Voyage Through the Multiverse (Ended) [IC]

[Naval Monte]

Shadows of the Empire

Jedi Temple

The soldiers were surprised to see Paradox suddenly appear from nowhere. "Where on Earth did he came from?" One of them shouted. "Forget the Brit. Our target was released!" The other said. The soldiers aim their guns at Ben to intimate him from fleeing. Archer looked at Paradox. "How do you know my name. Where on Earth did you come from and how did you get through security?" The commander asked, well more demanded as he was too fond of the idea that this strange man somehow getting through the guards and him appearing so suddenly to free Ben.

The soldiers weren't sure what Ben can do in his new form but as a giant turtle they can make a few guesses. He has a powerful shell that might make them crank out powerful explosives or electromagnetic weapons if armor piercing rounds can't work, if that was the case they would need to take out of the temple. However as a turtle he is also slow so they can still outrun him.

However the holes on his chest was a major source of their attention. They aren't to sure what the holes are meant for a d what vital use they play to compromise his shell? Could he use them to send out acid? Can he launch out sonic waves? Control the wind? Breath out fire from the holes? Or maybe release smaller parasites from his body and send them after the soldiers?

From the air drones began to float over where Ben and Paradox were as they aim their weapons at them. "You two are surrounded. Put your hands up and don't resist and we won't shot!" One of the soldiers shouted. Hex looked at the scene and she pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath, trying to keep her rage surpassed. The Reaver turn her attention to Paradox. "You somehow knew who I was yet I don't know anything about you." She was looking at his outfit.

"You either are a thaumatologist who was spying me with your spells, an esper who has precognition, a reality bender who can mess with time and met me in the future or a me in an alternative timeline or a dimension hooper? Or your not human at all and we are just seeing an avatar you picked so we don't go mad from looking at you?" The reaver told him, throwing out some off the theories in her head about the man.

[Slenderman The CreepyPasta King]

Shadows of the Empire

Jedi Temple

The soldiers were surprised to see Paradox suddenly appear from nowhere. "Where on Earth did he came from?" One of them shouted. "Forget the Brit. Our target was released!" The other said. The soldiers aim their guns at Ben to intimate him from fleeing. Archer looked at Paradox. "How do you know my name. Where on Earth did you come from and how did you get through security?" The commander asked, well more demanded as he was too fond of the idea that this strange man somehow getting through the guards and him appearing so suddenly to free Ben.

The soldiers weren't sure what Ben can do in his new form but as a giant turtle they can make a few guesses. He has a powerful shell that might make them crank out powerful explosives or electromagnetic weapons if armor piercing rounds can't work, if that was the case they would need to take out of the temple. However as a turtle he is also slow so they can still outrun him.

However the holes on his chest was a major source of their attention. They aren't to sure what the holes are meant for a d what vital use they play to compromise his shell? Could he use them to send out acid? Can he launch out sonic waves? Control the wind? Breath out fire from the holes? Or maybe release smaller parasites from his body and send them after the soldiers?

From the air drones began to float over where Ben and Paradox were as they aim their weapons at them. "You two are surrounded. Put your hands up and don't resist and we won't shot!" One of the soldiers shouted. Hex looked at the scene and she pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath, trying to keep her rage surpassed. The Reaver turn her attention to Paradox. "You somehow knew who I was yet I don't know anything about you." She was looking at his outfit.

"You either are a thaumatologist who was spying me with your spells, an esper who has precognition, a reality bender who can mess with time and met me in the future or a me in an alternative timeline or a dimension hooper? Or your not human at all and we are just seeing an avatar you picked so we don't go mad from looking at you?" The reaver told him, throwing out some off the theories in her head about the man.

Taking out something gold that looked like an old time pocket watch and opening it once Hex guessed what he was, “huh, surprise surprise, you guessed it two seconds before I thought you would. Congratulations Miss Carle, it isn’t every day I’m surprised. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Professor Paradox, and I am, indeed a time traveler.” Paradox stated before he pocketed the watch like device again before turning his attention to Archer. “As for how I got here, when time no longer affects you, space isn’t that restrictive.”

Ben then asked, “again I know you won’t answer this, but why are you here?”

“Patience young Benjamin, like I just said, you’ll know in time.” Paradox replied.

[Skylus]

Shadows of the Empire

Jedi Temple

When Doug and Link arrived within the Jedi Temple they would see the gray and black figures of the soldiers from MST Marauder's Dagger watching them. Commander Archer stepped forward and looked at them. "So your the elves that are working with us?" He asked. "Look I don't know how useful you two will be but that doesn't matter. As far as we are concerned no one else is allowed any further into the temple. Besides most of the terrorists in here are being taken care off. Tell the others that we have e everything cleared in here."

The commander told the two as the other soldiers all watch them, some getting close go the side to stop them should they try to get through the commander to d ger the temple. Deep within the temple the medics were taking away the living hostages away from the council room while Ben was fully healed. "He can walk?" The medic nodded. "Good. Take him to our gunships and take him away." The soldiers would flip Ben over to his stomach and cuff jus hands behind his back.

They would force him to his feet and force him out of the council room. Hex turn to Avarice and Valerian. "I'm surprised you two are working together? Is this alliance going to last throughout the war or only for this moment?" She asked. Down at the entrance both Hylians would see the hostage and injured troops being carried away and would see Ben being last on the line, surrounded hy soldiers and cuffed.

Doug eyed the commotion with curiosity before he spoke to the commander.
"Is there a way to find out what happened here? Some Cornerian and AEGIS soldiers sent Link and I over to see if we could help at all."
The Hero of Winds gave a small wave as greeting and found that he was secretly impressed with the armor everyone was wearing.

[Nagakawa]

Dimension 50
Kanegi 金木


As the portal from which it came sealed off automatically with a burst of scattering blue light, the Maris Stella II was guided to land in an open area near a smaller castle nestled in a valley some distance down from the Asano Clan's Kanegi Castle. Amidst the foreboding grey skies and the mournful cries of cormorants in the distance, the doors of the sleek ship opened, and out came Yotsuha Ikegami, resplendent in her finest yukata and accompanied by her fearsome retainer Yōzō, dressed in samurai armour.

All around, the landing area gave off a foreboding, unwelcoming atmosphere. The grass beneath their feet was dry and sickly, the soil soft and muddy, and the air humid and frigid in general. If one looked closely at the beautiful bamboo thickets surrounding the clearing, too, one could see that there were rotting bodies at the bottom, impaled by the bamboo; they were the bodies of captured IGSE Reapers, unmasked and then executed by Japanese bamboo torture.

That was, of course, the point. Dimension 50 was a small, quiet dimension nestled between other dimensions that were hotbeds of conflict and IGSE activity. Being the former abode of Prince Ryūsuke Asano, the chief instigator of the Sino-Japanese War that took place two decades ago, Kanegi Prefecture bore a deep, dark aura that could no longer be dispelled.

With Yotsuha's entourage of maids and heavily tattooed bodyguards standing behind her, a young, wild-looking man carrying a massive arquebus sauntered up to her and sized her up.

"You better be thankful for the trouble I'm puttin' meself through to house you here", he grunted, lighting a cigarette and sucking it dry in a single breath, before tossing the butt onto the ground.

"Thank you, Lord Nobuhisa", Yotsuha replied gracefully.

Lord
Nobuhisa Asano
浅野　修久
Daimyō of Kanegi
Nephew of Prince Ryūsuke Asano

"No, no, like, really", Lord Nobuhisa continued, sauntering up closer to Yotsuha and looking her directly in the eye at an uncomfortably close range. "Do you Grand Alliance buggers know just how much of a pain in the arse it's been to shelter y'all? It ain't easy, lemme tell you. My old man spent nine years fightin' off the other lords after the Empire fell just to keep us neutral. Lemme tell you, it ain't been easy keepin' out of all the fucken wars the IGSE and the Chimaera been fightin'. Right now, you got the fucken Special Warfare Group campin' just down the row from 'ere, and in the basement, you got the last nine or ten buggers from the Left Arm, those commie bastards. Now I got a fucken yakuza settin' up shop in my land. Fucken Harakiri Haikarakainen gon' come after my arse any moment now."

Yotsuha did not reply. She turned her head back to look at the stony-faced Yōzō (who also did not reply), tucking her left hand gracefully into her sash, such that her sleeve fell back slightly and revealed part of the phoenix tattoo that stretched down from her left forearm to her wrist, stopping just short of her hand.

"I assure you, Lord Nobuhisa, that you will be rewarded for your troubles-"

"That's what they all said", Nobuhisa gurgled. "I've yet to receive any money."

He leaned even closer to Yotsuha and looked down at her, being at least one head taller than her. As he did so, Yotsuha glared back at him, and briefly, her right eye flickered, the sclera turning pitch black and the iris taking on a red colour reminiscent of freshly-drawn arterial blood.

"The Niijimagumi Yakuza will be at your service for as long as we remain under your protection", she added calmly, unfazed by Nobuhisa's intimidation, as her eye changed back to its normal colour and Nobuhisa withdrew slightly.

Sighing, Nobuhisa lit another cigarette and, like with the previous one, finished it in a single puff.

"Akira Niijima was like a brother to me", he murmured, relaxing his once tense, aggressive stance. "Just don't let me down, Yotsuha Ikegami."

...

---

30km away from Kanegi Castle

Rain had begun to hurtle down from the dark skies onto the earth, eroding the soil into reddish mud and softening the ground till no proper footholds remained.

Amidst the downpour, the sound of machine gun fire could be heard, as several figures, drenched in rainwater and smeared from head to toe in the red mud, crawled about in the mud, releasing torrential showers of blank rounds upon their imaginary enemies.

"Faster, you pussies!" the sounds of the cadres screaming were nearly drowned out by the sound of the downpour, but could still be heard even when garbled and mixed in the chaos of torrential rain and endless firing. "Heads down! Don't let 'em see you!

"Fuck you, why the hell are you baby-crawling?! You've been hit! You, Lance-corporal Rygan! You're a fucking casualty!"

As one of the trainees mock-collapsed into the viscous mud, having been "shot", another trainee carrying a medic bag crawled painstakingly towards him, every muscle in his body screaming in excruciating pain and overwhelming fatigue, the accumulation of four days of nonstop training with less than three hours of sleep.

"Corporal Yukio, this dumbass motherfish retard got himself shot", the cadre screamed in the face of the one with the medic bag. "He's bleeding out. You have one minute to set a fucking IV on him. Go!"

Wiping his mud-caked hair out of his eyes, which he could barely keep open now, Cpl. Yukio breathed heavily, pulling off his kevlar gloves and rolling up his sleeves, before quickly pulling on a pair of latex gloves and, still forcing himself to keep low, shredded LCpl. Rygan's sleeve open. He reached into the medic bag and yanked out his IV equipment, even as the sound of blanks being discharged and thunder echoing in the skies continued to boom across the muddy, soggy field.

"Fucking hurry up!" the sound of the cadres' incessant screaming added to the chaos of the scenario. "Fucking hurry up! All of you are pussies!"

"Don't mind me", Yukio heaved, barely able to speak.

Rygan moaned in fatigue.

In record time, Yukio inserted the IV tubing into a bag of saline, and then flicked the bubbles till they were all concentrated at the end of the tube. Tying a tourniquet on Rygan's bicep, Yukio proceeded to swab his comrade's arm with an alcohol swab, and then, withdrawing a 16G needle from his bag, stretched out his skin and inserted the needle.

"Ah! Fuck! It hurts! Yukio, it hurts!"

Primary backflow. I've hit the vein.

"The fuck you doing!?" another massive cadre with demonic tattoos on his forearm bent down and screamed in Yukio's face, in an attempt to disorient him. "Your patient's screaming in pain! What kind of half fuck medic are you??"

Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him. Insert the needle just a little more, and then dislodge it... yes! Secondary backflow.

