---

The subtle threat in Silbermine's words as he mentioned that he commanded a squadron of wallbreakers wasn't ignored by Nellara.

"Was that a threat that I heard, Silbermine?" she asked, looking at the Glen noble with a clearly hostile stare. Silbermine's arrogance and his constant threats were finally taking a toll on Nellara's patience.

"Do not let your arrogance blind you. Take a look around you. Not only you have invaded Ascendancy territory, and directly challenged a Castigator's authority, but you are threatening to steal and 'claim' the fortress of sentient beings. Your words and actions are more fitting of a pillager than a noble knight. Please, conduct yourself as someone fitting of your status." Nellara said as she looked at him.

"I hope you haven't forgotten who exactly I am... Silbermine. You speak with a Castigator. I have enough authority to mobilize an entire army if I so deem necessary. If I told the Order of Magisters what happened here today... What you and your knights tried to do today, retaliation against your house, maybe even your nation would be certain..." She said, threatening Silbermine back.

"There is no need for anyone to die, Silbermine. Nor there is any need for the Ascendancy to pick-up arms to retaliate for the grave offenses you have committed here today. There is still time to salvage this situation and avoid an all-out war between both our nations... I assume I can count with your cooperation, yes? For your sake and your nation's." Nellara said with a very serious tone and a piercing stare.

"You claim to have no quarrel with the Sky People, but they barricaded themselves immediately after you arrived, while they seemed to be fine with letting us enter their ship and communicate with them. Do you need any more proof of how barbaric your actions, words and intentions are?" she said, pointing towards the entrance to Jotunheim, which was now barricaded by boxes, with only a small entrance left open.

Nellara nodded softly as she heard Kareet's words. At least for now, communication between the Glen and the humans would be as difficult as it was with them so even if the glen demanded to talk with the humans, there wouldn't be any results coming from that. Besides, she still wanted to, if possible, to continue being the humans' sole allies, in order to monopolize the knowledge traded from them for as long as possible.

When Zeynap was spotted leaving the fortress-ship, apparently with the intention of joining the 'negotiations' Nellara had to think fast on how to steer that negotiation so things would go according to her desires and to the benefit of the Ascendancy. For now, the best she could do was to stall as much as she could until the thought mages arrived... Or until Silbermine ended up losing his patience and saying or doing something he shouldn't have done in front of Zeynap... Something which could easily consolidate Nellara and her group's status as allies for the humans and the Glen from the Silbermine house as enemies... Regardless of what happened, she would have to be ready for anything.

Before Zeynap could approach them even further, Nellara looked to her with a serious expression, raising her hand in a 'stop' signal as she shook her head as she pointed to the Glen knights behind Silbermine.

"Wait. Enemies." Nellara said to Zeynap. A word that they had already exchanged before and one Zeynap would hopefully understand taking in consideration the situation they were right now.

"How can we trust you to not try doing anything with the Sky People's envoy, considering the fact that you clearly stated that you wished to steal their fortress before? What are your intentions with the Sky People and their fortress?" Nellara asked as she looked at Silbermine.

"We need to guarantee their safety before we even consider continuing this negotiation." she finished as she waited for Silbermine's answer.

Itxaro chuckled weakly at Vigdis’ joke; she could feel her facade cracking as her frenetic energy crept into her eyes, and suspected that Vigdis had picked up on this, trying to soothe her with humor. She was embarrassed, but grateful nonetheless. Itxaro trusted the engineer more than anyone on the ship at the moment, which granted wasn’t much, and if she was going to crack up in front of anyone she was glad it was her.

Still, Itxaro was surprised no one accompanied the commander out to greet the new arrivals. She sat down on one of the crates, weighing her options. She didn’t feel much loyalty to the commander, but Itxaro knew that if she let her go alone and something happened to Zey, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. Itxaro already had too many memories of shame, the kind that still made her break into a sweat and tighten up around the throat as she lay in bed. She didn’t have much use for one more. The pitched battle of cowardice and courage raging inside her finally came to an end for the time being.

“Guess I better go find out,” Itxaro replied to Vigdis, hopping off her thinking crate. She quickly grabbed the box of metal pens, a meager offering to their new acquaintances, and followed the commander through the breach.

“Hell nah. I’m not getting impaled on a spear. You go.” Darnell offered as an additional reply when Dr Ibarra looked at him. He was at the completed wall, peering out with his shotgun in hand. He sounded more sober now.

“They’re probably figuring out how many soldiers they’ll need to take us out. We’re so fucked.”

Zhao responded to Vigdis over comms almost immediately from the top deck. She sounded quite glad to hear her voice but tried not to show it.

“In the bay? No chance. Inside the ship? Errr, say five minutes except compartments with fractures. What is happening outside? Windows give shitty view. People are scared.”

---

"Was that a threat that I heard, Silbermine?" she asked, looking at the Glen noble with a clearly hostile stare. Silbermine's arrogance and his constant threats were finally taking a toll on Nellara's patience.

"Do not let your arrogance blind you. Take a look around you. Not only you have invaded Ascendancy territory, and directly challenged a Castigator's authority, but you are threatening to steal and 'claim' the fortress of sentient beings. Your words and actions are more fitting of a pillager than a noble knight. Please, conduct yourself as someone fitting of your status." Nellara said as she looked at him.

The large Glen’s eyes narrowed. He growled softly and took one step forward as she continued to insult him. His voice went quieter as his eyes bored into Nellara’s while replying.

“I am no knight, nor pillaging knave. I am Gesith Silbermine, LORD of Keraknúr, Margrave-Warden of the northern passage and protector of Sudenúr since the tragic passing of Lord Brunnenstar. I have the King of Mythadia’s ear, and can lead an army of thousands to protect these Sky People in days if you endanger them. You will know if i’m threatening you, you crook-beaked fucking churl.”

That bit about having the ear of the King wasn’t strictly true. He had always favoured Silbermine’s father over him - once he had died, Gesith was forced to fight for his political life. That was why the Sky People were so important to him, prophecy aside - having them as champions in the Running would shower House Silbermine in glory and treasure. This Castigator would likely know very little about that though.

"I hope you haven't forgotten who exactly I am... Silbermine. You speak with a Castigator. I have enough authority to mobilize an entire army too if I so deem necessary. If I told the Order of Magisters what happened here today... What you and your knights tried to do today, retaliation against your house, maybe even your nation would be certain..." She said, threatening Silbermine back.

---

Outside in the crisp morning air, Zey had a better view of proceedings.

Most of the aliens they’d encountered before had gathered on the thin lip that the Jotunheim had caught on that prevented it from rolling back down the hill. Some of them were watching her curiously. The others looked out at twenty plus elk-things, and two of the bird-things they’d met earlier lower down the hill. The scary looking one and the studious one. She could hear the distant sound of braying and squawking, which she presumed was them communicating.

Zey really wanted to rub her tired eyes and itch her nose, but kept the mask on and tried to think of a plan. What would her diplomat mother do?

“Ok, I do want the pens. Someone chuck me the pens.” Zey called, turning back to their hastily erected barricade. After a little while, Itxaro threw her a box of fifty and clambered down herself. Zey smiled gratefully and nodded, for the pens and the company. She patted Dr Ibarra’s arm.

“Let's go. Eva, can you get out here too and guard the entrance? I want them to see we have a big stick while we’re softly talking.

Zey then set off, carefully navigating her way down the hill while holding the box of pens.

“Negative - we can’t risk flying yet.” She replied to Mallory while trying not to fall down the rocky slope.

“I’m heading down there; if shells are all we’ve got then you’d best pray they buy the distraction. If this goes sideways and that doesn’t work, I’m probably dead and you’re in charge. Put the shell as close as possible to my location without bringing the whole hillside down.”

