Clea Soban's Story

How the vessel managed to penetrate the Planck Packs that surrounded Molecay remained a mystery to those whom were charged to defend it. However, as it slipped into orbit, invisible LIDAR beams were broken, broadcast as a grid from thousands of individual sattelites in geosynchronous orbit over the planet, which meant the Provincial Defense force, and the local detatchment of the Imperial Navy were alerted to the ship's presence.

"Alert, we have a break in the LIDAR Grid sector four-dash-seven without signal confirmation." EVE broadcast to the Vigiles class Fast Attack cruiser closest to the break in the grid.

Commander Clea Soban was watching the displays carefully, as the three-dimensional hologram highlighted the break in the LIDAR Grid over the Molecay city of Tiir. She looked up to the hologram of EVE for a brief moment.

Ever since the terrorist attacks carried out by the Switches, security on Molecay had been rapidly increased. Not only were there randomly rotating patrols in orbit, but a LIDAR Detection grid was installed to detect even the slightest anomalies passing into orbit. This sophisticated detection grid was capable of detecting even the smallest speck of dust as it passed through, and a sophisticated AI Bank rooted out false positives, before forwarding the data to EVE.

On the surface, Molecay was under a state of martial law, Block-by-block military checkpoints with genetic verification had become the norm, this rooted out almost anyone who wasn't on the central registry in a matter of time. Mandatory curfews where those out after dark were summarily executed meant the streets of Molecay's cities were ghost towns after dark.

The Rebellion for all intents and purposes existed only in people's hearts, and as controlled opposition. Those who spoke of the rebellion were sent to labor camps for thought-crime, and re-educated.

Traffic too, and from the planet had been almost entirely relegated to the Military.

Commander Soban lowered herself into her command chair as she narrowed her eyes, a black speck coming up against the bright backdrop of Molecay.

"Magnify." She instructed.

The display magnified the black speck as it moved into orbit, Reinforcements were at least ten minutes out, so this would be a one-on-one fight, and the Vigiles class while not the heaviest of hitters, was nimble, and packed it's own punch.

"All hands Action stations!" Commander Soban called out, as EVE's voice chimed into her ear.

"Attempting to analyze unknown object." EVE Chimed in.

Soban turned to the Helm officers. "Full military thrust, we need to intercept that object before it breaches the perimeter!"

"Commander!" Lieutenant Tyrel called out from Tactical. "We have positive weapons lock!"

Nabaal nodded. "Excellent, give word to the forward batteries, make ready and fire!"

The Ifriit moved swiftly towards the Unglauss from a Langrangian point between Molecay and one of the massive Watchtowers in orbit, but was still roughly two minutes out.

It opened fire, sending about a dozen brilliant streaks of green searing towards the other unknown entity. The Aschen here were under strict orders to engage, and destroy any unidentified objects, be they an asteroid, or a stealth ship.

Even wayward civilian ships found themselves prosecuted under Molecay's strict No-Fly order.

"Admiral we have positive weapon locks from the enemy fleet. They've found us" The call came from the bridge.

"Go for protocol F17 with Reno Baseline. Engage" Ilia's voice was cool and calm as she gave the order. It was carried out with just the same degree of calm as her voice denoted.

As the Aschen fire made way towards the Unglauss, the vessel suddenly vanished from it's position, only to reappear several kilometers towards one side. the transition occurred just before the attack made contact. Immediately after, Several vessels appeared suddenly in the same space, a total of Five vessels, with a remarkable similarity to the Unglauss. They mirrored it's movements as they turned to broadside against the Ifriit. As soon as they had, a battery cannons fired in a simultaneous volley, unleashing a salvo of near a hundred ton slugs of solid tungsten that traveled at speeds exceeding 300 kilometers per second.

A short pause after the salvo was launched, the Unglauss dispersed a orbs that floated a shortway from it before bursting and filling the space with Kalinger drones. The drones, once released into space, began scanning and reading for signals. In this manner the probes locked onto the Lidar beams, and once they were tacked to it, they began flooding the system with constant feedback. The end result would be a whiteout of false positives.

