Tahir Bhandari's Story

By choosing to approach the Cybran infantry group from the air Kamil's group of avorians would be well visible before their arrival. There were twenty-six in total, twenty of them armed with strange spear like weapons, and another six that were outfitted with mechanized armor that loosely resembled their physical form of winged-humanoids. Their destination was unmistakable as they bore down on the infantry's location, unwavering in their route.

07:00 Hours local time

"Air pressure completed, checking monitors." Called the pilot's engineer from the rear of the cockpit. His eyes glancing around through the glass visor used on his combat Mk III Helmet. He glanced over to the windows to check the view of outside and nodded, his chest thumping. His flight suit was tighter than usual, a strange sensation. "Monitors working as normal. Reports from the ground force that there was some form of aircraft moving in towards them."

"Hawkeye 001 moving into combat zone, weapons primed."

"What idiots would stop the fleet inches from their doorstep and try to attack a planet without enough men or civilians to populate it? God. Lock and ready. We're going into a combat zone now."

07:01 Hours local time

Ritter looked up and swallowed, gesturing to the tanks to slow to a stop. He nodded to his squad members, turning around as they started to look around with binoculars. They quickly stopped the new threat and quickly ran to cover, mainly in houses as the machine guns on the tanks opened fire at the flying beings quickly approaching.

"Break ranks!" Kamil yelled as the tanks began to raise their guns towards the approaching envoy.

The group parted as machine fire opened up.

"Ambar!" Kamil shouted out over the whistling of the wind. "Get back to Volary. Tell the Matriarch we're under attack by unknown forces. Prepare the city for defense. Go!"

One lone avorian split from the others as he made for Volary while the remaining group formed up to engage the enemy that had opened fire on them.

"Tahir," Kamil shouted. "Incoming aircrafts!"

"On it," the tattooed avorian replied.

Tahir and three of the rocket angels broke off to intercept the interceptors. As he got into position to engage the approaching aircrafts the tattoos along his face and arms lit aglow with a golden hue.

The remaining two rocket angels locked onto the tanks and opened fire with a barrage of rockets to take out the armored vehicles. With only two tanks fielded, the ground units were sitting targets for the rocket angels to swiftly eliminate.

The Avorians didn't have much in the way of forces out this way, but the far more widespread Taiyou had military bases across Shintenchi. It was the nearest of these that the envoy sent a radio trasmission through to.

'This is Kumar with the Volarian Royal Guard. There are unknown military forces moving on the region. Our envoy is under attack about six miles north of Westmill, requesting assistance.'

There was a swift response, a crackling over the radio and the Taiyou Command officer. "Received, We've detected unknown movements in your location, and have already mobilized a response force. We're scrambling but it will be some time before we can divert assets. Call in coordinates so we can scramble jet Tengu for Air and ground support."

Kumar swiftly relayed the coordinates across to the Taiyou Command officer. There was a slight pause filled with the light crackling of the radio before Kumar spoke again. "Enemy air support moving in. Time to see if these people know how to fly."

The Command tower replied its confirmation. "Acknowledged, Air and ground support is being mobilized, watch yourselves out there." The Radio then cut out, and the base nearby began to scramble a squadron of Jet Tengu and Chopper VX Helicopters, they would arrive in five minutes.

Within seconds the Cybrans had started to come under fire. The Panzers, armed with their plasma cannons fired rapid shots into the air, the personal shields locking down and as the Cybran crew climbed out and ran, firing with their assault rifles. The tanks quickly went into an auto control interface and they started to move around the fields, firing back at the rocket angels.

Ritter started calling out contacts as the comms operator started to pick up more and more traffic of the planet. He looked up at Ritter as the tank crews burst into the large group of homes the Cybrans held.

"Sir, call in more units? Reinforcements?" He shouted at Ritter with a hand pointing to his radio, "Sounds like more inbound. Orders?"

Ritter looked over at him, shaking his head calmly. His eyes darted from side to side with his APR in his right hand, "Cease Fire!" He turned to look out the window towards the rocket angels, the rest of the men in the row of houses doing the same. The Tank crews quickly stopped the tanks glancing up at the inbound units. "Get me a link to the air support, tell them not to open fire unless those things fire at us again. I have the feeling we are both at fault."

The Air support swooped by the group of attackers to the Cybran's falling back to sea, away from the zone without firing at anyone. They carefully went back into orbit but were close enough to attack if need be.

