New Dawn [ICARUS ONLY] IC

[Talchyon]

The Capitol, Zach America
BR-71

Time was running out. And still, their captors had refused to act. "Dr. Xu doesn't get frightened like that," he thought, "and he was in full panic mode. Just take us to our ships, and we'll be out of here!" But that wasn't to be. Oh, yeah, the Zach American official, at the request of the slick President Garrison, no doubt, had graciously allowed them to leave the prison ship they were now being kept on. "No one is being held against their will," was the gist of what that official was saying. But Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume saw the seconds ticking away, and heard the report of a bomb that, by the looks of it, had everyone spooked. And he knew. They leave this ship, and they would meet certain death. They still had no idea what hangar bay the Prometheum or the Cerium were located in. They could try to find their ships - and then get hit by the bomb going off. They'd be on their own to find them, no doubt. The president wouldn't send his own soldiers out to meet certain death.

So, yeah. Technically, they say we're free. Technically, we can leave the prison ship and be on our merry way. Oh, but if you do, you'll get blown up. It was pure psychological warfare this Garrison was waging. Trying to break the Talchyonites down.

Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume was not going to be broken down.

He activated his suit's comm-panel. Another one of Dr. Hugo Talchyon's ideas that was extremely helpful. He had suggested wiring comms into each suit, so each could communicate. Granted, there was a somewhat limited range. Hume couldn't just phone home to the city of Nemo on his homeworld, for instance. But even with the interference going on in the planet's comm channels by the alarms, and by who knows however many citizens were trying to contact their families and friends, Hume still thought he could patch through to the Prometheum. Talchyonite comm systems surely operated on some different strata, that might not be affected by the madness going on on this planet.

But whispering, so that none of the Zach American soldiers or officials could hear him, Hume made contact with his ship, and gave detailed instructions...

Would it happen?

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Talchyon's New Home, Nemo
The Presidium
Dr. Lazarus Biltoff's office


Stunned was a mild way to put it. Acting Head Dr. Lazarus Biltoff had just communicated with an alien life form - technically, with a holograph of that alien life - and he was at a loss. This was not what he expected out of a first contact with an alien race. He couldn't say what he had expected. But it was not the distant memories of a half-alien, half-cyborg that had invented a sentient sort of tar that seemingly wanted to devour flesh. Nor had he expected the same alien, obviously some time after that distant memory had been recorded, to interact with him by means of another holograph connected in some different way with the device. Stunned was too mild. Mild shock might be more like it.

After awhile, Dr. Biltoff clicked the stop button on his digirecorder. He had it for posterity's sake now, the first words of a non-human heard on the Talchyonite planet. But was it something that would help him decipher what it all meant? And who outside this room could know of what he had just seen? Show it to the public, and there would be mass hysteria. Actually, there might be some hysteria for a while, followed by a collective scientific analysis to the alien cyborg and his "pet," the flesh-eating slime (which might end up being the scientific community's nickname for this entity, for lack of a better phrase). Keep the recording of this strange first contact speech locked away, buried in some vault or library? That was always a possibility. But what if it were true, and his planet wasn't ready when this "monster-tar" that was coming, came?

There were some days that being Acting Head was too much for one man.

He knew one person who should be told. Dr. Biltoff prepared his commpanel to record a message to be sent by drone to the last known location of the TSS Prometheum. Dr. Benjamin Hume should know about this. If Hume had opportunity to come across this "sentient-tar", he should be warned in advance. Biltoff recorded the encounter, and copied the words of the alien cyborg as part of his communication to the Prometheum. Even if the ship had moved relatively close (in the same star system), the commdrone would locate it and close in, bringing his message of warning. After looking at it over, Dr. Biltoff ordered that a commdrone be prepared and sent to the coordinates given. "Stay safe, Ben," he thought to himself as he commanded the drone sent.

[Prinius]

'Meet the Chancellor'

The Imperial Palace
The Capital

The Chancellor stood alone on the balcony, the bustling city of the capital stretching away in all directions in front of him. Although it was late in the 48-hour night, it seemed as if every light in the city was turned on. Thousands of beams lit up the night sky as wisps of cloud rolled past, and the cool breeze cruised by. However, this was normal. Sleep was no longer necessary for the citizens of Prinius.

The Chancellor was dying. Despite the miracle that was the mechanical suit which he had worn almost permanently since his birth almost two hundred years ago, his life would still come to an end. Statistically, he should have died 30 years ago, but the benefits of the most prestigious position in the government system had brought him a life of luxury and wealth, having spent decades managing the diverse alliance of the Empire from the very top. But, the time had come to face his greatest fear, the natural fear of inevitable death.

Clad in his snow-white mechanical suit, the Chancellor was slowly succumbing to the weakness of old age. His family was dead - his loyal and loving wife had passed away 2 years ago and overwhelmed his heart with grief and shock. He had meant to resign to properly mourn his loss - but he was busy running the Empire and so could not even attend her funeral. Ever since the day that she passed away he had been attacked by guilt and shame that he was sitting at his desk while thousands of citizens in the plaza below mourned the loss. He can still remember her coffin passing through the city to the Graves of Legends just fourteen kilometres from the palace. His son, a Major in the Army, had been crushed alongside his entire crew in a Armour tank under a landslide of molten lava and cooled rock on a hellish volcanic moon, and his two daughters had long since passed away from cancer. Sometimes he was overwhelmed with the loss of his family, sometimes he could do nothing but think about them when he was studying new military reports on his desk.

Then, the hyper-sensitive hearing enhancers picked up the almost inaudible sound of the door swinging open behind him. Turning around, he faced the nervous Second Lieutenant sent to deliver him the documents that were firmly gripped in his metal gloves.

'Sir...' The messenger asked, the nervousness in his head creeping into his voice.

'Yes?' The Chancellor replied, waiting patiently for what the Lieutenant had to say.

'I... I have a military report for... for you...'

'From where?' The Chancellor replied, confidently and firmly.

'Err... Affrex Alpha in the Affrex system on the frontier... they are sending a manned mission to the surface to, to... to map the surface and determine whether it can be used for its resources.'

How coincidental that he had just been considering the loss of his son on the same system that this mission was landing on. He could only hope that they did not meet the same fate on the hellish world.

'Pass it here.'

The Second Lieutenant did as he was told, and threw the documents through the air to the Chancellor, his scarlet red suit calculating the correct trajectory and correcting the motion of throwing the folder, and the Chancellor's suit guiding his hands to the correct position for a perfect catch. On it was printed in firm print 'Affrex Alpha', with no mention of the previous one which ended so tragically decades ago.

He quickly dismissed the Lieutenant, and sat down to read.

[United States of Spain]

Governmental District ,The Capital, Zach America

The air went quiet. No birds in the sky. Clouds dispersed by the arrival of the SLMS Hope of Rebirth. The sun shining bright over the city. A distinct hum filled the air around the district for several minutes. Then it seemed that it began to get darker. Much, much darker. It seemed like the sun had died out. Then the shine began. Incrementally, from the heart of the district, the East Tower of the Zach American Administration Center began to irradiate light. In the span of a minute it went from shining bright as a lightbulb to more intense than the light of a supernova. Several seconds pass by as the light blinds all who look at it. Several hundred kilometers away, a expanding orb as bright as the sun appeared over the horizon. Against it, a black spot remained inmoblie in the air, the force of the blast and its shock wave unable to make it budge.




Hangar 2 ,SLMS Hope of Rebirth, Airspace over the Governmental District , Zach America

The shield turned opaque as the Thermo-Neutron device activated, blasting the shield with heat powerful enough to melt through high grade military spacecraft hull and shinning bright enough to leave anyone blind for life. The hangar descended into silence as the shield generators audibly rev'd up their power usage from the sudden force applied on them.

"Sir, I have an estimate for the death toll."Icarus says quietly."Do you wish for me to tell you...?"

"Yes."Daser says with a stone cold expression.

"...5 million people."Icarus says in an almost silent rage."Sir with all due respect, Exalt must pay for this betrayal."

Daser silently nodded in agreement.

"All those voices...just gone..."Neptune says as her hands begin to shake."...for Celestia...? What do they have to gain by controlling it? What purpose do they hope to accomplish by letting the most vile species in the universe control the only ringworld of the galaxy? What...Do....They...have...to....GAIN?!?"

The floor shook visibly as Neptune's rage intensified.

Daser suddenly jumps to give her a hug to calm her down.

"Calm down Neptune."He says in a calm, mellow voice."What do you have to gain by letting your anger overtake you? Did you tell me yourself that if your let anger run wild, CPU powers become unstable?"

She silently nods with a little sob.

"Then don't let them win."He says, pointing her face to his with his hand under her chin."Show us that the CPU race is still strong and it will endure."

"Yeah."She wipes a tear and nods." Your right. I won't let them win. I will protect those who inhabit Celestia. As one of the last living members of the CPU race, I will protect my home and those who inhabit it!"

Her courage fills her and it overflows into everyone around her, energizing the already dreary mood.

"Icarus, take us to orbit and prepare for Hyper-Warp."Daser orders to the AI." Gentlemen, if you mind, please follow me, I have a lot to explain."


Daser begins to radiate a sense of power. Unlike before, his body begins to change noticeably for several minutes. Further beyond the sporadic sightings by those around him.

The cannon sword appears again.

And so do the wings, glowing bright blue as his determination filled his gaze as his pupils took the shape of power icons and they began to glow a radiant purple.

The evolved form of a CPU presented itself.

HDD.

[Prinius]

AFFREX ALPHA
GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT

'This is Lieutenant Shrapnek of the IPS Jester, we are currently above the surface of Affrex Alpha and awaiting further orders. Our scanners have identified no signs of life or activity on the surface, while our unmanned seismographs have detected occasional earthquakes on the planet's surface. Fifty-four hours ago we learnt that an earthquake of intensity 8.8 occurred almost directly below us. This mission will be incredibly dangerous, but we are prepared to go to the planet's surface to claim it for the Empire. Our descent will initiate in approximately eleven hours from now. Our VEV (Volcanic Exploration Vehicle) is fully prepared for the descent and we have located a suitable landing ground for our spacecraft, found on a solidified recent lava flow in the proximity to an extinct volcano. Temperatures on the planet exceed a hundred and ten degrees Celsius but this should be no issue for our equipment nor our suitable mechanical suits. Over and out.'

Having sent his final dispatch to his senior officers at Colonial Command before launch sequence, Lieutenant Shrapnek oversaw the final preparations before he was blasted off and onto this hellish planet's surface. Looking through the composite glass on the bridge of the Jester, a Pioneer-class scout frigate, he could see the tormented world of fire and heat below him. A relatively young planet, Affrex Alpha was a colossal planet with three moons being regularly bombarded with comets and meteors, torn apart with volcanic eruptions and shaken by ravaging earthquakes. This mission would be incredibly dangerous, but the honour of colonizing your own planet (which he had been promised would be named after him when the next arrival landed) and the possible promotion such an action could give you was more than enough to convince this ambition Lieutenant to go where no one had gone before.

