Amy’s reaction to the coffee wasn’t what Avelyn expected, and she was briefly worried Amy didn’t know what coffee was and her species were allergic to it. No, of course not, it wouldn’t be that fast and the team mom’s reaction made it quite clear where the problem lay, and the steam coming from the cup dissipated entirely as Avelyn further cooled it. “You’re going to reconsider that statement once you actually get to know us.” She laughed when Amy called them ‘The most amazing people she’d ever met’, “Or after today, depending on how it goes down there. Keep the seats warm for us up here, eh?” she gave the struggling Zvezd an encouraging pat on the back, purposefully avoiding touching any exposed skin and jogged off to meet up with Tarak and Trajan.

---

Going in under aliases was a prudent call. As her home was far away from any fighting for the entirety of the war, there was still a good chance her parents were both up and about, and Avelyn didn’t doubt for a second that as soon as the Ascendancy uncovered the identity of any member of their party, they wouldn’t hesitate to target their families where possible to make them either break or come at them angry and stupid. Not if she had anything to say about it. Avelyn didn’t plan more than 24 hours ahead, but she’d be damned if she let the Ascendancy torpedo the one long-term plan she had. And having a pre-made false identity carried the added bonus of not having to invoke the name and service number of her fallen friend from the war like she planned to, even if no one was aware of her demise as far as she knew.

Not that long later, ‘Aveline Laverrier’ stepped into the Circle’s mess hall and let her mind wander, collecting stray thoughts and conversations both yet unspoken and too far away for normal human ears to ear, separating the decent people that could be found in the lower ranks and conscripts from the human garbage that was most of the core-worlders and officer’s corps, finding that the latter were in an overwhelming majority here. Of course it would be so. On the bright side, if push came to shove, she wouldn’t have to bother too much with identifying the target and deciding whether to disable or kill.

“Nothing like a Meal Refusing to Exit to start the day.” She said as she caught herself before she could snatch the MRE from across the hall. No point letting them know what they could do in advance. Instead she reached over the table to grab it, bracing against Trajan’s shoulder as if for support, then shifting her hand to an exposed part of his skin and sending everything she gathered about the troops here to him in a manner similar to how she passed a message to Amy earlier, that way he’d know what she wanted him to know without littering his brain with someone else’s memories. As Tarak was sadly out of reach and covered head to toe, he’d have to be told later. With that, she sunk into the meal, while still keeping tabs on the thoughts of everyone in a 15 meter radius and conversations of almost everyone in the room, her ears boosting distant conversations to audible levels.

The triage of incoming information was usually the hardest part of an intelligence job, and she was doubly thankful for the small miracle the spell meant to affect the memories of others worked on her own ability to remember things, as anything she didn’t focus on now would always be accessible to her later. And using the magic and techniques taught to her by the Ascendancy against the Ascendancy was such a beautiful display of irony that the thought of it brought a smile to her lips despite her efforts to remain stone-faced.

---

---

Upon the start of the mission, Samuel and Iris used the moments of the ship hovering above the ship to drop down and enter using Iris' Molecular Deconstruction to allow the entry teams to slip in and do their work. Samuel, Iris, and Nero slipped in together as then the twins saw their resident Rouge start running off and seemingly clearing the way.

As Iris was making their infiltration point she let Nero know that if she or Samuel got spotted by the enemy they would click their tongues at the same time to indicate it.

Samuel had prepared the additional EMC jammer for Nero in case he needed the extra insurance. Samuel himself is his own EMC jammer so even if the EMC breaks, he can just do it himself. However, the travel was so easy, that even Samuel thought this was a trap. maybe they might have been low on manpower from the crash. But still, Samuel would not let his guard down, his focus was always on the next room. He was always ready for the next thing to go wrong, yet nothing did go wrong.

Iris tried to have Samuel and her stay in the maintenance tunnels for most of their infiltration but without any form of information on the layout, they eventually had to go down the halls of the ship. Iris carried a jammer with her just in case Samuel becomes occupied or if Nero required another one. Samuel was the one taking point as they checked the rooms, Iris was always at the ready to heal him or make a new exit or entrance depending on what they needed.

Upon moving deeper in, Samuel spotted an armory and wished to check in case they could find something to help them along the way. Samuel sent a quick message to Nero telling him that they will be entering an Armory to see if there was anything they could use to their advantage in there. He allowed Iris to enter first as she was the one who could defend anyone who was in there. Samuel followed behind her and ready to fire, yet found nobody. Upon a quick inspection, most weapons are gone, unless you count the tools of torture to be weapons, yet, all Samuel saw was the ugliest things humans made to use on their prisoners.

Originally iris as opposed to entering the armory as she felt they were already prepped enough for the mission but Samuel was right to believe there might be something of use. As they entered, she did a quick sweep of the room and didn't see anything on first inspection. Iris could see the only thing left was the "correctional" tools that she and Samuel had experienced during their training days. These tools used to be the object of her fears, now they seem to be nothing more than devices to help them. "Samuel we are going to the prods and sonic guns. They will come in handy to incapacitate guards." Iris grabbed a prod for herself and offered a sonic gun to her brother.

As Samuel grabbed the sonic gun, he heard a terrible sound come from behind him. The hammers of guns being pulled back and ready to be fired. Samuel's first response was to turn and bring his gun up. There he saw a strange sight, a man with terrible fashion choices with 4 robots wielding rifles. Samuel was pissed, he was hoping this was gonna go smoothly, yet right now was not the moment, as there seemed to be some guy here with some decent equipment. What Samuel hated though was the fact that he found himself 'trapped' in a room with his sister. As he said in a low tone, enough for his comm to pick up, but was directed to his sister so it seemed he wasn't speaking to someone over a commlink, "Tch, fuck. My bid on the armory was really shit it seemed". Using the code that they were spotted plus adding in their location to allow Nero to come and help without them noticing as Samuel prepared to fight.

As Iris handed Samuel the gun, she heard some movement from behind her and she turned slightly after her brother to see… A bird? No, A man with a bird mask. Honestly, it was a little cool by Iris's standards. She saw his gun and then noticed the odd-looking robots and their riffles. She couldn't make out if the riffles fired normal rounds or plasma shots, making her hesitate to pun up a barrier of deconstruction between them. She weighed making a hole below them to escape but for all, she knows she could drop them into the reactor room. They were stuck with 5 guns pointed at them. She waits a second before clicking with Samuel as she keeps her eyes on the enemy. Once Samuel gives her the signal she'll drop the deconstruction directly on them and destroy all the robots and the gear of this Bird.

Once Samuel sees his sister is up to speed, he quickly forms a waist-high earth wall to use as cover and to take some of the direct fire. As then he tries to drop quickly and go prone to break up where he will be entirely in case they try to shoot where he was. As he prepared for a fun fight.

@FalloutJack @Letter Bee

During the their pre-mission prep time, Narvia had actually remarked to him about the attention to his stealth, always straight to the point when talking their battle plans. For some reason, the girl's laugh made him feel...what? He wasn't sure. It felt like she was putting him on the spot, but her words sounded more like approval and her laughter pleasant.

"Well, I mean...if you're gonna do a job right... Right?"

It was difficult for him to place people, sometimes. Part of the reason why would always be that his life had been a kind of bare-bones survival among largely indifferent caretakers, followed by the army taking him away for torturous experimentation, then fighting in their war. Seeing and hearing something warm and unpleasant, and having it directed at him, was an uncommon thing in his life. Mostly, he felt he was accepted because they were all in the same boat. Nobody minded that he'd actually enjoyed killing. Ash and Flame always thought of him as part of the team. He and the others talked regularly, albeit sometimes he felt a little awkward. This was just different, somehow, more than being merely accepted into the fold. He didn't know how to deal with it.



They were all classic cases of being forced to grow up too early. What'd it mean when they still acted normally?



They had entered the ship, and immediately the twins saw him running off to do his thing. Indeed, they saw him cast the Shadow Step upon himself and become shrouded in night, the shadow that would merge with other shadows when in proximity and render him invisible, the shadow that would walk wraith-like even in direct light and make it difficult to distinguish who and what he was. The Matthews knew, of course. Everyone in the Star Marines knew each other's powers, especially post-war when they actually started talking to one another properly. Nero was quiet and stuck to the shadows all the time. For the moment, he didn't call upon Ariel via communicator yet because she likely needed some time to set up and be prepared. It was alright. With no one aware that he was around, he had the upper-hand.

So far, no opposition to be found. Were they all dead? He'd remain in stealth, regardless. He'd once done a whole mission, this way. The enemy suspected everything except an enhanced human stealth agent, and it was too late before they even realized it. Anyway, Nero had still been investigating corridors by the time he got the signal from Iris and Samuel that they were checking out an Armory. He'd passed that a little while back. Go back? Make sure no one was coming? Nero paused in the darkness. He'd been eliminating a few lights around here for good measure, but now...

”Hehe, always to the point, aren’t you, Nero?”

Yeah, I said I'd be watchin' 'em, so I guess I'd better stick to them.

The light directly outside the Armory was one that he'd conked out when he'd passed there before, because he'd been planning to get in there earlier, and now he saw Samuel and Iris walking in. Whether they noticed his wraith-like form in between shadows was down to them. He'd said where he'd be, what he was doing around them. From the doorway, Nero saw what the Twins did first, the microwave weapon, and immediately recalled a few times when some commanding officer had decided to 'discipline' him for doing what he'd been placed in the army to do. Bastards... He was brought back to reality when some guns were primed from the part of the room that none of them had been watching.

Oh, for fuck's sake... I slack off for ONE SECOND...

"Didn't expect to meet you three so soon - Would you mind throwing down your weapons and surrendering?"