The Unglauss was clearly visible now to the Ifriit, heat and EM readings were no longer being masked by the Asylian vessel, which meant the ship was clearly detectable. Why then the Lidar field was being targeted for jamming would be curious to any tactician.

Once the maneuver was complete, Ilia issued more orders. "Prepare drop ships, full battalion. get our agents on the ground. Once we have confirmation, we're pulling out."

The Ifriit's shields flared against the incoming ordinance, but the slugs had been stripped of their kinetic energy as they struck the brilliant white barrier that protected the Ifriit. This was evident in the brilliant white flash from each impact, the Aschen ship was still approaching, appearing to sustain no damage from the incoming volley.

"Shields are holding, no damage." The Helm officer reported, as Commander Soban grit her teeth.

"Sir, EVE is reporting the LIDAR grid is being attacked." The Helm officer reported once more. With the sudden influx of junk data, the AI Banks rapidly began to sift through it, using the LIDAR as a data conduit, they began to mount their own Denial-of-service style attack against the drones, while the original function of the LIDAR system remained intact.

"Fire tricobalt missiles." Commander Soban instructed.

The Ifriit continued on it's intercept course, launching a pair of missiles towards the now five identical ships. These missiles broke up into hundreds of smaller warheads once they cleared the launch bays, with roughly several dozen independently targeted warheads. careening towards each ship, detonating in a chorus of spatial tears that would aim to consume the entire formation, and it's Kalinger drones in the destructive eddies of subspace.

The Ifriit was closing in rapidly, as Commander waited to see the blinding report of the detonation of her Tricobalt missiles.

"Admiral, enemy's have launched missiles. Looks like some sort of wide bore attack" The bridge called out.

"engage Phase pulse" Ilia responded.

As the barrage of missiles made their approach, there was a flash of blue white light, and as it faded, the missiles were no where to be found.

"containment achieved, Superlative layer holding at eighty two percent. Shall we redirect?" A crewman at the console asked.

"Affirmative." Ilia smiled. From the nose of the vessel, a second flash of the light erupted, and from their the missiles that had been streaking towards the Unglauss were now rapidly rushing towards the Ifriit.

following this, the Unglauss once more vanished, along with the five other vessels, only to reappear once more, this time above and to the right of their original position. The five vessels then began shifting, as the Unglauss turned upside down to direct Missile bays at the Ifriit. From these launched a Salvo of their own Missiles.

Ion driven and using onboard phase fields, the Garrick Penetrators were designed as their name suggested, to penetrate defenses. They lacked significant damage capability, but they were designed to punch through armor, and with the phase field they were intangible until a certain distance from their target.

The Kalinger Drones acknowledged a counteraction from the Lidar array, and then responded by tracing the signals and locating the Ai bank on the planet. Once that was done, a full forward direct assault on the software defenses began. Simultanously, the feedback into the lidar array itself was redoubled. An AI of EVE's class would easily be able to handle such an assault, but the AI Bank would find itself having to make a choice. Either devote resources to defending itself, allowing the Drones to flood the LIDAR system with false readings, or melt down from the overheat. The first option would maintain integrity of the array, but would prevent it from being relied upon until the Kalinger Drones were destroyed. The second option would severely hamper and damage the Array, forcing the Aschen to spend more resources to maintain security over the planet to prevent unauthorized ships from entering.

Either way, Ilia would achieve her goals in that regard. The Ifriit itself was the primary threat to her mission, though if F17 had been carried out as necessary, then dropships were already en route. All she had to do was Keep the Ifriit busy until they made landing, and the agents scattered.

"Report" The Admiral barked out.

"Squads Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie have began planetary entry, Squad Delta is still en route." A crewmate responded to her, offering Magus Slate to her. Ilia looked it over, verifying the readings of the individual squad members, then nodded. "Very well. Once we've confirmation on Alpha and Bravo, we begin preparing for Extradition. Have the Shockpoint on Standby."

As the missiles came out from the strange countermeasure that had been deployed against them, each on-board targeting AI recognized the friendlies before them.