It was at this point when his Second Lieutenant approached him in his navy blue and orange mechanical suit, his rank emblazoned on his armoured chest. He was carrying a high-power grenade launcher magnetically fixed to his back.

'Second Lieutenant?'

'Our Advanced Mapping Probe has successfully parachuted onto the surface of Affrex Alpha, approximately three hundred and ninety-eight metres from our expected landing position. I can patch you in to the view of the probe if you wish.'

'I need to see what it's like down there.'

And taking the hint, the Second Lieutenant turned to an interface and activated the camera mounted on the probe.

'Give me the controls.'

The Lieutenant was now in control of the probe as it roamed the hellish surface of the planet. The hellish surface that he was going to be landing on just eleven hours from now. The landscape in front of him was an open plain of charred black, solidified lava, peppered with boulders, smouldering flows, and steaming vents. The surface was rough and filled with air holes in the rocks. Through the audio relay he could hear the roar of an active volcano burning in the distant, polluting the red haze and clouds of the sky with black fumes. In the distance he could make out a chain of extinct volcanoes, barely visible through the haze of hell. Turning the probe around, he floated over a gully using the probe's down thrusters and encountered a fissure in the surface, a great abyss going hundreds of metres down venting gas. It was lucky he found it before they arrived themselves. He only just managed to pull away the probe before it itself fell into oblivion. Over two hundred kilometres above the ground, he felt genuine dread from the feed from the probe on the surface. And he was going to be there not long from now.

In eleven hours, he would plunge into hell itself.

[Talchyon]

Talchyon's New Home, Nemo
The Presidium
Dr. Lazarus Biltoff's office

What does the leader of a nation do when there is known alien life out there, having been just contacted by this alien life with a desperate warning that another kind of alien presence is coming to eat the planet, and who knows, maybe even the minicluster? If that leader is the acting head of the Talchyonites, they do what Talchyonites have long done. Turn to scientific research and lean on unorthodox and unconventional ideas.

After some more thought on the issue, Dr. Lazarus Biltoff began a digicom-based scientific inquiry and analysis into this "sentient-kind-of-tar," based on the digirecorder footage that had been previously shown. Specifically, he wanted the digicom to begin an inquiry into whether this tar was organic or inorganic. While there were many parameters that were not known and the digicom would have to presume, Biltoff was sure this could be done relatively soon. Due to the scant information, it might even be as long as a few hours.

Calling up his comm panel, Biltoff sent a message to some of the various heads of the research facilities. Dr. Feng Xu would be a welcome addition here, but he was off traveling the stars... Hopefully, his replacement would be just as capable. The message set up a meeting time there in his office, in approximately a few hours. Then, the leading minds of the planet could begin to dissect the information given and come up with a plan.

---

Hangar 2 onboard SLMSS Hope of Rebirth
Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume

He had been that close. That close to taking over the Zach American ship by force or bluff. Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume had laid out the tactic in his mind. He would have grabbed that alien device that could be a powerful weapon, wrestling it away from this "Puppet Master" being. And then, with this bomb in his hand, not to mention the surprise he had set up with their Talchyonite ships the Prometheum and the Cerium, Captain Ahmadi could have piloted them back...

Now, the parameters had shifted. Now, the plan was on hold - hopefully even a "permanent" on-hold. There were complications. Like the fact that their Zach American ship had docked with the ship of another alien race, still surprisingly human looking. Only, this new ship was big. The large Zach American starship they had been on was dwarfed by the size of this new craft. The leader of this vessel (a captain? someone higher up in the government?) had welcomed them all out of the Zach American ship, and was leading them down one of the 50-60 corridors that opened up into the hangar bay. Along with him was a short robotic machine, bipedal, walking and communicating with them. And a woman. Hume hadn't heard everything she said, but from the reaction the leader of the new vessel had given her, they had some connection deeper than just a platonic friendship.

Also, another shift in circumstance - the thermal neutron explosion had gone off. Though they were in space, some distance from the planet, Hume could see the blast from the visuals they had now. And a chilling feeling grasped him when he heard the announcement that 5 million had just been pulverized instantaneously. It was a gruesome thing to witness. Though, Hume still was wary with these Zach Americans. Was it any wonder that some terrorist group wanted to blow them up, if they kidnapped, disarmed, and held hostage important dignitaries - like the first alien contact of a species? Though the blast was a tragedy, no doubt, Hume wondered how much of it the Zach Americans had brought on to themselves.

Raising his voice to the leader of this large, new vessel, Hume called out, "Who are you, exactly? And what is your authority here? I am Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume of the civilization of Talchyon, captain of the TSS Prometheum, and three of us have been held hostage here against our will. I demand to know what is going on."

[United States of Spain]

Stellar League Interstellar News Network
Mysterious man saves hundreds
This morning a lev passenger liner lost its power on Icarus Lake south of New Seville, making the vehicle fall into the water of one of the biggest lakes of the Ringworld. Rescue teams spent hours searching for the vehicle, for 7 hours they scoured the lake in search of the missing vehicle. It was only at the end of the search, when the head of the rescue operation was about to call off the effort, that the passenger liner's SOS signal activated on the shore 400 km away from where it lost contact with. Interviews with the survivors speak of confusing tales of the passenger liner constantly resurfacing and moving forward, with its engines and power source completely short circuited. The captain of the vessel reported that before the power returned to the vessel he spotted a figure on the beach near the ship through the bridge. No distinct features were seen but this mysterious hero is considered a local legend by the passengers and inhabitants of the sector, attributing this man for saving their lives.
This has been Zoe Anais with S.L.I.N.N. and have a good rest of the day.

Inner Corridors of the SLMS Hope of Rebirth, Orbit over The Capital, Zach America

Daser turns around to the Talchyonite and continues to lead walking backwards.

"I, Dr. Benjamin Hume, am Daser Theus and believe me, I well know what Talchyon is."He replies to the inquiring man" I do believe you heard of Captain Nodyev's dissaperance?"

Dr. Hume's expression lit up in a mix of confusion and almost blind rage.

"What did you-!?"He yelled momentarily before realizing his lost of composure.

"Fear not Dr. Hume, Mr. Nodyev and his crew are fine"Daser calms him down."They crash landed in the League's home system little over a week ago."

"If you call crash this."Icarus remarks with sarcasm."The damage caused by the Rhodium slowed down our renovation efforts by a few weeks, although the nanobot constructors should make up for time on that issue."

The AI plays a holographic video of the Rhodium exiting the wormhole at almost unrealistic speeds and darting into The Capital.

"...Like I was saying."Daser gives Icarus a 'look' before continuing." We repaired and upgraded the Rhodium with the latest tech we could offer and patched up the crew, especially Nodyev. Poor man almost died before we could get him to the hospital."

"Daser..."Now Neptune gives him the 'look'

"Alright alright, I'm done explaining, I'll leave the rest to the debriefing during transit."He shakes his head." By the way, have any of you eaten recently? Like in the last 2 to 3 hours?"

A couple hands raise from President Garrison's bodyguards.

"Then please take these now."Icarus gives the men each two bright yellow pills." Transit can be quite unpleasant with a full stomach. This pill will make you digest your food very rapidly. Do not worry, it is safe for humans."

The three bodyguards look at each other before downing the pill.

"Alright now that's in order, Icarus open the door to the bridge!"Daser orders."Prepare for transit!"

The group enters the semi-bare control room, the only consoles a holographic display and a coffee maker. Through the massive windows, The Capital grew ever smaller as the Hope of Rebirth approached the designated jump point.

"Beginning Warp/Jump Drive charging sequence..."Icarus reports as his little robotic representation docked with a station and the AI manifested itself as a hologram.

"I could never get tired of this."Neptune whispers as she stands near Daser, her face stuck to the window as the buzzing intensified."Here we go!"

"Opening Warp/Jump Space tunnel."The AI reports as the stars ahead of the front of the ship began to bend and change color.

Communications yet again went wild as non adapted ships around them were sent flying off course as the Warp/Jump Space tunnel fused itself with the fabric of space, on the other side, flashing lights of red and white on a black background passed by the entrance.

"Take us through!"Daser orders with a wave of his arm.

For the next 24 hours, the ship was nowhere to be found or seen, tis' is Warp/Jump Space's difference to its slower and easier to track brother HyperSpace.

[Precusor]

Somewhere,
Within The Void

A figure stares into a glass mirror. The deeper he stares, the more it appears to be looking into him instead of the other way around.

Tall, pale with wavy brown hair, it was nothing but the barest of details that he knew for certain. The figure knew that these were key features that matched his looks and ultimately, the impressions others will have about him.

Looking into his own reflection, the man spotted something different than what he remembered. It was his face. While his skin was tan, something was off about his face. An entire section was paler than the rest.

The man stared into the mirror, grinning at his reflection as time moved on.

"You know, it feels great to be the hero."

The Black Cube

The dark object, roaring with digital life, gazed around itself. A bright orange ray spewed forth from it, running up and down materials around it. The voice spoke again, but something was different.

"I don't know who you are or how you obtained this box but be warned; If you try to reverse engineer this device, it won't work. These memories you see, they are mine and know that I will be called nothing more than The Puppet Master."

The voice paused as a digital icon appeared as a black human skull with one red eye while the other appears to be void of anything.

"You are fortunate to receive this device as it is instrumental to your fate. Without it, you will be blindly wandering in the coming darkness. But understand that the tar-like substance you saw began like that. I never understood the origins of that creature and I wish to never know. But it will find its way into this Universe and upon that day, it will be very hungry."

[Talchyon]

Talchyon's New Home, Nemo
The Presidium
Executive Meeting Room

The Black Cube

The dark object, roaring with digital life, gazed around itself. A bright orange ray spewed forth from it, running up and down materials around it. The voice spoke again, but something was different.

"I don't know who you are or how you obtained this box but be warned; If you try to reverse engineer this device, it won't work. These memories you see, they are mine and know that I will be called nothing more than The Puppet Master."

The voice paused as a digital icon appeared as a black human skull with one red eye while the other appears to be void of anything.

"You are fortunate to receive this device as it is instrumental to your fate. Without it, you will be blindly wandering in the coming darkness. But understand that the tar-like substance you saw began like that. I never understood the origins of that creature and I wish to never know. But it will find its way into this Universe and upon that day, it will be very hungry."

The appointed time had come. The leading technicians, engineers, researchers - and even a few pretending to know something about xenobiology - had gathered. Dr. Lazarus Biltoff gave a brief address to the audience, detailing how he had come into possession of the black cube and how he had opened it. Not only this, but he also presented evidence showing how this item could not just be an elaborate hoax. But playing the recordings back captured their attention. Each eye was glued to the images shown, the sentient-tar in all its animosity. And, for good measure, Dr. Biltoff played the recording of the next communication, this time with the sender identifying himself as "The Puppet Master."