---

Silbermine took a minute while Nellara continued pontificating to calm himself again. Suddenly, movement behind the two Tekeri before him caught his eye. At first he thought it was a couple of Iriad approaching him, but their bark was too smooth. They wore strange garments that Silbermine had never seen before. They must be the Sky People!

He pointed to them, a smug excitement filling his voice. “Nonsense! See how they come now to talk to us.”

---

The walk out into No Man’s Land took an eternity. Zey tried to figure out what to say, then realised these elk-things, Glen she seemed to remember them being called, wouldn’t understand her. She hoped their actions spoke as loud as words, and that gift giving was universal in this world too.

Then the Tekeri Nellara turned and said enemies, plus something else. Stay?

“Nope. Too invested to stay.” Zey chuckled nervously, continuing to step forward.

These ‘Glen’ were massive up close. They dwarfed Zey and Itxaro in pretty much every dimension. Their leader, the one in intricate armour, was fidgeting and emanating a mixture of honks and whines at Nellara.

---

“The Sky People are perfectly safe with me and my men. The real danger is a landslide destroying their temple altogether! I merely want to discuss something with them!” Silbermine scoffed, gesturing up the hill with his head. As if to prove his point, the Glen studied these approaching Sky People, put his forehands together with fingers aimed at them in a traditional Mythadian greeting. He took one step forward, as did his knights so their lord wasn’t too close to the visibly agitated Castigator.

“Greetings, my friends! Welcome to Sudenúr. I am Gesith Silbermine, and I come to offer you assistance, in exchange for wisdom.”

---

Zey flinched when the Glen moved forward, gulping hard. Every impulse in her body was screaming at her to run. Her right hand crept up her body towards her pistol holster.

“Give these three a pen, nice and slow now. We come in peace.” She whispered to Itxaro, then smiled nervously at the aliens.

"A lord commands respect by acting honorable," J'eon rumbles, feeling his shoulders tense as he stares down at Silbermine. "One who comes as a thief to take what belongs to another without just cause is not worthy of respect."

Would his cart remain unmolested? he wondered. Or would his men seek revenge for his slight? Since the day he was stolen from his family and enslaved, he never trusted a thief. There was no reason to start now.

---

In general, Kareet preferred staying out of notice, though the approach of two of the Humans did make the situation that much more complicated. Getting them all trying to communicate with one another could buy them considerable time, but doing so out here in the open, with soldiers nearby and tensions high, seemed volatile. Even if Kareet or Nellara were not blamed for it, violent conflict could delay Kareet in being able to study the Humans properly. She found herself stepping up closer to Zey when the Humans reached them, not enough to crowd them, but enough that she could react if bows were drawn.

“They do not share a language with us, Silbermine. They are not going to have any idea of what you are saying.” Kareet chimed in.

While J'eon was hardly helping matters in terms of diffusing the situation, Kareet did take note of what he was saying. They had only been companions by circumstance, so it was useful for her that he was clear on where he stood.

Itxaro and Zey made the long walk to meet the new arrivals. The landscape was nothing new to the engineer, but she took it in with eager eyes nonetheless; there was nothing like this untamed wilderness left on Earth, unmarred by human touch. Aside from the scorched grass crumbling in the wind, it felt pure. As the two strode down the steep hill, electricity crept up Itxaro's spine. Not fear this time, but excitement. She felt like a medieval knight, seeking to parley with her enemies on the battlefield to prevent Christian blood from being spilled. Then again, she wasn't Christian, and she was fairly certain the Glen weren't either. All the same, she hoped to avert conflict.

As they approached, Nellara held up a hand to the two. "Wait. Enemies." The commander breezed past her though, and Itxaro followed, giving the Castigator an exaggerated shrug. She knew Zey was right, though. They might be Nellara's enemies, but the humans didn't need to share that animosity. For all we know, our new friends aboard the Jotunheim might be thieves and killers. She doubted this, but they had barely exchanged thirty words, all told. Not nearly enough to know them, or their intentions. No, it was best to see all the angles before planting their flag on any side.

The two women stood before the Glen, the equine warriors towering over them like fabled storybook beasts. Itxaro didn't often look up to meet another's gaze, but had to quite often with the giant inhabitants of this planet. The air was thick with tension, and she knew one wrong move from any party could end in bloodshed. Already the natives were speaking to each other in raised tones; Itxaro absently wondered how they could even understand each other, their voices so different. Kareet closed in behind her, and she wasn't sure whether to feel reassured or threatened by their hovering presence and blood-red eyes, so Itxaro chose the former.

Then, the Glen at the head of the group stepped forward. Itxaro understood this Glen was important, or at least thought he was important. His armor and weaponry were both brilliant, and Itxaro couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship. He addressed the two humans in a lengthy introduction. Itxaro had no idea what he said, and she assumed the Glen knew this. Perhaps it was just tradition, like the gesture he performed. It was a stark contrast from the rocky meeting with the first group, instead a greeting practiced and honed over a lifetime at a royal court. From the emphasis placed on the word, Itxaro guessed his name was Silbermine. Not wanting to offend or disappoint, Itxaro stepped forward before her commander tore the gun from her belt and let daylight shine through his shining breastplate.

"Hail and well met, sir Silbermine of the Glen," Itxaro began, returning his gesture, "I am Dr. Itxaro Ibarra, of the United South American Socialist Republic of Earth. This," she continued, flourishing a hand towards Zey, "is our leader, Commander Zeynap Kadıoğlu of the Jotunheim." Itxaro spoke in Spanish, but any native words she was able to pepper in were pronounced with an Iriad or Tekeri accent. "We thank you for your hospitality, and we hope to become your friends with these gifts." She provided the three nearest to her with simple, engraved metal pens, favoring her organic hand. The pens disappeared into the metal gauntlets, so she took this as a good sign.

Aside from a few choice words, Itxaro knew the Glen wouldn't understand any of it; to anyone in the crowd who could understand it, the reply's content was ridiculous. But it was the manner in which she spoke, with confidence and regal cadence, that was important. If Silbermaine was considered nobility, then it would be prudent to meet him at a similar level.

"I hope that we can become great allies. If not, we will glass your continent from orbit and render it uninhabitable for ten thousand years," she finished reverently in her native tongue, with a slight bow for good measure.

Itxaro glanced at her commander. "What? They might know Spanish. Doesn't hurt to try," Itxaro offered as a quiet aside as she waited for the Glen's response. She could feel the eyes on her, but she didn't waver under their gaze.

“Iba- wait!” Vigdis tried to grab the Cuban engineer’s wrist, but didn’t react quick enough, “If something happens to you, none of us are getting back to Sol!” She shouted after Ixtaro. Vigdis, Zhao and Varen could to a degree do each other’s jobs, so from a purely resource-management point of view losing one of them wasn’t that big of a deal, but figuring out what went wrong with the FTL drive and how to get it to behave was critical. She wasn’t gonna live out the rest of her days neither here nor during the centuries-long sublight journey home. “If she dies, I’m gonna kill her.” Vigdis growled under her breath, thinking that maybe she should’ve let Ixtaro be scared. Too late to fix that, but despite the necessity of Ixtaro’s survival, Vigdis couldn’t find the courage - perhaps madness - to go out and drag her back. She hoped Eva would.

“We’re holding a choke point, they’ve got Ezra and the two droids in their backs, and we’ve got Eva. We’ll be fine. Why don’t you post up over there?” She tried to reassure Darnell and pointed to the other side of the barricade, formulating it as a suggestion rather than an order to try to get around his combative attitude, “The farther apart we are, the fewer of us they’ll take down with a single area attack.” While spacing was a good thing to do, she mainly just wanted to get the tipsy corporate drone out of immediate earshot before responding to Zhao, since technically passing any information to people inside might’ve been considered insubordination since neither of the officers explicitly allowed it.

