"...can't believe we're being sidelined for half a cycle!"

Mina Balik glanced up from the aquatic plant she was cultivating as a reptile-like Hellion with vibrant red scales barged into the dorms, tossing his helmet into the far wall with a resounding "clunk".

"Count your blessings, Aile," chided the burly goatlike Hellion that followed him into the room. "Back when you could count number of PARAGONS on one hand, time off'd be a miracle."

"But a HALF A CYCLE!?" the Hellion Aile vented, collapsing onto his bunk irritably. "Nothing but tests and practice runs and no action to speak of! Seriously Serago, the miracle is if I don't go nuts waiting for something to do!"

"You could take up Kanter Cultivating," Mina piped into the conversation, gesturing to the wobbling aqautic plant in front of her. "It's a traditional Sidonian art, very relaxing." Mina delicately scraped at one of the branches to demonstrate and gave a yelp as the plant violently thrashed sprayed rainbow colored ink all over the ceiling and her face.

"Oh yes, that's very relaxing," Aile snarked in between bouts of laughter. "You've got relaxation all over you, can't believe I missed it!"

"I-it's a difficult art to learn!" Mina said indignantly, rubbing the multicolored goop out of her eyes, her reddening cheeks hidden by the ink and her hands starting to shake as she attempted to towel herself off. "L-luckily the ink d-doesn't stick in fur...uhhh..."

"Least she's trying to find something to do," piped up the vixen Hellion curled up in the corner, crossing her legs as she perused a magazine. "And not whining obnoxiously about it." Aile merely sulked in response and turned towards the wall to avoid her unamused glare. Mina felt a towel pressed into her hands and quickly cleared her eyes to see the horned Hellion smiling helpfully at her.

"Th-thanks, Serago," Mina murmured, moving to towel off the ink from her hair.

"Not a problem. Luckily enough it does look like it's not drying on you," Serago commented. "If you need another towel I'm sure Aile can lend you one."

"If he's not too busy sulking," the vixen interjected, casually turning to a new page. "What has his tail in a knot anyway?"

"We're on shore leave for the next half-cycle, Kyrie," the larger Hellion revealed. "Deus is scaling back operations because of the uprisings in the Tan Metto system and the ongoing fighting over Betonamu, so they're cycling out PARAGON units for recuperation and repair work."

"That's good," Mina said brightly. "Some of my systems have been sluggish and the field repairs aren't cutting it anymore, it'll be good to get a tune-up."

"Hrm, yeah, I guess that is a plus, too," Aile grumbled to the wall. "We haven't exactly been fighting nonstop anymore, like we were a few years ago."

"Do you think that means we're winning?" Mina suggested, her tone brimming with hope.

"Don't jinx it darling, I'm sure we still have a long way to go," Kyrie chimed in, tossing her magazine aside and stretching before she got up and sashayed over. "Just enjoy the down time and get ready to fight again when the time comes."

"I agree, we should use this time wisely," Serago agreed, giving the lizard hiding in his bunk a pointed look.

At that moment, an alarm suddenly blared into life, causing all four Hellions to jump in shock.

"Aaaaagh, fuck!" Aile shouted, rubbing his snout from when he leapt up and smacked it on a top bunk. "What the hell is-"

"PARAGON-12 pilot report to Hanger 4 immediately!" Sounded a mechanical voice over the shrill sound of the alert. "PARAGON-12 pilot report to Hanger 4 immediately!"

Feeling the bottom drop out of her stomach, Mina didn't stop to wait, dashing past Serago and down the hall as the other three pilots tailed behind her. Bursting into the room, she found the base commander herself, tall, fishlike, and imposing as ever, standing over the diminutive scaly scientist working furiously at the console as other techs ran around. Looking out the control tower window, Mina spotted the imposing figure of PARAGON-12 standing silently at attention, hooked up with wires and piping to the surrounding hanger, seemingly unharmed.

"What's going on?" Mina said, too shaken to observe the proper protocol. "Is something wrong with Rude Buster?"

"That's the thing," the Commander said seriously, running a hand through her flowing red hair nervously. "We're not sure what's going on with it..."

"What do you mean you don't know!?" Aile shouted back.

"Something is tripping our sensors like crazy," the lead technician replied. "But we have no idea what, our sensors are all coming in blank and there's no reports of any unusual activity near us." She adjusted her glasses and spun around in her chair to look at the pilots. "All we know is that whatever's going on, it's targeting Rude Buster."

"It's not some kind of Deus superweapon, is it?" the Commander said dourly.

"I don't want to say impossible," the scientist replied. "But considering the closest Deus presence is in the nearest sector it's unlikely that they are doing...whatever it is they are doing..."

