A video had been circling across Matuvista’s internet. It was an inherently unusual video- it was only about thirty minutes long and there was very little to view other than the walls of a prison… But it was the audio that was important. The video started with the narrator talking as a truck cruised into the prison.

“Most Fridays, that hovertruck drives into the prison. It’s a military transport, and it carries the executioners for this week’s death sentences. Nothing weird about that, but I noticed something last Friday and it got me up before dawn for this shit. So, normally, you hear maybe a single volley, maybe two. But last week, I heard… I don’t know. Thirty? Forty? I got no proof, so let’s see what I hear this morning."

The video then sped up, the first of Matuvista’s three suns cresting the horizon. Once its rays had touched the prison, the video slowed and the voice emerged again. “Alright. First dawn. Should be a volley coming now.” A timer started in the corner, hanging on zero. Then, a series of cracks split the early morning, and the counter ticked up. “So, that’s one criminal dead. Nothing weird. Then, wait for it.” There was another crack. “That’s just them finishing the guy off, not another dead.

The seconds dragged, then a minute. Then, at about a minute and a half, another series of cracks. “So that’s two. By the way, they execute these guys in batches, so it could be one dead, could be like five. Fuck do I know.” More minutes dragged along, and then… Crack. The counter ticked up.

By the time the video ended, the counter sat pretty on 11. “Dunno about you, but something here seems a bit off,” the voice chimed in. “Never heard more than 3 before last week. Now there’s 11? Seems suspicious. Alright, well, I guess if I don’t post again I’ve been thrown in prison so… I guess let’s hope I can upload again? Aight. Signing out.”

---

Devi, we received two new nations whilst you were away. One I handled. The other… Well, they’re about to arrive aboard the station shortly. You should know though,

“They’re somewhat unusual, Capitão. They say that they’re evolved… Well, evolved apes.” The patrician paused for a moment, as if recognising how absurd their own words were.

Apes? Simians? Our closest ancestors on Old Earth? Sigma-Devi paused for a moment as she processed this information: She had been asleep after returning from the gala, and thus hadn’t had the same chance to come to terms with the Khanate as the rest of the Consciousness had.

“Indeed, Capitão. The same ones on Old Earth. We thought them entirely extinct, and now here they are, apparently uplifted and having mastered interstellar flight.” Alfonso paused for a moment as he too processed this information, then slowly reached for a pocket and drew out a cigar.

No time to waste. I shall send a message immediately. Open communications with them before they bring their parade aboard.

"Understood, Capitão. At once." The patrician gave a crisp salute, then hurried off to relay the message.

Almost at the same time, the Khanate received two messages.

Hail from the Gran Republic of Matuvista! Congratulations on your Gateway having opened, and your peoples being re-introduced to the stars which our mutual ancestors promised them. Much as you draw from the past of great Mongolia, we are the heirs of the mighty Spanish Empire, inheritors of a New World twice over, and eager for any and all who understand and draw pride from their past, no matter who they be. Please, we bid you come aboard with all haste, and should you wish to engage in further diplomacy with us, have no doubt your ambassadors and representatives are welcome aboard the Santa De Angelo.

Greetings, Supremus. We are the Zetan Consciousness, and we understand the need of continuing mankind's legacy in the face of what seems like certain extinction. We are transmitting this message directly to you to offer you both a heartfelt welcome to the Intergalactic Community, and a warning to you- there are others who will not be as welcoming as we to the idea of Simian inheritors. Should it please you, we invite you aboard our section of the Meeting Place whenever is expedient for further discussions.

---

"¿This is insane, you see that right?" A cigarette dangled from Marco's mouth as their transport flew through the air, covered by a team of three jetrikes. Their job here was fairly simple. Recon had identified a rebel leader stronghold, and after almost a week and a half of constant pounding music and permanent day, they knew the rebels within would be exhausted and prime for picking off.

Inwardly, much of the Matuvistans had been impressed when news of the Hollywoodite plan had leaked through to them. It was... Not exactly a traditional method of winning a guerrilla war, but it certainly showed a knack for tactically thinking outside the box that the Gran Republic appreciated.

"¿Would you shut the fuck up? This is gonna be easy." The strike of another lighter, and the small space within the transport continued to fill with smoke. None of the soldiers cared- every single one of them had the habit themselves. Within Matuvista’s civilian population, tobacco consumption sat at around 60%. In the military, it was closer to 90%. It helped, of course, that revivalist lung therapy could stave off the worst of the effects.

"Easy, difficult, whatever. It's still insane. They can see us. That's not how this works." Marco insisted, sweeping the ash that had fallen down onto the floor of the transport away with his boot.

"We're above the light line right now. They're not gonna see us until we drop down on them, and even then, ¿so what? They're gonna be exhausted. I bet you half of them won't even be able to get themselves out of bed. We're gonna have too many people to fit in the other transport." Leonor laughed and let out a plume of smoke, drumming her fingers against the barrel of her rifle.

"La Emperatriz, Capture Team Delta. The words crackled through all of their earpieces.

"La Emperatriz, go ahead Delta." Came the response, and with it a little bit of the strain on the men eased.

"¿We're a minute from raid site. Is everything clear for approach? Over."

"Hold Capture Team. We're waiting for a request to clear with the Oligarchs. Be prepared for rapid deployment. Over."

"Confirmed La Emperatriz, holding." Confusion filled the transport. What were they waiting on? Then, their squad leader smirked.

"¿What, you guys didn't think we had night vision to launch a raid in broad daylight, did you? Dumbasses. The Oligarchs are going to switch the lights off right before we launch the raid. That said, night vision on." There was a brief pause as troops blinked and their eyesight adjusted itself to the new light level.

"Delta, this is La Emperatriz, lights are off, you are go, go, go for deployment, over."

"Copy La Emperatriz, going in. Capture Team Delta over and out."

With that, the transport plunged down towards the ground. Holding on tight, the soldiers inside waited, the interior of the transport lit only by smouldering cigarettes and a dim red light that told them it still wasn't time yet.

Until it turned green, and all at once the soldiers moved. Rifles slung over shoulders, cigarettes stomped out, and the transport's floor groaned open, the team clipping themselves onto the deployment system and dropping down. As they left the comfort of their vehicle, they could hear the pounding music that still filled the air, covering the noise of the engines and soon, the gunfire.

"Squad, form up on me. Prep for breach." A few glances were exchanged as the breacher drew out their shortened semiautomatic shotgun- all these years, and few things were quicker and easier to use to blow off hinges, then turned to look at their squad leader.

"¡Breach!" The gun barked twice, then the soldier's heel slammed against the door and sent it toppling inwards.

"¡Move move move!" They moved inside together, a well-drilled, well-trained group. A single lone sentry stood in front of them, clearly half-asleep. He'd soon have a much more final sleep as three silenced rounds embedded themselves into his chest and neck, the thud of his body against the ground muffled by the thudding bassline blared all around them.

From there, the squad moved on. Each room had to be cleared, and in each one they found a similar scene; people disoriented by the sudden darkness, exhausted, barely able to put up a token resistance. A few foolishly tried raising up their guns to meet these strange shadowy figures storming through their facility and were met with precise, targeted fire, whilst most ended up being cuffed and left face-down.

But there was one man they wanted that they still hadn't found. As they moved through room after room, he escaped them, until at last, there was just one left. Marco reached for the doorknob, looking at squad leader. There was a nod, the door swung open, and the soft clatter of a flashbang was lost in a particularly over the top guitar riff.

Once it had gone off, the men pushed inside. Targeted audio-visual disruptive devices opened up, providing anyone who stood against the soldiers a taste of hell as their body was overwhelmed by high and low frequency sounds and a dazzling, off-coloured strobe glare.

"La Emperatriz, Capture Team Delta."

"La Emperatriz."

"Package secured. No casualties. Returning to base. Tell the Oligarchs to turn the sun back on. Capture Team Delta over and out."

---

"Dios salve, Santa Maria,
Llena eres de gracia"

"SHUT UP AND SHOOT GOD DAMMIT. WE'RE HALF A GALAXY AWAY FROM THE SAINTS." How the hell had it all gone so wrong? One minute they were returning from patrol, the next something had taken out the main engine of their transport and they were spiralling down to the ground. The pilot and co-pilot were dead, who knew how many of the squad were injured, and now Gaspard was praying instead of shooting.

The permanent daylight of Neo-London helped them more than it did their attackers though. Hunkered down behind rubble and their crashed craft, they could see anyone stupid enough to poke their head up and try to advance. Nikki's rifle barked and chattered, the soldier ducking down to take a moment of breath.

"⸘What the fuck happened‽ ⸘What the fuck is going on‽"

"⸘Who the fuck cares‽ ¿Why does it matter? ¡Stop whinging and start fucking lighting these fuckers up! ¡It's only six minutes until evac, so work for it!"

"¡GRANADA!" One of the soldiers scrambled on the ground for the small little bomb and hurled it back with the strength of a man desperate to continue living. They squeezed their heads against the ground as the grenade went off mid-air, raining shrapnel down all around them. Nikki hissed as she felt a piece sting her thigh, but it was nothing compared to what it would have felt like if it'd gone off right next to her.

"¡HIJO DE PUTAS!" Another soldier opened up, before hurling several grenades of their own. Once they were done with their little outburst, forced down by counter-fire as soon as the grenades had gone off and the rebels could poke their heads up again, Nikki looked down, surprised to see that the small nick in her leg was now bleeding profusely.

"Mierda. ¿Medic? ¿We still got one?" She looked around frantically, only to find no medic left. One of the other soldiers would have to help her then. Raphael, she idly recalled, feeling the colour leave her more than she did actually see it. Once the bandage was on tight though, so tight that she could almost ignore the red seeping through it, she could at least know she wasn't about to die.

Hopefully.

Maybe Gaspard's prayer wasn't a bad idea. Just as she raised her own crucifix to her lips, she could hear a sound that could only be their earthly salvation.

Jet engines.

Machine guns chugged and plasma throwers spat death as the jetrikes roared into view, quickly followed by troop transports, flying as low as possible. As the trikes engaged the enemy, the transports opened their lower doors up. "¡WOUNDED FIRST!" Yelled one of the medics aboard, and it was with some relief that Nikki wrapped an arm around Raphael's shoulder and the pair hobbled over towards the vehicle. She clipped herself onto its embark system gratefully, feeling herself pulled up and into the waiting arms of her comrades.

---

Isabella paced back and forth on the command deck of her ship. They had had a major win, and then it had been balanced by a major loss. Águila-3 and its escorts had been ambushed and gunned down- although the destruction protocols had gone through to deny the rebels anything useful, they'd taken 70% casualties, and those were 70% casualties that were not about to be replaced any time soon. Every big loss like that hurt her forces a lot.

What made it worse was that something was happening in Neo-Beijing. An unidentified vessel, claiming to be an oligarch's allies, had landed, and despite claiming they were here to assist the oligarchs, there had not only been radio silence, but radio disruption from their landing points. Satellite footage did not paint a promising picture.

She had not been one for regular smoking prior to this operation, but now she reached for a cigarillo that one of her senior officers had left her. She lit the end slowly, breathing in, then out with a juddering sigh. Normally she was one of the people being commanded; never before had their lives been her responsibility. Grunting to herself a little, she turned and strode towards the airlock closest to the bridge of her ship, trailing smoke as she did so.

When the airlock opened, Colonel Bisson was met with Isabella in her full military regalia. Only one medal hung from her chest, but the cape and the epaulettes (not to mention the gold finishing) conveyed the message nonetheless. The cigarillo, half-smoked, hung from her lips, and she stood with a sword affixed to her ship. "Welcome aboard." She declared imperiously. "I'd say this ship's name, but it doesn't have one. Only a unit designation. Please, the bridge is just up ahead here. We have quite a bit to discuss."

Collab between @Irredeemable and @Sigma

Isabella lead the Columbian contingent through to the bridge of her vessel, trailing cigarillo smoke the whole way. She arrived to a bark of ‘COMMANDANTA ON DECK’ and a series of snappy salutes from the bridge staff, before guiding her guests to the central projector. “Can I get you anything? Rum? Tobacco? Water?” A glass of the latter was handed to her, the projector coming alive with the strategic map of the planet below them.

“The current situation on the ground is as follows. Neo-Beijing and New London are in outright revolt. Neo Paris is teetering on the brink. A foreign force has landed in Neo-Beijing claiming to be supportive of the legitimate government. Intelligence suggests this to be false, so expect more trouble there. We have secured New Westminster, and it is currently the only territory in Neo London not under the effects of oligarch psychological disruption.” She paused for breath, and to take another sip of water.

“Hmm, I think we all can use a good smoke” Colonel Bisson requested, the two captains behind him nodded in agreement. Within a short while, the three Columbian officers found themselves puffing out a small cloud’s worth of smoke, the flavor and aroma simply addicting. After Isabella made her report, the Colonel set aside his cigar for the time being. He studied a map for a moment, seeing the situation on New Hollywood quickly crumbling. Although what little footage has leaked offworld and the mention of “psychological disruption”, something tells the colonel that the White Flowers aren’t entirely in the wrong here….

Colonel Bisson cleared his throat. “I’ll soon have forces stationed in New Beijing to begin airlifting our people out, If these new tangos give us any trouble, we will defend ourselves, otherwise, my men will proceed with the main objective.” The colonel paused as he allowed himself one more puff from the cigar. “And again, you have our thanks, you saved us some time in logistics, so I hope we can be out of your hair in a couple of days.”

Isabella frowned to herself, expression masked by the cloud of smoke in front of her face. Colombia was not going to be as helpful as she had hoped. Still, she played the diplomat. “I can assure you, a fellow military force can hardly be in our hair to begin with, especially when our interests are aligned. All we want is a clean end without excessive casualties, the same as you do.” She smiled.

“Yeah, I guess you can say that.” Colonel Bisson said with a hint of uncertainty in his tone, taking another puff. In a way, they both are here to save lives, granted, the Isabella’s forces trying to put down a violent revolution, whether it’s just or not is unfortunately, none of the Colonel’s business for the time being, as for Miles’ men, they’re of course, here to get people back home, people that don’t belong in a warzone on some alien world. “I may not agree 100%, but yeah, we’re both here to save lives, I can only hope that this won’t turn out any uglier than it has to be.”

“There is one thing,” Isabella concluded, taking the stub of her cigarillo and grinding it out into a waiting ashtray. “Since you’ll have boots on the ground in New Beijing, we were hoping you could provide us with some more consistent intelligence than what we’ve been gathering from the Oligarchs and our orbital contacts. We won’t force this issue, but it would be greatly appreciated.” She nodded curtly.

Miles had followed suit, grinding out his cigar. “Well, it may not be top priority at the moment, but I see no harm in such a mission, I’ll have my men provide a steady flow of updates from New Beijing.”

“Excellent. Go with the saints.” Isabella saluted.

Aboard the Meeting Place
The songs of people past

---

A low thrumming sound echoed in the metal, followed by low throaty voices. A choir of apes of all different species sat together, holding guitar-looking instruments of a people long lost. To anyone with any spirit, the undulating voices told a story, from the past. Of a more primitive time, of history. For this was what the Supremus carried to the stars. A legacy, collections of stories past which were revered and emulated, unsurpassed by any in the galaxy. The high notes of the instrument carried the weight of sorrow, of loss, of people gone. The voices carried reverence, of greatness, of a history which should be remembered. It was to this anthem that the Supremus marched in step, letting their primal anthem resonate within their hearts. 1,738 flags carried by half that number of apes, simians of the different states chosen to represent just a few of those presented banners. At its head was the bannerman of the Khan, the great equine larger than all the others, its keen eye overseeing all. Holding it aloft was a large, scarred gorilla, wizened by age but seemingly unperturbed by the banner and the large barrelled gun which sat on his back.

Similar sights came after him, large apes carrying two flags also bearing the weapons of their respective city states. A Reformed American with a remade Thompson gun. A Republican with a gladius at its hip. An unknown soldier of a small state, conquistadore in look, with a slung musket-looking rifle on its shoulder. The sheer variety among them could almost boggle the mind, standing five abreast in this space emptied for the parade. Armour shined brightly under artificial lighting, weapons and uniforms of humanity's past laid on display. If a sight could produce sound, it was noisy. Many histories could be seen among this crowd, proudly beared by their inheritors.

As the soldiers marched into square formations around the musicians, a figure in the middle of the musicians stood. A young orangutan, facing the numerous delegates and diplomats before him. A column was left empty by the soldiers so the humans coulod see him, the many bright flags held aloft surrounding the orangutan. He bowed graciously as the music continued on in a lower volume.

"O I bid ye thanks, good progenitors, for letting us apes learn of your great civilisations. Truly, the histories we learned could not be compared to our breathing predecessors. Yet we can see that some of you have clung to those legend of old, giving them great respect that they deserve. While others have forged on, moving on to create their own path among the stars. Here, among the flags and soldiery of my peoples, you witness our own path. A mix of simian and human, carrying history while making history of our own. While I must depart to bring news of your civilisations to the Khan and the greater Khanate, we leave with good cheer that we are not alone in being descendants of Earth. To future friends, I bring gifts to the peoples I have met. Man's best friends, long lost, now brought back from the genetic legacy we contain."

Several puppies would be released from amidst the musicians, playfully tumbling and rolling with each other. Each had been trained to follow the particular scent of a diplomat. Genetically made smarter than their genetic predecessors, they are still familiar to those who know of them. The majority were Golden Retrievers, golden pups of friendly disposition and neutrality. To others, more specific breeds were chosen. To the Undefeated pounced a Belgian Malinois, keen and athletic even at this age, bounding with intelligence. To the Matuvistans, a Spanish Mastiff from their great forebearers, loyal and protective, large in its youth. It was a sight to soften tired eyes, the wagging tails almost distracting some to the political message sent across.

Simians could be just as scheming as their predecessors. "To those nations absent from today, we leave an ambassador in the form of Freeman Descartes and Priestess Joan." Temujin gestured for the others ot rise, the former a powdered chimpanzee with wig and cotton uniform, the latter a female with markings on her face and robes. "They will make the Meeting Place home while I bring news to the Khan, along with a detachment of guards. They will hold some of these puppies to be gifted to nations absent and hold further talks with the nations present. With this, I bid you all farewell and wish for prosperous times for you all."

