Interacting with: Everyone aboard the Resurgence.

The meeting was getting out of hand. Marcus wasn't a politician, senator or philosopher. He was the Captain of a ship, and the individuals in the room that bickered and argued with brooding disdain for each other began to pry away at his nerves. When his CNI glitched, the Spartans must have felt it too as the figured known as 'Elizabeth' stepped out from a shadowed corner. They visibly tensed, but didn't bother to draw their weapons. Marcus reached up and boorishly rubbed the sleep still encrusted within the corners of his eyes, speaking up soon after to Elizabeth with a light sigh. "If what you say is true about this 'Anubis' figure, then it is clear that the risk of simply letting them go about to dominate entire universes is enough for me to chip in and help with what I can manage- with the exception of a few upgrades. As for the rest of these individuals here, obviously where their own motivations lie will determine if they help out or not. The last thing I'd want to see from a ragtag assembled fleet such as this is infighting among- what I would presume to be- disciplined individuals in charge of warships. So, if there is a plan of action to be discussed, let's hear what has to be done first and then we can go from there."

Marcus relaxed his arms back to his sides and thumbed the inside of his service jacket sleeves- a habit he'd picked up when his nerves began to grow impatient in him. Empires, Republics, someone called "Palpatine"... it didn't matter unless it became a problem, but at the forefront of his mind was dealing with this Anubis figure. If by some chance they were interconnected, then it would become little more than a hit-list on who to eliminate first within the web of intrigue. The Spartans remained unnervingly silent in the room, with the only real indication of identity seen as three numeric digits stenciled in bold white letters across their left breastplate.

While the others took shots at each other, Jason remained silent, even as Kham was ready to detail the technical issues that he'd already gone over and Hammer was about to show why Coruscant was a problem to scout. However, before anything more could be said, the warship's systems had a freakout and the clones of the 302nd were already in motion, their rifles up and sweeping the room for disturbances, even as Jason stood to his feet, his Aikon coming free of it's holster and up to find the source of the disturbance as Hammer replaced his helmet and drew one of his own pistols in one smooth motion.

The source of the disturbance soon made itself known, a version of someone that McKay was familiar with and the room's tone changed. As the Supreme Commander had come to expect of the Sangheili from his own interactions with them, Eri'Moram wouldn't agree to anything without proof of some kind, though the UNSC admiral proved more amicable than he had been expecting. When they had finished speaking, Jason spoke. "Eri'Moram, even if he does not gain power from his followers, he clearly has the means to travel between universes and if he builds enough strength here, he can simply jump from here to other universes and versions of those same universes to continue getting stronger. He will indeed simply continue getting stronger and eventually have a fleet that's size and power can't be matched."

Holstering his blaster pistol, Jason sighed. "I do not speak for any of the others in this ragtag fleet that you've summoned together, but the Resurgence and it's resources will do what it can to put a stop to Anubis in the sense that he not spread further. Outside of that, I can't promise much."

---

"You know, normally I'd be upset that you shanghai'ed us into doing what you want, but, on the other hand, you did save me and my crew from certain nuclear annihilation. So, first, thank you. It seems only fair that we try to repay the favor." Capt. Tu Lee glanced at Eri. "And, not to put it too bluntly, but I appreciate the restraint you're showing here. Clearly you have the power to end all of us, and I, for one, am thankful that you're giving us agency. In short, if we're putting this up to a vote, I vote we help the mostly-friendly, post-singularity, nonphysical entity that can also get us home or destroy us at her (her?) whim."

One of the security personnel behind Tu Lee snapped her jaw shut and sank to one knee, eyeing Tu Lee briefly before casting her gaze down to the floor.

"Uh, okay. Pardon me, Elizabeth, or God, or whichever you... prefer," the grunt said. "I just want to say thanks; just in case the Captain wasn't clear enough. There's a few of us who came to realize - what with the Transference and all - we came to realize that society wandered of the path of faith for a bit. But we're - well, some of us are - we're back on it again." She looked at Elizabeth, now. "And we ain't gonna waste this sh- uh, this stuff- I mean, we're going to leverage this opportunity to the fullest. Damn- I mean- darnit- ah, fuck it. Point us at a fucking target and we'll destroy it. We'll bitchslap Anubis so hard that his space dust'll go fuckin' Nova. Hoo-ah!" Her cheeks colored. "Your, uh, holiness." The grunt stared back at the ground, blushing hard now.

Tu Lee's head was in her hand. Her sigh was audible from the hallway. She made a mental note to have a chat about troop discipline with the Dynasty brat that had wormed their way into Chief of Security. A large part of her longed for the days when all she had to worry about was piloting an experimental starship into the vast unknown. Admiral Kime definitely didn't have it this bad when he was Captain.

"Get. Off. Your knees," Tu Lee commanded, using her quiet voice. Again.
"Aye, Ma'am." the grunt said, complying. She still wasn't looking at Elizabeth.

---

Erthos' reply to Eri elicited a long silence from her. She still listened as others spoke, but he had actually given her compelling points to consider. It still seemed like they were making quite a few guesses, and nothing yet had diminished her anger towards Elizabeth, but despite her hesitation, not Eri nor those she represented were beyond reason. And in this, Eri could not deny the reason behind his words.

"I acknowledge the wisdom of your counsel, Erthos." Eri eventually replied in a far calmer voice. Though, she did give something of a more hostile glare towards a few particular members of the Second Chance's delegation. "But I will be clear, we decide our own fate. The Sangheili shall never again bow to false gods. We would not be so foolish."

Eri brought up her datapad, looking back at some of the references she had been looking over earlier. "However, if we wish to do anything beyond simple scouting, then none of the plans you want to form will work until we can have a single, cohesive battle group. This planet you wish to raid, Kamino, is it? It is located far outside the galactic plane, within a satellite galaxy. The Immaculate Aegis would not be able to reach it in any reasonable time, and the same is true for many potential targets in this galaxy. And while our vessel is certainly a force to be reckoned with in battle, can the same be said of every vessel represented here? Specifically of your defenses. If the Unbroken Hope was taken here from before the end of the war, then it is unshielded and may be destroyed in its entirety by a single volley. Should my Shipmaster agree to help, then our priority should be to eliminate the most glaring weaknesses of our fleet."