When the recordings finished, Dr. Biltoff addressed the scholars. "Friends and colleagues. We are confirming that there does exist sentient life not on this planet, and by non-human entities like the sender of this last message. As you may have guessed, this is an issue we have attempted to discover more information about, and have sent teams of explorers in order to learn more about these... aliens.

"Now, however, we are faced with a different task. If this warning is to be believed, there is coming to our galaxy an enemy we are not currently prepared to face. You have been summoned to serve on a special task force to determine ways of defending our home against this alien threat. Everything this group sees is top secret and is not to be reported to the general public. You will assess all initial scans and analyses of the two recordings. You will determine whether this threat is organic or non-organic. You will hypothesize and develop suitable defenses. Yes, granted, I realize all this is highly speculative and little can be done with actual tests. Nonetheless, it is your task and it is important."

After taking questions and giving what answers he knew, copies of the recordings were made for the task force, and encrypted so no one might access them without the code. The encryption was brilliant. It required five separate members of the task force to use their codes, one right after the other. It wouldn't unscramble otherwise. That meant that the task force had to be together, or in a smaller sub-group, to work. So no rogue agent going off and selling the information. Plus, they were tracking them anyway with their implanted chips that all Talchyonite citizens had. Anti-hack technology in the digicom programs continued to progress exponentially, so piracy or hacking wasn't a concern. Whatever was known about this hungry, sentient tar would be known only among this group.

Now it was time for the task force to get to work.

---

SLMSS Hope of Rebirth
Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume

Being on an alien ship, after all that he had been through, was trying. As a trained soldier, Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume paid attention to the alien crew. Apparently this group was called "New Spaniards." Appreciating their regimen and attention to detail, Hume was secretly impressed. This was a class crew who took their positions seriously. Their training included also a physical component, so that many of the crew looked like they would be decent in a hand-to-hand fight. Probably had some kind of martial art standard forms they used, too. Hume hoped he wouldn't have to find out personally, but who knew?

They had not thrown them in the brig yet, so that was something to consider. In fact, the charade was still being played that the three Talchyonites were visiting dignitaries. Answers were still at a minimum, however. Every time he asked for more information, he got a polite refusal and was told to wait for the briefing coming up when they landed. Traveling in this "jump-space," however, was taking a lot longer than he was used to with his wormholes. They said it was going to be like an hour? Only that 24 hours would pass? Maybe Dr. Xu understood the science behind that. Astrophysics was not Hume's strong suit.

And then, to think that Capt. Dmitri Nodyev was alive! And the Rhodium had survived! And had met these aliens! A death-to-life resurrection never had seemed possible before. But Gen. Hume was astonished. And very thankful. He wondered if he would ever see Nodyev again. Or if the charade would end before any time was made for a possible reunion, and the kidnapped Talchyonites would be escorted to the brig, or shot on sight.

The good thing was, the Rhodium wasn't the only Talchyonite ship to survive. Hume couldn't help but smile to himself. His whispered orders to the two ships back on Zach America before the blast had been carried out effectively. His XO had confirmed this to his hearing, while they were still in range, before the New Spaniard ship had gone into jump space. The Prometheum and Cerium had taken off of the planet at high speeds, avoiding the blast. They were supposed to follow the Zach Americans, and then likewise the New Spaniards, at a distance, too. That was going to be a problem, however, since Hume was certain his ships hadn't gone into the jump drive field after they went in. Now, of course, they were completely out of range for any communication. So, Hume assumed that they would try to take as many surveys and vector calculations of the entry point of the flagship, do a mass and spectral analysis of the jump drive field, and try to calculate where the New Spaniard ship with the kidnapped Talchyonites might be going.

The Prometheum and the Cerium wouldn't be here soon. But at least they were alive to still be looking.

---

TSS Prometheum
Zach American system

At a low impulse speed, the Prometheum and Cerium moved from behind a large moon. This moon was thankfully unoccupied, and had an added benefit of intense radiometric isotopal waves emanating from it, thus disrupting traditional sensors. They had been most likely undetected.

While they had been waiting on the Zach American capital planet in that hangar, the XO had received a message, muffled, but still discernible, from the general. He had instructed them about the time bomb, and commanded them to get off the planet as soon as was humanly possible. He was on another ship with Dr. Xu and Capt. Ahmadi. If it was possible, they could try to track them and follow them. If not, use their best judgment. They had gotten out in time, before the blast.

The XO's voice raised above the stillness. "Damage report."

A lieutenant responded. "Sir, all systems are operational. Life support and engines are down to 80%, but holding and stable. All other systems unaffected."

Though the ship that the general and the others were on had docked onto a much larger ship, this one of a different design and make, the wily XO of the Prometheum had ordered a small homing device sent off and attached to the Zach American ship. This wasn't your typical homing device, either. It used the same new technology as the magnetic mine that could stick to non-ferrous materials. The mine had been deactivated before. It wasn't going to blow at all. But the homing device in the container would still send out a signal as to where the general could be found. That is, if they could receive that signal from who knows how far away, after the larger ship had entered some kind of red warp field and vanished.

A midshipman at the panels said, "Sir! We've got a wormhole opening near the capital."

The familiar, silvery-blue color of the wormholes they were used to opened up, and a commdrone came through.

The XO responded, "Ah. Bring in the drone, and get its messages." So a small, white colored-beam shot forth and covered the commdrone, gently pulling it towards the starcraft. It was brought in, and the midshipmen on deck there began to connect the drone to the port. Various messages came in, mail from home, but none more important than the one from Acting Head Dr. Lazarus Biltoff. The XO took the message, though it was marked for Gen. Hume. After a few moments, the XO opened a channel to the Cerium, and commanded them to follow their lead. They were going home. With some ship-wide messages informing the crew to prepare to enter a wormhole, the Prometheum entered the wormhole, followed by the Cerium...

Moments later, both ships were in orbit around Talchyon's New Home. Many of the crew were smiling. Though there was still the underlying tension of returning home with men still in the field. Mixed emotions.

Before the ships could contact their home, there was an interruption. "XO, sir! Your presence is needed on the G-deck immediately! We've captured some stowaways!" With a confused look on his face, the XO came with five others, armed with their pulse guns. Coming to the deck, they found another ten Talchyonites aiming their guns at a group of six men in a strange uniform, resembling the Zach American forces they had witnessed earlier. Their hands were raised and on their heads. One of the Talchyonite lieutenants said, "Sir. We found them just before we went through the wormhole. They have been disarmed. And all of them were carrying this strange signal."

The XO looked in shock at the signal. What was happening? Who were these men?

And why were they using a signal that had flooded many of the commwaves of the Zach American Capital planet not long before the Prometheum and Cerium had landed there?

[United States of Spain]

Warp/Jump Space
SLMSS Hope of Rebirth

45 minutes have passed aboard the ship

"Sir, I have received the clearance from G.C. to exit out of Warp/Jump Space."Icarus reports."We will be exiting in fifteen minutes ship time."

"Alright, thank you Icarus."Daser dismisses the AI.

For a couple of minutes, there's a uncomfortable shuffle as he walks over to Neptune and whispers something illegible, who afterwards nods.

"Gentlemen, please, your attention." He calls to the group."I do believe now is the right time to debrief you. I do believe that President Garrison is pretty well informed about this situation, but I am going to go ahead and start from the beginning."

The group directs their attention to the two.

"What we thought Exalt's goal is an utter lie. They never intended to make the human race more 'stable' and 'prosperous' like they constantly preach through communications breaches. They are merely pawns in a much larger game. They are helping a race of previously unknown sentient beings acquire a cosmic rarity. And I can guess some of you are wondering what she has to do with it. "Daser says while pointing at the purple haired woman silently standing next to him."Gentlemen, it seems we may have been dragged into a war that has been raging on since the start of the Universe."

Neptune steps forward when he finishes.

"I am deeply sorry that your species has been involved with these freaks of nature."She apologizes in a very formal way."It seems like they refuse to stop existing, no matter if they doomed our original galaxy and their colony in this cluster in the process."

Icarus hologram appears again.

"Exiting Warp/Jump Space. Please prepare for opening."The AI reports as the loud buzz starts again.

The already familiar tunnel appeared in the distance once again, this time, a different stellar neighborhood appears on the other side, and a strange shape occupies most of the view.

As the Hope of Rebirth exits Warp/Jump Space, Daser speaks up.

"Gentlemen."He says stepping forward."Welcome to The Capital. The new home of my people"

[Skyberius]

Chapter 1: MORNINGS BREATH

Trevelyn, Imperial Capital
1130 hours ZULU


Solem Wiess sat on the balcony of his office, his eyes slowly moving back and forth across the city that sprawled in front of him, the weather was warm, and the sun shone brightly. Below, the small pinpricks of people going about their daily business on the weekend made Solem smile, he hadn't had a weekend off in several hundred years. The business of running an empire was challenging, Alot had occurred in the past few days, Dr Canonn had confirmed contact with Precusor, The Empires worst enemy and closet ally all at the same time. The exploration and combat fleets had been all called home after successful combat and first contact operations. Reuniting Imperial service members with their families, the EXALT threat persists, but as of now, only sporadic attacks have happened, most against trade fleets or isolated naval groups, thus far, it has only been an inconvenience. Solem finished his Tea and stood up, He had to go speak to the Spanish representative that had showed up, then locked himself in his ship in the hanger bay. Solem laughed and spoke to himself.

It is far too early for this.

Imperial Prison Complex
Location Unknown
1330 That same day

The man was screaming for his life, begging even, as the Osmium hammer came down and smashed into his leg, snapping his femur like it was a twig, and sounding much like it as well. Dr Canonn felt little guilt watching this man suffer, as the Prison Warden brought the hammer down again on his hand, removing several fingers in the process. Dr Canonn had interrogated the man for several hours before hand, His name was Marcus Dempsey, his was a citizen of Zach America who had claimed allegiance to EXALT while in Imperial Space, believing that The Commonwealths would simply ignore him

As was rather obvious, he had realized his mistake far too late, Zach American officials had requested him to be returned to stand trial, of course, they never said what condition he had to be in.

Dr Canonn turned away from the window just as Mr Dempsey's Teeth was splayed across it, he had transmitted the information he had learned from the interrogation to the needed officials, as strike teams were already attacking EXALT safe houses across The Commonwealths, most of the time, those that were left alive were thrown to the crowds of citizen onlookers, they weren't alive much longer. Dr Canonn had a meeting with the Emperor in several hours, he nodded politely to the Duty officer, the last thing he heard before being escorted to the shuttle was the distinct sound of a lower jaw being separated from its upper half forcefully.

Zach America
Location, Unknown
WARNING, EXCESSIVE RADIATION HAZARD

The last thing Commander Scully remembered was the LAV being thrown like it was a toy car that had the unfortunate luck of being in the hand of a tantruming child, the awoke to the Section medic frantically shoving medical foam into her ribcage to stop internal bleeding, she noticed that the front half of the LAV simply didn't exist, and neither did the people that had been sitting there. Scully could also barely focus because of the screeching of the radiation alarm in her ear, The medic muttered something about exposure to Gamma, but she didn't really care that much, the portable shield tent was up, so the worst of the damage would be protected from for several hours, she activated her emergency transponder, and relayed all possible information back to FLEETCOM, and hoped someone could pick them up, Cancer was not something she wanted to deal with right now.