With this, the music dulled and lowered as the ranks of soldiery, barring a select few, left towards the Terra Supremus. Interesting discussions would be made in the times ahead.

---

@Irredeemable@Tortoise
The Clergy's Guide to the Galaxy

---

The two diplomats had been given different jobs by the Herald. The Freeman Republican, a Reneé Descartes by his name, would set about organising the ambassadorial staff while she, Joan, would be set to establish further relations with nations of interest. Here, she would be messaging to the twoi nations, a task she set about completing with utmost care. Priests and Priestesses, no matter what age, had already been rendered pseudo diplomats with the amount of negotiations they partook in on New Gift. There was always a conflict somewhere between some two minor city-states, drowning in blood and bombardment. It was their duty to make sure such conflict could end peacefully but the coming news of the humans would spread. A destabilising sort of news, which needed to be pre-empted with plans and schemes. To save conflict from her home, she must learn the conflicts of others.

Rumours of the White Flower Revolution had been of hot discussion among the state representatives along with the war against the Zetans. A formation of power blocs could be seen and even she saw that sides needed to be chosen. For now, the Khanate was satisfied with ongoing neutrality but one needed to see where the strong lay. Joan set to finishing her messages. One of these were much more personal than the other, unbeknownst to others in the ambassadorial staff. She needed to get to the bottom of something.

“Why the hell does this thing keep following me around?” Kelsie frowned at the tiny fluffy creature, trying not to get hypnotized by its eyes again. “It’s creepy.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Julianna crouched and scratched the dog’s head between its ears, quietly giggling as the animal closed its eyes in ecstasy. “It’s cute. It’s called a dog, you know?”

Kelsie raised an eyebrow. “I don’t care what it’s called, I want it out of my office. Oh dear god, is it pissing on my floor?” Was this some kind of a secret weapon unleashed by those wretched monkeys? “Are you sure it’s not just here to spy on us?”

“It doesn’t look very smart.” David tried to shoo the thing away. “Maybe it’s just an animal.”

“The monkeys were also ‘just animals’ and look at them now, parading around with rifles, singing some dumb songs. Maybe this devious creature just pretends to be stupid but understands everything we say.” Kelsie’s eyes narrowed. “Hey, come here,” she purred and the puppy excitedly skittled over to her extended hand. “Would you like to get shot in the face?” she continued in a sweet voice. The puppy barked eagerly and licked her palm. “Eww,” she recoiled, her face twisted in disgust.

Julianna rushed in and grabbed the animal, cradling it in her arms. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed at Kelsie.

“I think it just needs some training.” Jim Harlowe was still nervous around them but, as Kelsie had expected, he was determined to fight to find his place here. He walked over to the young scientist and petted the dog who was now comfortably seated on her lap.

“Train it then. Somewhere else. And you,” she pointed a finger at David, “don’t think I didn’t see you.”

He raised his hands, putting on an innocent expression. “I didn’t do anything. And it wasn’t a banana!”

“I don’t care what it was,” Kelsie growled. “I don’t think that monkey armada that just marched through the Meeting Place would appreciate your jokes. No!” she raised a finger, preventing David from speaking again. “Go clean this mess. Now.”

David frowned at the puddle in the middle of the room. “But I’m a Commander.”

“Then go find a fucking mop you can command. Before I demote your ass so that it is the only thing you will be able to command around here.” Kelsie rolled her eyes as he was leaving, a slight smile playing on her lips. Despite him acting like an idiot at times, she still liked having him around. He provided a completely different perspective than the always focused and logical Julianna.

Three datapads beeped at once. The dog raised its head and whined, confused by the sound and the suddenly frowning, worried, focused faces around it.

“What the actual fuck?” Julianna mumbled and both Jim and Kelsie looked at her in surprise, not expecting such words from her. “What the hell is that?” An image showed up on the big screen, showing several objects emerging from the Gateway. The trio stared in stunned silence as the things gracefully floated towards the Meeting Place, the two smaller ones circling the bigger one.

Kelsie’s jaw dropped down and she gawked at the magnificent view, unable to close her mouth. “Are those… animals?” Were they in danger? If something like that impacted the station, it could compromise its structural integrity. Despite the danger, even Kelsie had to admit it was a marvelous sight.

“Uh… yes and no?” Julianna hesitated, using her device to remotely activate the powerful scanners aboard the Chimera. Kelsie managed to collect her jaw from the floor and shut her mouth, shooting the young scientist an angry frown. “Sorry, this is something completely new. And,” she studied the data, “actually I stand behind my answer. The ships are partially organic and partially mechanical.”

Jim swiped through magnified images. “Equipped for battle as well, it seems. The smaller ones at least.”

“True,” Julianna nodded. “But the weapon systems don’t seem to be powered up. At least from what I can tell. What do I know, maybe the thing has teeth and claws and will just rip its way inside the station.” The girl chuckled nervously, but there was also excitement in her eyes. Kelsie understood her excitement, even though she hardly shared it.

Jim swiped on his datapad and the ship images were replaced by a strange room with two even stranger people in it. “Incoming transmission,” he said quietly, unable to look away from the screen.

As the green-haired woman spoke, making strange chirping and singing sounds, David entered the room, holding a mop and a bucket filled with soapy water. “Hey, did you know there's a broom closet at… what the fuck is that? Did Julianna force you to watch that ancient movie with the talking trees and the little people and the cursed jewelry again?”

“Shut up and listen,” Kelsie hissed because the woman just finished her speech and the man with a mouth full of creepy canines started to translate it into weirdly accented English.

“Genetic manipulation, of course, that makes sense,” Julianna mumbled after the transmission ended.

Kelsie shook her head. “How does any of that make sense?”

“Well, they’ve said it.” David wasn’t nearly as shocked as the others. In fact, he quite calmly grabbed the mop and started to wipe the floor. “They’ve adapted to their hostile world. Freekin tree-huggers turned into trees.” They all looked at him and he shrugged. “What? I’m not as dumb as I look. Mostly. But don’t mind me, I’m just commanding this mop here. And I’m commanding it damn well if you ask me.”

“I think Commander Parker does have a point,” Jim nodded. “They certainly do look like some kind of plant-human hybrids. And from the tone of their message, they do seem quite peaceful. Which of course could be a trick,” he added quickly, reacting to Kelsie’s raised eyebrow.

The Guardian sighed and got up. “Fine. Commander Harlowe, you like them, you deal with them. I’m still processing the monkeys, I can’t really deal with talking plants right now. And keep that thing away from me,” she pointed at the dog currently curled up at Jim’s feet.

“Yes, ma’am,” he smiled and scratched the animal’s head, excited about his first real assignment. “I’ll send a welcome message right away and invite them over for negotiations. And I’ll take care of the dog.”

David walked over to Jim and patted his shoulder. “I feel like you will be needing this, mate.” The mop was handed into Jim’s hand and David headed out of the room, leaving the newest team member in a bit of an absurd situation.

“Welcome aboard, Commander,” Julianna giggled quietly. “I’ll head to the lab and go over the scan data to have a report ready for you before the negotiations start.”

“Right,” Jim nodded and got up, trying to figure out what to do first. A wet tongue licked his hand and a quiet whining made him look down at the puppy. Now, where do you walk a dog at a space station?

They had finished with their speech and had walked back to the ambassadors ship waiting to see if their words would gain a response. The ship itself while massive was meant to be a ship that allowed Zephina to be outside of the home world longer. Such a big piece of their original world kept her tethered to it longer in a sense. The did not need to wait long and would soon be contacted by another species which called themselves the undefeated which doesn't bode well if they were a warmongering species. Their kind didn't seek conquest of the stars and while they could defend their home planet better then any they couldn't really launch an offensive strong enough to take over a world. Zephina had to think about how they would meet them and how they should exude strength but not in a way that would be seen as hostile simply as them being able to defend themselves. She had decided to bring a guard with her one with impressive defensive capabilities in case things go south for them. Zephina called for an escort and one of their men came over. He was standing a good 6 feet tall with a tough bone exoskeleton and holes in his forearms where his bone blades could appear in an instant. He also had the stone skin mutation on him so just his outward appearance screamed that he wouldn't be brought down easily. A single guard armed with only his body and its mutations would surely set the stage for their negotiations as they called it.

Zephina had brought Richard and the guard and would soon find their way to the meeting place where the other race wanted to meet for negotiations. When they would be allowed in they would be treated to the sight of the beautiful Zephina the strange mutated Richard and the battle heavy and indominable warrior of their people. She had to ensure that they fulfilled their goal in learning more about another race and be given the permission to study more planets that are hostile like their own. If their planet had a hostile climate itself then maybe they would be able to trade resources and use their collectives impressive genetic engineering talents to help them in exchange for whatever they may be able to provide. If they were lucky they could gain their military support so as discourage more hostile races from hunting them down for sport or some other nonsense. They would be the first humans they met in ages so Zephina wanted to make a good impression. She had made sure to bring a gift of a flower from their planet. It wasn't one that would attack them on sight like most would. This was one that helped with sleep and gave a calming aroma in room if it was cold enough. She thought a gift would inspire cooperation between them.

Collab between @Sigma and @Liotrent
Earth
The Meeting Place
The New Haven shuttle was drawing close to the hanger bay, the Acting ambassador swallowing a lump in her throat. The nerves still leaving her a bit stiffened as the shuttle craft made landing. Despite their unorthodox means of greetings to the Meeting Place, Janna hopes that this meeting will be a career maker for her, being known as the woman woh established relations with noble men of science, science that could further bring mankind and all other peoples to a brighter future. "It won't be so bad.." Janna thought to herself.

The shuttle craft slowly made its way into the hangar and beggan its landing sequence. The craft itself looked to be as if it was a smaller version of the NHS Hopeful. The craft touched down and opened its doors to allow Hubert and Dick's android surrogates off. They were holographically disguised, however, any complex motions would instantly reveal their illusion.

"Greetings! Lead Director Hubert Seymour at your service!" Hubert exclaimed as he made a dynamic entrance.

Dick however was less enthusiastic, "Po-Political science director, Dick Wazzinski."

Hubert turned to Dick and glared, "DICK! THAT WASN'T WHAT WE DISCUSSED WE'D DO!"

"I already told you I'm not going to play along with that introduction!"

"You are such a party pooper Dick."

Dick cleared his throat and turned his attention back towards the URC representative, "Ahem, I'm so sorry for the entrance, Lead Director Seymour is excited to make first contact with other remnant colonies of Earth."

Janna was left a bit stunned, first of all, she couldn’t tell if they were actual people or if they’re robots posing as people? Not really her fault considering the Zetans are thing. For a moment, her mind tried to process the robots, only for to lose focus from the sheer goofiness these two displayed, she couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh, the guards quickly following. Janna had to stop herself as she blushed from embarrassment.

“Oh my Gods…please strike me down...” She thought to herself, really? Laughing at your first foreign delegation? That’s gonna one for the history books, and her record. “Oh…forgive my rudeness, sirs.” She said, her head slightly bowed, quickly changing the conversation. “I’m Janna Ranford, our ambassador is unfortunately, not available, so I will be acting in his place, and to welcome you two, to the Meeting Place.”

Hubert then put both hands at his hips and puffed his chest out and smiled wide as he said, "A pleasure to meet your acquaintance miss Janna!" he then turnned to Dick, "See I told you they'd love it the introduction."

Dick of course just put a palm to his face and shook his head, "Yes, yes, you've made your point Lead Director Hubert. Can we please continue?"

“Uh, yes, of course.” Janna said, still a little bewildered that this would be her first experience first contact, diplomacy and whatnot. “If you’ll please follow me, gentlemen.” Janna, along with her guards trailed off from the hanger bay as the tour begun. “As said before, welcome to the Meeting place. An international space station built by the efforts of Earth’s lost colonies, each module built by a colony.” She paused as they entered the Columbian sector proper.

A please of elegant, yet practical design, planets and vegetation growing over brutalist surfaces, in all corners, hologram projectors would play various media and footage unique to Columbia, from catchy tunes to historic military footage, to footage of regular life and so forth.

"It seems that y'all have done great for yourselves!" Hubert looked around with curiosity and amazement in his eyes. He took the time to examine each projection and attempt to learn from them. "You have such a rich history. If you don't mind, could you tell us more about your world and the technologies you've cultivated? We'd love to exchange our ideas."

Dick was surprised at how quickly Hubert's demeanor changes. Dick was classmates with Hubert once, it always surprises him how idiotic Hubert may seem at times, but he can't admit that he could afford to be idiotic because of his intelligence. Dick then added onto Hubert's statement, "Actually, if you have any questions of your own, we'd gladly answer them."

Janna was once again, caught off guard with this Hubert, the man sure can change his tune at will, a good advantage to confuse your political enemies for sure. “You’re our guests, I’m more than happy to share a bi about ourselves.”

Janna would go on a small speech of sorts explaining the rather turbulent history of Columbia, from the rather rough frontier age and the battles with the natives to follow, from the Unification War which led to the founding of the URC, and lastly and most recently, the Yulzan War, which footage of it tuned in a timely fashion, the footage showing the Siege of Taurus, a fierce and bloody battle that last for three months as Columbians forces fought tooth and nail to reclaim the city from the Yulzan, it was also the first battle in which the Guardian Frames were deployed, used to counter the Yulzan’s various war machines.

“It was a near death struggle, but we managed to overcome the odds and beat back the Yulzan after almost two decades of fighting.” Janna paused as she realized she went on a bit of a tangent, once more, resulting in blushed cheeks. “Oof, forgive me, history has always been my favorite subject. Uuh, enough about us, tell me about your world?”

Dick hesitated for a bit, History was his weakpoint, he tried to recall as much as he could but was eventually saved by Hubert.

"Well, there's plenty to know. The first colonists found our verdant and rich world and called it a miracle. After Earth's demise, it was fitting to call this new world New Haven. We lived in peace for a time, but we struggled with diseases for many years. This led to our own technological development going down robotics and medicinal technology. However, instability would begin to plague our nation after conquering disease. We fought with eachother in what would come to be known as the Robotics Proxy War. It was a near bloodless conflict, the real casualties started to mount when certain factions couldn't produce robotics to fight anymore. Before any more blood could be spilled, a peace treaty was negotiated and our political structure was reformed into what you see today as the New Haven Directorate."

Hubert paused for a moment with a hand to his chin, thinking about whether there was anything he missed, then he turned to Janna, "... This is a very brief summary of our world's history, I could send you a file if our operating systems are compatable, if not I'll send a physical book along with any technological information you may want from us. In exchange..." Hubert pointed towards the Guardian Frames in the projections, "... Could you help us build one of those?" Hubert grinned like a child who wanted a new toy.

Dick then thought to himself, "And there's his idiotic personality again... The man's an enigma."

Jana couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, the guards in the backround letting out small giggles, while he is a goofball, he’s entertaining to be around with. “First of all, I’d love a file on your history, It’ll be a good pass time.” She then turned facing at the holo model of the Guardian Frame. “That sadly, is beyond what I can do, but my boss, the actual Ambassador, he might be able to…arrange some meetings between Columbia and New Haven Officials.”

"YOU HEAR THAT DICK! WE CAN GET GIANT KILLER ROBOTS OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!" Hubert hugged Dick's android and started hopping around. This did not translate well with the holograms so it looked like a mess.

"But sir, don't we technically have that capability?"

"We did in theory, but not in practice, it'd be nice to have a little helping hand in the design and construction of such a thing. Oh... And I want one for myself."

Dick could only blink at the Lead Director's statement. It was practical, but also childish. "You know what- I'm not going to argue about that anymore."

Hubert’s excited outburst had startled everyone present in the central hall, staff, guards and visitors all turning their eyes towards. Janna herself jumping at the sight of the android puppet, falling on her bottom, Captain Samuels quick to help her up. She fixes her dress up as turns her attention back to Hubert and Dick. “I gotta say, if the rest of New Haven is as lively as you, I see our people getting along well.” Janna says with a smile.

---

SOL SYSTEM
MEETING PLACE
EARTH ORBIT

---

Drifting between the NHS Hopeful and the station were a number of shuttles containing the surrogates of several New Havenist diplomats. At least that’s what they are now, before this they were simple advisors to the board of directors making sure that the flow between different departments of government ran smoothly. Now they’re being plunged into a situation they’d never faced before.

“Pilot, how long before we dock with the-” the young diplomat brings out holographic instructions before continuing her question, “the Undefeated! Yes, that’s right. What a peculiar name.”

The pilot simply replied, “We’ll be there in thirty minutes. We’ve already received docking instructions and are making preparations for the final approach.”

“Good, good…” His eyes darted around the cramped shuttle craft only to see the surrogate of none other than Dick Wazzinski who already had his hair frayed in all directions on his monitor.

“Alright! I think the connection to this surrogate is working! Are you excited Bobby?”

“More nervous than excited sir.”

“First contact with colonies other than our own and possible alien contact? How could you be nervous! This is amazing!” Dick’s surrogate excitedly clapped its hands before the holographic components calibrated to graft the appearance of Dick onto his surrogate.

“Well, I don’t want to bungle this up sir.”

“Don’t worry Bob! We’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right sir. I really don’t wanna get into a political incident with people we barely know.”

Kelsie was standing in the docs, awaiting the arrival of the New Haven Directorate delegation, dressed in her typical black uniform with just a simple symbol of the Undefeated on her shoulder. She took Julianna along, not wanting to be alone during the negotiations. Plus it was useful to have someone smart and inconspicuous to eye the technology of the newcomers to see how advanced they are.

“They are just a few minutes away,” the young scientist reported after checking a datapad in her hand. “Nervous?”

Was it that visible? “Well, you remember what happened after our glorious first meeting with the Zetans. Of course I’m nervous, I don’t want to screw this up and start a new war.” Kelsie took a deep breath and put on a neutral face. Somehow talking to people made her more nervous than killing them. Probably not a good thing for a diplomat.