Each warhead turned end over end, and once again began to sail back towards the formation of enemy ships, their rear plasmic pulse drives engaging, each Tricobalt warhead was once again on course, careening towards the group of ships, while a handful of them moved to the formation of Kalinger drones, to detonate their lethal payload, and tear a hole into the fabric of space, drawing everything around the eddies into the abyss.

"Keep up the pressure!" Commander Soban called out.

"Bring us two seven three carom one nine two!" She shouted, grasping her chair as the Aschen ship banked hard to the right.

The Turbodisruptor batteries of the Ifriit opened fire as the Unglauss turned to deploy it's own missiles. A withering salvo of several hundred brilliant turbodisruptor bolts fired from about a dozen batteries mounted on the upper decks of the Ifrit, just in time for EVE to report that the Ifriit's sensors picked up several drop pods. A testament to the fidelity of the Wide-spectrum scanners of the Fast-Attack cruiser.

"Execute tactical jump." Clea ordered.

Almost a split second before the missiles impacted the Ifriit, she winked out of existence with a flash of light, and reappeared roughly thirty kilometers away from the formation of ships, firing it's weapon batteries in all directions, five fields of fire erupted fourth from the Ifriit, as each 'Ship' be it real or fake, was targeted for a withering barrage from danger-close range.

Immediately below the entering drop pods, and positioned precisely to interrupt their trajectories, a Reverence II winked into existence from seemingly nowhere. The Reverence II 'Far Sight Lost'

Admiral Ceres Genna was the first to arrive on station, stone faced, and watching the display, she brought up targeting data as her hand gracefully manipulated the display.

Dorsal weapon batteries swiveled to life, acquiring each drop pod as it descended, using high-fidelity visual targeting systems, and wide-spectrum targeting data that detected even the slightest anomaly, they confirmed positive weapons lock, and began to open fire, sending precisely calculated turbodisruptor bolts sailing up towards the descending landers.

"Admiral, I've calculated landing trajectories, and I've notified the local Provincial Militia, as well as the Imperial Defense Garrison to be on station." EVE Chimed in

The Reverence II began to open fire, sending up a thick soup of flak, and turbodisruptor fire at the descending drop pods, if they were going to make it to the surface, they were going to take losses in doing so.

Of course they weren't going to reach the surface, the positioning of the Far Sight Lost ensured as much. The Pods would either have to make a serious course correction, or collide with the Reverence II below them.

The AI Banks of the Lidar Grid opted to choose option C, defending itself from the assault, and maintaining the Lidar grid itself. The AI Systems on the planet were networked to the wider Computational grid of the entire Aschen Empire, which meant the resources of Billions of AI banks scattered throughout the Empire were directed to redouble on the assault. It was a minor annoyance, but the redoubling left the drones vulnerable to the intruder program that slipped in from the last Aschen counter-assault.

The Intruder program was specifically designed to infiltrate, and subjugate computer defenses, as well as avoid detection. One by one the drones would start to either behave erratically, or be forced to direct it's assault on their fellow drones, propagating the intruder program through the network.

The curious thing was the Aschen ships were jumping, even though the Planck field was active, however, EVE was sending commands to the watchtower immediately prior to jump, which meant a brief split-second shut-down of the field to facilitate the jumping of the Aschen ships.

The Drones assault on the AI Banks was not digital in nature. At least twenty seven percent of the banks would suffer meltdowns as surface temperatures on the planet where the banks were located were increasing at rates resultant from directed laser emissions coming from the drones themselves. the Microwave emissions were noticeable and apparent, but unless the Aschen had the shielding to protect the banks from a localized heat wave upwards of five hundred kelvin, they would lose those banks. The Drones themselves shut off shortly after unleashing the emissions, their batteries drained by the attempt. Shortly thereafter the Lidar Array would be cleaned, revealing that of the five ships, only one was actually real. The Others were merely Holographic Projections, which immediately vanished as they were no longer needed.

