####'\|**Imperial Warship *Tomerarenai-fū*, Captain's Quarters|\,** Penelope was still a little shell-shocked. On a whim, she'd decided three months ago to see if Euryale, creator of the Path, was still alive somewhere. It wasn't a crazy idea; the path could dilate time pretty heavily in some places. The rest of the Fay, however, gave her some funny looks when she mentioned the first part of her plan, though. She wanted to live on a starship. Many starships, as a matter of fact. The way Penelope reckoned it, the best way to find a Fay was to think like that Fay. And the best way to think like Euryale was to hang around cold iron and hard radiation for a few months. Maybe even a few years. The Fairy outcasts weren't a close-knit group, even for Fairies. Even so, if you were thinking of trapping yourself in a poisonous ship in an alien environment with an anti-magical antidote running through your veins, it was assumed that you'd take precautions first. Such as doing the research, or contacting an outcast. And while she'd stayed at *Finnegan's* for a few weeks, stocking up on radium (she'd also bargained for a pendant (and now owed Finnegan a "favor", Titania help her)) and waiting to find an outcast, Penelope was not a patient Fairy. Had she been patient, she might have known to look for a better endpoint to the Path. Or known to peek about to make sure the room was clear before exiting the Path. Or perhaps to assume a glamour of invisibility before exiting, just in case there was someone on the other side. Even without research and/or training, Penelope should have known better than to follow a trail that led to a twisting, shuddering endpoint: a clear sign that the Path was in distress, and would quickly shirk the probably highly-ferrous, likely radioactive location. But Penelope was not a patient Fairy, and this was the first trail that she found leading to a starship. So the (relatively) young Fairy changed into the finest cloth boots and dress she could find (glamours were tricky while using radium), downed one of the vials of radium, and set off. Thus Penelope fluttered from an oxygenated tunnel in a tiny, weightless asteroid into the quarters of an unsuspecting Abh warship Captain. The Path shuddered behind her, the endpoint disappearing in an instant. It obviously wasn't going to come back soon. Even with the radium, a dull ache set in on her wingtips and behind her eyes. And there was an alien, floating right in front of her! A real, live alien! Sure, there had been aliens at *Finnegan's*, but they didn't count. Penelope twitched her wings a bit, re-orienting herself to get a better look at the creature. She was brown-skinned with long, flowing hair, a long torso, rounded ears, and an almost-pretty face. The alien was wearing a two-piece white garment, nothing like the gauzy dress and wrapped cloth boots Penelope had on. And she was holding a sword. The alien said something. Penelope maneuvered herself around the alien, wanting to get a better look at its hair. The alien awkwardly rotated to keep the blade pointed at Penelope. She really didn't understand why it was crouched down like that. The alien started to say something again. With a sigh, Penelope forced her way through the radium, breaking into a small sweat, and used an audio glamour. The speech was now recognizeable. She did the same with her own speech, noting with dismay that her wings were crumpling at the edges from exertion. Now she had a headache. Something else registered from the Aetherfield - the alien wasn't working all the way. Could be a useful bargaining chip. "-rom that cursed fifth planet? Are you the face of the demons that we fight? Answer me!" the alien said. Something clicked in Penelope's head. "You're an Abh! I've heard about you, but I've never seen one! Your species doesn't walk the Path very often. Hmm. You're much taller in person, you know that?" Penelope said. She took a breath. "Oh-! I'm Penelope. Hello! That's a very nice sword, did you make it? Gosh, how can you stand not having trees? Can I get a room like this? If I do, can I have one with less metal? Maybe put in some wooden tiling. I'll help out, of course. Nothing major, though, just small maintenance things. I've been practicing on some of the ships at *Finnegan's*. And I've gotten really good at making sure things don't implode, too! Oh, I'm not letting you talk, am I? I do that sometimes. Especially when I'm excited, which I guess I am now, because this is my first time in a real-life spaceship!"

**Roman Mess Hall** As the Roman soldiers walked away, the 96th legion soldier who had yet to speak up stood and began to address the Solusi who had intervened. "We thank you First Officer. We would have hated it if your impression of us was stained by a fight breaking out aboard your ship. Even if it were through no fault of our own, I doubt those among you would be very friendly to any of us Roa'marii after an incident." "We could've taken them in a fight. They wouldn't have stood a chance. We aren't in the elite legions for nothing." Jos'arro grumbled, slightly upset that he hadn't had the chance to fight some of the new xenos hand to hand. He was then silenced with a glare from the guard who he had cut off. "Please excuse him, I'm sure he was looking forward to testing his strength on your soldiers. I am Agent Lai'saron and these two are Agents Ebo'name and Str'odis. we are members of the 96th Legion of the Roa'marii Empire. Those three are Sergeants Jos'arro, Per'atio, and Col'cato of the 42nd legion." Agent Lai'saron told the First Officer, pointing to each of the soldiers as he named them. He was about to continue when he was interrupted once more, this time by Sergeant Per'atio. "Before you two go on into more diplomatic talks, is it possible that we could find a training room of some sort? While i'm not as prone to violence as Jos'arro, I'd like to get in a good workout after eating." "You wouldn't happen to be able to show us to one such are would you? We would be quite grateful, and it would probably help get us away from the majority of the negative attention we seem to be receiving." **Docking Bay** General Kaisur looked around the hanger and at each of the five Roman soldiers one by one. He said nothing as he walked up to each Roman, looking each one up and down, his gaze staying longer at their eyes as it moved over them. After a couple minutes of silent observation the general began to speak. "Imperator, I would like to warn you beforehand. Magic is not to be trifled with. Do not try to do anything beyond your own power or it could very easily go very bad for not only yourself, but everyone around you. I'm glad you picked some disciplined soldiers for me, it'll make this much easier. Now, if you want to watch the training then stay out of the way. If you're going to participate then i suggest you forget your title and stand among these five. All of you are new to magic and as such you are all newly recruited rookies. Now, let us begin." General Kaisur then took out his sword, the handle glowing a soft green along with the gauntlet on the general's hand. The sword floated until it was at chest height halfway between the general and the Romans. Then Jer'rahd began to teach. "Since you seem to have felt the magic in you already, i'm going to skip the whole look into yourself bullshit. Now, you've never used this magic before so lets start with magic 101. Magic comes from a natural source that permeates the universe. Each person has access to their own personal pool that they are born with. Some species have large pools, while others have next to no access to it at all. Yours seems to have a fairly large natural pool, but that doesn't mean you can do a lot. For beginners, the simplest spells will take incredible amounts of power. over time, through practice you can become more efficient with spells. I always believe that a few good spells mastered is better than a large number of spells with little control. Telekinesis is perhaps the simplest spell there is for the standard magic user, so we'll start with that." Jer'rahd then took out a handful of small pebbles and gave each Roman one to hold. "You must focus the magical energy on the object and form the spell as if it were a net wrapping around it. you then apply a pull in the desired direction to get it to move. Focus the energy inside you on the pebbles you're holding. Once all of you are able to cause the pebbles to float in the air we will continue. If you manage it before someone else, keep practicing. try to use smaller amounts of magic each time." With the first objective given, Jer'rahd watched the Romans attempt to grasp their magic.