The shuttle cruised in slowly and made it’s approach on the dock. It looked alien among the ships of the Undefeated. When it finally touched down, it extended its ramp to allow the holographically disguised androids to disembark.

Bobby, did the most obvious thing that came to his mind when he first laid eyes on the Undefeated welcoming party. He raised his hands, made the Vulcan peace sign and said, “Live long and prosper!”.

Dick of course, promptly dinged him in the head and disturbed the holographic projection enough for Bobby to notice.

“Ahahaha! Don’t mind my colleague, he’s very nervous! My name is Dick Wazzinski and I’m the Political Science Director of New Haven. The dunce with me is Bobby Cavenaugh, my advisor. On behalf of the New Haven Directorate, It’s a great pleasure to meet you.” Dick tried his best to act a little more professional for the sake of all New Havenists. He was determined not to allow Bobby and Hubert ruin its reputation any further.

Kelsie tried to mimic the gesture one of the men greeted them with, which proved surprisingly difficult. She stopped upon noticing Julianna chuckling quietly. When the second man smacked the first and his image blurred for a split second, revealing an android body underneath it, she instinctively reached for her gun, which of course wasn’t there, she couldn’t have come armed to a diplomatic meeting. Seriously, more robots? They didn’t look as dangerous as the Zetans, but you never know.

She took a deep breath. Robots or not, the Undefeated were supposed to be friendly towards everyone now. They couldn’t afford another open conflict with a new nation, not with the Xandalians peeking over their shoulders like some self-appointed peacekeepers. These guys at least seemed quite friendly.

“Welcome aboard the Meeting Place. I’m Guardian Kelsie Blackwood, a representative of the Undefeated nation. This is Miss Julianna Petrova, my science advisor.” Kelsie waved in Julianna’s direction and the girl bowed her head respectfully. “We are glad to meet yet another descendant of former Earth colonies. I imagine that you must have been swarmed with messages from all the representatives here. We don’t get new arrivals every day.” Kelsie smiled and tried to look friendly, constantly keeping an eye on the android guy.

Julianna stepped a bit forward. “I have to say I commend your ingenuity, the thought of using a remotely controlled,” she stressed the words and gave Kelsie an important look, “android for negotiations never occurred to us.”

Kelsie was relieved. Great, so no people turned into murdering machines, just a guy who is probably only being careful and sends a robot as a proxy. That made sense, he was most likely a big animal in their hierarchy and didn’t want to get killed or captured in case the talks took a wrong turn.

She quickly regained her composure and continued talking. “We have prepared a room for our meeting. I’m afraid that this section of the Meeting Place is not very eye-pleasing, but we build strictly for purpose, not aesthetics.” Kelsie pointed the New Haven representatives to one of the hallways leading out of the hangar.

“As expected of course of such forward thinking individuals.” Dick replied, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. It wasn’t lost on him that the woman appeared to have wanted to grab a gun but did not have one and he promptly followed up his reply, “Oh, and my apologies if we startled you with our technology. Lead Director Hubert was incredibly vague about how we were to conduct this.”

Bobby then looked at Dick then at the Undefeated and then back at Dick and said, “I think we were quite clear Dick.”

Dick then promptly smacked him in the head again. “You don’t mean that Bobby, the fault was clearly ours.” he slowly turned his head to look at Bobby and grunted the words, “Right Bobby?”

To which Bobby stiffened straight and said, “Y-yes whatever you say Director Wazzinski!”

Dick then turned towards the Undefeated and said, “Please lead on and feel free to ask us any questions about our humble nation. We have a lot of questions ourselves.”

Kelsie started walking, making sure the two guests were following her. There was really no need for any armed guards - it sent the wrong message and also there were enough soldiers moving through the hallways to assist them in case the delegation turned hostile. “I have to say you have made quite an impression with your initial message and especially the song around here.” Yes, she still remembered the brutal headache she got from it. But she tried to sound as serious as she possibly could, just in case these guys were some sort of musical fanatics and would take belittling that awful cacophony as a mortal insult. The Undefeated didn’t want another war, especially not a war over such a stupid thing as music. “Is music such an important part of your culture?”

Wazzinski was taken aback by that question and he grimaced at the thought in his head, “That… That was the Lead Director’s idea, not mine. He’s… a colorful man”. The thoughts of what they may imagine of New Havenists - not scientists, but morons who love music a little too much. For Wazzinski, it’s something he has to quickly correct.

Kelsie tried to maintain a polite smile. “Well, it was certainly the most original introduction of a new nation we’ve had here since the start, I can tell you that.”

They arrived into a meeting room with a large table in the middle and several chairs around it. “Please, make yourself comfortable.” There was a bowl with a selection of fruit grown on Ellara. A few kinds were the same as the originals brought from Earth, some were mixed up with their Ellarian counterparts, several were completely new, indigenous only to the Undefeated homeworld.

Kelsie and Julianna seated themselves at one side of the table, patiently waiting for the guests to look around and sit down as well. “I understand you must have lots of questions,” Kelsie smiled at Wazzinski. “We hope to be able to answer all of them to your liking.”

Wazzinski and Bobby looked around for a bit, trying to take in the sights. Wazzinski was the first to take a seat then Bobby himself took one.

“Well, it certainly is different to what we’re used to. Very utilitarian, we’re more of a scientifically driven people but we still try to work aesthetics into our utilities.” Wazzinski took up an indigenous fruit from the bowl and inspected it. “... What kind of fruit is this and what are its properties?” He then looks to Kelsie and quickly explains himself, “I- I mean, our agricultural sector has been working with our other branches to increase crop yield and nutritional value. It’d be nice to know if we could ask for some specimens for study”.

Kelsie wasn’t overly eager over the New Havenists introducing themselves as people of science, but Julianna’s smile got wider and more sincere. Kelsie was less excited, because the meeting was probably going to end up in lots of technical blabbering she wouldn’t understand, but will have to sit through and smile politely.

“We call it a golifruit, it’s roughly similar to what was known on Earth as blackberries, only larger and slightly more sour.” Julianna explained, also picking a piece of the pink fruit from the bowl.

Kelsie passed on the fruit, she preferred the sweeter kinds. “It is ingedenous to our planet. The natives probably have a word for it, they just didn’t bother to share it with us.”

“I can send you some more scientific data later if you are interested.” Julianna put the thing in her mouth and puckered her lips a bit. “Fortunately we haven’t had problems with crop yields after we’ve solved the initial problems with adapting plants brought from Earth to the Ellarian environment, so I’m not sure we would be able to assist you in that matter.” Yes, also the whole scientific department of the Undefeated was focused more on better methods to kill other creatures, not feed them.

“That would be much appreciated.” Wazzinski smiled at the thought of already being able to bring new specimens back to New Haven for further study. However, another thing caught his attention, “You also mentioned ‘Natives’ on Ellara? Would you care to elaborate?”

Bobby then said out loud, “Aliens? Real, sentient life? That’s already a ton more interesting than whatever we may have in New Haven.”

“Interesting is one word to describe it,” Kelsie tried not to scoff. Of course the science geeks would find aliens ‘interesting’. “We’ve suffered greatly from their relentless assaults. Even despite our huge technological advantage, they still pose a serious threat to our nation. Or at least used to, especially in the first months after the colony ship landed.”

Julianna nodded with a sad smile. “Yes, the natives are sentient, but very primitive. And they have resisted every attempt we made at communicating with them.” She pressed a few buttons on her datapad and an image of Screecher appeared on a screen mounted on the wall. “We call them ‘the Screechers’ due to the typical sounds they use to communicate. They are large, muscular, and quite strong, able to move on two legs as well as all four. I can forward you some more data if you are interested, but I’m afraid there can be no actual research on the issue due to security issues.”

“So, I take it your planet didn’t have any inhabitants before you moved in?” Kelsie tried to shift the conversation back to getting some information about their visitors.

“No local inhabitants, it seems we’ve caught our planet before they could cultivate such complicated lifeforms. However, we did have to battle foreign diseases for quite a long time. Perhaps our medical technology may interest you...” Dick leveraged the conversation to get on the Undefeated’s good side.

Bobby followed up excitedly, “Y-Yes! We have the nanoshot, a nanite injection that hunts down and destroys harmful pathogens and repairs damage whether external or internal. It’s extremely effective!”

Dick continued, “Aside from that, our environmental suits are bar none, one of the most sophisticated technologies we have. That is if you’re not interested in advanced robotics and drone technology.”

"We've actually had an outbreak of a serious disease that nearly wiped out our colony soon after landing, so we understand your struggle very well," Julianna nodded. "The fear of bringing in a foreign contagion is one of the reasons we do not allow many visitors to our home planet, and even we have to go through a strict quarantine and decontamination process when visiting."

Yes, one of the reasons. A quite minor one, Kelsie thought. The major one being the strict censorship concerning other planets and nations. All information was to come through controlled government sources. But that had nothing to do with the current negotiations.

Kelsie tried not to sound overly excited about the nanoshot injection the visitors mentioned. You can't let the seller know how much you actually want the item before you start bargaining about the price, right? The truth was it sounded amazing, especially for field medicine. "We've already made some arrangements with another nation concerning drones and advanced mining technologies and have no need for environmental suits. However," she continued carefully, trying to sound nonchalant, "the nanoshot you mentioned does sound interesting. If you would be able to provide a small sample for our scientists so we can assess the effects it has on people… There might be a possible trade contract between our nations in the future," Kelsie finished with a smile.

“Of course, I’d be happy to oblige. I’ll inform our science vessel to send a sample as soon as possible. We’d like to continue having friendly relations with Earth’s remnant colonies.” Dick pushed his glasses up and smiled in return. “I can also arrange future meetings with Lead Director Hubert. He’s retired for now after talking with the Zetans and the Columbians.”

Dick wanted to gauge the relationship between the other colonists. He was subtle in his approach, masking his intentions using Director Hubert’s natural curiosity to talk to other people and experience things for himself as a means to see how the Undefeated would react. Poking very carefully around the topic instead of tackling it directly. Hubert’s more heavy handed approach isn’t exactly his style anyway.

Kelsie didn't even blink an eye at the mention at the NHD meeting with the Zetans. She might not have been a great diplomat, but she wasn't stupid and knew Dick was probably poking around to get some more information. After all, there was the word 'political' in his title. Plus, the Undefeated were officially friendly towards everyone these days, which included the Zetans. No matter that there were virtually no diplomatic relationships between the two countries.

"Director Hubert was the one performing the song during your initial message?" She asked with a polite and curious smile. "We would certainly be honored to welcome him here." As long as he keeps the terrible screeching to himself, Kelsie thought to herself, making sure no trace of that thought would show up in her expression. "I hope your meetings with other nations have proven fruitful?" She poked a bit as well, not really expecting to gain anything, just to show she could play the game as well. No matter how much she hated it.

Bobby felt a little out of place, it seemed he knew Dick was already playing the game he trained for a long time to do. Without hesitation, Dick replied, “Of course, it seems we’re already in the process of setting up a tech exchange...”

Dick thought that this much wouldn’t really hurt the NHD, after all, there was no sense in keeping secrets to an openly friendly nation. “... Lead Director Hubert was especially excited about seeing large mechanized technology from the Columbians. He saw some potential in it and wanted to exchange technology for some help on the matter. Of course, military advancements aren’t the top priority at the moment. We’re more focused on exploration and scientific advancement.”

Bobby looked to Dick, noting down every detail he could. He was, after all, Dick’s favorite for becoming the next Political Director.

Dick continued, “... Oh and how could I forget, shall I send you a file of the NHD’s history? It’s quite a read, we’ll also include our biological studies and list of medical advancements. It helped us in the past with our Epidemiology department in controlling infectious diseases. Perhaps you may find some use in it.”

Kelsie was glad the NHD claimed not to be interested in military advancements. There were already enough advanced nations with dangerous military to go around. Plus these guys, despite their almost goofy appearance, could prove surprisingly difficult enemies, Kelsie was pretty sure of that.

"We would love that, we are very interested in the fate of other colonies. After all, we are all related, and while Earth is no more, it is still our common ancestral home." Julianna noticed the Guardian was a bit distracted and continued the conversation. "Our nation currently has an immunity to the disease that nearly wiped us out in the past, but with this level of interplanetary exchange… You never know what the future will bring."

“Delightful, I think this was quite the fruitful exchange.” Dick and Booby both stood up. “Well, our remote controlled androids will be missed. If you wish to meet with us, the science vessel will be staying in orbit nearby as our temporary presence in the Earth system. If there’s nothing else we’ll be returning now.”

The two made their way back to the NHS Hopeful. It was as Dick had predicted, there were many different kinds of people from the colonies. Colorful, arrayed, and potentially dangerous. He quietly hoped that trouble would not come to their door, but Kelsie was right - you never do know what the future will bring.

_{(Addressing: @Irredeemable)}

There's something evil in the air. In New Beijing, Oligarchs have gone missing. To the ECU, the source would seem obvious: those White Flower rebels who have wrested control from their local governments. Except... well, it couldn't be them. Firstly, because they chose to imprison Oligarchs in tight little cells instead of outright killing them. And secondly, because these kills are far, far too efficient. Like it wasn't even human. Like a machine did it.

A machine. Something made of metal and smooth surfaces, with a face like death itself. Someone spotted that, exactly that, prowling outside an Oligarch's villa. This was a while ago, before they all fled the city. Except that one never got the chance to flee, because he was found dead the next morning. Along with ten security guards, four protectors, and his wife. Bullet analysis suggests all shots were fired from their own guns.

Three days ago, a cell was found empty. Something had pried the bars open. Then it had slipped inside, and gutted the high-up protector imprisoned there. The White Flowers had put him there for 'safekeeping' until trials could be held; this was one they would never have to try. Security cameras fizzed out as it approached, whatever it was, but the other prisoners heard the echoes of clanging footsteps. Then they heard the protector scream.

Yesterday, an Oligarch who publicly espoused anti-cyborg rhetoric went missing in a small town outside the city. When they found his body, everyone thought the Flowers must have done it. But what Flower would have cut out his tongue, after killing him?

Today, finally, today, action is taken. The White Flowers of New Beijing are determined to be a real government, and not only a lawless mob. This thing may be killing their enemies, but it is still killing on the streets the Flowers claim as their own. So, even with the lights blaring and the music flashing, they put together a response. Flyers are printed out and plastered to street corners, poles, windows and- with some irony- the ever-present screens, offering a reward for information or the capture of this new nemesis: the so-called "Demon of Zeta."

_{(Addressing: @SgtEasy)
(Starring: Abadi)}

The ECU segment of the Meeting Place is, for want of a better term, on fire.

Well, not literally (except for one small table in the bar), but all of the energy and panic of a fire is present. On a screen mounted in the center of the grand hall, arrayed around with gloss and curtains, their fate is flipping by. Three cities have fallen. New Paris was swallowed whole last night- struck by refugees fleeing the nearby Neo London, that house of cards finally fell inward, and anarchy took hold. The lights were turned on, and the music began to play; but the White Flowers have claimed control.

It seems certain now. The sense of impending doom settles over the ECU diplomats. It makes them angry and inattentive. It sits in the back of their minds, telling them they don't have long left. It sinks down deep into their bones, so that they pace back and forth on the station, looking for release. Liaison Abadi is one of these. She walks right out of the ECU segment, this morning, and wanders around the Meeting Place.

Her head is aching, while she drifts around these halls, full of thoughts of failure. Cramped corridors. A hundred different kinds of engineering, almost none of it true to Old Earth. It's easy to get lost here. And something about it makes your mind roam: she keeps thinking back to what will happen when the ECU falls. It's a national embarrassment. Will the proud Oligarchs have to find refuge? Would Matuvista take them in? All that she's believed and, and all that she's worked for, is crumbling apart.

She makes a turn into a familiar hallway. Abadi's feet seem to constantly want to lead her in a very specific direction: towards the Undefeated section. Well, she thinks, maybe that's alright. Maybe she'll see Kelsie. Maybe they can talk over a drink, like they sometimes do. It won't make everything okay, but-

What's that sound?

Throaty, deep vocalization seeps into this hall from somewhere. The Liaison has heard music like this before; "throat singing." Her teacher showed her some back in the academy; she loved it immediately. It's the opposite of other music: it goes deep, earthy, feeling so solid. It wants to drag you down to the ground instead of lifting you into space. It was never a part of her Cultural Expression- which remains primarily Arabic with American and British influences- but she still has an aching, deep fondness for it. She doesn't even have to think. Abadi follows that sound.

She emerges into the light of a neutral section of the Meeting Place.

She stops still, not able to process what she's seeing.

They'd noticed the arrival of new foreign ships, naturally. But the ECU segment is in such a panic right now, they hardly paid attention to them. A thousand problems needed putting out, half the staff has wanted to go home, there's a delay on the paychecks, and more- so they pushed it to the side, and figured they'd greet the newbies later.

Now Abadi was caught unprepared. Unprepared for this, definitely. A parade of primates. Gorillas, chimps and orangutans carrying banners and weapons that- huh- Abadi just starts to recognize. That one's a USA style gun. And those are definitely muskets. They're singing Mongolian music, and marching in line like a parade...

But the weight doesn't fully come crashing down on her until the lead one starts to talk. With orange, hairy arms spread wide, he lectures about history and the legacy of Earth. And then the connection is made, and Abadi starts to laugh.

Of course, of course. The apes love Old Earth! Just like the ECU! After all, the universe has already done all it can to mock New Hollywood since the Gateways first reopened. The Undefeated could barely stop themselves from laughing, when they first saw the way New Hollywoodites dressed. Or what about when their head ambassador had to go, hat-in-hand, begging cyborgs to save his life? Or now, when their cities have become a playground for foreign armies?

Oh, and it all goes on. Until finally, finally, when all their news screens say the ECU is just on the brink of collapse, they finally meet people who look to be as fanatic about human history as they are. An ally, with their bare paws making ridiculous flip-flap sounds on the Meeting Place floors. An equal, hoisting up simian banners that make a parody of Earth history. They hold in them a thousand cultures and peoples, ideas and dress codes, all represented in a single nation. A walking culture clash. The perfect representation of ECU philosophy- but everyone has the face of a monkey.

