative of the United Earth Government."

That took Conway by surprise. He hadn't expected the captain to willingly ally with Arcadia in return for resources. Then again, Decker had decades more experience than him, and as a high-ranking navy officer, he was expected to deal with some politics behind the scenes.

And what Decker said. While Conway himself had mostly accepted the fact that they were very likely going to be stranded on Edreign for an extended period of time, he had doubts that everyone else would share the same sentiment. Many Marines and crew had families or significant others back home, unlike himself. While none of Apex had any lovers back home, most were close to their families. Adler in particular loved talking about his home and siblings, and Reyes joined the Marines to uphold his family's legacy.

He knew that it was only a matter of time until the reality of the situation truly set in.

 

[StarryKnights]

Anice watched as her father took in this information, his face was as impassive as ever as Conway’s commander, Captain Decker, spoke to him. Those chiseled, stone like features, rarely giving any indication of what he was truly thinking. A poker face was a big part of political dealings, because one had to remain neutral while hearing out the opposition.

Anice knew that her father likely was not pleased with the situation, on the one hand, these outsiders would remain stranded in Arcadia and on Edreign for the rest of their days. This would bring on a number of issues on their own, and Anice couldn’t help but worry that they would never be able to acclimate to life on this world.

The other solution involved a rescue at the hands of other outsiders, which would mean Edreign’s location would be revealed to this massive, other worldy government, the United Earth Government. Just from how some of the crew had reacted to her less human companions, Anice surmised this was a government of humans and humans only. They didn’t seem to have any love for species which fell outside that spectrum, no doubt because of the this war they were fighting.
Of course, Captain Decker didn’t mention that, or the vaskrans themselves. Anice wondered, of the ship had crashed during a battle...could that mean their enemies were searching for them?
What if it was the vaskrans that found this fallen vessel, rather than their allies...?
The thought made Anice pale, which earned a concerned glance from her mother.

“Anice?”, she spoke softly, reached over and placed her hand on Anice’s, snapping the princess from her thoughts.

“I’m fine Mother, it’s nothing”, she squeezed her mom’s hand and put on a smile, but the queen wasn’t totally convinced. Of course she wasn’t, a mother could sense when something was troubling her child. But now was not the time to discuss it.

“Captain Decker,”, Ramus spoke again. “So long as you and your men remain non hostile, we will attempt to get you the resources you need. However, it is not simply a matter of entering a contract with Arcaida”.

The king paused for a moment here, as he contemplated the best way to explain the world governing body that was the Council of Simul.

“There are six nations that share this world, and all have a seat at the Council of Simul, a body designed to maintain peace between the nations. If you wish to enter a peaceful alliance with Arcadia in exchange for use of our natural resources, then you will have to speak before the council.

That was far easier said than done, arranging a meeting of the council on such sort notice would take time. No doubt these marienes wouldn’t be keen on waiting.
Anice wondered how much had been reported to the council already, no doubt some sort of message had been sent. There was no way that the crash landing had gone unnoticed by the neghbooring lands.

Ramus sat back in his throne. “For the moment, I am premitted to grant you access to Arcadian resources, though we may not hold all that you need. Anything that lies outside the scope of my lands however, will be off limits until the council can be convened”.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway noted a sudden spike in the princess' heart rate. He glanced over to her, also noticing that she look slightly pale, too. In fact, she looked more afraid than anything else, and was only calmed when the queen— her mother, put a reassuring hand on her. Before that it seemed as though there were a million thoughts going through her head, especially when Decker started negotiating.

Couldn't blame her. He supposed that if he were part of the ruling family of a primitive nation and the leader of an advanced civilisation centuries ahead technologically demanding resources, he'd be pretty terrified, too. Especially if that advanced race just happened to crash land within the land controlled by said nation, and if the ship that crash landed was a four-kilometre warship ferrying thousands of troops.

Once again, he was glad his face was obscured behind a reflective visor. It'd be awkward if she caught him staring.