---

---

---

---

Location: Resurgence - Briefing Room.
Yiithren scratched one of his appendages with his beak as the others began to cast their votes on whether or not to stay and fight or leave and be returned to their own universes. Though he noted that neither option was instantaneous, which is what he would have preferred to be honest. Didn't matter though, not much he or his crew could do about the speed at which they were ferried about anyway. So he went back to thinking, and eventually reached a decision...

He decided to stay. If what this being said about Anubis was true, then he had to be stopped here and now else he would grow far too powerful for anyone in any universe or reality to stop, Yiithren's own people included.

"My chief engineer and first mate might not be present for this, but I have the authority to speak in their stead as befits my rank, and I choose to stay here and help deal with this Goa'uld of yours. If what you say is true, the risk he poses is far too great for us to simply ignore." He said, casting a brief glance at Elizabeth before shifting his gaze over to Eri. "And should your shipmaster agree, I think I can get my chief engineer to work on your ships drives. Who knows-" He shrugged, his green tinged shoulder frills wobbling from the sudden movement. "he might not actually throw a fit this time."

He turned away from her, moving on to address everyone else currently seated at the table.

"The same goes for anyone else here who may need somewhat more powerful drives. Now I cannot guarantee that the modifications will be fully compatible, as it is not my field of expertise and the technologies Strevrols will be working with couldn't be further from each other in terms of principle or design, but I figure it's worth a shot. Especially given everything we're up against. Same goes for weapon and shield systems as well, though, once again, Strevrols might not be able to do much more than implement a couple of small tweaks with the distinct lack of resources we currently have on hand." Yiithren said, leaning back in his seat, though it looked more like Jell-O settling into place rather than a living being reclining. "But like I said, given the fact we seem to be going up against a literal god here, I figure it's worth a shot."

Elizabeth

Elizabeth looked around the room. "I'm not a God, and I don't want your faith. I want your help. I know I'm asking a lot of everyone here, and this isn't the way I wanted to do things. I just was left with little choice, if I didn't act when I had the chance then the first time you all would have seen Anubis was when he was invading your home. There was a reason I was drawn to all your respective universes, and that is cause there is power there. Power that Anubis will see as a threat, and something he can add to his own wealth of power. I do not ask for you to serve me by faith for I do not believe I am God, but Anubis does-" She looked directly at Eri. "-and should he get to you first he will force you to servitude or death with powers that even the Swords of Sanghellios cannot withstand." She sighed as she surveyed the general feeling around the room. It seemed that they were leaning in the direction of helping to take down Anubis, whatever it was that that entailed. One thing was for sure, this Universe would never be the same again.

Caldwell looked around the room and nodded. "The Daedalus is in. We know just what kind of threat Anubis poses and we're going to do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn't get the chance to wipe out all life or conquer an entire Galaxy. Whatever his plan is this time." He tipped his head in McKays direction, before facing Eri. "I'm sure Doctor McKay would be more than willing to take a look at your ships engines. From the sensor readings they appear to be a similar technology to our own, should your-" He looked to Sheppard for the correct title.

"Shipmaster."

"-Shipmaster allow it." Caldwell nodded at what the UNSC Admiral had said. "The Admiral has a point. Most of us here-" He scowled at Robotnik. "-are military. We follow a chain of command, and are at the top of it for our respective ships. Now, we wouldn't be butting heads if we had been getting orders. We need to form some form of a structure if we plan on doing this thing. Now, I'm smart enough to know I don't have the kind of experience to be the one to lead a fleet. Which is why I'd recommend the Resurgence or Aegis, should Shipmaster Falul decide to help, should carry the flag."

---

Tu Lee spoke up, "That makes sense to me, Captain Caldwell. We need structure. I'll support whomever steps up to the plate. Apart from the military side of things, we need a civilian component - something that will secure and produce resources, probably by integrating with the current galactic economic structure. It sounds like we need to rent or buy robotic manufacturing facilities and a shipyard or drydock. We'll also need a source of income to pay for all of that, unless we're just going to take over civilian assets. However, having reviewed the information provided by the Resurgence, I don't think brute force is the right answer here.

As much as I will undoubtedly regret saying this, I agree with Keiran to an extent. We should leverage some of our less-strategically critical technology to establish an economic foothold." She glanced at Samus. "Through that, erm, bounties, and other piecemeal sources of income, we should be able to afford everything.

Not to mention that a few friends in the right places could be incredibly valuable down the line." She addressed the Resurgence crew. "I presume, being from a version of this universe's future, you might know a few key people to contact.

But, the creation of a corporation sounds like an entirely different meeting."

---

Provided that this was the path along which Falul chose to bring the Aegis, Eri did find Caldwell's approach somewhat encouraging. Perhaps if each universe had their own fleets at their disposal, then they would be able to get away with loose coordination as allies. However, with the limited ships they had available, they would have to be able to work together as a single battle group, which would require a more cohesive command structure.

"I do not decide for Falul, but I expect he shall agree with you, Shipmaster Caldwell. We will require strong leadership in battle, but this should not be decided without his presence. There is plenty more work to be done before this collection of ships can serve acceptably as a proper fleet, regardless. I will request that my Shipmaster allow your scientists to make their efforts to improve the speed of our slipspace travel. Under the supervision of our own artisan-engineer, and the scientist."

As far as Eri was concerned, Elizabeth had given the best answer she could have under the circumstances. Not herself, nor any among Falul's crew would have agreed to serve any being claiming to speak for, or be, a god. Eri was still far from trusting her, but she could, for the moment, accept at least some of what she was claiming as being true. Her assertions about Anubis did match what they had already learned. So, if she was accepting Elizabeth's word as true, then their goal, from a military standpoint, seemed like it should be fairly obvious. "But once our fleet is ready, we still need a firm approach to our goal. These ideas you are suggesting, gathering machines, weapons, wealth, they may become necessary, but I am confused as to why you are focusing so strongly on them. If you are all so keen on taking Elizabeth's word as truth, then you know that Anubis cannot be destroyed by conventional means. We need to decide on the primary goal of our campaign before we start discussing the secondary goals to accomplish it. We cannot kill him ourselves...but we do not have to." She said, turning her attention squarely to Elizabeth. "You said that Anubis has focused much of his power on preventing the "others" like you from crossing over to destroy him. So, these others must be able to kill him. We do not need to overwhelm Anubis ourselves; we just need to weaken his power, or otherwise prevent him from stopping the others like Elizabeth from crossing over and fighting their own battle."

