---

Maximillian stepped forward onto the stool so his diminutive form could be seen over his podium. He looked out over the gathering of minions. Scientists, Spindoctors, Mercenaries, and many more had arrayed themselves before him to bear witness to his grand announcement. For the past month, they had been confused, lost without his guiding hand and he was now confident enough in his understanding of the situation for him to enlighten them. Behind him, his loyal henchmen stood at attention, observing their lessers.
Jubei, Max's first and most loyal henchmen stood straight as a razor with one hand on his katana, ever ready for another attempt on his master's life. Dr. Neurocide was more relaxed in her stance, arms crossed and lazily surveying the assembly from behind her angular sunglasses. Colonel Blackheart stood with proper military decorum, eyes straight ahead and arms behind his back with his erstwhile companion Pendragon, a chimpanzee, resting on his shoulder. Lord Kane lurked in the shadow of the big-game hunter, eyes hidden by the shadow cast by his top hat. Montezuma shuffled from foot-to-foot and straightened his trench coat and floppy top hat with a small wave of his fingers. Eli Barracuda stood tall, glaring down at the minions with his arms folded in front of him; the perfect image of a criminal enforcer. Lastly, the Matron serenely attended to her knitting, humming a little tune to herself, but how she managed it with only one hand remained a mystery.
Max coughed once dramatically.
"Loyal minions! It is time for me to resume my conquest!" he began as the minions cheered their approval, "The Lair has been forcefully removed from my island by an unknown enemy," at this, the minions broke out into concerned whispers, "Fear not! For I, in my brilliance, have had the foresight to survey this new location. As it stands, I am stronger than ever!" he proclaimed, slamming his fist onto the podium. The minions applauded his announcement, stopping when he raised his hands. "The science team has discovered a device of near-endless potential, and, with it, I shall bring this new world to its knees!" he concluded to raucous applause.
Maximillian stepped down, soaking up the cheering crowd's enthusiasm. He walked off the stage, leaving the gathered army to disperse and attend to their individual tasks. As he entered the adjoining corridor, his henchmen filed out behind him and followed him into his Inner Sanctum. Once again, the team of elites stood at attention as Max seated himself at his desk, awaiting his orders.
"Doctor," he began without preamble, "gather a team of our best quantum physicists, a handful of scientists, and as many technicians as you need to establish a research station around that Node. Security will be handled by you, colonel. Two teams of Guards led by two Mercenaries each as well as a single Marksman. Will that be a problem?" he finished.
"Not at all, darlin'," Neurocide chirped.
"I'll handle this well enough," Blackheart declared.
Max nodded, "You two are dismissed," he said, "now, Montezuma, you and a team of Guards are to scout our perimeter. Stay out of whatever open areas you stumble upon. If they are not traps, then they are places where enemy surveillance will be most likely to spot you. You are also to find some local birds and... entice them to carry messages between the Lair and the doctor's research station. We cannot risk radio communications about the Node being intercepted. Understood?" he asked.
"Ya, mon. I'll be headin' right out," he intoned with a tip of the hat and turned to leave without Max's prompting. Max ignored the disrespect; the voodoo priest wasn't military and no amount of ranting or shows of power would change that.
"Kane, Matron, I want you to patrol the Lair for now. Make your presence known to the minions and encourage those you find to be slacking in their duties. Go," he ordered with a wave of his hand. Lord Kane bowed low and the Matron quietly deposited her knitting into her purse. The pair left, Lord Kane leaving first to open the door for the aging lady who smiled and passed through with a "Thank you, dearie."
Max regarded the remaining henchmen. "You two," he said to Jubei and Eli, "are to remain at my side. I do not know who dared to interrupt my plans, but the chance of them coming for me is too great to risk being caught alone." With that, he swiveled around to face the monitors lining the wall of his Inner Sanctum, clearly ending the briefing. He leaned back in his high-backed chair and rested his head on one hand as he took in the delightfully mundane goings-on in the Lair mixed with the occasional screen of static where his hotel surveillance feeds once were.
"Whoever you are, wherever you're hiding, he swore mentally, "you will regret costing me my victory, and you will beg for your life as my Freaks rip you apart!" Max chuckled low in his throat as he imagined his invisible foe being torn to pieces by the hulking abominations of science.

---

The king of Ancent sat on his throne, his expression looking unusually serious. However, this expression was the one he always wore these days, ever since the capital had been transported into this strange new world. There was no time to be carefree like the old days.

However, when Sonia entered, his expression quickly brightened as he greeted her warmly.

"Ah, Sonia, I've been waiting for you," he said to her. "So, how about the progress of our new farmlands?"

"It's been going well, Your Majesty!" she said with a cheerful smile. "Thanks to the fertility of the surrounding area, we have no problem at all in starting up the farms! And we actually are now about to have our first harvest!"

"Very good! So your fertilizer and seeds really proved effective! We will indeed need all the food we could have as our warehouses are emptying, not to mention the prices rising."

"Yep! Now we could harvest those farms once a month! Our food problems should disappear shortly!"

The conversation between the two had always been this casual. Sonia didn't even kneel down like it was customary for anyone who met with kings in other lands. The king was never big in the whole formality thing. He knew that his subjects respected and loved him and that was enough for him.

"So, moving on to my next question. I hear you wish to depart to the outside world after this whole farm thing had been settled?"

"Yes, Your Majesty! I intend to go look for materials for my synthesis! I've starting to run out, you see!"

"Hmm, you do know that the outside world is terribly dangerous, right, especially when we barely know anything about it?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Your Majesty! I don't intend to go that far from the capital! And besides, the Guild had scouted the lands all around us and they didn't find anything particularly dangerous!"

"Except for the sightings of a couple of winged humans. Or angels, if you prefer to call them that."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of another person in the throne room. It was Anastasia, dressed in her usual attire and carrying her trusty gun with her over her back.

"Ah, Anastasia! You've returned!" Sonia said brightly to the newly arriving woman.

"I've seen some of them myself near the mountains to our south. We haven't made contact with them yet however. And I'm not sure if we should, truth be told."

"...Angels, hmm?" the king said, looking deep in thought. "Very well. I order surveillance in that area. Simply watch them from afar and try not to engage with them. And if we do, make sure to state that we come in peace."

"Got it. Will pass that over to the folks at the guild," Anastasia replied with a grin. "So..." She then turned to Sonia. "Shall we go today? I'm pretty free today so I thought I'll accompany you."

"That would be great! It's been a while since we've traveled together!" Sonia replied.

"Oh, don't worry king, we'll stay away from those mountains!" She turned back to the king.

And so the two left the throne room, with the king contemplating on what he, and their kingdom, should do next. Sonia had talked about how this "node" thing, the one sitting in the outskirts of the capital, were producing extremely valuable and rare materials for her alchemy. She also postulated that there might be more out there. Should they strive to get more of them, just so Sonia's alchemy could get even better? Their kingdom only survived this long thanks to her alchemy. And thinking about it, ever since she made breakthroughs after breakthroughs in developing the kingdom, they had become quite dependent on her power. No other alchemists could replace her skills.

Well, he'll think about that later on, when they actually discovered another node. For now, he should just focus in establishing their presence in this new world.

@Black Alice

Reisen Udongein Inaba

---

She tapped the toes of her feet onto the slab of stone in front of the entrance, making sure her shoes were properly in place.

Her words of her master still echoed in her mind, as she fastened the small pouch of sample vials and medicines onto her waist.