Captain Decker nodded at the king's terms. As long as he was able to secure the resources the ship and crew required, then that was all he needed, really. Anything else was just a bonus. "Agreeable. I'm familiar with council talks, and I'm sure the other nation would have heard at least... some of what transpired when my ship crashed on this planet, given the limited forms communication you so far possess."

He stood up straight. "Very well, then. If that is all, then I shall be taking my leave. Perhaps I shall make an appearance in person in the coming days. We still have plenty more to discuss, after all. But first, there is one more thing I want to show you." He turned to Conway. "Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir?" Answered Conway immediately.

"Your helmet."

"Sir?" Conway asked, confused by what me meant.

In response, Decker simply motioned for him to remove it. The sergeant nodded in understanding.

He reached up and disengaged the magnetic seals with a pair of clicks. Twin streams of vapour shot out from both sides as Conway's helmet depressurised. Once that was done, he slid the piece of armour off his head, revealing his features to all those in the room sans the crew of the Filial Piety for the first time. By now, the bruise and cut that had previously been there were both completely gone, thanks to accelerated cellular regeneration that practically all humans possessed.

It was all thanks to centuries of genetic modification and self-improvement, not to mention advanced healthcare. Humans were all but completely immune to even the worst diseases, bones were incredibly hard to break, cells regenerated incredibly quickly, and the average age for someone who lived in the more affluent colonies was over a hundred and fifty. There were also many other traits humans possessed which made then far superior to their ancient counterparts.

The sergeant stared forwards, at no one in particular. While his expression was just as impassive as the captain's, it was clear that there was a certain amount of pain and tiredness in his eyes, yet also a sense of compassion and curiosity.

Decker continued. "This is simply to reassure you that my crew are human. Everyone on the Filial Piety and in the United Earth Government is. Mostly, that is." He didn't elaborate on that last part, and instead stood at attention and gave King Ramus a salute, impeccably crisp and well-executed, as expected from a man who had spent decades perfecting the gesture. "It's been a pleasure, your majesty."

His arm returned to his side as he turned around to address Conway and his men instead. "Report back to the ship as soon as possible for debrief."

Conway immediately saluted, not as crisp or perfect as Decker, but it was still there. "Yes, sir!"

With that, the projection of the captain blinked out of existence. Conway outstretched his arm, and the holodisk flew up and returned to its original place on his holotool. Before he slipped his helmet back on, he stole a quick glance towards the princess. "Ma'am, we require passage back to the Filial Piety."

He then turned to the king and saluted. "It's an honour, sir."

 

[StarryKnights]

Anice felt a shiver run down her spine, she scanned the room, searching for whomever was watching her. The guards were all watching their guests, her personal men were as well.
She couldn’t tell where the outsiders were looking thanks to their strange helmets. She thought for a moment that maybe Fawkes had snuck into the room under an invisability spell, the boy was a bit too curious for his own good.

But she’d left Luthien there to watch him, so she doubted that. Her gaze settled on Conway for a moment before allowing her attention to shift back to Decker and Ramus’s conversation. She was pleased to see things were going fairly well, her father was behaving well and it seemed Decker was willing to play by their rules. For the moment at least, Anice wondered how long that sense of cooperation would last.

A meeting with the council would take some time to organize, in the meantime the outsiders would have to make due with whatever natural materials thy could harvest from Arcadia itself.

Ramus nodded at Decker’s words. “The other nations are indeed aware, we’ve been keeping them up to date as new information came to us”.

Anice knew that meant that was mainly to keep people from panicking...but also to stoke any rumors that Arcadia was working with these outsiders behind the backs of the council. Tranparency between nations was part of what maintained peace in Edreign.

The king tensed as Conway began removing his helmet, as did the guards. Anice on the other hand leaned forward a bit, curious to see what these people loked like. Honestly, she was somewhat disappointed. She supposed she’d just assumed that these people were in fact human, due to the humaniod shape of their armor, and the fact they shared the same tongue.

Conway was a fairly handsome man, with dark hair, a square jaw and dark eyes. Anice studied him for a moment before looking to her father.