“Actually, hold that thought, the captain just walked up to one of them. They’re huge, no way they can maneuver well inside. If they breach, just park two armed sentries in the hallway and wait for them to come to you like Lemmings.” Zhao would’ve noticed Vigdis suddenly sounded a bit more relaxed, “Doctor, come here for a second. I don’t know how much you know, so from the start: Bumped into a bunch of local birdfolk, a centaur and a burning tree-man.” She said to bring both Feng and Zhao up to speed, hopefully without Darnell noticing her mic was open, “We started communicating, kind of, but they seemed friendly. But then a bunch more centaurs showed up, and these guys are loaded for bear. They’ve been yelling at each other in Alienese for the past five minutes now, and now the captain and Ibarra are within stabbing distance. Promise not to laugh at me, but some of the locals are fucking sorcerers. I tried to find a better explanation for what I was seeing, but I’ve got nothing.” The thought of magic was absurd enough on its own, but seemed to be doubly so in the world of engineering, where if you couldn’t model it mathematically, it didn’t count.

---

The moment Nellara heard Gesith's insult, she couldn't help but to laugh. It was honestly a terrifying reaction, considering the situation they were in. Especially since it wasn't a sarcastic laugh, but a genuine, amused laugh. To think a pitiful, arrogant and conceited little lord such as him had the audacity to not only invade Ascendancy territory, but to challenge a Castigator? That situation was so ridiculous it was almost comical.

"I seem to have made a mistake by treating you like a knight or a noble then! No wonder why we are having difficulties communicating with each other..." Nellara said, laughing as she looked at Gesith.

"After all... If you take away the honor, ethics and civilized behavior of a person, you are left with nothing more than a wild beast... A beast that moves solely by instinct and greed. Takes what it wants to take, not thinking about the consequences their actions can have..." Nellara said, giving a step forward until she was two steps away from touching Gesith.

"And we all know that beasts, especially beasts of burden, listen better to the bite of a whip than laws, ethics or words, am I right?" she said, with a cruel smirk as she looked to Gesith.

"I ask you once again, Gesith. Are you ready to act like someone of the position you so proudly claim to have?" Nellara asked, with a threatening tone.

Despite how hard Nellara was working to maintain the situation under control, the lack of proper communication... and maybe the stubbornness of some humans was about to make things even more complicated... As soon as Nellara noticed that Zeynep didn't heed her warning and instead continued approaching Gesith and his knights, a twinge of irritation briefly appeared on Nellara's expression. She didn't even need to think to be sure that somehow, Gesith would twist the situation and somehow use that to justify his words and actions.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take much to make Gesith's voice and expression to fill with arrogance and excitement as he pointed out the humans' approach... Something which only made Nellara want to pounce on him and slit his throat even more than she already wanted before. The strict investigation from the Order of Magisters, including having her mind searched by Thought Mages, which would more likely take place if Nellara ended up killing Gesith, almost sounded preferable to continuing hearing the Glen lord's nonsense.

"Safe? Spare me from your cheap tricks. We all know that you want nothing but to claim and steal their fortress to yourself. Neither you nor your knights even tried to hide the greed in your eyes as soon as you looked at it." Nellara said.

When his knights gave a step forward and Gesith himself said that they were in Sudenúr as he began 'talking' with the humans, Nellara immediately put herself in front of Gesith once again, blocking his path, purposely dropping the entire pouch of metal spheres on the ground as she raised her hand in a signal for him to stop, feigning it as an accident.

"You will not take a single step forward, Gesith Silbermine! This is my last warning. The Sky People might not understand your petty tricks, but we know your greed very well." Nellara said with a loud and firm commanding voice.

"You invaded Ascendancy territory, claimed it as your own by ignoring the clear natural borders and you are challenged a Castigator's authority inside Ascendancy territory! The offenses you committed today are enough to warrant a severe retaliation towards Mythadia from the Ascendancy. Your insolent behavior today might will have serious consequences if you not stand down right now." Nellara said as she looked directly towards Gesith. Both of them only a few meters away from each other.

"If what happens today is known by the Ascendancy, your king would have to offer our nation your head in a platter as reparations to avoid a war. I suggest you to think about your next words very carefully and think even more carefully about your next actions." Nellara finished looking towards Gesith and his knights with an expression that made it clear that there would be no more exchange of words, depending on their reply.

"Zeynep! Listen!" Nellara said, without taking her eyes away from Gesith and his knights.

"Enemies. Take Jotunheim. Take 'guns'. Not friends." she said, purposely using the human word for 'guns' as she pointed towards the glen knights, then to the Jotunheim, making a grabbing motion with her hand, almost as if she was trying to grab the entire ship and aggressively taking it back near her own body.

With the tensions as high as they were and the heavy words she spoke, it would be highly unlikely someone would notice the metal spheres (which blended in quite decently with the metal shrapnel from the Jotunheim's crash) that she had dropped earlier slowly moving through the ground, positioning themselves in a line between her and Gesith, with three spheres stopping in front of that line, each one pointing towards Gesith and the two knights that were behind him.

“You joking with me, miss? I’ll whoop ya ass.” Zhao replied to Vigdis over comms, making her way to the shuttle bay.

Feng peered out past the boxes.

“No amount of biofoam is going to treat being gored in two by a centaur. I may as well go back inside.” He was joking, but the edge in his voice was evident.

---

The pristine Tekeri was right, these Sky People evidently didn’t speak S’toric. They spoke faster, with some hissing. They said something close to Silbermine’s own name, and his people, but that was about all he could understand. That could be a problem right now, though not insurmountable. Many refugees from the North spoke in tongues; he’d heard of the work the Inquisitor’s Guild was doing to learn from them.

The imposing Glen took the proffered metal object as delicately as his armour allowed. He stood his ground when Nellara approached him, though his knights sidled closer still. He was confident that he had enough soldiers ready to slay his opponent to stay this Tekeri’s hand.

Silbermine’s gauntleted fist dwarfed the elongated item. He opened fingers back out to gaze down at it while the Castigator’s puffery washed over him. He was enamoured. The craftsglenship was exquisite, especially the faint engraving of a wallbreaker Glen on the side.

“What is this thing?” He asked them, holding the pen up at the same time Nellara spoke some strange language back to the Sky People.

---

“Are you trying to get us both killed?” Zey hissed, keeping her eyes on the aliens.

"Enemies. Take Jotunheim. Take 'guns'. Not friends." The bird Nellara said.

“Don’t worry birdy, nobody is taking anything except these pens.” She said, motioning for calm.

At the same time, the elk-thing wobbled its new pen at them between two fingers.

“Give me a pen.” Zey said, grabbing one from Ibarra without tearing her eyes away from the aliens in front of her.

Holding it clearly out in front, she pulled the cap off and stuck it on the other end. She then held up her left palm and looking at it, began drawing a classic peace symbol. The ink didn’t come out on her sweaty hand.

“Oh fuck off.”

Zey wiped her palm on Ibarra’s shoulder and tried again. The ink came out and the symbol was complete.

---

Silbermine took an involuntary step back and looked at the identical thing they’d given to him. By the gods, what sorcery was this? A quill could never produce runes with such ease. What did it mean?

The Glen noble clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, producing a loud clock sound. Instantly, a servant clopped up. Among all the array of supplies on his back, the youngling carried a small locked chest. Silbermine fished around in the folds of his cheek, and spat out a small key into their hand. The servant used it to unlock the box and open it up. It was full of treasure of all descriptions. Silbermine took another step back to inspect the contents - all the soldiers inched a bit closer.

The Glen pulled out a small gold alloy currency band, closed the box and locked it, then stowed the key back in his mouth. He lightly threw it to the Sky People - he would have handed it over but Nellara was firmly in his way.

“My thanks to you, Sky People. I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship. We will continue this conversation soon.” He said loudly, then addressed the Castigator.