**Finnegan's Tradehouse** The Draconian soldier, face exposed when you look directly at him, through the transparent material that covered the front of his rather elegant, black helmet, broke into a snarl, and his rifle- just a 'regular' assault rifle- came up to bear on the one who spoke. "*Speak if you know, shut your trap if you don't!*" Before the man who spoke could say anything in response, a very large, very broad man, wearing an exoskeleton and with his own rifle in hand, shoved his way through the crowd and in front of the man the Draconian was pointing at. He had his own rifle up, and now it was aimed at the Draconian- the response was immediate. One could hear from the leader's guard, "Frag or control?" The golden-clad Draconian nodded, gestured at them, and said, "Frag." The result was one of the purple-clad guards raising another rifle, and firing. Half a moment later, the bouncer's right shoulder seemed to explode, as the bullet penetrated two inches into his flesh, struck bone, and then detonated, sending fragments in all directions- most of them flying out and bloodying the faces of the closest, others shooting deeper into his arm, down it, or into the rest of his body. The man almost instantly passed out from the pain, dropping with his shredded shoulder, upper arm, and right collarbone shredded and bleeding quite badly. It was a wonder he wasn't dead. Then the golden-armored Draconian could be seen moving forward, barking out orders in an unfamiliar language. Should one have their own translating device, they might note that he was ordering the medic to take care of him, and to use non-lethal force against any who posed a threat, or gave a threat. Before he had finished, as he was approaching the crowd, a group of identically-dressed men came out of the crowd, air shimmering around them slightly, all holding various ranged energy weapons. The golden-armored Draconian eyed the men who looked as though they wanted to fight, and only pointed at the two heavy tanks, and the three gunships that had now arrived. Their leader glared at the golden-armored Draconian, and signaled the rest of his men. He approached the Draconian and vice versa. When they were standing more or less face-to-face, the Draconian glared at him and motioned for him to move aside. When he did not, a knee rose and punched through the weak shield meant to keep someone from punching him. It impacted his groin; he keeled over from pain that very strongly suggested that he will probably never have kids again. A single swipe of the Draconian's unarmored hands threw him to the side, unconscious. Then he proceeded forward, the crowd making way. One bodyguard followed close behind; another stayed back and began ordering the troops outside into better positon and to search the area for supplies. The last picked up the alien that had spoken, and dragged him after Goldy. They were intent on finding the owner, and from him, answers for dragging their ship out of an honorable battle and into... this place. Goldy was already aggravated that he had to waste a perfectly good torture-type round just to make an example. Anytime someone stood in his way, they were quickly brought down by himself or his guard- depending on whether he felt like it or not. He had effectively invaded the tradehouse, and was currently uncaring of how many rules and social things like that he was breaking.

**Roman Mess Hall** The First Officer pondered what the aliens before him had said before he decided to continue to speak. "We are a mainly naval vessel, so we have only one smaller training room, which is currently in use by a few of the Bellator here. However unlike my crew here they are much more disciplined and are well trained in hand-to-hand combat. If you are interested they probably be willing to participate in a few sparring messages." said the First Officer. **Docking Bay** "While I am interested in learning magic I would rather observe my men and see how training goes for them." spoke the Imperator, clearing the mat that had been setup and stepping off to the side. He remain as disciplined as he always had, although he did have a slight look of curiosity as the soldiers began attempting to lift the pebbles. The first Roman stepped forward, pebble in hand and began channeling the energy he felt in himself in attempts to lift the pebble that now stood in his and. For a brief moment a blue glow appeared around the pebble as began shaking, however the magical energy seemed to explode for the moment. When the group finally figured out what had happened, the first Roman was on the ground with a bloody nose and the pebble lodged inside one of the dummies that had been setup. While it was not known what the Roa'marii called this effect this particular Roman had suffered what a few species called magical backlash, where to much energy was channeled in attempts to preform a spell. While number the effects of such a thing were disastrous this Roman had not suffered to bad of a fate. He stepped off to the side with the Imperator, taking a few paper towels from a nearby roll to soak up the blood. The Second Roman who stepped forth fared much better then the first. Channeling energy into the pebble it began to wobble, hovering for a few seconds. However he released the energy before it could float much longer, probably fearing what had happened to his fellow would happen to him as well if he was not careful. The third and fourth went much like the second, however the fifth was rather unique. When the fifth began attempting to lift up his pebble, he did rather easily, with a perfect flow of energy to the pebble. He spent a few minutes levitating at different heights and positions. A odd feature about the fifth Roman was that unlike almost every other Roman on the ship his eyes were a almost neon green, contrasting very differently to everyone around him. Kaiser could also feel a strange energy inside of them, although it was not magic. **Colony World A-02(Alien Contact Sighting)((Korwraths))** "Multiple ships were detected, but went invisible to electronic sensor systems afterwards. We have visual contact however, orders?" "Proceed with standard first contact procedure, attempt to why they are here and who they are." Within a few mintues of the Korwraths entering the system a few of the weapons on some of the stations orbiting the planet pointed at the approximate location of the fleet, but they did not go active, not yet anyways. A message shortly arrived by a radio was encoded in a simple binary system to allow the new alien contact to translate it easily. "You have entered the territory of the New Roman Empire, state your name and intentions or we will assume you have hostile attentions and be forced to fire."

**Finnegan's Tradehouse** A Korwrath civilian transport ship dropped out of hyperspace and drifted through the sky as it took in the sight of a large ship burning in a forest and a small army seeming to advance toward a strange combination of buildings put together. On the bridge of the ship stood a short female Korwrath standing at five foot eight inches, she was dressed in a long purple dress which fit her form perfectly and also wore tons of fine jewelry. "Looks like we came in the middle of a party. I hope that doesn't mean we can't do business while we are here." The Korwrath merchant told her pilot as she fingered a gold pendent that hung from her neck which had been given to her from a strange person who had appeared out of nowhere explaining that she could find many riches if she followed the pendent's instructions. "Land in that clearing away from the TradeHouse so that we don't walk right into an ambush." "Roger that ma'am." The pilot told her as he brought the modified transport ship down in a small clearing in the forest away from the TradeHouse while the merchant left the bridge and headed for the storage hold where her personal guards were waiting for her. Her six guards towered over her with each wearing white environmental suits each equipped with assault rifles and large knives as well as a small personal shield generator. Tho Vo put on a custom stylish belt around her waist which housed a shield generator much like that on her guards which she admired in a mirror before looking around the storage hold while the doors opened up. Tho Vo was a very wealthy merchant among the Korwrath as well as one of the most hated among other merchants as she had the nickname of "Death Dealer". She had been known on occasions to sell Korwrath weaponry to known alien races for a quick profit and had even been known to have caused a civil war or two. This fact was proven by the storage hold of her personal ship as it was lined with crates of jewels, weapons, spices and even a mechanized suit or two hung from the ceiling. "Well boys, shall we go see what this party is all about?" She said before walking down the ramp with her heels clicking against the metal followed by the thump of six pairs of heavy boots. **Fleet Nova** Nak Ro listened to the the communication from the alien captains through his translator in his ear and a smile twitched at the edge of his lips as he heard one of their fleets had been dispatched to investigate his fleet. "Looks like things might get a little interesting captain. It just so happens that another of our Capital Fleets is on it's way to our location as well." He turned his head to look toward the other Admirals who had heard what he had. "I suggest we pull the heavy cruisers out of orbit to join the phalanx." Both Admirals nodded and also mentioned that they wanted to move the civilian and Capital ships to the far side of the planet which was agreed upon. "On another note Captain, I would like to let your Queen know that there are seven Capital Fleets of the Korwrath and each one is under its own rule, so even if you make peace with our fleet that doesn't mean each fleet will follow suit." **Colony World A-02/ Roman Space** "Commander it seems we were detected as we entered the system. We are receiving a message now demanding that we state our business or we will be fired upon." Dova sighed to himself as he thought of what he should do to protect his fleet. "Prepare a message back stating that we are a small fleet of mercenaries exploring past our nation's boundaries looking for some work to pay the bills and send that back to them in binary." He hated the binary system even though it was the easiest way to communicate between alien nations but it took a while to translate without assistance from an AI system which he couldn't seem to get his hands on. He made a mental note that once they saved up enough money they would take a trip to Fleet Solution and have that egghead fleet create several AIs to assist with managing his fleet. "Reignite our engines and bring us into a defensive formation with all frigates in a phalanx position to defend against enemy fire."