Mina ran past the commander and pressed her face to the glass, trying to get a better look, to see if anything stood out of the ordinary, and then something did...

"Ma'am, we're getting a massive energy spike from PARAGON-12!"

"Boost the dummy Vigor fields! Don't let whatever is in there into the PARAGON!"

Mina watched in horror as the air around the Rude Buster began to fizzle and turn blue, gradually at first but then engulfing the mech entirely. There was a flash of light, and the blue cleared, leaving a stunned silence in the control room.

"Rude Buster?" Mina said helplessly, turning to look at the others in the room. "What happened to Rude Bu-"

A flash of blue, and Mina suddenly had more to worry about then a vanishing PARAGON.

Already put to work? It seems the biped was more desperate than Kosnitch initially thought. He remained silent as the Praxis rattled off the details of their first mission. They were to be sent off to some dead speck of land to chase after some inter-dimensional thieves. They had looted something in concerns to the places technology. An odd thing to be interested in, considering they had access to inter-dimensional travel. Unless, of course, they acquired it from another. And asking that would lead to more questions that he- he corrected himself, they. He'd need to get into the habit now he was in a group. It would lead to questions that they presently didn't have time for. And things that didn't bear relevance to the task at hand. Kosnitch hoped that they wouldn't be thrust into another assignment immediately after this one's completion. Kosnitch caught himself. Assignment. Focus.

'These bandits. Their armaments? Weaponry, protection, equipment?' asked Kosnitch, addressing the Praxis.

He hadn't forgotten the second part of Praxis's closing line either. He gave the surrounding group another once over. They were still highly colourful. Literally and figuratively, Kosnitch realised in dry amusement. The majority appeared to be armed, but being unfamiliar with their technologies, they could all have flash lights strapped to their hips. Others still had weapons of a primitive appearance. Which probably meant they were using magic. Kosnitch hated that stuff. One had a spear where the stabby bit was glowing quite brightly. He'd have to remember to keep away from that kill magnet. The other had a sword and a standard. They weren't making a light show. He appreciated that part. Still, it lacked any indication of what they did. Hopefully they weren't just two sharp, shaped bits of shine shell. At least he could be certain that the large, alien shelled bipedal host would be serviceable in combat, if only due to its size. If nothing else, it gave any anti-armour weaponry a more attractive target than he was.

And he could speculate all day and achieve nothing. One of the rabble had already spoken up. A flesh skinned one wearing a...human bipeds wore them. Hadn't passersby talked about them before? Dresses, that was their name, Kosnitch recalled. She was wearing one of those. Her name was Elune Terminus. And she was supposedly an alchemist. He'd never heard the term before. It sounded archaic. Regardless, she could supposedly abstractly heal people and attack with explosives. An odd mix of field medic and grenadier? She hardly looked the part, but not everyone was always on duty. She'd have to make her specify. And keep his distance from her during combat. Who could tell how enthusiastic she would be about hurling explosives or messing with his host's biological workings.

Kosnitch began talking, panning his head to look at each of them in turn as he addressed the congregation.

'I' am Kosnitch of clan Yovun, an agent of the Zoolith-Korth Coalition. It seems we will encounter combat. In such scenario's, I' am capable if armed. If the rest of you could recite your names and capabilities, that would be appreciated.'

He turned his head towards Elune, lifting his lower arm to point a finger at her.

'You have already recited. Thank you. An alchemist capable of healing and explosions, yes? Could you please specify through what means are these capabilities achieved, and to how great an effect?'

---

---

Ah, a person unfamiliar to how alchemy works. It's only natural since they came from a different universe after all.

"Well," she turned to answer her questioner, "I have medicines that could heal any wounds, no matter how severe. And my most powerful bomb could destroy a city in a single blast, though naturally, I hope we wouldn't have to use it. I'm not limited to just that however. I could also call down a beam of light from the sky for a precision strike. Or summon a tiny black hole that could suck everything around it, even ripping out souls in the process occasionally. And if you're asking about support items, I also have a mirror that could create mirages of yourself.

"If you're asking how I use them, my medicine comes in pill and liquid form. The latter you could even break the bottle to transform it into healing vapor. As for the bombs, well, I throw them, of course," she added with a smile.

Her questioner was one of the non-humans. Her more biologically oriented friend would definitely love to examine his body. To her though, he just has her standard curiosity.

Miroslava Chára pensively stared at the thick, foliage-laden valley that stretched below her. In these highlands in New Hanoi, the quickest, and incidentally safest, way to travel was via aerial transportation in VTOL gunships. These gunships, nicknamed Albatrosses by Imperium soldiers due to their vague similarity to the bird, commonly soared the skies of any planet occupied by the Imperium Army, New Hanoi especially so. At the moment, a whole squadron of five Albatrosses were in a formation, ready to touch down and provide fire support for the grunts on board.