Ramus seemed to be a bit releived at having concrete proof of the humanity of these outsiders.
“Very good captain”, he looked to Anice, who stood. “My daughter will take you men back to our outpost camp, from there they can return to your ship. Should you have need of us, or require access to the city, please direct you men to the camp. They will send word and we will recieve you as soon as possible”.

And Anice would be the one doing the reciving no doubt, her or Morlock. She gave a short bow to her father before descending the steps, Tuvera followed silently behind her.

Terran offered his sister a short wave, which was returned with a smile as she headed down the stairs and approached Conway and his men.

“Come along then Sergant”, she spoke plainly and headed for the exit.

This meeting had gone smoothly, Anice hoped in the coming days, things would follow suit.

 

[Corrosion]

Conway nodded as the princess passed him by. However, he did raise a brow at the female catlike humanoid following behind her. She (Conway assumed it was a she given by its general shape and form) hadn't spoken a word since they entered, and given how she seemed to be at the side of the royal family, he presumed she was another elite guard of some sort, just like Nakier. As the two headed to the exit, Conway turned to his squad and spoke up.

"Squad, move out!" The members of Apex turned around in unison. The sergeant moved to the front, and then they all marched to the exit. As the last of the Marines exited, Conway breathed a short sigh of relief. At least that meeting didn't end in violence. In fact, he was truly expecting Torres to completely ruin the whole thing by his generally radical xenophobic attitude. Not only that, but coupled with that fact that he was new and hadn't been in a single battle before meant that he was understandably nervous and jumpy.

Walking in silence for a while, Conway turned to the princess and spoke up. "If I may say, princess, that went a lot better than expected."

------------------------------------------
​

"That went a lot better than expected." Miller muttered, also sounding quite relieved. On the other hand, Decker looked just as impassive as ever, standing in front of the holotable and still at parade rest. He took a moment to gaze out the massive viewscreens that separated the interior of the bridge from the elements in atmosphere and vacuum in space.

The sun had disappeared past the horizon by the time the impromptu meeting had wrapped up. That also gave a chance for Miller to calculate the relative time zone and synchronise the ship's clocks to the local time. From his position on the bridge of the ship, located at the highest point, the moonlight cast a blueish glow on its top surface.

The ship's exterior lights had been switched on, lighting up the ravaged drab grey armour plating and other systems. Light shone through thousands of viewing windows, looking like stars themselves from this distance, and even from here, the sheer vertical height of the ship stretched far into the sky, the top where the central bridge was located just scraping the low-lying stratus cloud layer.

A certain row of lights was quite a bit more prominent than the rest. Around two dozen massive and superbright spotlights shone on the front starboard side of the ship, illuminating a set of gigantic letters painted in bright white. Proudly emblazoned on the side were the words FILIAL PIETY. Next to the name was a similarly massive Compass and Continents insignia of the UEG, and below, much smaller text reading CAG-410.

There was much movement on the ship itself. Insect-like repair drones moved to and fro to repair the critical damage, bright flashes from welding sparks visible for miles around. Dropships and other transports constantly ferried troops and personnel to and from the ship's many hangar bays to solid ground below, for them to set up the perimeter defenses and encampments.

Decker had no doubt that the natives that the local ruler had sent out at the nearby campsite were watching them with much fascination. After all, the Filial Piety was the largest and tallest thing in the area.

The captain leaned over and began to work on the holotable.

"What are you planning, sir?" Miller asked, curious.

"Troop movements," Decker answered. "I want to have Marines stationed in Arcadia's capital city. Windcrest, was it?" The projection of the city lit up in several areas, though the largest was a certain area that seemed to be where the poor resided and where crime was. That was according to the scans, at least. "The slums would be the best choice to set up the main FOB in the city without disturbing most of the other populace. Plus, the Marines would be able to help reduce crime in the area if need be."

"And if they're attacked by local criminals?" Miller asked.

"Terminate with extreme prejudice."

"I see."

With that, the captain went back to his planning. The first batch of Marines would be deployed to the city the next day, along with mining equipment and personnel to resource deposits. "Perhaps the crew'll even be cleared for shore leave tomorrow. God knows they need it."

"Aye, sir."