###**Finnegan's Trade House** One of Finnegan's branch buildings had been made into an extravagant series of bath houses. Frescoes and holographic displays depicted many a debauched adventure on the walls and ceilings of the large open baths and smaller heated pools. It was in one such pool that Surface-Admiral Dai'Kronna had been floating in lazily with several of his close officers when things had begun exploding. What he had once thought to be a boring and even slightly relaxing assignment looked like it was spiraling into anything but. The scarred Cephalid admiral sank slightly below the warm waters and bubbled out a sigh. His adjutant, a Grund shaman by the name of Iggi swam gracefully up to the surface-admiral and motioned towards the sounds of the commotion. "Tell me what you can see out there Iggi," Dai'Kronna hoisting himself out of the water slightly, "I want to know what is so rudely interrupting my relaxing soak." the calm in his voice belaying the sudden mix of emotions he was beginning to feel the Grund elder's eyes glazed over as it began to focus on whatever electronic signals it could pick up outside the stone walls of the bath house. After a few moments the gigantic black shaman's eyes regained their focus and it began to speak, "Difficult to say for certain Surface-Admiral, I've never felt beings or technology like this before. By my estimates there are about two dozen beings, maybe more, moving towards these buildings from the woods. Two massive objects flanking them, I'd place my best bet on armor of some kind, and I can make out three airborne objects approaching as well, unable to say anything more than that though." At the words the other Cephalid and officers in the pool began to rise out of the pool awaiting instructions. Dai'Kronna flexed his face tendrils in thought, a difficult feat for the grizzled warfighter, for a near-miss in the past had shorn away many of his frontal tendrils leaving his beak partially exposed. "Alrighty boys, we don't know who these fellas are but prepare for the worst, go back to our quarters and tell the rest of the boys to suit up, full Raider Gear, don't make any moves yet but be prepared for a fighting retreat back to the ship with the delegation if things get ugly enough. I'm gonna go find the owner of this fine establishment and get to the bottom of things." With that Surface-Admiral Dai'kronna hopped out of the pool, donned his pistol belt, and motioned for one of the servants who carried drinks and towels to the non-amphibian visitors to take him to the Boss Man pronto. The rest of his staff also scattered back to their rooms to alert the other Sea Raiders of the surface-admiral's orders. ###**Earlier, Hegemonic Council Chamber, Koros** In classic form the Council managed to accomplish exactly nothing productive during its biweekly session. Councilman Dol'Iktha cracked his neck and massaged his tendrils as he strode out of the chambers surrounded by his armed retainers like most other Councilmen. He didn't really know why he expected anything else to come out of the useless governmental body. Even the mysterious black zone on the galactic rim which was growing steadily larger and in less than a year would likely be on the edge of Cephalid space could garner a unified reaction out of them. The scientific syndicates refusal to come to a compromise on who would send a probe group to study the strange phenomena was the cause of this most recent breakdown in governance. Instead of dwelling further on his choice of work, Councilman Iktha focused instead on the task at hand. Less than two hours later Dol'Iktha was seated around a table with several of his fellow councilmen at an upscale restaurant halfway across the planet. The four seated individuals represented the four most powerful family-syndicates on all of Koros, and therefore, the entire Hegemony. There was Ged'Kronna of House Akt, the warlords; Ced'Drokva of House Vex, the manufacturing cartel; Zol'Dronta of House Kriel, the genetic masterminds; and of course himself, representing House Hrok the shipping giant. After around of refreshments and hors d'oeuvres Ged'Kronna loudly clicked his beak "Alright Dol, what's this about? Its obviously important or else you would have brought it up during the Council session," the others hissed laughter at this, "in all seriousness friend, why did you drag us to this admittedly fantastic eatery halfway across the globe?" Now it was Dol'Iktha's turn to click his beak, though this time it was of slight nervousness. "Recently one of our merchant convoys bumped into something interesting," Dol'Iktha placed a small holographic projector on the table which quickly displayed an image of a dead alien creature unlike anything they had seen before. "This being was picked up by one of our ships floating out in the void, they must have only been there for moments as they were still alive for a while after rescue. Their vocal chords were badly damaged by vacuum burn but they somehow seemed capable of speaking our language. Before the being expired they mentioned a location in hyperspace, a sort of inter dimensional hostel or something I suppose, and also a means to get there" The image changed to one of a pendant free floating above the table. "The location is apparently some place called F-Fi-Finn," Dol'Iktha struggled making sounds his mouth wasn't meant to make, "Whatever its called its a location in hyperspace and the pendant is some kind of key or something to it. The free captain of the ship that picked the alien up noted that the pendant displayed strange properties while moving through hyperspace and that it seemed to draw the ship off course towards some other location. Wherever this place is, if it is what it says then I think this could be a brilliant new market to expand into for all of our houses." The table was silent for some time before once more Ged'Kronna spoke up "This is all pretty fascinating stuff Dol, and the data you've sent to our pads seems to check out, but this could be a trap, if we send an expedition to this place you'll need a better escort than the pitiful gangsters you call soldiers, I'll send along a platoon of Sea Raiders to defend your crew, you won't find a better equipped or trained soldier in all the galaxy that's for sure. Besides, little brother Dai needs something to do these days, he's a tactical genius and a hell of a fighter, but that close call messed him up something firece, and I'm not just talking about his tendrils. It it is a trap then he's the man I'd want to fight my crew out, and if its too much for him well..." Ged shrugged "better him than a member of the family that's all there in the head." Zol'Dronta used the pause to interject, "Woah now, you expect us to just let you two go off on an adventure with what's on the line here? We're talking a brand new, untouched market, no competition among other syndicates and new goods to collect and you want us to just hand it to your houses? I demand that House Kriel gets an ambassador to this thinnygoons place or whatever." Ced'Drokva, who had remained silent until now, found his time to speak "Please, even if we sent ambassadors there's no way that I'd trust the lives of my people on a Hrok ship with what could be out there. If this turns out to be the motherload there's nothing stopping you scalpers from dumping the competition out into the void and taking the secrets for yourselves. If we're doing this it will be on a Navy ship as neutral ground." Dol'Iktha again massaged his tendrils waved his hands to get the rapidly deteriorating group's attention, "Okay, okay, okay. How about this instead? We send a delegation from all of our houses made up of third children, protected by Surface-Admiral Dai'Kronna's Sea Raiders, on a navy boat, that is partially crewed by my own sailors. They are the only ones who know the way after all. And if the entire thing goes bust then We don't lose anything important beyond some navy dregs and replaceable family. Sound good?" There were nods and mumbled agreements. "Excellent, all of this talk was beginning to spoil my appetite."