Several unarmored avorians fell under the plasma cannons, but the rocket angels were effectively designed as anti-tank troops, as well as anti-aircraft. While they were poor against ground troops, the sustained rocket damage was well capable of bringing down large reinforced and shielded structures, and the tanks personal shielding would likely be found ineffective against such focused damage. Likewise the aircrafts would be at risk if they sustained too many hits from the rocket angels.

Meanwhile the other four rocket angels opened up with a barrage of rockets at the incoming aircrafts, nor did they cease the volley even as the vessels veered off. Kamil's eyes lit up a golden hue to match his tattoos as he sought to disrupt the mechanisms within the leading air support units. With flight systems and navigation rend asunder beneath the psionics tampering, the leading units would be sent spiraling towards the ground with the internal mechanics sparking from the severed wiring.

The surviving unarmored avorians descended towards the ground. Without flight suits they were open targets against both the tanks and the aircrafts if they stayed up in the skies. With the tanks engulfed in a barrage of destructive explosions, the vehicles were likely no longer a threat and the grounded avorians turned their focus to the cybran ground troops taking cover within the civilian buildings.

While things were engaging overhead, they began to close in on the ground units.

The Cybrans locked in their weaponry, waiting for the avorians to move closer, their weapons already trained on the targets at hand. Ritter nodded to his Comms operator and swallowed, "Send the message to the Fleet Commander, either send down more troops or send down a transport to get us out of here."

He then turned and looked over on the avorians, "Hey, don't fire, Can we talk? This hasn't went well for either of us, so maybe we could come a stop with the fighting?" He called out from behind the window, crouching behind the wall. His eyes darted to the men, starting to give hand gestures make them stop anything and wait.

On the ground, Kamil exchanged a few words of Volarian with the men at his side before he called back.

"Lay down arms. Surrender. You have ten seconds," Kamil shouted back to the man. His accent was thick and his grasp of the foreign tongue broken, but his words were discernible enough. He remained behind the cover of a building corner out of line of sight of the window.

Overhead the rocket angels showed no sign of relenting on their barrage against the enemy air support. The pair that had eliminated the enemy tanks had joined the other four. The lack of return fire did not stay them. Dead avorians lay upon the ground below among the wreckage of the crashed air units, reason enough for them to keep firing on the cybrans until Kamil ordered them to stand down.

He swallowed, "Right, On one condition." He calmly set down his weapon, the rest of the squad doing the same, "I am sorry for this... situation. We were aware this planet was populated but thought this was an unpopulated area. We were looking for someone to talk to, clearly this has not went well for either side. I am going to call my Air units to go back to the ship and get a transport to come down and pick me and my men up."

It was about time, the Taiyou had shown up.

The roar of aircraft, the thrum of helicopters followed, as a squadron of Jet tengu flew over the group, circling around the small area while a pair of Chopper VX began to make a deafening mechanical grinding noise, literally transforming from Helicopters to powered walkers, which landed on the ground with an audible crunch.

A pair of Sudden Transports followed, touching down just outside where the Cybrans were holed up.

Two Tsunami tanks rolled over the hill, having been dropped by a Botanachi DRHC Tilt Rotor helicopter, and a pair of Wasp-like Jigabachi AV Attack helicopters circled overhead.

The Commander of this small Shintenchi detachment emerged, a young Taiyou man in his late twenties.

"Attention Hostile Military forces, this is your one and only call for your immediate and unconditional surrender, Come out with your hands raised and unarmed. Any sudden moves or hostile actions will be met with overwhelming force!"

Again words were exchanged between the avorians while Kamil was only catching bits and pieces of the foreigners words. Kamil shook his head as he stepped out from behind the building along with his men.

The group trained their spears on the now unarmed Cybrans. Given the positioning of the weapons against their shoulders much as one might brace a gun, it was clear that these were not traditional spears. Though the ends were curved and barbed for melee combat, the haft was thicker than was traditionally required, and the grip that was sculpted along the length of it was reminiscent to that of a gun. One could only speculate on what the weapons might fire.

"I have six dead. Call your units off but you go to Volary."

“Six to one someone was just flying under the influence, hey pass me those axel irons.”

The ten marines in the bed of the troop transport all spoke amongst each other until several made boisterous laughter as Specialist Beniamen fixed the two iron tools on to the sides of his helmet.

“Specialist, what in the fuck are you doing?” Corporal Soros pointed with his hands around the foreguard of the AR-98, the weapon between his legs when the other marines began to explain their opinions.

“Someone hasn’t read their local population pamphlets, hey Soros where did you say your dad served in the Terran Conflict again -- yeah fucking Maribor?”