@Sep


Eggman watched as a new person entered, as though she was someone he might recognize. It wasn't until after she mentioned that she was the one that brought them here that Eggman's smile crept wide across his face. "Oh boy..." He laughed. "Look, lady, if there is something that i've learned when it comes to alternate-universes it's this. "Trust no-one, especially not yourself"" He then got up and looked at her. "Alright, if you're all that powerful, you want us to defeat this Anubis guy?" He rubbed his brow "I'll be brutally honest. In my youth, i was a bad egg, conquered my Mobius, built my own empire... I have raised and controlled 3 Gods of destruction in my time, all 3 got too powerful and turned on me. All 3 were taken down by an annoying blue rodent weilding the 7 Chaos Emeralds. I just so happen to have, at my disposal, an annoying blue rodent that can harness the same powers." He quickly tapped on his control pad, before his personal projector showed a picture of A Golden anthropomorphic hedgehog fighting a giant water creature then The same golden figure fighting a giant, multi-eyed, tentacle monster. and finally a large, bird-like monstrosity, fighting 3 golden hedgehogs. "Get me those Emeralds and i get you your god-killer." He looked around at everyone.

"Say what you like about me relying on those Emeralds, but in my experience, conventional weapons don't work on people like this. If i could just build a Death Egg and vaporize him, i would, but if what she's saying is true, then not only do we not have the time, it wouldn't work anyway." He eyed the woman up. "So, can i have my Emeralds?"

Jason held up a hand towards Captain Tu Lee. "We're not from the galaxy's future, we're from an alternate version of it, which only adds to the mess of understanding things, but at least we know why we're here and we can plan from there. As for our approach to Anubis, I fear the things we are focusing on are going to be needed to do what we need to do." The Supreme Commander opted to ignore Eggman for now, as it was clear he wasn't listening to anything anyone else had said. Jerus stepped up next, seething ever so slightly at his profession being called 'piece meal'.

"And bounty hunting here is anything but piece meal, sister. Some of the richest beings in the galaxy were bounty hunters and I imagine that it's much the same in this version of my home. So BEFORE you go making offhand comments bout a person's job, take a few minutes and learn about it in the appropriate context."

---

Sheev Palpatine sat in his office below the Senate rotunda, nursing the stump of his severed dueling hand, sparks still erupting from the gashes in the walls and floor. His opponent would never be found, a super-charged blast of lightning having sent the late Jedi Master through a wall and off into the abyss of Coruscant's structure, to join Mace Windu in the Force. When word had reached him that Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi had assaulted the Jedi Temple and sent out a warning to any surviving Jedi, he had been sure that the little green thorn in his side would be his opponent while Kenobi went to try and reason with his former Padawan. So it was easy to imagine the surprise on Palpatine's face when Kenobi had been the one to blast open the door to the rotunda office where he'd spent much time planning and preparing between Senate sessions.

Obi-Wan wasn't as easy to defeat as the Sith Lord had anticipated and Anubis had offered to send no help, which had lead to a rather extended lightsaber duel. As it had progressed, Palpatine had begun to see why his former apprentice, Count Dooku, had been unable to best Kenobi without using the Force to create openings, but numerous duels against the late Count had prepared Obi-wan for Palpatine's tricks, which had brought the fight down to a test of martial skill.

Back and forth across his office the pair had fought, black gashes adorning the walls, floor and ceiling as the pair had sought a way to beat each other, but finding no openings; until Palpatine had made a mistake. In his frustration at Obi-wan's master of Form III eventually lead him right into his hands, the Sith Lord making a sweeping strike in an effort to break his defense and lost his hand in the counter that had followed. Drawing on the pain and anger the Kenobi had caused him, he unleashed a blast of lightning with his remaining hand that had blasted the Jedi Master through the wall behind him and out into the inky blackness that was the drop to Coruscant's lower levels.

Now, only minutes after the end of the duel, as a medical droid attached a primitive prosthetic hand to him until he could get a proper one made, he waited for word from his newest apprentice, Lord Vader. If Kenobi had come to face the Sith Lord, than Yoda had gone to deal with the recently fallen Jedi. He could only hope that Mustafar's lack of enclosed spaces had given Vader the edge he needed to best the agile Jedi Master. Minutes slowly churned on and became an hour, then an hour and a half. Finally, as Darth Sidious reached for the holocommunications in his office, a signal came through from Mustafar. Answering the call, he was greeted by the face of his new apprentice, though he kept his eyes hidden from Sidious. Odd, but his business. "Ah, Lord Vader. I trust that everything has been dealt with?"

"It has, my master, but I must ask something." Palpatine frowned, but nodded.

"Of course, my young apprentice. Ask anything you need to." Vader's gaze remained unseen by the Sith Lord.

"Was it your doing that I nearly killed Padme? Or was that merely a convenience that would have saved you finding an assassin to do the deed for you?" He finally met Palpatine's gaze and he was angry, but something about them lacked the majority of the dark side anger that had been there when he left for Mustafar. "I will be coming for you, Chancellor, and after I've dealt with you-" Yoda's form joined the fallen Knight's.

"Deal with your new ally, we will. At an end, your deception is." Palpatine cut the feed, reeling at the revelation he'd just witnessed. If Vader had lost, he could have accepted that he was dead, but redeemed...no, he would still struggle with his darkness, his fear of loosing everyone he cares about. Standing and shaking away the medical droid, he headed for the presidential palace. With the loss of Vader, he could no longer wait to mobilize his enforcers of the Dark Side. He could only hope that they could stand up to the Jedi in a fight.