“I’ve seen all I need to see for now. We will set up camp for the day and rest. My Glen are tired, like your soldiers too.” With that, Silbermine turned and headed back to his entourage, stopping in front of his knights. He spoke very quietly but urgently to them.

“Sir Gwarulch, make haste back to Keraknúr. Find me a Thought mage from the northern passage and bring them here. Sir Wainmoth, take my seal. Raise as many fighting Glen, engineers and labourers as you can, bring them here with supplies for moving the temple.”

Both knights saluted with fists against their chests.

“Yes m’lord.” They immediately peeled off and went to inform their respective retainers to stay put.

That left only Sir Sweven.

“Sir Sweven, let us traverse the hill to find a defensible spot for camp today.”

“My Lord, the Ascendency could be doing the same. If we strike now, we could take the Sky People back to Keraknúr.”

Silbermine thought on it for a second.

“No, that would leave their temple unguarded. The key to our victory at the Running could be inside. We need to communicate with them and show them the sense of allying with Mythadia.”

“Shall I go to Torant and inform the King, then?”

“No, I need you here. At any rate, his spies will do that for us eventually.”

---

Zey let Ibarra catch the thrown object, and watched as the Glen retired, turning its back on them.

“Let's get out of here - I think that’s enough diplomacy for this morning.” She murmured to the woman next to her, before talking into her comms unit.

“Package delivered, seems the situation is cooling off a little. We’re heading back now - let's give the aliens some space.”

---

Zey called a staff meeting as soon as they got back inside. Ezra and the droids were still outside, monitoring the aliens who chose to stick around. Wodan watched the now vacated shuttle bay and its hastily erected wall of boxes, all while taking minutes for the meeting.

The Captain sat at the head of the cramped conference room table. She was slouched back in her chair, stroking her chin in thought. Eventually, when everyone had demilitarised and assembled, she spoke.

“So…it seems that not only are we cut off from Earth, we are not alone in this new world. Would anyone like to give me their take on what happened this morning? What do we do next?” Her tone was a kind of forced calm, a tool used to rationalise a completely bewildering situation. They could have been at an AA meeting if the whole place didn't smell like burned wiring.

Once everyone had said their piece, Zey convened the meeting without giving specific orders and quietly retired to her cabin to think.

"An exchange of gifts," grumbled J'eon, watching as Lord Silbermine take the offered pen and toss something of his own back before locking his chest up.

Or did Silbermine see it as something else? A tribute? Or proof of the Sky People's favor?

"I hope for reason, for good relations," the blacksmith rumbled, rubbing his chin. "Why do I fear this will not go well?"

---

"We set boundaries," Jack stated flatly. "We do not let them inside the ship. Those giant armed deer guys can't fit, but they must be murder on open plains and roads. However, the others aren't much bigger than we are, so we have to make it clear they're not allowed inside until we're ready for them."

"With everything that's happened, the hanger will have to do. We'll put up a table, the flags, all the bunting we can find - but we install a defensive barrier of some sort to keep them away from the airlock," he stated. "It'll hopefully avoid any rushes and give us a position should there be an attack." Like flamethrower attacks from that burning tree. Let's hope the heat shielding is still intact.

"Second, we need to learn whatever language they're speaking," Jack added. "Wodan, are you able to listen in on the locals and work out their language?" Please tell me someone somewhere thought it was possible their AI would need such a thing should they encounter other alien races out here... wherever here was.

The Jonsdottir Line wasn’t needed in the end. They could all breathe a sigh of relief. There was a welcome pause to return the equipment and decompress before the captain called the meeting, letting Vigdis kind of sort out what just happened in her head. They still had no clue what was happening, where they were or who to believe, but the historical example of native Americans called for caution. But nobody died. Yet. That was a plus.
“I think we should figure out a way to ask them for samples of their food. We don’t know how long it will take to get flying again, and if at least some of their food is edible to us and we could secure a steady supply, we could even thaw out the frozen goods, gain some extra manpower and stop wasting power on the cryo pods in one go.” Technically, she wasn’t supposed to know about those, but power became a hot topic the second they realized the crash scrammed both their reactors and the pods were the first thing Chief Zhao brought up when they discussed power saving measures over lunch.

---

After the meeting, Vigdis hurried to intercept the captain to apologize for sidestepping ehr authority when Ezra spooked the locals and assuring her it wouldn’t happen again before going about her duties. Despite the unforeseen developments, the day was only starting. Seeing a chance to show off one of the many reasons why keeping in humanity’s good graces might be a good idea and taking advantage of the fact that the words ‘stay’ and ‘repair’ were known, she used the two plus gestures to invite any locals that stayed near the ship to her own magic show: It started with a few trips to the storage bay and workshop to bring a fire extinguisher, a few spare welding masks for any onlookers and some hull patches - four millimeter thick rolled titanium squares and rectangles of various sizes. Then she fiddled around with the media player on her wristpad, setting it to loudspeaker. Always work in style and comfort if possible. Using notes she’d made on the second day, the marker and a plasma cutter, she cut the patches into shape so they would fit the jigsaw puzzle that would temporarily cover the hole in the hull. Then came the main number of the show - the tungsten electrode inert gas arc welder.


With the first panel in place, everyone who stuck around would receive a palm-sized scrap of the titanium patches left over after cutting them onto which she wrote the recipient’s name with the welder, or her best guess of how to write the names in latin script based on how they sounded to her, doing her best to explain what it was by pointing and repeating names. She took great care to take the high oxygen environment into account, despite the fact that these welds would not be holding pressure, and a little over nine hours later plus lunch, what had been a hole in the hull that accidentally facilitated first contact with three separate species was once again a wall.

With the work outside done, Vigdis borrowed some quarantine sheets from the medical bay and secured them to the sides of the damaged ramp with the aid of liberal amounts of duct tape to create a temporary seal. The damaged ramp would have to wait, there were more pressing problems to sort out. After waiting for the life support system to normalize the air inside the now sealed shuttle bay so she could work without setting everything on fire and civvies could start cleaning up and organizing the space according to the officers’ wishes, it was another two hours of reinforcing the patched wall and then adding a second layer inside that would actually act as the pressure hull. Work done well called for a beer. Being marooned sucked.

---

Vigdis spent the short remainder of the work day going over the ship’s power grid centimeter by centimeter, looking for any damaged wiring where they could be wasting power to heat losses. Come evening, they weren’t even halfway done when they clocked out. Vigdis stole a few minutes to sit atop the Jotunheim and watch the sunset, this time with a breathing mask. She didn’t want to breathe in the invigorating, oxygen rich mixture before going to sleep, thinking the day’s events would make it hard to fall asleep anyway. Tomorrow, Zhao would take over the power grid unless something more pressing demanded her attention and Vigdis would help Varen with engine checks. That was going to be grim, ultimately deciding if they would ever return home or die on this strange new world.

@EliteCommander@13org

Kolvar Stilmyst

As soon as everyone was hunkering down for the night, Kolvar, Gar’Tan, and the soldier arrived at the crash site. He was glad that there was not a pile of dead bodies everywhere. “Well we are here, I will lead you towards Castigator Nellara.” Kolvar along with Gar’Tan walked over to where Nellara was.

“I am glad you and the others are still alive. I brought the thought mage with me, I believe we should be able to finally communicate with these foreigners.” Kolvar hoped they would be able to let the strangers know they are not hostile. He also hoped that Silbermine has not contacted his army for reinforcements.

---

The Inquisitors set down a short distance away from the Jotunheim, not far outside where the Castigator’s force had set up camp. They set down the thin wooden box they were carrying and, while still in the form of birds, worked together to open it up. One of the birds grabbed a solid white head scarf and laid it out on the grass nearby, placing its head inside before making the transformation back into their natural Iriad form. The whole time, they took care to ensure they kept the scarf over their head to obscure their face from any observers.