There was a...we'll assume man, for now. He was wearing a voice-modulator mask that was in the shape of a bird, protecting their identity for the time being. Armed though he was, the main issue was his back-up dancers, four mechanoids ready to open fire. Well, at any rate, we all know what the answer to the guy's question was going to be. It was going to be NO. And...it's hard to know who really acted first here. Was it Iris with the deconstruction? Was it Sam with the sudden earthy barracade for them to drop down into? Or was it Nero, whose shadowy self slipped from the darkness of the hallway to throw monomolecular knives at the lights before drawing Electro-Daggers to attack robots and masked humanoid alike with as the Armory was plunged into darkness?

Well, ! dunno, but one thing's for certain: There would be blood tonight!

Ashton and Flame

Ashton then said to Navi, "The two of us should move on - We need to meet our friends elsewhere. Perhaps we should go to the Mess Hall, or should we meet them at the cells right away?"

Flame muttered, "The sooner we get out of here, the better. And I've already eaten." He looked at the Chief Medical Officer and said, "Again, we'll send someone to you in a moment - Just wait."

And then without waiting for Ashton and Navi to continue, Flame walked towards the Medbay exit, hoping to move towards the cells. He did not want to be here once the shooting started. Potentially killing wounded and injured? That was a bridge too far. No, he wanted to kill the Ascendancy's soldiers when they were actually able to fight, not when they were down. Kicking someone when they were down? That reminded him of his father.

Besides, there was always time for revenge later.

Blue Crow (NPC)

Blue Crow shone with a silvery-white aura, bringing light back to the room while at the same time, Samuel and Iris' spells slowed down, giving the four mechanical warriors time to step backward, shooting at Samuel and Iris as they activated personal energy shields stronger than the normal Ascendancy model. As for Blue Crow himself, the man moved to draw a sword of highly-expensive Perfected Electrum and match Nero blow for blow, somehow able to see through the young man's underworld magic. The sword's blade then vanished, covered in an aura of force, but the fact that Blue Crow swung another flurry of cuts hinted that it was still there, just... Invisible.

"Did they tell you that Kaisoken Dust worked only on children?" the Bounty Hunter said to Nero. "For people who insist on fighting the Ascendancy, you Star Marines have a habit of believing what spews out of their mouths."

After grabbing their attention with his words, Blue Crow then drew a pistol with another hand, a gun which glinted with Perfected Electrum and mother-of-pearl. This gun fired a blast of blazing light, which if it hit, damaged only inanimate gear and inflicted pain without injury to the living. Who was the target? Iris.

---

---

Samuel witnessed a sight he had not seen in a while, a silvery aura that impacted magic. Samuel's immediate idea was something similar to his Big Brother's magic, however, upon seeing it affect his magic as well, Samuel found that it was completely different. It slowed magic down, as Samuel realized his magic was slightly slower than normal. However, this small waist-high wall wasn't really much of a slow process, either way, so he was quick to take cover, but his thoughts were racing as he made a quick plan in his head. Yet something seemed to almost break the gunfire. The Crow spoke.

Samuel heard the most inane formation of words he has ever heard. Only on children? Samuel's thoughts upon this idea were to make the idea of a super-soldier program made to indoctrinate children to make super soldiers able to reproduce? Honestly, it would make sense why the age range was so narrow for the kids. But it seems this might be too deep of an idea for this strangely cladded man. However, like a clock kicking back into gear Samuel began to hear guns sounding again as he slammed his fist against the Earth wall to make it grow and head towards the 'robots', Blue Crow, and Nero. However, when it is heading towards Nero it starts turning into a ramp for him to run up the wall. Yet for the others, they have a wall that is quickly speeding towards them as it will try to slam them and crush them against the metal walls of this ship.

Iris's eyes locked onto the weird bird man as an aura seemed to engulf him. Iris put it together quickly that it was the most probable cause of the anomaly and she didn’t like it. Her link to her brother seems unaffected though. A definite relief for Iris as it did pump her and Samuel's powers further than their natural limit. It seems that the robots are going to decompose pretty soon as they are still breaking down at a fast rate. She crouched towards the earth wall her brother has made. It wasn't long before the odd man spoke once again.

The information he spouted was honestly not that surprising. Iris never linked a reason why it had to be kids but she sure the fuck knew to not believe the words from the scientist's mouths. Whatever the case, the cocky man seemed to try distracting us with possibly world-shattering information. And to Iris's expectations, He pulled his gun out and fired a magical shot. Seeing the angle of his arm, she projected it was coming near her and Samuel. "Move!", Iris let out as she dived to the side, taking refuge behind a presumed empty armament container. The shot seemed to be of plasma shot quality. She gave a look towards Samuel and nodded her head, indicating she was going to get closer to do some real damage. As she moved on the outside she tested how much slowed her magic was.

Samuel saw as his sister dived off with a yell, 'Move!'. Samuel witnessed a silvery-white plasma shot punch through his stone wall as it nearly took his sister's head off. She quickly got up though and she ran off with a nod, Samuel knew what was in her head, so he got ready.

@Letter Bee@FalloutJack

---

Flashback
2069 AD

As the small military hovercraft, the size of a regular family car, ripped through the air as he made his way through the damp and humid forest. Soon, the car arrived at a small clearing, where the trees seemed to part. There before him was the accumulation of what he was concerned about for his entire youth. From the moment he was forced away from his parents, his assignment to the Dragon's Brigade, and the rumors of disappearing prodigies while he was in officer's training, he knew not only this was the Ascendancy's secret project, but also this was what could have become of him. If only that governor hadn't saved him, or that one teacher who recognized the danger, he would've been the one in that facility instead of riding in this comfy car towards it. He was here for some inquiry, for prior to receiving these so-called 'supersoldiers', Alexander wanted to know what they are capable of in details, regardless of what bland descriptions the higher-ups gave him. But at the same time, there was this mixed sense of curiosity and discomfort that he had to tend to: the fate of his alternate-self.

The hovercraft stopped in front of the gate for clearance before heading straight through the large courtyard to stop at the main building. As Alexander was led inside by the facility guard, he could see the children playing outside - a couple few. A lot of them, however, were mostly sitting listless in the corner somewhere in the tree shade or in front of the main building. It wasn't because of who they are, preferring to isolate themselves against the world with their favorite toy or a book like how Alexander would. They are simply too broken to play. What the hell had happened to get to this point?

"Admiral Kherol, one of our chief scientists is ready to meet you. Please."

---

"I'm not gonna waste your time doctor. How do these 'supersoldiers' work?"

"You probably have heard about the Magi right Admiral?" The doctor said, to the nod of the Admiral. "Well, principally, they're like that. Soldiers with enhanced capabilities and magic beyond what conventionally trained soldiers can do."

"How powerful?"

"Well...they're not just powerful, but smart and tactical. They're adopted from the most ingenious minds of the Ascendancy and enhanced with our latest bio technology, infusing them with magical substance to make them stronger, tougher and capable of all sorts of magic."

"...Ok?" Kherol glanced his eyes sideways, clearly unsatisfied with the answer. "I'm still waiting for metrics. How powerful are they? Give me something to compare, like a demonstration even."

"Umm...It's very difficult to measure power as a group, since this is magic we're talking about. They differ very much depending on individuals." He said. "Some of them are really strong, one that can turn the tide of the battle in minutes, while some are more support-focused-"

"Ok, so they're different on an individual basis." Alexander abruptly cut him off, knowing exactly what he was going to say next. This guy was being vague, usually meant when they don't have a strong enough answer. "Then maybe you can give me some portfolios for me to look at?"

"That's classified Admiral. We can't reveal those to you." The scientist declared obnoxiously.

What?...

"W-Why?" This statement was so dumb it stuttered Alexander himself. "Why am I being kept in the dark of my soon to be assets?"

"It's part of our child protection program. The identities of these children shall be kept a secret."

"Child prote-" He thought too soon. This was even dumber. "You do realize that you're putting these kids into the Armed Forces? They're gonna be going through mental trauma and facing death in the eyes. And some will die for sure if conflicts break out. And you're telling me this is a child protection program?"

"Oh by program I mean they're a part of our..." The man snapped his fingers twice as he formulated his answers. "...Child Protection Act. To prevent things like abuses or harassment by individual soldiers, we're not letting anyone know of their identity."

What even...Alexander didn't even know a Child Protection Act exist in the current code of law. And even so, why would that stop abuses? Is child abuses solely based on their identities, and not the fact that they're literally children, according to whoever made this stupid law? And even worse...

"How's that even related to what I'm asking?" Alexander replied. "I'm asking for their powers, magic, or whatever you wanna call it, not backgrounds or names. Is that too much to ask?"

The scientist sat quiet for a few seconds, his eyes afraid to even look directly at Alexander. He fiddled with his fingers a little bit before finally conceding.

"Alright, let me grab the profiles. It wouldn't take long"

"Take all the time you need."

The walls are claustrophobic. The lights shone too bright. The low ceiling restricted his breathings. The glass panes echoed the image from an alternate universe. But Alexander sat with his legs crossed on the sofa. He would not leave without an answer.

The doctor came back after fifteen minutes with a tablet, presumably filled with the details he needed, and an exasperated sigh.

"We decided to make you an exception Admiral. Don't go out there and spout nonsense with these information." He growled as he handed Alexander the tablet

"Sure." The Admiral rolled his eyes as he powered up the device. Going through these individuals, it's really...varied. Like the kid that is just really tough against magic. Or the pair of siblings that can't really stay apart because they'd lose magical powers. It really does reflect the individuality of humans, but this is that but on 500 cans of steroid, or whatever magic BS materials they use on them. The big problem stemmed really from the fact that the military is not built around this much of inconsistency. There's a reason why there are standardized weapons, vehicles, uniforms and equipment for everyone. If an army is destroyed, another army built around the same standard can quickly take its place. But if an army built around these kids are destroyed, how is he going to replace them?