**Roman Mess Hall** "Thank you for this information First Officer, I'll try not to get into any fights along the way." With that said, the six guards got up and began to make their way to the training room following instructions given to them by the First Officer. When they arrived at the room they encountered a number of Romans participating in various types of training. In one corner stood a cage where two of the Romans were slowly circling each other, both clad in simple clothes and wielding nothing but open fists. As they watched one man made a move for the other, moving quickly to punish a slight misstep made by his opponent. In moments the fight was over, the attacker pinning the other to the ground face first. The guards watched silently as the two got up and faced off once more. Then there was a call from the side, a Roman soldier walking up to the six Roa'marii. **Docking Bay** General Kaisur watched the fifth man closely, his red eye glowing ever so faintly which his green one soon mimicked. He then began to circle the man, never letting any trace of emotion appear on his face. When he finished, he stood directly in front of the man and stared into his neon green eyes. "Who are you? I'm not sure what it is you're doing, but it isn't magic. At least not the same kind I'm familiar with. Do those eyes of yours run in the family? They look oddly familiar. Imperator, how common are eyes of this coloration? If my hunch is correct we may have a rather curious incident on our hands. Tell me soldier, do those eyes of yours ever seem to glow? Especially when you get angry?" **Training Camp Lar'varis, Arcadia** "General Silvad, it is an honor to see you again, thank you for coming so quickly." General Sta'falia Silvad stood in the entrance hall of the command building of the training camp. Outside, large groups of young Roa'marii were being trained by various Drill Sergeants. Further away were groups of older Roa'marii nearing the end of basic training. The camp itself was in the crater of a large volcano which had long since been harvested for the magma found within. The general had a pair of mechanical wings implanted into her back, marking her as one of the Valkyrie fighters of the 93rd legion. She was shorter than the average Roa'marii but she made up for this with her unmatched speed among the Roa'marii. "I'm a busy person Commander Lar'varis. I hope you had an important reason for calling me here on such short notice." "I assure you I do general. Recently a pair of hunters down in the forested foothills of this volcano came across a rather intriguing creature. They attempted to hit it with a tranquilizer and while they succeeded, the creature had a rather violent reaction to the iron tip. It was brought in quickly in an attempt to save it, but we were too late. Whatever the creature was, it seems to have been sentient to some degree. It had a pendant on it that is resonating with a magical energy. It seems to be pointing to a location within hyperspace." "Is that so? I'd like to see the body of this creature. I'm assuming you want me to look into the location this pendant is pointing to. I'll see what I can do in that regard." "Thank you general. We have been keeping the creature's body in the medical ward. Please, follow me."

**Finnegan's Tradehouse** Groups of three Draconian soldiers and two unmanned infantry units began moving out, securing the entire area. Half of them approached buildings, intent on clearing them and bringing them outside where eyes can be kept on them, or hold them inside until other arrangements can be made. As one such group moved into the bathhouse, unmanned units striding through the doors, people, of course, began panicking or screaming, while most remained silent. The two units scanned the room, repeating in automated voices, *"Stand down and surrender any weapons. Stand down and surrender any weapons. Group inside the pool, and prevent trouble from happening. Stand down..."* over and over. Shortly after they finished scanning, the three soldiers strode in, rifles in hand, as one unmanned unit guarded the door, and the other began moving to the back. Unknown to them, several guests with military backgrounds had just left through the backdoor, just managing to escape the unmanned unit right on their heels. The unit pushed the backdoor open, scanned the surroundings outside, but had already unknowingly lost possible threats. Elsewhere, outside, the pilot of the gunship, flanked by two of the unmanned strike-gunships, took in the approaching ship with an alarm and a message. Moments later, Goldy ordered him to check out their projected landing site- the ship looked large enough to carry all the Draconians, which was good. Leaving military technology behind was painful, but it can be set to remote detonate. As the ship landed, the pilot moved, ordering the two unmanned gunships to flank him, and began approaching. If there were armored units and weapons, he would open fire once they cleared the spaceship. If not, he would let them go about their business- as per orders.