Of course when the missiles came out of the superlative layer of the Phase Shield, they would lose all engine functionality, as the missiles themselves would have been completely drained of power. This would render them incapable of redirecting themselves, let alone identifying IFF.

The Ifriits relocation was the smartest move the ship could have made, as it ensured both their own missiles, made into little more than flying rocks and space debris at this point, and the Unglauss' own missed the mark. The disruptor fire struck the hull of the Unglauss, breaching the armor in several locations. Bulkheads to those locations were sealed in preparation for further fire. However...

"Checkmate" Ilia said with a smile, turning to her Magus Slate as a slurry of information poured into it. Observational wards had succeeded, and the transmissions of EVE towards the Planck Fields and the towers that sustained them had been recorded. With this information, Asylia would be able to Pin point the exact locations of those towers on any Aschen planet, and ensure their destruction. "Radiation profile scanned and secured. We've achieved our primary goal. Report on the Dropships"

Her Aid stepped forward "Charlie and Delta are taking heavy losses from enemy flak. A larger warship has just jumped in. They no longer have the numbers to achieve their mission. Alpha and Bravo however have successfully landed and dispersed. The Aschen will no doubt hunt for them ma'am."

"And I'm sure after awhile they'll find them, but by the time they do they'll have done what they were made to do." Ilia said, turning to the Reverence class warship. "We've all we need. Engage Shockpoint and take us to the Rendezvous."

She smiled then and said "Also open a channel to the Aschen forces."

Her Aid hesitated a moment before nodding. "yes Ma'am"

Once the channel was open, Video and Audio feeds showing Admiral Ilia's face would be sent to two Aschen Vessels. "This is Admiral Ilia Thauce of the Kingdom of Asylia. I send you this message to congratulate you on your efforts to disrupt our mission in your territory. It was valiant. Futile, but Valiant. As per our Custom, to respect your significant efforts, I will commend the names of your ships to the King, so he may distribute a notice informing all Asylian Forces of your significance. It will be an honor to face you properly, and finally, in the future."

With her speech done, Ilia gestured to her Aid, who cut the feed. Shortly after, another crewmate called out "Phase field is at half power, Superlative layer holding at sixty five percent. Shock Point Drive is charged at thirty six percent. Jump in Seven Cycles."

The physical hardware that the AI Banks themselves were located in, was a bath of liquid helium that kept it at a frigid temperature of about four degrees kelvin. Which was about negative two-hundred and seventy degrees centigrade. These facilities were shielded from orbital attacks in vast underground complexes. The surface would likely dissipate the thermal energy being directed against it, while thick plascrete slabs dissipated the rest of the heat.

The AI Banks finished their work, highlighting the real Unglauss the moment the four other disappeared, and EVE had chimed into the Commander's ear.

"Close-in scans are detecting magical energies, Tactical recommendation: Disable magical systems to potentially render the vessel vulnerable." EVE reported, and Commander Soban grinned.

"Right, Recalibrate our shields for Anti-mana, and disperse charge! Bring us two nine seven carom one six eight, full military thrust, Starboard damage control teams, prepare for impact!"


While the Admiral was gloating to the Aschen Commander, the Aschen Commander simply called out.

"Execute!"

In one synchronous move, the Ifriit launched itself full thrust towards the Asylian ship, jerking roughly to the starboard side on a fast collision course towards the other ship, while Illia was making her speech.

As the words "I will commend the names of your ships to the king." Came over the comms, the Ifriit would slam into the port side of the Unglauss, jagged angular armored plating would shove against whatever materials the Asylians constructed their vessel out of.

An instant following, the Aschen ship's shields flared angrily, a pulse of Anti-mana energy flared outwards in all directions in a split second after contact.

The impact rocked Commander Soban, and nearly tossed her from her command chair, but she had braced for it.

"Jump!" She called out, and as the two hulls were still in contact, the Aschen ship jumped, sending a spatial shockwave that would threaten to tear the Unglauss in two.

The Ifriit would wink back into existence on the starboard side, exposing her port turbodisruptor emplacements. Unleashing a sustained, and withering broadside that would not stop until the Unglauss either engaged it's shockpoint drives, or was destroyed.