The Imperium soldier took a whiff out of her blunt as she continued to gaze upon the jungle canopy. The underbrush was too thick to make anything important out, especially at the height and speed she was traveling at, but Miroslava nevertheless could at least make out vague signs of clearings and goat paths. Certainly, the Resistance was definitely operating somewhere in the region, and now it was her job to clear them out. Or, will be, rather. For now, she could take a second to enjoy the scenery from a bird's eye view.

Behind her, Miroslava could hear her lieutenant explaining the details of this particular mission. It was always the same; touch down on the LZ, shoot every hellion that moves, and try not to die in the process. Sure, the exact details may change, but honestly, they really don't. Any genius that comes up with a more brilliant plan than that doesn't last long on New Hanoi. Either the jungle claims them, or the bureaucracy does.

Or, if they're real geniuses, Miroslava darkly chuckled to herself, their own squad claims them

Taking the laced cigar out of her mouth, the burn-scarred woman could hear one of the new privates asking a question to their lieutenant.

"...Ma'am, how will we know will hill to attack?"

The woman laughed, as if she was expecting this question. "Trust me, Jenkins, you'll know in a second."

Almost as if on cue, Miroslava could faintly hear the screeching engine of an Imperium fighter in the distance behind her. A few seconds later, the aircraft buzzed past the formation of the Albatrosses, heading straight towards a hilltop ahead of them. Three bombs dropped from each wing, freefalling towards the summit as the fighter banked away from the action altogether. After a tense moment, the bombs exploded on the surface, igniting the summit in a large firestorm.

"The one on fire," the Lieutenant continued, "that's the one we attack."

The gunships slowly descended towards the surface, heading towards a relatively large clearing that they could temporary park in. Miroslava could hear the mounted machine guns blaring to life next to her; perhaps the sudden onset of gunfire right would have startled her a few years ago, but it barely phased her anymore. She took one last hit of her blunt, before gently tossing it overboard. Break time was over; now it was time to storm that hill.

A few seconds later, the Albatross hit the ground, and the entire squad, Miroslava included, poured out of the sides. The machine guns from the gunships were providing ample cover fire for now, but being in the open was surely a death sentence in the long run. The man that was cut down by enemy fire right in front of her was testament enough for that.

"Looks like we got company," the Lieutenant jovially yelled, as if this was nothing more than a game to her. It was true though: Miroslava could see the muzzle flashes coming from within of the jungle, right at the base of the burning hill. For just suffering a napalm strike, the Minh were curiously providing an organized resistance. These must be hardened apostates.

Miroslava charged towards the woods, her assault rifle dispensing lead towards the hidden junglefowl. The flamethrower strapped to her back, while slightly encumbering, ultimately did little to stop her from trying to reach cover as quickly as possible. The buzzsaw-like sound of the Albatrosses' machine guns proved to the Earthling's salvation, as the members of the Resistance found themselves simply being outgunned by the platoon of humans. Just barely out of sight, Miroslava could see movement, as the Minh started to retreat upwards on the hill. The firestorm, of course, trapped them from going much higher, preventing any true escape from the hellions. They were trapped between a rock and a very hot place, right where the Imperium Army wanted them.

As the burn-scarred woman ascended up the hill, it became increasingly obvious that not every Minh was part of the retreat. Some were jumping out of the brush, to engage with the advancing humans in melee combat. But more importantly, a foxhole, armed with a rudimentary heavy machine gun, was offering its own covering fire to its comrades as they retreated. The redhead smirked, as she put her assault rifle to the aside and instead grabbed the gun of the flamethrower. Miroslava blasted the foxhole with a stream of liquid fire, causing the hellions inside to scream and run out of their fortified position. However, they were not able to get out before getting ignited themselves, and those who weren't immediately cut down by gunfire succumbed to their burns instead.

Miroslava turned around, to face the mass of Imperium soldiers that were mostly behind her. She waved them forward, trying to indicate that the position was cleared and it was safe to advance.

However, they were probably more occupied by her glowing blue, and then dissapearing without a trace.

---

^@Rai

---

Before Oh-Two could fully pledge to Praxis' cause, she had to figure out just what she was dealing with in terms of her team. Of course, she was intending on joining Praxis because this means that she got away from the hordes of bounty hunters and soldiers that were coming after her and all the technology she could use to upgrade herself. Maybe eventually she could learn to feel human emotion. However, Oh-Two was simply subtly scanning all of her teammates.

Scanning...

BIOLOGICAL ORGANISM
HUMAN

Name: N/A.
Sex: F
Age: 21
Heigt: 185cm

BODY CONTAINS LARGE AMOUNTS OF RADIATION. KEEP CAUTION.