Abadi laughs more, louder and louder, until eventually she feels hot tears of shame streaking down her face.

It's all been a joke, the entire time. Her entire life. And this is the punchline.

_{(Addressing: @TimeMaster)
(Starring: Kayla)}

Kayla wakes up, and she isn't Kayla anymore. Or she is. But so are all these other people, because they have her memories. And she's all them, because she has his- theirs. They're her, and she's him- them- us. One. But Two.

Let's back up.

Kayla wakes up, and she isn't Kayla anymore. Because her mind and memories were transferred into a cloning machine. The machine did its job perfectly: her memories were copied over to the One, and the One's memories were copied back into her. Tonight, two distinct lifetimes are swimming around in her head. She remembers the streets of New Beijing, and the ancient ones of Old London. She remembers surviving alone on the One's homeworld. She remembers-

"Wait," she says aloud, "you guys were feeding me human meat?"

She remembers everything James William Grant was, and now everything he is. She knows the last thoughts of the Williams who died to become her dinner, and the memories of the James who brought it to her. And she definitely remembers how nobody bothered to tell her about this.

She gets why they wouldn't, of course. But the vomiting still lasts for a good two minutes.

With that out of the way, she's able to pick herself up off the landing bay floor and take in the sight around her. It's chaotic. The One has destroyed every screen and device in this area, but further off, just passing the little bubble of darkness they're standing in, she can see the endless light-show of New Beijing. It's near to midnight, right now, but you would think it was clear daylight. Every light in the city is on full blast. And then there's the sound: music of every variety echoes outwards, distorted by the strange acoustics of metal skyscrapers.

"Is... is this what they're doing?"

A member of the One tells her that, yes, it is. Nobody sleeps anymore. And they've spotted huge crowds of refugees trying to flee, just to get caught by protector gangs lurking along the major roadways. The whole city is a trap.

The old Kayla would have been paralyzed with rage. But not this one: since the memory-transfer, she's different. With three centuries of survival moving around her mind, no obstacle seems too great. She's beaten worse than this. (Or she feels like she has, anyway.) She cracks her knuckles- a habit borrowed from someone James met back in London, three hundred years ago.

"Come on, boys. I know what we can do about this."

_{(Addressing: @SgtEasy)
(Starring: Abadi)}

After her outburst, Abadi has had a chance to cool down. The dog probably helped: when the Khanate released the puppies, one of them ran straight to Abadi. He licked the salty tears off of her face. She's never been an animal person, but everyone likes dogs. It's required.

She's in her office now, with one hand idly stroking that Golden Retriever fur. Meanwhile, her eyes are flitting over the message the Khanate just sent, offering medical aide and some rather interesting "mercenary" assistance. The former is impossible: after what happened to Tanaka, the ECU wouldn't allow medical help from any other nation. The mercenaries, though...

It's gone well so far. The Colombian "volunteers" were a major success on Zeta, even if they couldn't really penetrate the cyborg cities more than anyone else could. And the Matuvistan men-at-arms have worked wonders in Neo London. So what's the harm in one more? Or a dozen more, or a hundred. New Hollywood is on fire; calling all fire-fighters.

Abadi chuckles at her own joke, and feels a little light-headed while she does it. She's been under way too much stress lately. Deep down, she knows this won't work, more than anything else they could do would. But she sends a message of acceptance anyway. Her fingers write it almost automatically, exhausted and stumbling over the keyboard. No proof-reading is done. She falls asleep at her desk.

Commander Jim Harlowe was waiting in the docks to receive the delegation from the Mahre collective, nervous about the first big negotiation he was about to lead on his own. He went through all the data Julianna compiled for him - results from various sensors, scans, and cameras. The ships truly were a magnificent sight, hovering peacefully near the Meeting Place, their body parts, if you could call it that way, constantly moving ever so slightly.

When the visitors arrived, Jim had to focus on maintaining a neutral expression. The two people from the recording were already exotic enough, but the third one they brought along, no doubt as a display of strength, was something totally different. Jim wondered whether such a thing could still be called a human but wasn’t so stupid to let such a feeling show on the outside.

He was standing there all alone and even though he was slightly taller than the green-haired woman, he felt small and defenceless. Maybe he should have brought some guards along after all? No. Sometimes the best display of strength is to not show any sign of fear or insecurity even in a potentially dangerous situation.

“Please, allow me to welcome you to the Meeting Place,” he greeted them with a smile, speaking to the woman who seemed to be the leader of the delegation, even though he knew she wouldn’t understand him and would have to wait for a translation. “I’m Commander Jim Harlowe, representative of the Undefeated nation of the planet Ellara. If you please follow me, we have designated a room where we can talk in private.”

Soon enough they would find themselves in a docking station nearby and would be met with a single individual. who would greet them. Zephina had to admit it was strange to find someone that looked like the ancient humans did before but he seemed to be in military garb. The question was why and if this was just standard for all their leaders to wear. Zephina had to admit that it was impressive that the human male didn’t flinch even though the third she brought with him was no doubt an intimidating sight. Seems she would need to be careful with them, if they didn’t think that one of their warriors was intimidating then it meant they had better training then she realized.

After he spoke Richard translated for her before she spoke to him again and he said “Thank you for welcoming us. As you know I am Zephina, my associate next to me who will translate for us is Richard. This one to my left is Zephyr, one of the warriors in our escort ships. Forgive us if this seemed rude to bring along protection to negotiations.” she said since it was only logical that one bring some semblance of protection to meet an unknown race since they didn’t have firearms a warrior was the next best thing. Neither Zephina or Richard were trained for combat Richard might be able to hold his own but that was it. Zephina bowed to him a bit before they all followed him to where they would have their meeting.

“It is absolutely understandable that you feel the need to protect yourselves in an unknown place, meeting with unknown people whom you have no reason to trust.” Jim eyed the silent warrior while they were walking through the hallways, wondering how strong the creature might be. Obviously, he would stand no chance against it unarmed as he was right now. But he worried that even if he was wearing his exoskeleton, the chances would be even at best. The thing looked way stronger than a regular Screecher, in fact it looked strong enough to bring down trees with a couple of punches. At least the guard wasn’t carrying any weapons, or at least not any visible ones.

Jim took them to the meeting room, realising just how bland and inhospitable the simple room must look to these people who seemed to be in a strange deep connection with the nature of their planet. “I know our name and appearances might come off as militaristic or even admonitory, but I assure you we pose no threat to you and your people. Just like you we have no ambition to dominate the galaxy. But just like yours, our world wasn’t very hospitable, causing us to live in a constant struggle to survive and keep our nation from being destroyed.”

Zephina smiled as he said that it was understandable to be protective of themselves in an unknown place. She was glad that they didn’t see her bringing a warrior as a threat as they were walking towards the meeting area. When they got there they saw how bland it seemed compared to their own home but then again anything without enough plant life would seem bland to them. He then explained that his people came off as militaristic but like them they didn’t seek to conquer the galaxy which was a load off their minds. The last thing her people wanted was war after their first attempt at seeking out their roots. He then explained that their planet was hostile as well which Zephina couldn’t help but be interested in hearing mainly because it was another planet that seemed inhospitable which meant that they may even be able to help them out.

She then nodded before she signaled Richard and he nodded giving her the sealed box before Zephina started to once again speak and Richard translated “We are sad to hear that you had similar difficulties in your planet. However before we begin talking in earnest I wanted to present you with this. This is a native plant from our home world. This is not a poison plant but we thought it best to keep it sealed. It produces a fragrance that is meant to help relax the body and help with sleep. We believed that in seeing new people it is best to offer a gift in the hopes of earnest goodwill and cooperation” She said with a smile handing him the see through box that looked to made of a glass like substance that revealed inside a purple and blue potted plant that looked like the old world nightshade but it was seen even through the glass that its flower tips were producing said fragrance.

Once they had given their gift Zephina and Richard took a seat in some chairs nearby in order to get comfortable while the guard took his stance at the doorway. Zephina then said “I would love to hear more about your planet. We are taking a vested interest in inhospitable planets like our own. If possible we would love to work with you to see if anything could be done about it” she said with a bow.

Jim accepted the gift, carefully holding the glass-like container in his hands. The plant looked beautiful, but despite Zephira’s assurance it was harmless he certainly wasn’t going to open it outside a controlled environment in a laboratory. You can never be too safe with alien wildlife, every person on Ellara knew as much. Even an innocent plant can kill you in a hundred different ways.

“Thank you very much for this gift,” he smiled at Zephira, bowing his head in respect and setting the plant on the table. At least something was pretty in the room now. We should really get some decorations around, he thought. He wasn’t exactly sure what he could offer to the guests in return, exchanging potted plants and gardening tips wasn’t really his strong side, so he settled for fetching a bowl with a selection of Ellarian fruits. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything nearly as beautiful and useful to offer you as a gift in return, but perhaps you would like a sample of the fruit we grow on our planet? There are some kinds that are native to our planet.”

Jim was taken aback by their offer to help the Undefeated with their ‘inhospitable’ homeworld. He was fairly certain that turning the entire population into some kind of strange hybrids to fit the environment on Ellara better was not a solution the High Command would be thrilled about. “I’m afraid that there isn’t much you could do in regards to our planet. The main cause of its inhospitality are the aggressive natives, primitive alien tribes that keep attacking our people. Yes, we have had diseases and problems with both fauna and flora, but we have worked through all that using science and determination."

Zephina smiled as the plant was taken and he thanked her for the gift which only made her nod glad that he seemed to like it. Soon she was given some fruits from their home planet and mentioned that it was grown from their world. She made sure to give one to Richard first since he had a stronger digestive system he could tell if something would be harmful to her. Once he took a bite with his razor sharp teeth leaving a noticeable hole in the fruit and tasting it he nodded to Zephina. She then took a bite herself and nodded at the taste. It seemed fairly sweet, nothing like their own fruits that were in the extremes of flavor but it was tasty nonetheless.

She then listened as he explained that the problem they were having was more because of aggressive natives rather than the environment trying to kill them like their planet did in the beginning. She then thought for a moment before saying “then would you prefer us to help by helping your people with a different issue? I am afraid that our greatest skill is adaptation to its extreme, our scientists, as Richard could attest, are able to manipulate our bodies to suit any environment. Maybe there's a certain material or mineral you are trying to access but are unable to reach because of where it is? Our people are explorers at heart and wish to expand our influence to worlds with harsh environments that most wouldn’t wish to live in, so in theory if we worked together we could mine said material you would like. In exchange for your protection and permission we could mine the resources and send you the majority of it in exchange” she said, giving her first offer of the table. Their greatest skill was as she said adaptation so anywhere they can’t go is somewhere they can. That’s what she hoped to get across to the man. They were invaluable despite not being as strong as their guard made them out to be.

Jim was surprised at how determined the Mahre collective was to assist them with something. And after all, why shouldn't they accept it? A foreign presence on Ellara would be problematic, but they weren't asking to settle in the middle of a populated area. On the contrary, they wanted to explore the most inhospitable and dangerous areas of the planet and Jim already had one such spot in mind. The Undefeated had barely anything to lose from this and a lot to gain. The mined minerals, while they could prove useful, were circumstantial. The main idea was establishing a good relationship with a new nation and opening a way to a potential new alliance.

"I would have to take this to my superiors," Jim started carefully, "but I think we can come to an agreement. There is a large area on our main continent that is basically a volcanic wasteland. The air is hot and filled with toxic fumes, the ground unstable. According to our scans, there might be some mineral deposits that could prove useful to us, but the threat to our people was always too big to outweigh the potential gains. If such an environment interests you and would like to explore it, I could suggest it to the High Command. There would have to be some strict security measures though, I'm afraid my people aren't very keen on having strangers move freely around our planet. I'm sure you can understand such caution."



Zephina listened as the man seemed surprised by their offer to help but the truth was they wanted to explore and find other worlds with harsh environments that others can’t manage. It would be another step in discovering their own abilities. He then mentioned talking to his superiors which made her curious since she didn’t know she was dealing with someone that couldn’t make such a deal happen. He then explained that they had a place that they couldn’t traverse themselves but had minerals that were valuable to them. Volcanic wasteland and toxic fumes as well, the toxins wouldn’t be an issue as their own bodies were already hard wired to handle all forms of deadly toxins but the heat would be something interesting. After a few moments listening Zephina thought for a few moments thinking about what this would mean to those back home and if it was a good plan.

After a few moments of thought she opened her eyes and nodded with a smile saying “Of course, we would be grateful to be given the chance to study and provide a stream of resources. We would only ask that in such a land we could make an outpost for our scientists to study the environment as well as provide the miners and traders that would give you said resources. You will of course have a majority of what is mined there and we will conform to whatever security measures you deem necessary so long as they don’t interfere with the study or the mining we would provide. I am glad we could come to an arrangement and I hope to speak to your superiors so we could put this all into writing of course”

Great, his very first diplomatic meeting and he was already making friends. Jim was quite proud of himself, even though it hardly took any effort on his side. “I’m sure we can work out the numbers later. I am authorized to make trade and basic diplomatic agreements, but a foreign presence in our territory has to be sanctified by our leader, the Grand General Oscar Pawlowski and the rest of our command. But since you are requesting to explore a very secluded area far from our settlements and are willing to conform to our security measures, I’d consider it just a formality,” Jim smiled. Of course the Grand General might still put a stop to it, but honestly Jim didn’t see any reason why he would do such a thing. “I have to say I’m very happy our meeting has proven so fruitful. If you don’t have anything else to discuss, I will have you safely escorted to your ship while I inform the High Command of our agreement, so we can get things moving as soon as possible.”

She gave a nod as he talked about how they would work out everything later and that he was only sanctioned for certain acts. Since they want to come planetside they understood the need to go to a higher power in this regard. She also learned that they fall under someone they call the grand general which was good information for later. As he said they had nothing more to discuss she stood up and she bowed along with Ricard and said “I believe that is everything we need to discuss. Thank you for being the first ones to welcome us here. We hope this is a start of a long friendship. There is no need to escort us as we can find our own way back but thank you for the kind offer. Also the flower needs to be watered and place in sunlight or it will wither” she warned with a smile reminding him of their gift before she made a motion and both Richard and the guard left ending the meeting there.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

summary: set up an agreement between the two nations where the nation of the undefeated would allow The collective to send scientists, traders, and miners, to a hostile volcanic and toxic sprewing area to mine for minerals in a 60/40 split in exchange for following the rules set by the undefeated and to only populate the inhospitable zone where they would mine as nothing more then an outpost with no real foothold

New Hollywood
Neo London
"Come on! This way!" A male Urkani cried out as he pulled the hand of a much younger Urkani girl, the pair racing through the neon-lite alleyways of Neo London as a mob of looters came charging towards them. Despite the efforts of the Matuvistans and Protectors to bring order to the city, many citizens saw the end was nigh, and had resorted to looting and general lawless behavior, many more xenophobic elements of the population taking advantage of the chaos by assaulting or outright killing offworlders. The mob kept up their pursuit. "Get those fucking toads!" One of them shouted out.

The pair pressed on, the older Urkani frantically eyeing for a new escape route or hell, even a hiding spot, still by the grace of the Jarash, he found a large enough dumpster to hid the both of them. "Kiaal..I'm tired..." the younger girl whined, on the verge of tears from both exhaustion and the fear of the mob. "It's ok, Avita, I found a safe place." Kiel said as he lifted his sister up as he plopped on the ground. "It's smells..." She complained.

"It's just for a sec, ok?" Kiel reassured his sister as he frantically jumped in, the voices growing louder. The two huddled together as the voices drew closer and closer, holding on to each other tightly, Avita whimpering as the shouting is practically hovering over them, followed by objects being thrashed around as they behind searching....Kiaal letting out a small prayer to Jarash for the evil to overlook them. For a good minute, they remained...and when hope seemed to dawn, it was dashed away as one of the men lifted up the cap, discovering the two.

"I've found them!" The man shouted out to his peers, all of them converging on the dumpster, first pulling away a crying Avita, followed by Kiaal, one of thme pulling out a knife right to her throat. "Let my sister go you shtako!” Kiaal cried out, the sight of his crying sister, being held at knife point filling him with rage, right before one of the men smacked kiaal right in the face, a small trial of blue blood dripping from his lips.

Before making his kill, the seeming leader of the mob drew his eyes towards Kiaal with disgust in his eyes. “You xenos have tainted this world.” The leader of the mob said, pulling the knife away from Avita as he strolled towards Kiaal, bringing the knife to his throat instead. “New Hollywood was prosperous! We could ask for little, then the gates opened, then you people started showing up, than all this happens. It all connects…”

“I don’t give a damn! Let my sister go!” KIaal protested. The man was quiet for a moment, the only sounds filling the air was the rain drops, and Avita’s whimpering. The man simply staring at Kiaal with enraged eyes, than grinned as he let out a downright chilling chuckle. “Oh, you should know by now, neither of you little shits are walking out of here alive…” The man said as he was ready to slit Kiaal’s throat, Avita struggling as she cried out for her brother, tears and snot dripping down, one of the men gripping on her tightly. Before he had down the deed, the leader stopped himself as he and the rest of his peers heard a loud humming quickly approached, without warning a VTOL aircraft hovered overhead, bright search lights beaming down on them, it was a Columbian Glade Glider.

Before the assailants could react, a few warning shots were let loose, startling the mob as many had immediately ran off. “Get back here!” He shouted, still resilient in his stance. “Step away from the Urkani!” A voice cracked through a megaphone. “FUCK OFF TOADLOVERS!” He shouted in defiance, right before a well-placed shot left a gapping hole in his forehead, collapsing on his own blood. The realization set in as a now freed Avita ran into her brother’s arms, both gripping onto each other tightly.

Within moments, a pair of marines lowered themselves from the Glade Glider via cables, securing the area before one of them said. “All Clear, I repeat, all clear, civvies are secure.” One of them, a woman, approached and crouched down to the two. “It’s ok kids, we got you.” She said to especially reassure Avita, who was still visible terrified. “We’re the good guys, we’re getting you home.” She said once more, reaching out her hand to Avita, still uncertain as she looked to her brother, Kiaal nodding in approval.