In one swift motion, Yukio inserted the plastic straw fully into Rygan's vein, and then removed the needle completely, tossing it aside. There was no time to put it into the sharps box, where it should have gone. Fumbling for the tube, Yukio hurriedly flushed the line, by then too tired to notice that mud and rainwater had splashed onto the tube, and then screwed it into the cannula that was jutting out of Rygan's forearm.

"Corporal Yukio", the first cadre roared, pushing Yukio aside with the iron-plated sole of his boot. "You took one minute and nine seconds to set the line! Fucking useless piece of shit, you!"

To Yukio and especially Rygan's horror, the cadre snatched the bag out of Yukio's hands and, with a ferocious grunt, hurled it away, causing the cannula to rip out of Rygan's vein, eliciting a yelp of shock and pain from the "casualty". Dark red spurted from the hole in his arm, as a haematoma began to form.

"HE'S FUCKING DEAD!" the cadre screamed in Yukio's face. "HE'S DEAD! PIECE OF SHIT MEDIC, YOU!"

Fuck.

...

"I'm afraid these 38 boys are the final batch we will ever train."

On the top of a little knoll, in a large, air-conditioned observation tent a short distance away from the main camp nearby overlooking the chaotic training taking place in the mud below, two white-haired men in uniform quietly stood in the shade, watching the training going on down below.

"Now that the Niril Republic is gone", one of the white-haired senior officers said, "the Special Warfare Group is little more than a band of ronin warriors. What with the Grand Alliance defunct and all, we have no resources. We're just feebly banding together with what remains of the Alliance and hoping that Koizumi miraculously comes back to us."

"Colonel Nirugh", said the other, "I've disagreed with you on a lot of things, but I'm afraid you're right. We're fast running out of resources. It's not likely we'll ever be able to continue as we once did."

Colonel Nirugh sighed.

...

"All of you look at me right now!"

"YES CADRE!"

The chief cadre, a massive moustachioed man with a thousand yard stare that gazed out from behind a pair of round bifocals, marched up and down the line of 38 filthy, exhausted, and barely conscious trainees, caked beyond recognition in the red mud of Kanegi Prefecture. The rain continued to beat down hard, failing to mask the stench of body odour, vomit, and urine that rose to the high heavens.

"All of you are a fucking disgrace", the cadre spat, stopping just in front of Cpl Yukio and LCpl Rygan, the two whom he had been overseeing just a while ago. "Just three weeks before you pass the SWG Qualification Course, and you're giving me this fucked up standard! This is unacceptable!"

A few of the boys, unable to take it any longer, broke into tears.

"We have useless pieces of shit like Corporal Yukio Aoki here", the cadre continued screaming, his voice becoming hoarse as he seized Yukio by the collars and shoved him to the ground in front of the other trainees, "who can't fucking do his job for just one moment. And you there, you ugly shit, stop looking! Or I'll slap you until my hand becomes part of your face!"

Corporal Yukio attempted to stand back up, but did not have the physical energy needed to do so.

Please, let me sleep. Let me sleep. I just want to sleep. I just...

"Gentlemen."

"YES SIR."

The cadre's voice fell silent as he stepped aside and gave way to the forlorn Colonel Nirugh, unkempt and haggard-looking even as he stood before the small group of trainees and looked them in the eye.

As the training exercise came to a close, the pouring rain began to thin into a light, fuzzy drizzle, and the dark clouds parted ever so slightly, revealing faint traces of the evening sun. The 38 who had been tortured for the past four days by the ruthless cadres were suddenly rounded up and gathered in front of Colonel Nirugh, Commanding Officer of the Special Warfare Group of the now defunct Niril Republic.

The SWG, as it was commonly known, had been the most elite unit of the Niril Republic while it still existed, fighting for the Grand Alliance led by Junichirō Koizumi, but upon the disbandment of the Niril Republic at the conclusion of the war, it became a leaderless group, jumping from planet to planet before finally establishing itself on Kanegi, under the auspices of the erratic Lord Nobuhisa Asano. By then, the special forces unit was a mere shadow of its former self, devastated by the crushing defeat suffered by the Grand Alliance at the hands of the IGSE and bereft of funding and resources. It had taken in one final batch of 38 trainees, but as hopes of the reestablishment of the Republic dwindled, doubts began to rise, among the trainees and the top brass alike, whether there was any meaning in carrying on at all.

Yukio, upon seeing the Colonel, suddenly found within himself one last spark of energy that enabled him to climb back onto his feet and step back in line, standing beside Rygan. If the Commanding Officer himself had come down, that must mean that the motivational speech to mark the end of yet another torturous training exercise was to begin soon...

"Gentlemen."

"YES SIR!"

The 38 trainees stood still, awaiting Colonel Nirugh's address.

"Go back to your barracks. Get cleaned up. Pack all your belongings. Have a good night's rest. Tomorrow, form up at the parade square at 1200 hours, with all your belongings, in Number 2 uniform."

And then the colonel turned his back to the perplexed cadres and trainees, making for the officers' tent, but stopped dead in his tracks and faced what remained of the Special Warfare Group of the Niril Republic.

"The Special Warfare Group is hereby disbanded", he added weakly, eliciting gasps from all the men gathered below. " We cannot fight on anymore. Go home, gentlemen."

...

Fatigued as he was, Yukio did not even bother to shower as he and his detachment returned to their bunk for the first time in four days and collapsed on the floor, muddy and disgusting, most of them falling asleep instantly. As he pulled off his helmet and vest and lay splayed on the floor, leaving mud on the tiles, Yukio looked up at the ceiling blankly, sleep overcoming his heavy eyelids despite the horrendous, fermented smell of all twelve people in his room.

Even in his sleep, however, the shock of the commanding officer's brief, careless instructions and the shock announcement to them continued to haunt him.

Why are we disbanding? What's going on??

Aren't we helping to reorganise the Alliance?

Whatever became of that??

And the next thing Yukio knew, Rygan was shaking him awake at 1050h the next morning, both of them still dressed in the filthy, muddy field uniforms they had worn for the past four days.

"Yuki, it's almost 11", he urged his buddy. "We gotta get changed and pack our stuff."

"Whatever the heck for?" Yukio mumbled, still half asleep.

"Beats me", Rygan replied. "But I guess this is the end for us all."

"The end..."

The cadres didn't even bother checking the cleanliness of the bunks as the 38 formed up in the concrete square outside the trainee barracks, all dragging their suitcases with them and decked out in their Number 2; a smart service uniform with a khaki jacket and trousers and a necktie. Amidst the sea of different beret colours, Corporal Yukio adjusted his maroon paratrooper beret, and Lance-corporal Rygan, his black armour beret, both of which bore the winged and wreathed sword of the suddenly disbanded SWG. Though they were now all clean and sharply-dressed, the fatigue of the past four days still lingered on, as many of the trainees fought to stifle yawns, their eyes baggy and shellshocked.

"Gents, arrangements will be made for you to be transported to the landing area of Kanegi Castle", came the weary voice of Colonel Nirugh, as two five-tonner trucks rolled up into the concrete square, their wheels red from the mud of the still moist plains. "Once you're there, we've arranged with Lord Nobuhisa Asano to provide two ferry vessels to bring you out. You can choose between Gradur City in Dimension 44 and Derixas in Dimension 51.

"From there, go home to your families. You are all relieved of duty."

And then, as the weary trainees and the equally weary cadres boarded the tonners and made off, the lonesome figure of Colonel Nirugh stood alone in the parade square, watching as the trucks disappeared into the horizon, towards Kanegi Castle. Then he quietly and forlornly returned to his office, sat down heavily in his favourite armchair, and turned his pistol on himself.

...

"Yukio. Where do you want to go?"

By then, everyone else, shellshocked and tired as they may have been, had already chosen one of the two ships to board. In the evening sky, the figures of the Asano Clan's soldiers stood about, watching as the now defunct unit's last members boarded the vessels that would take them to some faraway land, thereby dissolving yet another of the Grand Alliance's final vestiges into nothingness.

18-year-old Corporal Yukio Aoki, on the other hand, was having trouble deciding what to do.

"Rygan... do you feel like... you just can't leave now?"

Lance-corporal Rygan, who was adjusting the fold of his black beret, turned to face Yukio.

"Funny you should say that", he replied. "As weird as it seems... I just can't bring myself to go home."

Yukio glanced at his buddy, looked down at his callused palms, and then turned to face the bored-looking Asano Clan soldier standing between the two ships.

"You can send them off now", he said to the man. "The two of us will be staying here."

...

---

Headquarters of the IGSE Intelligence Department

"Oh, Ezekiel, how sad that you had to go so early..."

Isaiah Haikarakainen was busy fawning over the lifeless shell of his brother lying hooked up to life support in his hospital bed, next to the tank with the mangled corpse, when he received a call from the IGSE's central headquarters.

"Isaiah."

"Ah Dad", Isaiah gurgled. "What is it?"

"There will be a meeting in Central HQ in two day's time. Everybody will be there. Stop jacking off to Thero's body and get here ASAP."

The moment the call cut off, Isaiah did up his tie properly, kissed the tank with the mangled body one last time, and then charged out of the room, furiously tapping instructions to his personal shuttle driver on his smartwatch.

"My time has come."

...

[Menschenfleisch]

L-Fel

Cass got up and followed Alemayahu
"I am getting up and following Alemayahu"

[The Japanese Americans]

Shadows of the Empire

Coruscant Park

A hole in reality opened up in a sparse area in Coruscant Park. A few moments later, a young man in a white cloak on the top half of a 1999 Earth motorcycle flew out. The remains of the motorcycle hit the ground and skid to a stop right before a tree. The young man looked blankly as if in shock for a moment. Then he looked behind him at the portal, looked at his motorcycle, and then looked back at the portal in time to see it close. He said the only word appropriate in this situation. "Shite." He got up and looked around, noticing the trees and oddly futuristic elegant houses. He then noticed an abundance of advanced tech that was definitely not invented yet, at least in his world. He immediately understood that he was not on his home planet. Instead of reacting calmly as he would've, he mentally panicked.

After a few minutes of his body freezing in place, he calmed down enough to realize that he should probably move before someone came to see what the ruckus was. He swiftly disappeared into the trees and shrubbery. He melted into a crowd on the busiest street he could find, disappearing almost instantaneously. He got a few stares, but none lasted long. He followed the crowd to wherever they were going, hoping his Luck would be merciful now.

[Nagakawa]

Dimension ???
IGSE Supreme Headquarters

The briefing in the IGSE’s Headquarters lasted less than fifteen minutes, and barely had its members converged when the doors to the secret room were once again opened, from which came the IGSE’s top leadership, gathered for the first time since the conclusion of the war with the Grand Alliance eight months ago, to discuss the highly sensitive issue of the IGSE’s leadership succession.

“So it is decided”, said Harakiri Haikarakainen, as he and the elderly Iuzun walked down the corridor and entered an elevator which began ascending the moment the doors were closed. “Isaiah shall be my successor, and Dr Jeon Il-hyuk will be appointed the 29th Director of Intelligence.”

Iuzun remained in solemn silence, resting his weight heavily on his walking stick and staring out of the glass windows of the elevator into the distance.

“Don’t look so glum, Iuzun”, said Haikarakainen with a chuckle, jovially elbowing the old elf in the shoulder. “Isaiah may be quite the loose cannon, but but like you said the other day, I believe that you, Brexit, and Nu are more than able to raise him into a fine commander. I trust your judgement.”

“It’s not that”, Iuzun replied tersely, letting out a long, poignant sigh. “We will definitely miss you. How long it has been since we first met. To think I founded this organisation by your father’s side 70 years ago... and now I shall be mentoring your son in leading it.”