The Iriad did the same for each of the other Inquisitors in turn, keeping their faces covered as they were returned to their natural forms. The last to be transformed was Gar’Tan, though as he was no Inquisitor Guard, there was no need for him to obscure his face. From the box they were carrying, the Inquisitors armed themselves and donned their armor, though with the restrictions on the weight they could carry, their equipment was notably less intimidating than their usual uniforms. They put on simple cloth gambesons with the insignia of their guild stitched on the front. In lieu of halberds or long spears, they carried only quarterstaves. Gar’Tan, on his part, wore just a plain tan robe.

Nevertheless, the Inquisitors escorted Gar’Tan to the Castigator’s camp with all the same military precision as they had exhibited back in the city. The Iriad and the Tekeri marched in front of him, while the two Glen marched behind. When they reached the Castigator, they stepped aside and said not a word.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Castigator Nellara. I am glad to finally have the opportunity to work with you, since your appointment to Lenkik.” Gar’Tan said, bowing his head politely to her. He was physically unremarkable by S’tor standards, but for any Humans observing was still the most massive of the locals they had seen so far.

---

Itxaro had to stop herself from shrieking with delight when she caught Silbermine's golden band, her hands eagerly working over the artifact to explore the item's craftsmanship. She managed to keep her composure. It wasn't so much the value of the object - Itxaro had never been one for jewelry or trinkets - but what it meant. The first exchange of gifts between humans and aliens, and she'd been part of it. Looking up, Silbermine seemed just as enamored with his gift. The cheap pens could hardly compare to the handcrafted ring she held in her prosthetic hand, but nonetheless, they seemed impressed. She bowed gratefully to the Glen before following Zey back to the ship. The tension between the natives still worried Itxaro, and she suspected this wasn't the end of the conflict. She studied the gift once more before wearing it proudly on her bicep, feeling like ancient royalty. "Could have gone worse, right?"

---

Itxaro was still reeling from the whirlwind of activity to contribute much during the staff meeting. Their situation, already precarious, was becoming even more so as the hours passed. Priorities were shifting from just repairing the ship to defense, long-term supply issues, and negotiations with the natives. Itxaro didn't mention they might not be able to return home even if the standard engines were repaired, given the sorry state of the FTL drive. Problem for another time. Aside from voicing support for the various plans crew members proposed, the engineer remained uncharacteristically silent.

Meeting adjourned, Itxaro joined Vigdis and the other engineers in the shuttle bay to patch up the hull. It’d been a while since she'd used a plasma cutter, but her quick hands flew about their work, still remembering the motions. She cleaned up the ragged edges of the hull breach, allowing Vigdis to seal it up with the pre-cut sheet metal. The manual labor was a far cry from crunching numbers on theoretical FTL drives, and frankly, Itxaro welcomed the change. It was something real, something tangible. That, and it allowed her mind to wander, turning the day's events over in her head. Sentient life form was big, but magic? Really? She kept flipping up her welding mask to look at the natives in the distance as if to reassure herself the whole day hadn't been a fever dream, and she wasn't comatose in the ship's medbay.

After hefting up the sheet metal while Vigdis welded them into place, Itxaro, now sweaty and exhausted, quietly slipped out of the shuttle bay to end her shift early. The hull now sealed, she figured they wouldn't miss her too sorely. If not, she'd probably be chewed out. I've been chewed out before. Fuck it. Rather than scour the ship's guts splicing wires together, Itxaro assigned herself a new task. She scrounged for what she thought she needed and set out to find Shirik.

---

Itxaro found Shirik at the native's camp, a short walk from the Jo's crash site. She carried a bag slung over her shoulder and set it down before the Iriad. "Gifts," she explained with a small grin. She'd been worried that the first natives might have been offended they didn't get a trinket like the Glen, so she'd brought along a few party favors. Itxaro opened the bag and set her offerings out. A simple combat knife for Nellara, who she assumed was some kind of soldier; the knife, oversized in human hands, would be closer to a letter opener for the massive Tekeri. Two blank journals, bound in durable plastic, for Kareet and Kolvar, along with pens. They seemed more scholarly than the others, and she'd seen one scribbling on paper during their interactions, so it seemed like a fitting gift. She also included her personal, beat-up copy of The Years of Revolution, an early history of the USASR written in Spanish and heavily annotated by Itxaro. She doubted they'd be able to read it anytime soon, but it was the thought that counted. She wasn't sure what to give J'eon, though. He seemed somehow different from the others. Itxaro noticed the anvil medallion he wore, and managed to slip a ball peen hammer out of the machine shop that probably wouldn't be missed.

"Gifts," Itxaro repeated, sweeping her arm over the items now on display. She reached into her pocket and produced her electric arc lighter, fully charged. She pulled a page from one of the empty journals and lit it as a quick demonstration. The paper smoldered quickly and fell into the wind. "For you," she said, handing the lighter to Shirik. Been meaning to quit smoking anyways.

The two sat in the soft moss and continued where they had left off, expanding their shared language. They still relied on Itxaro's datapad and Shirik's patience, but now free from the previous session's stresses, the two were able to establish something akin to real communication. Yes, no, the idea of a question, some verbs, and a plethora of nouns. She made sure that there was no one-way translation, with Shririk understanding the English version and Itxaro the Kanth-Aremek version. It was tedious, sometimes frustrating work, but rewarding nonetheless. She supposed the ship AI, keyed in to her datapad, could have accelerated the process, but frankly she didn't trust the semi-sentient machine.

Between translations, Shirik would spread their hands between the two, and draw flaming shapes in the air to help depict things easier. Eventually, depictions became written, bilingual script in both of their languages. Shirik would further portray what sentences they both formed in the other’s tongue with moving images. The sentence, “House Silbermine wants Jotunheim,” for example, was depicted by several Glen drawn in flame, picking up the ship and carrying it away from the “Sky People.”

During their translation attempts, Shirik made no attempts to speak to Ixtaro in the same way they spoke to Nellara earlier, or the Glen knights who appeared with ill intent. Shirik was about as calm as one could imagine a being made of fire could manage.

Itxaro felt strangely comfortable in the alien's presence, free from the human prejudices that she felt aboard the Jotunheim. Any quirks or eccentricities she had, Itxaro assumed, would be chalked up to typical behavior by the locals. As the sun began to set, Itxaro stood, stretching her long limbs, and smiled at the Iriad. "Thank you, Shirik. Tomorrow, more talk?" She asked in her rough dialect.

Shirik nodded. ”Yes. Tomorrow. Find me. We will speak more.” They said, speaking in human language in a way that seemed like they weren’t actively trying to sound fluent. Having learned multiple languages over the last millennia, it wasn’t entirely difficult to pick up one more.

When Ixtaro left, Shirik put up the hood of their cloak, and clasped their hands together. Iriad did not sleep, ordinarily. Shirik, however, did not enter the usual hibernation state that most of their kind did. Dim flames began to spread across the ground, faint like old candles. Shirik’s head tilted downwards, and they entered a dormant state. The flames did not burn anything, but they simply existed around Shirik. To the humans, this would have seemed like sleeping, though it was not.

---

Itxaro fell into her bunk, feeling the warmth from the previous occupant. The room was dark and filled with the sound of shallow breathing from sleeping crew, but faint blue light bathed Itxaro’s face as she opened her datapad. She shared the first edition of the English-Alien Dictionary, complete with a rudimentary pronunciation guide for each word and an alphabet, on the ship's network for her crewmembers to review. 80 words. Not a bad start, she mused. Itxaro also compiled a brief report to Zey, filling her in on what Shirik had said. House Silbermine wants Jotunheim. Despite her exhaustion, it was a long time before sleep found her.