---

As Palpatine's image vanished, a scream of labor pains echoed throughout the Nabooian craft. "Oh dear, oh dear!" C-3P0 was in a panic, trying to hurry the medical droid assigned to the ship Senator Padme Amidala had used to hurry and reactivate while the two Jedi sat in silence.

"Married her after all, you did." It wasn't a question, just a simple statement.

"I did and I don't regret it. Padme...she's helped me a lot ever since Obi-Wan and I first protected her before the Clone Wars. I know what the Jedi Code says, Master, but-" Yoda held up a hand, stopping him as he sighed heavily.

"No more, the Jedi are. Too few of us and too scattered." Another pained cry and Anakin started to stand before glancing at old Jedi, who merely nods. "Go to her, you must. Need you, she will." Anakin gave an appreciative nod and rushed out of the communications room as Yoda hobbled to a seat to await the arrival of the recalled 501st Legion.

---

---

---

---

"So, can I have my Emeralds?"

"There are no emeralds." Samus declared as she stepped up to challenge the lanky scientist. "Considering how we're all in an alternate universe, the likeliness of them existing here are slim. And even so, it's even less-likely that they would be in our nearby reach."

The bounty hunter would then proceed to slowly walk towards Eggman, as her armor thumped against the cold metallic floor. She had already assumed a more assertive stance on this matter... almost as if she's confident with her information.

"Besides," she continued as she got closer to the scientist, "Who would trust such beacons of power to a person being friends with a genocidal robotics engineer and a tyrannical turtle king?"

Samus would stop just inches from Eggman's face as she glared him down with a cold and commanding presence.

"I may not not know everything about you Doc," the bounty hunter said in a lowered voice but still audible enough for nearby neighbors to listen in, "But I know enough. And what I do know is that giving you the emeralds would be a grave mistake for someone as power-hungry and hypocritical like you."

She would then point her metallic finger and jab it firmly into the doctor's chest.

"And in this universe," Samus growled, "You are no longer the top boss."

A light sheen would brush a sliver off of her visor, vaguely revealing an outline of her left eye hidden in the artificial green.

"So Know. Your. Place."

Interacting with: Everyone aboard the Resurgence.

Things were finally beginning to take shape, it seemed. Indeed, a new command structure had to be formed simply to get off the ground with this newly formed multi-dimensional fleet. Before he could interject, however, one such figure went back to berating another over a job description. Marcus sighed again, and waved his hand at the man as he spoke up. "Regardless of the choice of words some of you may have for each other, from this point on, we're unofficially allied with one another unless something serves to break that, internal or externally speaking. We have a framework of what needs to be done in addressing the issue of eliminating Anubis and his forces, and some of us have vessels that offer quite a large compliment of military personnel for ground and air operations. Yet, there's only... six to eight of us in this room. This is less of a central military and more of a coordinated guerilla operation. If we're going to make any dent in Anubis and his forces, it would be advisable to get any and all information possible on the forces, weapons, armor and technological capabilities of this universe- regardless of how much it deviates from what it originally was in the first place. Our ships were only designed with the forces we had to fight in our home universes, and even with upgrades, it would be foolish to assume our ships could hold their own in a direct engagement with an enemy only one of us has experienced fighting." Marcus nodded in this statement to the crew of the Resurgence, but also applied it to each and every one present in the room. "Furthermore, I believe we're going to need to treat this 'campaign' as a covert liberation effort in its beginning stages. Control sectors, hit-and-run on enemy installations, amass forces from anyone beyond us that is willing to help, then strike with a sufficiently armed and equipped force."

Oliver rolled his shoulders in the seat, wincing with a slight grimace as he adjusted his position, then nodded toward the Sangheili in the room. "Despite our differences in the universes we came from, if what is to be believed about... alignments with 'false gods' and the subsequent division in the Covenant that I learned about- UNSC Protocol does not exist here. Not anymore, anyway. We're on our own and running blind. If I came back from this universe alive and word got out about my involvement with any Covenant, even former, I would be summarily tried and executed. My crew would be dissolved, these Spartans would be hunted down by ONI Kill Squads- everything would come down. What I'm saying right now is downright treason, but frankly, we can't hold onto the hope of coming back if it is the fate we face, for some of us. Having a simple 'central Command delegate' will only get us so far. We all need to communicate and put any mistrust behind us. As far as I know, this meeting will be the first of many. We don't need to like what we hear, but our own self-preservation lies within, essentially, everyone else in this room. Sorry for beating a dead horse on singing 'Kumbaya' in the hopes we're all going to get along, but I'd urge everyone here to realize that there can be no betrayals if we have any hopes of eliminating Anubis. That's the first step to our organization beyond simple ship assessment and who does what."

Marcus adjusted himself again uncomfortably in his seat, finally having enough and deciding to stand up and move back from the internal chair. The Spartans now glanced around the room, and even from them, there appeared to be a general unease at the conclusion of their Admiral's speech. Finally after what seemed like several seconds of silence from the exosuited soldiers, one of them stepped forward; the numbers '233' illuminated from the lighting as the helmet's external speakers crackled to life with a relatively young-sounding, yet borderline inhumanly disciplined female voice. "Admiral Oliver's right. We're prepared to assist your forces in any way we can."

Elizabeth turned to Robotnik with a sigh. "As the others have already indicated. There is no such thing as Chaos Emeralds in this universe. Mobius is not a world that exists here, it is not lost nor unlost. It simply does not exist. Should you wish to destroy a planet you will have to find other more localised means, not that I recommend blowing up a planet." She threw a wink at Rodney as she said that, or at least he could have sworn she winked at him. "What I do have is something that could help with many of the issues you are currently having. It's a ship, with technology that will solve your modification issues of other vessels as well as producing strikecraft, frigates, corvettes, cruisers. Anything up to three thousand feet in length."

Outside there was a disturbance as a blue rectangle opened out of nothing. It pulled backwards to slowly show a ship floating in space. Any immediate sensor readings would show it as having no discernable lifesigns aboard and it would make no moves, no attempts at communication or any movement at all. Once the rectangle passed the end of the ship it closed again.