Haikarakainen smirked enigmatically, as the doors of the elevator opened, revealing an immaculately-polished, pure white ward, in which stood a whole pantheon of doctors, nurses, anaesthesiologists, and healthcare specialists, awaiting the entry of Haikarakainen. It was the personal ward of the Chief Executive, and they were, at all times, prepared to attend to the needs of their boss. Extending warm, cheerful greetings to each and every one of the staff in the room, who all smiled and returned the gestures, Haikarakainen proceeded to take off the clothes on the upper half of his body and laid out his left arm, scarred heavily with dialysis fistulae and the marks of previous IV therapy sessions, its fingers arthritic and withered, on the armrest that had been provided, within easy access of the equipment for the doctors to use on him.

“How sad a thing it is to grow old”, he mused longingly, looking down at his mangled arm as the lead doctor attached a 12-lead ECG to his body and a sphygmomanometer to his arm, before taking his vitals and then priming an IV drip. “If only I could lead this great organisation forever. Sadly, my mind cannot function outside my body. I am not a prodigy like Nu.

“Yet I can pass on at ease. I know that the peace I have brought through years of painful conflict will last in your capable hands, Iuzun, as well as Isaiah’s.”

Iuzun quietly watched, wiping his moist eyes and puckering his lips as the doctor, with almost robotic motions, set an IV line on Haikarakainen’s arm, before drawing a syringe full of medicine from an ampoule marked with an ominous red label. The Chief Executive did not look at either Iuzun or the doctor, but simply lay back in the chair, closing his eyes blissfully and tilting his head upwards ever so slightly, taking a deep breath and calming himself down with a wry ghost of a smile that tugged at the corners of his lips.

Peace through Dominion.

Dominion through Power.

Power through Science.

“Goodbye, old friend”, Iuzun murmured.

Harakiri Haikarakainen, 61, wriggled the fingers of his left arm, feeling the cooling sensation of the solution coursing through his veins, as the doctor unscrewed the cap on the cannula, switched the direction of the valve, and emptied the syringe into his arm. For a brief moment, he opened his eyes and smiled at his old companion Iuzun, and then laid his head back and, again, shut his eyes quietly.

“Goodbye Iuzun.”

And then the room descended into silence.

Certificate of Death

Name: Harakiri Haikarakainen
Date of birth: 14 May E195
Date of death: 1 June E246
Age at death: 61 years 348 days

Cause of death: Artificially-induced cardiac arrest (Euthanasia)

Additional notes: procedure requested by patient. to keep any information related to this procedure STRICTLY CLASSIFIED - by order, Director of Intelligence

Certified by: Dr Kelvis Tergat
Countersigned by: IUZUN NEBRA
DIRECTOR, RESEARCH ARM
INTERGALACTIC SECURITY ENTERPRISE

---

Scourge of My People
An arc by Nagakawa

---

Dimension 50
Kanegi 金木
Kanegi Castle

“You must understand, Yotsuha”, Nobuhisa explained, the exasperation in his voice evident as he grappled with the young yakuza matriarch seated across him by the chess table, “As much as I’d like to defend you, I haven’t got endless resources, you know. Fucken rain’s terrible for the crops and all. If you haven’t noticed, the rice here is shit. Queen to b6.”

Yotsuha quietly sighed and studied the chessboard, before taking a thoughtful sip of black coffee laced with vodka and then looking back up at Nobuhisa. The rain outside had stopped, giving way to clean evening sun that tinted the fields and courtyards of Kanegi Prefecture a soothing red colour. From the zen garden just outside Nobuhisa’s tea room, a pie of zebra doves could be heard cooing, their innocent, baby-like staccatos audible even from inside the wooden-walled room.

“The Special Warfare Group‘s been disbanded”, said Nobuhisa, eyeing the chessboard in a melancholic manner. “I’m glad to have one less burden, but if Imma be honest... it’s still sad, seein’ the last bits of the Niril Republic dying like that.”

“Sadly... such is life. They have no resources left to sustain their force”, Yotsuha said. “As good as it would have been to have them on our side, I’m afraid the Niril Republic now belongs to the past.”

And quite frankly, I’m not the least bit sorry to see it gone.

Nobuhisa shrugged, as Yotsuha gulped down the rest of the vodka-laced coffee in her cup and looked down at the chessboard again.

“You a woman of the drink, eh?”

“It keeps me sane”, said Yotsuha. “Rook takes c6, check”,

“Fuck me... Ugh, no fucken choice. Queen takes c6.”

Nobuhisa cursed some more under his breath, realising that checkmate was imminent.

“Say, Nobuhisa.”

“Huh?”

Having finished the rest of her spiked coffee, Yotsuha whipped out her half-empty bottle of Poliakov and filled her glass all the way to the brim with vodka, taking a shot of it to wash down the remnants of coffee in her throat. The smell of something being fried rose through the cracks in the floor and into the room: tempura for dinner, it seemed.

“I happen to have plans for the near future”, said Yotsuha, once again filling up her glass and elegantly running her fingers through her hair as she lifted the glass with her other hand and gulped down the fiery spirit as if it were water. “Plans for counter-manoeuvres and revenge operations against the IGSE. Preparations of the sort are about to be put into motion. Would you be so kind as to leave the doors of your castle open for a man codenamed Trump Card? He is delivering to me a document that will be particularly useful against the IGSE’s technology,, and I’ll need you to safeguard it for me till I return.”

“Why not stay here and collect it yerself?” Nobuhisa inquired. “Why d’ya need me to get it?”

“Because as it is”, said Yotsuha, leaning in and resting her chin in her hand, “I will be personally leading a covert operation against the IGSE soon. We happen to be rather short of manpower, you see, and I’d like to oversee this operation personally, although the bulk of my men will be staying here under Yōzō’s command.”

Nobuhisa scowled, but did not object to anything Yotsuha had said. He quietly eyed the intimidating tattoos on her forearm.

“If anything happens to the Kamui”, Yotsuha assured Nobuhisa, draining her glass one last time, before finally closing the bottle and keeping it aside, “I will see to it that you are compensated in full for the damages. Queen to b4, checkmate.”

...

Wanted

Fighters / signallers / weapon and explosives experts / mages, to assist in putting down an insurrection.

Come to Dimension 50 and contact Yoshinori Takizawa

Payment negotiable. 40% will be paid in advance

...

Kanegi Castle Landing Bay
Kamui

Standing outside the light cruiser Kamui was an old granny, puffing on two cigarettes at once while watching the sunset in the distance. Most people would have been easily fooled into thinking that she was just an old lady enjoying her retirement, but in reality, 72-year-old smuggler and assassin Josephine Potter, or Granny Jo as she was affectionately known by her yakuza clients, was the fearsome captain of the Kamui, a former warship repurposed into a privateer vessel. Being a relatively unknown vessel with no special capabilities other than a dimension jump drive, the Kamui was Yotsuha’s personal choice for the ship that would be used to initiate her secret operation against the IGSE. Being well-equipped enough to make dimension and hyperspace jumps, but not so much that the suspicion of IGSE enforcers would be aroused, the Kamui, despite its ramshackle appearance, outclassed the larger and more heavily-armed Maris Stella II where the mission was involved, though the latter would, nevertheless, be placed on standby for the duration of the operation.

Barely an hour after the captain of the Maris Stella II had came back from his pasting of the cryptic, intentionally-vague ads in the busiest multiverse ports near Dimension 50, two boys in military uniform had appeared, dragging large suitcases with them and briskwalking straight towards the ship. One was a relatively short Asian wearing a maroon beret, and the other was a large-built, silver-haired and blue-eyed lad in a black beret.

“Who might you be?” Granny Jo inquired, taking a deep puff from both her cigarettes as the two boys approached her.

“My name’s Rygan”, the silver-haired boy introduced himself, a little sheepishly. “This is Yukio. We’re wondering if you have any job vacancies... ma’am.”

Granny Jo jettisoned her cigarette butts directly from her lips onto the ground.

“Nirillians, eh?” She reaches into her pocket and felt about for cigarettes, cursing as she found none. Instinctively, Rygan reached into his own pocket and offered the old granny his own cigarettes, which she politely declined. “I can see y’all are army boys, but exactly what sort of skills do y’all have?”

“I’m a special forces medic”, Yukio said, “and he’s a special forces engineer.”

Technically, neither of them were special forces, seeing as they were both still a couple of weeks away from graduating from their now nonexistent military’s special forces training programme, but it was safe to say that it didn’t really matter for this sort of job. It didn’t seem to bother Granny Jo, who nodded approvingly and then found a random cigarette in the pocket of her pyjama blouse, gleefully lifting it to her lips and lighting it, impressively, by snapping her leathery fingers and creating a spark.

“Not bad, not bad”, she said. “I happened to need a medic and a mechanic anyway. You’re both hired. Get your shit in there. I’ll allocate your rooms later.”

“Ooo, sweet. I gotta go to the toilet.”

And so the first two members of the Kamui’s new crew had been hired. Triumphantly, Granny Jo puffed on her last cigarette and continued staring blankly out into the sunlight.

“Pretty good start”, she congratulated herself. “Pretty good start.”

...

[Prusselanden]

L-Fel
Alemayahu took herself and Cass to a Banana Republic store-the heaven for all middle aged white collar worker parents. She started to pick out stuff that would make her look like a promising investor in Medex-pencil skirt, suit, and a formal but elegant top. "You can try some things out, too, Cass, y'know?" She turned back to the reaper. "Nothing too pricy or garish, but you know, something that shows you mean business. After this, we can go get some..." Alemayahu then bent down to talk more quietly. "Forged IDs and papers, you know."

Meanwhile, Jules thought of an idea. "How about we get bubble tea? It's really good and we won't have to wait for long. Come on!" She took Aestus's hand and led him in search of a bubble tea shop. She also gestured to Terasaka to follow along. However, Jules didn't seem to be listening much to Yrjo talking about his home country or civil war at all. It wasn't that she didn't care-the doctor's brain just seemed to always shut off when listening to political matters.

They eventually happened upon a small hole in the wall cafe after a grueling five block walk. Jules was the first to go in. A young girl was at the cash register.

"Hello, welcome to Kung Fu Tea, what can I get you?"

"I'd like a Thai bubble tea please! But cut down a little on the sugar." Jules ordered, waiting for everyone else to order.

Iowa
Ackermann saw Irwin didn't come back in a while, and so went down to check on him. When she got to the convenience store, her jaw dropped as she was greeted by a number of familiar faces she thought she would never see again.

"Henry? G-gonad? Chieko!?"

The bodyguard had to take a step back to calm herself down. She looked at Irwin, then at her old friends, then back at Irwin.

".....What's going on?"

[Trapoletanius]

Hephaestan Orbit

Hephaestus, an industrial world on the galatic eastern fringe of the Empire, was a very quiet planet. There were no massive convoys of ships hauling resources to the world and finished products from it, only a small and steady stream of small haulers; no mighty megacities dotted the landscape, visible from orbit; no great fleets of civilian and military vessels crowded the orbital dockyards (which had only recently come into operation), only a handful of small ship, with a notable exception. In orbit, among the small loaders and civilian transports, there was a lone vessel which dwarfed all others, a blue-grey dagger over a kilometer long; along the side of the vessel, on a plaque lit up with small light emplacements, was a name: INS Connacht.

Captain Stanij Wowcer sat at his desk, scanning over his computer screen intently. He had spent the last hour or two looking over the final system reports, noting down anything he felt may be important. There was a knock at the door then, and the Captain looked up, "Come in.". Instead of the door opening, though, a familiar figure of light manifested in the room, taking the form of a young woman in a similar uniform to that Stanij wore. She put her hand over her heart with the palm facing down in traditional military greeting and said, "Glory to the Empire. Word from Admiral Spire, we have new orders."

Stanij stood up from his seat and returned the salute, "Glory to Humanity. What are his orders?" and sat back down.

"We are to report to the planet of Tlaloc for an important meeting in 3 days. He said the subject matter was far too important to discuss over comms."