[United States of Spain]

Palace of Government,Alexandria, Commodore System, Skyberius Commonwealth

Helio's forehead shined with a sweaty gleam as he awaited his meeting with Solem Wiess, a man he had learned about when we was young from the previous Helio Centaur ,but he never thought he would actually get to meet him. But what made him even more nervous was the news feed from the skyberian news. The Zach American capital district had been vaporized in a explosion that is a mix of suspicions of a terrorist attack or something he knew it would be highly illogical, a backstabbing attack from an ally.

"Mother of Earth, please tell me that President Theus made it out of there...."He mumbled under his breath before shaking himself back into composure."...No, I need to focus on my mission. We need to coordinate with Skyberian forces to retaliate against EXALT, otherwise we could be in major trouble."

In the first time in his life, Helio II wished that his father was still with him to help him out.


Isolated Chamber, Unidentified Planet, Icarus Cluster

"Power source error."A robotic voice chirps in the sealed chamber"Commencing reverse cryostasis procedure."

The chamber began to fill with an untypical white and blue smoke as the sound of decompression played.

Several minutes go by before the sound of ancient metal scraping replaces the silence.



A tall woman with green hair and eyes walks out of the chamber.

"...a rather unghastly planet that my ship ended on."She says at first as if she was finishing a sentence that had been frozen." Wait."

She walks over to the control panel near the cryo chamber and does a few key presses.

"Situation report..."The AI chirps"...ship power critical...crash damage at 70%, repairs required...reverse cryostasis procedure activated...procedure successful...activating...st...aa...rr...maa...pp...."

For a second, an alien star map shows above the console before flickering out of existence as the panel shut down.

"How long have I been in cryostasis?"She asks the AI, who does not respond.'Respond!"

A sour expression covers her face when she realizes that she would need to get power for the ship if she was going to ask that question.

She heads for the airlock of the ship. Some power still remains in the area, reporting mild radiation but an atmosphere.

"Well that means I don't need to wear a full face mask."She tells herself as she reaches for a re-breather and a utility belt."Goodness, Vert, what have you gotten yourself into now?"

A little mischievous smile crosses her face.

"Oh, yeah, him"She thinks to herself."Well for now let's worry about looking for a fuel source."

The airlock depressurized before opening to the semi-hazardous world, unaware that she had crashed on the planet over 4 billion years ago.

Several hours later...

A white dot speeds through the skies, a small shine of green appearing once in a while.

"Nothing..."Vert sighed as her scanner failed to show the ping she desperately needed."...does this planet not posses Deuterium-6*?"
(*For RP purposes, Deuterium-6 is a common byproduct of marine life)

An almost silent ping interrupts her sentence. She looks at the scanner several times, perplexed at the small signal that appeared right at the edge of the device's sensor range.

"...it...can't be..."Her voice trembles with excitement as she orientates herself to the signal."This could help me get off this planet..!"

As she flew towards the ping, something even stranger happens. More pings...Like a LOT MORE...Ludicrously more you can say!

"This is impossible, this planet shouldn't be able to sustain such a large amount of marine life in this state!"She tells herself, the scanner going against all her biological knowledge."What could possibly make so much Deuterium-6?!"

Just then, a silver flash in the distance catches her eye. Domes, mostly submerged, but recognizable nonetheless, in the ocean of the planet. Whatever it could have constructed them is a mystery to her.

[Talchyon]

Talchyon's New Home, city of Nemo
The Presidium
Dr. Lazarus Biltoff

Things were looking well for the research team's initial findings. This sentient tar they were studying on digicom video seemed to be an inorganic, or a hybrid of some kind. Excellent, then. There are ways of working with inorganics. As to the other main area of research, the insatiable hunger of this alien tar, there were some interesting and highly technical discussions regarding matter generators. In theory, if the tar were always to be hungry, matter generators calculated to provide what it was hungriest for, might be a perpetual sustaining solution for the tar. This, however, was dependent on if the tar grew in size, and likewise, in appetite. The early digivideos showed some growth in the tar after this being, the Puppet Master as it called itself, had encountered it the first time. That meant that the inorganic could also expand with matter, and presumably with appetite. In the end, matter generators might increase its size and hunger, and then the amount of generators at the start would not be sufficient to feed the tar as time went on.

But if you took matter away from the tar, or kept the tar separated from matter... now that was an intriguing theory the Talchyonite researchers were developing. Anti-matter generators and screens may cause the tar to shrink, to be sustained, or even to cease. Instead of feeding the sentient tar, they would starve it to death. Science was both fun and exciting.

Dr. Lazarus Biltoff wiped the sweat from his brow. They had been at this task for hours, and while it was thrilling, he was tired, to say the least. A full day's worth of work, and then extra hours after. He had to slow down, or he'd have a stroke.

The comm panel next to him blipped on. Looking down at it, Biltoff saw what looked like some kind of warphole open up, and a ship flew out. A ship that was Talchyonite, but... "That's impossible! How the devil did they...?"

A message was incoming from the ship. "This is Captain Dmitri Nodyev of the TSS Rhodium, requesting permission to land."

Biltoff's eyes glazed and his jaw dropped. Nodyev was dead! But their cyber-signature checked out entirely. It wasn't a ruse! The Rhodium was back from certain destruction, and the dead had come back to life! Nodyev was going to have one heck of a story. "Permission granted. Welcome back, Captain Nodyev." At the mention of the name, others in the room looked up, puzzled.

Biltoff then sent his signal to the alien ship, requesting identification and purpose. Then he looked up at the puzzled researchers. "My friends! It's not every day you get to celebrate a resurrection from the dead. But today is one of them. Captain Dmitri Nodyev and the Rhodium are back. They're alive!"

---

Talchyon's New Home, a secret military base
TSS Prometheum

The stowaways had been separated in different levels of their brig, and interviewed one at a time. That way, they would be less likely to be able to agree to a fake story and pass it off. Any lie that one told would be noticed when the others did not repeat the same story. Granted, there was always the possibility of implanted technical comm devices, though the Prometheum's scrambling fields should have such taken care of. There was also the possibility that these aliens had the ability to read each others' minds at a distance and communicate without any visible sign of having done so. But this was preposterous on the face of it, and an idea that only the most creative but unrealistic midshipmen had suggested.

The two ships had landed on their home planet after returning from the Zach American sector. It was with a heavy heart and mixed feelings that they had returned. First, every crew member was thrilled to be back home, even if they were still on duty at a military base. But even their joy had grief. Their three most senior officers had been captured by aliens, and taken to who knows where. Space was a huge place to hide. The homing device they put on the Zach American starship would alert them if they got close enough, say, within a solar system. But outside of that, the range signal didn't go that far and they were going to have to be looking for a needle in a haystack. Orders from their homeworld had to be followed, however. And their orders required them to return home. Command hadn't been happy to hear about the loss of Gen. Hume, Capt. Ahmadi, and the civilian chief researcher Dr. Xu. The crew wasn't thrilled about it, either.

The six stowaways from the Prometheum and the five from the Cerium had more or less given the same story. They were members of a persecuted faction called "Exalt" on Zach America, and a few other planets (places the questioners hadn't heard of, so there was that). This "Exalt" group had been mercilessly attacked for years by imperial forces on their homeworlds. They carried signals their person, because it was the only way to know who to trust. Not only that, but the "Exalt" group had been unjustly blamed and maligned for many acts, mostly terroristic. Their families had been threatened by their corrupt governments, their livelihoods taken, their safety in danger, and their hope almost crushed. When questioned more about this line of inquiry, each of the stowaways - to a man - were fearful of being sent back to Zach America, to face unjust trials, certain cruelty for their alleged but uncommitted crimes, and a quick death. Why, there had been an explosion on their homeworld just before the Talchyonite ships had left and come to this world. But, again, to a man, each of the stowaways denied any responsibility for it. "We were framed!" one man cried out. "They blame us for all this that we have nothing to do with!" When it was asked who caused this explosion on the homeworld of the Zach Americans, to a man, each answered, more or less saying, "I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me if President Garrison on our country blew up his own planet, to raise political pressure against us. He has been unsuccessful in his previous efforts. This time, blowing up his planet and taking millions of lives, but then controlling the media and brainwashing the planet against us, he was hoping to wipe us out for good. That's why we took shelter on board your ships..."

After the interviews, which had been digirecorded and would be analyzed later, Command was faced with what to do with these political refugees. It didn't seem fair to lock them up...

[United States of Spain]

Upper Atmosphere, Talchyon's New Home

As the grey and green flash that is Vert moved towards the domes, thoughts crossed her mind.

"Could a species have evolved on this planet while I was under? Maybe it's the ruins of a civilization that destroyed itself?"A million ideas crosses her mind."Or maybe a sentient species has settled this planet looking for a new home..."

Visible excitement appears on the CPU's face.

"Hehehehehhe"She giggles."May aswell investigate while I'm looking for this Deuterium-6 source."

She dove towards the domes, which were now below her, hoping to find a way in... or a least a window to look through.

Some time later...

Vert creeped near what appeared to be a huge door.

"Well this is the closest thing I've found to an entrance, but it's sealed shut..."She says slightly desperate"...DAMMIT!"

She punches the metal dome, leaving a visible dent on it with the shape of her fist.

"How am I going to investigate if it's sealed...?!"She almost yells, but something interrupts her.

A bright metal ship, descending towards her.

"Crap, I got to hide, I may have been spotted!"She tells herself before diving around the dome.

Yet the ship continued to descend towards the dome. A loud sound of motors going into full power fill the air around her before the sound of metal wheels rolling on metal is added onto it. The doors!

Vert realizes that the ship is her only chance to get inside and she flies as fast as she can to enter through the doors, keeping herself concealed with the descending ship.

Inside the Talchyonite Hangar.

Vert settles herself down on top of a crane , keeping herself out of sight while having a good view of the entire hangar. She silently observes as small figures walk out of the ship before pulling out something that resembles binoculars.

"Oh!"She gasps when she sees Captain Nodyev and his crew leave the Rhodium."A mammalian species? Curious..."

She drops down and hides behind a crate on the dock, trying to get a better look of the strangely curious species.

"Almost...close....enough...to..."She inches her way as close as possible without being seen."...got it!"

She dives deep within Nodyev's mind, her curiousity about his species pushing her foward. What seems like hours to her are actual seconds before she breaks off the connection at the sight of something she never thought she'd see.

"Neptune..."She whispers"....and Zero..? Maybe someone who resembles him...? In Celestia? I need to find that Deuterium-6 power source and get moving."

Yet her curiosity still pushes her forward to follow the strange group further inside the complex.