**Finnegan's Trade House** Alik simply stared at the Draconian pointing a weapon at him. What could it do. Upon being pushed aside by the bouncer, Alik sank deeper into the crew, intent on analyzing the situation. Hands moved discreetly, hidden from the Draconians by the mass of people. Such was his concentration that he did not hear the sound of the rifle go off or the subsequent detonation of the man's arms. Blood spattered his robes and face: he ignored the distractions, unaware of the commotion around him. Finishing his weaving, he muttered a word before running one of his hands over his face. A golden shimmer rippled down his body, encasing his body for an instant before disappearing. Drawing a small knife, he stabbed his own skin. Seeing the blade shatter, Alik nodded, content he would at least be somewhat safe if more violence began. Looking up, he finally realized that the bouncer was being attended to by medics. Spotting the golden-clad Draconian, Alik began to move towards him but halted as a group of shielded individuals came around the side of the building, armed with rifles. *At least they're wise enough not to try shooting tanks,* Alik thought. With his translation spell, he was able to decipher the commands issued by the lead Draconian. So they weren't the bastards they initially appeared to be after all. Still bastards nonetheless but not quite as much as before. Quite a bit more violent than what any Sakari would do in a situation such as this. The gold-plated commander began to stride forward with his purple-guard, beating their way through any that got in their way. Quite violent. A fascinating species none the less. They would be prime material for the Great Record if their technology was any indication. He just had to find some way to escape from wherever he had ended up in. Standing pensively for a moment he decided upon a course of action. Weaving three spells into standby- *I really should limit how much I use*- Alik cast the first, dazing all of those near him so that they would not notice his next two incantations. The first one rendered him invisible, although not in a true sense. Instead, light bent around him. Much less time consuming and easier on his reserves of magic which were being depleted. The second spell made him silent so that any noise he made would not be heard by any outside. Satisfied with his current protections Alik began to follow the Draconian commander. Dashing ahead of the alien, he ducked behind an alcove before discarding his invisibility and sound-barrier. Gasping for breath, Alik recovered quickly and stepped out in front of the Draconian commander, hands up. Bowing, he stated, "I am Alik Rai, magus. There are easier ways to discover where you are and how you arrived here than smashing through everyone. I for one could tell you." A lie, yes, but if it saved him having to run then all the better. --- **Task Force Odin, Expeditionary Fleet Arracus, Captain's Quarters of the *Sveyet* ** Rhone sat in his room, meditating as was his wont. Stripped of the C'ran uniform except for undergarments, his body shined with sweat as heat reflected throughout the room. A fire flickered on the wall opposite the door, the source of the stifling heat inside the room, crackling flames consuming small logs. Wood paneling covered the walls and a richly embroidered carpet of teal and lime green lay beneath the his bed. The only other furniture were a desk and two sets of armchairs, simple yet finely made by an artisan on his home planet, Forath. Meditation was a common habit of many aboard the Expeditionary Fleets. Separated from C'ran worlds for possibly years at a time methods were devised by many in an attempt to relieve the boredom which would frequently take hold. Each ship had a central area with a park where all on the ship could gather and partake of the entertainment venues set up be enterprising soldiers or simply to talk. Various sparring courts were located on every ship, usually occupied by at least a dozen Sakari. Even with all of these other options, the three most common activities were meditation, the creation of art, and attending the sermons of the Synod chaplains. Some art contest would spring up every week and hundreds of entries would be submitted, fostering a more peaceful side of the C'ran military forces. The sermons were attended by virtually every individual except those required for necessary maintenance of the vessel: those attended private services later. Faith in the Patriarch grew stronger every day. Every day the Patriarch would visit one of the Task Forces if only temporarily. It had been approximately a month since Task Force Odin had hosted his journey. A psycho-link intruded his thoughts. Recognizing the signature of the one connecting as that of Rear Admiral Guthan Erebus, a friend deployed in another fleet, he accepted the link. The message was simple, sent over massive distances by the cosmoseer. *Contact with two alien races. One fled site. Psychic ping received from fleeing ships.. Coordinates enclosed for resident cosmoseer.* Unraveling himself from the position he donned his garments, adjusting the black synthetic fabric carefully before advancing to the bridge of the Cantarin battlecruiser. Locating the cosmoseer, one recently transferred from the Collegia Psychia, he uploaded the coordinates given to him by Guthan. Nodding, the cosmoseer interfaced with the ship and adjusted the course of the fleet towards the point. **Unknown Roman System** Exiting anti-space, the fleet waited as they took sight of the fortified world off in the distance, ships floating above the planet. Sitting there, Rhone accessed the Great Record and found the recent addition of Guthan's. Hopefully this new "binary" system would work with the alien species in front of them. Rhone's ship split off from the other twenty-one and transmitted a message to the planet reading: *This is Task Force Odin of Expeditionary Fleet Arracus of the Dominion of C'ran. Please do not be alarmed by our group, we seek to establish relations only.* --- **Joraga System, Deep Space** Al'za Kail sat stunned as she watched the planet below her. Massive beings of almost celestial size crouched over the world, absorbing the planet slowly. Simply watching them caused a painful resonance in her mind. It took all of her will to contain her psychic powers from exploding outwards. If the readings were correct, then these beings were of the same structure as the one found by the scouts of the 10th Expansion Front. Cracks scattered across the world, glowing patches of red bleeding magma onto the surface, draining the world of its lifeblood. All of the magi in the fleet had fallen unconscious upon entering the system. She could detect no psychic signature from them yet she was affected. If that was any indication then some of the magi might very well be dead. Scans onto the surface had shown no life, only countless numbers of the creatures. The usually active room remained sober, shaken by the sight. The hundred-strong fleet which had entered simply gaped. There weren't even a hundred ships any more, three shattering as the fleet had been wrenched from anti-space and five more simply disappearing into a void. Whatever these things were they went against everything the Sakari stood for. They went against life itself. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do anything. A golden light bathed the bridge, all shielding their eyes. Coalescing into an upright oblong oval, the light dimmed, indication that someone was utilizing magic to arrive here. Whoever it was most likely wielded vast reserves of power to be able to travel such a distance. Yet something was off. A dark purple vein crawled along the oval, expanding slowly. Al'za sat worriedly yet knew there was nothing any of them could do even if they had an inkling of what was happening. The light snapped and Jagar Hais dropped to the floor, face contorted with pain. Nearby Sakari immediately rushed to his aid, hoisting him up before setting him on a lev-chair. His eyes rolled into his head and his body began shuddering. Just as quickly it stopped. Weakened, the Prime Magus looked up at Al'za a considering gaze. Drawing in a breath, he spoke a simple command, "Flee through the Fell plane." Once again his eyes rolled into his head, mouth lolling open as he fell unconscious. Alarms blared as the sensors took notice of one of the massive creatures floated towards the fleet. Horrified, Al'za took control of the fleet through the psychic-network, coordinating their turn. Two more ships shuddered before snapping, remains floating towards the monstrous creatures. Hastily charging the Fell portals, she opened the access-ways into the territories of Chaos, trusting herself to guide the fleet through the maelstroms of energy. If she failed then none would know of the impending threat until it was too late. By then, the galaxy would be lost.

**Colony World A-02** A new message was sent to the new contact, while a few frigates moved on the other alien, keeping a eye on them. "You have entered the territory of the New Roman Empire, what would you wish of us?" **Roman Training Room** The soldier who approached the Roa'Marii had light brown hair, mixed with gentle light green eyes. Like a few other of the soldiers in the room, he wore no shirt, only pants. His body was revealed to be extremely muscular, and while he was white he appeared to have a light tan over most of his body. Taking a bow at the Roa'Marii he began to speak. "I heard about what happened in the mess hall, however not all Romans are like that. I was wondering if you be interested in a friendly sparring match. Rules are pretty simple, no aiming for the genitals, and pants only. No armor, shirts, shoes, or any other form of clothing beyond pants." said the Roman. **Docking Bay** The Roman in question seemed to speak, but stopped. The Imperator approached the General and began speaking. "He is indeed unique among Romans, no Roman has ever had dark green eyes, only light green. The reasoning for this is he is a Void User, similar to magic in a way but it is severely limited. However it is to be noted that every other Void User either has dark blue or orange eyes, he is the first with green. He is also the only other Roman to have both psionic and void powers, psionics also be limited in the sense it is restricted to only controlling or speaking to minds. The only other Roman to have both is the Emperor himself, and having both makes you biologically immortal." explained the Imperator, pausing to take a breath. Before he could finish however the Roman finally spoke up. "My eyes do indeed glow sometimes, there was one time I got mad at my Father when I was younger... he was in the hospital for a few weeks after that. Although when that happened and lifting the pebble just now, it was neither the Void nor Psionics, but I can not tell if is magic either." said the Roman, his voice not deep nor high, seeming to be somewhere in the middle.