"It was recently constructed in its home universe, and as such it has no crew. It has the ability to construct ships of varying designs and I am sure you could likely program it to build ships of your designs once you have a resource operation going. From what I have been able to determine they use a complex method of molecular physics to break down even the most useless of materials in order to turn them into workable materials to construct vessels. It will likely be meant to have a large crew complement however I am sure between all your vessels you can likely find people to crew it."

Elizabeth to Eri. "It also has the unique ability to open up hyperspace windows for other vessels even those larger than it. While it doesn't have the range that your vessel currently has it does have greater speed. Now all you need is somewhere to put it." She turned to Erthos. "Perhaps a nice asteroid belt with lots of resources?"

Her body started to grow, taking a solid shape shortly afterwards. A look of concentration crossing over her face. "I have stayed still too long, Anubis is trying to track me." Her whole body turned to light, her voice becoming ethereal as her face appeared to float in the glow of the light. "You have the building blocks for all you need. The next move is yours. Though a move must be made. When I re-appear I may be able to get you all one thing of which you need. Though only one thing from one universe. So you must choose wisely-[/i] with that she vanished. Power returning to the ship.

Caldwell stood up. "I have a plan of action." He turned and nodded to the Glasgow Delegates. "The Glasgow has a hyperdrive from this universe, and Anubis won't recognise it as easily as our ship. I believe they should take representatives from each of our vessels on a fact-finding mission. I'll even lend Colonel Sheppard and the cloaked jumper." Sheppard seemed surprised by this, however, bit his tongue. This wasn't Elizabeth he was with right now, where he still had power over military decisions. This was Caldwells command. "While this is happening McKay will assist the Aegis in adjusting her FTL systems so she can keep pace with the fleet, and Erthos can assign tasks for other vessels in the fleet." He turned to face Erthos.

"If we need to fit Anubis to either take him out or distract him enough that he lets his guard down letting the other Ascended come to teach him a lesson, then we're going to need more ships and more personnel. I know this is early in the Empires timeline but you've mentioned Separatists, you've mentioned Rebels. I even read in your files something about Mandalorian Clans. It makes sense that you give out objectives for our other ships, you know their capabilities and what we could be of use doing." He looked around the room. "I also feel as if we should all have a contingent on our new vessel."

---

Eri had already opened her datapad and started to take notes on what was transpiring, which she would certainly need to modify and send to Falul shortly. Most of those present seemed fairly in agreement about the need to cooperate, and as much as Eri hated Elizabeth for dragging them away from their home universe, she could not disagree with that conclusion. If this threat of Anubis was genuine, he needed to be destroyed. She wanted to be irritated at Eggman's continued obsession with these emeralds, but she did have to concede that there was no harm in asking. Eri had not actually expected that Elizabeth would lift another finger to help them, but that assumption was proven wrong with this new vessel she offered to them.

While Eri was still naturally suspicious of Elizabeth, the capabilities of this mobile shipyard suddenly made the idea of an effective resistance against Anubis seem much more plausible. Even the strongest fleet of warships would not be able to sustain themselves without a base of operations, and this would give them the potential to create one themselves, without needing to resort to taking on potentially unreliable allies.

Eri listened silently to Caldwell as she was considering these new developments. She was somewhat frustrated that she could no longer as her questions to Elizabeth, but she supposed they had enough information to work with by this point. This time, she could find few, if any, faults with his proposed plan of action. Aside with dealing with the weaknesses of their fleet, information was the first commodity they needed to pursue. Elizabeth had explained to them, in general, the nature of their enemy, but they were still sorely lacking in detailed military intelligence.

Once Caldwell was finished, Eri soon spoke up. "I will not make final decisions on behalf of the Immaculate Aegis, but I can share the recommendations I intend to give to my shipmaster. In the short term, I agree with your plan of action. We should act cautiously, address our weaknesses, and gather information. My ship may also be able to offer the bulk of the labor needed to operate this mobile shipyard. We have many Unggoy that may be assigned as laborers. They are quick to learn, and may be suitable for the more...menial duties aboard the ship. Some may have the competence for more complex tasks, but I suspect you may need to provide crew for more complicated engineering and maintenance roles. Hmm, perhaps with the exception of one. This shipyard sounds similar in purpose and operation to our assembly forges, and we have on board an Artisan-Engineer that may be able to adapt our design patterns to this shipyard."

Eri briefly paused to put away her datapad and stand back to her feet. "I must modify my report and sent it to my Shipmaster. But, I have also noted that you seem to desire the creation of...collaborative workspaces. Particularly among your scientists. As I have mentioned, the Immaculate Aegis currently has a crew of ten thousand, but the carrier was originally built for a crew of forty thousand. We have a great deal of unused space that may be...repurposed for other needs that benefit the fleet, should you desire it and should my Shipmaster agree to offer it."

There was a lot of talking, and a lot of backhanded insults toward the robust man. Travis would of joined in but he felt that the man wouldn't of gotten the point across anyways. As the new ship came in from hyperspace, he looked at the woman who revealed they had brought them here with much skepticism. "So we're slave soldiers, is that it? No choice on if we want to go home, or want to stop fighting. But you're more than capable of pulling in ships, and letting them go just as much as proven by that Terran ship. I don't know if I quite like being a pawn on a chessboard. Frankly it's my men dying, and you're not gonna so much as grace the battlefield with a dainty little pinky toe." He was angry, perhaps rightfully so. But then the talk of this... Anubis going to other universes was perhaps something of an issue.

They didn't have proof if Anubis wasn't just going to stop at this galaxy, or not. Finding it wouldn't be so easy either, if Travis had been Anubis he probably would of just stopped here the managing of an empire on a galactic scale sounds like a total bureaucratic nightmare, the likes of which that would trigger a migraine of epic proportions. So Travis quieted down until he heard talk of his ship, and that's when he shook his head. "Why not the Resurgence, shes from a universe similar to this, and we saw them use ships exactly like her when we fought those Imperials on the way into the galaxy, we can just steal a military access code. Because I've already been dropping my men off into key positions with the local consortium to find information. I have a very limited amount of N7 operatives left, mostly pulling double shifts in engineering. So unless you're putting your men on my ship, which I sincerely hope you are not putting that on the table. Because if you are, i'm deeply offended. You're asking me to put trust in your band of highly trained murderers, when my best are away. What's to stop you from turning my ship into the same ship we did that snatch, and grab on." He sighed, and he sat there thinking it over, wishing to some higher power he had a cup of coffee in that moment.