The Captain thought for a second and said, "Hmm, Tlaloc? That's quite a journey for us. And in only 3 days?" He shook his head, "You're going to have to push your engines to the limit if we want to be there on time. Inform the crew, we're leaving as soon as possible."

The woman nodded, and Stanij noticed that something seemed to be on her mind, "Wait, Connacht, a word please."

"Yes, sir?"

"Something's bothering you. Do you have some misgivings about our planned meeting?"

Connacht shook her head in denial, "No sir, not at all."

Stanij squinted a bit and said, "I can tell when you're lying. Be honest with me."

She sighed, "Alright, it's the Admiral's flagship, the Genghis Khan. It's just that she's, uh...."

"A massive pain in the ass? I know."

Connacht's face went a bit red and she defensively said, "No! I would never think something so disrespectful of such an experienced and powerful warship. It's just that she can be a bit, uh, intimidating and difficult to work with."

Stanij let out a low chuckle, "Come now, do not be so coy. The Genghis Khan's as unbearably condescending as she is skilled in battle. She loves to treat her subordinates like shit, and the only reason she gets away with it is because she's Admiral Spire's personal lapdog. Look, I understand your apprehension with her, I know firsthand how terrible she can be, but don't let that get in the way of your duty."

Connacht nodded. "Yes sir. Anything else?"

"Hmm, no, nothing that I can think of. You're dismissed."

The woman nodded and saluted before her holographic form deactivated.

A Few Hours Later

Stanij stepped onto the bridge of the Connacht from the elevator, taking in the light of all the screens. The bridge officers all sat around their controls or overlooked others, making any final checkups and preparations before departure, but all stopped to salute as the Captain entered from the elevator. He made his way to his seat, positioned in the center of the room on a raised dais to allow the Captain to turn and see all the crew aboard the bridge. The Captain looked around at all aboard the bridge until his eyes fell upon Lieutenant Mirela Shehu, the ship's navigator.

"Lieutenant Shehu, has the course been plotted?"

Shehu nodded "Yes sir. Course plotted, estimated time of arrival is 2 days."

"Then we'll be making good time." He then turned to look towards Lieutenant Commander Conrad Protz, who was idly running a hand through his blond hair as he lazily read statistics on a computer screen. "Lieutenant Commander Protz, weapons status."

Conrad quickly put his hat back on and turned to the Captain "All stocked up and ready to go, sir. We could take on a Reemean Cruiser with the firepower we've got."

"Excellent, hopefully it won't come to that, though." He then swivelled to look forward again, activating the comms device on the seat and saying "Lieutenant Jiménez, status report on the engines."

A familiar thick Martian accent responded to him, "Runnin at peak efficiency, capt'n. It'll be smooth sailin for us."

Stanij nodded to himself, responding. "Excellent. Prepare the engines for the jump to light-speed."

"Yessir. I'll be right on it. Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes, that will be all." He cut the comm link off and looked up to the screens studying what was around them, observing Hephaestus as it peacefully rotated below. The planet was a bit smaller than Earth, with most of the land being concentrated in a single supercontintent which covered much of the Northern Hemisphere. Although the atmosphere was breathable for humans, much of the planet was still quite barren of life, with the few spots of green visible from orbit mainly being regions of human irrigation and cultivation; much of the rest of the surface was rocky and mountainous, with many volcanoes dotted across the surface among them that inspired the world's name. Stanij began to absent-mindedly wonder about the lives of those below, about their hopes and dreams and daily lives, but soon his concentration was broken by a comms message.

"Sir, we're ready to go."

The captain took another second to gaze upon the planet below before looking away, "Good, take us out."

Stanij felt a slight shudder as the warship broke free from the moorings of the orbital dockyard, quickly maneuvering out of the orbit of Hephaestus. The course was then displayed on the front screen and a timer appeared showing a minute. A message was then broadcast across the ship's speakers.

"Jump Drive activation in one minute."

Stanij put on the seat belt of his command chair, and the rest of the bridge crew followed suite, taking their seats and fastening seat belts. The Captain watched patiently as the timer counted down, wondering just what will await them at their destination; whatever the meeting would be about must certainly be something of upmost importance, seeing as Admiral Spire did not wish to say what it was over the standard comm channels. What could it be? An invasion? A secret plot? Endless possibilities flooded through his mind, most of which seemed quite unlikely or downright nonsensical, before he was snapped back into focus and noticed the countdown had ten seconds left.

"Jump Drive activation in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Jump Drive engaged."

There was a split-second pause before the entire ship rumbled to life, Stanij feeling himself pushed back a little due to the sudden jolt of movement. The stars soon began to smear across the screen, much like water droplets on the windshield of a moving car. As the ship accelerated through and past the speed of light, nothing but black could be seen outside.

Lieutenant Jiménez contacted the Captain over comms and said, "Jump successful, sir. All systems normal."

Stanij nodded to himself, "Excellent. Keep me updated periodic-."

Suddenly the ship seemed to begin shuddering harshly, knocking people who undid their seat-belts off onto the floor. The screens which showed the outside of the ship were quickly filled with a bright white light, which transformed into a blinding kaleidoscope of color.

"What's happening!?!" Stanij called, both into the comms and simply aloud to all who could hear him.

"Captain, I believe we hit some sort of spacial anomaly sensors must've missed." Connacht said. The captain nodded, ignoring the loud crash and stream of frustrated curses that emitted from the comm link with Jiménez. Before he could respond, the screen suddenly went back to pure white before returning to black. Silence consumed the bridge as all aboard tried to comprehend what had occurred. The silence was soon broken by a message on the comm link with Jiménez.

"Sir. Engine reactors have been damaged, we need to slow down to sublight speeds so I can more closely assess them."

"Yes, I agree. An emergency stop in the nearest system would be wise. I'd say turning around back to Hephaestus would be wise but that risks running into the anomaly again." He turned to Lieutenant Shehu and said, "Lieutenant, what's the nearest star system to us?'

Mirela looked at the sensors for a bit and said "There is a system a few light-years away; a lot of activity by the looks of it, but it doesn't appear in any of our records." She continued scouring the readings "In fact, none of the systems around us register in the star charts."

Stanij sighed and thought for a second. "I guess we have no other options, redirect us to the nearby system."

Coruscant System

The INS Connacht dropped from light-speed at the edge of the unknown system, taking time to analyze the area.

"Captain, the system appears to contain 11 planets orbiting a B-class Star, with an asteroid belt between the ninth and tenth planets. The fifth and sixth planets show clear signs of civilization, but the sixth one seems to be many orders of magnitude more populated. A large fleet also appears to be in orbit of the sixth planet, judging by the readings." Connacht reported calmly.

"Take us to the sixth planet, then, and be careful. We don't know what to expect."

[Menschenfleisch]

Shadows of the Empire

Paradox’s appearance was neither foreshadowed, or particularly pleasant to the senses. Valerian physically stumbled as soon as he began talking, falling against a metal railing and retching. ”What the fuck… are you?!” wiping spit from his lip, the hunter strode forward, drawing Hex’s sidearm and levelling the muzzle at the professor’s head. ”Atypical chronology. Higher-dimensional.” the reaver nodded, making sure that command picked up what he said. Avarice, on the other hand, skipped ahead of the group and held out her hand, smiling. ”Hi! Nice to meet you. My name is Ava. Who are you? ‘Cuz if you’re a multiversal,immortal omniphage then I would be glad to meet another of my kind. ”

Dead Man’s Party | Avenoir and Mnemosyne

While Mnemosyne cleaned blood from her shirt and dried it off with a piss-poor hair dryer, Marcus cleared the room and propped their ‘guests’ up in chairs. He had nothing to restrain them with and so he elected to take Polly’s gun, standing behind each of the captives, ready to fire. When they awoke, he’d have some questions to ask. Speaking of the interdimensional explorer, at that moment she was in the process of telling a bunch of men just how ‘tired’ she was, and how ‘terrifying’ this whole ordeal was. Oh, what terrible news! Had a member of staff really gone missing? Dreadful. Oh dear oh dear, her business was going to go bust without her! Did the hotel have any idea what was going on? Well that’s just outrageous! She demanded to return to her room, consequences be damned! She’d not let looters take her priceless Japanese relics! They were very important gifts for the owner of an extremely powerful prospector group. No, she didn’t need bandages. No! Stop! Well, okay, fine; she could do with some immediate attention, but for the most part she was fine.

After almost a dozen minutes of on-and-off negotiation, swinging wildly between an overly pompous businessperson persona and that of a worried middle-aged soccer mom, Polly managed to convince the medically unqualified hotel staff to let her go, with strips of gauze and cotton balls over her cuts, most of which were greatly agitated by the adhesive they used. They seemed to only care about the most obvious injuries. As soon as she and Katya had a little time to themselves in the lobby, surrounded by dozens of milling, half-panicked half-asleep guests, she began tearing off the shoddily applied care, and hissing through her teeth. ”Kat, I know we agreed to head back, but if we leave and something bad happens, we’ll be in deep shit. You know these people and this place better than me; what’s our play?”

L-Fel | Cassia

Cass was delighted to be out with Alemayahu and weebdom incarnate, purchasing cheap hipster-clothes and pieces of fabric that could hardly even be called clothing. The fuck was a scarf, anyway? Just a long piece of wool? He took one anyway, just to complete the look. He ended up dressing like a… surprisingly respectable dude. Hang on, what? Did the psychopomp actually care about fitting in? He wore long tan trousers and a collared white shirt with a cream sports jacket and a fedora. Upon further consideration, he took off the fedora and saturated it with hydrochloric acid, before dumping it in the toilet. Over the course of the trip it occurred to him around seventy times that he could have just replicated the clothes without actually buying them. All seventy times, he neglected to give a shit. ”So!” he exclaimed, spinning around in front of the detective. ”How do I look? Dashing, right?”

Scourge of my People | Cherry and Nomad

Thin fingers fold leather over canvas, caressing the ancient hide. It was an unfamiliar texture. So too were the sights all around; the hills, trees, mountains and sky. There was a dome of pale green above, with streaks of purple and white all throughout her view. This world was wreathed in nebula, and built from ochre loam. A river of liquid methane curled between two banks, each side flanked by spires of cyan, phosphorescent fungi. Little rivers of limewater pittered and pattered on the occasional stalagmite, a hazy star visible through a hole in this titanic cavern. There was a dim, heart-seeking warmth here, pervading all corners and plains. Three long tusks of ivory jutted from the shores of a translucent ocean, propping up the ceiling. Far off and on the horizon, yellow clouds bloomed and lingered, filled with sulphur and musk. Five supple digits wrapped around an insect’s stinger and began to scrawl upon the page with wild, colorful pigments.

”Day 4,018. It’s my birthday today!”

A drab reptilian creature, with vestigial wings all along its back arrayed like scales, plodded across a crag of dead coral shoals. It dipped its nose into each nook and cranny, seventeen prehensile tongues scouring its insides and extracting plump lumps of moss. It scooped them up in its jaws and scampered to the ground, half-controlling its fall. It pressed the damp, cottonlike stuff into a hollow in a stone, formed from gypsum and chalk. One nest made, amongst a colony of hundreds. In the distance, growls and howled echoed about, contained in a chamber of lime. Another drop fell from above, landing on the corner of a page. The writer slid her nail over, picking up the little bulb and flicking it into the lake. Ripples spread throughout, and a vast serpent stirred, just for a moment.

”Candidate seventy two has turned out to be pretty good, all things considered. High mineral content, docile wildlife, great agricultural potential; the only problem is the giant eye that keeps watching me.”

Cherry swivelled to look into the distance where behind a rock, a single white orb peeked out between two stones.

”Honestly, I’m fine with it. I don’t see why it should be a problem, but, guidelines are guidelines. Plus, I still have no idea whether it’s benign or not. A planet like this should’ve developed sentient life a while ago, so, there’s obviously a factor keeping that from happening.”