"Don't give away our position or forget what you're going out for, or its punishment time~"

Reisen could still feel chills creep down her back at that. Even her tail was still twitching stiffly at that. Stepping out of the mansion, she started walking down the bamboo grove, following the path only they know about, humming as she did so. It wasn't a bad day, the sun was shining, some of the bunnies — both in human form and animal forms — were running around excitedly. If she hadn't been observing the time of chaos before everything died down, she could easily have mistaken this for another normal day in Gensokyo.

Passing by another group of rabbits frolicking around, she stopped them, asking them where Tewi was. "I don't know." "She's finding food." "Finding food?" "I'm hungry!" "Curry?! Is it curry today?!" came the answers. At least she knew Tewi wasn't around. Bidding them good bye, she continued walking down the path, which slowly started to disappear the further away she got from Eientei itself.

It was a pity, but she had wanted to say goodbye to Tewi before she went out for another bout of scouting. As it was now she had no time to -

"Uwaah!"

With a crash, she fell through a pit, though it was only big enough to jam her in that hole up to her rear. A slight rustle came from one of the bushes, as a muffled snicker came to her ears. Reisen's eyes glowed dangerously red, as she floated up from the pit wearing a rather stretched out smile.

"Tewi. Teeewi~ Come out, I forgive you~"

Reisen was to go out and chart what she can of the place around, and perhaps even establish some sort of trade agreement with a willing faction. But that was for later. For now, a certain white rabbit needed to taught a lesson.

One month ago, what had supposed to have been nothing more than a standard recon mission on a Kel-Morian world that had been the source of rebellion against the Kels, making it a prime target for shutting down the Mining focused government, turned into a mess as instead they found themselves in low orbit over some kind of station. Jim ordered a forward base found and established and all their active forces forwards to establish a safe perimeter. Unfortunately, they ran into more trouble than they'd anticipated and the following battle had left them with casualties that they couldn't afford to have suffered.

Now, as the guards rotate out for their shifts in the bunkers and the missile turrets watch the skies for incoming enemy aircraft, the former rebel-turned-Dominion-Officer sits with Matt Horner and Lieutenant Rave Mallard of the Spectres figuring out what to do. "We still don't know anythin' about where we are or who all those people who were attacking us, since I'm not sure they were all shooting, are." He pops open his flask and takes a sip of what's in it, Rave assumes it to be whiskey. "I want you, Rave, to gather up a group of Spectres and go out scouting, see what you can see." Matt and Rave both begin objections, though the former is slightly faster, causing the latter to fall silent.

"Sir, I have to protest. We're still getting the majority of the Spectres out of their stupor after the sudden shift of...whatever dropped us here." Rave picks up where Matt left off, picking up on his unspoken signal.

"I agree with Matt, Commander. We should hold them in reserve, wait for real fighting to break out and use them for what they do best. I can go out, see what's what. Maybe see what that smoke in the rain forest is about. Not much reason to risk more of us than you have to." For a moment, it looks like Jim Raynor, the man who'd brought the Queen of Blades back from her infestation and had never backed down from a fight he could win, was going to argue the point, and then sighed.

"Alright, fine. Rave, you go on your own. But I want you checkin' in every ten minutes and if you don't check in for longer than twenty, I'm sending a medivac with Marines and Firebats to find you." Saluting, the Spectre places his helmet back on his head as he leaves Jim's office while he and Matt began to talk logistics and future troop deployments. His rifle and katana sat on his back already, with his knives and pistol in their respective places on his hip and other hidden positions on his body. The claws in the armor worked fine, so when he left the command center, he set off at a jog for the one way out of their mountain base on this node as SCVs harvested minerals and the automated refineries sent the gas to the CC for processing.

Overall, as the Spectre waved at the marines and marauders in the bunkers as he passed between them and then vanished in a blue lattice work of energy as he cloaked, the base could pass for an outpost on some planet in the Koprulu Sector if those in it didn't know better. All Rave could hope was that the Zerg hadn't also been transported here somehow and were on the hunt for new essence to acquire. Xel'Naga knew they'd already seen plenty of it in their brief battle in the first week of arrival.

Siege tank hydraulics could be heard all the way down the path as their cannons watched for foes to try and cross the desert and attack. As the heat hit him, Rave was thankful for the temperature control inside his suit of Hostile Environment Armor, making sure it was set so that he wouldn't sweat to death and pass out in the sands, likely where he'd never be found again. When the first ten minute mark arrived, he radioed in, confirming he was heading for what looked like mesas that would take less time to traverse before hitting the rainforest than the small mountain range. Here's hoping I don't find something that'll eat me...

---

The Twin Queens sat before their three most trusted subordinates. On their left was the floating form of Councilor Vay Hek, who was floating before them in his drone form. To their right was General Sargas Ruk, who stood at stiff attention. Directly in front of them was Tyl Regor, who had just finished his report on the strange structure they had built their base around. "Let me just to make sure we are clear here, Tyl Regor. You say this device can produce any basic resource we need, as well as provide us with Ferrite, Alloy, and your Compound CDA?" the Elder Queen asked. Tyl Regor nodded. "It is as you say, my Queens. That device, which I have decided to dub a 'Node' is capable of all that. From what Science Team Alpha and I have seen, it has infinite power, but is able to only produce a finite amount of resources per day."

"What use is this 'Node' to our Empire?" Tyl Regor regarded the Worm Queen before answering. "With the capabilities of the Node, we should be able to recoup our losses from that week of bloody fighting. If given enough time, we might even find a way to construct a fleet of Famorians." Regor proposed. Both Queens silently regarded him. Finally, the Elder Queen spoke. "Very well. It will be your job to allocate our resources to discover how to resurrect our fleet of Famorians and Balor Famorians." With that order, the Queens turned to Sargas Ruk.

"General, what is the state of our borders?" the Elder asked. Ruk stepped forward. "We've secured our borders, clearly marking them with some temporary walls. They won't last long, but we've got drones in the area to warn us of any intrusions. Labor Team Gamma is currently consigned to build a network of tunnels to facilitate a rapid response until we have the resources to construct some transport and drop ships." The Queens were pleased with Ruk's report, which was concise and considered. "Very well. Perhaps it would be wise for you to patrol our borders with some Lancers, just in case." the Worm Queen replied, with a nod from the Elder Queen. Finally, the turned their attention to Vay Hek.

"Councilor, have we managed to make contact with any other factions?" Vay Hek floated forward. "As of this time, we have not, my Queens. After everyone withdrew, we have seen neither hide nor hair of any of the other factions. The troops seem to think they've spotted weird smoke patterns to the east." Vay Hek's report was given more like a politician, although it surprised none present. "I see. Your task is to find the source of the smoke. If it's sentient life, see if we can't recruit them to our cause. We cannot succeed in our goals alone for the time being. Take along a few light troops, but not many. We don't need another declaration of war so soon." The three men saluted, and left the Chamber of the Queens.

"Well, we're in a fine mess this time. I thought the war with the Tenno and the Corpus was bad, but this certainly tops it.
However, I must say that these Nodes are fascinating. I'm certain there are more, so we must try to locate them before the others. Who knows what they'll do with that kind of power." Regor replied, before turning off down a corridor that would take him to the labs. Hek and Ruk said nothing, both departing for their own destinations.