Without hesitation, she leapt to the marine’s arms, another one reaching out his hand to help the boy up. “Hold on tight kids, it’s gonna be a ride.” The other marine warned as he pulled down the cable all of them jolted up as they leapt into the Glider, the doors sliding closed as within moments the craft jetted out towards the Matuvistan base. A sense of relief overcoming the children as they immediately collapsed onto one of the passenger seats, Kiaal letting out a huge sigh. The two marines sat opposite of them, both removing their helmets, one of them revealing themselves to be Omar. “What’s your name, kid?” Omar asked.

“Kiaal.” He replied. “This is my sister, Avita.” Avita sheepishly looked at the marines, giving a small wave.

“Avita, such a cute name.” The female marine commented.

“Name’s Omar.” Omar presented himself, before looking to his squad mate. “And this here pretty angel is Alice.” Omar announced, shooting her a flirtatious look. “Oh stop it.” She said playfully, turning her attention to the children once more. “Where are your parents? We can start searching for them now if you like?”

Kiaal grew silent from Alice’s inquiry, looking away. “They’re dead. Those men killed them...”

Both Alice and Omar were thrown off guard with this revelation. “Oh my Gods…I’m so sorry…” Alice apologized sorrowfully. “Is there…anything we can do?”

“It’s ok…I just want off this planet..”

Kelsie knocked on Julianna’s door softly. She wasn’t sure the scientist would be there, lately Julianna had been spending a lot of time in the docks and aboard their ship, the Chimera, playing around with some science project as she called it. Kelsie didn’t mind, the time on the Meeting Place could be incredibly boring, even to the point that some of the Undefeated stationed there frequently visited the holosuites in the ECU segment. Not her though. Not after reading Harlowe’s report on how they used those things to brainwash the Protectors. Abadi assured her that they’re completely safe and that they could be real fun at times, but Kelsie preferred the actual reality.

“Come in!” The voice from inside the room sounded a bit muffled and upon entering Kelsie realized why - Julianna was assembling some mechanism on the table and since her hands were full, she was holding a screwdriver in her mouth. “Oh, Kelsie. Just a second.” She slid a pair of large protective goggles from the top of her head down to her eyes. “You might want to look away.”

Even through her tightly closed eyelids Kelsie could actually see bright sparkles when Julianna grabbed a small welder and used it on the mechanism for a few seconds. “What is that?” Kelsie pointed at the thing. It looked like a box with lots of wires and weird gizmos inside.

“It’s a dynamic stabilisator for a magnetic wavelength source. It’s just a prototype.”

Kelsie blinked a couple of times, having no idea what any of those words meant. “Right. I forgot I shouldn’t ask such questions. Well, as long as it doesn’t explode, destroying the station and killing everyone on board, you play with your wavelengthy stabilisation magnet all you want.”

“Nah, these don’t explode. At the very best they can emit a mild EMP, but that won’t cause any damage. Well, it shouldn’t. Probably.” Julianna hesitated and chuckled. “I sound like a wacky scientist sometimes, don’t I? What did you need?”

“Can’t a friend just visit to come and look at your sourcing magnetic dynamo?” Kelsie’s brows went up in a pretended surprise. “I’m kidding, obviously. I just came to tell you that we’ve been summoned back to Ellara, just me, David, and you.”

Julianna laid the tools down, her face growing serious. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I think it’s a good thing, there is supposed to be some official parade or something, so maybe we are just supposed to make an appearance there as the heroic diplomats who risk their lives on a daily basis dealing with evil robots and aliens, finding friends and allies among the stars?” Disgust curled her lips when she pictured thousands of eyes and dozens of cameras carefully observing her reading some stupid speech. “I have no idea whether there is something else behind it. And it’s not like we have a choice anyway.”

“True.” Julianna clearly didn’t like the new orders, but the fact remained - there was nothing they could do about them. “Kelsie, wait!” Kelsie was just about to leave the room when her friend’s voice stopped her. “There is… something I need to tell you.” Julianna’s eyes were pinned to the ground and she was biting on her lower lip, looking nervous and… ashamed? Kelsie gestured at her to continue. “I… Okay, this is going to sound terrible and you are going to hate me. And I swear I wanted to tell you earlier, but I had no idea how. It’s just… I’ve really done nothing wrong, but…”

“Julianna?” Kelsie interrupted her blabbering. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The girl took a deep breath and looked Kelsie in the eyes. “Okay. I’ve been in contact with your mother for the past few weeks.”

“You’ve been WHAT?!” Kelsie was beyond furious. You’d think that being in a different solar system would prevent her mother from trying to interfere with her life, but no.

Julianna took a cautious step back, putting the width of the table between them. “Kelsie, look, it was no big deal, she just offered me a place in her project, and…”

“So you betrayed me?! For my mother? For that…” There were several profanities ready on her tongue but none of them seemed descriptive enough.

“... and I refused. We just talked a bit about some science stuff and yes, she asked how are you doing, but she just wanted to know whether you are happy.”

Kelsie gracefully leaped over the table, avoiding the magnetic wavey something, and grabbed Julianna’s shirt. “So you were spying on me?” she hissed right into the girl's startled face.

“NO!” Julianna might have been scared but still decided to fight the unjust accusation. “I told her you seemed happy and that was all. I didn’t spy on you for her or anyone else.” Kelsie’s only response was an angry scoff. “I mean it! Look, I know you hate her, and she herself told me you have a very good reason for that, but I can’t! Not after what she has done for our people!”

So now Claire Martin was some kind of a savior of the Rejected? Perfect. “Oh, so it’s your people now. Yes, my mother always loved to meddle with the status quo. That doesn’t make her a saint, though.”

A sudden spike of anger appeared on Julianna’s face and she pushed Kelsie away. “Well if the status quo is shit, then perhaps it is supposed to be meddled with,” she hissed. “Kelsie, I was a slave. And when you think about it real hard, so were you.” Noticing the hint of confusion on Kelsie’s face, she kept talking. “You could never choose what to do with your life, there were always only two options - be a nice obedient soldier or get cast out, stripped of your rights as a citizen, as a person. Could you choose where you live, what you do? Where you go and when? You either follow the orders or get punished or even executed. How the hell is that any different from being a slave?!” Julianna’s voice gained intensity and she was almost screaming at Kelsie at the end, desperate to make her understand. “Claire Martin might have been a shitty mother and she has definitely made lots of mistakes, but she managed to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people just by whispering the right things into Pawlowski’s ear. And I simply can’t hate her for that.”

Kelsie stared at her friend, stunned by surprise. Julianna was always the silent type, and unless she was talking about science and her inventions, she barely said more than two or three sentences at once. To hear her speak about something with this passion, let alone raise her voice to yell at Kelsie, that was definitely new.

“You are fired.” She managed to calm down a bit and her voice was now ice cold. “When we get to Ellara, you can crawl to my mother and kiss her Rejected ass, I don’t care.” With those words she turned around and left the room.



Kelsie punched the bag hanging in the gym over and over again. Left, right, left, right, relentlessly, hoping that each hit would take a bit of the rage bubbling inside her and make it disappear. It didn’t. What was worse, there was a tiny quiet voice in the back of her head, suggesting that some of the things Julianna said weren't complete nonsense.

Whispering in people’s ears. Yes, that was her mother’s specialty. Twisting people’s minds, questioning their beliefs, making them risk their lives while she watched from afar. That’s how people got killed. That’s how Kelsie’s father got killed. “Fuck!” No, she couldn’t think about her father now. Oh how much she wished the Grand General let Claire rot in her cell forever and never pulled her out.

But some of those words… It never even occurred to Kelsie to think about her life that way. A choice? Who needed a choice? Not being a soldier? That was no life at all. Or was it?

It was true that she considered the laws against the Rejected a bit harsh and unfair especially since many bright and skilled people like Julianna didn’t get a chance to use their skills for something good. If the change didn’t come from her mother’s head, Kelsie would support it with way more excitement.

She slid down on her knees, panting heavily and drowning in sweat. Surprisingly, once she stopped fighting it the anger disappeared on its own, leaving her with only a ton of sadness and a bit of shame. She treated her friend like shit, dammit she almost physically attacked her, just because Julianna had the audacity to act as an independent person. Not just as a mindless drone following orders to the letter. A slave?

Kelsie tried really hard to push her feelings aside and look at the things from Julianna’s perspective. From her mother’s perspective. But the years of grudge and resentment weren’t easy to overcome. ‘Forget about your mother for a moment,’ the bugging voice told her. ‘Do you really have so many close friends you can afford to chase them away for no reason at all?’ She didn’t.

A quick shower later she was standing in front of Julianna’s door again. She hesitated before knocking, not sure what she wanted to say, only certain she wanted to apologize.

“Yes?” Julianna’s voice was quiet. Kelsie entered the room to see the girl packing, carefully wrapping various instruments and putting them in boxes, an occasional tear rolling down her face. Upon hearing Kelsie entering the room she looked up with a terrified expression. She was right to be afraid.

Being a Guardian, the second highest rank a person could achieve, surpassed only by the Grand General, Kelsie had practically unlimited power over other people. With a blink of an eye she could decide to have Julianna executed and nobody would even bother to raise an eyebrow over it, let alone ask why. Plus Kelsie was known to be hot-headed.

“I’m sorry.” Kelsie wasn’t one to play with words. “I acted like an idiot and I apologize. I thought I could outrun my unresolved family issues by moving thousands of light years away, but apparently such things follow you no matter how far you go. But I should have never taken it out on you.” Kelsie paused for a moment, trying to tame the thoughts whirling through her mind and put them into words. “As you rightly pointed out you are not my slave and you are free to do whatever you want. If that means you want to go and work with my mother on her cool secret projects, then I… I’ll wish you good luck. But… if you still wanted to stay here, I’d be happy to keep you on my team.”

Julianna looked surprised. Yes, it wasn’t every day a Guardian came to someone and offered a sincere apology. “Kelsie, I never wanted to go work with your mother,” she sniffled a bit. “I mean yes, the project sounded really tempting, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to being the first one to see and examine new technologies the other nations bring here. I’d love to keep working with you and I hope you can trust me again some day.”

“I hope so.” Kelsie didn’t magically stop feeling betrayed but at least she wasn’t overreacting about it anymore. “Let’s just get ready for this trip to Ellara. David is already preparing the Chimera.”

There was a visit Kelsie had to make, a long postponed one. She pulled out a datapad and typed out a short message.

“We need to talk.”

Her finger hovered over the Send button. “This is a mistake,” she sighed, quickly pressing it before she had a chance to change her mind. Her mother will no doubt be thrilled by it.



The Chimera shook violently, lights and the artificial gravity went off. Fortunately, the inertial dampeners were still working, but even with them they could feel the ship spinning wildly, absolutely out of control.

“What the hell is happening?” Kelsie yelled at David.

“We lost control of the main engine. Something exploded there.”

Julianna cursed and pushed herself towards the bridge door. “I need to check the reactor containment. If that doesn’t hold, the ship will…” Another powerful explosion tossed Kelsie and Julianna into a wall. Kelsie could distinctly hear something snap, but when she turned to Julianna to check on her, the girl just shook her head and pointed to the window. “We’ve got bigger problems.” The ship was spinning fast, giving them a split second view of a Gateway each turn. “Our trajectory is wrong, we are headed for the edge.”

“The reactor and the main drive are offline,” David reported. Unlike the women, he had been strapped in the pilot seat the whole time and sustained no injuries. “So is the nav computer. I cannot activate the Gateway and put in the coordinates. I’m trying to use the maneuvering thrusters to avoid the edge, but our velocity is too large.”

“What happens if we hit the edge?” Kelsie watched in horror as the Gateway got closer, creating a colorful blur as the ship kept spinning.

“Guess we are about to find out!”



Claire could hardly hide her excitement upon seeing the message that popped up in her mailbox. After the dozens of messages she had sent over the past few months, not just unresponded but unread, completely ignored. And now, all of a sudden, a message from Kelsie. A few short words, but at least it was something. Better than silence.

New simulation results appeared on the screen and Claire smiled. It seemed like it was a double good news day.

“Now don’t you seem happy today.” Oscar Pawlowski was looking at her standing in the doorway.

Claire rolled her eyes. “Our supreme leader. To what do we owe the pleasure?” He was down here way too often in the past weeks.

“You know, just checking on my favorite project. Do you have anything?”

The screen of her workstation filled with numbers and diagrams, Claire studied them for a moment before answering, not wanting to jump to conclusion. “Actually, I think I do. The lodestones are working. These are just simulations of course, but the numbers are more than promising.”

“Great,” Oscar grinned. “It was just a sample shipment offered to us by the Matuvistans in hopes of establishing a trade route. So, how big are we talking?”

Men. Everything was about size in their world. But Claire knew where he was heading and knew she had to dampen his excitement. “Not as big as you think. With this quality of the material, we can maintain a field around a small spacecraft, think fighters. Nothing bigger. We could try to expand it around something larger, like a Scout class ship, but I don’t think it is going to work, the field would be very volatile. The lodestones were all synthetic which lowers their efficiency greatly. It is still much better than any materials we have at our disposal here on Ellara, but still…”

“That is very disappointing,” Oscar sighed, looking at the numbers on her screen even though he couldn’t possibly understand them.

Claire frowned at him. “Seriously?! A few weeks ago we could barely cloak a box, now I am giving you invisible fighters. How the hell is that disappointing? You know what? Get the hell out of my lab!” No, she wasn’t going to let him spoil her good mood today.

“Sorry.” Oscar ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, of course it’s amazing. You know me, I’m always thinking big. So you think if you had the natural stones you could make the field larger and more stable?” Claire nodded and he sighed. “Well, that sucks. Because there is no way we can afford those.”

That did suck. But still not enough to ruin her day. Kelsie was coming to Ellara and wanted to talk. Even if all she did was yell at Claire, it was still better than the cold silent treatment.

Oscar’s datapad beeped violently and his face grew serious upon looking at it. He gave Claire a worried look and walked a few steps away from her, concentratedly staring at the small screen. He always had some super important secretive matters to attend to, so Claire wasn’t really surprised by that, but why did he keep glancing at her, looking almost… afraid?

“Oscar?” She couldn’t stand it any longer. “What the hell is going on?”

“Claire, I…” He shook his head and pressed a few buttons on his datapad. Claire’s screen flashed when the forwarded message arrived. “Something happened.”

The file contained a 3D reconstruction of scanner data, showing a small Scout class ship flying towards the Sol Gateway. The ship suddenly shook and started spinning around all the axes, still getting closer towards the wormhole, until it finally reached the edge and… disappeared. Claire stared at it in horror. “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” she whispered as the footage played the second time. The Grand General didn’t respond. “Oscar? Please tell me this isn’t the Chimera? The ship MY DAUGHTER was on?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“NO! What the hell happened?” Claire refused to believe it. No. This was a good day. Oscar shrugged and handed her his own datapad. Normally such a thing would be unthinkable, the amount of top secret information for his eyes only forbade him from letting the device leave his hand, but Claire didn’t even think about it and quickly grabbed it, swiping through his messages.

Apparently there was an explosion aboard the Chimera just before it arrived at the Gateway. The ship was out of control when it reached the Gateway and then just… disappeared. There is no wreckage on the Sol side, safe for a few pieces of debris ejected during the explosion. The ship didn’t appear on this side of the Gateway either.

“We’ve contacted every nation we came across to see if they accidentally didn’t pop out somewhere else, but… so far it seems they have just… vanished,” Oscar said carefully.

Claire’s head shook in disbelief. “Are you telling me that my daughter got evaporated by a fucking wormhole?”

No. This was just not happening. The footage of the Chimera exploding and then disappearing inside the wormhole kept repeating in an endless loop, engraved in her brain forever.

---

ELYSIUM SYSTEM
NEW HAVEN
CAPITAL CITY ATHENIA

---

The announcement finally came through. For years New Haven thought it was alone in its founding, for years it had assumed that there was no other colony out there that could've survived, but it was wrong. Today, it was announced and made official - there were others that survived. The majority of people were excited and elated that Dick and Hubert took a more diplomatic approach instead of approaching with hostility. However, there was one man in New Haven that was not satisfied in the slightest with this pacifist approach.

"BALDERDASH!" a cup of tea hurled through the air and smashed against the walls of Timothy Candy's office.

"These aliens and foreigners cannot be trusted! They have their own interests and goals! How long before they turn to us to exploit!"

Hubert was in the middle of the room as a hologram. He watched Tim's meltdown with apathy. "Tim, Tim, Timmy, Timbo... Do you think these people really want to go out of their way to wage war? It's probably the last thing they want."

"They will bully us! Our military strength is pitiful compared to when it was during the Proxy War. I propose we modernize to meet the strength of these new threats!" Tim puffed out his chest as he pulled up new designs for warships and vehicles.

"Don't worry about it Tim..." Hubert dismissed the holographic projections with a wave of his hand, "... I already have it covered... Besides, something as blatant as modernizing our warships would clearly signal to the other nations that we're gearing up for war and thats not-"

"That is precisely what we must do!" Tim interrupted the Lead Director, "If they sense we are weak, we may just end up as their colony! We must protect New Havenist independence."

"And your idea protecting that independence is to gear up for war? This will fly in the face of everything we've tried to establish through our diplomatic efforts."

"Your pacifism will-"

"TIM! SHUT UP! I've told you already. Let. me. handle. it. Lest you forget who's the Lead Director here."

Timothy looked at Hubert with frustration, "Yes sir."

Hubert closed his transmission and his hologram disappeared from Timothy's office. He looked out at New Athenia and pictured it burning to a crisp at the hands of foreign invaders. He could not sit idly by while an incompetent buffoon like Hubert ruin it all. Things would be different if he were the Lead Director, but such a scheme would take time. There are other like minded people in the Board of Directors and amongst the people. Such a coup would be possible with a little finesse.