"Ma'am the Ifriit is moving towards us at high speed." The Admirals Aid said as a whisper into Ilia's Ear as she made her speech.

After finishing her speech, the Ifriit made physical contact with the Unglauss. "Admiral, the enemy ship is using an Anti-mana field in their shield, their attempting to disrupt our systems. Buffers are Engaged at 72% effectiveness."

"Very good. Is the-" Admiral Thauce got out before another crewmember spoke up "Enemy ship is jumping!"

"Emergency Dilation now!" The Admiral called out, an order that was followed immediately.

Throughout the ship, and subsequently throughout the Ifriit as well due to their physical contact, time had dilated and slowed. Asylians unique Neurology enabled them to perceive this dilation and take advantage of it. As a result, Seconds stretched into hours, granting Ilia the time needed to properly assess the situation. The Bufferfield was still intact, the Anti-mana being held off, and so she reached out to give out further orders in the time that was bought through Telepathy. "Attention. The enemy vessel is attempting to make a warp jump while in physical contact with the Unglauss. The spatial Shockwave will be severe, full brace for impact will be necessary."

"If it were me, I'd make a return jump afterwards to fire a salvo, to finish us off. Whoever is in charge of that ship is not to be underestimated. Follow them with the PCT, and when they come back in, sacrifice whatevers left of the Superlative Layer to block their attack. After that I want us gone.

Asylians Neurology may provide them an ability to perceive the time dilation normally, meaning they could experience the seconds as they stretched into hours, though most other creatures would experience the time normally. However, physically they could not move any faster than normal. The stretch only gave them a significantly longer time to observe and plan, which was used to coordinate their efforts.

As a result, the Ifriit's jump took several hour long seconds for the crew of the Unglauss who, even as their were jostled and jumbled by the effect, had braced for it enough to maintain their positions. Telepathic communications, Facilitated by two coms controllers who relayed the thoughts of the other crew men to her while Ilia's orders were sent directly to them, As Ilia had been born with the gift of magic, were a flurry.

Damage throughout the ship, all external sectors depressurizing, Port side Weapons systems are gone, core systems suffering no significant trauma

Sublative Layer in position, enemy bombardment contained

Shockpoint drive active

Launch now Ilia commanded her troops, who's actions in real time came without any seconds to spare. The Unglauss was sheathed in an intense Electromagnetic lensing field, and once the field fully enclosed the vessel, rapidly accelerated from nothing to speeds so extreme that it seemed to Vanish. Inside of 2 seconds the ship had disappeared, but for the Asylians on board who were still Dilating the experience, those two seconds were two hours in which they waited as gunfire blasted into one side of them.

When it was finally over, and the crew relaxed from the Dilation effects, Ilia rubbed at her temples. Dilation transitions gave her headaches, but she could not help but smile. "So... Ifriit and Far Sight Lost. Two to the roster of High level Targets. I wonder which wolf will try for them first. Heh. Hehehe"

---

On the surface of Molecay, dropships and drop pods, both damaged and otherwise, made reckless landfall in spite of flak fire and a host of other problems. Once they did, they unleashed hundreds of fully armed and armored individuals who immediately began to make use of their weapons by firing them at anything and everything around them.

These drop ships and pods came down mostly in the most populated, and suburban, areas that could be found. Those on board were not soldiers, but criminals granted a chance at Amnesty and freedom, all they had to do was fight and kill their way off of the planet, and they'd be free men.

Of course not one of them had been told they were landing on an Aschen planet, but it didn't matter in any case, all they knew is that they were free, and fully armed to protect that newfound freedom. They would fight and kill and slaughter anyone and everyone they could reach. men, women, children, armed or otherwise these Criminals would kill, steal cars, and use those cars to try to get to a ship that they could take off world, leaving as much destruction in their wake as they could.