---

Sargas Ruk stood before his soldiers. They were lucky to escape with what they had, but the Grineer forces had still suffered a 25% casualty rate during the first hellish week of fighting. "Men, we have standing orders. Some of you will be coming with me to patrol our borders. Some of you will be escorting Councilor Vay Hek as he seeks out some interesting smoke seen in the eastern sky. The rest of you are on strict training regimens. We cannot risk any flaws in our military. Those of you in higher ranks will soon be able to see to the training of the next batch of clones. From my understanding, Tyl Regor has stated that they should be finished within a week.
Those are your orders." With that, Sargas Ruk retired to his chambers while the men were sorted their duties by lesser officers. It was this strict doctrine that allowed the Grineer forces to stay so cohesive, even in the face of such losses. Still, Ruk hoped that they would soon acquire the resources to get working on nautical and aerial support. After all, there was an ocean near their borders, and taking advantage of it could be to their advantage.

---

Vay Hek met with the troops that were to be his escort after ensuring his Terra Frame was set to fly to his position if needed. It wouldn't do for him to be caught unawares and have no effective way to fight. He was met with three Shield Lancers and three Scorpions. Vay Hek commanded them into formation, and the party set out for the eastern borders of the Grineer Empire. Vay Hek flew above the troops, but he moved at a pace they could keep up with. The Grineer Councilor just hoped that their first foray into foreign relations would go over well.

The Dominatrix stood quiet in her birthing chambers. Only the sound of whirling pools of Biomass filled the underground Cavern. Along the walls and floors these green sacs of liquid held most of her army until she truly needed them. It was almost a month from now when the Warp dropped her and so little of her swarm on this planet. Alone and scared she fled when she awoke on land, searching for the voice of command. The usual voice that gave her strength and wsdom, but now it was gone. She doesn't know where it went and how to bring it back. The new voice in her head, her own, gave much needed guidance on what to do next. Consume all...

She had to focus on building her vast army. She had the ability, but not the guidance. She, for the first time in the thousands of years of life had to make up her own orders. It frightened her, another feeling she was not accustomed too. Still she was sure to complete her one and only goal in her life. Already she had spawned few of her children to begin filling the ranks, but for the first few weeks if was long and slow. This World... It was different. The inhabitants did not provide her with the strength he needed to strive. The creatures here would not give proper Biomass to quickly build her new Hive.

Originally she thought it would of took decades before the Swarm could surface and take the Planet for the Hive Mind. Maybe the oh so familiar voice would come back to her. Maybe it was a test. Maybe it meant nothing. It wasn't until just a week ago she had discovered this object. A 'Node', as she called it. Lying dormant in one of the many vast chambers Drok'ez's Hive currently occupied. With her psychic powers originally granted by the Hive mind she was able to order the machine into creating the Biomass she desperately needed. It was only a few Days until she birthed her first child that was so much like her self. Appropriately giving it a name much like his Mother. Drok'Rah.


As he brought his pack out of the Forest that they consumed and onto rocky land, he received her command.

Hunt...
Prey...
Consume...

Rah was scouting the surface under his mother's request. Not only scouting, but hunting for biomass. The Prime led his pack of two other Warriors and a large gaggle of Termagants. They were all older. All birthed from the original Hive Fleet's queen. Yet they all followed him... No. They were apart of him. While his Mother technically controlled them all, just like her they were just an extension of himself. Something he couldn't understand, but was still very natural. While just feral beast by themselves, with him as their lead they moved with him will little more than a thought. As sentient as he was.

The Prime and his Warrior Cohort stood twice as tall as man, staying in the back and providing security to the smaller child sized Termagants that took great pleasure in eating any decent sized plant and the occasional small mammal the fell victim to their hunt. They have yet made contact with intelligent life, but Rah can feel the day drawing on them soon. A day he dreamed of so the Swarm may consume their Biomass and grow from the fruits of other's life.

November "Nova" Terra
Location Unknown (Northern Border Area of the "Warm" Steppe)
E-Hour +21 Days since loss of the 'Griffin'

Twenty days.
Twenty. Damn. Days. That's how long it's been since I first landed into this goddamn mess.

Of course, when it came to my recent streak of bad luck, I should have seen it coming from half the Koprulu Sector away. A "simple job", Riegel had assured me: to monitor suspected Tal-Darime comms traffic on the borders of Dominion territory. Ever since my tangling with this splinter faction of the Protoss - back during the nightmare that was the incident involving the now-defunct 'Defenders of Man' - I should have known that nothing is ever simple when it came to them.

Next thing I know, pandemonium. My ship, the 'Griffin', was being yanked through ... something, a wormhole maybe. Then, when we emerged on the other side, we were shot down over some kind of 'Dyson device' (as Riegel called it). I only had enough time to grab what equipment I could before I was being shoved into an escape pod; I saw no others leave as the 'Griffin' fell towards the station.

The past couple of weeks saw me practically live out of that escape pod. Catching whatever rest I could by day, while moving out by night to scout for supplies, possible signs of life or even any signs of the 'Griffin' nearby. Scarely much on the first two and nothing of the latter. I've lost friends and squadmates before, but to lose someone who's loyal to you out of their own voalition ...

If I ever get back to Augustgrad, I'm going to build a memorial to them; someone has to remember these guys for what they did.

For now, my priorities run something on the lines of:

• 1) Relocate from the escape pod's crash site to a more habitable position elsewhere
• 2) Recon the planetoid for any signs of the 'Griffin'
• 3) ...

Not sure on #3 onwards yet, but I'll think of something. Say what you will about us Ghosts, but the one thing that any candidate should have remembered being rammed into their head (apart from the customary mind-wipe) is that a Ghost must always be capable of thinking on their feet. So, for now, I'll have to settle for #3 being 'make contact with any non-hostile power in the region'.

Well, no rest for the weary, then. What food, little water and armaments I have are already packed. I leave at sun-down.

Where only a month before battles between innumerous robots, humans and monsters raged without sight of stopping there was now replaced by a different, more fundamental, kind of conflict, nature having reclaimed the battlefields at an unnatural speed. Birds, beasts and bugs went about their daily battle as survival of the fittest scythed down the weak and made the strong unstoppable.

The natural scene was disturbed however as, in 3 separate places, the ground is sucked downward into the maws of turbo diggers carried by robotic crash test dummies. The dummies march onward out of their holes, arms still sweeping the digging implements back and forth, unaware that they have reached their destination. Marching behind them are more dummies, these armed with concrete sprayers, which they use to coat the surface of the freshly dug tunnel in order to reinforce its structure and prevent its collapse under the rhythmic march of the robotic drones. Together the diggers and sprayers have creating 3 long, spiraling tunnels that rises up from the dummies main base below, up which hundreds more dummies now march.

The Dummy CPU, having finished dealing with the 4th tunnel that suffered a collapsed about halfway through it’s decent, move’s its consciousness to the surface dummies and stops the diggers and sprayers from mindlessly trying to tunnel through the air.

Frustration: the surface was closer than calculated

It thinks to itself before gathering the 3 groups of tunnelers together at the center of where the 4 spirals would be if the 4th had emerged and then begin to dig straight back down. The concrete sprayers following after them to reinforce the walls, using their jet-packs to slow their descent, of the wide shaft that was being created leading back down to the Dummies main base. While the CPU awaits this construction it directs the first wave of builders that had emerged from the tunnels, armed with sprayers and more precise construction tools, to begin constructing a small fort around it’s emergence point.

A perimeter wall was made of concrete using the sprayers is formed, atop of which several Dummies equipped with scout rifles and some Dreadnoughts, man sized quadruped robots coated with thick armor armed with rapid fire Nailer cannons, jump up onto in order to act as temporary turrets. A small trench network is built around this fortification into which standard dummies armed with blaster rifles and shotguns are placed. Within the walls a number of purchased AA drones, waist high 4 legged robots which house 3 guided missiles each, are brought up from below ground in order to ward of aerial assaults. The terrain in between the walls is also sprayed with concrete, creating a foundation for future construction. Finally, 4 small bunkers were constructed, each one a dome of concrete with a narrow entrances guarded by Nailer shotgun wielding Advanced Dummies, within which the dummy brain units controlling the fort’s forces were held.