[Skyberius]

CHAPTER 1.1: The Meeting

Imperial Palace, Commodore System

Solem Wiess entered the room of which the representative from Spain stood, the briefing pack he read before coming gave him some basic information, but a millennia of isolationism was bad for individual intelligence, he took a few steps in the room, cleared his throat, and spoke with a voice that he hoped didn't make him sound annoyed,

"What brings me the pleasure of speaking with the United States of Spain?"

[United States of Spain]

Imperial Palace, Commodore System

Helio did a ceremonial bow of respect before addressing Solem Wiess.

"Mr. Wiess, before I begin, with all due respect, If possible you would add the prefix Stellar League to that, but I insist that it is no bother for me."Helio clears his throat."By orders of President Daser Theus G., I extend an invitation to you and your highest officials of the government, including the Emperor, if he so desires, to attend an intelligence briefing at The Capital."

He hands him a floppy tablet with the basic run down of what has ocurred(Omitting certain details, like the terrorist attack in Zach America and the CPUs, remember, Helio was tasked this before the cluster went to the poop bucket)

"I shall be staying on Alexandria for a few days as my pilot makes preparations for departure, if you are interested in attending please let me know, as I will be reporting to President Theus after my leave."

After a not-so composed bow, Helio retires back to the diplomatic ship for the rest of the day.

Inside the Talchyonite Complex, Talchyon's New Home

Vert slid from shadow to shadow, following the group further into the mysterious alien complex, wondering what had occurred to these beings to meet her second-youngest sister and a man that resembled or possibly is, Zero.

"Hey Captain, you think they'll give us a medal?"One of the crew members jokes."They must have thought we kicked the bucket when we encountered those first aliens."

Nodyev shrugs, but in his mind, Vert reads something else.

"I don't care if they give us a medal or whatever, hell I'm grateful to made it back home alive, even after all the stuff has happened to us, I'm worried to know what kind of neighborhood we've ended up in..."He thinks deeply"Wait, what was that beeping?"

"Beeping...?"Vert asks herself before she notices that her Deuterium-6 sensor was going crazy, quickly turning it to silent mode."Crap, just let it slide, please just let it slide..."

He staggers a few seconds, wondering what that sound was but he soon forgets about it and continues down the corridor.

"Phew...too close."She wipes her sweat off her forehead."Now let's look at that sensor...ITS RIGHT THERE!?"

She immediately covers her mouth, thinking she was the biggest idiot ever to yell out loud like that. After a quick scan of her surroundings, she sighs in relief to see that Nodyev and his crew was long gone. She immediately heads towards the corridor.

After a few minutes of sneaking through deserted hallways, she ends up in a large instance with a huge structure right in the middle. A tank, with a silvery blue liquid moving around in clumps. Deuterium-6.

She looks at the tank and see's the label "UNUSABLE WASTE! HIGHLY DANGEROUS!". She grinned at the letters that she could easily recognize. Looks like Zero may have left his footprint in this species.

"Two pints of this and I'll be set for another few billion years."She tells herself as she extracts the Deuterium-6 out of a gaseous exhaust vent coming out the tank."And I can get off this rock. Good to know that I can always come back to get more and they wont mind.

Not long after, a green dart flew across the sky of the almost barren world, with hopes of reuniting with her sister and the man she loved.

[Talchyon]

The Capital, United States of Spain
Dr. Feng Xu

The alien world they had been taken to was astonishing to see, and even more so if the person seeing it was a highly advanced, scientific researcher. Dr. Feng Xu, who for the last part of his career before heading to space was spent as the leading researcher at Mendeleev University on Talchyon's New Home, was taking it all in, as best he could.

A synthesized planet in the shape of a gigantic ring! The physics calculations themselves would be vastly different from any spherical planet. With the friendly assistance of the ship's short robot with the highly progressed advanced artificial intelligence, named "Icarus," and the dutiful assistance rendered by any public access interface, Dr. Xu was able to learn some things. The gigantic ring had a diameter of 1.4 AU, which was 130.2 million miles, or 210 kilometers. Gravity was generated by spinning at a rate of a little more than 3 million miles per hour. The ring was like the habitable section of a Dyson Sphere.

The air was breathable by humans, which was not startling since these "aliens" had actually come from Earth. Though they had left the planet long after Dr. Hugo Talchyon's fateful voyage took him to the stars. Well, the air here was breathable for those who had grown up here, and also for newcomers like Talchyonites for a short time because they were not used to it. This ringworld had a much higher oxygen content level than what Talchyon's New Home had. Xu's home planet was somewhat similar to Earth, having 72% Nitrogen, 24% Oxygen, 1% Neon, and other gases. But this world was 50% Oxygen, 25% Nitrogen, and then the remaining quarter was divided up into small percentages of hundreds of other gases! How long did fires take to put out here, since everything was super flammable due to the increased oxygen? Even the slightest scrape of metal together might ignite a conflagration! Xu would have to warn his travelers to be cautious. And then, breathing in that amount of oxygen over long periods of time would cause brain damage, too. Xu would have to find a lab and get something worked up to counteract this. Some kind of breathing mask, perhaps.

Xu had heard some offhand remarks from Gen. Hume and Captain Ahmadi about their discussions. Seems their friendly kidnappers were worried about one war already engaged, and another brewing. Hume and Ahmadi had been invited to sit in on the plans, but as the new kids on the block, they of course were treated as advisory delegates without any proper vote. Seems their friendly kidnappers didn't think the new guys had much to contribute to the one war, not having any information on this group that called themselves, "Exalt". The others had detailed information about terrorist acts and bloodshed supposedly commited by this group. Though, as Hume liked to remind the Talchyonites, there was more to the story that they weren't hearing. This was all one-sided, and something else was going on with this "Exalt" group than was being discussed.

The other war that was brewing was one where humans were on the outside. Supposedly there was tension and fighting going to happen among denizens of an ancient alien race that claimed to be hundreds of billions of years old. Which made Dr. Xu scoff. The universe wasn't that old. It was only a little less than 200,000! Hadn't these aliens studied science? The propaganda and lies of early evolutionists had spread like wildfire in Earth's history, but had been proven false as each successive generation away from that fraud, Charles Darwin, chipped away at the presumptions. The evidence just didn't fit. Darwin's preposterous theory didn't fit why all people had the same mitochondrial matriarchal ancestor. Nor did his junk theory of evolution fit the sterility of species where variation was introduced into animal breeding. Nor did it fit with biochemistry, Terran geology, or any number of scientific fields. Instead of listening to that crackpot in the 1800's, the world should have listened to the first skeptics of the evolutionary theory, the noted paleontologists whose field of research did not support the suppositions of that fringe lunatic, Charles Darwin.

Dr. Xu himself did not attend these meetings and planning sessions. He was frankly outside his element. But put him in a lab and conduct research! Why, that was the way to go. It didn't hurt that he had digi-impressions and recordings made of Dr. Talchyon's prized notebook with advanced scientific theories, and that he could decipher them. Perhaps it was time to find a lab somewhere, and learn more of what the good doctor had left behind...

---

A transit sector on Talchyon's New Home
Captain Dmitri Nodyev

Inside the Talchyonite Complex, Talchyon's New Home

Vert slid from shadow to shadow, following the group further into the mysterious alien complex, wondering what had occurred to these beings to meet her second-youngest sister and a man that resembled or possibly is, Zero.

"Hey Captain, you think they'll give us a medal?"One of the crew members jokes."They must have thought we kicked the bucket when we encountered those first aliens."

Nodyev shrugs, but in his mind, Vert reads something else.

"I don't care if they give us a medal or whatever, hell I'm grateful to made it back home alive, even after all the stuff has happened to us, I'm worried to know what kind of neighborhood we've ended up in..."He thinks deeply"Wait, what was that beeping?"

"Beeping...?"Vert asks herself before she notices that her Deuterium-6 sensor was going crazy, quickly turning it to silent mode."Crap, just let it slide, please just let it slide..."

He staggers a few seconds, wondering what that sound was but he soon forgets about it and continues down the corridor.

"Phew...too close."She wipes her sweat off her forehead."Now let's look at that sensor...ITS RIGHT THERE!?"

She immediately covers her mouth, thinking she was the biggest idiot ever to yell out loud like that. After a quick scan of her surroundings, she sighs in relief to see that Nodyev and his crew was long gone. She immediately heads towards the corridor.

After a few minutes of sneaking through deserted hallways, she ends up in a large instance with a huge structure right in the middle. A tank, with a silvery blue liquid moving around in clumps. Deuterium-6.

She looks at the tank and see's the label "UNUSABLE WASTE! HIGHLY DANGEROUS!". She grinned at the letters that she could easily recognize. Looks like Zero may have left his footprint in this species.

"Two pints of this and I'll be set for another few billion years."She tells herself as she extracts the Deuterium-6 out of a gaseous exhaust vent coming out the tank."And I can get off this rock. Good to know that I can always come back to get more and they wont mind.

Not long after, a green dart flew across the sky of the almost barren world, with hopes of reuniting with her sister and the man she loved.

He hadn't always been thankful to be planetside. There had been years when Captain Dmitri Nodyev barely tolerated coming back to land and was instead eager to leave again. His starship was more home to him.

But this time, there was an energy about him, a spring in his step off the Rhodium, and a thrill to be back and safe after his most recent launch and what had come of it. After the difficulties he had with that New Spaniard technology - that wasn't exactly compatible with Talchyonite wormhole generators - Nodyev was relieved to be back home. Who knows how long they might have been in space had the alien tech caused more of a nuisance? Not that it was all bad. Just, it was not quite compatible. What kind of neighborhood was this minicluster anyway?

First thing to do, thought Nodyev as he made a mental checklist, was to find someone who could reprogram alien nanites.

Just then, he heard a noise, an electronic beeping noise. It jarred him out of his thoughts. "Eh? What's that?" Nodyev looked around. It wasn't uncommon to hear such noises in the transit corridors. "Could be that one of these pressure servers is low on coolant. Probably nothing. Maintenance can take care of it." And he continued his way, along with the other crewmen who were also happy to be home.

Down the corridor, he took a rapid transit shuttle to the level he was heading for. The main level was the home for all the stores, work and business of the Talchyonites, but also the Presidium and governmental entities. Sub-levels housed maintenance, research and development, as well as human services, medical. Military was in completely different and isolated complex units, but few Talchyonites knew of them. Capt. Dmitri Nodyev's goal today was a debriefing with Acting Head Dr. Lazarus Biltoff.

Taking the stairs to the floor he was looking for, Capt. Nodyev approached the door of the office of Dr. Biltoff, a few Presidium safety and guide escorts accompanying. The lead person in this small entourage knocked on the door, and then signaled to Capt. Nodyev to enter. He did, standing at full military attention. The acting head said, "At ease," and Nodyev stood at ready. Dmitri Nodyev had never met the acting head personally. The man looked tired, worn out and old. Widows' peaks creased his eyes, and wrinkles lined his face. But, there was also a small smile in the corners of his mouth, if you could catch it.