It quickly became clear to Zey that she needed some time alone to process the morning’s events once the meeting kicked off. The crew’s stressed and often overlapping voices prompted a harsh ringing in her ears that made it difficult to concentrate. She nodded distractedly, pinching her top lip with two fingers till she tasted blood.

“Alright, thank you everyone for your suggestions.” She said when she could bear it no longer.

“I’m going to my cabin now to…plan our next move. Carry on.”

Zey barely made it twenty paces out of the conference room before Vigdis ambushed her to say sorry.

“Thank you, Jonsdottir. You did well. Now hop to it - the ship isn’t going to repair itself.”

With that, the Captain half jogged, half staggered up the stairs to her cabin. Her vision was whiting out, she felt sick.

Wodan opened the door for her on arrival and she crashed through onto the floor of her quarters.

“Leave me alone now. Go!” Zey barked. The cabin door closed and locked.

She lay there, shaking and hyperventilating on her hands and knees.

“No, no, no, no, NO! Please…” She hissed through gritted teeth. The ringing was getting louder. She spat a gob of phlegm onto the deck in front of her. For some reason, her mother and father heave into her mind’s eye, and told her to pray. They practised Islam to this day as far as she knew, though Zey had long since renounced her belief in gods.

Laying in a pose of supplication, she started murmuring in Arabic. She didn’t knew where it came from, apart from that it was deep inside her.

“I seek…refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge the…favors that You have bestowed upon me, and I confess my sins. Pardon me, for none but You…has the power to pardon.”

All those people out there, depending on her. She had no idea how to save them.

After a minute, ten minutes, an hour, who knows, Zey crawled across her cabin to the sideboard, opened the lowest drawer and pulled out a bottle of navy rum. Collapsing on her side, Zey shakily opened the bottle and poured some in her mouth (and all over the floor). She swallowed, and immediately regretted it. Without moving, a half pint of bile shot out of her mouth and mixed with the rum on the floor.

She passed out where she lay, into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Morning turned to afternoon, and then evening. When Zey awoke she felt dehydrated, but the ringing had gone. She felt more alert, too.

Getting to her feet, she drank deeply from a bottle of water on her nightstand. Then she checked her watch. Must have been out for at least ten Earth hours. Zey stripped off, put her dirty clothes in laundry then took a quick shower. She thought about the events of the morning, and realised what happened after was hazy. She asked Wodan to summarise the meeting afterwards, nodding at the points made as water ran down her face.

Zey dried off, cleaned her teeth then changed into her uniform. Finally, she carefully cleaned up the mess she’d made earlier. Picking up her communicator from the floor, she pinged her XO.

“Hey, Mallory, I’ve been thinking about what you said in the meeting. Can we set up a reception area on the other side of the ship; use the telescopic ramp? That way we can use the shuttle bay to house the civilians if the engineers can repressurise it. Speaking of which - have we done a full audit of our passengers yet? Seen how they’re holding up? If not, get on that - we need to know their skills so we can put them to work. Everyone has to pull their weights now.”

“Got a flock of birds approaching. They’re carrying a box.” Ezra came in over all-crew comms.

“They’re doing that thing again.”

“What thing?” Zey responded, breaking her ten hour silence.

“I said one of the birds turned into another bird earlier, but you all didn’t seem ready for that information. Well, they’re doing it again. The birds just turned into all kinds of other things. They’re going over to the first group.”

Zey sighed. It was just one impossible thing after another. She resumed her 1 on 1 comms with her XO.

“Mallory, you wanna go see what’s going on? I need to run some things by Wodan.”

Truth be told, she actually still felt too weak to go outside again just yet. Mallory was perfectly capable of taking the lead for now.

---

On the question of translation during their meeting, Wodan’s answer might not have been particularly encouraging. He did indeed have programs dedicated to the translation of alien languages. They were based upon the algorithms used by the Yenge during their first contact to establish communications with Humanity. Once the translation was finished, Wodan would be able to upload translation programs to their devices to allow them to seamlessly, in real time, translate to and from this alien language to any Human language. Once they could communicate effectively, it would not take much longer afterwards to do the same for their written languages. However, the act of translation itself was no easy task. Wodan was already running every recording he had made of the natives through the algorithms, but usable translation software could be weeks, or months, away. An entire language was far more complex than an exchange of a few simple words or phrases. It had to be able to parse an entirely alien form of communication, with potentially new types of grammar rules, tones, sounds, and perhaps body language. It was completely possible that particular body motions could augment or change the meanings of words. There was no guarantee that all of the sounds would even be in the range of Human hearing. The algorithm had to account for every variable that could possibly be involved in communication. On top of that, Wodan was operating on auxiliary power, so he could not think nearly as quickly as usual. For a challenge of that magnitude, an estimate of months may have been generous.

---

After she had messaged Mallory, Wodan’s ravens appeared before Zey in her quarters. The eyes of the two in the back kept darting between Zey and the one in the center, while the largest of the ravens was fixated on the Captain herself. “I may guess at least one of your questions, Captain. Whether the natives understand it themselves is unknown, but we have found no explanation for these occurrences that is not wild speculation.”

@13org @EliteCommander

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kolvar looked relieved that now he would be able to communicate with the foreigners. Following behind Gar’Tan to the campsite. “Hopefully we will be able to communicate with them and let them know we are not hostile.” He let out a tired sigh before continuing to speak. “If we are even able to convince them we mean no harm.” He turned his attention towards Nellara. “We’re you able to make any sort of connection with these foreigners? I and I assume you would not want to be murdered trying to step onto their ship.”

He didn’t doubt Nellara as a diplomat nor Gar’Tan’s similar abilities, although he was worried that he would not be able to convince the strangers that they were friendly. He himself was no diplomat, so he didn’t think he would be good at creating a relationship with foreigners. He just wanted to get access to their library and learn more about them.

---

At first, Nellara didn't try to hide her irritation with the humans' actions. Even if they were trying to make a diplomatic approach, they had no idea of the true intentions Gesith had and their actions were only making things even worse. Especially with the 'gifts' they gave to the Glen.

The more the situation progressed, the more Nellara wanted just to rip that insolent glen's throat off his neck and face the investigation from the Order of Magisters afterwards. The fact that she didn't have a proper sleep yet other than a few quick naps, despite the sun being already high was making her patience run even thinner.

"Your insolence and disrespect to the Ascension will be punished with blood, Gesith Silbermane." Nellara said, almost hissing as she replied to his words.

"I hope you are prepared for the consequences of your actions. Both for you and Mythadia itself." she continued, with a clear and not so veiled threat.

"Although... You might not live long enough to face them yourself. Good luck, Gesith. You will need it." Nellara completed as she walked back towards where her soldiers were.

---

The next hours were quite tense for Nellara, due to the situation, not only she wasn't able to rest properly, but she had to keep an eye on Gesith's movements, see if the humans had any other wonderful idea that would end up making her life even more miserable or if Gesith decided to attack, which was honestly what she was hoping for... Seeing his lifeless corpse at her feet was honestly just what she needed to calm her ire.

Regardless, there was little time to lose, even as she waited for the thought mage to arrive from Lenkik.

"I want one of you to immediately go to Lenkik as fast as you can. Even if you have to run all the way there." Nellara said with an incredibly serious tone to the remaining soldiers she brought with her.

"Order an army to be immediately assembled and dispatched to this site to deal with the Glen invaders and protect the humans. I also want an updated report about the situation delivered to the highest authorities in Lenkik, with express orders to be IMMEDIATELY taken to Arcaeda. I don't care about proper procedures for requisitioning an army or bureaucracy. I will deal with those after the current crisis is solved. Arcadea needs to know about this as soon as possible. Mythadia has formally invaded Ascension territory and is currently establishing a military camp as we speak. Reinforcements and possibly an army is already have probably already been called by them." Nellara said.