It has been a month since the CPU and it’s manufacturing base where torn from the secluded corner of space it had been occupying to avoid certain parties interested in it’s enslavement and making a tidy profit from selling weapons and troops to prospectors looking to mine a nearby world. Dumped into a strange world with no seeming escape, it had lost a fair few brains trying to rocket them up into space, and with unidentified hostiles assailing it from all sides, the CPU had turned to the basic strategy of it’s universe's people:
Step 1: abandon what you can’t hold,
Step 2: dig down,
Step 3: build elaborate underground bunkers,
Step 4: mine the crap out of the planet
Step 5: use your new base and resources to strike out and destroy your enemies.
Step 6:…
Step 7: profit

Steps 1 through 3 were complete, however step 4 had hit a snag in the fact that the, other than the massive resource generating structure it had found, the planet was rather resource poor. As a result it was having to go on to step 5 in the hope that it could take some of the nodes it had spotted on the surface a moth ago during its escape attempts.

Now that it had arrived at the surface it was apparent that step 5 was not going to be going as expected either, seeing as there were currently no foes to be found, nor any evidence of the battles that had taken place here only a month prior. It had been hoping for the ability to salvage the warzone to fuel itself until it could acquire more nodes. They must be expert scavengers, the CPU mused, and environmentalists too, considering the repairs made to the previously ravaged and blasted environment.

Hopeful: Maybe they are all dead? Rational: further investigation of surface is required

With that thought came the completion of the vertical shaft leading down to long tunnels leading back to the underground chamber it had dug around the Node, where its primary manufacturing zone was located. Up from this flew a swarm group of Rocklets, small fragile rocket craft that could carry roughly 4 dummies and their equipment to a landing zone quickly and cheaply. In this case, the CPU sent them hurtling off in small groups towards the borders of the six neighboring hexes. Each group contained a single mobile brain unit, a few building tool equipped dummies and 20 dummies carrying a variety of cheap weapons. The CPU’s intention was to set up watch towers at the borders to its emergence hex to act as an early warning system and to ward of light enemy attacks.

Once it had the ability to be aware of oncoming attacks it would begin expanding the central fort with proper cast walls with metal reinforcements, defensive turrets and manufacturing facilities for units and equipment.

It was while the CPU was dealing with the aftermath of the 4th group finally breaching the surface and running headlong into the construction efforts with their diggers, that it picked up an unencrypted broadcast coming from a non-stationary location.

”This is Colonel Carolyn Richter of Richter's Rangers. I am broadcasting this message to inform any interested parties that Richter's Rangers are now selling their services in exchange for supplies and services. To discuss contracts and terms contact us on any frequency.”

Ah, it looked that at least one group on this strange structure had the dignity and sophistication to engage in proper capitalist mercenary work rather than barbaric and expensive total war. Of course, that did unfortunately mean it was going to have competition if it was wanting to sell its own services and wears. The CPU moved getting a proper long range broadcasting equipment up it’s list of priorities, either to contact the mercenaries to check their prices and capabilities or possibly to launch a counter ad campaign.

There was much to do before then however, in particular finding a way to conceal its position when broadcasting, and so the CPU got to work writing programs that the dummies would follow in order to upgraded its new surface base.

The roar of engines and the loud groans of machinery echoed across the tundra, carried by the cold wind across the northern landscape. Menials, technicians, and combat engineers worked diligently, overseeing the construction of one building after another. Soldiers marched through the fortifications, while others rested, and some readied their arms and armor for deployment. Large columns of armored vehicles sat motionless, quietly awaiting for their chance to take the field once again and crush their enemies beneath iron treads. Aircraft soared overhead, busy airstrips and flight control towers standing in stark contrast to the silent vehicle yards. Above everything and everyone stood the Node, its shadow engulfing the steadily growing fortress. The monolithic structure hummed softly as a steady stream of resources and power poured from it, and out through the small web of smaller production facilities GDI had constructed within the last month.

They were reminiscent of the tiberium refineries which they had relied upon for so long, but now that they were free of the damnable substance, something else could take its place. They were similar to the Node in shape, though far more spartan and military in their design. Unlike their progenitor there were not needless ornaments, details, or metalwork to be found on their structure. Each of these sub-nodes were connected to the original mega-structure, large cables running along the frozen ground towards the massive spire. Along with the original these structure, they were GDI's priority, great walls fitted with hundreds of anti armor and infantry defenses surrounded them, fortified within the outer wall which surrounded the ever expanding base.

General Elijah Cunningham stood in his new seat of command, poring over a map of the nearby area that his men had scouted. The display screen glowed a soft blue, and he could see a small glimpse of his reflection. It was quick, and distorted, but he still saw what he had begun to see every morning in the mirror. An old man, with grey hair and a face lined with age and worry. He was drawn back from his own reflection by a hand resting on his shoulder. Elijah turned to find Reed by his side, as he had been since Tib War 3.

"Sir, we have new information for you to look over. What's more Dr. Reynolds assures us that at the current rate of progress, we should be able to create a self sufficient Node of our own. Nothing quite so grand as this big bastard, but suitable for our purposes." The officer's tone was optimistic as usual, and Cunningham smiled at his old friend's enthusiasm as he took a dossier from his hands.

Quickly scanning through the pages presented to him, the General gave a satisfied nod before placing it onto his desk. "Excellent, give the good doctor our thanks, and remind him of the importance of his work. If we can master this technology, when we return home to the rest of GDI, we'll be heroes, figures of legend even." The General turned towards the window, overlooking the sprawling base and all those who now called it home. "All of us have a roll to play here, Captain. As always, I expect the best from you, your men, and your fellow officers. This is a chance few ever get, and a circumstance unheard of in which to take it. Call it fate, divine providence, or even dumb luck, either way we won't squander this opportunity." He looked back towards Price, his expression stern as usual. "When you next hear from Lieutenant Price and Sergeant Sheppard, inform me of their progress in the field. Dismissed." With a salute from Reed, Cunningham returned to his desk and the mountain of documents left for him.

|+|THE REBIRTH OF THE EMPIRE|+|

Dalek Sec and the other members of the cult of Skaro would attempt to break the Genesis Ark, opening it, releasing the millions trapped within. It has been twenty-one days of building, the chameleon circuit keeping the Daleks hidden had been holding up. It was constructed from materials that welled from the megastructure, however, the field could not cover the megastructure itself, at least not yet.

The Chameleon circuit worked like a cloaking device, it analyzes the environment it’s in and adapts and changes the appearance of the object to outside observers.

The Cult of Skaro hid the Genesis Ark under the cloak, its metallic body shining and shimmering in the plain white glaciers. The Daleks worked quietly across from it, constructing a means of cloning. All Daleks are Kaled mutates, developed by Davros, their creator. Their emotions stripped away, leaving only the killer inside the shell.

“Report progress on Dalek cloning facilities!” Dalek Sec screeched out in the usual metallic, somewhat electronic voice.

Dalek Caan reported in kind, “Cloning facilities is nearing completion!”

Then Jast reported, “Temperature control stable! Chameleon circuit is holding mimicry pattern!”

The Daleks shrill voices filled the air with reports, one interesting thing on the agenda was sustainable power, even when the megastructure was in Dalek control. “Extrapolating possibility of creating the Eye of Harmony…” Dalek Jast hovered only for a moment, “Probability of success is less than half!” he finally reported.