"Alright..." After scrolling through all the profiles, Alexander faced the scientist. "I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, they are powerful. But I still don't know how to accommodate them. For that, I have one last thing I want to know."

"Yes?"

"In case these kids die in battle, in which there will inevitably be some, how fast can I expect you guys to supply me with a replacement?"

"You better not let them die, Admiral." The doctor deflected. "They're invaluable to our future."

"What??? This is a HYPOTHETICAL doctor." Alexander was fucking sick of these non-answers. Can't believe he had to guide a scientist on simple logic problem. "The key word here is 'in case'!"

"It's an irrelevant hypothetical, since our goal here is not to let them die. At any cost whatsoever. Are we clear on that?" He shot back, to an even more annoyed Kherol.

"Yes, I'm clear. But what I'm asking is how fast can I get a replacement in case the worst happen anyway."

"Like I said, you're not to-"

"Wait wait wait! You're dodging the question again." The Admiral abruptly cut him off. His tone grew even less respectful and more dominant as the scientist continuously tried to cut him off mid-sentence. "It's clear that you don't know a thing about war that you'd say that. There is no way you're going to avoid casualty. EVER. Including your precious little babies. Just because I'm gonna try my best not to let that happen, that doesn't mean that will not happen. And what I want is to ensure the stream of manpower is constant and continuous, so I can fight as long and as hard as possible."

"...Well, with these supersoldiers, you won't need your fancy stream of manpower, since one of these are-"

"What do you mean I don't need manpower??? These are basic military logistics!" Another cutoff. "It sounds incredibly stupid to me that you'd propose a silver bullet that annihilates all military principals that existed for thousands of years."

"I'm not proposing that! I'm simply saying that it can help divert manpower away to places that-"

"It needs its own manpower too, its own specialized manpower you provide. Really shows how much of a weasel you are under that lab coat, pretending to kno-"

"Look admiral." He retorted angrily. "I know exactly what I'm saying, ok?! I've studied for 7 years in both undergrads and grads school. I've worked with military folks in the Ascendancy, so I know my stuff well."

"Alright then are you familiar with Roon's Logistic Model?" Followed up by the Admiral. "We need to know that for our discussions."

"...I believe so, yes." He took a few seconds to throw out a reply. "I'm not too familiar with it, but I kn-"

"I just made it up." Alexander struggled to stifle a laugh. It is so insanely mind-boggling, but he got him right there. "I literally just made that up a few seconds ago. There's no such thing as Roon's Logistic Model. You're just completely full of shit my guy. Can't believe they give you that lab coat and a PhD, am I right?"

"OoOoOhH, Roon's Logistic Model." The scientist bitterly and sarcastically responded. "I guess my argument's trashed huh? You win then. Anyway, what were we even talking about before you pivot away?"

"Well, if this is what the discussion is gonna be like - you not answering my question and faking your own knowledge, then I'd stop wasting both our precious times." Alexander abruptly stood up and tossed the tablet back to the doctor. He didn't even bother a handshake as a final formal gesture before leaving the room.

---

'Holy mother...'

Not even a second after going out of sight of the chief scientist, Alexander already buried his face on both his hands to that braincell deficient conversation. It's even worse than some of the politicians he had to deal with. All of this vague answers, red herrings and non-sequiturs thrown around like freaking dodgeballs trying to throw him off. And he's a scientist as well! He probably isn't that dumb though, now that Alexander had calmed down and recollect his thoughts. He is very likely consciously lying, either because he was being forced to, or because he had a fat check down the line. Hell, maybe he even had his own personal evil agenda that he knew would be absolutely slapped if revealed in its very true nature. Regardless, it is very clear that something really ugly is underlying this entire child soldier program. In no way this could only be for military purpose. He'd really want to get to the bottom of this whole thing, but now, storms are already gathering in the horizon. He needed to prepare, both for the arrival of these Star Marines and the upcoming conflicts.

As the soon to be Grand Admiral departed the Black Site, the facility shrinking as his hovercraft zoomed through the treeline, a silent mumble escaped his lips.

"I hope you're not among them..."

---

---

Ariel’s hair was now wet. So was her shirt, and her arms, and the nape of her neck. She didn’t mind much, or frankly at all. There was no way she would be bothered about being a little damp or sore. Not while she could feel Amy’s heart: even now, when she was no longer being held so tightly.

“Take things at your own pace. There’s no need to rush.” Ariel let a little chuckle of her own escape. “I’ll be with Phi, in front. Come join us whenever.”

Hugging and crying it all out seemed to have helped a bunch. It was really only a psychological dressing; but it would keep Amy’s wounds at bay until they could follow up in the quiet peace and comfort of a chaise longue and a cuppa. Excusing herself with a little nod, Ariel returned to the consoles, where her omni-tool had finished booting up all the programs and plugins she’d be needing very soon. She waved to her fellow bridge bunny, saying, “I think we’re all set now. How are things going?”

Seraphina indulged in a sort of tunnel vision, knowing she would need to be fully focused on several tasks once the operation officially started. The conversations around her became background noise as she decided on the primary and backup encryption methods. With that done she made sure the main console would manage all data and synchronized everyone's omnitool to it. After making sure there were no problems with a few tests, she moved on to assigning each fireteam a unique name. This was not an essential task but in her experience it helped, and she put a fair bit of thought into the overall theme as well as specifics. The placeholder numbers and letters for teams and individuals were updated as soon as she decided on the last name.

>>>Horus- Tactical support
>Ariel, Amy, Seraphina (Loren Scheer)
>>>Fireteam Gryphon- Decoy 1
>Tarak, Avelyn, Trajan (Melchor Dreyfus)
>Mess Hall
>>>Fireteam Harpy- Decoy 2
>Laurey, Finbarr (Leo Mills), Dr. Millard
>Engines
>>>Fireteam Mujina- Infiltration 1
>Navi, Flame, Ashton
>Medical Bay
>>>Fireteam Lamia- Infiltration 2
>Nero, Iris, Samuel
>Armory B

"Hm?" She muttered, glancing at Ariel after pulling herself out of that single minded focus. She looked at Laurey again but still didn't raise the questions nagging at her.

"Ah, yes actually. Please do. I can manage but it's not exactly a specialization of mine. I'll primarily be coordinating the data as it comes in and checking the integrity of our encryption. If the two of you can support the teams directly as the need arises I'd greatly appreciate it. Almost as much as Nero." She added the last bit with a smirk.

The dull thud of Amy's head hitting the wall went largely unnoticed as Phi continued to double-check that omnitool tracking was not lagging. However, the distinct sound of sniffling did catch her attention. Searching for the sound of distress Phi was surprised to see Amy of all people crying into Ariel's embrace. Phi realized she should have seen this coming, the signs were there, and she suddenly felt terribly guilty for not noticing. She nodded solemnly as Ariel stood, offering Amy a shoulder to cry on literally. She wanted to help as well but the others seemed to have things well in hand. She would probably just get in the way, and with the mission starting soon she wouldn't be able to devote her full attention like Amy deserved.

Resolving to pay her another visit soon Phi offered a reassuring smile as Ariel and Amy separated. Inclining her head to the other seat near her Phi invited their troubled counselor to join them.

"I think we're ready to go, since I'm starting to check some things for a third time now."

Amy stayed in the back of the room for a bit, blowing cool air onto the coffee that Avelyn had brought her to really cool it down to a temperature she could comfortably drink while the rest of the crew slowly disappeared from the room as they formed their own groups and head down to planetside. She offered a small smile towards the aforementioned girl at the pat, smiling warmly up at her as her gaze scanned the girl’s face. “You’ll always be the most amazing people in my eyes. Stay safe, okay?” As the others left, her eyes began to slowly scan the room while she took a shy sip from the cup, until her eyes finally rested on Ariel and Phi who were sitting at the consoles and getting busy with the comms equipment. Really, Amy had no clue why she was up here still… Tarak clearly wasn’t aware of her troubled thoughts before he assigned them to the teams, but he must’ve known already from Iris that she wasn’t exactly the most useful at a distance. So what was it? Were they… trying to protect her? The thought warmed her heart as much as it pained her, seeing that the kids she felt so protective of were the ones putting her into support duty. Then again, there could’ve been a myriad of other reasons for Tarak’s decision, possibilities she didn’t feel like exploring at the moment.

By the time she collected her thoughts and felt ready to finally talk with the others, the cup in her hands was long empty and she quickly placed it down on the cabinet next to her. Standing up and dusting off her dress she walked over to the two girls at the consoles with a small smile, sitting down besides Phi at the offered chair. “Thank you Phi. Thank you Ariel. I’m not sure how much help I will be, but I’ll try my best to keep my eyes open, if that helps.” She explained with a soft smile on her face as she reached out with one hand to gently pet Phi’s head. It was hard to tell if she did that because she wanted to ease Phi’s worry over her or to get some comfort for herself, but there it was. With a small nod she turned towards the row of panels and placed her index finger onto her lips as a small hum escaped her. “So... what am I supposed to do? What do we look for? Just wait until something happens, oooor…”

"Ariel and I are good for most of the technical work, but don't underestimate yourself, Amy. An extra pair of eyes and hands helping out goes a long way. But your support in other, less obvious ways may count for more than you think. A lot of operations need you to play things by ear, and adapt as the situation changes. The saying 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' is pretty apt. For now, just help Ariel with whatever minor tasks she needs, while I keep things running smoothly in the background."

The messy brown hair Phi was sporting as Loren Scheer almost looked better for the ruffling from Amy's hand. She didn't complain, since it didn't last long and everyone was mostly distracted by their preparations. Besides, Amy seemed to need the contact more. Along that reasoning Phi gripped Amy's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Then, as the teams started moving out, Phi put on the bored, mildly irritated look her persona had displayed when he was alive. She didn't expect to interact much if at all with anyone from the Ascendancy, but maintaining the act from here on out would be preferable. Just in case.