If they had wanted The Glasgow dead they wouldn't of gotten them a hyperdrive, of course providing that the engineers from The Resurgence didn't sabotage it in someway, shape, or form. But he had to place his trust in these people if he was to get home as well, and the same went for them as well. "Fucks sake, after doing some thinking I just want the dossiers, files, or whatever. On whoever you're bringing aboard. And they have to wipe their feet first. But otherwise, you are welcome aboard. Anything bigger than our shuttle will have to attach itself to the scaffolding on the ship, but otherwise. If you need to use something around the ship, you'll probably need to be fitted for an omni-tool, or ask a crewman." He sighed, he knew that hyperdrive was the best ticket to them fitting into this universe, so The Glasgow was really the best infiltration ship in the fleet, at the moment. "But we need targets first." He added.

Hammer had already pulled up a holographic map of the galaxy at large as Jason stood and walked closer to it. "Kham, get a new Head Engineer appointed and gather your scientific team. You'll also be taking two squads of Clone Engineers and a squad of enlisted Engineers to the new ship, help figure it out and get it running. Hammer?"

"The Clans will take time to track down, though we'll want to avoid Clan Saxon. If I had to guess, they're still loyal to the Empire even here. But even if we find them..." He paused and looked over Eri and grinned. "Well, Eri'Moram, how do you feel about proving your metal to the warrior race of our universe?" Jason shook his head and turned to the others.

"The only Rebel I can name off the top of my head is Bail Organa, a member of House Organa of Alderaan. With the Death Star still under construction, the planet hasn't yet been blown off the galactic star maps. As for the Separatists...we'll have to look. Who's feeling diplomatic? Because whoever it is will be coming with me to speak with the Organas. Captain Travis, I've already sent some key places to drop information gathering teams to find the Clans and I'll be sending Havoc Squad with you. Their files should be on your datapad we gave you within the hour."

Within moments, the delegations had begun to buckle down and begin planning things to move forwards. Anubis would hopefully remain unaware of their presence just a little longer.

---

Four days later, the busy work had been done and the group had relocated to an asteroid belt close enough that the Aegis arrived only a couple of hours after the others did and the ship that Elizabeth had left them with was already gathering up asteroids for materials. Jason paced, still not sure that their plan for dealing with House Organa would all work out if Bail himself wasn't planet side as the current head of the family.

Ignore, i can't fucking read.

---

The relocation had provided Falul with ample time to consider every facet of Eri's report. There were some decisions he had needed to make sooner rather than later, such as providing Unggoy to serve as labor aboard this new mobile shipyard they had been given. He had also sent his Artisan-Engineer, Narak, over to examine the vessel's mechanisms and determine if it could be made compatible with their design patterns, though Falul had now recalled him back to the Aegis in preparation for the arrival of the other vessels' scientists and engineers. He had, after a few days' consideration, agreed to allow the others to aid in improving the Aegis' faster-than-light capabilities. Technically, Falul had not yet outright stated that they would join in the effort against Anubis, but considering his willingness to cooperate, it seemed obvious by this point.

Within the next few hours, Eri and her team were set to join in their first properly cooperative mission to meet with these Mandalorians, but there were a few other matters for her to tend to first. Most prominently, she had been called to meet with Falul in private. He started out as she expected, giving her orders and directives to her personally, as usual. However, even after she had her orders recorded on her datapad, she did not so much as make a motion to leave. She could tell there was something more.

"Eri, it goes without saying that this is an exceptional situation for us." Falul began. He was turned away from her, observing a view screen currently showing their mobile shipyard and the other ships gathered around it. "Our duty is to Sanghelios, to protect it from all threats we may find on our patrol of our territory. I do not trust this 'Elizabeth' being, but I cannot deny the reality in front of me. There is too much to suggest that the enemy we are being forced to face may one day become a threat to our people as great or greater than the parasite. It can not be allowed to reach Sanghelios. Not all of my decisions will be popular among our warriors, but it is our responsibility to rise to meet any threat foolish enough to dare threaten the Swords of Sanghelios."

Eri gave a slow nod to Falul as he turned to face her. "I agree, Shipmaster. I stand by every word of my report, but you are correct that our warriors may not be quick to accept it. I have already heard the murmurs of discontent. Fighting a new enemy away from our home, and allying ourselves with these strangers...I worry that dissent may grow stronger once they learn you intend to allow them to examine our technology."

"I expect it will." Falul replied. "But, I do not care if these strangers learn from us. I do not care if they come to fully understand all of our weapons and technology. They cannot threaten Sanghelios. Even should we defeat Anubis, they will be returned to their own universes, not ours. Whether they conquer their own universes with our technology, or destroy themselves with it, that is irrelevant to us. We stand to gain from understanding what they have to offer, and that is all that matters. We must stand firm, and lead our people by example, Eri 'Moram. There will be resistance, but they will come to see our resolve."

Falul took a moment to open up a datapad, connecting to the ship and its crew records. "To that end, we must both be willing and able to rise to our circumstances. As much as I resent being brought here, this ascended being chose wisely to select us. There are few who know war so intimately as the Sangheili. If we are to wage this war against Anubis, then we will be the ones to lead it, and you shall often find yourself as the tip of our spear. There too were those who doubted me when I gave you your rank, Eri, but I know your skill and your cunning. You have shown yourself as not only a capable warrior, but as a leader who can elevate those who serve beneath you. Understand that this may not last past our return to our universe, but I am granting you the rank of Special Operations Commander for the Immaculate Aegis...and for this fleet, should any others agree to recognize your authority. We cannot command the obedience of the others, so it is up to you to earn that right."