"Needless to say, whoever goes to Lenkik will be compensated for your effort. Feel free to take a few days off to rest with my permission." she said with a sigh. Even though it was highly unlikely Nellara herself would have any days off for the foreseeable future, due to the recent developments, keeping the soldiers well rested and satisfied was still important.

"As you wish, Castigator Nellara." One of the soldiers said, taking a step forward as he prepared to the long run back to Lenkik, taking off as much armor as possible and only taking the necessary in order to not weight himself down.

That particular soldier was one of the smaller among the group and had a relatively light build. Due to that, his decision to volunteer himself wasn't met with any objection from the other soldiers.

Just after the soldier began making his way, starting with a steady jog before gradually increasing his rhythm, one of the humans, Ixtaro, approached their camp, just as Nellara had sat down. In any other situation, approaching them by herself would be incredibly dangerous, but the fact that Ixtaro chose them to do so and not the Glen did make her a bit more relieved. Even if it was rather reckless by Nellara's own standards, to approach a group she barely knew by herself, it was still an undeniable show of trust.

Even though her interest seemed to be more focused on Shirik, Ixtaro seemed to have brought a number of objects. 'Gifts' was the word she used, as she handed them to each one of them, likely a sign of friendship and goodwill.
All the objects seemed to be quite curious. From the strange notebooks and metallic writing instruments, to a small metallic box that could produce a small flame and even a curious knife, they were all quite curious. Upon a brief observation, Nellara was able to notice that most of them, despite the strange materials, seemed to have similar uses to objects that already existed in Kanth-Amerek.

"Thank you." Nellara said, thanking Ixtaro with a small bow as she analyzed the small knife on her hands, curious about the metal it was made with and the strange techniques used to make the grooves and overall form of the blade.

Out of respect for the human, Nellara made no attempts to intrude or interrupt as she interacted with Shirik, even after hearing the name 'Silbermine' being said.
Both the human and the strange Iriad continued exchanging pictures and words for a decent time, before they bid their farewells, promising to 'talk' more on the next day.

Just before Ixtaro was about to leave, Nellara, who choose to say nothing instead of interrupting them, finally turned towards the human, with a serious expression.

"Silbermine, Danger. Take, steal. Careful." she said, turning to Ixtaro for a moment and offering her a small nod before the human left for the ship again.

---

It didn't take too long until Kerchak arrived from Lenkik with the soldier Nellara dispatched with him and the promised thought mage and the inquisitor guards that always escorted one of his kind. The fact that they arrived earlier than Gesith's reinforcements, possibly a thought mage of his own, were incredibly good news for Nellara, since she would have a chance to communicate with the humans before Gesith did.

"Thank you. Thank you as well, Kerchak." Nellara said, nodding and showing her appreciation for both Kerchak and the soldier who were to Lenkik.

"Gesith has established a military camp and has started moving his forces. We can expect reinforcements, possibly an army to arrive." Nellara said, quickly explaining what had happened to Kerchak while he was away.

"The Ascension will do the same... An all out war between the Ascension and Mythadia seems unavoidable... Unless Mythadia gives the Ascension an official apology and sends the Ascendancy reparations for Gesith's actions... Which will likely include a punishment for the offender." Nellara said with a heavy sigh before she finally turned to the thought mage, brought in front of her by the inquisitors.

"Although I wish the circumstances behind our meeting were better, the feeling is still mutual. Your cooperation is of utmost importance to solve this situation." Nellara said, greeting the thought mage with a respectful nod.

"I assume you already received a brief explanation of the situation. Also, I assume that you know that everything you will hear, see and experience here today should be kept a secret." Nellara asked looking at Gar'Tan seriously before she began explaining.

"Last night, something akin to a meteor fell on the hills behind Lenkik. It's light and noise were enough to send the entire city into a state of alert, going as far as sending a Castigator to investigate." she started to explain.

"This is the 'meteor' you heard crashing. This huge fortress-ship is inhabited by a race of creatures calling themselves 'Humans'. Not only does the language they talk not resemble any known language, but we have received confirmation from the humans themselves that they, in fact, do not come from our planet." Nellara continued, giving Gar'Tan some time to absorb all the information.

"Unfortunately, it seems the crash was loud and bright enough for other people to see it and show enough interest to come investigate it..." Nellara said, nodding towards the camp Gesith made in the distance, with a clear expression of anger and disgust.

"To make things worse, their goal seems to be much less 'diplomatic' than ours regarding the Humans. Gesith and his knights aim to claim the ship for themselves and take the humans with them for their technology. Under the guise of 'protection', they want to disassemble the humans' ship and take it to their kingdom, with the humans as their hostages... They treat the humans more as objects to steal than sentient creatures." Nellara continued.

"We were the first to have direct contact with the humans. The few words we know of their language and the words we know from theirs were fruit of our small 'exchange'. They were the ones to explain us that they came from another planet, the name of their race, the name of their ship and even their individual name. The commander of this ship seems to be the one called 'Zeynep'." Nellara said, replying to Kerchak's worries regarding how close they were from the humans.

"Our intentions were peaceful from the start. In the other hand, Gesith appeared with a small army, both armored and with weapons in hand. I can safely say the humans have much more reasons to trust us than they have to trust the Glen." She said, trying to assure Kerchak that there wasn't any reason for the humans to consider them as enemies.

"Regardless of how friendly our first contact was, we still need to respect their territory, instead of just entering their ship without being invited. We will approach the entrance to their ship and relay our intentions to communicate by using the help of the thought mage...?" Nellara said, discreetly asking for his name with a hand gesture.

"Time is of the essence. We need to make use of the advantage we have over Gesith. I am sure he will bring a thought mage of himself to try and convince the humans to hand themselves over so he can put his greedy paws into their fortress. If any of you have any questions, the time to ask them is now. I will try to answer all of them as clearly and concisely as possible, while we head towards the Jotunheim entrance, knock and wait for the humans' reply." Nellara said as she stood up.

Staying true to her words, Nellara gave a quick nod towards the Inquisitors, whom certainly had heard her words as she guided them towards the Jotunheim entrance, stopping just outside where the humans had made their barricade, before knocking on the boxes and waiting for the humans to reply.

"Vigdis, Zeynep, Ixtaro. We talk, speak." Nellara said, using both words that she heard Ixtaro and Vigdis exchanging in the previous night.

---

Kareet had, naturally, taken great interest in the gifts that Itxaro had for them. The fact that the Human had simply given her one of their aluminum pens was nothing short of stunning. In fact, she was beginning to believe that the Humans did not understand the value of the metal here. By the same token, Kareet could only conclude that aluminum must not be nearly so expensive for them. Either they did not find it as valuable, or they had far more of it.

Despite how expensive of a gift the pen was, Kareet was initially more excited about the books. The first one she was given she eagerly flipped through its pages for a few moments, though it seemed to be blank from cover to cover. Admittedly, that did deflate her excitement briefly, but it did not take much for her to realize that the book itself was likely the gift. It was probably a notebook, like her own. The paper felt different between her fingers, as did the cover. Kareet could not place what this material was that the pages were bound between. It was hard, but still quite flexible. The closest thing she could compare it to would be leather, but it felt noticeably different.

---

With the Glen establishing their own camp across the way and the Humans mostly returning to the Jotunheim, there was little to do for most of the day except wait and rest. The return of Kerchack with the Though mage, though, marked an immediate shift in the situation. As much as she liked to portray her professionalism, Kareet practically jumped up when she saw them land. In traveling with Shirik and J’eon for a few days, she had already reversed her schedule, so she still had plenty enough energy in her for at least a few more hours. Though, she would give up as much sleep as needed if it meant finally having the chance to study the Humans. Regardless, she stayed out of the way for the moment while Nellara and the Thought mage spoke. She would have her chance soon enough.