"Captain Nodyev, back from the dead!"

Nodyev thought, this is an odd way to meet the acting head. He chose non-confrontational words that fit many settings in talking to a superior. "Yes, sir."

"We had a funeral for you. Seems we jumped the gun."

Nodyev's eyebrows raised. Still, his answer was non-commital, "Yes, sir."

Dr. Biltoff's smile deepened. "Captain Nodyev, I haven't had a chance to read all of the files from your craft that were downloaded, but I have glanced at a few details. Is it true that you found that the new entropy field, when active, takes you through the sides of a wormhole?"

Oh great. Nodyev kept his face firm, however. "Yes, sir. It was necessary at the time. We didn't know it would do that, sir."

If anything, Dr. Biltoff's smile got wider. "You're not in trouble, soldier. This is fascinating! It will lead to new fields of research! The general population will be thrilled!"

Ok. Not the reaction Nodyev was expecting. Back to using safe words. "Yes, sir."

"Captain, how many alien races did you encounter?"

"At least two. Possibly more." The first aliens from Solocon whose fleet almost blasted them to smithereens while warning them to not land on their planet, and the New Spaniards who gave them this somewhat helpful, yet frustrating alien tech that thoroughly corrupted his ship's wormhole generator. Though, technically, they weren't aliens...

"Captain, the information you have brought back is fantastic, and will be eagerly analyzed. The star patterns and maps, the alien species, the interactions - all of it will advance our great society."

Here's where the take came in the give-and-take. "Dr. Biltoff? The Rhodium is in need of serious repairs. The wormhole generator was dismantled, and reprogrammed when we crash-landed on one of those alien worlds. We got it hooked back up and put the system online. But the alien tech came with repair nanites that reconfigured our wormhole generator to be their lesser, inferior model. They called it a jump drive, but it's slow compared to ours. We need some way to reprogram these nanites or take them out of the equation, before the Rhodium flies again."

The acting head looked slightly puzzled, as if he had been taken out of a reverie, but then he recovered. "Of course, Captain. We'll have some researchers address that in no time."

Nodyev was pleased that he had taken that so well. Must be nice to be the acting head.

But then, he spoke again. "But we will need you to go back. Because not too long before you, the Prometheum and Cerium returned, but without Gen. Hume, Captain Ahmadi, and Dr. Feng Xu, who invented the entropy field and was fine-tuning it on the flight. We're going to need to find them. Oh, and it turns out that we had some visitors on our flight. Stowaways from a new race called the Zach Americans, political dissidents of some sort. They can't stay here. You're going to escort them back to their home world, or to another place if that is too dangerous for them.

"Captain Nodyev, there's more. You are not the only one to encounter an alien species. We did also, in a sense." Dr. Biltoff filled in the captain on what had happened with the robotic owls, the black cube, this strange entity calling himself the Puppet Master, and the sentient tar. "Captain, our researchers are working on a way to fight that sentient tar. But you need to keep your eyes open for anything resembling this. There are hostile forces against us and I think we're running out of time."

Just then, an alert sounded on Dr. Biltoff's commpanel. He went to his chair and looked at the screen. His expression grew into a hardened frown. "That's odd. An unidentified ship from an area we don't have any ships at, just launched. Initial scans indicate that this ship is not Talchyonite. The ship is leaving the planet's atmosphere, and heading toward Bohrus. (The Talchyonites had named stars from their vantage point off of famed historic scientists from Earth. They named this star after Niels Bohr).

Dr. Biltoff spoke into his commpanel, saying, "Find where that ship came from. And chart where it's going." Then, looking up at Captain Nodyev still standing in his at ready position, he said, "Captain, one more thing for you to do. After we get your ship up and running, first, you will track down and bring back Gen. Hume, Captain Ahmadi, and Dr. Xu. Second, deliver these political dissidents back home, or at least to a safe place. Third, if you can, track down this ship and engage in communication. Find out what they were doing here, and what they want. Dismissed."

Nodyev saluted, and his salute was returned. Then, turning around, he formally walked out.

[Zach America]

~6~
"Hell breaks loose"

I've missed a lot, I know, but I am going to try

Garrison did not leave the BR-71, instead, he watched his home, his foundation, the history of the country, explode in front of his very eyes. His eyes were glued to the screen, it was as if he couldn't move them. As if he was frozen in this moment of time. He had let his country down, he had let his co-workers down, he had let his family down. There was no purpose for him anymore. He wanted to jump off this plane and fall to his death and never have to worry about it again. The country had simply fallen apart in his hands like a snowball made out of light and fluffy snow. The Red House simply fell between his fingers and into nonexistence.

"President Gar..." One of the agents was about to inform him that he was needed outside the BR-71 to speak with the foreign officials; however, he stops mid sentence as he sees the destruction that has unfolded.

"Is that...?"

"Yes." Garrison was surprised he could even move his lips to utter a word. They felt glued together because he had not spoken for so long.

The screen was a hypnotic terror. The agent found himself in a trance, staring at the screen. Knowing what had happened, Garrison knew he had to break the news to the officials standing outside.

Garrison looked to the Puppet Master, to the Spanish leader, and all the other leaders standing around on the tarmac. His face was so distraught and so unorthodox that even the Puppet Master showed a slight look of sympathy.

"The Red House was struck by an explosive, initial readings show it much similar to the bomb at the Liberty Hotel." Garrison said with a blank face and no expression. He simply looked up to the leaders around him. A man who was in control and commanding of the people before found himself helpless to the point that he simply looked at the leaders and asked.

"What do we do?"

[United States of Spain]

(OOC= To keep the fluidity of the story, im going to insert the response to ZA with the spoiler below, i tried my best to make it simple to keep up with)

Daser watched with a twist in his stomach the burning debris that was The Red House, Exalt, in the middle of what is going on already, attack any symbol of national unity that the Zach Americans could have.

"Garrison...I..."His voice catches a little bit"...I promise you that they will not go unpunished. I have lost a lot myself to them. This is both a issue of international concern and it's turned personal

It wasn't long after that the Hope of Rebirth trembled as a thermo-neutron explosion devastated the administrative district of Zach America's capital planet.

Border of The Gamindustri System, Sector 42, Icarus Cluster

Disengaging plane-shift drive, we have arrived at the target system.

"Finally...."Vert sighs with relief."...I thought I wouldn't make it out of there."

Going back in time to a few days earlier

"...now I just put the drops of Deuterium-6 in the fuel intake..."She mumbles as she closes the fuel hatch and renters the space craft."...Commence reactor re-ignition."

A soft purr fills the cabin of the ship as the reactor of the ship commences to produce energy from it's fresh fuel source.

"Re-initializing Ship AI..."The command console chirped as lights turned off and on."...reboot complete. Hello Vert"

The CPU's expression softens as a relieved smile sprouts on her face.

"Inquiry on duration of last cryostasis session."She orders."Represent in Standard Galactic Time."

A few seconds later the AI had the response ready.

"4 billion years, six months, ten days and five seconds "The AI responds."Cause of end of cryostasis: Power Failure, emergency reverse-cryostasis procedure."

She slumps on her pilot chair in disbelief.

"...4 billion years..."She mumbles in disbelief."...AI, display current galactic coordinates."

A holographic stellar map displays over the console, indicating a solar system near the Gamindustri System.

"...I need to head back."She straightens up"Plot course to origin system."

She quickly goes through the simple start up procedures and before five minutes have gone by, the ancient craft rises from the ground, leaving a pit of molten rock from the thrusters and a smoke trail behind it as it speeds up to orbital velocity

"I am detecting a wave length that could be a possible primitive hail, response?"The AI asks.

"Onscreen."She says.

[Risekyl]

On board the I.S.S Leviathan

If only Sovzeran could see her now. Was what she just pulled off exceptionally dangerous? Yes. Was she supposed to contact Sovzeran so he could do the talking instead? Yes. However, that would take too much time. Technically Sovzeran had already fired her, but did she have to step down if he "recommended" it? Either way, it would have to wait until later. Her concentration was to be spent on this...thing. Things. She'd probably be speaking to more than one of them. They..behaved nothing like the dragons of Risekyl. Their faces seemed to writhe almost constantly when they spoke, and they somehow managed to walk on the back two legs for longer than a minute. Her amber gaze travelled up and down the man in front of her, the man in charge. Was he male? He smelled vaguely like it. 'Vaguely' as in, somewhere above 0% but also probably no higher than...3%? The females on Risekyl were always bulkier. What the hell were these things?

Her remaining thoughts about the species in front of her were cut short, as a limb gesture cause the armed soldiers to lower their weapons. Riucke wasn't sure she cared; She could probably shove their entire face into her mouth. Not that she wanted to.

Then Cutter made a movement which was likely a beckon to follow, so Riucke about-faced and waved most of her crew back inside the Sanipkur. They had no business to do with whoever the leader was. She would relay the information to Sovzeran, Elysarra, and the others in time. Warily, Riucke followed the stranger to wherever he intended to lead her. Everything was new, nothing was familiar.

Kihlek, Risekyl

Elysarra stirred drowsily on her couch, and her amber eyes slowly opened. Late evening light filtered through the colored windows of her office, sending rainbows of color(although, they would be more vibrant to humans, as dragons are red-green color blind, Deuteranopia) across the floor and into the sky dragon's eyes. Her lips parted in a groan; she remembered why she had passed out in the first place. The discussions held within the past few days with her ministers and other officials had her exhausted, so when she had paperwork to do her will to live sank into the depths of the planet. Luckily, she had finished most of the work and sent it off; Elysarra, however, had collapsed to her couch not long after.

"Vdri algbo?" An amused, yet tired, voice came from beside the leader. Elysarra's bondmate* had crawled up onto the couch, holding hot cups of liquid in one of her hands. The poor dragon had had to put up with much of her friend's rantings, and had chosen to stay awake to keep Elysarra sane for the most part. She might as well have been Aussirix** incarnate. She was a volcanic dragon, whose scales appeared black until struck with Itmen's light, revealing a dark blue undertone, like the depths of the oceans. The dragon possessed a pair of horns, sprouting out above her eyebrows and forward, though they weren't large enough to be distracting. Beside her ears, another pair was growing outwards towards her spine, however the one on her left was broken due from a fight. Her brown eyes, filled with a certain warmth, found Elysarra's amber ones easily enough, although she had to look sharply up to do so.