“Obviously -- in a pre-Archosdative society such as the Taiyou Shogunate of Shintenchi warriors display their mettle in the attire they wear into battle. Motherfucker we are Marine Cavalry, horses of war. You gotta’ culture yourself more man.” Beniamen shrugged his shoulders once as the troop transport followed on with the rest of the convoy, an advanced force of the battalion moving into position to allow the mobilized Taiyou groups a quicker transit to the designated area.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure the belittlement of thousands of years of religious behavior is totally how we culture ourselves … “ Soros made a face as he shrugged the Specialist off, and craned his head. Passing by a small checkpoint on the main roads outside of a farming town Soros watched the sentries at the checkpoint speaking. “Hey who the fuck’re the plainclothes with the Taiyou locals? They’re not from the MSP.”

“Oh shit man, that’s an ALT.” Another Corporal, Stelian, replied as he lifted himself out of the seat just slightly to see the fading view. “That’s when you can tell the people in the Garden actually give a fuck -- when they send the Auxiliaries to fucking Terra.”


The checkpoint fell into the background as the convoy moved on.

The Cybrans shouted out again, "Fine, as long as you don't kill us. It was our mistake for attacking you when this is clearly our land. We are sorry for that."

Schaefer looked at him is disbelieve, "God damn it Heinrich, you can't do this."

Schaefer looked at Heinrich, "I would rather die than be a prisoner for some people like that who won't understand you fucking idiot."

"What do you suggest then?"

"Call down reinforcements." Schaefar snapped, his hand going to his pistol.

"Then that is a further act of war, then we have too many nations to deal with. We can not start that." Heinrich snapped back, his tone and voice sharp.

Schaefar shook his head in disbelief, "We have the largest Military known."

"But we don't know the strength of the other Nations."

"That does not matter."

"Fine, you go as a one man army then, out you go." Heinrich watched him closely, his rifle brought up to point at him. "On you go."

Schaefar shook his head, standing up and went outside, firing upon the avorians. He continued shooting but as he started, a single shot hit him from inside the building, "Death to the Traitor."

Heinrich then lead his men out with their rifles on the ground outside the small building, their hands in the air.

The Taiyou soldiers in the area immediately ducked when the Cybran soldier opened fire at the Volarians. Bullets flying about while the Taiyou quickly got their bearings, and began to return fire.

The rattling of Taiyou weapons followed as the lone Soldier engaged the Volarians. And even though his fellow Cybrans shot him, a flurry of Taiyou 5.7mm and 5.56mm bullets seemed to pepper and shred the lone soldier, impacting the building behind him. When he was neutralized, the Taiyou Shogunate forces moved in, and when Heinrich moved to surrender, with their weapons on the ground and hands in the air, Taiyou troops moved in on them.

One by one the Soldiers closed in on the Cybrans, while a Taiyou soldier approached.

"Hands on your head, line up against the wall on your knees!" He called out, while soldiers moved in with weapons pointed.

Loading deck of Dropship Bravo Nine,
Unknown local time,
Bearing unknown

The Honorable Diplomat, Adolf Ehrlichmann stood up as the dropship landed not too far away from the combat scene, the Wasp fighters blasting down the valley at Mach eight before they stormed back off into the area of space towards the fleet.

Ehrlichmann stood there in his smart suit and top hat, his bifocals covering his eyes as they scanned the troopers that were meant to be escorting him to the local capital. His right hand holding a smart black walking stick, the other bionic with a leather gloved hand over its parts. His face pale but ready as he climbing into the small black car and drove off the dropship, going towards the local capital.

Meanwhile, in the combat area

Heinrich grunted, telling the others to do as they were told, watching the Wasps blast overhead. They all did as they were told, Heinrich looking at what seemed to be that commander, "Greetings." He tried, "This is our mistake."

Among the approaching Taiyou were the scattering of avorians from the Volarian Guard with their weapons equally at ready.

As it became apparent that the Cybrans were surrendering Kamil took a moment to transmit brief instructions in Volarian to Tahir. "That's enough, let them pull out."

With that taken care of he paused to exchange a few words with one of the Taiyou.

"Wareware wa, ikutsu ka wa shinde imasu. Meitoriāku wa sorera o jinmon shitaideshou," he spoke in fluent Taiyou. "Otsukai no bēsu wa, sorera ga ōkina torikago ni hakobu yori mo chikaidesu," he explained.