Outside, another cataclysmic wave of radioactive particulate swept across the planet, blotting out the stars and plunging the cave into utter, irradiated darkness.

”I liked this place. 10/10 sights. Not so much for… well, literally everything else.”

Snapped shut, and latched with brass. The girl, after a moment of consideration, cracked the insect’s head in her hands and sucked up its intestines through its neck, pulling giblets of meat out of its exoskeleton with her tongue, and leaving a chitinous shell. She neded energy to get the process going, after all. Winding up, she thrust both hands out in front of her, each palm resting upon the other. A small red singularity opened up frint of her, sucking her through a pinpoint space with an explosive clap.

---

Nomad came shooting out of a wall, skidding along the floor and bumping his head against the other side of the room. Appearing just outside the Kamui was, perhaps, the worst possible thing that could have happened. The easiest way to integrate into a global population was to just blend in. Blending in required not being arrested for trespassing, or unexplained appearance. Slowly, he got up and raised his burnt head to address Jo, his skin gradually adjusting to cover up the damaged section. He quickly picked up on his environment, taking notice of everything he could. Market stalls, security forces, drunk travelers, ads… oh! That one worked! ”Hi! My name is Alastair. I’m here to be a part of your mission.” hopefully, personalized teleportation existed in this universe. If not, he was kind of boned. At least he kind of fit in, wearing a mixed set of plastic clothes. Grey jacket, black shirt, teal pants.

A girl got spat out of the floor, flipping in the air and landing on one foot, bouncing on her heels and skipping in a circle, shaking the inertia out of her bloodstream. She collapsed almost immediately after hitting the ground, spasming and breaking up. She was followed by a blast of incredibly cold wind, covering Nomad’s synthetic skin in frost, and producing a sensation not dissimilar to smelling a massive turd. He was reaching out toward the woman, thinking she was hurt, when she shot back up and began dusting off her clothes, appearing much leaner and taller than when she’d appeared. ”I’m sorry about the entrance. I was just on a methane planet. It can take a while for me to adapt to hot climates like this one.” she ruffled her hair, shaking brittle chunks of heat-shattered limestone out from between the strands, facing Jo. ”What year is it, how many species have you met, how many dyson spheres do you have, and where’s the nearest uninhabited habitable planet?” ”Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down! Who are you?” she shrugged, despite wearing the faintest smile. ”I’m alive, and my name is Cherry. Is this a spaceship?” ”I mean yes, but, you need t-” ”Great! I’ll join. What’re we doing, by the way?” both of them shut up and turned to their prospective recruiter, each awaiting a response.

[The Japanese Americans]

Shadows of the Empire

Coruscant Park

A hole in reality opened up in a sparse area in Coruscant Park. A few moments later, a young man in a white cloak on the top half of a 1999 Earth motorcycle flew out. The remains of the motorcycle hit the ground and skid to a stop right before a tree. The young man looked blankly as if in shock for a moment. Then he looked behind him at the portal, looked at his motorcycle, and then looked back at the portal in time to see it close. He said the only word appropriate in this situation. "Shite." He got up and looked around, noticing the trees and oddly futuristic elegant houses. He then noticed an abundance of advanced tech that was definitely not invented yet, at least in his world. He immediately understood that he was not on his home planet. Instead of reacting calmly as he would've, he mentally panicked.

After a few minutes of his body freezing in place, he calmed down enough to realize that he should probably move before someone came to see what the ruckus was. He swiftly disappeared into the trees and shrubbery. He melted into a crowd on the busiest street he could find, disappearing almost instantaneously. He got a few stares, but none lasted long. He followed the crowd to wherever they were going, hoping his Luck would be merciful now.

In the Streets of Coruscant near the Jedi Temple

He learned from the surrounding signs and TVs and whatever else there was that he was apparently on a planet called Coruscant. He was near a place called the Jedi Temple. And there was a recent terrorist attack. He pondered whether to head to the Jedi Temple or not as he walked through the streets. He soon realized that he had left the crowds behind, and had arrived at the Jedi Temple. He mentally cursed himself.

[Nagakawa]

L-Fel
Iowa

“Looks like we have ourselves a new job”, said Steffen, putting down his phone and heading back to the sofas where Henry and the rest sat. “I’ve got orders from above to bring you back to Holy fuckshit, is that Ackermann??”

“It is! It is”, Henry exclaimed, as he dropped his drink on the floor and rushed towards Ackermann, his arms wide open. Gönad and Steffen, seeing him do so, let out jubilant man-screams of excitement as they followed Henry to meet the bodyguard. “Ah, Ackermann! Twenty years! Twenty years, and you haven’t aged a bit!”

Chieko and Xiao-song stood aside and watched the reunion.

“Hey Chieko!” Henry called to the girl, who raised an eyebrow and kept her arms folded. “This is Fritze. She fought alongside your parents in the Great Sino-Japanese War!”

“That’s nice”, said Chieko, smiling bluntly at Ackermann and nodding in acknowledgement of her existence. Xiao-song, still greatly frustrated by his nicotine deprivation, had begun to tease the service end of his cigarette with his lips, still fumbling about in his pockets for his nonexistent lighter.

Henry patted Ackermann on the shoulders and chuckled.

“She’s just like her mother, isn’t she?” he said, casting another glance at the rather bemused Chieko. “Chieko, I mean. Very fine young lady, she is. Believe me. Just as handsome as me, well, when I still had hair. Now I’m 89, and it’s all gone. Sad.”

He stopped midway, however, chugging voraciously from another bottle of spiked grapefruit juice passed to him by Steffen and furtively glancing around the vicinity. Already, a few people had begun casting dagger glares in their direction, owing partly to their strange manner and partly to the large amount of ruckus they were stirring up. There didn’t seem to be anybody of a particularly suspicious nature in the area, but as the old dimension jumper soon realised, it was perhaps not the best of ideas to discuss sensitive issues in a place as public as a hospital lobby.

“I’ll tell you more in a while, okay?” He said to Ackermann, handing the now half-empty bottle of grapefruit juice back to Steffen. “This place looks dangerous. Very public and very risky.”

...

L-Fel
San Francisco

“Mm, yes, I’ll have an Earl Grey milk tea with konjac jelly, 70% sugar”, Terasaka ordered, glancing between the menu and the girl’s posterior region. “Do you want anything, Yrjo?“

Yrjo, evidently taking a while to comprehend the menu and its long list of highly intricate and differentiated products, simply stood still, his eyes intently fixed on the menu and his hand on his chin. Wiping the fog off of his glasses, Terasaka leaned forward and said to the girl, “One more of what I ordered, please.”

Having placed an order for his partner, Terasaka leaned down on one leg and thrust his hands into his pockets, quietly sizing up Jules, whom they had just met a few minutes ago. Yrjo, who appeared to be trying his best not to seem intimidating (though his small build made it unlikely that anybody would see him as such), was forcing himself not to put his hand on the hilt of his sword, as he habitually did. Both of them remained awkwardly silent, finding it a little challenging to come up with suitable topics for small talk with their rather shy new companion.

“So what do you do?” Terasaka awkwardly asked Jules. “Like, to earn money. I mean, I don’t mean to ask like that, if you know what I mean, but I just... um...” His face turned a tomato shade of red as he struggled to string together a proper sentence, his conversation skills having deteriorated sharply after many months of no contact with the outside world. Yrjo, casting a glance at him, chuckled quietly in amusement.

...

Scourge of My People
Dimension 50
Kanegi 金木

The appearance of Alastair and Cherry was shocking, to say the least, but even if she thought so, Granny Jo didn’t show it on her face as she saw the two appear before her eyes in a confusing flurry of motion, having gone back in to get a new box of cigarettes to smoke outside. She eyed the two newcomers catatonically, slowly lifting the cigarettes up to her mouth and clasping them between her lips, but too intrigued to light them just yet.

For a moment, she stood there, serenely gnawing on the sticks as she pondered the sight before her.

“I suppose you’re both hired”, she said at last, after a lengthy pause, snapping her fingers to produce a spark and light her cigarettes. “Any... skills, or shit like that, that y’all have?”

From the inside of the ship, the sound of soft chattering could be heard coming from the resident medic and engineer as they, having dumped their luggage in a corner, proceeded to relax on a couch. Their talking soon descended into silence, however, as four days of sleep deprivation finally caught up to them and put them into deep slumber.

...

[Skylus]

Ammy and Ganon
Dead Man's Party

Ammy risked letting out a short bark at the two woman and darted away from them a bit, then back towards them, then back again.
Hopefully, they would follow her.
The Sun Goddess cursed herself for not remembering that Issun had decided to leave her side for once and go upstairs without her and she sighed with annoyance.
If only I could speak!, she thought bitterly as she hid in the shadows, waiting for Polly and Katya to follow her.
If only I could - What is this?

The wolf was shooting upwards, growing taller, a bright light surrounded her -
A seemingly young woman was barely visible - as she was half in the shadows - wearing red japanese robes of a long gone age; she was barefoot and what skin was visible was covered in scars.
Amaterasu held out her right arm, turning it a bit, brown eyes wide with wonder.
"...Long has it been since I walked the mortal plane in this form...", muttered the Goddess before she raised her gaze to the two women.
"Polly. Kayta." Her voice was feminine, but yet, it held power. "Follow me."
The Sun Goddess glanced up towards the stairs and started to walk towards them briskly, somehow already used to her "normal" mortal form.

[Naval Monte]

Shadows of the Empire

Coruscant

"We detected a new ship entering the system." Ackbar heard from one of his officers. "Another one? Why are they all drawn to Coruscant?" the old supreme commander thought as his crew worked on tracking the exact coordinates of the new ship. Looking outside Ackbar no doubt suspected that the other fleet detected the new ship. He can see the bird of light that he now knows is called the Waxing Scribe drawing back the tendrils back into its body along with the sphere being carried by its vestigial wings. The wings were being curled back, each appendage making the craft grow in length as it began to change before Ackbar's eyes.

Even Rallus who saw it change during the battle of Hosnian Prime was still rather surprise to see it change again. The ship now resembled an elongated octahedron with rings of bent triangle facing both the stern and bow of the craft. A rather simplistic shape from before. Both Mon Calamari would hear Carmen's voice coming through. "What the hell? I didn't authorize this change!" That got their attention. If she didn't request that change than who did and why?

The two aliens would see a blunt, angular, brutalist design ship getting closer to them. The ship was obviously a warship just by its appearance alone. The ship's size was similar in length to his ship and reminded him of older captial ships he had commonly dealt with before the Cold War. However looking at the ship he found that the designers of that ship had far more sensible desgin choices for the ship, eliminating obvious weaknesses that Ackbar often saw back with Imperial ships. Ackbar choose to to gamble on this ship being like all the others that have appeared on Coruscant and hope that it too was friendly.

"Get me in contact with that ship. I want to see if these people can be reasoned before we jump to conclusions." He said to the fleet. He was worried that the bird changed shape to engage with the new ship and he hope to prevent a fight right away on Coruscant. When he got contact with the ship he spoke. "Unknown vessel. This is Gial Ackbar, Supreme Commander of the New Republic Navy. You are flying into Coruscant Orbit Space. State who you are and your intention for being here." The Mon Calamari requested, giving it the necessary sternness he felt to give the request that feeling of authority that would hopefully make the crew of the unknown ship comply.

With the terrorist attack already coming to an end on Coruscant the old veteran of the Galactic Civil War and Clone Wars doesn't want to add more bloodshed to this terrible day that he no doubt will go down in infamy in Coruscant's history. He was kinda sad that the infamy this day will have would probably overshadow the incredible discovery the New Republic made and the fact they have become a part of f something much bigger. The old Mon Calamari shifted into his seat as he kept out a tired sigh. There wasn't much anyone can do about that now. All they can do is make the First Order pay dearly for what they have done today on both Coruscant and on Hosnian Prime.