**Finnegan's TradeHouse** Right before leaving her transport Tho Vo was handed her personal blade from one of her guards which resembled a Japanese tanto blade which hung from the belt on her hip. As they departed the ship she looked up to see that three gunships had followed them to their landing point and were just hovering in the air. "Pilot, lock the ship and do not open it up for anyone until my return." The storage door hissed shut behind her and than there was a thud as heavy bolts locked into place to prevent anything from opening them from the outside. The small group ignored the gunships watching their every move as they proceeded to make their way to where they had seen the buildings from the air. When they arrived at the buildings they found themselves on the opposite side of the lizard looking soldiers and their robotic soldiers, they started to approach the ground when they were stopped by a robotic soldier who had its gun pointed at them and demanded that they stand down and surrender their weapons. Tho Vo was not a patient woman by the standards of any species and when she was ordered to do something that she didn't want to do that was generally the last straw for anyone that stood in her way. In one swift motion she grabbed the foot long blade that hung on her hip and sliced the neck of the robot cutting the cables and servos that allowed the robot to function which crumpled into a heap at her feet. Moments later they were surrounded by Draconian soldiers who all had their weapons raised and were shouting in a language to fast for her translator to pick up while she calmly slide the blade back into her sheath while her bodyguards raised their weapons in kind and took up positions around her with their personal shields shimmering. "Gentlemen lets all be calm here and think rationally. I would like to speak to your commander if I can or we can kill enough of you to force your commander to show up." She told the surrounding soldiers with an annoyed tone in her voice as she felt that every minute she wasted with these lizards was another credit that she lost. **The Lost Sector/ Moon Kore Home world** A fleet of fourty-six ships dropped out of hyperspace above a dark planet which was the single moon of a large gas giant which appeared to have rings in high orbit of the moon. A millennium ago the moon would have been a vibrant planetoid with its own atmosphere and just satellite platforms orbiting the planet, now all that was left was a lifeless rock with no orbit and all the rings in orbit around the moon was debris of a long past civilization. On the bridge of the lead light cruiser stood Captain Thon Vodic the leader of an exploratory fleet that was meant to find their lost home world and recover any lost prototypes that been developed and left behind during the Great Fall. "Captain, we have finally found it. According to the star charts this is Kore, and that last jump drained the last of our reserves. It will take us an entire day to restore power to all the ships." Vodic nodded as he turned back to the main screen monitor which displayed their ancient home world. "Prep three salvage shuttles for launch and scramble some gunships for escort. I want to know if there are any hidden surprises hidden in that debris field before the ships are back at full capacity." There was a reason why the Korwrath people were split into different fleets instead of staying together and colonizing just a few worlds. Back before the Great Fall when the Korwrath were scattered and exiled to their fleets they had been called the Kore Dominion which had been a major military force enslaving most races they came across. This military had made them power hungry for more which than caused fractures within the leadership as multiple factions rose to try and seize control of the entire Dominion. Over the span of several centuries there was an internal civil war which produced bigger and more horrifying weapons of mass destruction which caused entire colonies that go dark as biological and atomic weapons were used. The greatest weapon which was developed by all factions were the great Capital Ships which housed weapons large enough to wipe out entire task forces by themselves. Towards the end of the civil war there was a secret research lab located on Kore which was being funded by the faction calling themselves The Solution, this lab was working on a way to counter the Capital Ships using a combination of atomic weapons that spread a biological agent that fed on oxygen to fuel a chemical reaction to ignite the blood of its victims. During a controlled test of the bomb there was a leak causing the bomb to detonate at full magnitude which wiped out the city and spread the chemical agent across the surface of their home planet at alarming rates. Horrified by what had become of their home world a truce was called between the seven warring factions as they realized that there were not that many worlds left to the Korwrath and their truce called for the demilitarization of all Capital Ships. The ships were slowly converted into habitats that were livable for civilians as their fleets were slowly formed and started to drift away from the core worlds into what was known to them to be deep space leaving behind any secrets that were meant to stay hidden from a civil war erased from the history books and not even the leaders of their nation don't even know the truth anymore. Since than the history was changed to say that the Great Fall was caused by natural disasters that destroyed the core worlds, this sector of space was than called the Lost Sector and was determined to be a forbidden area that no one was allowed to enter.

Read Admiral Caroc’s fleet arrived at their destination, the last location of the two carriers. Both appeared unharmed, however a large fleet of unknown ships were above the planet. They appeared to be moving into a more defensive position. Before Caroc could give any orders message came from one of the carriers. “Admiral Caroc, this is Captain Jok’tal of the _Zunde_ I would like to request that you refrain from any hostilities. Captain Idliss is currently onboard one of their ships and he is trying to negotiate with the aliens.” “I see,” Caroc said. “Do you know his status?” “I just spoke to him to inform him about your arrival. He seemed fine, however I don’t know how the Korwrath will take the appearance of your fleet. Not that I don’t appreciate the reinforcements.” Jok’tal said. “Very well. Send a message telling the aliens that I would like to be kept up to date on any agreements that they make with Captain Idliss. I will remain here until the meeting is finished, afterwards I will continue to investigate other alien sightings.” On the Korwrath ship “Let’s hope interesting doesn’t mean violent,” Idliss said. “While I am sure that my Queen would like to be able to make allies with all of the Korwrath I am sure that she would agree that working with one group would still be very beneficial. So tell me, what is it that you need and how can we help? I will relay the information to my home world and they will see what they can do.”

**Roman Training Room** Jos'arro was the first to answer the Roman. "Finally a chance to stretch my muscles. Things have been getting boring since the Saronio Campaign. Those metal clad bastards might've been psychopaths, but they knew how to fight." "You do realize these Romans know nothing about your past exploits right Jos'arro?" Ebo'name said to the Roa'marii soldier who was already in the process of taking off his armor. "Yea, yea, so what? It's been years since then anyway. it doesn't matter who the Saronese were anyway. They're gone now." "Whatever you say." Ebo'name then introduced the group to the Roman, a few others beginning to wander over after finishing whatever training they had been participating in. When he was dressed only in a tight fitting pair of pants, Jos'arro walked over to the Roman who had offered the match and the two moved for the now empty sparring cage. The other Roa'marii had also taken off their armor, the two remaining 42nd members moving around to participate in various forms of training. The 96th soldiers moved together to a target mounted on one wall. The three took turns throwing daggers at the target, nearly every throw hitting its mark. **Docking Bay** "Is that so? Well then, I want to try something new with you. If my hunch is correct, then what you have is a very old form of what we call dragon magic. Known as such because outside the race of dragons we fought a series of wars against thousands of years ago it's never been encountered outside of small isolated incidents once every couple decades. Most of such incidents involve the death of either the source of the magic or nearly everyone around it. If I'm correct, then you are very lucky in multiple ways. Not only did you receive this power and not die by using it, but it didn't drive you insane as it did the vast majority of Roa'marii soldiers we've tried giving enhancements to to allow them to use it." General Kaisur's eyes then began to glow brightly, being noticed by those who were facing him. The red eye slightly brighter than the green one which had changed from a lighter green to a neon almost exactly like those of the Roman Soldier before him. "But more important than that, you found perhaps the only person who can teach you something about it." **Expedition group A-9, Arcadia** General Sta'falia Silvad stood in the bridge of her capital ship, the small expedition group a piece of the Battlefleet Alpha. After examining the dead creature in further detail, it was made clear that its species relied quite heavily on magic to keep its appearance . While not unheard of, a species with such a reliance on magic was rare. The Expedition group was to be sent to the location the pendant was pointing towards, those aboard looking forward to contact with a new, potentially powerful magical race. The Expedition was prepared for a jump into hyperspace where the location was. The ships turned away from Arcadia before they made their jump one by one.