Her first order of business involved the management of real time tracking and the three dimensional map for the various decks. The green markers for allies appeared first, represented as triangles with a line through the middle to determine orientation. Next came the more involved task of trying to mark Ascendancy personnel, since even their own people didn't have tabs on everyone else but a team or a few teams at best. Still, she eventually managed to tag most of them with red T symbols. This would have to be constantly monitored and updated. Finally amber dots began appearing with tiny numbers next to them. These were the trackers on the main prison population, exceptions where the trackers themselves had been destroyed. Most of these were not moving. This data was encrypted and transmitted to each team member's omnitool before Phi moved on to the groundwork that would seize control of communications on the ground.

Damn, I really wish I had Laurey here. All it's gonna take is one tech on their side being better than us…

With the ground teams having made planetfall, it was about time for Ariel to begin her own work too: hacking into the ship. Or, at least trying to. There certainly wouldn’t be any better opportunity than now, while the majority of the crew was distracted. Sure, if things went awry, there would be no bluffing out of it — but that was an issue for the future. The Ariel of right now had no such predicament to face!

Though she had more wartime experience busting into Rau’ve computers, code of human origin still felt more familiar. Perhaps it was differences in their fundamental psychology, or simply a matter of her training. Either way, infiltrating the ships’ systems wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined it being. Being able to plug in directly into the target’s systems was a privilege rarely afforded to those on the battlefield, but any competent support Star Marine would have learnt to cope either way.

The Ascendancy’s prison ship security wasn’t actually that bad, as expected of vessels meant to keep the likes of dangerous rebel AGIs imprisoned. The same was true of the Circle of Hell. At least, it had been — until the crash and the accompanying damage did away with a good bit of that. Take, for example, the surveillance cameras all around the ship, which were now relying on what had to be a jury-rigged system to connect to a central monitoring room. Normally they’d be linked up directly to the screens, but with those wires damaged, the engineers had cobbled together a primitive mesh of remote connections so insecure that even a mere code monkey could easily intercept their hastily-encrypted transmissions. As such, a few minutes of scanning the airwaves later, every last camera in the ship had become Ariel’s own eyes and ears.

“Managed to get into the cams.” A few of the bridge’s displays flickered to life, showing the intercepted camera feeds; all muted at the moment, of course. Even without sound, their visual fidelity was high enough that Ariel noticed things had already gone awry for one of the fireteams. “Phi, I see action at the armoury, with Lamia. Could you handle that? Amy — just point it out if you see anything troublesome happening. I’ll try and find our prisoner.”

Amy would nod slowly at the request and with all the enthusiasm of a little kid leaned forward to keep her eyes on the computer screens, scanning for any possible activities that might occur. At the same time she kept an eye out on the action already unfolding: watching with anxiety as the events began to unfold so far away from them, yet so close through the screens of their computers. If only she could do something and be helpful from up here…

Closing her eyes, she would look deep inside of her and the psychic powers which she normally kept at the back of her mind. Of course, her telepathic abilities and illusions were useful or at the very least entertaining in her everyday life, but some other techniques she had to master for scenarios when she felt threatened and needed a way to get away from people who would do her harm. None cause pain, something which Amy felt opposed to from the very bottom of her soul, but she also didn’t think she could look into the mirror if she let anyone on her team get hurt. ”Just like Iris told you, you can do this Amy. Don’t let the others down…” Her breathing slowed down as she reached out with her mind, trying to tap into the flow of information that she was receiving through the displays.

At first it was nothing. No matter how hard she was trying to focus on it, she couldn’t feel anything, not even a single thread that she could follow to get to the tangled mess that was a person’s brain. She opened her eyes for a moment and gave an angry stare at the screen as if hoping it would intimidate it into co-operating. Just as she was starting to get frustrated she spotted Iris on the screen, and the faintest tingling sensation resonated in her brain. Her heart skipped a few beats as she dwelled on this revelation for a second before she would close her eyes once more and decided to focus on Iris instead of the display. A few moments passed and then… bam, there it was. Reaching through the aether, she could feel the faint but distinct presence that was Iris’s mind. Then the mental image became clearer and clearer as more of the surrounding people were picked up by Amy, all those Iris could see. She could hardly begin to think about all the reasons that now of all these times she could finally manage to make a connection, though she had a feeling that the twins enchanting the comms earlier had some sort of an effect on it. But she could be wrong, and maybe it really was just because of the motivation she received from Iris back during their last action that got her to overcome a mental barrier inside of her.

“I got it!” She would exclaim loudly as she turned over to the others with the biggest smile that her face could possibly fit. “I-I think I can connect with the people down there! I-it’s faint, but… I might be able to use some of my abilities! If you can keep our teams in the feed, I-I’ll try and help in some way!” Amy’s excitement was clearly visible and audible in her voice as she looked at the other two girls happily. “It’s time for support team to give some support!”

>>>Are you really going to eat that?

Phi made a face somewhere between a smirk and a grimace upon catching Avelyn's feed.

She nodded acknowledgement to Ariel without saying a word or looking away from the screens. Most of the data Phi was checking was reliable, with the exception of a few expected blind spots. Much of the corrupted or unreliable data seemed to be near the secondary armory and consequently fireteam Lamia. At first she was not concerned for two reasons: it was expected with the extensive damage and the trio were competent infiltrators.

So of course things went wrong.

Phi noticed the unwelcome surprise even as Ariel pointed it out. An involuntary grimace later and she was already assessing the situation, following the engagement as it unfolded. If it had just been the Ascendancy forces she might not even be worried, but the fact that this was a third party was a problem. An unknown on the field, and the things she was quickly learning caused no small amount of anxiety.

>>>Fireteam Lamia engaged by unknowns in armory. Target is human male with possible interference magic, supported by mechanized troops.

She sent out the alert to every team and then immediately killed the lights and sealed the door behind Crow. The effect might not even be helpful for more than a second or two assuming their enemy had countermeasures, but a second or two of total darkness might be enough for Nero. She turned to Amy, surprised to learn she could reach the people on the ground with her abilities. An asset that might further tip the scales in Lamia's favor.

"Can you keep Iris and Sam oriented in the darkness? Might be better than having to rely on omnitools."

@Th3King0fChaos@Letter Bee

That shot was actually going to go wide. You'll see why later.

We'll start with the moment by which the Blue Crow intercepted Nero's attacks with a very shiny sword. Now, Nero wasn't an overly-smart guy, but his experience as part of the Ascendancy would properly inform him about the nature and uses of Perfected Electrim, that it was a difficult substance to make and very precious, because it was nigh-unbreakable and could be charged with magic. The Ascendancy had ALOT of the stuff at his disposal, and Nero had been rather keen to steal some, but uhh...they knew never to store it on the same ship as him, so he never got any. Fast-forward to the preasant, where he and Birdman were now properly clashing, because - surprisingly - the guy wasn't having any trouble following his movements, and he had a magic sword to defend himself with. Go fig.

"Did they tell you that Kaisoken Dust worked only on children?"

Nero actually shot back with "I don't really care what the Ascendancy told me.", but Blue Crow would never hear it. Even if he could see right through the Shadow Step, he probably couldn't penetrate the silence of it. It's just as well. Nero would only infuriate him, and he didn't need that in his day on top of whatever came to pass in the next few minutes. The disappearing blade, while a nice trick, didn't have the impact it was expected to. Maybe if it had been swung at somebody else. Maybe...anybody else. Because if its invisibility aura didn't register on Nero's visor - say, if it were on the wrong setting or there wasn't a setting FOR this - and the sword itself didn't raise the right kind of sparks to practically illuminate it when in contract with the Electro-Daggers...there was still Nero himself.

He's not smart, at least...not if you asked him the square root of a very big number and told him he couldn't have a calculator, or anything heavy about history, or alot of academics... He had great instincts, though, and very perceptive. Plus, he moves with great speed and precision. And let's not forget how good he is with those knives. It doesn't take him much to imagine where the blade is and act accordingly, which is why - apart from the occasional flinch - Blue Crow accomplished nothing. Nero deflected him as much as the man had done same when they began fighting. The mercenary saw through his stealth power. The Star Marine saw through the stealthy blade. One-All. This is why Nero was able to spoil Blue Crow's shot towards one of his friends in back. He had the proper ability to turn aside the invisible blade and snap Monomolecular Blade #2 at the wrist of the merc when he was taking aim. Even if the guy was properly armored, that was an 'Agh!'-Quality distraction, and the Matthews wouldn't even be threatened. They took cover anyway, and shoved their earth wall forward in a manner to benefit their wraith-y comrade.

That's completely fine. During the transition of said wall, Nero would perform a stomping kick against Clue Brow's Blue's Clues Crude Bowel's Blue Crow's knee, both to cause him a nice imbalance and to generally kick OFF of him to roll back on that ramp now.

Narvia was grateful that Ashton decided to speak up about getting out of here, and she nodded to him. ” Yeah, we should get out of here, Ashton. Meeting them at the Cells seems like the correct choice.” Narvia said in agreement. She was primarily didn’t want to go to the Mess Hall since she did eat already too. Only because she didn’t want to injure anyone that was against her honor code from the Dragon’s Brigade, injured combatants shouldn’t be killed. It isn’t honorable to do so, and it would require much redemption to regain your honor.

Therefore, when Flame spoke up, it made sure she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. More so, thankfully, her spell can last for a while even if she’s moved away from it. It doesn’t require her to stay here, at least. She waved goodbye to the Chief Medical Officer, which she decided to follow Flame, who was walking to the Medical Bay exit. She had no interest in staying here any longer.

In the back of her mind, ’ I do hope I can do what needs to be done when I face my dad, Conner.’ The biggest hurdle to her happiness she required is to defeat her father by any means necessary. His evil needs to be defeated, but this mission is one of the essential things she needs to do right now. Narvia refocused herself, and the reassurance of Flames and Ashton to the Chief Medical Officer was enough. She had to deal with the mission and kept quiet but thinking about small details here and there.