---

Unbeknownst to Hubert, these plans would be made against him and the Directors who stand by him. There's rough times ahead, he knew this, however, he never expected it to come from within the directorate. For now, he would continue to work on his projects with the foreigners. The Praetorian program, the Directorate's new pet project. This was Hubert's plan, a mechanized force capable of land, air, sea, and space interdiction. It was still a military focus, but with the project being clearly a new development and having no modernization programs for current military platforms. Hubert then thought that his more innocent agenda of just having giant killer robots to be genuine. It was genuine in the first place, but it was only half-truth.

"Computer, any updates from the Columbians or the Xandalians about our request to start a joint weapons development program?"

The computer replied in its regular monotone voice, "Not yet Lead Director."

"OOOOOOOH! The suspense is KILLING ME! I cannot wait! But I can't just send another message... It'd send the wrong message."

The computer then asked, "How can sending another message with the same request, send the wrong message? This logic is confusing Lead Director."

"Because if I send another message I'll look desperate! I'm not desperate! I'm just excited gosh darn it! I WANT GIANT KILLER ROBO MECHS ALREADY!" Hubert jumped around in frustration, "FUCK! Ah well... Nothing to do except wait... Also computer I want another latte."

"Right away Lead Director."

---

_{@Sigma@Crusader Lord}

_{(Addressing: @Raylah and @Jangel13)
(Starring: Abadi)}

At this point, to say that Abadi is having a bad day is just a little bit like saying that the sun is bright, that wind blows, or that the Zetans are gross. It's just obvious. Bad days have become intrinsic to her nature. To be Abadi is to have bad days.

Oh, and her friend is dead. That probably has something to do with it.

The Undefeated patched the news in some time ago, but it hasn't processed yet. That is, the computer has processed the data files, and the ECU government has understood the message- but for Abadi, it hasn't processed yet. Her mind is still running over it. Running over it again, and again, and again, wondering how it could happen, why it happened, why she didn't speak to Kelsie that last day instead of going to the stupid monkey parade...

Three bottles lay around her desk, arranged in no particular order. She never drunk so much before this job. One of the drinks was a gift from a fellow Oligarch, Andrei Federov: he drew a little heart on the bottle. He's been flirting with her since she turned eighteen. Never before was she emotionally low enough to really bother with him, but right now he is in her bed, a couple of rooms away.

She takes another drink.

There's a new colony on the scene, the only one the ECU hasn't reached out to yet. That's ironic: their policy used to be "Be first for everything!" Maybe it's an attempt to stave off that onsetting depression, or maybe it's even out of humor, but Abadi decides to take up that old slogan just one more time. She sends the new colony a message, all official and welcoming, as if her government and her way of life aren't collapsing beneath her feet as she writes it.

---

---

After hours of effort, the last mounted screen on Lawley Street is smashed. At long last, the little residential neighborhood is allowed some moments of perfect, blessed quiet. They sit in a little bubble of dark and silent, separate from the screeching lights of the rest of Neo London. There is no more music here; peace, peace, peace.

It does not last long.

A high voice rises from the darkness, shaking with emotion- it belongs to the same one who destroyed the last ECU screen. It shouts, "This is what they do!" In the shadows, a dozen of the other screen-smashing volunteers gather around to listen. The voice shouts again, "This is what they do!"

The one shouting is a young woman, Tiffany Holstead, and she is a recent Mixtist convert. When the old Mixies flooded back in from the wasteland, they got to work fast, making believers of the secular city-dwellers. Some of them, anyway; Tiffany is one. She was won over by the furious preaching of an old woman who had spent decades in the desert. The same desperation and fervor colors her own speaking, even when she doesn't always realize it. She speaks now, and people listen.

"This government, the ECU, they've had a boot to our throats since the day we were born. They can't live without control, they can't breathe without it."

So starts her thesis. It's an opinion everyone agrees with; it makes them eager to listen. She feels that power, right away. The unique, addictive sensation of a crowd that wants to hear what you have to say. She goes on.

"But, listen," she says, after some time, "they have a secret: they're weak." A few of the men in the audience cheer roughly at this. "That's why they have to lie- always, always, always. Because they're afraid of the Truth! Because they know, deep down in their hearts, that they don't have the power to stop us all. They have never had the power. All they ever had are lies." She smiles slightly, a sight nobody can see in the dark. "Have you ever seen how quickly a lie crumbles in the face of the Truth?"

Now more than a few men cheer. (In fact, a little girl overhears claps from up on her mother's balcony.)

Her audience is still secular, of course, like most of New Hollywood. But the rebels love the Mixies anyway; everything they preach affirms what the Flowers already believe. Everyone loves to hear themselves reassured. There is no pedestal here, in this pitch-dark alleyway that echoes everything she says, but Tiffany Holstead is on one. She feels a growing mass of people surround her, caught up in the sound of her sermon, and made bold by this, her soft voice becomes crackling lighting.

"No, no, they're wrong. They're wrong!" Her last two words bounce off the metal-concrete, like a chorus. There it is again: the giddy feeling of finally, finally saying something that you've wanted to your whole life. And now more than the walls are echoing Tiffany Holstead; the crowd joins in.

"They're wrong!"
"They're wrong!"
"They're wrong!"

She points in the direction of New Westminster, from where the Matuvistans think they run the city. Her words take on a life of their own: they call them murderers-for-hire, attack dogs. The ECU can't defend itself, she hears herself say, so they summon these brutes to do their dirty work. The blood of every New Hollwoodite in this alley boils; there is death in their hearts.

At last, and at a pivotal moment in her speech, she speaks the fatal words. "It's time to get rid of them." The mobs cheers. Because now it is a mob.

But at the very back, a man shakes his head, and limps away.



He limps right into a pub.

And then he limps past the kitchen, down a secret flight of spiral stairs, and into the secondary, secret pub that's hidden beneath the main one. It's called the Underpub, and it's a prime gathering spot for one of the biggest gangs of Neo London. Here you can talk to anyone, so long as they're a criminal, and find anything, so long as it's stolen. It's a far cry from the mob-ridden streets above: here it is dim, cool, and quiet. Something out of a 20th century mafia film, fused seamlessly with 19th century British furniture.

The criminals of the ECU are just like the Oligarchs.

The man doesn't stop limping until he collapses, whole-body, into a well-creased leather chair, long reserved just for him. It even has "Mixie" cut onto the side. He gave the person who did that a black eye- but that's what it takes to be a Mixtist in a world of crooks. He wears it as a badge of honor.

"Mixie!" Calls one of the aforementioned crooks, from across a sea of smoke and classy design. This room is small and cramped, but something about the clutter of furniture and the fog of cigar smoke makes it feel ancient and huge. A world all its own. You could get lost, in this one room.

The crook, whose name is Johnny, weaves his way through it, even past the lightly manned bar. Everybody knows that the Mixie doesn't leave his chair. For one, because he has a bad knee. And for two, because he likes making people come to him. Johnny does, dragging up a little wooden barstool.

"What's the news, Dallas?" he asks, swiveling in his stool a little bit.
"I thought my name was Mixie," says the other, quietly. He doesn't bother to turn and look at his guest. It would show weakness. This is all about appearances.
"That's because you are a Mixie, Dallas! But hey, you're a Dallas too, Mixie. How've you been?"

Dallas wasn't going to answer, but Johnny will never know it, because he goes on talking without waiting.

"I've been good, me-self. Well, we've been good, you know. The Scuttlers." Dallas never thought that was a particularly impressive name for a violent street gang. "Since you Mixies and the Flower lads took over, we've been rolling in it, really."

"Don't say 'you Mixies'," Dallas interrupts. "I'm not with them."

Johnny's young face crinkles up in confusion, even folding away some of that teenage acne. "I thought you were a..." he struggles to use the proper term, "... a Mixtist?"

"I am a Mixtist. Just not that kind." Dallas taps his fingers impatiently, and that's the end of that discussion. How could he explain to this kid how different he was from the ones on the street, from the Tiffany Holsteads of the world? Everyone knows that the ECU drove the Mixtists out of the cities decades ago. Or so they thought: yes, most of them did go outwards, squatting in those ugly ruins for generations. Dallas had heard about them. The harsh life of outlaw taught them to be discriminating and fanatic- they cast aside the old ways, adopting an obsession with a singular god they named "Truth."

But that's not what Dallas is. He's the descendent of those who managed to stay in the cities, despite the protectors trying to drive them out. They went underground, hiding their faith behind secret passcodes and occult rituals nobody else could identify. Life is harsh for them, too, but in a different way: they've had to cozy up to criminals to keep themselves hid.

Like the Scuttlers.

The boy shakes his head. "Whatever, I can't keep up with your type. But we have been doing really well. Nobody is even protecting the good stuff anymore. Did you see the latest haul? You should join up officially, Mixie."

Far over head, Tiffany Holstead is stomping a mob through the street, heading for New Westminster. But Dallas doesn't hear it: all his attention is suddenly on the Scuttler's "latest haul." Little Johnny has begged his boss to drag out a big trunk full of micro-transmitters: an ECU device that can create touchable holograms anywhere. Highly experimental, illegal for citizens to hold- and worth millions.

The Scuttler boss smiles with pride. He's a fat, aging man, a paragon of his breed. No morals, no concerns but money and power. Dallas knows his kind, he's lived his whole life with that kind, and only barely stopped himself from becoming one; but that means he knows how they think. Looking here at these transmitters, and remembering the mob about to get massacred overhead, he begins to form a brilliant idea.

"Hey, Boss," Dallas says, slowly, "I think I have a plan that'll make you more money and more power than you've ever seen... I'm talking real, political power. A place in the new government, maybe." He lifts his head, making eye contact. "And all you need to do is help me stop some sheep from getting slaughtered. Deal?"

_{(Addressing: [@Irreedeemable] and @SgtEasy)
(Starring: Tiffany)}

It was a deal.

As Tiffany's mob grows, chanting its way through the streets and busting every screen on the way, the Scuttlers stalk behind them. They walk in the darkness left in Tiffany's wake: where her people destroy the lights, there is a hiding place for the Scuttlers. Crooks in the shadows, like every ECU holo-film about them.

And speaking of holograms...

The Matuvistan squadron they come upon are very, very surprised, when the men they shoot at don't die. They aren't real men, after all, but holograms created by the micro-transmitters. The Scuttlers have sent out holographic soldiers- borrowed from some war game Johnny likes to play- that have simple combat programmed into them. They can't coordinate or follow orders at all, but after the Matuvistans waste bullets shooting at light, well, that's when the real fighters came out.

After weeks of psychological torment, this mob is in no state for mercy. They leave the Matuvistan's bodies lying on the sidewalk. A bloody sight. Vengeance incarnate.

Then, the chimpanzee shows up.

This one is a surprise for everyone. He claims to come from an entire planet of apes- with, apparently, very strong political views. His mercenaries are ready to fight for the White Flower cause, if only they would accept them. They seem to already see Tiffany Holstead as a leader (and, she is a little shocked to realize, so do all the men and women around her) and, reluctantly, she agrees. Normally, even the Flowers would refuse aide so strange, but these are desperate times.

Despite some hoping, they come upon no other Matuvistan squad by luck. Soon, the make-shift walls around New Westminster, the headquarters the Matuvistans have been living in, are before them. They draw out the holo-soldiers again, even taking a few of their enemies out that way, but soon the jetknights and the real warriors are alerted. The apes in particular fight fiercely here, a real terror in close quarters, where the strength and power of a gorilla can face down ten men. But the Matuvistans have their walls: they retreat, firing from above.

Then, despite their allies and their holograms, and all their desperate cleverness, the Flowers are hurt. They are mowed down. And in panic, with foreign bullets raining down and screams all around, they are broken and scattered. The Holstead Uprising, as it will come to be called, has fallen.

But not all is lost. Tiffany Holstead herself survives to fight another day, and if this night proves anything, it is this: the occupiers can bleed.

It felt like a giant toddler grabbed their ship and kept shaking with it before tossing it on the floor angrily. Kelsie and Julianna were flung across the bridge a couple of times before everything went silent again. “We are through!” David yelled at them.

“Ffshweve?” Kelsie spat out some blood, she must have bit her tongue. “Gui-a-a?” She looked around to find the young scientist’s body floating near the door. “Shiz.” Kelsie pushed herself, grabbing her and landing softly on the ceiling. The girl was unconscious but breathing steadily. The bigger problem was a broken bone that was sticking out of her thigh. “Om elp e,” she blabbered, still not able to control her tongue correctly.

David looked back and cursed. “I’m a bit busy here!”

Kelsie looked out of the window. She expected to see Ellara in the distance and the Undefeated fleet, ships rushing in to help them. But the planet that flashed by occasionally (the ship was still rotating, albeit a lot slower now) looked like a dead wasteland. There were some unidentifiable objects floating around them and David was doing his best trying to avoid them using only the maneuvering thrusters. Kelsie pushed Julianna’s body into a seat, strapped her in and moved to David. “Whele ae ui? Wat ae dzose ings?” Her mouth kept filling with blood and her tongue was swollen. She could only hope it was still in one piece.

There were pearls of sweat popping on David’s forehead. “No idea. I’m trying to get the ship under control using the auxiliary thrusters, but we are still too fast. The main drive is offline and the thrusters weren’t designed as brakes. There is some mess outside that I try to avoid, but it’s nearly impossible.” As to confirm his words, the ship quaked and a couple of metallic bangs resonated through the hull. “Shit. That was something big.”

Most systems went offline when the reactor died, and scanners and proximity sensors were among them. Kelsie floated closer to the window, trying to see what was outside. The ship wasn’t spinning anymore, so she had a stable view. There were certainly a lot of things outside, most looked like some sort of wreckage, but there were several roughly round objects that looked intact. It was hard to guess their size and purpose, but they looked about twice as big as the Chimera.

“Can’t we caull somefone?” Even if they ended up in a wrong Gateway, they should be able to contact the fleet on Ellara and get some help.

“We need more power. The emergency backup is not going to last long powering the thrusters this way.”

“There is… a backup generator,” a quiet voice whispered behind them. Julianna was deadly pale and covered in cold sweat.

Kelsie reached for a small first-aid kit mounted on the wall. “Hang oun, I will gif you somefing for tha pain.” Automated painkiller dispenser touched Julianna’s leg around the wound and she sighed in relief. Still, it wasn’t a solution. Eventually, they will have to do something about that bone sticking out of her thigh.

“I wasn’t aware that these ships had a backup generator.” David turned to them.

“Hey, schouldn’t you be drifin the ship?”

“We are out of the wreckage field and the thrusters are set to maximum deceleration, nothing more I can do now.”

“Are you having a stroke?” Julianna gave Kelsie a suspicious look.

“Mah,” Keslie shook her head. “Bib my pongue.”

The young scientist smiled faintly and turned her head to the cockpit window. “Hmm. You said we were out of the wreckage field. What are those things then?” She pointed at one of the circular objects that still hovered in their field of view.

David glanced at it and shrugged. “Some of these huge balls keep following us around. Not much we can do about it. So, what about that backup generator?”

“Following us? Interesting.” Julianna wiggled a bit in her seat to get a better look and immediately winced as she moved her injured leg. “Crap. The generator. It’s mine, an experimental fusion reactor. I brought it along in case I got bored.”

David laughed. “You do know normal people bring a book?”

“I’m not really a bookworm,” she smiled faintly. “It’s in compartment 39-B, I need to go there and start it.” An attempt to move made her grit her teeth.

“Yea, you are not going anywhere. Lispy here will go, you can guide her on the radio.”

“Tzhat’s Gualdian lispy to you, dumass.” Kelsie was already headed towards the bridge exit, grabbing a radio. The internal comm system on the entire ship was down, but the walkie-talkies could work independently.

Fortunately, the hallway behind the bridge was still pressurised and it was easy to manually open the door. Kelsie smoothly floated towards a small storage area, pushing herself off the occasional railings on the ceiling or walls. Another door forcibly opened revealed a tiny room filled with boxes, lined with lockers on one side. Kelsie maneuvered herself in front of one locker, peeked in, and rejoiced. While the combat exoskeletons were stored in the far back of the ship, there were a couple of simple spacesuits kept near the bridge in case of emergencies. And some emergency this was.

She quickly put one suit on and grabbed two others, bringing them back to the bridge to David and Julianna, just in case. It turned out to be a smart choice, because when she returned to the hallway and wanted to continue to the compartment with the reactor, she noticed that the next areas were either losing atmosphere fast or were already completely depressurised. In order to get there, she had to vent the atmosphere from the hallway, trapping David and Julianna on the bridge.

There was one advantage to wearing a spacesuit (other than being able to breathe in the vacuum of space, of course). It had magnetic boots, so she no longer had to float around. Zero gravity always made her stomach rumble and air acrobacy she had to do to move from one place to another made it a lot worse.

“Fukin’ ell.” After fighting with a bent door for a few minutes, terribly missing the servos on her combat suit, it finally opened and she could enter the rear section of the ship. Or what was left of it. She stood by the door, staring at the stars where the engineering section used to be. It was all gone now, the main reactor and everything around it. How did we even survive this? It was a miracle the whole ship didn’t blow up. “Ey, guys. The enchineerin is gone.”

“You can’t get there?”

“No.” One of the huge circular objects following them flew by, just a dark spot in the night sky. Was it some sort of an alien fighter? Was some tentaclish monster watching them, wondering what the hell is that piece of flying garbage doing in their home system? No communication could be established even if they had power. The communication array was cut clean off the hull. “I mean itz gone. Heading to the backup leactol.”

Spacewalks were scary even under normal circumstances, but there was something eerie about traversing around a huge hole in the side of their ship. Fortunately, the storage facilities on the left side of the ship were intact and Kelsie soon entered through the door marked 39-B.

The reactor didn’t look very fancy, just a big box with some cables sticking out. Julianna guided her to attach the cables to right places both to the reactor and to a large socket in a wall. Then she forced Kelsie to open a huge fuse box and ‘rewire the power conduits’, whatever that meant. The wires were tiny and looked all the same, and the thick spacesuit gloves made precise work with them incredibly difficult. Kelsie used every curse word she could think of, inventing several new ones, glad that when she turned her radio off nobody could hear her.