Freedom was incentive enough for these men, but of additional incentive were the bombs implanted in the solar plexus. Charges large enough to take out a city block in each of them, set to timers of an hour, that started ticking down after they landed. The soldiers scattered away from each other as much as possible, because they had been graced by the warden who picked them with the knowledge that the bombs would also go off if their hearts stopped. To that end, scattering ensured the best chance of survival, as anyone who was too close to someone else that got killed, would be caught in the blast.

Of course, that was the whole point of the Reno Baseline, these men were death row convicts, doomed to horrible deaths anyway. So why not make those deaths serve the kingdom in the best way men like this could.

On the surface, the convicts would find open streets, and few people. As the moment the festivities had begun, the call to shelter in place had gone out. Most of the homes in Molecay were equipped with shelters of some kind, a holdover from the intense bombardment the planet was subject to during the great war of magellan.

It would be a pitched battle, implanted explosives rocking the city of Tiir, while the convicts faced off with the local provincial Militia, and the deployed chapter of the Adepts of War, which were set to arrive via drop pods launched from the Far Sight Lost.

Admiral Genna's directive was clear, opening a channel to the Profound Solitude II, she began to transmit an urgent message.

"Chairman, this is Admiral Genna, Reporting from the Molecay System. We were just attacked by a ship belonging to an entity calling themselves the Kingdom of Asylia. We've sustained no losses, but there's widespread destruction on the planet's surface from suicide agents. I'm transmitting full spectrum scans, battle data, and point extrapolations, as well as diagnostic data from all Watchtower installations in system, and planet-side Planck Inhibitors." The Admiral reported.

Once the transmission linked up, Chairman Inviere turned to face the Admiral.

"I want a full detail transmitted to my desk within the hour." The Chairman ordered. "And I'll call the Emperor."

"I want to know how they managed to circumvent our Planck Packs. Possibly an inside job? Localized Null zone?" The Chairman replied.

Genna shrugged. "EVE is running a full spectral, and spatial analysis of their exit jump now, we should have full data shortly."

Inviere nodded.

"Keep me informed."

And then she terminated the link.

Molecay Orbit

With the battle having come to an end, now was the time to pick up the pieces, which meant a single Hera class fleet tender was positioning itself where the brief, but intense engagement between the Ifriit and the Unglauss had taken place. It’s objective was to round up the errant Kalinger drones for study, as well as any kind of debris that could be found, which would be placed in storage, and shipped to the materials sciences people back on Langara, where the hull composition could be analyzed, and a weakness deciphered.

Using a gravity tether, the Hera class moved slowly, pulling debris, and anything else caught within the gravity tether closer, drawing them into a large cargo hold situated on the underside of the vessel.

The Ifriit was slowly positioning itself while EVE was analyzing the data extrapolated from the battle.

“First draft has been tendered.” EVE reported. “I detected both gravitons, chronitons, and a temporal residue that indicates some form of temporal manipulation, this occurred immediately prior to impact with your vessel.” EVE reported. “Graviton spike was detected immediately prior to egress, indicating that their exit jump was not facilitated by spatial alteration, but by physical acceleration. I detected similar methods of transit during our engagement.” EVE added, while Soban quietly digested the information.

“Transmit your findings to Fleet, I’m sure the Chairman will be eager to see your initial report.”

Admiral Katamura checked her watch, the time continued to count down, seconds ticked by on the LCD face of the watch, the numerals changing with each passing moment.

There was a flicker of light, a sleek, yet angular shaped vessel winked in from the ether behind the formation of Taiyou ships, this vessel was distinct, in contrast to the brightly colored Taiyou warships, this vessel was dark in color, almost an iridescent gunmetal gray.

Six more strange vessels winked in formation around the alien vessel. These vessels each bore a rather large power signature, obscured by the flickering curtain of light that was their shields. The first vessel could be identified as an Aschen Vigiles class fast attack cruiser, while the six other vessels were identified as Aschen Empire Aegis class defense cruisers.

Commander Soban examined the readout carefully, leaning on the command console. "Aegis cruisers to assume defense formation around the Taiyou fleet, we'll provide rearguard support should this turn nasty."