Hopefully, the wounded will be spared in the Medical Bay, and it’s not like she would kill them. ’ There are more counting on getting to the Cells before dealing with the Ascendancy in the ship.’ Narvia thought. She hoped the rest of the ship to the Cells will be easier unless something unexpected is waiting for them.

Ashton and Flame

Ashton and Flame got the alerts through text, and Ashton's first message to Flame and Navi through text was, Do you think we should help, or should we continue on towards the cells?

Flame messaged back, We can trust Nero to keep the others safe. Samuel and Iris are no pushovers. That and I want to see the worst of the Ascendancy once more - I need to remind myself why I hate them. Then it occured to him. Human Male? Is it -

Ashton shook his head, They'd call him by name if it was. Maybe he's a loyalist? Loyalists were always a possibility, as they all knew. But something about the description seemed off, so the boy sent another text to Team Horus.

Team Horus, we need a description of the target, please..

Blue Crow (NPC)

The 'robots' fell apart first, the metallic shells falling apart and revealing globs of gelatinous material - The Tayanen which had been hired alongside him for this assignment. As the door was sealed behind them, Blue Crow thrust a magically blunted, invisible blade at Nero's foot, before drawing back to a literal corner, the Tayanen pooling under him as he faced Iris' Deconstructuon spell, which had frayed his Steelweave Longcoat to near-uselessness and was beginning to affect the armor underneath.

The four Tayanen he had hired surged to literally cover him, coating him in a living substance which would not be affected by Iris' Deconstruction. Then his arm moved on its own, channeling the power of his blade to slash sideways.

The purpose of that was not to cut the enemy - They were needed alive. Rather, it was so that his blade can project a wall of his own which would push against Samuel's own, while also pushing Nero back.

<Tsk, tsk, it seems that The Kinslayer isn't here - I would love to talk about the next steps of evolution with him...> The other mind inside him spoke.

@Letter Bee@Th3King0fChaos@The Man Emperor@Landaus Five-One@FalloutJack@Conscripts@dragonpiece@Starlance@samakama@jdh97@6slyboy6@Jade Kiyo

"Ah, well. That would be an honor for us, then." Trajan nodded, taking one of the MRE's and peeling off the plastic cover before digging in with the plastic spoon and fork that always came with these prepackaged meals. Eating the MRE sent him back to the battlefields against the alien coalition, the days when he was known as one of the foremost snipers in the Ascendancy Army. As a sniper, he'd camp in the ruins of a bombed out building in the middle of a city embroiled in fierce conflict between the Ascendancy and the Rauve-Kaisoken Coalition, picking out important targets to the point of forcing the enemy to constantly promote officers to replace the ones that got shot in the head by Trajan and the rest of the sniper brigade that he was part of, the Tiradores De La Muerta; the Sharpshooters of Death. They were feared and hated in equal measure, and he would have stayed in there till the end of the war, until a squad of Star Marines got deployed on the same battlefield. These top secret troops, as their allies has said, were of legendary prowess and destructive potential. They neglected to say that they were kids, however...

Trajan's musing of the long gone past was interrupted by Aveline bracing his shoulder to get her own share of the MREs... before tapping on his wrist, giving him all the information that she had managed to get so far. Responding with a three fold tap of his spoon on the container of the MRE, Trajan made it clear that he received the information loud and clear; the plan was going well, for the most part. At least, for now...

While Narvia was following Ashton and Flame throughout the Circle of Hell while traveling to the Prison Cells, the Enigma Codex rang slightly on her arm, which made her check what that was about. It was a bit alarming to see that the alert was about Iris, Samuel, and Nero. Because of this, Narvia was a bit in shock and gasped by it. The message text from Ashton caught her attention. As such, it took her a bit of time to think about what she was going to respond with. ’ It would be wiser to keep on going to the prison cells; Nero and the twins are tough!’ Narvia thought with her left-hand kind of turned into a fist. She then responded in text, Err, it would be wiser to allow them to handle it, they are tough! As such, we should keep on going to the prison cells.

Narvia was grateful to see that Flame agreed with her feelings with Nero and the Twins’ abilities. She didn’t have much experience with the other type of people within the Ascendancy since she primarily was in the Dragon’s Brigade. However, it did make her a bit sad at Flame’s unbound hatred of the Ascendancy. They indeed did awful things with them, but not all of them are god awful; it was her godfather that saved her from something far worse. She responded to Flame in text, Who are you talking about Flame? It’s a bit worrying that you are saying, human male. It didn’t make much sense with what’s going on, but it made her a bit more worried about the whole situation. In the back of her mind, Did they meet someone that I don’t know about?

It was a much different thing to deal with, what’s going on, that is. Narvia weren’t that much knowledgeable with military personnel that wasn’t in the Dragon’s Brigade. She kind of nervously looked at Ashton with what he text them. It caused her to respond to Ashton by text, A Loyalist here? That knows we are actually not here for the Ascendancy… That isn’t good. She shook her head a bit and waited for the update that Team Horus would give to Ashton. It made her a bit more worried, and it feels like one of her godfather’s sayings were a bit getting stuck in her head again.

Deep within Narvia’s psyche flowed what her godfather’s voice was. ’ Narvia, I got something to tell you. If you ever find yourself losing hope, don’t forget you have people around you to help. Never give up on hope. As well, if the enemy truly knows your moves, you better be a step ahead of them.’ It was like he said this yesterday; it stuck in her head ever since the fateful day of her capture at the Battle of Proxima. She has never forgotten this from her godfather, always better to keep hopeful than falling into despair. Because of that reason, she decided to smile to keep everyone’s hopes up. She’d tried to cover up the reason she’s worried about things by showing the best thing about herself.

The second Decoy team was being led to a tour of the cells, through the engine room by the Chief Engineer of the Prison Ship, one Jan Makarov. Jan was a young-looking, reasonably-skinny, enthusiastic ball of energy who said, "I can't believe the Star Marines are real and you fight alongside them! You three do so, right, right?”

"That's absolutely correct, Mr… Uh… What was it again?... Ah, Makarov." Finbarr looked around the room with his cerulean eyes, taking in all the details of the engine. "Star Marines are indeed a thing of truth. They're really good at what they do."

Finbarr chuckled internally, as the man had no idea he was talking to one of the famed marines of the stars… children whose dreams were taken for the sake of war. I know that because I'm one of them…, he thought.

“Wow,” he said, before remembering himself, “Anyway, this ship has a Spacewarping Engine installed, and it's pretty intact, too! This means it can be repurposed for another ship, as Spacewarpers are precious nowadays."

Casting her eyes over the room, Laurey thought everything was pretty much intact, definitely salvageable. It also filled her with a sense of dread; if the AI was free, what could it do with all this resource? Even though they were on its side, AI were notorious; human lives were a vanishingly small factor in the calculations of those machine minds.

“Indeed they are, sir,” her jaw was a twitching, clenched thing, “I’d love to stay and work on it, but our duty here is pressing.”

Millard had taken a hardened persona, he had no real emotion on his face. He had a grizzled face with his stubble there to sell his look, with a slight shift in his neck as he walked he leaned slightly forward and made his presence seem almost ever looming. His eye scanned the room as when the head engineer talked, Millard looked the man in the eyes, as if his eyes were piercing through him, as he spoke he made sure everyone knew what he was here to do.

Millard took up the role with ease, after all, this was his job a while back. As he had started to take a bit more of a leading role, keeping the engineer on track with a quick and sudden, ”Oi, Kid”. As his eyes would meet Millard’s stern and cold eyes as he continues, ”Cut the chatter. We need to make sure that AI isn’t loose. If it is, we will be in some deep shit.” As he casted his gaze to Laurey as he then continues, ”Like lieutenant Hawthorn said our duty is much more important. If that AI gets out, they could cause great harm with just that Spacewarper alone.” As Millard tosses a finger as he gestures to some of the control panels as he then continues, ”Lieutenant make those skills useful and check to see if anything is being tampered with”. Millard had no clue if Laurey had any skills in this regard, however to fake skills is very easy, as long as he keeps the Head Engineer distracted. Honestly, it was easy, as he quickly took his arm and threw it over the shoulder of the boy as he says, ”Kid I need you to be very clear with me. Have you seen anything strange as of recent? This could be imperative, as if the AI got control of this ship, this could be a planet buster we are sitting in”.

The Chief Engineer says, “Nothing much, except for some rumblings in the solitary cells. That said, we do try and make sure that Realist is isolated from any electronic systems outside its chamber plus we make sure that the Spacewarper’s controls can only be used by a human. And that means me!”

A pause, “Well, me and anyone authorized by the Warden - Both of us have a set of exclusive passwords keyed to our DNA!”

Laurey had fallen away with a salute as soon as Millard gave the order. She’d been itching to peer under the skin of this beast. Just itching in general.

The consoles rattled off a stream of data at her touch, telling a story she already knew. Things were mostly fine. She wiped the cold sweat from her cheeks and eyes. After opening a maintenance panel, her finger blossomed and entered the computer system’s stream of information. The world restarted, changed. The firewalls were distortions in her abstraction, as they always were, but the sheer number of them was a heady sight. She felt no AI presence. Of course, that didn’t mean much, but she felt somewhat comforted. She shut down the terminal.

Withdrawing her hand, and her mind with it, she saw it was shaking worse than before. She’d blamed it on the space travel when the young engineer had asked. Something about sealegs.

The others were out of sight now. She peered further into the maintenance port and yanked on a motherboard, fettered by wire. That was fine, it was loose enough now that she could reach the chip she’d been hoping would be there. It disappeared into her breast pocket.

“Everything seems fine,” she reported, after jogging to catch up with the others.