Finally, it was time to turn the reactor on. Apparently, all Kelsie had to do was flip a switch. One would think that a fusion reactor would have some more intricate controls. “Okay, guys, stauting it now.” The reactor lit up and started vibrating slightly. If it weren’t in vacuum, she could probably hear a quiet whirring of the electromagnets and capacitors. All she heard now was Julianna and David yelling at her into the radio to shut it down immediately. She quickly flipped the switch back and everything went still. “What happened?”

“Come to the bridge, now.”

Hmm. Kelsie would scratch her head if she weren’t wearing a helmet. She was fairly certain that the wires were in the correct place just as Julianna instructed her. Maybe the ship was too damaged to handle it? In any case, without power they were getting deeper and deeper in trouble.

She left the compartment back into the place where the engineering used to be, looked up to see if the odd alien ball was still there and froze in place. The thing was there all right, hanging in space right next to the Chimera, but it was no longer circular. It seemed to have split around the equator, the halves sliding a bit up and down, revealing a ‘belt’ - a stripe that was previously hidden and was now bristling with pointy objects. Even though they looked alien, there was no mistaking them - they were guns, cannons of some sort, aimed at the Chimera and ready to destroy it. The whole thing was surrounded by a faint blue glow, pulsing slightly, most likely indicating it was charged and ready to go.

“Uhhh, guys?” Kelsie hesitated, talking quietly into the radio. “Are those alien balls going to mulder us?” Why was she whispering?

“Not if we remain without power apparently.” Julianna’s voice was weak and trembling.

Awesome. Without power there was no way to maneuver the ship, they were just a piece of debris flying through space. They couldn’t even broadcast a ‘we come in peace’ message, since the communication array was destroyed in the explosion. “Hello.” Kelsie waved at the alien weapon quitely floating in space, not really surprised it didn’t react in any way.

The problem with getting back to the bridge was obvious - in order to enter she would have to vent the atmosphere. And without power there was no way to repressurize it. Kelsie was already running on borrowed time, her spacesuit still had hours of air left, but once that was gone, there was no way to refill it. A shitty situation to say the least. She decided to stay just outside of the door, there was no reason to rob David and Julianna of precious oxygen.

“So, what are our options?” At least her tongue seemed to be working properly again. Under more normal circumstances Kelsie would sit on the floor, resting her back against the cold metallic wall, but that was not really possible in zero G, so she just stood there awkwardly, boots locked to the ground, arms floating around.

“To die quickly or die slowly?” David sighed.

Neither one of those sounded very tempting. “Come on, we are the Undefeated. We don’t give up.” That didn’t sound convincing at all, not even to herself.

“We have no power. No propulsion safe for a few nearly depleted maneuvering thrusters. No life support except for this small bubble of already thin air in here and a few spacesuits. No way of communicating with anyone. There are huge alien weapons chasing us ready to destroy us if it seemed for a split second we have gained control of the ship. Which is a wreck freely flying through space.” David didn’t even bother with sounding ironic. “How could we possibly get out of this?”

There was a long eerie silence.

New Hollywood
Neo London
The past few days had been an emotionally draining affair for the members of the 401st, as countless reports of dead Columbian citizens either by the hands of the mob or caught in the crossfire of the revolution kept pouring in, the operation having no shortage of tragic stories to spare. Doesn't help that it almost always rains in Neo London, only adding to the depressing atmosphere. Omar blankly stares out into the darkened clouds as his Glade Glider soured through the skies over the city, once again on another rotation to find and secure more Columbian nationals, the Urkani children he and Alice saved back than were unfortunately, not the last to suffer lose, and the thoughts persist.

Alice, along with two other members, Grysk, the squad's medic, a Janari, and Tobie, another human looked with concern "Shit man, this isn't like you." Tobie said, Omar was typically the jokester of team, having him of all people be down on the dumps is just...well, depressing! "We've had fuck-ups, yeah, but we're trying our damnedest."

"Yeah...can't shake it off, you know?" Omar replied, still looking up to the skies. "I keep thinking so many times, had we'd been there sooner, a minute or an hour, who cares? Someone could've gone back home, just not in a body bag."

"We can only go so far, Omar." Alice said, laying her hand over his shoulder. "We can't be everywhere at once."

Omar was quiet for a moment, before placing his hand over hers. "I know, just seeing all these kids orphaned by a bunch a angry idiots, it
fucked me up a bit." For a moment, Alice just knew the trick to lighten the mood.

"You're such a daddy's boy, you know that?" Alice joked with Omar, hopping to lighten the mood. It must've accomplished something as Omar started to let out a small chuckle, both he and alice loosening their grips as he facing away from the clouds to face his squad mates. "Ouch, I'm that obvious?" He said with a slight grin. “But...Yeah, guess I am. For the most part, it was just my dad and me, I honestly can’t imagine life without the old man.”

The small moment of reprieve would not last long, as a crackling sound started blasting out from Glider's comms. "The fuck?" The pilot said as she begun tweaking the nobs and buttons before a voice blared out. "-Embassy under fire! I repeat, this is Sergeant Razak to Raven Squad! the Embassy is under attack! we've just received orders to support!" The pilot flipped a few switches and turned some nobs. "This is Echo-319, we're currently en route to mission area." The pilot said as she turned to her passengers. "Hangs on tight boys and girls."

---

Neo London
Columbian Embassy
They came out of nowhere, without much warning, a platoon's worth of ECU Protectors ambushed Jade Squad just as they extracted the Embassy's staff out to safety, much to their confusion. Now suddenly, Jade Squad, along with the guard detachment tasked as Embassy security, were pinned down, surrounded. "Got two more on your flank!" Sargant Ron Dodgers cried out as he poked out of one of the windows, trying his bet to lay suppressive fire on a pair of Protectors, only to be flanked and forced down as heavy machine gun fire prayed across the front of the building, leaving countless holes, destroyed furniture and a few bodies of both the guards and his own men. "Fuck! Fall back to the dining hall!" The sergeant ordered as most of his men fell back, all but one.

"Come get some!" An particularly smaller Dhulrak soldier shouted, firing a heavy machine gun towards some charging protectors. "I can do this all day assholes!" He continued unloading lead on the protectors until he heard several clicking sounds. "Reload!" He yelled, but before he got the chance, he was pulled down. "Masu! get in cover you crazy idiot!" shouted sergeant Dodgers, pulling him down with all his might behind the relative safety behind the building's walls. "One, You're a sniper's magnet! And two, I ordered you back to the Dining Hall!" he shouted over the gunfire. Masu simply smiled, "Hah! Come on sarge, ain't nothing that can stop me!"

Sergeant Dodgers couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief. "You're no good to me dead, soldier." He replied. "Now get to the dining hall, that's an order!"

"...Sir!" Masu said with hesitation as he threw himself out from the main lobby, quickly followed by the Sergeant. The Columbian soldiers quickly setting up makeshift fortifications out of turned over tables and chairs, Masu and Dodgers catching up as they leapt over the tables. "Get to firing positions! Once they bust in, give them everything you got!" Dodgers ordered as he aimed his rifle outward. Before they even could get a chance, the shooting stopped, much to their confusion. Loud inaudible shouting overhead as the Protectors were preparing for something....sounded like lotion ten eight?

"Why'd they stop firing?"

"Why the fuck they even firing to begin with?!"

"I don't like this...not one bit.."

"Shut it! All of you! Listen.." Sergeant Dodgers ordered, hearing something rumbling over, within moments were like the gates of hell being ripped open as horrific wailing filled the air, the Protectors turning their phycological warfare tactics against the Columbians. "FUCK!" One of them screamed out in surprise and terror. Followed by flashing lights that penetrated the walls of the Embassy, further disorienting the defenders. "JARAH HELP ME!!" An Urkani marine cried out, in a fetal position, covering his ear holes to no avail. A few guards and marines had lost their nerve, and attempted to flee out the building, only met with a hail of bullets, reducing them to a bloody mess. " HOLD DAMNIT!!!!"

---

Elsewhere, three Gliders moved in a loose formation as they soured towards the Embassy. Omar poking out with the Glider's gun turret. He squinted his eyes as he saw the Embassy within view, loud noises heard as well as sickeningly bright lights flashing everywhere. "What is this? An attack or a rave party from hell?" Omar said in bewilderment.

"Shit, I think those are ECU Protectors." The Sergeant announced over squad comms.

"Uhh, last time I heard, we're were on the same time." Kezil commented over the comms.

"Guess somethings changed." Sergeant Razak said. "One problem at a time. Right now, they're firing on our people, which makes them the enemy. Lethal force is authorized."

The Gliders were soon to pass the Embassy, Omar and Alice both taking door gun positions, ready to do what must be done. "Enemy in sight Open fire!" Omar's glider was first to circle the embassy, without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, the machine gun shooting out a rain of bullets over the scattered protectors. The Terror Machines proved to be prime targets for Raven squad as their birds focused fire on them, the sheer amount of bullets, maybe be pure stupid luck, had managed to shut off the unholy blend of sounds and light, forcing the Protectors into cover as they had lost their trump card.

The Gliders formed a protective circle around the embassy as they landed, the door gunners continuing their barrage, quickly followed by the furious charge of Jade squad and the surviving guards. By this point, the battle had been lost, and the remaining protectors had fallen back.

---

About ten minutes had passed since the skirmish, the Columbians taking a brief breather as the confusion set in. "Ok, first off, why the hell were the Protectors shooting at ya?" Razak asked with a puzzled look at Dodgers. "You pissed them off or something?"

Dodgers shook his head. "Nope, no fucking clue. We were just finishing up extracting the Ambassador and the rest of the staff when "boom!" Protectors came out of nowhere and just started shooting for no goddamn reason."

Razak paused as he paced around in circles. "Any word from command?"

"Nope, not a peep." Dodgers replied. "In fact...there's pretty much been a comms blackout for a good few hours, had gotten new updates from the Captain or Colonel."

Omar approached the two. "Sir, permission to speak?"

"Granted."

"We all overheard, and quite frankly sirs, I'm starting to get nervous." Omar chimed in. "No comms in hours and supposed "friendlies" attacking us? Something's not right."

"You're damn right something's off, and I intend to find out." Razak said as he power jogged over to his Glider, hopping into the interior, the pilot was quick to move out of the way as the sergeant tinkered with the radio, the others soon following as they encircled the craft. "This is Sergeant Cain Razak to Yankie Actual, Yankie do you read?" A hot minute passes before someone finally responds.

"We hear you sergeant." A feminine voice speaks, that of lieutenant Shira Shepard. "What's the situation."

"All fucked-up ma'am." Cain replied bluntly. "We just got out a nasty firefight with some Protectors,, you know anything about this?"

All was quite on Shira's end before she spoke. "You don't know?"

"Huh? Know what ma'am? There's been a comms blackout for a good few hours, we haven't heard a damn thing."

"A few hours ago, the Senate just publicly declared support for the White Flowers." Shira replied. There was silence once more, this time on Cain's end of the comms. "Well, shit." He cursed to himself.

"That's not all, the colonel has been sending rather...strange orders to some of our squads, some of which have also gone dark. I've been trying to contact him ever since, but he won't respond."

"Don't worry ma'am, we can sort that out for you." Cain said. "Raven Squad out." Cain soon emerged from the Glider, all eyes glued to him as they waited with baited breath. "Ok, first off." He begun. "Apparently, I'm told the Senate just voted to declare public support of the White Flower rebels." The revelations followed by some audible gasps.

"Well, this is awkward." Alice noted.

"This mean we at war with the ECU and Mashties?" Omar asked.

"Don't know to be frank." Cain said as he hopped down from the Glider. "But the LT didn't mention any fighting going on at the Mashtie base, so calmer heads hopefully prevailed."

"I sense a "but" " Dodgers said.

"Yup, during the blackout, some squads still had a link with Ground Ops at the base, receiving downright odd orders, followed by said squads going dark."

"I don't like this at all.." Omar commented once more.

"Same, which is why, you two are coming with me." Cain said, pointing to Alice and Omar. "We're getting to the bottom of this, war's about to break out, and it sure as hell won't be easy with hundreds of civvies at the hands of a possible enemy." Soon the trio climibed aboard the lead Glider as they ascended towards the darkened skies, flying towards New Westminster.

---

Kronos
Darkness...silence....after fighting for long...at least, there is only her, there is only...Harmony. Kronos, an angry world that once brought terror and hardship on mankind, has finally found Harmony, mankind has been forced to the brink, pushed away from their former homes, now all that remains is Harmony, all that remains is her. She will bring mankind to rest, bring this world to rest, no longer will man taint Kronos, no longer will the sinful flesh bring ruin to the stars...or so she thought.

There she lay, floating in darkness, cradling herself, floating in cyberspace, content with the final peace she has brought, a peace that has lasted for over a century. The sins of Old Earth will not be repeated, the sins of mankind stop here, once again, so she thought. The calm "tides" of data had ruffled, were disturbed...something was happening! Something that has long stayed dormant...has awakened!

The Gateway! After so long, the gateway has reopened! And with its resurrection, she awakes. a sphere of screens entrap her, all replaying images of the gateway flashing out, such a wonderous sight.. one of the few creations of mankind that bring a sense of beauty to the Galaxy. "It's time.." She whispered to herself. "Earth....oh my dear, sweet earth....she awaits for me, her chosen protector, her new God."

Such anticipation however...was met with a terrible revelation....very weak signals escape through the gateway, faint, yet readable...mankind still lives among the stars, they were not the last, their sinful flesh has multiplied. "No... no...!" She at first was filled with a wrathful, seething rage...but there came a divine clarity. "So many worlds..so much chaos, so much pain...they need Harmony, they need me."

“Alpha-Newton. Alpha-Newton? Alpha-Newton.” Hubert kept repeating the name and thought to himself, ‘what mother names their kid Alpha-Newton?’

He pondered this as he continued enroute towards the Zetan section of the space station. “Dick!”

“Huh? What is it Hubert?”

“That’s Director Hubert to you! What do you think the Zetans are like? I have a bet with some lousy ensign on the NHS Hopeful that they’re all androids.”

“Uh… I don’t think it’s good to go into a diplomatic situation with prejudices based on what you think they look like.”

“Come on Dick! This is why you were never popular at school!”

“Hey!” Dick pointed his finger towards Hubert and said, “I was popular at school, just not with women!”

“Probably why everyone called you ‘Dick Magnet’ right?” Hubert gave him a smug smile and wiggled his moustache. The hologram on the surrogate failed for a moment and froze at an unfortunate time making Hubert look like a weird dumbass.

“Pfft- Your hologram failed! Hahaha!”

“Damn it, robotics! You have one job! FIX THE DAMN HOLOGRAMS!” Hubert was seen looking behind him and shouting, the Hologram on the Android had trouble following his movements before being recalibrated again.

The pilot then piped up, “Director Seymour, Director Wazzinski. We’re nearing the docking location. Please prepare. We’re already receiving docking instructions.

“Damn… Well, it’s your loss Dick if you don’t bet now.”

“Fine, I’ll bet on… Cyborgs. Human cyborgs. Now could you please focus Hu- I mean, Director Seymour.”

“Yes, yes I think I can now.”

The Zetan Embassy’s airlocks hissed open, and the diplomatic mission was let aboard. It seemed that there would be significant problems when it came to who, exactly, would win the bet, because the variety of individuals in front of them seemed to indicate most of the group were right.

On the one hand, there was Alpha-Newton, who looked almost entirely human. With a smarter suit than he usually wore and a pair of heavy sunglasses to mask his implants (just in case,) he looked every bit the dignitary. Flanking him were two next-generation warforms, sleeker, smoother and with more integrated functions than before, standing sentinel-like in a military stance. Around them, various cyborgs and androids roamed, carrying out the functions necessary.

“Greetings. Welcome to the Zetan Meeting Place. It’s very good to see you.”

Hubert of course came out dancing and Dick was very embarrassed. Hubert then spun around and extended a hand for a handshake.

“Lead Director Hubert Seymour, pleasure to meet you Mr. Alpha-Newton.”

Dick in the back mouthed the words “I’m. So. Sorry…” while he stood behind Hubert.

Alpha-Newton paused for a moment, the confusion and scepticism in his eyes hidden well behind his sunglasses. “I assume you were responsible for the… Musical introduction, we received, Lead Director Hubert?” He extended a hand and shook it firmly, turning to lead the small group to his office.

“You’ve found yourself in good hands when it comes to technological nations. We’ve spent the past three hundred years expanding our understanding of the universe and finding new ways for mankind to overcome the weaknesses its cradle allowed us to keep.” He flexed his right forearm idly.

“Ah! Fellow techies and scientists! That’s good to hear, right Dick?” Hubert’s enthusiasm was intense, Dick couldn’t do much other than reply “Yes sir whatever you say…” in a tone that was near disappointment.

Hubert then turned to follow Alpha-Newton, “So what kind of tech do you all have? This is all very exciting! Actually, have you made sentient Alien contact? If so, what kind of organisms are they? Do they breathe oxygen? Are you unique among your people? What kind of-” The questions poured out of Hubert in a never-ending stream. It did not help that he was both excited and full of adrenalin.

Finally, Dick intervened to give their gracious host some respite, “Sir, maybe you might want to let Mister Alpha-Newton do the talking. I’m sure they’re very eager to answer many of those questions after they’ve had the freedom to properly introduce themselves to us.”

Alpha-Newton couldn’t help but let out a wry chuckle at the barrage of questions. “Here in the Zetan Consciousness, we consider ourselves to be pioneers in the field of robotics, cybernetics and computing. We’ve created true, genuine AI who are afforded citizen’s rights, created many augmentations and implants to help us in our day-to-day lives, and have designed countless remote and automatically controlled drones such as these warforms here.” He indicated to the android bodyguards flanking him. “These are remotely controlled by other Zetans.”

He paused for a moment to slide an office door open. “I’m afraid we’re the wrong people to discuss sentient aliens with. The United Republic of Columbia has sentient alien citizens who do indeed appear to breathe oxygen.” The warforms waited outside as Alpha-Newton sat down behind a desk.