“Estimate remaining time until arsenal is restored, Estimate! Estimate!” Dalek Sec repeated, his eyestalk pointed towards the three Daleks working on their projects. Dalek Caan answered “Eighty-one light cycles! If the Genesis Ark is opened, the time remaining will reduce!”

Their voidship hung in the air, with the engines shut off, waiting for its pilots to return. The Voidship has seen the horrors of the Time War, with parallel dimensions being opened, closed, and created to recruit people from their worlds, an endless supply of soldiers. Daleks used such ships to recruit them by slipping in and out of reality, jumping dimensions, and bridging the gap.

“Overall progress on forward operations center, sixty-eight percent!” Dalek Sec barked.

Dalek Thay, Jast, and Caan kept everything operational, building many components and facilities. Long-range scans indicated that they were in the middle of two large concentrations of bio-signatures.

“Should we exterminate the adjacent lifeforms before continuing?” Dalek Thay presented the question, to which Dalek Sec replied “Negative, scans are indicating a large concentration of energy in the Northern concentration. Unknown energy weapons are a possibility.”

Dalek Thay did not understand the negative, it was a tactical decision, but it was still against their order, “They are inferior! Daleks are superior!” he shouted, Dalek Caan voiced his opinion right after, “These are Humans, they are inferior! Impure! Exterminate!”

Dalek Sec then reminded them about the stratagem, “Dalek revival stratagem is prioritized, we are but four, extrapolating possible outcomes…” a brief moment passed, “Probability of sustaining at least one casualty, unknown! We must avoid losses at all cost! The Daleks must return to full strength at all cost! Prioritize the stratagem!”

“We obey!” The Daleks exclaimed, Dalek Sec remembered at that point how few the Daleks were, but to him it mattered not, The Cult of Skaro was enough. One Dalek could wipe out an entire civilization in their universe, but for now, he schemed, he plotted, he planned. The Cult of Skaro thinks as their enemies do, the Daleks will rebuild their strength even if it takes months, years, millennia, eons, even when time itself ends the Daleks wait because now, they are weak.

The completion of a basic Dalek cloning facility would take two light cycles – two Day-Night cycle of the array –. The Cult of Skaro continue to work, without rest, without hesitations, soldiers on a mission to preserve the Dalek race. The Genesis Ark will be opened, and when it does, not even God can help you if you get into a war with the Daleks.

Deep underneath the ground of this new planet, there was a mysterious, ancient looking village. While one might expect silence, or something more atmospheric regarding an ancient village underground, neither could truly be found in this location. Instead of a sleepy village hidden by time, there was loud cheering and music. You see, a quaint quiet location could never exist where there were Oni. Any place where Oni congregate was going to be a Pandemonium, and even in this New World, this fact would be no different.

While other factions might have been busy doing something productive, like establishing trade routes, building up their technology, a majority of Former Hell was busy partying. The Oni were partying for 21 straight days, and there appeared to be no stop in sight for this rambunctious species. While it may appear that they were being the most unproductive faction of them all, this was just a necessary step towards their grand plan!

Totally.

Now, while a majority of the Oni were still partying, the leader of the faction, Yuugi, as well as Suika, were relaxing a bit, and catching up with one another. Despite being in Former Hell for 20 days, Yuugi and Suika hadn't really ran into one another. It was a simple discussion really, just updating what the two have done since the last time Suika visited. Despite how long it had been, there wasn't that much to discuss, so it was really just two drunk Oni talking about nothing.

At least, it was until a cat sprinted into the room, and hopped on a chair next to Yuugi. The cat didn't remain a cat for long, and quickly changed back into her human form, a look of panic on her face. Yuugi welcomed this intruder with a smile.

"Ah, Rin, come to have a few drinks?"

Rin shook her head from side to side, the worry on her face continued to lurk. It wasn't like the girl to worry about something, she fit right in with the rest of the Oni, too bad she spent most of her time carrying corpses. Still, the look on her face should have been enough to signal to Yuugi that was something was wrong.

"No no no! Sis was playing with the fire again, so I had to send some Earth Spirits out to relieve it! They came right back, and told me that we weren't in Gensokyo!"

And after a minute of silence, Yuugi had her response.

"Eeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!?!"

Truly, the greatest faction of them all.

---

All throughout the camp, the remaining divine children of Ilias sat and murmered in a solemn hush, not daring to disturb the fragile atmosphere that was hanging around the entire encampment. <An encampment>, huffs the reclining figure in the center of the crowd as she examines the remnants of her tattered host. Were she in her complete form, she would disintegrate the lot of them for dishonoring Heaven with this... barbaric display of failure.

"Unacceptable. Can't you see that your whining is affecting God's mood?" Pointing out towards the shimmering border of light that designated the edge of Ilias's sanctuary, she barks her orders to the rest of the Angels on the ground. "I don't think you've patrolled the perimeter nearly enough times. Another one thousand rotations ought to suffice. Go, and leave your Goddess in peace, lest she strike you down where you stand!"
The Angels sulked, but perhaps out of an even mix of loyalty and fearfulness, they lift up from their various resting places and head out to the light boundary, eyes scanning their surroundings. At the rear of their ranks, an armoured figure nods her head one last time in deference and flies out to meet with her subordinates outside.

And finally, her space was quiet.

Letting out a lengthy sigh, Ilias gets up from her position on her makeshift throne (Eden's lap) and moves so that she was at eye-level with the Node's lowest branches. She does not speak, appearing deep in thought about matters only a Goddess should be concerned about. Uncomfortable with the silence (partially because she felt it was her fault), Eden addresses the tree-like structure musingly.

"Whatever heretical energies fuel this... "Node", I am glad that we came across it when we did. I would not like to be stranded in this strange, forsaken realm without the slightest touch of your Divine radiance. This," she gestures to the surrounding field of light, "will at least keep you safe, my Goddess. Until we can muster the strength to purge this world of those Monsters once and for all-"

"Eden." Ilias speaks firmly, silencing her subordinate in an instant. Then, thinking better of it, she turns to Eden with an expression of affectionate guidance. "Come closer, and listen to the special task I have decided to assign to you." Beckoning the divine general closer, she lightly caresses the side of Eden's face with carefully disguised disgust. "You will personally lead your scouts to the lands of the humans that were spotted nearby. I would like for you to impress upon them the grace and divine might of Heaven. Do not return to me until they have praised my name aloud. Do as I say, and I will forgive your... difficulties, earlier."

Eden pauses for a minute, savouring the sensation of her God's hand upon her cheek, before pulling away and faithfully pressing her hands together in prayer. "You honour me with your mercy, my Goddess. I will go, and be the herald of your arrival to the humans. I swear on my name that I will not fail you in this. Thank you."

And with this Eden, too, departs from the radius of light that surrounded Ilias's seat of power. Finally alone, Ilias punches the side of the Node in frustration. It was pathetic. All of them were pathetic. Of all the servants she could have been blessed with, she got that stupid, worthless Third. And Promestein. She just knew that at this very moment that filthy heretic was plotting behind her back. The only reason they weren't at each other's throats already was that Promestein was hopelessly outmatched. And Ilias intended to keep it that way. No matter how much that child begged, she would never give up the Node to her, not even for a second. It was her only remaining trump card, amidst the garbage.

So absorbed as she was in her fuming, the Goddess barely noticed in time that somebody else had entered her sanctum. Righting herself before her outburst could be noticed, she turns to face her new visitor with a serene smile on her face...