---

Coruscant- Jedi Temple

Hex glare grew more intense when he called her by her real last name. "I'm not even going to ask how you know my real name time traveler. But you will tell me why you are here before we seal you in a atemporal pocket dimension." She threaten. While sealing him would be.... immensely difficult, such pocket dimensions aren't impossible to forge. So long as you are a master on spacetime magic, whether you can mix that with dimensional compression technology is both optional and nessearcy, largely dependent on what type of time traveler you're dealing with.

As Paradox nonchalantly evaded Ben's question Hex determined he would need both powerful magic and advanced paratech to effectively trap. The only problem of course is AEGIS right now lacked mages with such skills and any dimension compression devices. To the surprise of most there are limits to AEGIS foresight and paranoia, besides this world had not give them many signs that any anomalies, especially that atypical chronological higher-dimensional being would be present!

The Archer shrugged at the two. "Sorry guys but they fed you out dated information, we got everything all clear in here." He told the two. As he was ready to get them out he would hear a voice coming through his speaker. "Commander. We found someone approaching the temple. What should we do?" Well that was odd? Archer thought as he looked back at the two elves. "Well looks like you two might get to help me after all. It seems someone who shouldn't be here is coming to the temple. I'm not sure if they are a confused tourist or terrorist who was late but regardless I can use your help with them."

He would lead the two outside where they would see three soldiers standing outside on guard walking to the new arrival. The young man would see soldiers wearing black and gray soldier uniforms approaching him. They were plates of ceramic armor on some parts of their bodies, their helmets having visors and guards that hid their faces, and most surprising of all exoskeleton frames over their bodies.

The soldiers stopped in front of him. "This is a restricted area. Why are you here?" The soldier demanded, their voice distorted by a voice modifying device that made it hard to to tell what their actual voice sounds like, instead being greets by an electronic facsimile of a human voice that sounded clearly artificial as well as indiscernible as to the gender and nationality of the speaker. There wasn't even a hint of a accent due to the device. It was like a machine was speaking to him instead of a human being.

The young man would see Archer walking up to the soldiers with Doug and Link behind. "I wouldn't be too scare there civie. Just ask my boys whatever questions you have and we will let you go. I doubt your a terrorist. You don't look the part and even if you were you drop by too late to do shit. But if you are one do us all of favor and surround before you join like those poor sods over there." He warned as he pointed behind him.

Should one look behind Archer they would see black body bags being carried out of the temple and into the gunships. "So got a name pal? I need to know that and your reason for being here for my report. The last time I was half ass with a field report the Auditors nearly sent me yo an early grave." The device made it impossible to tell if Archer was joking or not.

---

Scourge of my People

Dimension 50
Kanegi 金木

Granny Jo most likely to expect her warrant for assistance to reach far in her multiverse and perhaps it did. However for one piece of paper it would go much further than she would ever imagine. One lowly theft plan to join the group but just as he set on his mind to infiltrate and steal from the group for personal gains a rift would have changed not just his destiny but the world it link to. For this unimportant theft became the unwilling catalyst that would change two multiverses forever.

The theft didn't quite last long in his new world, falling at the worst place at the worst time. He died minute after entering the new world but as he was left to the cops the note that he carried was taken by one of the powers of the world. An object of curiosity for the faction, many wondering in the universe the note originated from and what they should do.

Yet as many of the masters debate on how to respond to the message a few within the Celestial Order choose to follow through its instructions. The promise of knowledge, power, and treasure being far too tempting to ignore.

Of such individuals two would have gain a head start on finding the dimension. In the Kamui they would see a black tear emerge in the air. From the rift two women step through the rift, each one looking different from the other.

While both woman had dark tan skin and long dark hair that is where the similarities end. The woman who step through first was much smaller compared to her tall companion. She had her hair in a ponytail and wore a cape blazer that cover a vest and collared, double breast pocket shirt. The woman wore a skirt and leggings ending with ankle covering boots. She wore an assortment of jewelry but the ankh around her neck was the most eye catching. Her brown eyes, accentuated by eyeliner, was upon the group and her smirk felt like one who was self assured of her confidence and superiority.

By contrast her much taller partner gave the group a bored look as her amber eyes showed no interest. Yet for some they would get the feeling that she was scanning everyone and everything in the room for reasons unknown as she look around in her bored expression. While her partner was of average size and had the figure that models would kill for this woman had the build of a warrior, her height even match one as she was tall. Her hair was straight and unrestricted as it went down. However on her head was a heme headdress. She wore eyeliner to around her eyes. She wore a red, sheer linen dress. The dress revealed the warnings around her chest and the cloth skirt on her hips that end just above her knees. She had jewels as well but hers were limited to lapis and gold. Her feet were covered by slip on sandals.

While the Amazon remained silent the other woman walk forward. "Good morning or afternoon. You can call me Nephthys." She said with a bow. She moved her right hand to the other woman. "This here is my bodyguard and assistant Sekhmet." The now introduced Sekhmet only gave a slight nod to the introduction, choosing to let Nephthys do most of the talking We heard that you are looking for mage and it so happens that I have many years of experience with the mystic arts." She told Granny Jo.

"Of course I wasn't the first to see that notice. A few others have and are attempting to find you as we speak. But as you can see I was able to find you before them. After all, while mere dabblers can give you some spells to be of some use. Their magic is nothing more but cheap parlor tricks when compared to the magic my family are cultivated for generations and the spells and rituals I added on to my family's magic."

[Skylus]

Shadows of the Empire

Coruscant- Jedi Temple

The Archer shrugged at the two. "Sorry guys but they fed you out dated information, we got everything all clear in here." He told the two. As he was ready to get them out he would hear a voice coming through his speaker. "Commander. We found someone approaching the temple. What should we do?" Well that was odd? Archer thought as he looked back at the two elves. "Well looks like you two might get to help me after all. It seems someone who shouldn't be here is coming to the temple. I'm not sure if they are a confused tourist or terrorist who was late but regardless I can use your help with them."

He would lead the two outside where they would see three soldiers standing outside on guard walking to the new arrival. The young man would see soldiers wearing black and gray soldier uniforms approaching him. They were plates of ceramic armor on some parts of their bodies, their helmets having visors and guards that hid their faces, and most surprising of all exoskeleton frames over their bodies.

The soldiers stopped in front of him. "This is a restricted area. Why are you here?" The soldier demanded, their voice distorted by a voice modifying device that made it hard to to tell what their actual voice sounds like, instead being greets by an electronic facsimile of a human voice that sounded clearly artificial as well as indiscernible as to the gender and nationality of the speaker. There wasn't even a hint of a accent due to the device. It was like a machine was speaking to him instead of a human being.

The young man would see Archer walking up to the soldiers with Doug and Link behind. "I wouldn't be too scare there civie. Just ask my boys whatever questions you have and we will let you go. I doubt your a terrorist. You don't look the part and even if you were you drop by too late to do shit. But if you are one do us all of favor and surround before you join like those poor sods over there." He warned as he pointed behind him.

Should one look behind Archer they would see black body bags being carried out of the temple and into the gunships. "So got a name pal? I need to know that and your reason for being here for my report. The last time I was half ass with a field report the Auditors nearly sent me yo an early grave." The device made it impossible to tell if Archer was joking or not.

Doug tried to figure out the identity of the person (if they were even a person) behind the helmet and voice changer but gave up.
"Very impressive. You know, my world's trying to figure out the voice changing devices, we're close but..."
He threw his hands up in a "I'm not a high enough position to know about this" gesture and then continued.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're wondering who we are. My name is Lincoln Douglas Forester, Second Lieutenant of the Farore Division of the Hyrulialus Royal Air Squadron...Kinda a long title....Anyway, you might have heard about the hangar situation. That's taken care of, now, and some Cornerian soldiers told us that you needed help...So here we are. Although you say that you don't need help, so I guess we can leave...Unless you do need our help?"
Doug gestured to the other Hylian.
"This is Link Faremanne. He's from a world that you and I possibly would consider slightly primitive, 1800's technology, you know, but I'm certain that given enough time to adjust, he'd do pretty well."

Link looked around him before speaking.
"I must admit, I'm unused to this method of warfare..."
His voice trailed off a bit and it seemed to drop in volume as his gaze drifted a bit.
"The way you kill each other without hesitation and the unnecessary bloodshed..."
Link blinked hard, then his gaze snapped back to the strange man.
"You...You aren't going to do anything to us...Are you?"

[Rostavykhan]

Dead Man's Party
Lobby

While Polly put on her act, Katya had been quick to distance herself from the younger woman and the wolf, running back to the front desk to ask the innkeeper something. He gave her a stern look as she approached, although she was quick to throw her hands up and insist that she'd not been the one responsible for the loud boom from upstairs. Of course, she was right...in a way...she wasn't the one that was leaking gas, anyways...it was a half-lie, which wasn't so bad. The two conversed for a minute or so, before she leaned in to whisper something to the innkeeper. He nodded, and waved, before Katya stepped back to return to the others.

"He'll see about directing guests to their rooms for the rest of the evening, although I'm not sure if everyone will be as cooperative as we'd like.", She said. "I could always flash my badge and pull rank, but I don't think these Brits will take kindly to a Russian telling them what to do."

A hand grabbed around Polly's arm, as Katya pretended to be helping her along. "I can't really afford to start any international incidents, anyhow. By the way, smashing performance; have you considered acting?", She asked. "I know a troupe in Stavropol that could-"

A flash, as the wolf-lady-thing in front of them lit up.

"Oh my!", Katya exclaimed, taken aback by the sudden display of power from Ammy. Her first reaction was to look about in every direction, to ensure that they'd not been seen by anybody. They were back in the halls, but still not that far out of the lobby, so it was better to be safe than sorry, after all. Her second reaction, however, was to lean in and squint, to get a better look at the woman.

"How did you do that?"


Katya's Room

No sooner had Marcus leveled the gun at their hostages, did a quick blur of movement beckon Miria's arrival from under her table-fort. It wasn't much, but Miria wanted to keep them from moving somehow, and so she began to remove her arm wraps, taking one each and tying them around the prisoners' wrists, binding them to the backs of the chairs. She didn't say anything, however. She simply did her job, and then stepped back, picking her tablet back up and returning to her seat under the table. Either she was just overstimulated and needed to calm down for a bit, or something on that tablet had caught her interest. Either way, her eyes were glued to the screen, while she slowly dug into one of her pockets for something else.

A moment later, the sound of faint footsteps echoed outside, and then the door swung open.

"I have a plan!", Katya said, walking in with gusto. "However, before I get to that, I do need to say something. Come along, you two.", she paused, waving Polly and Ammy in.

Once they were in, Katya closed the door, letting it click shut. Then, she locked it. "Alright then!", She said, clapping her hands together. "Now that we're all assembled, I should really say that what happened at the maintenance room was an absolute embarrassment, and that cracking under pressure and revealing our plans like that was completely amateur. Also, you!", She pointed at the now-Human Ammy. "You could have potentially blown Polly's cover by following her! I can only imagine the thoughts raging in a strangers mind as to why a wolf would be accompanying an injured woman at this time! It casts suspicion on her, and while this time we might have gotten off the hook, next time could be when we run out of luck!"

While she was still smiling, the twitch in her eye had returned. "It's absolutely unacceptable!"

Her voice was way too chipper for what she'd said.

"Anyways...wew.", She sighed. Her tension eased, and she seemed to almost deflate. Without thinking, she turned to the table by her bed, and picked up the pill bottle behind the lamp. "Give me a moment.", She said, stepping to the back of the room and into the restroom to take her medicine.

After a moment of silence and a swig from a small cup of water, Katya returned to the group, clearing her throat. "As I was saying, before I interjected with that statement, I do have a plan, I believe.", She said, placing her hands behind her back. "In case you didn't notice, our canine friend here is...well, she's not a canine!", She said, nodding. "I'd wager that something caused her to be able to use her power, if only long enough to do this."