"So no evil AI trying to kill everyone in here then.", Finbarr chuckled, tapping unto Makarov's shoulder. "Is there anything else you want to show us?"

These hands are getting itchy…

“I wanted to move us to the cells, actually,” Jan said. “There are some prisoners of importance the Warden wants you guys to look at with a view to remanding.”

""Oooohhh, prisoners?", Finbarr said, rubbing his hands together in pretenseful glee. "What are they on about?"

Jan’s response was, “A few people claiming to be Star Marines, but who’ve committed treasonous actions of some sort, going by how the people who captured them say. They have the powers to match, too. We’ll leave their judgement up to you, by the way.”

Millard had a feeling that there would be prisoners still here, yet for there to be Star Marines, that is a strange idea. However whatever is the case, they needed to investigate either way, if not to find allies then to at least keep up appearances. However, the good news comes from the fact that the AI isn’t running amok, sure it was going to be on their side, however, it doesn't know that right away, and Millard didn’t want to go and fight it. However, this Jan kid is following smoothly, so Millard has little worries on what will happen.

"Do you want to see, take a look?", Finbarr asked Millard. The plan was to get the AI out while the decoy teams were keeping everyone else distracted, but the addition of more Star Marines to their company would strengthen their numbers. Especially if these were just as treasonous as Jan claimed…

Millard looked towards Finbarr as he says taking in a breath, ”It seems we have more kids to babysit”. Millard says this with a bit of a tirade expression, looking as if he was going to be doing something exhausting. Yet he was interested in the idea of more people to add, they could be useful in the end, and besides, he’s not letting these kids rot here. Yet he still kept up his act, he needed to keep up his part. As he allows Jan to take lead to show them where the cell’s are.

The engine room doors opened, and the group was led to a bunch of winding corridors which led to the cells, a bunch of corridors which was deliberately claustrophobic.

“Never gets easier,” Jan said as he shuddered.

Finbarr walked on ahead, looking towards the insides of the cells. It was true; there were kids in here, and if Jan was to be believed, they were just like his good self. "Are the surveillance cameras in here working? Would be terrible if they're broken by the crash and these Marines somehow escape."

Jan considered the question before responding, “They are - We jury-rigged the remaining cameras here to one of the secondary communications rooms. We are watching over the prisoners and Realist right now.”

"Hmmm." Finbarr wondered if Laurey could do something about the thing with the cameras, but they can't afford to be seen doing anything fishy, especially since the cameras here are still active. "Well, I suppose that we should deal with them appropriately. Don't you agree, friends?"

If they could get those marines out of sight, perhaps he could portal them into the ship. That is, as long as they also get Realist with them. That machine mind had always been their objective.

Team Horus - Support

As Phi and Ariel sifted through the lingering data on the Circle of Hell's remaining computers, they'd find a number of mysterious files, files that referred to various prisoners that used to be on board. One of the prisoners was Harald Bjornsson, the last of a group of conspirators who had briefly taken portions of Earth itself in a failed 'coup' against Emmanuel, a coup which had been squashed by Alexander Kherol himself after a few days. Harald had escaped from the ship to the wilds of Plenty and was suspected of having found refuge among the rebellious farmers there. Harald was not affiliated with Moonstrike, as far as the people on the ship knew, and in fact been recorded as saying, I've never heard of them until the Arcturus Incident - And even that was less flashy than anything we did...

There was also a file indicating previous 'test subjects' held in the Prison Ship, as well as medical reports by one 'Dr. Truman' hinting that some of those test subjects had been involved in an Ascendancy Sub-Project under his purview. Dr. Truman, when pressed further, had told them to, Do your jobs. Just know that if anything happens to these kids after I took the trouble to wrangle them, it's on you.

Many of those test subjects had disappeared months before the Circle of Hell had crashed, vanishing into a mysterious destination known as 'Aphrodite'.

They also found references to a parallel Hybridization Project, one which was not related to the Star Marines as far as they knew. Rather, it involved the Zvezed, Amy's species. But this file was corrupted, although it was clear that it belonged to some sort of OSI Special Forces who had tried to defect to Moonstrike but had been captured before making good on his intentions. This former Special Forces member had ranted and raved about a 'den of madness, heart of darkness', before clawing his own throat out. No-one stopped his suicide.

And finally, they found an over-exact list of 'missing' ships, ground vehicles, artillery, and personal equipment. This was what had proven Realist's treason to the Ascendancy authorities, and the whistleblower had been rewarded with early retirement and a generous pension. But Phi and Ariel, after digging further, would find that the thefts continued at a slower rate, with high-quality equipment vanishing from Ascendancy arsenals in small enough numbers to avoid suspicon.

In short, there was a storehouse of potentially vital information in the Circle of Hell's files, information which waited only for analysis...

---

---

Samuel had Crow right where he wanted him, well, until the lights went out. Even with the quick update given by their support team, honestly, it wasn't enough for Samuel to understand what just happened. The moment the lights went out, Blue crow moved and now his orientation is allusive to him, Samuel's idea was to go and turn on a light just for the fact he was literally useless in the dark.

Samuel couldn't try making a large attack here, he has no clue on the size he would need to actually be effective, and with his sister and Nero moving too. He would run a higher risk of hitting them rather than helping. Yet he knew, if he turned on the lights, he could either make himself a big target, or he could make someone who gets caught in the beam a big target.

All that could escape his mouth was a frustrated 'tsk' as he just continued to force the earth wall forward, he couldn't pull off the next step of the plan as he could unwittingly get someone caught in the trap.

Iris let Molecular Deconstruction take her part in the fight as she gathered a microwave gun for the not robot robots. At the same time, she identified the rate of spell slowing the birdman was producing. She spent the rest of her time getting a read of his invisible sword. The way he held it was enough for her to get a rough estimate of its length. At the current moment, the man was already getting pushed back. However, our advantage was taken by the call to turn off the lights.

With the lights off, Iris immediately changed to get out of here as this might be their biggest chance to continue the mission. She feels the wall and remembers what is outside the room. She decided that going down in the corner would be the safest exit, plus Samuel should be able to wield it back in place as we are leaving. She knows the thickness of standard floors and ceiling in armored ships. She says over coms to Nero and Samuel, "Making an exit through the floor 10 meters South to Samuel and 17 meters South-South East to Samuel pre blackout. 7 seconds until the exit is ready" She spoke clearly. She drops the Molecular Deconstruction on the crow to make the exit.

Samuel heard the new plan Iris setup. He let off a silent sigh as he knew what Iris was talking about. He quickly orientated himself in preparation to leave in a quick fashion, yet does not let up on the wall. They needed to keep this fool pinned to the wall so they could exit more seamlessly, all he needed to do was get ready to leave and probably seal off the exit that was going to be made.

===========

Mentioned: @Letter Bee@FalloutJack & Team Horus' Action

The Blue Crow's wall was unnecessary, insofar as pushing Nero back was concerned, since Nero had moved himself back to basically regroup with the Matthews. What they had here was kind of a 'thinky' problem, and those two were a bit more thinky, strategically. Like...Nero had good ideas on how to attack stuff, but when you're dealing with a giant jello mold, ya start to think that maybe 'What if I cut it this way?' might not be the question to ask. It seemed to him that Sam shoving an entire wall at the guy...or guys...might've been a good answer. On the other hand, it may've been the only thing he COULD do right now, because the lights were out, and the one who benefitted from the dark at any given time was himself.

Heh, may've done that a little wrong, getting the lights to go out. Ah well.

As Iris stated over comms just what it was she planned to do, Nero examined the situation briefly, realizing that he needed to think of something to keep that guy properly occupied. Guy was probably conductive, so he'd probably electrify even if the so-called robots weren't robots. Problem is, his two zappy daggers wouldn't be enough alone, plus there was the Crow's magic wall pushing at Samuel's now. That wouldn't do. Nero decided to cast Shadow Charge on the stone wa-



"What the FUCK?!"

His Shadow Step canceled, his spell blasted out as a wave, and he had visions of his time back in the lab where he was being integrated with bits of Kaisoken by Dr. Vallance, the man who did the procedure on him back during the war, saying "I hope you remember our agreement, Mr. Kayakos. I helped you. You leave me alone.", before switching on. The wave of energy was an enhanced Shadow Charge that almost got out of Nero's control. The earth wall was stronger and toucher, his armor - as well as Samuel and Iris' armor - was now in the same state. He could area-cast, focused on allies! And that wasn't all he could do... However, that would have to wait. Sam could probably smack that magic wall back and Blue Crow against the wall to knock 'im senseless now, and Nero suggested he do so.

"If we're leaving, you'd better knock some sense out of him."

You ever taken a stop to look at your current situation and ask yourself: "What sadistic bitch you happen to believe is in control of your destiny did you piss off to lead you to this moment?"

This was one of those times for one Joey B.

A simple escort, he said. Just head to where they were going and meet them there, he said. Could be fun ruffling Natty's feathers, getting her target first, . he said.

Hindsight's 20/20, they say, and it was in hindsight that he realized how careless he was with this idea. Of course this ship would still have plenty of guards on standby, and considering the level of criminals that would be - and were - released out into the public, of course they weren't going to be a bunch of peons keeping what remains of them intact.

The thoughts were rolling in his head, cupping his hairless chin with his right hand in contemplation and blowing the messy blonde hair out of his sapphire blue eyes, as he sat criss-crossed on his small and most uncomfortable bed, a wall of iron bars to the right of him.

This was Joey B. Albion, former official member of the Xuanzang crew, now an unofficial part-timer of that same crew. ...Well, until a couple days ago, now he's also an inmate awaiting a death sentence in one of the ship's stops for treason, desertion, federal homicide of military officers, and now - ironically enough - breaking and entering the very Prison ship once someone comes to pick the prisoners back up on their regularly scheduled flight to the death ca-er-"prison planet", yeah that's it; complete with two minors as accomplices. ...Oh yeah, they're probably gonna die too, huh?