"Ah, Promestein. Just who I was looking for."

A huge Star Destroyer looms over a rich and lush riverland as troops continue assembling their new outpost in this new world. Regular white-cladded stormtroopers make up most of the population on the ground as they partook in various positions around a several hundred meter radius. While some took up guarding their new territory, many began erecting various buildings and walls to accommodate themselves and store valuable equipment on the ground so they don't need to travel back and forth from their host ship. They've already did some pretty significant work within the first weeks, having erected a make-shift command center, several large camps to house around 100 troops each, several mess halls, two landing pads, several armories, various watchtowers, and even converted three of their Y-85 Titan dropships to provide as temporary military vehicle bays for their land vehicles. However all of this wouldn't have been accomplished without the use of the nearby Node, the one which ultimately saved the lives of virtually everyone since it's discovery. Without it, a huge portion of the crew would've perished or succumb to madness.

Yet despite the hasty progress being done on the ground, most of the units are either up in the star destroyer looming over the land or in space with the other triangular ships in space. The command post is far from being ready to house and provide food for the thousands of personnel up in space. Several months are needed at the very minimum to finally have a proper running base instead of a little "village" of stormtroopers. The ground overseer, Darth Vader, has been tasked in keeping the project on schedule on behalf of his master's request. It was a boring and a rather tedious job just ordering the troops around to do this, collect this, do not fail the dark lord again, and the like, but if no one proper was on the ground to command everyone, then there would be chaos and disorder. But the troops have regardless been keeping on their toes and were busy like white little bees in a bee hive.

Near the very edge of the base's designated perimeter, a scout trooper going by the designation name TB-489, or "Falon", is guarding the east entrance leading to the complex, holding the traditional E-11 blaster rifle. He's been here virtually since the Empire arrived in the Array and has been restricted as a guardsmen at this point for the last few days. His speeder bike is back at one of the dropships in storage and has been dying to ride it once more only to be put back into place. Falon almost got on Vader's badside when he attempted to sneak from his position, only to hear the dark lord's breathing from several meters away and stayed silently in place. If he did, he most likely would've been choked to death by his "invisible" hand, or at least that's what some people "imply" when they see a soldier gasping for air and suddenly dying right in front of Vader's feet. It was a terrible way to go really.

As Falon keeps guard at his post, he sees another scout trooper on his bike, who seems to be returning from his scouting mission. As the bike hums to a stop, the rider dismounts and issues a boring sigh as he stops to take a breather. The trooper's armor seemed a little battered, mostly covered in mud with a dent mark around the torso. The guarding soldier glances at the biker for a brief minute before saying anything.

"You feeling ok?" Falon asks with a deep modulated voice coming from his helmet as he takes a few steps towards its direction, "How was the patrol?

The biker then takes off the helmet to reveal a feminine face as its revealed that the trooper was actually a woman. She looked to be a tomboy, having a rough brown mullet as her haircut, along with relatively tanned skin, and light brown eyes. Huh, Falon wouldn't have guessed. After all, there aren't many female stormtroopers serving the Empire anyways, or at least to his experience and limited knowledge. He may have seen or heard a handful during his five year service, but otherwise he hasn't seen many, let alone in his rank. The woman looks at him as she breaks a sweat off her forehead.

"Yeah..." she says as she takes another pant, "I'm ok..."

Falon couldn't help but to wonder why. "You seem like you've came in a hurry," he responds curiously, "Encountered some wild fauna on your way back?"

The female trooper nods, confirming Falon's suspicion, "Yup... While I was just finished patrolling an area in the nearby forest down south, three dog-like beasts just came out of the thick brush and ambushed me when my back was turned. I was able to shoot one of them down with my pistol, only to be tackled to the ground by another."

The guard lets out a sigh as he looks at her slightly-battered armor. "Yup... sure looks like it."

The female scout then continues after a quick sigh, "I got it off with a few good socks to the jaw, but I had to get outta there. While I was heading off they tried chasing me on my bike... and they were some fast buggers too. Only way I was able to loose them was traveling over a large river, leaving them on the other side of the bank. I'm telling you now, I'm not going back there for awhile..."

"Sorry to hear about that unfortunate incident," Falon replies apologetically as he approaches her and pats her on the back, "But at least you made it here in one piece." He pauses as soon as the biker fully stands up, exhaling softly as she finally regains her breath. "What's your designation code if I may ask?"

"TB-726" The woman quickly answers shortly after Falon asked, "But please, call me Serra... yours?"

"TB-489." replies the male scout trooper with an equally quick response of memory, "But you can call me Falon."

"Nice to meet you then, Falon." Serra responds as she cracks her knuckles with a pop and puts her helmet back on, "But as much as I'd like to stay and chat, I need to report my findings to my superior. See you around, alright?"

"Sure thing." the male scout trooper replies with a nod as she watches Serra enter the gates into the complex.

At that point, Falon simply returns to guard the entrance, the brief excitement having just washed away as boredom took back its rightful throne.

---

"Hyaaaa!"

Sonia swung her staff at full force towards the overgrown lizard in front of her, resulting in a somewhat comical scene of the dragon being thrown off its feet, crashing to the rock wall a distance away. After that, it stopped moving, signifying that it had fell to the duo.

"Oh man, you're good! Really good, in fact!" Anastasia said as she walked towards her from behind. "I didn't know you're already this strong! You don't need me to be your bodyguard! Hell, I'm actually now afraid that you're stronger than me!"

"Oh, don't say that," Sonia replied with a light blush, "I still have much to learn from a veteran adventurer like you."

"Suuure you do, Miss 'I just hit a dragon in the face with a stick and sent it flying'"

"I could only do that because you've weakened it first."

After their little banter, Sonia approached the carcass of the now dead dragon and began her harvesting process. Normally, you would need at least twenty strong men to carry such a big spoil. However...

"Now do your job, my Secret Bag!"

She untied the small pouch she had been carrying on her waist. Without any hesitation whatsoever, she threw it towards the corpse of the dragon. However, instead of the bag just hitting the corpse nonchalantly before falling to the ground, it instead stopped mid-air, before opening itself wide towards the dragon. After that, something more miraculous happened. It began sucking the dragon's corpse into itself. And it didn't just suck normally like a black hole would. It first took off the dragon's scales. Then, it took in its meat. After that, its organs and bones.

After it finished, it flew back towards Sonia's hand. Smiling, she tied it back to where it belonged.

This was her trump card as an alchemist. Not only it allowed her to gather nearly infinite amount of materials, it also allowed her to bring all her alchemy items with her into combat without worrying on how to carry them. And she could bring out any items she desired by just simply thinking about it.

"It's done! Let's continue!" she said to Anastasia with a smile.

"You know, I'm always amazed by that bag, no matter how many times I see it."

---

The two had been traversing the mountain to the southeast of the capital for hours now. On their way, they met surprisingly strong monsters, the kind that ordinary adventurers wouldn't be able to take care on their own. That was why this region deep into the mountains was still not scouted properly until now.

The two soon had their lunch inside a cave they found. They sat right on its entrance, just so they could still have sunlight.

Midway through their meal however, Anastasia smelled something that shouldn't be there.

"Hey, you smell that? It smells like smoke. Something's burning around here," she said to her as she rose up from the ground.

"Hmm? Oh, you're right. I wonder what this could be," Sonia replied, rising up also.

"The scent seems to come deeper from the cave actually," Anastasia continued, turning back to look inside the pitch black cave.

"So... someone is living down here?" Sonia replied, looking at the inside of the cave as well.

"Let's go check."