While the pair conversed briefly, Tahir and the other avorians overhead began to rejoin with those on the ground, and as Heinrich spoke Kamil turned sharp eyes upon the Cybran. He spoke only briefly to Tahir before turning his attentions back to the Taiyou he was speaking with.

Tahir pondered Kamil's words a moment before the visor covering his tattooed face slid open. He spoke briefly to Heinrich while Kamil saw to the matter of where the prisoners would be taken. "He says a mistake is when you forget to pick up your dry cleaning. He says this isn't a mistake, and that he hopes you enjoy Taiyou hospitality." Tahir's grasp of the basic tongue was fluent and with only a light accent.

He seemed largely indifferent to the fate of the Cybrans as he moved off from the group and towards the open field where the dead avorians lay among the bits of wreckage from the ships Tahir had brought down.

"Tahir?" Kamil called out to him in avorian. "I want a salvage crew out here. Maybe we'll find something useful in the wreckage."

Tahir nodded briefly in response before the visor slid closed once more and he continued on his way towards the field.

Avantia was seated within the great hall of the royal palace with a pair of guards flanking either side of the alabaster dais. Their white and gold piped garb marked them out as those of her royal guard, and both were armed with a pair of spear like weapons; though, on closer inspection one might take note that they did not appear as any traditional spear. The ends were curved and barbed for melee combat, but the haft was thicker than was traditionally required, and the grip that was sculpted along the length of it was reminiscent to that of a gun. One could only speculate on what the weapons might fire.

The rest of the large hall had been prepared for the arrival of Stryfe and her people with a large table set for Stryfe's men to seat themselves at should they wish. Both food and drink had been set out and were both plentiful.

The grand doors that led into the great hall had been left standing wide to allow Stryfe and her people entry into the hall; though, all to enter the great hall would have been relieved of weaponry. Any of Stryfe's men who wished to remain armed would remain outside the hall - though no less welcome within the city itself.

Another pair of Avantia's royal guard kept vigil at the main entrance to the hall.

Stryfe wasn't big on the idea of removing her weapons, but she had Nina and Anodyne with her. One was a close quarters combat expert who probably knew who to killa man five times before they hit the ground and the other was Anodyne.

"Cyrus, you and the others stay outside. We'll go in alone, fill me in if someone can get in touch with Mary." Stryfe ordered, "You got it, Big Kahuna." Cyrus responded, he and the rest of the Invictus soldiers Stryfe had brought, about twenty of them, taking positions in the area. Their eyes searching for anyone who might be a problem or any signs of a problem at all brewing.

The trinity of Stryfe, Anodyne, and Nina made their way into great hall. Stryfe donning her usual black pantsut, Nina and Anodyne wearing their usual uniforms and armor.

"All this food and I didn't bring you anything to eat." Stryfe said to the Avorians as she moved towards the large dining table. "I'm a terrible cook, so maybe that was for the best." Stryfe joked, "Anyways, shall we get down to business?" The Invictus leader asked.

Shanthi stepped forward and spoke quietly to Avantia as she translated Stryfe's words for her. Avantia's response came in her native tongue of Volarian.

Shanthi inclined her head briefly before she turned to speak in turn to Stryfe.

"The Matriarch says that you are guests in her hall," she explained to Stryfe by way of explanation of the offered food.

While Shanthi translated for the Matriarch, Avantia rose from the cushions that she was nestled among and made her way down the steps of the dais.

"She thanks you for making the trip to Volary and hopes that you enjoy your time here, but that she understands you did not travel all the way here for pleasantries. She asks what it is you have come to speak with her about."

"For one," Stryfe began, taking a seat at the table. "I would like to hope to convince you that joining the TNG is the best course of action. At least when it comes to handing things that aren't very... native to the planet. It has a long history of invaders and random lone wolf terrorists showing up." Stryfe told Avantia.

"I hold no position within the TNG at all, what I'm doing is purely out of concern and to strengthen the unity of this planet as I hope you know. I also want to thank you for your diamonds. I imagine they'll come in handy sooner or later." The Invictus leader continued.

"Secondly, I'd like to offer any Invictus assistance to you if you made it in the future. We are technically for hire, so we don't have a problem helping others out or doing the less important stuff while they do ither things." Stryfe said, "Plus, I think it'd help build some trust if we work together. I mean, I'm sure it's no secret to you how I feel about your relationship with the Taiyou. But, that's not what I'm here to talk about."

Stryfe paused for a moment, "Actually... I did bring back their gold. I was hoping you could pass it along."

Avantia raised an eye as Shanthi translated Stryfe's words and her voice held a note of curiosity as she responded in turn.