"Wait, what?", Miria's voice peeped up. She darted from under her desk again, jumping over the bed and past Marcus and Mnemosyne,holding her tablet right up to Ammy and clicking a button. On her screen, Ammy's silhouette lit up, but quickly dimmed. She continued to run her tablet up and down, observing the Goddess closely.

"So, she could morph?", She asked, squinting close. Katya nodded. In the chair, one of the hostages moved. The man, Wex, peered up at Katya. The two aristocrats eyed each other, and while he simply stared with barely-concealed contempt, Katya's smug grin grew from ear to ear. "Ah, Bonjour, mon cher!", She drawled, leaning in. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did.", He said. "But it would have been better if I didn't know I'd see you again."

Katya laughed, holding a hand to her mouth. "Oh, dear! To hell with you, too!"

Miria's ears caught the man's voice, and the almost immediately performed and about-face, thrusting her tablet towards him as well. After a moment, she began to alternate between the two, studying them, their bodies, and whatever magical signals, if any, she could pick up. Meanwhile, Katya sashayed her way over to the chairs, sitting at the edge of her bed and swinging one leg over the other. "Anyways, about my plan!", She said, placing her hands in her lap. "Unfortunately, I would wager that as a collective, our competence in the field of espionage is...wanting. However, what we lack in stealth, we seem to make up for in raw destructive capabilities!"

She grinned again, squinting her eyes and leaning towards Wex. "I believe you'd be familiar with that.", She said, stifling a laugh. Her attention shifted back to the rest of the gang afterwards. "Of course, I do believe I've found a way to adjust course and compensate for the rough winds that are your...er...unique talents.", She said. "You see, I-"

Someone knocked on the door. Katya quirked her brow. Miria squeaked and froze.

One second passed in silence...two seconds...then three...five...ten...

"Oh, for Christ's sake, I saw you walk in, Doll.", A familiar voice spoke up, New England accent thick even through the door. Miria groaned louldy, while Katya, growing flustered, nodded towards the door. "Of course...", She said. "Um...Miria, is it? Will you be a dear and open the door?"

Miria hesitated, then nodded, and approached the door, keeping her tablet by her side. The door was unlocked, opened long enough for the stranger in the trenchcoat from earlier to step in, and then locked again, leaving Miria free once more to examine her subjects.

"So.", Said the man, pulling a pack of smokes from his pocket. "Want one?", He asked. Katya shook her head. He put them back. "Alright then.", He nodded. "Well then...what the hell was that!?"

Katya peeped up. "Excuse me?"

"What the hell? You were supposed to operate on the down low? Work in the shadows? Not arouse suspicion? Am I ringin' a bell?"

"W-well, I'm certainly not at fault!", Katya swung her hands up. "There were no problems until...er...well..."

Katya's gaze darted towards Marcus, and then Ganon and Ammy. The man grunted. Katya froze.

"Well...perhaps I was to blame...to a degree. It was an unexpected turn of events. We had to make do with the cards we were dealt."

"Riiiiiight.", The stranger sighed. "Alright. So, what do you plan to do now, what with that commotion earlier?", He asked, sticking his hands into his long coat pocket. Katya's smile returned. "We're going to cause an even bigger commotion, of course.", She said. The man wasn't impressed. He raised a hand again, pinching the bridge of his nose, or what was probably his nose, as his face was inexplicably shrouded in shadows beneath his fedora. "You're pullin' my string, right?"

"Not at all.", Said Katya. The man groaned loudly. "Baby, you're not just pulling it then, you're yanking it while speeding down the highway. Have you lost it? I thought you looked like the leader type, but-"

"But what?", Katya piped up, a sharpness to her tone that wasn't there before. "I've considered the situation and the resources I have at my disposal, and I'm adapting my plan as I see fit. Do you intend to defy those plans?", She asked, staring at the man, who was unphased. Wex eyed the man as well, speaking up. "Who the hell are you?", he asked, prompting the stranger to chuckle. "Nobody you need to worry about, Son.", he said, turning to walk into the most isolated corner of the room. He leaned back against the wall, and sighed. "Alright then, Sweetheart, so you're throwing subtlety to the wind. What's the plan?"

His gaze was firmly on Katya. Miria was also finding herself distracted from her work, to watch the older woman. Katya suddenly felt a little nervous, but...no, it was nothing. She took a deep breath, and began to shake one of her legs gently. "Alright. The plan. Right. Well, I'd actually thought of it some before this lady here turned Human again.", She nodded towards Ammy. "I'd hoped that her canine reflexes would be of use, but I don't believe that my plan will be affected by this turn of events; in fact, I believe it should make me more confident in it."

She turned, watching Polly, Marcus, Ganon, Ammy and Issun, and the others. "Our attempt at stealth was, frankly, a failure. However, we won't need stealth for this. We made quite a scene earlier, and we dispatched one of our hunters in our opening volley. As I see it, our strength, and now our numbers, are our primary advantage, so we should take advantage of them to win the day. Simply put, I believe that we should make as much of a scene as we can, to force confrontation, and to draw out the enemy. If we can draw them out, then we can surround them, cut them off, and destroy them. Search and Destroy, Divide and Conquer. I've already got the plan sorted out in detail, but if anyone wishes to speak now, I would like to hear their opinions."

"What makes you think the others will fall for that?", Said Wex. Katya lilted her head towards him. "Well, you were certainly no White Whale.", She said. "Compared to you, the rest of these hoodlums should be trouts."

[The Japanese Americans]

Shadows of the Empire

Coruscant- Jedi Temple

The Archer shrugged at the two. "Sorry guys but they fed you out dated information, we got everything all clear in here." He told the two. As he was ready to get them out he would hear a voice coming through his speaker. "Commander. We found someone approaching the temple. What should we do?" Well that was odd? Archer thought as he looked back at the two elves. "Well looks like you two might get to help me after all. It seems someone who shouldn't be here is coming to the temple. I'm not sure if they are a confused tourist or terrorist who was late but regardless I can use your help with them."

He would lead the two outside where they would see three soldiers standing outside on guard walking to the new arrival. The young man would see soldiers wearing black and gray soldier uniforms approaching him. They were plates of ceramic armor on some parts of their bodies, their helmets having visors and guards that hid their faces, and most surprising of all exoskeleton frames over their bodies.

The soldiers stopped in front of him. "This is a restricted area. Why are you here?" The soldier demanded, their voice distorted by a voice modifying device that made it hard to tell what their actual voice sounds like, instead being greets by an electronic facsimile of a human voice that sounded clearly artificial as well as indiscernible as to the gender and nationality of the speaker. There wasn't even a hint of an accent due to the device. It was like a machine was speaking to him instead of a human being.

The young man would see Archer walking up to the soldiers with Doug and Link behind. "I wouldn't be too scare there civie. Just ask my boys whatever questions you have and we will let you go. I doubt your a terrorist. You don't look the part and even if you were you drop by too late to do shit. But if you are one do us a favor and surround before you join like those poor sods over there." He warned as he pointed behind him.

Should one look behind Archer they would see black body bags being carried out of the temple and into the gunships. "So got a name pal? I need to know for my report. The last time I was half ass with a field report the Auditors nearly sent me yo an early grave." The device made it impossible to tell if Archer was joking or not.

He seemed to hesitate a moment to process everything before saying "Lee." He said as he pulled back his cloak's hood, revealing short, aqua blue hair that was clearly natural, along with his piercing sky blue eyes. "I won't give you my first name, but I'll give you my middle one." He turned from Archer to Link. "I won't do anything to you if you do the same." He told him. He turned to the soldiers. "The reason I'm here, on this planet at least, is because barely half an hour ago I was driving on the interstate when a fucking wormhole-portal thing opened up and sliced my motorcycle in half. I went through it with the top half and ended up in a park near here. I came to this place because the portal had closed behind me, and it seemed like old, wise people would be here. Instead, I found out that this is where the terrorist attack I heard about happened. And judging by the bodies that haven't poofed, this place works on a completely different set of physics than my world." He seemed done talking for now.

[Naval Monte]

Shadows of the Empire

Jedi Temple

"Wait your still trying to figure out how these work? I figure this would be easy since you manage to get a working FTL drive working and make lasers practical enough to be fitted into an aircraft." Archer said, unwittingly reminding Doug that AEGIS did take the time to study his craft when he crashed it in another world. "I'm guessing your intelligence agencies got the first dib on those devices. Or perhaps you didn't listen when they got too technical." The soldier accused Doug. Once more due to the device Doug couldn't tell the tone of the soldier with his accusation.

However he would soon know what was his mood when he heard the last thing he would expect to come out from an AEGIS soldier. Laughter. Normally such a thing would have been a relieving moment as it showed that indeed they are human and do have a sense of humor; however the laughter that came out was that of a mechanical demon mocking the agony of the damn as they suffer their neverending torment. The voice modifier clearly was never made to deal with laughter as well if the horrific example that Doug and Lini heard was anything to go by.

"Don't worry about that mate. I sometimes tune out the egg heads if they start raving on about stuff that doesn't relate to much to my mission." He would hear who Doug was. "Jeez pal isn't that a bit long? Just saying you are with the Hyruliaslus Royal Air Force would have worked as well. Yeah I heard, our director was stuck in there after all. Yeah we needed help but you guys took too long and we dealt with the enemies in here with some help."

When Doug introduced Link and told him about his predicament the commander said nothing, only speaking when Link made a comment about the type of warfare they fight in and if they are going to do anything to them. "Only if you give us a reason to do anything to you two, but for now nothing. All methods of warfare are brutal kid, but considering where you come from I suppose it makes sense that you would think modern warfare has no honor or valor. That was something we and these terrorist found out about war. There is no valor, mercy, or honor in the battlefield. There is the mission and luck."

Archer would hear a message pop up in his speaker, telling him about a new arrival into the temple. "Looks like we got someone else trying to get into the temple. You two are with me just encase they do anything." He told the two.

Time would past and Archer would be standing in front of a young man wearing white robes, a man with blue eyes (not that unusual) and blue eyes (very good dye job). The man refusing to give his first name and instead choosing his middle name set off a small alarm bell on to be weary about him. But with his attire he wouldn't be surprised if the man was a mage and he refused to give away his entire name just to avoid having it be used against him by sympathetic magic.

When Lee told him his story about of nearly being sliced in half by a rift Archer was reminded by a rumor he heard of a MST finding a dinosaur that was sliced in half by a rift somewhere in Africa. Looks like that rumor was true according to Lee' story.

"How are you sure that the laws of physics are different? As for old and wise people living here they use to but most died out a long time ago due to a regime change. Luckily for you the rift story is one we have seen played out many times so your story isn't as farfetched to us as it would be to the locals. As for the terrorists we've dealt with most of them already but we are still keeping the area off limits encase there are any remaining terrorists hiding or bombs we missed."

[The Japanese Americans]

Shadows of the Empire

Jedi Temple

"Wait your still trying to figure out how these work? I figure this would be easy since you manage to get a working FTL drive working and make lasers practical enough to be fitted into an aircraft." Archer said, unwittingly reminding Doug that AEGIS did take the time to study his craft when he crashed it in another world. "I'm guessing your intelligence agencies got the first dib on those devices. Or perhaps you didn't listen when they got too technical." The soldier accused Doug. Once more due to the device Doug couldn't tell the tone of the soldier with his accusation.

However he would soon know what was his mood when he heard the last thing he would expect to come out from an AEGIS soldier. Laughter. Normally such a thing would have been a relieving moment as it showed that indeed they are human and do have a sense of humor; however the laughter that came out was that of a mechanical demon mocking the agony of the damn as they suffer their neverending torment. The voice modifier clearly was never made to deal with laughter as well if the horrific example that Doug and Lini heard was anything to go by.