It all started about a few days ago, Joey patched into the Xuanzang's communications from his own ship - Some call it stalking, he calls it insuring himself Natty isn't doing something way in over her own head and dragging his pals along for the ride - and heard about their mission from Moonstrike to go to pick up some sort of special agent/secret weapon whatever from the Galactic Bazaar. Interested in what they were dishing out, he decided to ride over to the Bazaar to meet up with them. However, by the time he got there, it was too late and the Xuanzang was long gone, likely with these 'agents' in tow. Seems he wasn't the only one looking for the Xuanzang though, he met up with a boy and girl asking for where that very ship was. Mite confusing at first; he couldn't believe the possibility that these were the supposed special agents they were taking. It seemed the girl had Telepathy though, basically projected the information right into his head while the boy just watched impatiently.

These were the rumored Star Marines he heard so much about back in the war, the supposed special agents that were supposed to be the Ascendancy's Trump Card back in the Battle of Proxima. They were captured by the Rau've but were treated hospitably rather than as prisoners of war. When they decided to Rebel, the girl - Maria - ran off on a mission given to her by one of them - a guy named Tarak - for information and potential aid and was to return to her friends immediately after her finished, but she arrived too late. After that span of Telepathy was, over the boy - Alan - explained that he left himself behind on the Rau've planet to train with some Rau've mentor and only recently completed enough training to be of help to the rest of their friends, but it seemed he also arrived too late with Maria being the only one of his friends that was around.

Realizing the three of them were basically all on the same boat of missing the same ship with their friends on it, Joey proposed to the two kids to come with him to get them on the Xuanzang and reunite with their friends there. They were suspicious - Stranger danger and all - but fortunately Maria's mind magic made things run smoothly as she could tell that he meant well. After deciding to tag along, they followed him to his ship and they headed off to follow the Xuanzang.

That is, until he once again patched into their communications and overheard the Briefing for their mission on Plenty, something about some super-AI that they wish to grab from a crashed Prison ship there. Now, Joey has heard about the situation down on that planet in particular, that it has been a planet under Civil war and rebel suppression for weeks now. He also knows about the Circle of Hell, a massive Prison ship carrying the worst of the worst. This situation seemed like a pretty dangerous mission for them to go on. At the same time, they now know exactly where they're going to go. As such, after some discussion, the three decided to head to Plenty before the Xuanzang reaches it, and capture the AI first. Not only would it help save their friends some trouble, but it would reunite Maria and Alan with the rest of them, and he can rub the fact that he succeeded in this mission first in Natty's face. Three birds; One stone!

Alas, they underestimated the capability of the prison ship's guards. The initial thought was that the Prison guards would be scattered about trying to fix their ship, take in any escaped criminals, and guarding the ship from any rebels who want to take out ascendancy soldiers.

...What they did NOT know is that Kherol's Vice-Admiral just happened to be down on this planet as well with his own squadron rounding up any criminals that escaped, AND dealing with the rebellion at hand, and so there were far more guards than they thought there were, ...they were also far more competant and capable than they thought, managing to capture and restrain the two magical kids while pointing a lot of guns at Joey's face. Interestingly, seemed odd how prepared they were for two Star Marines, but they seemed to think the two kids were affiliated with pirates...Something about them coming for their Captain? Joey had no idea what they were on about, and it seemed the two kids were just as confused.

Either way, it looked like it was just a case of bad luck.

Which brings us to present day, with Joey locked up in a Cell on the second floor of Cell Block B, looking at the utterly massive area just outside his iron bars.



Needless to say, Joey and his two new pals were placed in the working cells of Cell Block B. Let's see...He was on the third floor of Cell Block C, and Maria and Alan were placed just above his own, with Cell with Alan on the fourth Floor and Maria on the fifth and top floor of the B-Block.

One would think these three were capable of breaking on their own, and indeed, Joey does have an unorthodox idea of how to get out of his own predicament. However, As soon as Maria and Alan were captured, they were given mechanisms designed for restraining Kaisoken-infused magic like the Star Marines had, particularly a collar on their necks that seemed to suppress their magical capabilities. Joey could probably escape at any time, but he's toothless without the guns he had with him, and even if he somehow gained them, what kind of asshole would he have to be to leave two kids to fend for themselves on a ship wrecked prison?

He has an idea in mind to help the others get out. Problem? ...It requires getting a guard to come here, and wouldn't you know it? They're pretty few and far between at the moment thanks to this mess.

At this rate, nothing was gonna get done fast. Figured now's the best time to try and get something done. So Joey walked up to the bars of his cell, slapped his cheeks, did a few stretches of his arms, then, with a look of determination, he grabbed at the iron bars, took a deep breath, and...

"OI! CAN SOMEONE GET THEIR BUTT OVER HERE!? PRETTY SURE IT'S PAST LUNCH BY NOW! KIDS NEED THEIR FRUITS AND VEGGIES OVER HERE!" Joey yelled out, the damaged but spacious Cell block echoing his voice across the other Cell Blocks.



"OH SHUT UP ALREADY!" A much younger boy's voice brashly yelled in response from just above Joey. The angry look in the pale boy's red eyes almost pushing through the bars as he looked down towards the direction of his loud neighbor. Irritated, he walked back toward the middle of the cell, pushing his fingers across his short snow-white hair. Out of the three, he was the most impatient and consistently focused on escaping, as Maria was more concentrated on meditation and Joey was annoyingly laid back. This was a regrettable decision on his part.

Unlike Joey, he didn't have any weapons on him, hell, he didn't have much of anything on him save for his clothes and his Omni-tool. He didn't need much of anything, as a Star Marine, he was only ever truly reliant on his magic and his physical skills. This, for the moment, is the main factor behind the irritation he felt at present. It was bad enough that these Prison guards locked an Anti-magic collar around his neck, preventing him from just melting the bars and escaping, but Joey's consistently patronizing 'requests' has happened at the top of his lungs has gotten on his nerves for long enough.

"Aw, come on, Al. At this point I'm just playing around."

"You've been at this for fucking Days! DAYS! Even at night for fuck's sake! The few times it actually gets someone here, and what do you do? NOTHING!"

"Calm down and just relax, kiddo. I do have an idea, it's just, they never seem to show up at the right times to pull it off."

"Right time? WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR ALMOST A WEEK! A GODDAMN WEEK, JOEY! We had plenty of times these guards came around, AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING WITH THE ONE ON YOUR FUCKING FLOOR! I HAVEN'T HAD A GOODNIGHT SLEEP OR BEEN ABLE TO THINK ABOUT JACK SHIT FOR FOUR DAYS NOW, BECAUSE YOU'RE CONSTANTLY YELLING BULLSHIT! SO EITHER DO SOMETHING, OR SHUT, THE FUCK, UP!" Alan yelled, the talk between the two echoing across the entire Cell Area. Even people in Cell Block A, and Cell Block C below would be able to hear their screams reverberating off the walls.

Alan couldn't see it, being exactly above Joey's own cell, but Joey was smiling. Not a patronizing smile, as if laughing at the flustered boy above him, but rather a small smirk of confidence, as if things were going the way he wanted them to go.

Amidst all of this, Maria was quiet, sitting criss-cross on the middle of the cell floor above Alan. She said not a single word to stop the bickering of the two, and seemed utterly unphased by their verbal warfare as she kept her focus within herself. As the collar around her neck would suggest, she was indeed a Star Marine as well, but unlike the others who have naturally aged since their time in the war, Maria was still the small pale girl in the purple dress they all met on that day, seemingly haven't aged a day. Of course, the other Star Marines noticed this during their time with the Rau've, but she had no answer for them as to why, only a theory that perhaps the dust injection process that went awry and made her need that cybernetic in her head also stemmed her growth.

She did not flinch out of her concentrated state of mind, not even as Alan's bombastic yells echoed like the wrathful whispers of wraiths. With a deep sigh, she opened her dim violet eyes, a lack of shine in within them as if she had no soul within that small body of hers. Something the guards never gotten used to and were always so freaked out by, but something the Star Marines knew her for well enough. The guards believed that she was simply a husk, some sort of well-kept undead shell; despite the collar on her neck preventing any harm to come to them, none of the guards wanted to go anywhere near this girl when the time came to give her food, treating the task as a punishment more than a chore. But as the Star Marines learned in the past, she was very much alive, and did have emotions and spirit like the rest of them, she did show care, kindness, even some degrees of passion for things, but simply lacked the ability to show these things, not because she was holding back but because the Cybernetic plate in her head simply made her physically incapable of emotional response of any kind, resulting in a perpetual look of sheer apathy.

So while she did not look like it, she was very annoyed at verbal sparring of her partners, moving her waist-length white hair away from her face after the concentration she built up was broken by them. She'd tell them to quiet down so that she could continue her meditation, but her emotionless whispers would be overridden by their loud voices. Unfortunately, thanks to her collar, she can't even telepathically tell them to quiet down.

@The Man Emperor @jdh97 @Th3King0fChaos

---

---

Every 1st Fleet soldier has an Admiral's plaque in his pocket

2370 AD

Planet Wasa, Rau’ve’s Space Dock #3

Days had passed after the battle of Wasa. The cleaning up had finished. The unfortunate casualties of war had been laid to rest with full military honor, and the prisoners of war already sent home to Ascendancy homeland. His victory was so complete that Alexander needn't waste time nor risk potential dangers with chasing down the Rau've survivors. The enemy carriers and dreadnoughts had been destroyed, the rest were mere flies within his palm. He preferred to let his fleet have some respite and let the other commanders reap the fruits of his labor. Literally at their fingertips. It should be simple enough for them.

"Does it hurt my friend?"