Interesting, finally someone she could fully scan. She was wondering how the girl was even alive with so much radiation flowing through her body. Maybe it was beneficial, perhaps symbiotic? It didn't matter as Oh-Two had to keep scanning everyone for anything useful, and would have to save the deeper scans for later. She ended up on a boy and a larger man with a pistol... the boy was merely a foot shorter than her just from observation. Was Praxis really going to send a child out to war? Or was she just missing something? Either way, Oh-Two went into scan mode of the boy...

Scanning...

BIOLOGICAL ORGANISM
HUMAN

Name: N/A.
Sex... ERROR.

ERROR ERROR ERROR

If Oh-Two could feel human emotion, she would be quite irritated. Okay, she was tired of looking at error signs and decided to figure out just why she couldn't scan half the room. Focusing on the two, her butterfly wings sprouted out of her back as the thrusters activated and she floated over to the two with a warm (possibly concerning) smile on her face. The machine wasn't built for shyness, after all.

"Why hello! My name is Oh-Two!" Oh-Two loudly greeted them. "My sensors cannot quite get a reading on the two of you, would you mind telling me what sort of beings you two are so I may properly sort you two in my internal memory systems?"

Nale, after the declaration of joining the mission, noticed the... whatever be being Kosnitch was. He really needed to study him more when the opportunity arose, but first some further introductions.

"Well," Nale started, "I've already told my Hero name, but my full name is Nataniel Molinero. As for my capabilities, My Hero skill, or Arete as it is also called, is hiding. If I can find a hiding spot for myself, I cannot be located, even with magic. Well, I suppose an Ancient can locate me, but those are rare, if not non-existent. But I have other skills besides that. Most of my quests involve fighting and hunting monsters, whether they were Others, Otherborn, Exalted, or just normal humans. I have knowledge of both magic and alchemy, and although High Magic is beyond me, I can use Low Magic in a pinch. I can also cook, hunt and forage, if we end up in the wilds. And then there's my equipment."

Nale took out his bandolier, revealing eight daggers.

"You can't exactly fight openly, if you are skilled in hiding, so I've been trained to use sneak attacks with a dagger. Each of these daggers is either made or coated with a planetary metal. Gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin and lead. In my world, there is No Strength without Weakness, and often that weakness is against one or more planetary metal."

Nale went through all his daggers with his finger, before finally pulling out the last one.

"The eighth dagger is made of steel, and that I use against humans and other mundane creatures."

He put the dagger back to the bandolier and reattached it.

"That is pretty much it"

While everyone else who had spoken thus far seemed quite fine with introducing themselves, well, the nameless trooper had become deathly silent, simply staring. Everyone else had...names? They must have committed great deeds or be quite old to have earned them. She took in a breath, then slowly let it out, despite having no need to breath, it helped to steady her artificial pulse that was racing.

"I'm uh...an aerial observation robot, I monitor things from high up, and return this information to the Hive. Or would if I was connected to them..." She trailed off, having given no name, nothing beyond what she did, which was basically...a glorified unmanned drone. That was a good way to describe her. Not that she wasn't a person with feelings and a soul, as she did have one, just that...she had no name, she wasn't worthy of that. Perhaps she never would earn it. She could become more specialized, but without one or two upgrades from home, she'd need...a lot of time. She coughed nervously, wondering what would happen next. She was ready to use her gun if needed, but also ready to head to the next adventure.

---

Eodyth blinked, struggling to keep track of the new situation she had found herself in. Though impulse had led her to decide to help these people - if "people" was even the right word - there were so many and so varied beings in this room alone that taking it all in was taking her some time. After a few seconds, she decided that the best course of action would be to learn as much as possible immediately. Eventually, she would understand it all, and in the meantime, she'd just have to deal with being confused and unable to remember the names of things.

So. The quest. At least that was simple enough. Find the bandits, take their stuff, get back to base. It would probably but not necessarily involve killing the bandits. Presumably, that was where she was meant to come in - most of her useful talents revolved around killing things and not getting killed back. That, and helping others do the same. Speaking of talents, she had been asked to introduce herself and her capabilities.

"I am Eodyth, the Miklagardian goddess of honour, war and death," she said, to whoever might be listening. "Yes, you heard right - you stand in the presence of a deity. You may kneel, if you wish, though I do not require it of you, as this is not a formal occasion. I am a fast, strong, and resilient fighter, and wield two mighty artefacts of my people. Die in my presence, and I will offer you a second chance at life, in my honourable legion, the Glorious Souls."

Eodyth voice was loud and prideful. Little effort was needed to distinguish it from others, now that she had started speaking again.