"Don't worry about that mate. I sometimes tune out the egg heads if they start raving on about stuff that doesn't relate to much to my mission." He would hear who Doug was. "Jeez pal isn't that a bit long? Just saying you are with the Hyruliaslus Royal Air Force would have worked as well. Yeah I heard, our director was stuck in there after all. Yeah we needed help but you guys took too long and we dealt with the enemies in here with some help."

When Doug introduced Link and told him about his predicament the commander said nothing, only speaking when Link made a comment about the type of warfare they fight in and if they are going to do anything to them. "Only if you give us a reason to do anything to you two, but for now nothing. All methods of warfare are brutal kid, but considering where you come from I suppose it makes sense that you would think modern warfare has no honor or valor. That was something we and these terrorist found out about war. There is no valor, mercy, or honor in the battlefield. There is the mission and luck."

Archer would hear a message pop up in his speaker, telling him about a new arrival into the temple. "Looks like we got someone else trying to get into the temple. You two are with me just encase they do anything." He told the two.

Time would past and Archer would be standing in front of a young man wearing white robes, a man with blue eyes (not that unusual) and blue eyes (very good dye job). The man refusing to give his first name and instead choosing his middle name set off a small alarm bell on to be weary about him. But with his attire he wouldn't be surprised if the man was a mage and he refused to give away his entire name just to avoid having it be used against him by sympathetic magic.

When Lee told him his story about of nearly being sliced in half by a rift Archer was reminded by a rumor he heard of a MST finding a dinosaur that was sliced in half by a rift somewhere in Africa. Looks like that rumor was true according to Lee' story.

"How are you sure that the laws of physics are different? As for old and wise people living here they use to but most died out a long time ago due to a regime change. Luckily for you the rift story is one we have seen played out many times so your story isn't as farfetched to us as it would be to the locals. As for the terrorists we've dealt with most of them already but we are still keeping the area off limits encase there are any remaining terrorists hiding or bombs we missed."

"Well, I can mainly tell by the dead bodies that haven't poofed and left behind a vase with their ash and whatever was in their Inventory. I have also made an educated guess that you can't just say Inventory," He seemed to notice something pop up that was invisible to everyone else. "And pull out an emergency generator." He said this as he reached into a space in the air. His hand disappeared and there was some disturbance around his wrist. When he pulled it back out, in his hand was a small gasoline generator. "You might not even have Stats for all I know."

[Nagakawa]

Scourge of My People
Dimension 50
Kanegi 金木

"A mage, hmm?" From outside the ship, Granny Jo half-smiled at the two who had just made a dramatic entry directly into the Kamui rather than from outside, emerging right in front of her, Nomad and Cherry, and Yukio and Rygan. Tossing her cigarette butt onto the ground and eyeing Nephthys and Sekhmet, the latest potential recruits. "Seems like the ad was a lot more effective than I expected."

Grunting, Granny Jo walked back into the ship, standing before the six people who had gathered in there as she headed over to a minibar in the corner, filling up a glass of iced kahlua and sipping at it with none of the flagrance with which she smoked her cigarettes.

"So we have a mage, her bodyguard, a medic, an engineer, and... um...", she began, trailing off as she found herself unable to describe what exactly it was that Nomad and Cherry were.

"Anyway, the only privilege you six have from being first is that y'all get to choose who you want to bunk with. Here on this ship, we have the captain's cabin, three more private cabins, six four-man cabins, and two eight-man cabins. I've left the four-man cabins open for y'all to choose from, so I'll leave 'em to you to choose for yourself."

With that, she slipped a piece of paper numbered 5 to 10 on the table, tossing a pen to Yukio, who caught it and glanced about at the other five.

"Any of you wanna choose first?" he asked, yawning deeply as he offered the pen to the others. While the tall and muscular Rygan cut a rather imposing figure in his tight-fitting uniform, the much shorter Yukio, despite his maroon beret and free-fall jump wings and all, looked almost comically small. "I'm fine sleeping anywhere."

...

[The Palmetto]

L-Fel

San Fran

Aestus had no idea what bubble tea was, but decided it would be fun to try it. One of the best parts of traveling abroad was was trying new things, and he enjoyed spending his free time doing stuff like this He followed Jules closely and held her hand tightly as they walked through San Francisco, the larger giant struggling to match his pace with the much smaller Jules. He quickly got the hang of it, though, and he continued trodding along as many locals looked on. Not as many people looked with Aestus with suspicion as he thought would’ve, likely because a giant armored lesser god wasn’t the weirdest thing to ever appear in the city. As they moved to a better part of the city, many of the bad smells and run down “ghetto” aesthetics faded away. This was definitely a richer part of the city, and Aestus imagined it was some sort of futuristic (relative to him, of course) market place.

“I’ll take what my friend Jules had, though don’t hold off on the sugar,” Aestus ordered, awkwardly trying to avoid hitting his head on the lights. He finally got some relief as he sat down, but noticed that Terasaka wasn’t feeling as relaxed as he was. Aestus has once been like that, being formed from primordial soup doesn’t grant one social skills. He knew that Jules wouldn’t mind Terasaka, though, so he decided just to leave him alone. He did notice the man’s more awkward, lonely friend, and decided to try and start a conversation of his own.

“So, how’d you meet your companion? You two definitely seem like a unique duo,” he asked Yrjo.

[Menschenfleisch]

Scourge of my People | Cherry and Nomad

Alastair was... mostly okay with what was going on. Sure, he'd been roped into an interdimensional expedition, but that was literally what he was here to do! So really, he should've been completely satisfied with the turn of events. At least he wasn't dead, right? Though, to be perfectly honest, he couldn't get a read on this universe's tech. His surroundings were an eclectic mishmash of anachronistic engineering and chaotic vistas, vessels and people of all time periods and styles converging on this one place. It was clearly a very active interdimensional hub. He waved enthusiastically at his recruiter and faded away, his skin cloaking him from all sight. He was enshrouded in utter invisibility, and the android took the opportunity to circle around and reappear on the ship's steps, leaning against the doorframe. "I'm an AI; it comes with all the regular perks. Plus, a little cloaking tech. Not sure whether that's impressive, really."

Cherry was a little more conservative in flaunting her abilities, not that she had many to begin with. Manually triggering an adaptation was both messy and risky. She raised a finger to get the granny's attention, knowing that she was by far the least informed member of the group and thus, the most exploitable. "I'm just another alien. I can talk, move and link minds." it came to the group's attention that she'd never actually opened her mouth, let alone really spoken. "Umm... are you going to say anything?" oh. It didn't work on AIs, apparently. "Room seven. It's a nice, round number." what? How so? It was prime! "I'd like to be in room seven, too." probably an awkward thing to do, but, it seemed that he and Cherry were the only nonaligned individuals there. The engineer and medic were natives, while the others were companions on a mission. The freelancers had to stick together; leave the rest to their own devices.

[Nagakawa]

Scourge of My People
Dimension 50
Kanegi 金木

While Granny Jo conversed with her new crew members, a number of heavily-tattooed yakuza grunts began carrying cargo onto the Kamui, ranging from fresh and preserved rations to GPMGs and ammunition, bringing them down to the storage deck below. A few of them stopped and greeted Granny Jo with all the formality of children at a playground. Ignoring the jovial chatter of the grunts helping her load up her ship's stores, the old woman continued sipping her iced kahlua as she listened to Nomad and Cherry explain their skills.

"Cloaking tech sounds pretty damn useful", she said to Nomad, nodding approvingly. "We're prolly gonna need it. As for you, Ms Cherry- Oh, Madam Ikegami."

Yotsuha Ikegami herself, dressed in a casual floral yukata that hung loosely from her lean body, had come onto the Kamui, carrying several ring-bound documents wedged under her armpit, followed closely by two of her maids, who brought with them her luggage.

"I see we've managed to gather a very respectable crew", she said, nodding and smiling at each and every new member of the crew. Yukio Aoki hurriedly bowed back to return the greeting and grinned sheepishly; when he smiled, his eyes would disappear in a cute, boyish manner, quite unlike the rather deadpan Rygan, who had a grand total of one facial expression.

Granny Jo offered the yakuza matriarch a glass of iced kahlua, which she accepted.

"I saved one cabin for you", Granny Jo said to Yotsuha, "but I'm afraid I could only fit in two beds. Your maids will have to-"

"Oh, no worries", Yotsuha replied. "Fujiko and Sadako can sleep on the beds. I'll take the sofa." She beckoned to her two maids, who subserviently dragged her luggage off to her private cabin. With a notebook in her hand, Granny Jo began scribbling out, in her usual broken spelling, the accommodation plan as per what the crew had decided, peeking at the paper to see what Cherry, Nomad, Yukio, and Rygan had written.

Room A1 (captain's cabin)
- jo potter

Room A2 (private cabin)
- yostuha ikagami
- faji fuje two others

Room A3 (private cabin)
- firsrt mate itona namikawa

Room A4 (private cabin)
- qm alex

Room A5 (4 man cabin)
- yukeo aoke
- rigen

Room A6 (4 man cabin)
-

Room A7 (4 man cabin)
- chery
- elester

Room A8 (4 man cabin)
-

Room A9 (4 man cabin)
-

Room A10 (4 man cabin)
-

Room A11 (8 man cabin)
- armoury ic donelben

Room A12 (8 man cabin)
-

"Just you two left now", said Granny Jo to Nephthys and Sekhmet, having updated her record. "In the meantime... Yukio, the medical room is Room B-3. You can get there by cutting through the bridge. Go set that shit up. Your pardner can carry your shit to your cabin for you."

"If you don't mind", Yotsuha added to Granny Jo, "I wish to speak to the crew for a while once you're done with these administrative matters."

"Why, of course."

...

[Slenderman The CreepyPasta King]

Shadows of the Empire - Ben
“Ah yes, it would be about that time where we go back and forth on trapping me. I say you can’t with the technology you have on hand and you say AEGIS will find a way. But I digress, why I’m here, it’s because...” paradox stopped mod sentence, Ben knew what the time traveler was about to say based on his passed experiences with him.
“Don’t say it.” Ben begged.
“Oops! Spoilers!” Paradox finished.
After Professor Paradox said that the alien turtle said to Hex, “he won’t say anything about the future whenever he says that. But in my experience, it usually isn’t good. The last time he said that was when a villain of mine went on a quest to absorb an omnipotent being.”

“Don’t worry young Benjamin, no baby celestialsapian is in danger of having its power absorbed for at least the next few million years.” Paradox tried to reassure the young shapeshifter.

Dakoolon
Dakoolon kept on force sprinting to the corosaunt space port, when he gets there he would wait for the others. If he was the last one there he would wait until he was acknowledged.

[Prusselanden]

Hospital
Ackermann mustered a small smile as Henry greeted her and patted her on the back. "Yes, it's so nice to see you again. Chieko...you were so small when I last saw you, but now how you've grown." She chuckled and patted the girl's head. "Has life been treating you well?"

"I suppose you all are here for a reason. If it's some top secret mission or something, I have somewhere we can go. I can't leave here as I must care for his majesty, but I'm pretty sure we could fit you all in his room. Irwin, I'll also explain who these people are to you. Now come on." Ackermann gestured to them as she made her way to and up the stairs and into Fred's room.

"What, you brought the Manichean plane gang too?" Frederick smiled. "Good to see you again, Henry. What brings you all here?"

Ackermann locked the door behind them after putting a "do not disturb" sign on it.

Bubble Tea
"Well....um, my name is Julian Yamada, and I work as a pediatric surgeon." Jules smiled at Terasaka, noticing is awkwardness. She decided to put up a friendly disposition to make him more comfortable. Even though him staring at the girl's ass made her a bit uneasy. Still, maybe this dude had not been taught proper social skills and manners when in public, so she wouldn't berate him outright for that....yet.

"And what do you do for a living?" Jules took a small sip of her Thai tea boba. "And your friend over there, what is his profession? If you don't mind telling me.