"si huven batobot si tiliw." Elysarra said conversationally, taking one of the offered drinks that her bondmate had. The leader moved to her left slightly so that her fellow dragon could fit on with her, which was slightly difficult with Elysarra being a sixty-foot-long sky dragon and her friend being about half her size in length. Amusement was visible in her eyes as she watched her friend try valiantly to climb up the couch and almost fail as her back left foot lost its place. "Iloura," Elysarra said her name after a moment of silence, staring into the drink; it was one of Risekyl's more favored drinks: ground up bark of certain trees and nuts steeped in hot water. It has a taste which humans would describe as being similar to cinnamon, yet mostly tasting of cashews. The drink was mostly popular Haruhidol, where the favored tree for it resided and thus more dragons drank it. Elysarra took a drink of it, mostly because she had yet to really think about what she had wanted to say, damn her. "iloura, tir wux siofme lesotir ekess oium ui wer harkt youwe? Svanoa throden epanomisi re mobi ihk udoka ekess tafiaf?" The two questions earned Elysarra a half-irritated nudge by her fellow dragon, who met her gaze. Iloura let out an exasperated sigh as her gaze returned to her drink, and she muttered, "Yth tepoha coanwor svern nomeno ghoros.." The volcanic dragon paused for a moment, hating the tense silence that clung to the air. Iloura narrowed her brown eyes at her drink, seeming to have lost all motivation to drink or eat in the matter of a few moments. Not that she disliked talking to Elysarra or trying to reason with her, but it was getting exhausting, especially considering the topic. Risekyl was about to interact with a new civilization, but it was her job to not send Elysarra into fits of worry or anger, to maintain a neutral opinion. She pressed her head gently against Elysarra's grey shoulder, almost flinching away when the other dragon's muscles tensed. Iloura hummed a famous melody for a minute or so, breaking off when the leader lowered her head and glared at her! "Tir ti vorq sva ve hefoc batobot!" the volcanic dragon halfheartedly growled, nudging her friend's right shoulder with one of her paws, and quickly broke off into laughter. The two of them sat together for a while, unspeaking. The only thing that was audible was their breathing, distant steps in the corridors, the singing of creatures, the hum of electronics. Elysarra gladly would have taken a walk outside with Iloura, had their friendship, and more, not been controversial. While society would not bat an eye at a volcanic and sky dragon being merely friends or bondmates(although this is a subject of slightly more contention), they would be driven to speculation if the leader of Risekyl had been seen with one even if the relationship was, mostly, merely platonic. They had been long-time friends, and while some dragons probably had their suspicions they kept their jaws shut. She received enough looks from her staff whenever Iloura exited her office. Their meetings were always planned to be when the majority of the population was working. Had Iloura been a fellow sky dragon, the media would talk, but nothing of hate and sin. Many days she was fed up with it and considered being seen in public with her, uncaring of the consequences as it would be incredibly unlikely for the houses to throw her out. They might scrape by with calling it a major offense,perhaps indecency. Iloura had quickly talked her out of it most days, stating that risk of removal from office was hardly worth it.

"Wux jalla gethrisj, Iloura," Elysarra said, contritely. She hated sending Iloura away, but at least she had a somewhat bearable excuse of having work to do, officials to talk to. She would hardly mind staying in her office for longer-Iloura had pleasantly stayed inside her bedchamber with her for a day or so before leaving-which only made seeing the dragon sigh and hop off the couch a bit more bitter. The volcanic dragon quickly finished the drink in her hand, coughing a few seconds later because she did so slightly too fast, and then made her way to the door.

"si charis batobot si geou ocuir wux poktosh?" Iloura spoke after having opened the door slightly, then turned back as if she had suddenly remembered something, "kwi, wux shilta filki... relgr ve, harkt. ha. Si shilta ti bvare zahae wer ywrats creol tairais. Ilrigan, bensvelkilti qe stoda." With that said, the volcanic made haste to exit; she did not catch Elysarra rolling her eyes as best she could at her. The leader slid languidly off the couch towards her computer, which lit up with a faint off-white light. On it flickered various notifications, one in particular drawing her eye:

>>renthisjir tepohaic tlushada.

Words could not express the relief that Elysarra felt. The spacecrafts, the frigates led by the battleship RIS Charis, had found another civilization's ship, or rather the ship had found them. Communications were under way. Let the populace have their doubts. Let them have their fears, their suspicion, their rumors. Their trust was being placed upon the shoulder of Risekyl's most steadfast individuals.

Whatever happened, Risekyl was ready for it. and she would lead the nation through it, or die trying.

(An attempt was made for a good post.)
----


* Typically when mature, A dragon will form a strong, lasting psychological bond with another individual(s). The ones formed with family do not tend to last long as draconic parents do not care for their children beyond the necessities, so as the dragon matures the familial bond breaks down and the dragon will seek out another individual or more, most likely a close friend, and bond with them instead. It's very similar to the process by which a bird imprints(filial imprinting) to what it might see first, but typically stronger, yet with the dragons knowing of their own species. Bonds vary in strength, with some becoming strong enough that if one were to die, the other dragon would likely commit suicide; it is nearly impossible to be rid of a bond, especially a particularly strong one. The bonds do not have to be sexual or romantic, but they can be. It is yet unknown if a dragon can form a bond with a sea dragon or another sapient species not belonging to their genus, but it has never been attempted as of yet. Nor has a dragon had the opportunity to, say, bond with a humanoid. but who says they won't.

** Aussirix is one of the gods of Risekyl. they're something like a sun god, and they are typically credited with creating light and the world. The religion, Aussira, is named in their likeness and is among the most practiced religion in Risekyl.

[Talchyon]

Talchyon's New Home
Capt. Dmitri Nodyev

The nanite problem was solvable after all. It had only taken a considerable amount of ingenuity on the parts of some of Talchyon's finest minds. The good thing was, there was an overabundance of fine minds on his home world. And a considerable amount of ingenuity to spare.

The issue had been that these alien nanites were programmed to redesign any unrecognized engine components, such as the Rhodium's wormhole generators, into a New Spaniard variety of a jump drive, which had made travel safe but much too slow for his purposes. Instead of being able to open a wormhole and travel within moments to his intended destination, taking into account the amount of time needed to calculate and program where the ship was going, the jump drive opened up a sort of channel for ships to proceed along, but at a much slower pace. It had taken him a few hours to travel what he normally would have in moments. The New Spaniards had put this alien technology on his Rhodium while he was being medically detained, and left his trusty Talchyonite wormhole generator unconnected, in storage. Putting the familiar Talchyonite wormhole system back in had led to the unpleasant discovery of the nanites. With a ruined wormhole generator that had been now converted into a makeshift New Spaniard jump drive, it was obvious that massive repairs were needed to handle the nanite problem.

"Leave it to the engineering geniuses on the homeworld," Capt. Nodyev thought. They had not only been able to locate the nanites, but to track them, and thus to learn how and where these nanites were stored. And something about their programming, too. And then the Talchyonite minds went to work. They had been able to synthesize a deactivation code that overrode any previous programs, akin to the programs and devices computer hackers back on Earth centuries before had used.

The way it worked was like this. The entire Rhodium would be surrounded by a "cloud" of magnesium-iron particles. Magnetizing the particles would ionize them, and allow for a greater conductivity. The penchant for Talchyonite unconventional methods, however, gave a "magnetic override program" - basically, a program that brought the nanites to a standstill, but carried by the magnetic particles as if over a conductive web. While the "cloud" of particles would surround the external hull of the ship, and so affect the outside, this would then be conveyed by means of electronic impulses to the interior working of the ship. The magnetic charges were not going to affect the Rhodium's main computer system or databanks. There was a "shut-off" feature in the program that allowed the process to work only on non-Talchyonite technology. This was a touchy way to do it, since there were some aspects of the New Spaniard technology that had proven to be very useful (the star charts and graphing systems, for example). This is why the "magnetic override program" wasn't going to destroy what the nanites had done. It would just "flip a switch" in a sense, and turn the nanites off. Technically, they would still be in the Rhodium's system. But they would be inert, and pretty useless. With this done, another Talchyonite program was to be carried over the magnetic cloud, over and into the Rhodium. This was to reprogram the nanites. They would be locked in from alien sources, and unable to be activated if, say, the Rhodium were to encounter a New Spaniard ship, or make a return visit to New Spain. A few thousand of the nanites would be retrieved in the process, and the Talchyonite engineers would do more study on them and find ways to utilize them further while the Rhodium was gone.

"All in all, it should work. Glad someone could figure it out," thought Nodyev.

This meant, however, that he and his crew would be planetside for awhile. He had already given his crew a brief shore leave, so they could reconnect with their families and friends. They had some free time, might as well use it to help the crew's morale. They'd be heading back out to space too soon after.

So with his ship undergoing maintenance, with his crew on leave, Capt. Nodyev set out to head to a private military facility, where he would get his first impression of some puzzling stowaways who had hopped on board the two other ships, and who had since been detained separately in a military prison. What did Acting Head Dr. Biltoff say they're name was? "Exalt." That's right. Nodyev would soon make the most of his time on his home planet and hear with his own ears their story.

---

Acting Head Dr. Lazarus Biltoff
The Presidium

If facts were to be believed, and Dr. Lazarus Biltoff was sure they were, then there should be a reasonable explanation for the unusual underwater seismic readings and atmospheric emission levels encountered recently. And given that the emissions were concentrated in a certain area, and pointing a straight line to space, it was safe to say that there was an unknown ship that had just left their homeworld.

Facts are strange things sometimes. Stranger than make-believe.

Getting his comm-panel out, Dr. Biltoff sent off a message to that unknown craft, wondering what the result would be. And if he should be getting into it in the first place.

"Unknown craft. This is Acting Head Dr. Lazarus Biltoff of the civilization of Talchyon. You were recently charted leaving this occupied planet. Identify yourself."

Would there be an answer?

[Skyberius]

CHAPTER 2
WERE IT SO EASY

IMPERIAL PALACE, TREVELYN

Solem Wiess tapped gently on the Diplomatic shuttle, Spains diplomat was...an intriguing character, regardless, it was an ample opprotunity to acquire intelligence about the status of the solar system, and, quite possibly, learn a thing or two.

I do wish to inform the kind sire that The Empire accepts the offer to meet with your president, and we shall leave as soon as you are able. Solem spoke with a slight amusement.

Time to get back into the swing of things


I.S.S Leviathan

Cutter lead the newly discovered creature down a few spiraling corridors to a large glass enclosure, below his feet, the planet glowed like an emerald, while the escorts of the ship occasionally came in and out of view, he turned around and placed himself and the creature between a holo table and activated it, A few subroutines ran, and Cutter spoke firmly

"You should be able to understand me, our computers have been analysis your language and should be projecting your language, hopefully nothing sounds too strange for you" Cutter tapped a few buttons and several projections appeared at once, maps, dates, cities, all appeared in a flurry.

So Cutter said as a grin crossed his face Welcome to the Galaxy, what do you want to know first?

[Risekyl]

ISS Leviathan

Riucke expected the corridors to be..busy. Then again, not all parts of a ship were active at the same time. She supposed it wasn't too much different to how a community was; There were hardly enough people to fill every single space of the planet. There were just so many dragons surrounding her, just then on her frigate. Riucke kept her head low, her ears back. The only thing she could truly hear right now was the grinding of her own molars, the steps of the being in front of her. He seemed to have longer strides, so the sound from when their feet hit the floor were off by a few moments. How he kept his balance, she did not know. Maybe, if she had the opportunity, she would examine their anatomy. Perhaps it was something to do with the muscles around their vertebrae. He obviously had discs for hearing, but the were immovable, and therefore his emotions were slightly vague. The coastal dragon muttered something under her breath, which was probably for the best, as the statement was somewhat vulgar.