She took out a yellow gem from her secret bag. And then, she threw it to the ground, creating a bright ball of light that quickly illuminated the dark caverns.

"Miniature Sun. Useful for dungeon exploring," she explained cheerfully.

The two then traversed the cave with the sun's light guiding them. Surprisingly, nothing popped out, except some bats who were woken up by the searing light that suddenly assaulted them.

"Wait, are those... Sonia, turn off the sun, right now!" Anastasia suddenly uttered.

Sonia obeyed, ending the sun by hitting it with her staff, shattering it into pieces. And sure enough, she then saw what Anastasia saw.

"Torches! So someone did live here!"

The two quickly ran towards the light. And soon enough, they found themselves in a large opening, populated by many torches put on the walls.

"There are people here!" Sonia shouted.

Sure enough, there were people there. They looked all haggard and tired, wearing strange clothes that she was unfamiliar with.

"H-h-h-human!"

"It's a human!"

"E-everyone, rescue has come!"

Without warning, the people there quickly ran towards the two. Anastasia however, wouldn't have any of that, as she quickly drew her gun, aiming them at the crowd, quickly making them to stop in their tracks.

"W-wait, we're not your enemy!"

"P-please don't shoot!"

After looking at the expressions of the crowd, Anastasia let her gun down. They seemed indeed harmless. Desperate even.

Eventually, everything settled down. One of them explained their circumstances to the two. It turned out that they were also brought to this world one month ago. However, it seemed they came from a different world.

"This one month... we could barely survive from the plants and berries we snatched from the outside. We couldn't... didn't dare to go far as those beasts... monsters... crawled all over this place... when we came here, we lost a lot of people to them... and some more when we made a mistake and got spotted by them when we sneaked outside..."

Sonia's expression immediately changed to that of sympathy. She could perfectly understand how it would feel for them with no combat ability whatsoever. The monsters outside were the strong kind too.

"Do not worry! We will get you all out of here! Our kingdom had been transported to this world at all and you would be safe there!" Sonia announced to all of them.

"R-really?"

"H-hooray, w-we're saved! We're saved!"

And so they headed back to the capital, with the refugees in tow. There were around a hundred of them. After Sonia talked to some of them, it seemed most of them were brought here separately as they went on with their daily lives. They came from a nation called Japan. And they seemed to be wholly unfamiliar with alchemy, thinking of it as just a myth or a fairy tale. When Sonia gave some medicines to the weak and sick of the group, they instead thought of her as a doctor.

"Here, I'll prove to you all that I'm really an alchemist!" Sonia said after she became more and more annoyed with their disbelief.

She created the miniature sun once again, earning the awe of the refugees. Now most of them believed her, with only a little still in denial as their minds refused that they had been dropped in a fantastical land much different from the world they came from.

At their journey back home, the group was attacked by some monsters. But it was nothing that Sonia and Anastasia couldn't handle. They took care of them with ease, earning more awe from the refugees. Most of them was surprised at how strong Sonia was, with her staff hits being able to kill the beasts easily. On the outside, she looked just like an ordinary girl, with no muscle in her.

They arrived back in the capital safely. The refugees were told to wait in front of the gates however, as Sonia and Anastasia reported to the king first. Of course, Anastasia ordered to the guards to give them some food and drink as they waited. And even though she didn't have the authority, the guards obeyed her, simply due to her strong and charismatic personality.

---

Dr. Neurocide was giddy as a schoolgirl as she poured over the preliminary data gathered by the research team Maximillian had assigned her. So much of it was outside her areas of expertise, but what she could understand was world-shattering. This Node, while limited in capacity, was functionally infinite in potential. Spontaneous matter and energy generation, brief connection of points in space-time, and then there was the theory by the science team's brightest that this device wasn't unique. The idea that there were more of these... impossibilities hiding somewhere out there was enough to make the Cosmo-biologist weak in the knees.
"If just one brought the Organization back from the brink, and even aided its growth, what could two, or ten do?!" Neurocide marveled, "I wonder if it would be possible to follow the energy the Node is runnin' off of. The sheer size of the thing would suggest an even more massive generator, and if we could backtrack to it, findin' more Nodes should be simple," a thought struck her, "and what about siphoning that energy, or even reroutin' it to disable or damage other machinery around this world? Nothin' says this generator only powers Nodes, and, if I had that kinda power lyin' around, I'd be runnin' everythin' I could off it." The doctor had never regretting throwing her lot in with Max's organization, but, now, she was truly overjoyed at contacting him all those months ago.

---

A disappointed frown sat on Col. Blackheart's face as he read over the reports his security team had written. Absolutely nothing had happened in the, admittedly short, time since they had established this little camp.
"Blast it all! he cursed mentally, "We're in the bloody rainforest! You'd think a hungry predator or some violent natives would liven things up, but no, we landed in the one rainforest where even the bugs don't take offense to trespassers!" he turned another page as he continued reading. "Ho now, what's this? Smoke from the northwest?" he read with interest, "Multiple smoke trails, possibly bonfires or the like. Natives! What luck!" Blackheart cheered internally.
"Now to convince old Max that we should teach the locals some respect!" he announced as he stood from his stool. "You there, lad!" he called to a passing Guard, Grab your rifle and take a message to Maximillian..."

---

Montezuma stared into the embers of last night's fire. He probably should have already been back to work by now, but the voodoo priest saw no need to rush. This place was strangely quiet and it left him in a contemplative mood. Sure, it had the sounds of any other wilderness with its birds and beasts, but this new world, and he was sure it was a new world, lacked the spiritual background noise he had long since come to take for granted.
"There be no spirits here," he muttered to the embers, "there be only echoes and screams. This place be no place for the living."
Maximillian was a great man, it was why Montezuma served him, but he doubted that the man could appreciate what they were stuck in. This was a place where things are brought to die, but Max could only see it as a place to rule.
The priest picked himself up and dusted off his trench coat. "It be time to go," he said to the Guards accompanying him and started off into the rainforest without waiting for their response, "The little big man be wantin' a bird and his privacy. No good can come of us keeping them from him."

In the space of the twelve hours the Spectre was out scouting, marking important landmarks, including the boundaries between the desert the Raider's mountain base occupied and the badlands between it and the rainforest, and taking note of a notable lack of enemies or potential enemies in the immediate vicinity, the base had progressed considerably. War factories were now pumping out fresh vehicles and parts to repair the damaged ones that had made it out of the battle on their original arrival, Wraiths, Vikings, and Banshees patrolled the skies alongside Ravens and Science Vessels, and now groups of Hellions were making trips between the farms near the river and the base, as well as regular patrols of them up to a mile out from the base with Predator mech support. The Hellion's speed makes them ideal for the desert, as well as their tires, versus the Cyclones that were filling up alongside extra Siege Tanks, Diamondbacks, and Goliaths in a vehicle depot, which had treads, while the Predators more even weight distribution made them good for back up.

Rave, looking at the organized chaos from his vantage in a room on an upper floor, could only marvel at it. Jim was out among his men, his black CMC-300 armor sticking out amid the red and blue of Raider and Dominion marines, giving orders, checking progress and over all just making sure the base was running at it's best. The other Spectres were training with the contingent of Ghosts that Valerian had attached to them on the lower floor of this barracks, which belonged exclusively to the Psi Ops division of the Raiders, and he could feel their minds working and hear them practicing their hand-to-hand combat with their bodies. It was impressive, given they'd started with nothing almost an entire month before.