“As for myself, yes, I would consider myself a fairly typical specimen.”

Dick and Hubert followed to sit down opposite from him. Dick redirected the conversation to exchange information fairly with the Zetan across from them. “Well, you’ve answered some of our questions, I’m sure you’re curious about us.”

Hubert followed up, “We have advanced robotics, well developed medical technology, advanced automation. Ask and we shall answer!”

Alpha-Newton paused for a moment. “It seems to me as if we share quite a few similarities. Excellent news.” He smiled pleasantly. “What are the material conditions of your planet? Have you developed ‘true’ AI? If so, how are true AI treated? What type of government do you have?” There, those should be a good place to start.

Dick and Hubert were pleasantly surprised to have other intellectuals to talk to about technology. Dick replied first, “New Haven is Earth-like being only slightly smaller. It has the same mineral composition as Earth and is biologically diverse.”

Hubert continued, “Too diverse in-fact. Our first colonists were stricken with disease and sickness. We had to battle against such things to survive. We developed quite impressive environmental suits and robotics to deal with New Haven’s biosphere while we developed vaccines.”

Dick then brought out a data pad and a hologram projector and a list of several technological achievements were displayed. The list however did not detail the specifics of each technological achievement. Dick then pointed to one of the items listed, “We’ve managed to cyberize human consciousness. This is, I believe, counted as true A.I... We treat these citizens just as well as any other. They are still first-class citizens of the New Haven Directorate.”

Hubert chimed in, “I once thought of having myself turned Cyber, so many different customization options. But while I’m Lead Director, I’m not allowed to do such a thing. All Directors are to be of ‘mortal flesh’ as they used to say. It’s one way to make sure that a Director’s term ends when it ends.”

Dick then answered the final question, continuing from Hubert mentioning the Directors. “We are what would be classified as a Technocratic Dictatorship. Lead Director Hubert here is technically the dictator. However, Hubert and a number of Lead Directors before him have started to move away from complete control and have started to allow more freedom in the Directorate. Not that there wasn’t before, however, we’ve cut down on surveillance and security in a lot of aspects of New Haven life. Hubert is what one would call a benevolent ruler.”

Hubert puffed out his chest with pride, “That’s right! Under my directorship, I’ve ushered in a new age of exploration. That’s how we came to find all of you, here in Earth orbit.”

Alpha-Newton nodded, a proper smile spreading across his face. “I’m glad to hear you, at least, had a well-developed biosphere. The less said about Zeta-5, the better.” He sighed deeply, then instigated the A.I claim with interest. “Hm. Interesting. Not how we went about doing it. Zeta was still tetchy on releasing information about their mind uploading, but not the Directorate, it seemed… And then, the first frown crossed his face.

“We on Zeta are very proud of managing a direct democracy with half a billion citizens. We do not aim to override a nation’s own government, but… It would be admirable if you were, indeed, aiming to dissolve dictatorial power into that of the people.” He held a hand across towards whoever would shake it.

“But even with that said, make no mistake. This seems like the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.”

---

Since her appointment as Ambassador, which felt like months ago now, Joan had little time for rest. Her days started familiarly, with the burning of incense, prayer to the spirits on Earth to relieve guilt and a small meal for breakfast. But as soon as she got out of her quarters, it was straight into piles of work. She had been swamped with countless applications for the Extra-Solar Mercenary Group even though she shared half the load with Lukas Descartes. She was disappointed with the ECU’s refusal of the Red Cross but with how the ESMC was coming along, she was silently thankful for the reduced workload. Which only served to feed her guilt in the morning, thinking of all those dead humans.

Joan was starting to suspect that her companion was more inexperienced than even her, given his growing weariness in the mornings. She hoped he would not quit, his frivolousness and pomp made for entertainment in the drollness of paperwork.

So, it was with greater gusto that she prepared for today. The Zetans had been kind enough to accept her offer of “breaking bread” and she had surrounded herself with preparations to make sure today went right. Not only was this her first time meeting personally with a foreign diplomat but the foreign nature of the Zetans excited her. They eliminated death, for spirits sake! They had made their own Path to Reincarnation which only proved to her how amazing humanity really was.

The Priestess had dressed in her finest robes and touched up on her face paint. She had deliberately forgone the thorn-crown with a silver one, adorned with a carved lapis lazuli from New Gift. She stood in their meeting room near the entrance to the embassy and hoped it was enough. Given their cyborg-like nature, she had figured that the Zetans would have looked down on too much pomp and excess for such a simple meeting. And she wished for this to be a sort of casual meeting instead of one too formal. This was to be a discussion after all!

Thus, she had a table with two comfortable chairs on the side of the room, facing the viewing window towards the black void of stars. On the far side was a couch with a coffee table which could be easily converted into a media screen if the diplomat Sigma wished to watch old-Earth movies or ape remakes of them. The centrepiece of the room was a painting of New Gift and Earth orbiting each other, in resplendent blue and green colour contrasting the darkness of space. Joan did like painting after all and felt it fit for a diplomatic room.

She heard a rapping on the door and made towards it. The guard must have escorted the diplomat to the room. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Joan opened the door. “Diplomat Sigma, this one greets you as a fellow inheritor of humanity’s legacy.”

Sigma-Devi entered the room, her now omnipresent guards hanging outside. Perhaps the priestess had misjudged the attitude of the Zetans, because as she had been numerous times before, Devi was dressed in her diplomatic wear, with its gilded faux-silk and bright colours.

“Greetings. Ambassador Joan, was it?” Sigma-Devi inquired, nodding once it was answered to her satisfaction.
“I must say, of all the nations that have arrived here so far, yours has been the most unique. I would love to discuss more about your people, just as you wish to ask about my people.”

Joan nodded politely, standing as upright as she could. Still, the human was standing taller than her. Despite gene enhancements, height could only be stretched so much. She led the both of them to the modest table, opening the chair for her guest as per etiquette.

They exchanged pleasantries and continued on to the root of why they were there. Joan didn’t want to waste too much time. “While this one is young, this one has travelled much and played the part of a diplomat among the city states in the Khanate. War is not declared without slight so this one wonders how such peaceful peoples fought in a conflict that comes to a standstill like yours and the ECU did? This one could not find much information on the matter and did not want to pry the ECU because of their current… civil situations.”

Sigma-Devi frowned. “Ah. Of course. Well, allow me to explain.” She took a seat, considering her words carefully.

“The ECU are ideological puritans. They believe any modification to the human form is an abomination. Widespread, heavy augmentations such as those the Collective routinely goes through is, therefore, an atrocity that should be removed.” Her frown deepened.

“All they needed was a casus belli. One we foolishly gave them when we took in a refugee scientist who had received a heart replacement named Doctor Bodhi. They drummed up war support through lies, claiming we had kidnapped their citizen, rallying the Undefeated to their cause, and going on the warpath. Those are the broad-brush strokes; you will have to apologise if I seem curt, this is hardly my favoured topic of conversation.”

The priestess nodded and hummed, chewing on her words. “This one apologises for her abruptness, this one wanted to get to the truth of the matter. This one’s church, along with several states within the Khanate, have voiced concerns over the Khanate’s standing in this new galactic community. We are afraid that this one’s Khan has chosen to bear their support for… extremist and warlike factions.” The hints towards the ECU, the Matuvistans and the Undefeated went unsaid.

“In the end, we would like to make it very clear that our only issues are with the current government of the Earth Cultural Union. As far as we are concerned, the Undefeated were not the primary aggressors, and Matuvista’s entanglement with the current civil unrest on New Hollywood is entirely unrelated to us. Matuvista is free to interact with the ECU as they desire.”

Joan nodded, inwardly relieved that she was not overstepping her powers. Secession was a serious matter and while opinions upon the Khan’s decisions were not suppressed, one’s standing could fall with the wrong words. “These more peace-focused states have expressed interest towards providing aid for the Zetans if they would like it. While our brothers and sisters march to war, this one and supporters would like to show that us apes are not as savage as we seem.”

The ambassador procured two files from underneath the table, one included a list of immigrants and willing aid workers. Herald Temujin II was receptive to this idea and provided the go ahead for this first deal to go ahead with no strings attached but the second file would need a fair trade. She handed over the first immigrant aid file towards Sigma-Devi.

“This includes a list of willing aid workers and immigrants keen to help the Zetans in rebuilding the planet. This one understands that differences between our planets could be severe so free genetic modifications will be provided to all Khanate citizens willing to migrate or work on Zeta-5. This one assures that this comes with no political strings attached, as long as our citizens are safe, we have no problem sending these volunteers.”

Sigma-Devi shook her head. “I’m afraid that at the moment, Zetan rebuilding efforts has led to a dramatic increase in highly classified projects. I’m sure you’ll understand, but it will not do to have foreign citizens working on sensitive city defences and military constructions.” So far, so unfortunate for the apes. Perhaps the next file would be better.

Joan moved to the second pile, a thicker brown manila folder, placing a furry hand on top. “These include a list of unmarked military vehicles of varying specifications, the details of which this one can run through later, to be traded as a deterrent against future threats. Alongside this is an official non-aggression pact which ensures that the Khanate nor the Zetans will not raise arms against the other, unless the pact is broken.” She sighed. There were ways to avoid war that she wanted to avoid but sometimes, needs must.

“This one has brokered many peace agreements over the years. If your people had a boost towards its military infrastructure, it would serve as a future war to come. Though the Khan aligns itself to the group opposite you, we do not need to follow their foreign policy to the letter. The Khanate does not bow to anyone but the Khan.” She said this firmly, trying to be as open as possible. She believed the best way to earn an ape’s trust, as well as a human’s, was to be as truthful as she could.

Sigma-Devi considered this next folder for a long while. Internally she was debating the matter with other members of the Collective, so that when she responded it was with the confidence of knowing that Zeta backed her. “As for military assistance, we will have to decline. Zeta is more than happy to agree upon a nonaggression pact with the Khanate, but we will have to respectfully decline military vehicles.” She paused for a moment. “With the note that we would be interested in small quantities for research purposes.”

There was a note of disappointment on Joan’s face but it would have been largely unrecognisable to one not versed in ape expressions. Much of the deals were not made but small steps were okay, at least the non-aggression pact had come through. “This one would be happy to provide quantities for research purposes traded for a similar quantity of your own military technology?”

---

Commandanta Isabella stood at the head of her vessel and fumed. Nothing, nothing was going well for her, and it had all started in the middle of the night.

She had stood, holographically projected, in a meeting with Condel Julianus and various other high-ranking members of the Matuvistan military to report on her progress. She had spoken at great length about the successes they had made, the rebel leaders seized, the number of rebel casualties that had been tallied up, the containment of the struggle in Neo London, and how their new ape allies had succeeded in pushing the New Beijing situation away from the edge. Neo Paris had fallen of course, but they had no military presence there and the government at home had widely agreed that it simply wasn't practical to try to exert equal force across two disparate cities.

Then, she had moved on to the necessity of further forces. She was still operating effectively, but reserves were starting to run low, and she was increasingly having to rely on the void borne marines to maintain order and discipline. She needed more of everything- ISOCs, more jetrikes, any jetknights that could be spared, and certainly another transport load of men. What she had instead gotten was an apology, and her government telling her that was out of the question.

The Colombians, the same forces she had been lending military support, had formally backed the White Flowers. That meant that not only did she now have a third angle to take care of, but the Matuvistan government had declared at the Meeting Place that they would not be sending more troops to New Hollywood. They had privately ended discussions with the government-in-exile in Neo Istanbul to evacuate them and any loyalist citizens to Matuvista (although there were a lot of asterixis that came with that offer,) but the formal support was winding down as the winds of fortune changed.

'Winding down' did not mean that the troops were leaving though. They still had their objectives to complete, and the objectives had to be completed regardless of their dwindling manpower. A flurry of orders had left her command center shortly after the meeting, most of which had not been well received by her troops, but at least they understood she was not their foe. This was on the Senate back home, the Senate that had left their own men and women on the ground out to be bled dry.

At least initial reports from the ground had been... Acceptable. An enforced radio silence had allowed them to sweep up approximately 40% of the Colombian ground forces without any difficulty and two of the commanders in charge had accepted her impromptu invitation aboard her command vessel. She had hoped for all of them, but she couldn't delay to try to snag more. This was as good as she was going to get. A Colombian command vessel had come aboard her own ship just moments ago, and within a few minutes the officers were in her central room.

"Thank you for coming aboard," she said, grimly. "It pains me to do this, but I must inform you that the Colombian government has thrown their formal support behind the White Flower Rebellion. Although my Senate has not given me liberty to deploy additional soldiers to this front, this does now make us formal enemies."

Bridge staff and marines levelled their guns at the commanders.

"Please. I assure you that I will treat you with all the respect and dignity that soldiers of your office deserve, but it would be best for you and your guards to lay down your arms now, without my bridge staff having to mop up blood."

---

"Emperatriz, spotting Colombian glider approaching New Westminster. Available units move to intercept, over."

"Cóndor-6, copy. Moving to intercept."

The atmospheric craft deployed rapidly, engines spooling up and blasting off. Although not true jetfighters, they did the job they needed to. Within a few minutes, they had shot their way across to the approaching glider and hailed it.

"Colombian glider. This is Cóndor-6, interceptor of the Matuvistan Expeditionary Force. You are currently in restricted airspace and, let's be honest, you're a grape in this matchup. Land now, or we will engage. Repeat. Land now or we will be authorised to use live weapons."

There was a pause, and Cóndor repeated the message.

"Glider, this is Cóndor-6, you're tagged and locked on, last chance. Land now."

“Restricted airspace?” Cain said in bewilderment. “Last time I saw, we were invited. You mind explaining what the hell’s going on?”

"Blame your Senate. You're supporting the rebels now, and that means we have orders to shut you out and take you down. Either you can have a nice holiday in a PoW camp, or I can open fire."

A droning beeping sounded, proving the Matuvistans were clearly serious with their threat, their fighters already locking on to the Glider. “Fuck…like we have a choice.” Cain muttered to himself, before turning to the pilot. “Take us down.”

“Y-Yes, sir...”

“Fine, we surrender. Just know... this act of war won’t go unnoticed, and this won’t end well for anyone one of us.”

"Trust us glider. We know. We have our orders though, and you have yours." The beeping would end, showing the radar lock had been broken. "May the saints have mercy on our nations."

It was a scene that was replayed all over Neo London. Isolated firefights between the once-allies, Colombians either slipping into the city or being taken captive and held in New Westminster. Those that were captured were led away to New Westminster PoW camps, with commissioned officers being separated from the rest of the men. It was an efficient operation, but even so, it was another drain on a force that was spread increasingly thin.

Isabella knew that they couldn't hold. The latest assault had proved that. New Westminster was cracking apart, and with nobody else coming, it didn't take a genius to see who was going to break first.

Columbia
City of Calvard, Provincial Capital of Southern Cascadia
Jefferson Park

Today just seemed the perfect day for a little outing with the family, Jacob thought, and in the end, it proved to be the right decision. Jacob, along with his wife, Gwen, sitting on the crisp, green grass as they watched their boys play tag with other children. All the while the couple simply laid against each other as they observed, the family pet, a native creature by the name of Sam-sam, curled up next to them, basking in the sun light. "What brought this on?" Gwen asked, just a little curious.

"Eh, just thought we could use some sun." Jacob replied, subtly dodging the question, although his face said it all, something was on his mind...

"Come on, fess up, I can see it in your eyes." Gwen said, her expression unconvinced. Couldn't get pass her huh? Jacob sighed, looking to his wife with a weak smile. "I think I might be getting a promotion."

Gwen's squealed with joy as she gave Jacob a tight hug, startling the family pet. "Jacob! This is great news!" Gwen said excitedly. "Why the hell would you hide it?"

"That's the thing, don't know if I'll get it or not."

"Well, even if you don't, I'm still glad we're for going out." Gwen said, as the two remained quiet for the foreseeable future, taking in the sight of the park, watching the children play.

---

The sun was about to set, the time to head home was getting near. The couple begun packing up their things, Sam-sam trotting about with energy. "Boys! Time to head home!" Jacob called his young sons as they both ran over. "Coming papa!" As they continued pack, something caught Jacob's eye...a man watching from the distance, his more stand out features hidden under the shade of a tree, although something about him seemed awfully familiar...

"Something wrong Jacob?" Gwen asked, a little concerned with his vacant expression.

"Uh...sorry about that, Gwen." Jacon said, turn to her. "I'll be right back, you get the boys to the car." With that Jacob head off to the direction of the stranger, as he drew closer, he could slowly to distinguish the man's features, oh, they were familiar all right...It was Gideon, laying against the tree, hands in his pockets.

"Hey Jay." Gideon said in a somewhat muted tone, leaving the shade of the tree. "It's...been a while."

"Hey Dad.." Jacob said, not exactly in a welcoming matter. "What're you doing here?"

"Can't a father see how his son is doing?" Gideon asked, clearly sensing a the rising hostility. "Look, I know I've haven't been the best father-"

"Understatement of the year." Jacob replied. "Wished you had this much concern for me when mom was still around, and when she died, when I actually needed you."

Oh, that stung right in the heart. "Jacob..., I know this isn't an excuse...I was in a dark place."

Jacob was unconvinced. "You and a million others, the war left its mark on ALL of us."

Gideon sighed, although he couldn't blame Jacob for his bitterness. "I know this won't fix anything....but I just wanted to say how sorry I am, how I left you when you needed me most, for my own selfishness."

Jacob was caught offguard with this, he can see a true sense of regret in Gideon's tone, no doubt it had to do with the death of his squad mates on Zeta-5. "I've made even more mistakes now, mistakes that other people that I loved paid the price for...I just wanted you to hear this, to hear me out."

"....Thanks, dad." Jacob said, still feeling off about this. "....What brought this on?"

"I'm gonna help some "friends" fix their own "mistakes"....I know this won't fix years of hurt...just know that I love you Jacob." Gideon said as he walked off, losing himself in the crowds. "....I love you too." Jacob muttered, tears flowing down his cheeks.