If the creature could indeed sustain standing on two legs for this, was it out of choice or was it instinctual? Did they ever walk on four? Riucke would be much taller had she reared herself on her hind legs, but that would last only a few seconds at best. Their entire species looked unnatural and preposterous to Risekyl's ideas of extraterrestrial life. Yet, they existed. She had so many questions, most of them were rather silly so she had to refrain from asking them. Risekyl did not want to know about how the beings existed, but about the outside world. How many civilizations were there? Did all of them know about Risekyl's existence? Sovzeran had his tongue more tempered, to the point that some speculated it had been cut off. Negotiation was not entirely in Riucke's field of expertise, hence why she was not the Admiral of the entire fleet. Many of her crew, especially her First lieutenant(who, honestly should be more professional with her.), teased her about the terrible 'disease' known as "tail-and-tongue" syndrome(naturally, it was always contagious. Constant Vigilance!). Perhaps this was cleverly named, since the truly crass individual's word's were no better quality than what came from their rears. Now, she could not really find her words. Everything was off. Everything could go wrong. This is why she could only lead a small group of dragons and not guide them on the next course of action what was she doing-

and then they were in this glass room. Suddenly she could see Risekly, her home, just beneath her. She had to do this, for them. The dragon doubted that this civilization would be the one to obliterate all of them, but if she did this right then that would be the pathway to greater advancement. Exploration. Learning. A greater economy, maybe. They'd also be pissed with her, for overstepping her bounds. Oh well. At least, when she was fired, she could go home, feel the ground. Her First Lieutenant was capable enough to lead the ship, although Riucke had gotten fairly accustomed to the other dragon's presence. Enough. Enough thinking. The thing in front of her probably thought she was weird. She thought that they were weird.

She watched him turn around and face her across the frankly elegant table, and then there was the voice and all of the maps, dates and cities in front of her and it was too much at one time. She took a step backwards, turned her head away for a second or two. Wow. That was. A bit much. Riucke hoped they didn't say anything important before the info dump appeared before her eyes, because her mind had blocked it all out.

"What do you want to know first?"

For the love of-

She didn't know. The dragon opened, closed her mouth. She was unsure if it was a personal question. She would love to know everything about Them, the species, but the government probably wanted information about the outside world, and perhaps to establish some sort of...some sort of relationship? Would Risekyl even be useful to these Things? How much did they know? No where in her job description was the phrase: "Oh, you'll have to communicate with these Flesh Monsters who are more advanced than you." They were more likely to die. She couldn't just sit here and stare awkwardly.

Her eyes scanned the maps, their dates, their cities. Right. Duty calls.

She cleared her throat, "We would like to know your civilizations, and the others. What are the relationships between them, and you? ...Why did you come here?"

[United States of Spain]

Alexandria,Commodore System

Helio stared through the console showing Mr. Wiess standing on the outside, a blank expression going through his face

"Um...sir?"The pilot lightly tapped Helio's shoulder"Coordinates have been set and we're ready to go."

Helio turns around and a look of determination appears.

"Get a copy of Gamindustri's coordinates and be prepared to hand them over to Mr. Wiess"He orders"We shall leave once everything has been done"

"Yes sir!"The pilot slams into a martial salute.


Orbit of Talchyon's New Home

A small smile appears on Vert's face as she looks through the monitor at the human calling himself "Lazarus Biltoff", she never thought her departure would attract the attention of their leader.

"Oh don't mind me I actually just woke up not long ago from a 4 years billion long cryostasis and I do need to get going"She says with a beautiful smile" But thanks for the Deuterium-6! I was running low but it seems that you had plenty that you didn't use, so I hope you didn't mind I took some for the next few billion years, thanks love!"

She winks seductively and closes the transmission

"Charging planeshift Drive"The AI reports"Estimate time until activation, 15 hours"

Vert reclines on her seat and begins to meditate.

Now who is that young man that's with Neptune...?

[Talchyon]

Orbit of Talchyon's New Home

A small smile appears on Vert's face as she looks through the monitor at the human calling himself "Lazarus Biltoff", she never thought her departure would attract the attention of their leader.

"Oh don't mind me I actually just woke up not long ago from a 4 years billion long cryostasis and I do need to get going"She says with a beautiful smile" But thanks for the Deuterium-6! I was running low but it seems that you had plenty that you didn't use, so I hope you didn't mind I took some for the next few billion years, thanks love!"

She winks seductively and closes the transmission

"Charging planeshift Drive"The AI reports"Estimate time until activation, 15 hours"

Vert reclines on her seat and begins to meditate.

Now who is that young man that's with Neptune...?

Talchyon's New Home, The Presidium
Dr. Lazarus Biltoff

His mouth was still open in disbelief. For the second time in recent memory, he had just interacted with an alien species. And this, after puzzling over the existence of alien life at all. This new alien - he didn't really know what to call her - was an indecently-dressed, green haired, green eyed human-resembling lady with a bionic arm. And if Dr. Lazarus Biltoff didn't know any better, he could have sworn that this alien life form had just... just tried flirting with him.

"What in the world?" was all he could manage when the comm channel cut off.

What he knew was relatively little. This alien had a ship that had been on the homeworld. Why, and for how long, he couldn't say. What she had been after was apparently industrial waste, that had yet to be processed and carbonized. Again, why she (it was a she, wasn't it?) was interested in such useless things as industrial waste, completely baffled him. And then, to top it all off, the alien life form was on the level of being certifiably insane. "4 billion years?" The thought was impossible. The universe hasn't been around that long. That had been proven, time and time again. If she had gotten this figure from malfunctioning sensors, or some off-kilter alien chromosome, he would never know.

Leave it to be, Dr. Biltoff could only be astonished at this for so long. He had other, more important tasks at hand. Tasks such as the defense of all life from another alien life form, a carnivorous, hungry, sentient tar-being that was on its way here. Making sure that the comm-panel had accurately recorded this information, Dr. Biltoff filed it for later analysis.

And then he headed down to the research labs to participate in his team's progress against a dangerous enemy who was to come.

---

SLMSS Hope of Rebirth
Landing on the New Spain planet, The Capitol
Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume

Thrusters fired from the hull of the large starship, decelerating the gravitational pull towards the planet. The pressurized cabin inside held its constancy, meaning that the human travelers on this craft were safe. The craft landed with a gentle jolt, hardly noticeable unless you knew to expect it. Comm screens with tips for activity on the planet scrolled through, repeating the same similar messages. Mostly about watching to start fires unawares, due to the high oxygen content of this planet. The ship had landed onto an unknown world. Unknown, at least to Gen. Dr. Benjamin Hume.

When he had left the craft, the sight had impressed him. The second alien world he had touched foot to was a technological wonder. Robotic proxies droned everywhere. Towering buildings of some kind of metallic alloy gleamed in the sunlight. All this, and built on a technological ring world as well. He had seen that artificially constructed ring world from space, and had wondered what it was like to walk around and discover what such a world was like.

It would be fun to explore, if he were not here for a more serious reason.

First, he had been kidnapped, along with Captain Ahmadi and Dr. Xu. Taken against their will by a clever manipulator from an alien society called Zach America, they had been forced to flee their ships and be held captive - or be blown up. It really was no choice. But the frustration of it was, there was plausible deniability for this Zach American leader, this President Garrison. He had simply asserted that it was all in their best interest, he had saved their lives, they should be thankful... It was all so slick and polished, it made the Talchyonite general sick.

And in the meantime, they had been taken aboard another ship, this time by an alien civilization called New Spaniards. This civilization seemed to be more noble in some respects. Yet, when push came to shove, they were brought back with these new aliens to their homeworld, several parsecs away from his homeworld, no doubt.

Now, the leaders of these civilizations (and others, that other alien who didn't resemble humanity at all, calling himself "Puppet Master" for one; plus more officials he didn't know jack about) were in a conference room. Discussing some ancient war he had only half-listened to. Captain Ahmadi and himself had been allowed to attend these meetings. But more out of a courtesy, or possibly because they wanted the Talchyonites to be used as cannon fodder in this upcoming war. The New Spaniard leader was heading up the meeting, along with his short robotic companion who was also on the ship. Though, it didn't seem as if the meeting had truly started. There were some empty chairs there, and Hume caught the New Spaniard glancing at the doorway from time to time, clearly expecting more to come.

"Be alert," he told himself mentally. "Watch for cracks in the group, that you can use. Cracks between leaders that you can push, and use to get in a position of power..." So he waited. Thankfully, his younger colleague, Ahmadi, had had the same thoughts...

[Precusor]

The Old World

Time seemingly passes by, watching as the swarm of machines grow exponentially with each previous model being replaced by a newer more efficient one.

The Old Machine sat in silence, not like it could move much anyway, observing the changes across the stars. Each bit of new information was gulped down by its vast databanks, sorting into categories such as "Habitable," "Dead," "Void," and "Questionable." Everything was as it should be. Everything except a dark lingering question. "When will they come for this universe?"

It was as if the infinite grandeur that was the cosmos wished to withhold this piece from TOM. However, try as the universe might, some things will come to pass.

Somewhere Far Far Away in the Universe

As if on cue, a tear slowly former across the black emptiness of space. A white light glowed and filled the void, illuminating the darkness surrounding it. Slowly, a dreadnought sized vessel slipped through as the tear sealed itself. Along the left side of the vessel written in white paint, "PES Rebirth" .

The comms were silent save for the chatter the ship was receiving from across the cosmos. The bridge remained dark, with something visibly standing and staring outward. Like a cloak of darkness, the figure flowed around the room, scanning and looking.

"Brother, what are you looking for?" The shadowy entity looked behind it, seeing something that resembled a little girl with skin as dark as the void and whose eyes possess the stars themselves. The entity responded to the child,

"I am looking for Him. He appears to be hopping from universe to universe, seeking refuge from us."

"Why does He run from us? Is He scared of the monsters?"

"No, little one, He scurries away from us, thinking we are His monsters."

"But if we are His monsters, does that make Him our monster father," inquired the little creature.

"I suppose you're right," It says as it looks at a graphical interface. The GUI springs up, showing off images of The Puppet Master in all of his glory. A map rises from the screen, displaying a 3D image of the galaxy, dropping a blinking red dot on a location light years away.

"Are we going to see Papa? The little one inquired.

The dark creature grinned, its mouth void of any discernable features. "Yes, little one. We are going to see him."

Elsewhere

The Puppet Master looked around, his mind drawing blanks on how it feels as if it has been a millennia since he has done anything yet it has only been a few mere moments. The Puppet Master sighs, whistling a sorrowful tune to himself while playing back the footage of the past in his mind.