With a sigh, he glanced at his helmet as it beeped and picked it up, glancing at what it was before putting it on. "Lieutenant Mallard, what's up? The voice on the other end doesn't immediately reply and I can hear some papers rustling as they're rifled through and a chair creak as it's shifted. Finally, after about two minutes of silence, it answers, a woman on COMs duty for the day due to drawing the short straw.

"Commander Raynor wants you by the Node, Lieutenant. He said in the next two minutes or he's putting a new hole in your ass." The psion sighs, gives an affirmative and stands, stretching. He had just woken from some well earned sleep around ten minutes ago, but he was already feeling antsy, as was his norm. Going from being on the run from the Dominion to one of their top Assassins and Espionage operatives was jarring and he'd never quite lost his over-cautious edge. Putting on his HEA after removing his helmet, and then replacing the helmet, he retrieves his sword, rifle and pistol from a wall rack for weapons and heads out.

The Node, as Stetmann had called it after their discovery of it, was what made it possible for the mineral growths that the SCVs now harvested from daily possible as well as their vespene supplies that allowed the building of more than CMC armor and Hellion/Hellbat chassises. Rave, Matt, and Jim didn't bother pretending to understand it, but all the same, the commander had given Stetmann the go ahead to make more if he could understand it and purpose them to create vespene. Minerals weren't going to be a problem soon enough, and arguably weren't as far as Rave was concerned, but the gas was harder to work with. After a short five minute jog, the Spectre spotted the black suit of CMC armor and approached it, saluting him.

"At ease, Mallard. You know you don't need to do that with me." Rave grinned behind his helmet as he dropped his salute and followed the grizzled commander as he walked. [color=Gray]"I'm sure you're wonderin' why I brought you down here instead of sending you back out to scout."[color] The Spectre nodded and Raynor continued, lighting up a cigarette as he walked. "I want you to head to the communications room and send out a call on all Dominion channels, see if anyone else ended up in this god forsaken hell hole. Let 'em know where we are, pick a place to meet 'em, and bring 'em home. Sure Warfield would appreciate it and I sure as hell don't believe in leavin' our folks alone out there."

Rave hesitated for a moment, looking back towards the command center and then up towards the Hyperion in low orbit, where a Gorgon was being constructed in preparation for any upcoming combat. Several Light Scouts, a unit that had only recently been fielded by the Dominion after Jim made a hell of an argument for it, heading out to pick up where the Spectre had left off. Finally, he chuckled. "Matt's back on the Hyperion, isn't he? That's why you're doing it now." Raynor chuckled and nodded, taking another drag of his smoke.

"That he is. He's gone to oversee the completion of that Gorgon and any other heavy aerial units we might need, along with coordinating with our towers on the ground to keep our pilots aware of the situation around them and alert them if they're needed. Since I knew he wouldn't like risking us getting decrypted, I waited til he left." Shaking his head ruefully, Rave looked up towards the Node for a moment before nodding.

"Consider it done, Jim. I'll let you know if I get any hits." Not waiting for the commander's reply, Rave jogs over to the command center and ducks inside, heading for the coms room where he met the woman who'd informed him to meet Jim near the Node. After appraising each other silently for a moment, she went back to managing the traffic with the help of the other officers, various men and women who had ignored the Spectre's entrance, while he went to an empty console. It took a few minutes to get ALL the Dominion frequencies up and running, along with ensuring the open frequency was shut down, but he finally had what he wanted. Taking a deep breath, the psion began speaking into the mic. "This is Lieutenant Rave Mallard of the Spectre Ops with Raynor's Raiders. If there are any Dominion personnel hearing this, we are in the southern desert on a mountain. In one hour, I will be heading to the northern border where the desert meets with mesas and badlands, waiting six hours for you to arrive. I will be doing this for the next two days, this message looping every hour on the hour for the time I am waiting. Please let me know you hear me on one of these channels. I repeat, this is Lieutenant Rave Mallard of the Spectre Ops with Raynor's Raiders. It's time to come home." He decided he would wait in the coms room for the whole hour and then head to the border in a medivac.

On the road to the kingdom of Ancient

Through the darkness, a thin stream of light, lucky enough to make its way through the thick canopy overhead bounced off the blade's steel, momentarily brightening a six foot area of condensed shadow. Not that there was much to see in that moment. Only Abigail's annoyed face, matching that of her sister Melanie's with pale green covering everything else. The two were tired of traversing the thick undergrowth of the jungle floor and longed for the mountains past. They couldn't go a single step with bumping into one thing or another, most of which were sharp. Bugs of every shape and breed buzzed angrily around them, complaining in their high pitched voices that something solid, that shouldn't have been there, kept them from being able to stick their teeth into the meat and enjoy the blood.

"You know," Melanie muttered as she hacked through another piece of vegetation "this whole ordeal would be a lot easier if you just carried us over these damn trees or at least walked in front of us, Jack!"

"Give it a rest," Abigail sighed, slicing through wood and moss. "We've been over this before and it didn't go anywhere. We just got laughed at." In response Melanie hacked through another tree with much more force than was needed.

"Oh come on, girls," a booming voice rang out from a few yards behind them. "You're both too young to be so spoiled. A bit of walking and swiping never did anyone any harm. Besides, cutting your way through a jungle floor builds character."

"We got plenty of character from our days in the new world, remember?" Melanie spat. "I'm pretty sure you're just being a lazy old man who enjoys seeing his wards suffer."

The bear of a man gasped. "Such cruel words to speak to your dear friend and protect.."

Melanie opened her mouth to respond but Abigail cut her off. "There's a light up ahead."

"It's a light at the end of the tunnel." Melanie cooed. "We've made it."

"This isn't a tunnel."

"You know what I mean."

"I know what you mean." The bear snorted. "I'm not sure if you know what you mean. A light at the tunnel is what you see when you're dead."

"Or just coming out of the darkness." Abigail offered.

"It's also just a figure of speech." Melanie grunted. "Either way the point is we're not going to spend the rest of our lives in a humid jungle filled with god knows how many creatures who'd like us for a snack." She paused to glare back at the man. "Which wouldn't be a problem if you just put them to sleep."

With a grin Jack stopped to shake his finger at his late friend's eldest daughter. "With great power comes great responsibility. A king's sign isn't something you just throw around willy nilly like that."

"Didn't you once put a whole town to sleep because you didn't want to have to wait in line for a drink at the bar?"

"That's different. A king's got to wet his whistle or he'll go mad. Mad I tell."

"Hey!" Abigail called up ahead at the spot where the sun met the shadows. "Come and take a look at this!" Her two companions quickly erased the distance that had been created thanks to their bickering to behold the next part of their journey.

"More mountains." Melanie muttered, crossing her hands over her chest and pouting. I'm so freaking tired of mountains.

"Nothing wrong with mountains." Jack said, stretching his arms over his heads. "Their good exercise and you get the view at the end or middle."

"Funny how the person who can fly is the one whose bragging about mountains not being a big deal, isn't it?" Melanie snapped.

"You two do realize there's more than just mountains, right?" Abigail said, calmly. She raised a hand and pointed towards forests, and forest. The forest gave way to more forest, but after that there was something different. It took the two awhile before they realize they were looking at some of kind of settlement.

"People." Melanie grinned as she hoped for joy. "We'll finally be able to trade for some new clothes and supplies."

"Unless their hostile." Abigail said.

"Which would make things a lot easier than trading." Jack said, with a smile. Melanie gave an enthusiastic nod in reply.

"Let's just go say hi." Abigail said as she started making her way towards the settlement. "Keep your hands at your sides, weapons in their sheaths. I don't sense any hostility at the moment but we all know how fast that can change." With that she started moving in the direction of the settlement.