**Finnegan's Tradehouse** Goldy eyed the man that had just appeared in front of him, and thought over his options. Usually, he'd taze and then have his guard toss him over his shoulder, but the owner might not come out if everyone willing to speak was captured. Instead, he nodded, and said, "Walk with me, then, and help me find the owner of this establishment. I would... *appreciate* it if you would tell me what you knew. My brothers are dying this second, and we were stolen from our fight." Elsewhere, outside, all the soldiers and units that had surrounded the little woman and her brigade silenced immediately at her declaration of her killing any of them. None of them were laughing- they all stared at her with such utter contempt, it was likely she may try to kill them anyways. One of them stepped forward, the purple-clad, and said, "Shipmaster, you speak boldly when you're outnumbered, with heavy ground units and aerial units waiting to open fire. You're lucky you were shot down the moment you stepped out. You will stand down, immediately, and surrender to our soldiers. You will drop your weapon and allow us to... take it. You should not have attacked our infantry unit. As of right now, your ship is under my command, and through myself, my commander's, until I have successfully secured an exit and interstellar transportation to familiar space. If you're helpful, we will return your ship and a sum of compensation for your time. Generous compensation, from the Commander's own coffers." A bold move, but he hoped they were traders- traders like money. He gestured at the two heavy tanks, one of them coming to bear on the Shipmaster, and even going so far as the bump up the rumbling engines, and roar forward, with a clear view down the barrel- which had a slight shimmering that might suggest a deflection shield to keep debris or weapons out of the barrel. Above, the three gunships circled, the two larger UAV strike gunships' large, anti-emplacement turrets focused right on the armored suits surrounding the shipmaster. The the purple-clad continued on. "Our Commander knows of the situation, and does wish to prevent it, but our people are one of war, and we may have been used in an unknown weapon to bring us here. We need to find out if we can arrive home, and your presence is proof that it might not be one way. Now, *stand down,* or your assistants here will be killed. You may have armored battlesuits, but so do we- and we are *creatures born for war.* It's what we do." He gave her what he would've called a smile, her, a bearing of the teeth.

**Finnegan's TradeHouse** Tho Vo was getting annoyed that she continued to be ordered around and they had even gone so far as to threaten her and her men. She was very tempted to get on her radio and call for the rest of the mercenaries on her payroll that were on standby within the transport still, if she did call them she would have them use full combat mechanized suits that would be able to wipe out this entire force in a matter of seconds. She than gave a sigh as she realized that if she killed everyone here than there would be no one left for her to make money off of. "You know you make some compelling points Mr. Lizard. That smile of yours is pretty creepy though so you should work on that since you are creatures born of war." She told him with a mocking tone in her voice. "Funny fact, my people are one of survival and will do almost anything to survive except surrender ourselves to another species. So I can not allow you to take my ship or my weapons but we can make a deal so I can take your money." She told the purple-clad alien as she gestured for them to lower their weapons and move aside to clear a way for her to walk forward. "Remember though as we make an agreement that I do know a path that will lead you off this rock and that I am still in command here. You have no power over the Korwrath Trade Guilds." She clicked her communicator twice and two missiles came soaring through the air to impact the two unmanned gunships hovering overhead. "Know order your men to stand down or the rest of my men will engage and wipe out your forces. Oh and never threaten me again or i will personally gut you." She said this last part in a cheery ton as the thought brought some joy to her as she walked past the purple-clad soldier and headed for the the TradeHouse itself pushing her way through the crowd followed closely by her guards. **Fleet Nova** "Not at all Captain. Interesting in this case does not mean violent but for the fact that another one of our main fleets will be showing up in this system in around fifteen minutes. We had planned to turn over this resources rich world over to that fleet as we moved on into deep space again." Nak Ro told the alien as he stretched in his seat and noticed that one of the Admirals monitors had been turned off meaning that he had taken command of the fleet while they still talked with the Captain. "What we ask of your Queen is just for steady trade routes between our two people which we hope to me beneficial to both our people." The other Admiral told Idliss as he split his attention between the screen showing the meeting room and another screen that displayed the just arrived alien fleet that now joined the two carriers.

**Finnegan's Trade House** One by one a group of Roa'marii ships entered the sky above Finnegan's trade house. Seven ships in total arrived in formation high above the house. Quick scans showed that the house itself contained a large number of various creatures, the majority being of the same species as the one found on Arcadia. They appeared to be hostages to another species that had a pair of tanks surrounding the building while various armored soldiers watched the group. They seemed to have originated from a crashed ship in the forest. Another ship was landed on the opposite side of the building cluster, it apparently being the source of a small group of xenos that were facing off against some of those from the smoking ship. General Sta'falia watched this from the hanger as she prepared to drop down along with three squads of her fellow Valkyrie. "Sisters, it appears we were not the first to arrive here. Things look tense down there, so expect some hostility. We will drop soon, prepare for contact. I will be personally leading Shadow Squadron down to the surface, when we have established relations we will send for squads Thunder and Lightning. The ships are to stay in orbit and prepare for immediate extraction should things go badly. Now, we fly." Once they were ready, the Valkyrie spread their metal wings, a pale blue glow enveloping the artificial appendages. Shadow squad was clad in black suits, a gray stripe running down their sides. Sta'falia's suit had silver stripes instead, along with a black metal edge on her wings. Each wore a helmet that streamlined their heads and blocked the winds from ripping at their faces. As they neared the ground, the seven suddenly turned up, flipping their bodies around so that their feet faced the ground. Then, they slowly lowered theirselves, landing in front of a small group of the alien soldiers. Sta'falia then removed her helmet and attatched it to her back, her silver hair falling loose behind her head. She then folded her wings before speaking to the closest xeno. "We are Valkyrie of the United New Roa'marii Empire. We wish to speak to whomever is in charge here. We do not want a fight, but are willing to defend ourselves should we need to."