Working in unison, the crew of the Ifriit began to execute the orders they had been given, as Clea leaned back up from where she was leaning.

"Ad Victoriam!" She called out.

Anquietas numerals counted down on a holographic interface in front of Commander Soban.

Lord Tigris ended the transmission from the Inquisitor and cupped his scraggly furred cheek in his pawed hand. He watched the Aschen ships carefully and pondered the situation. The Alliance had favorable relations with them in the past, but only Ha’Ari knew what state their political theater was in. How likely was it that this was the same empire they knew?

“Open a channel to the Taiyou.” He commanded.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Admiral Ayako.” He began. “As a courtesy, I am obliged to give you a status update on the operation. Our team of specialists, led by an elite Inquisitor, has made contact with the survivors of your countrymen - including the princess - and have neutralized the threat. I was informed that they are attempting to recover some sort of artifact for Her Highness. Presumably, you would know of what she speaks.”

In high orbit over Bastion IV, a single Aschen Imperial Vigiles class fast attack cruiser winked into existence from nothingness, the AHSC Ifriit settled into geosynchronous orbit over the continent of Xamoyos, while Commander Soban watched the displays with great interest.

"This was the last known location of the transport carrying the Aiyanna." One of the tactical officers reported, while Soban's eyes glanced down at the report.

"Initiate surface scans, and launch a squadron of Talons to conduct a low-fly aerial reconnaissance, try to find the location of the distress pulser on the surface." Commander Soban ordered.

The officer nodded, and began to key in the orders, as the Aschen vessel sat idle with the planet as it's backdrop.

A trio of small, sleek Raptor Talon type star-fighters shot fourth from the belly of the ship, darting towards the planet's surface.

The Condor VTOL's back ramp opened with an audible hiss, a formation of six Aschen soldiers in full jungle type battle rattle emerged, their MC Carbine type rifles held snugly in their arms as they fanned out, taking positions around the Condor, their faces were obscured by fractal patterned keffiyeh scarves, and dark tinted goggles.

Each one made a series of hand gestures, crouching low, and scanning their surroundings.

A woman started to emerge from the bowels of the craft, she was in a dark grey uniform, trimmed with a dark blue, polished leather sam browne style belt glinted in the sunlight.

The Woman stepped down from the ramp, and onto the sand of the beach, her arms were clasped behind her back, and her gaze was cold, with purpose, she moved through the formation of soldiers. She looked like business, her hair neatly pulled back, under a peaked officer's cap that matched the uniform.

The woman stopped several paces away from Aiyanna.

The woman turned her attention over to Jay, and snapped at him in a stern voice.

"Silence, Xeno!" She ordered, before she turned to Aiyanna.

The woman replied. "Ad Victoriam, Aiyanna. Your decommissioning has been indefinitely postponed. The Emperor has determined that we require your abilities in our upcoming war against the Asylians."

"Your ship crashed before we could issue the recall order. We are also here to investigate the circumstances surrounding that."

She looked to her surroundings. She cast a rather irritated glare at John.

"Do you insult me? I should have you shot!"

Clea Soban kept her irritated gaze at John, scowling even deeper. "We are a sanctioned Aschen military operation, not a charity!"

Clea narrowed her eyes, but her brief bout of arrogance was interrupted by the shouts of an Aschen Soldier.

"Sir! I've got several individuals in thermals! They're hiding in shrubs, and in the sand, orders!?" The Soldier called out, he, like the other three were in full battle rattle.

"Are you ready to depart, Aiyanna?"

John Pilot was relieved to see Aiyanna was on his side. He relaxed his hands to his sides and nodded toward her in a show of thanks.

Clea Soban nodded. "Very well, Aiyanna, I want your report as soon as you're ready to depart. The Emperor has placed a renewed faith in you, as well as your sister, Selene. Do not fail us, and you may yet be granted freedom."

John Pilot glanced between the two.

He clapped his hands together in glee while offering a slight smile to the group of Aschen.

Well that's great, sounds like a plan. Aiyanna if you need any help, I'm here to lend a hand.