Although Eri kept her reaction contained, she could not help but to feel somewhat overwhelmed. She had been a Special Operations Officer for the last two years aboard the Aegis, but her ambitions would always take her higher. The rank of Commander would give her authority over all Special Operations forces within an entire fleet, as opposed to just the Aegis itself. Granted, there were no other ships in their fleet with a sworn loyalty to the Swords of Sanghelios, but she supposed she understood why Falul was doing this now. He had no intention of having the Sangheili take a passive, subservient role in their war against Anubis, and having the proper internal authority would give Eri greater standing to earn that authority among the members of the fleet. Despite all of these thoughts, however, her response was simple. She brought her fist up to her chest, saluting Falul. "I shall not fail you, Shipmaster."

---

---

Regardless of her promotion, Eri's responsibilities, in the short term, had not changed. She and the majority of her team took a phantom to meet up with the others that were undertaking this mission to speak with the Mandalorians, with the exception of one. The sole Kig-Yar on Eri's team, Thaz, went aboard the Resurgence to seek out either Samus, Jerus, or both. Although she was a Ruuhtian, her armor bore a resemblance to a T'vaoan commando's armor, but was fully environmentally sealed and had the black coloration of Eri's team. She had a beam rifle on her back, as well as being armed and equipped with a plasma pistol and a red (currently inactive) point-defense gauntlet. As per Eri's report, Falul recognized that they would have need of the currency used in this universe, but for now, would prefer to acquire it inconspicuously. As such, she was being sent to make an offer to the two bounty hunters.

---

---

Returning to the bridge, Falul took his seat to begin with the next of the long list of matters he had to deal with. He opened up a communication channel, broadcast to every ship present in the fleet. Although, his words were first directed towards the Daedalus. "This is Shipmaster Falul 'Taham. Colonel Caldwell, the Immaculate Aegis is prepared to receive the assistance of any scientists or engineers you intend to provide. My own crew will cooperate with them willingly: an offer which also applies to any others who desire to assist us. Or learn from us."

[h3]0830 Hours, April 15th 2550 (Military Calendar) /
Unknown system, Unknown sector.

Interacting with: [?]

The mess-hall was alight with activity, even before Marcus had began to sit down with his cup of coffee. Choosing to seat himself down at the table farthest from the entrance to the room, he watched as the majority of service personnel filed in and approached the counter to receive their breakfasts. He could clearly- almost distinctly tell who was a fresh-faced recruit and who was a stone-faced veteran, simply by the way they carried themselves. That, and how the Helijumpers had taken to wearing all-black fatigues whereas the Marines wore their standard greens. Taking a sip of the steaming black liquid, he wondered how many fights these people had gotten themselves into onboard his ship for petty trivialities like rank and who-did-what. As more people filed into the room, already he had spotted a few familiar faces from the bridge, and some from below. Artyom spotted him and nodded; silently signaling that he was going to make his way over when he obtained his tray to which Marcus nodded back. Looking up, he already saw three figures making their way toward him. The first was a man dressed in an all white flight uniform; contrasting sharply against dark caramel skin with matching dark brown hair and eyes. The second, a lean yet muscular man donning the typical black short-sleeve tank top of the Helijumpers; each arm nearly covered in ink as much as scars pockmarked his body against the visage of a square-jaw, short blond hair and deep blue eyes. The third, a slender, athletic woman donning the typical green short sleeve and long combat pants of a Marine. She had black, short hair and pale blue eyes. They seated themselves at his table uninvited, and Marcus knew he was going to be met with a volley of questions without backup from Artyom.

"Amir, Leon, Elizabeth. Good to see you all." Despite his calm facade, he internally reeled at the thought of knowing the blame of being stranded out in an anomalous sector would inevitably come back to him. Already, he'd suspected they'd each come to give him a verbal lashing on endangering the lives of the men under their command, but Marcus was prepared to counter, and accept the responsibility. As they neatly set themselves down at the table, each of them gave him a curt nod in return in being addressed. Finally, Elizabeth broke the silence. "Good to see you too, Admiral. I... realize we've all been quite unexpectedly brought into a universe that isn't our own. It wasn't your fault, and Issac told us everything from the meeting on the Resurgence. Granted, that doesn't mean I wouldn't be pissed if you didn't make the right call- but you have us to see it through should the Unbroken Hope perform any external operations." Marcus blinked, internally sighing in relief as he quietly took another sip of his coffee. Leon spoke up next. "My men are fine. I'm assuming we'll be working in tandem with the Spartans for the majority of any covert ops you have for us." Marcus nodded, and didn't need to know how the man felt about the Super soldiers; the word was practically laced with an underlying venom. Amir spoke up finally,. "Everything is it working order on our end- but I am admittedly concerned. We have 10 Pelicans and 14 Longswords. Not to compare on how Battleplating does, but we haven't exactly flow into.. laser fire before. Blaster laser fire, yes? Would our weaponry even work against them?"

Now the real questions were being asked, right on time as Artyom came over and seated himself close to Marcus. Long before he became an Admiral, Marcus joined the Marines in 2532, serving for fifteen years before transferring over to the Navy. He'd had his share of close calls before, and knew how well their weapons worked against the Covenant despite being more primitive to their tech by moss on a rock. Yet, those troopers onboard the Resurgence were from here. Would a 7.62x45mm go through that armor despite their military moving to blaster warfare? Not to mention shielding, ship-board weapons, missiles and armor. Several second of a ponder later, and the Admiral spoke up with a grim expression on his face. "I don't know, Amir. The only things I can see matching up and potentially exceeding with anything in this place is our MAC Cannons, and anything explosive provided it is not intercepted and shot down. When I was on the Resurgence, there was a woman there who claimed she had no other choice but to bring us here. 'Us' being ourselves and every other 'delegate' in that room- including the Elite. Beyond offering upgrades, I've put in a request for any and all information on just exactly what we're up against. Until I can ensure that we're not throwing wood into a fire, I'm having everyone refrain from any military engagement. If our hands are forced, so be it, but I don't intend fighting a battle we can't win, even with upgrades." Marcus concluded, and Amir nodded. The Admiral looked up and around with a sudden perplexion, turning to Elizabeth. "Where's Jackson?"