((Two missiles just *appear?* **Finnegan's Tradehouse** The scaly ridge that took the places of eyebrows lowered inside Purple's helmet, and he was already ordering them to be neutralized as soon as possible. When she 'clicked' her fingers and two missiles soared out from an unknown spot in the air some distance away, she would probably be in for a surprise. The two unmanned gunships ran completely on their own, only able to take orders from Draconian units with command authorization. Currently, they hard orders to flank the manned gunship as best as possible. That doesn't mean that their processors would willingly let missiles destroy them that aren't marked as Draconian, even less when they're in a combat mode setting, as they are now. Instead of just exploding as the trader clearly expected, the AIs within detected, deduced, and acted. The moment they appeared, they were well within range of detection range. It didn't even take a moment to decide that they were hostile, and combat countermeasures were to be enabled. The next moment was the AI choosing which actions were required to stay undamaged. Flares shot out in all directions, looking, to the untrained eye, that it had exploded in a shower of sparks. At the same time, its rotors, already spinning fast enough to raise it higher, only the angle of the blades keeping it less efficient and therefore, closer to the ground, switched to the most efficient way to push air downwards, and rose, even as the rotors themselves increased their RPM. The result was the two unmanned gunships rising up in the middle of a ball of flares. The two missiles sailed neatly under the two gunships, arcing upwards in an attempt to catch its target even as the flares interrupted their targeting systems. With that, Purple barked out orders, calling for the Commander that they had a situation and that she was now a most definite combatant. The infantry unit she had decapitated rose up again, blind and unable to see or hear, but its connection to the other units allowed it to function without, though not quite as accurate or efficient. Weapons rose; the soldiers and infantry units backed up, opening fire on the hostile Shipmaster. At the same time, the gunships moved back towards the shuttle that sat some distance away, already identifying where the cockpit should be based on position of the view windows and the shape of the shuttle. They wouldn't destroy it, just smash the cockpit to uselessness. Cannons swiveled on the bottom of one unmanned strike gunship, clearly aiming to fire on the armored soldiers of the Trader's Guild. As Purple activated his cloaking device, making him disappear from sight, it became obvious that he was retreating- elite or no, his primary goal is the protection of the Commander. All around, automated infantry units and the other soldiers began appearing, taking in the hostile units, marked on all of their HUDs, and opening fire with armor piercing or fragmentation rounds. Fragmentation was not so useful against armored units, but one shot would probably tear apart the smaller Shipmaster, and the AP rounds were good for crowd control because they went through a dozen people before stopping. Purple turned his back on them, and ran back inside to fetch the Commander, just as the two heavy tanks began to turn to open fire. But then several more ships appeared in the sky. Goldy ran out of the primary house at the same moment, crossing distance at a surprisingly fast pace, faster than one might think an armored soldier could manage. Staring up, he ordered what would obviously be a retreat. The soldiers firing on the Shipmaster of some Trader's Guild ceased fire, turning and running while the infantry units followed their example at a slower pace, while still firing on the Trader and her guards. The gunships, too, began moving back towards the burning ship, hovering over the forest some distance away to provide support. The two tanks stayed, eventually being surrounded by the infantry units, providing a reminder to stay away from the burning ship to all the ones at the Tradehouse. The APC and anti-air unit traveled back along the forced path made by the tanks, soldiers disappearing into the forest to meet up with the soldiers trying to rescue whoever they can from the burning ship, some distance away. It was clear that the Draconians were scared off by the arrival of a small fleet; it appeared and they ran, thinking that it may be another enemy. Based on the activity around the burning ship, it'd be unwise for anyone to approach, from the flattening of trees and rise of multiple air units and smoke pouring from machines that weren't burning.

###**Finnegan's Trade House** "Boss, this is starting to get ridiculous. So a second bunch showed up, then something pissed off the first bunch who started shooting again, but then they also ran off and now it feels like an entire fleet is overhead!" There was a the slightest twinge of panic coming from Iggi on the Com net as it relayed what it and the other Grund could pick up with their senses. Not that Dai'Kronna couldn't resonate with his panic, it didn't matter that he had so many combat implants and Gene-mods that strictly speaking he didn't qualify as a Cephalid, it had been a harrowing experience trying to duck past the Draconian units that had been sweeping the place. Their numbers had begun to dwindle recently and he had had far fewer close calls than in the last few minutes, new arrivals would certainly explain that though. "Alright Iggi, contact the ship and tell them to suit up the Ulaks for a full combat mission, if there are tanks out there firing then I want to be able to call in armor of our own. But seriously, I cannot stress this enough, do not be an idiot and open fire unless somebody threatens the civvies," Dai'Kronna's sigh was also subvocalized and thrown out onto the Com Net, "I will never understand how something as idiotic as a 'warrior race' ever survives to leave their own homeworld. My occupation may hinge on the application of violence, but at least we weren't as stupid as to start shooting up a place that posed no threat to us. Anyway, looks like the bossman ain't around and given recent developments I don't think he'd be able to explain things here anyway. I link back up with you back at our quarters and we'll plan our next move from there." With that surface-admiral Dai'Kronna turned and began to head back to the Bath House sections.

**Roman Training Room** Quite a few Bellator stopped to watched the Roa'marii throwing knives, and most seem quite impressed at their skills. However a majority stopped and went over to observe the fight that was about to happen between the Roa'marii and the Bellator. The Bellator took a minute to stretch, and then faced his opponent. His legs were spread apart with his feet pointed to towards the Roa'marii, however he maintained eye contact. One arm was pulled towards him, almost near his face, with the other outstretched and pointing at the Roa'marii. He spoke a few quick words before the fight began. "We engage till one of us submits or gets knocked unconsciousness." said the Roman, and after that he quickly moved towards the Roa'marii and attempted to punch his chest, trying to get him before he could move into a stance. **Docking Bay** "I assume our ship probably does not have the facilities to teach him this Dragon Magic... I can spare him, there is plenty of men on the ground looking to get onto a ship." commented the Imperator turning towards the Roman in question. "Well if that is necessary before we go my father is a very powerful man. We should probably speak to him before we go." said the Roman. "That is correct my son, I can not let my child just walk off into the hands of a foreign power without seeing to them first." spoke a new voice, which by the tone the General could tell he _commanded_ respect authority. "Your Maje-sty!" stuttered the Imperator, following into a bow. Every Roman in the room stopped and bowed to whoever the new figure was, except the Roman himself. When the General turned around he saw a imposing figure, two space marines and a woman in Imperator armor walked next to him. The Space Marines wore their full power armor, looking rather intimidating to the General. His hair was black, and much like his son before him his eyes were deep green. His robes were extremely fancy, being made of velvet and gold. He approached the General in a rather friendly manner. "Greetings, I am Apollo Callisto, also known as Apollo vi Italia, Emperor of the New Roman Empire. This is my son Lelouche vi Italia. This is my daughter Aurora vi Italia, also known as Aurora Benerice. She has powers similiar to her brother, although after her brother I decided to best hide them." spoke the Emperor, his tone had changed to a more pleasant friendly one, however it still had that hint of authority. It was also to be noted that Imperator Ettore growled a bit at the mention of Aurora's name, as if he despised it. "Greetings." said Aurora taking a bow. She passed her hand over her eyes, two contacts layed in her hand. Now her eyes were the deep green of her father and brother. The General could feel that unlike Aurora or Lelouche, who's power felt untamed, the Emperor's felt like he had full control and mastery over it.

**Roman Training Room** The quick start to the fight threw Jos'arro off guard for a split second, but he recovered in time to block the punch. He stepped back and got into a stance of his own. His legs were spread similarly to the Roman and he was slightly crouched. He looked to some like a cat about to pounce. Then he swept a leg out to the side, falling backwards onto an outstretched hand and sweeping the leg towards those of the Roman. **Docking Bay** General Kaisur stared at the Roman Emperor for a moment before he too kneeled down on one knee and lowered his head. He stayed like this for a second before standing once more. "Well, I can now say I've had the pleasure of meeting two foreign emperors who I didn't have to kill on the battlefield. Forgive me if I don't pay you the same respect your subjects give you. I am interested in this new arrangement though. If your son is coming with me, we will likely be stopping at the Moonlight Castle on our home planet Arcadia. I'm sure my emperor would love to meet you. Of course, you can bring whatever forces you wish to as an escort."