"The Matriarch says your customs are very strange to her," Shanthi translated. "She says that you accept our gift to you, but come to our city to return the gift of our friends and allies to the east while asking us to join with the TNG."

Avantia shook her head as she continued.

"She says that the Taiyou have done more for her people than this TNG. She says that she would not dishonor Volaria by forgetting this and turning to the advice of the people who so openly extend insult to those who have proven friend and ally to the Volarian people. She says that you claim no ill will towards the Taiyou Shogunate but that this gesture is a deliberate insult that speaks of the truth behind your words. She says that if the TNG wishes allies of the Volarians so too must they make allies of Losenji and the Taiyou Shogunate."

"I never said, once, that I have no ill will towards the Taiyou." Stryfe corrected, her voice becoming firm. "I have much ill will for what their government has done in the past to the people of Terra. Just because they haven't done it to you I should forget all of the deaths? The destruction? The kidnappings?" Stryfe asked, "Call it an insult, call it whatever you want. I did not acceot this gift from them, they insisted it upon me the same way their government has tried to insist their rule on Terra." Stryfe said, clearing her throat.

"Basically," Nina interjected, "Big Kahuna and the rest of our organization are not asking you to pick a side. They're asking you to make sure that when the time comes, you'll have many suitable allies. The allies of the TNG become your own, after all." Nina explained, "We could just ask you to join the Invictus, but... that's not our thing." Stryfe said, taking some time to regain her composure.

The sight of someone growing angry or frustrated probably wasn't new to the Avorians, but to Nina and Anodyne it was a rare sight from the Invictus leader.

"I can't speak entirely for the TNG. I have my doubts they'll ally with the Taiyou at all in light of recent events and past encounters." Stryfe said, "The Taiyou attempts to occupy this planet are what inspired me to start trying to rebuild a stronger, better, federation to protect it and prosper." The Persian woman told her hosts.

"You are quick to defend them, I can only assume my time here will be a waste."

Avantia's tone sharpened.

"The Matriarch says that these Imperial Taiyou that you speak of are not the Taiyou of Shintenchi," Shanthi continued. "She says that you condemn the people of Shintenchi for their ethnicity and that you judge them for the actions of an Empire a galaxy apart from this place. She says that people are to be judged for their own actions rather than the actions of their forebears, and that these people have lived peacefully in Shintenchi for many years."

"She says she will not support those who would support racism and ethnic persecution against a people who have not committed the acts you speak of."

Avantia moved away as she looked out over Volaria from one of the towering windows that lined the hall.

"She says that it is still her wish to pursue trade and open relations with the other peoples of Terra, but that she sees now that this claim of a unified Terra with equal representation is a fallacy."

Avantia sighed and shook her head.

Shanthi hesitated a moment before she translated the remainder of Avantia's words. "The Matriarch says that a federation that supports the rejection of an entire ethnic group for nothing more than their ethnicity is not a people that Volaria wishes to ally itself to. She says this is the same intolerance that you claim to stand against and that you are no different than these people you hate so much."

"You do know what a Shogunate is, right?" Stryfe asked, "In Imperial Japan shoguns were lords who ruled over various parts of the Japanese Empire for the emperor, it was like being the governer of your own state. When it came time for war the shogunates would fight for the Emperor. It was their people, their mean, their weomen, aiding the cause, whatever it may have been at that time." Stryfe explained.

"You say because they aren't in the same galaxy, buecause there's smenatics with their name that they weren't involved in the atrocities that were committed here?" Stryfe asked, "And, ma'am, do not ever again twqist my words and insult me the way you just have ever again." Stryfe added, "Unlike them, I have no murdered people for having land I want to take. I don't know about you, but I don't support feudalism and genocide."

"I am not rejecting an ethnic group, I am rejecting the long arm of the Taiyou Empire." Stryfe said, "If the Taiyou of Shintenchi are serious about their distance from the Empire, tell them I'd like to speak to them and I ask for them to officially renounce the Empire and their support." Stryfe continued.

"In exchange... in response... that support will be replaced by that of my organization, the Invictus, with no questions asked. If I can convince them, and I will try, the TNG will offer their support as well."

"You can't be serious." Nina said, looking from Stryfe to Avantia, "I mean, I get it, politics. But... come the fuck on. Let's just leave, this lady supports them and their murders. I, for one, am not a fan of the Taiyou or their friends anyways. I think it's a bad call." Nina told Stryfe, "No offense." She said to Avantia.