"Medbay. Delayed release in Cryo meant he got... burnt. He's stable and recovering, but understandably pissed off. We've all had time to relay the news to our men, and some have taken it a bit harder than others. We've got more than a few people who were going to come home within the next month. Security's been tightened around some sections of the barracks because of stress, and anyone below CO is holding a grudge against people like us. As if we're responsible because we told them the bad news. Only reason Briggs is upset is because, and I quote, 'If I were out there, I'd make them quit cryin' or give them something to really cry about." Liz purposefully spoke an octave lower, making Amir snort and Leon nearly choke on his breakfast. Marcus chuckled and shook his head, taking another sip of his coffee as Leon recovered and cleared his throat. "I think the most difficult part for now is on matters of military intelligence. We simply don't have access to an ONI probe, or SATCOM. Which means unless a Recon team goes down, we're not going to have much Intel on what exactly we'll be walking into. Which means we'll have to consistently balance extremes to avoid bringing a mountain to a molehill, and vice versa."

As Marcus finished the last of his coffee, he nodded to Leon's point. "I'm in agreement, and the last thing I want to do is set a bad example of 'not pulling my weight' when I'm simply being cautious about the lives of my personnel. Down to the last man, we're not expendable. It seemed that way given the circumstances back home, but then again, that was ONI talking. To them, we're all expendable if it meant trading lives for time. Thankfully, they're not here and we can rest easy about that, and plan ahead on what we're going to do next. Rest assured as a plan develops, I'll be sure to have you all head up to the bridge for a meeting." As the activity was winding down, the five servicemembers stood up from the table and exited the mess-hall. Artyom walked alongside Marcus as the pair made their way to the elevator; the Navigation's Officer speaking up along the way. "Thought you were going to get slaughtered by those three, Admiral. I'm surprised they took it as well as they did." Marcus nodded, speaking in return to his compatriot as he lead with a sigh. "We have to. All of us- have to realize that as overwhelming as the situation is, we need to keep optimistic that we're going to get out of here alive. I went over this in the meeting aboard that ship, and the only one I'd even see remotely being in agreement with my words is the Sangheili. Keep in mind, these guys aren't Covenant- hell I'm surprised that Sangheili actually chose to listen over attacking. Not to say that I'm not suspicious of their motives, but as crazy as it sounds, we're going to need to trust them until proven otherwise."

Artyom gave a gruff "hmph," as they made their way back to the bridge. Upon entering, Issac and the crew quickly snapped a salute to the Admiral, then relaxed as Marcus nodded. The duo approached the table, where the white-colored hologram spoke up to address the pair shortly after. "Morning Admiral, Navigation's Officer. We've been idling around the giant station and monitoring the mineral extraction procedures. Kind of strange how similarly it mirrors our own methods with the Turops-class vessels back home. NAVCOM channels have been open-band since the delegations finished so that the other ships can contact us should they choose, but we haven't heard anything back from anyone." Marcus nodded, and out a hand underneath his chin in thought before speaking up. "I'm not going to reach out unless contacted. I really didn't get an official order from the acting FLEETCOM when everyone left the CiC. As far as I'm concerned for the moment, they come to us and we follow with discretion. That factory is supposedly able to produce ships essentially from our universe, but placing an order for something as small as a Paris-Class would mean that we'd have to divert a significant portion of our crew over to the ship. Unless... Do you think it could be automated?"

Issac raised an eyebrow. "I uh... haven't considered that possibility before. Automating it would obviously work, but not without creating a second copy of my functions to run the thing from a DCC. Plus if there's no crew, the abilities to actually make sure the thing doesn't get crippled during a fight would be counterproductive to operations. Also, my functions would be significantly reduced by 50%. This is a double-edged broadsword, Admiral." Marcus sighed, nodding. "I'll think on it. For now, just resume as we are. I'll be here in case anything significant comes up."

"Aye, Sir." Issac said, snapping another salute as he vanished into the table. Artyom pivoted on a heel and moved away from the bridge and back to his station, with Marcus himself going over to the Command Chair and taking a seat. It felt like hitting a wall, yet there was a notable crack in the middle. As he started out into the oynx-tinted void, the massive rectangular station caught his eye as he observed the tiny yellow pods go to and from the nearby asteroid field; their hulls emitting trails of particulate dust that swirled gracefully behind the blue engine lights. A secondary ship would certainly help, but dividing the crew to 500 and not having anyone with specialized training would be just as ineffective as Issac's baseline automation of the frigate. He'd have to ask questions, and despised the thought of reaching out first. Surely there would be a silver lining in all of this, right? Marcus sighed, slinking back in the chair and quelling his anxieties silently to himself. He hoped that the rest of his people weren't taking it as hard as he was.

---

---

---

---

The situation aboard the Resurgence had grown to be much more complex in nature, especially with the revelation of two malevolent forces - one native, one outsider - working together to potentially conquer multiverses. This concept was not particularly new to Samus, but this would be the first time she'd hear about tit outside of the grand fighting tournaments she partook in, only on a far greater scale. While the Smash Tournaments focused more on the personal skills of the fighter, having the combatants duking it out against one another fist to fist until someone achieved a KO, this instance was much more at home with her own universe. For one, her ship will play much more of a role like in her own universe, not only by simply transporting her to different locations to and fro, but perhaps even getting the chance to properly utilize it in space combat and stealth missions. The enemies she'll be facing would be both alien, yet familiar, with similar weaponry and what not. It was a nice and welcomed change for Samus.

Waiting impatiently for her next assignment, Samus found herself aimlessly roaming the halls of the Resurgence. It had already been four days since the briefing and the bounty hunter had heard little from Jerus regarding the first job offer. She was ravenousness for some action and at this point if she doesn't hear something back soon, she might as well abandon ship just to scour the galaxy alone. She's only staying due to protocol and the fact that she's too unfamiliar with the current universe to confidently proceed, but even then it wouldn't matter unless she wanted to bore herself to death. She was somewhat excited if she had to be honest, despite what her exterior features may tell anyone.

Eventually Samus found herself at the south entrance of the mess hall. Her stomach didn't growl with discomfort yet, however if she lingered here she could potentially muster up an appetite for something to eat. Until then, she decided to sit at an empty table and pull up a holo-map display on her arm. With a few light taps, a blue holo-screen would pop up as the bounty hunter proceeded to look at the nearby star systems for the 15th time since she arrived.