The admiral today wasn't in his flagship. He was in one of the heavy cruisers that led the attack that lured the Rau've into the decisive charge: the flagship of Commodore Lan Ficelle. She firmly executed his orders, carried it out perfectly even under intense bombardment, her ship on fire and she personally was hit by shrapnel, now needing a surgery to remove it. To Alexander's amazement, Lan was actually injured much earlier in the battle, as her ship was focused. She just kept it in her and continued the fight without anyone realizing it until the battle was almost over.

What a soldier!

He knew she's a great commander, but she's also the bravest of them all.

"No, I'm alright." She laughed it off, clearly not being able to move her shoulders around. "Only the first five times or something."

"Is it true though?" Alexander joked back. He'd expect no less.

"I lost count." She said as she patted the patched up wound. "Well, this will heal in a few weeks or so. What's more important is if the Rau've fleet can recover before that."

"The rest of their space forces are now stretched thin because they pulled enough forces to stop the breakthrough here, so I'm pretty sure they're now desperate." He said. "You can rest assured until we arrive at their capital. By then you'll lead the way in!"

"Haha, I thank you for your generosity."

"It's my only way of compensating for not being able to promote you. You have grown a lot since we met in the Grand Academy."

He could only send recommendations to his beloved President for her promotion. And of course, given the nepotism and oligarchism of the Ascendancy, it was never going to pass, and might end up hurting her in the long run instead if he kept nagging. The only other way would be being Grand Admiral, where it is a special rank in which the bearer is pretty much given full reign of whatever and whoever is assigned to their army.

"Oh believe me, you'll be Grand Admiral really soon." Lan quickly slapped and gripped her friend's shoulder.

"Haha, I truly hope so." Alexander laughed. "But the rank is now full. There will be no more than six at the same time, and all personally appointed by Emmanuel himself. I doubt they'd create a seventh."

"Oh, don't you know?" She asked. "Grand Admiral Phillip just got sacked from the 13th Fleet, and its command was given to Admiral Quasi."

"When was that?"

"Just a week ago. I don't think they have decided on a new one yet. With this victory, the press is gonna sing you praises, and that Civvy Minister would have to cave in or they'd face a public backlash."

"They don't already care about that to begin with. I don't think-"

"Or international humiliation. Especially in wartime. If they want to appear strong militarily, they have to put in place a strong military leader."

"I won't hold my expectations too high though." Alexander shrugged, before pointing at her again. "You'll still march first into Brassica though. Ladies first, am I right?"

"Oh you just want to see the back of my neck, don't you? You have a weird fetish my guy!"

She said as she slapped his back again, and this time as hard as possible. Not much growing on this front though. But a woman's intuition was not to be underestimated.

---

2 days later.

"It's official Alex. You are now a Grand Admiral of the Ascendancy of Man."

She was correct. Not bad for a son of an engineer and accountant.

"There is a ceremony you'll attend this weekend. We can depart for it the day after tomorrow if you wish." Carina explained. "Also, since now you're officially Grand Admiral, you can choose to promote anyone you like. If you do it now, they'll also attend the ceremony."

"Oh really?" Alexander remarked. Guess the Ascendancy really wanted some political points. "Well, then tell them to prepare a lot of plaques, because I'm going to change this army upside down. Starting with you."

"M-Me?" His aid-de-camp was perplexed.

"Yeah you. From now on, you will not only be an aid-de-camp, but my flagship's captain. You'll also bear the rank Captain."

"Isn't that a rank skip? I-I don't know if..."

"You were one of the best in the academy. It'd be a waste if you're just stuck handing me papers."

"...Thank you then. I'll do my best." Like mother like daughter, she was quite refined. But inside what she was suppressing was the excitement. Command of a military warship! A battleship no less. Being a bit humbled for a few years weren't so bad if this was the result.

"Now..." Alexander pulled up a list of all of his officers and very quickly crossed out a variety of profiles. "These people are out."

"That's...like half of your army officers. I don't know if doing it in mass would be a good idea." Carina said as she sat right next to him, observing.

"These people are all spoiled brats of the nation. I mean look at this." He pointed at one entry. "The first to abandon the destroyed ship in the Ponin Incident. Son of, oh look at that, a multi-millionaire CEO of a ship-building corporation that has ties with Emmanuel. Get that piece of shit out of my army."

"Be careful, you're gonna anger a lot of them. You need ships and equipment too. I'd suggest just send them over to people like Berkeley or Laguna."

"Sure. They'd either become real soldiers or corpses in no time. Fine either way for me." He made that note on the side. "Now let's discuss my subordinates. I shall need...five key generals by my side, promoted to General and Admiral respectively."

"That's fair." Carina wasn't surprised by this. An Ascendancy fleet isn't that populated, but considering that the more troops a higher ranked official had to take command, the poorer his or her performance will be. Any military organizer should know this.

And the five men and women chosen are honestly quite colorful by all standards. But a quick glance over their service records, they're some of the most talented and diligent servants of the Ascendancy, most of whom were unfortunately unrecognized, for obvious reasons.









The fifth and final...

"Wait, Kotaro?" This was the most surprising bit. "I know the guy's smart, but he doesn't have enough experience commanding a large fleet contingent just yet."

"...That is true." Alexander admitted, probably because some personal biases on his side. "He does have some training in the academy for it though, but he's still mainly focused as a flotilla commander to individual fighting."

"You don't wanna come off as a hypocrite right off the bat. Make him Rear-Admiral or something for now. He'd need to prove his worth first as fleet commander before anything."

Alexander didn't object. Of course, his loyalty would be vital in case any issues arises throughout the war, something in which will inevitably happen, but so that his meritocratic philosophy remained consistent, it'd have to do. He had lived with him long enough. He'd get there soon.

William Windsor and his Crew - Flashback



If the Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet had a homeworld, it was not one dedicated to production or commerce. If the various trading flotillas flying under the Windsor Banner had a place to put down roots, it was not in a place where its glories or that of Humanity's were preached, but rather in the site of its greatest failure of judgement. For William Windsor, like his mother and grandfather before him, had chosen to set up shop in the orbit of Gill'home, the homeworld of the Gill species, now restored to its former glory after the Ascendancy's Xenocide.

As he walked the green-and-gold corridors of his mothership, Queen Elizabeth, William Windsor thought about how despite the reparations the Autonomous Fleet had given the Gill, the cycle of revenge was still turning - Maybe it would never be stopped by anything he can do, maybe the GIll would still hate him and other Humans as a species no matter how much they strove for atonement.

And as William Windsor pressed the button opening the observation deck, seeing Gill'home's perfect azure globe of blue waters, the Master Trader thought to himself that he didn't care a whit about whether his family's attempts to atone for the Ascendancy's crimes would stop the cycle of revenge or not. What mattered was that they followed their conscience instead of losing themselves in the quest for money and power like the rest of the Ascendancy's rich and powerful - They had chosen to be outcasts despite their wealth and defiantly flaunted their status as outsiders to those offended. Even the attire he wore, a green silken suit capped off by a flowing silver cape, was outlandish and anachronistic enough that the 'real' elites back in the Core Worlds would scoff in disgust.

And he was fine with that, really.

What he wasn't fine with, however, was facing the intelligent and intimidating Grand Admiral Alexander Kherol, a man not easily daunted or decived by the equivalent of cheap parlor tricks or displays of wealth. He knew he cannot defeat the man easily, if at all, yet a clash between their opposing visions was inescapable, inevitable. And Windsor knew his vision was worth fighting for, even if, he thought as he looked around the observation deck, he had to fight for it -

"You are not alone," Elizabeth Windsor's voice cut through the silence, as the aging woman, Windsor's mother, entered the room. "William, none of the Autonomous Fleet's leaders ever acted alone or with only sycophants and blind minions - You don't need to start doing the former."

Dressed in a gown of Imperial Purple, a woolen pink shawl draped on her shoulders, Elizabeth Windsor seemed physically weak, but her son knew better to underestimate the wisdom she held or disaparge her kindness. Nevertheless as she placed her arm on his shoulder, William Windsor dared to doubt as he responded, "Mother - No, Mom - You're right. But how can I be sure that the people I do have are truly with me? I bind people to me using two things - One is money and another is the shared feeling of being cast out by the closed minds of the Ascendancy's elites. And in my darker days," Such as now, he thought, "I think they're mostly with me for the former and the latter is easily cast aside once the Ascendancy offers to accept them back."

Her wrinkled, but still fair, face smiling, brusing her greying hair with her other hand, Elizabeth said, "William, when I met your father, he bound me to him not by promising me riches and power, but by shared commitments, by respecting my intelligence. As long as you give them a credible cause to fight for, and respect them as people, those whom you want to fight beside you will fight like lions."

She then changed the subject, "Now tell me, the boy who came to you, the boy who was so earnest... Do you trust him?"

Windsor nodded and said, "Yes, I do. It all sounds so outlandish, what he said, but it's not impossible. That, and I did some investigating - He does love his parents and they actually love him. Enough to risk the regime's wrath should certain revelations come to light. I've also sent a few agents to Masser Secundus and Academy City - They've found supporting evidence there as well." Looking at his mother, the dark-skinned-blond said, "If we can act on this evidence as quickly as possible, we might stand a chance of fixing the mess Humanity has been in since the end of the Commonwealth."

A pause as he steeled himself, "Weapons, ships, troops and logistics, all are nothing if not animated by a good enough reason to use them. We must make sure that even if the Ascendancy can match us in any other way, our vision will be the breath of fresh air they lack."

Elizabeth Windsor spoke, "The Return to Democracy, the balancing of Individual and Community, and the belief that the Strong must not harm the Weak, but the Weak should not be content with staying such. And finally, coexistence. Coexistence without loss, victory without war. We will fight for that vision, my son, and that rotteness the Ascendancy represents will be cut out with a hot knife..."