Gar’Tan listened politely to every order, warning, and complaint that Nellara had for him, though he certainly seemed to have far more of an interest in the Jotunheim than Silbermine and the other Glen. Inquisitors, and the Thought mages who served the Guild directly, were neutral in Kanth-Aremek’s politics, so even if he had an opinion on Silbermine or Mythadia, he would not be acting on it. Still, these new visitors were something of definite interest to him.

“I am Gar’Tan, Thought mage in service to the Guild of Inquisitors. It would be my pleasure to provide translation between their thoughts and your words. Understand that, per Guild rules, I cannot show any preference between you and officials of Mythadia, but I am sure that clear communication will be of great help to your efforts at diplomacy. As long as I have permission to begin my work?” His last question was not directed at Nellara, but the Inquisitors surrounding him.

Without delay, the Iriad spoke up, loudly and clearly. “For the purposes of the mission, you are unshackled in regards to the outsiders.”

Gar’Tan nodded, directing his gaze back to Nellara. “Then I am ready to assist.”

Kareet did not hesitate to follow right alongside Nellara, practically beaming with anticipation. There would be no more guesswork, no more uncertainty, just pure, direct communication. Already, she had her notebook out and was ready to test her new pen.

Itxaro stumbled from her bunk, bleary-eyed and aching. She wasn't sure if it was the excitement of the previous day, breathing highly oxygenated air, or some combination of the two, but she finally gave up trying to sleep. Looking at the other crewmembers crammed into the bedroom now rising like resurrected corpses for the next shift, she suspected the whole ship was beginning to suffer from some degree of sleep deprivation.

Itxaro's mind went out, came back, and went out again like a ranging dog. I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day, she mused weirdly, unsure of the sentence's provenance. Itxaro's first thoughts after waking were often confusing and disjointed. But the thoughts that came to her in the restless sleep were not.

She had flung herself about the cramped bunk in the darkness, thinking of home. Not particularly missing it; she wouldn't trade meeting aliens for all the comforts on Earth. No, she'd been thinking about what home's response would be to the discovery of a lush planet filled with sentient, magic life. It didn't take long for Itxaro to determine what the capitalist countries and corporations would do. Exploitation at best. Slavery at worst. What else could they do? That's all they know.

Itxaro shuffled from room to room, searching for an open shower. Bathroom for every cabin. Who the hell designed this ship? She slipped into the rec room, found an unoccupied shower, and hurriedly stripped and jumped in before anyone could steal it from her.

It was easy for Itxaro to predict what the rest of humanity, in her mind, would do. The real question for the engineer was how her own country would respond, and this question tortured her all night as she ran through the possibilities. Like the island nation it grew from, the USASR was a one-party state, almost a given with any socialist country. However, if that had been intended to create a unified government, it failed miserably. The Politburó was fractured into a dozen or more shifting factions, all vying for power to enact their policies.

Even though she was expecting it, the blast of cold water elicited a sharp yelp from Itxaro. She scrubbed quickly, knowing she only had a limited amount of time before the water shut off, or she was interrupted by another morning riser.

The Marxist-Leninist-Bazánists, the dominant faction, would advocate for the isolation of Kanth-Aremek
at all costs, even if it meant violence with other humans. Or so Itxaro suspected. This faction had not forgotten the damage done by early colonizers to the Americas, and would seek to spare this new world the same fate. Might be too late for that. Furthermore, the old-school among them would state that even if they did interact with the aliens, they were far too primitive for a socialist revolution. She recalled that Lenin stated the Russian Empire was not ready for a revolution in 1917, and Itxaro guessed Kanth-Aremek was far from reaching even that level of development.

Only marginally cleaner than she'd been moments before but now wide awake, Itxaro stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel before heading to the laundry room around the corner, metal icy cold against her bare feet.

The trade unionists would advocate for trade, what else? An exchange between Kanth-Aremek and the USASR, trying to edge out the other human nations with favorable deals. Increase the industrialization of Kanth-Aremek, develop infrastructure and their economic capacity to both decrease their exploitation and accelerate the growth of the proletariat, thus speeding up the socialist revolution that was inevitable in all societies. So they say. Itxaro feared the rapid industrialization of what she assumed was a medieval world would result in an incredibly warped society.

Itxaro quickly changed into the thick, baggy coveralls she'd cleaned the previous night with a concoction of the science team, a boric acid wash meant to make fabric resistant to combustion in Kanth-Aremek's atmosphere. Or at least buy you some time to rip the burning garment off. They felt stiff and heavy, and weren't as strong as the flash suits they had in limited supply, but she supposed it was better than catching on fire.

It was the Neo-Maoists who worried Itxaro the most, though. They were a relatively small faction growing smaller, their beliefs now outdated on an entirely developed Earth, but they led a large alliance within the Politburó, and possessed an ideology that could be dangerously applicable to Kanth-Aremek. The Neo-Maoists believed that industrialization and a proletariat wasn't necessary for a revolution, that Mao himself had toppled the old regime using a vanguard of pre-industrial peasants instead. They would likely deploy agitators to instigate an insurrection against whatever powers controlled Kanth-Aremek, try to topple the local governments, and install those loyal to the glorious people's revolution at the top. Then, they could wage yet another war against the human occupiers, effectively turning the whole planet into a warzone.

Every scenario Itxaro had thought of last night ended in warfare and bloodshed. She felt deep in her gut that neither the USASR nor Kanth-Aremek could ever come out on top against the forces stacked against them. They'd have better luck trying to stop the tide from coming in.

Itxaro tugged her chunky boots on, shifting uncomfortably in her attire. She hated the drab clothes with a passion, yearning for something vibrant and exciting, but it would have to do. The engineer headed to the shuttle bay, preferring to work through her restlessness rather than toss and turn.

---

She was about halfway to her destination when a frazzled crewman came sprinting down the corridor, wild-eyed and out of breath. "Itxaro! Bird! Your name... Gotta find Vigdis... Fucking lizard!" The man dashed off, leaving Itxaro to puzzle together his manic fragments. She started to the shuttle again, double time.

Itxaro peaked over the barricade that spanned the shuttle bay ramp and recognized several familiar aliens through the transparent plastic, along with a new one. Fucking lizard! She fell off the barricade in surprise and landed on the deck painfully, then scrambled back to her feet to vault over the barricade and slide through a flap in the plastic sheeting. She hadn't expected yet another species on the planet, bringing the total up to four. There was also something that looked like Shirik, only it wasn't... Burning. The lizard creature stood closest to her. This must be the one they've been trying to get here. During their translation session, Shirik had tried to explain in their rudimentary tongue why they needed them, but the meaning eluded Itxaro. S'tor read think, speak, talk. It was difficult to picture the giant dragon before her, S'tor she assumed, as a scholar, but that was all that came to mind from Shirik's explanation; perhaps a linguist of some sort? Surely this planet had more than one language.

Itxaro greeted each member of the party in the local dialect, before reaching the dragon. "Hello, S'tor," Itxaro finished with a slight bow. The gesture seemed to work with the Glenn, so she stuck with it. "Itxaro," she said, pointing to herself. "Friends, all," she added, opening her arms to them. Itxaro was skeptical how much help a native translator would be. They'd been getting along at a decent pace before, she considered a little egotistically, but the aliens seemed adamant that this towering lizard was necessary.

Read think, speak, talk. What's that mean? He gonna read my mind? Itxaro considered with a slight grin. Then she thought back to the Iriad's fire drawings, showing all of the magical abilities they possessed, and more. One depiction in particular stuck out in her memory. Oh fuck, he's gonna read my mind.

She turned to the barricade and hissed to the crewman on the other side, "Get Mallory! Get Eva too! Now! There's a lizard!" Itxaro turned back to the party and smiled nervously, searching her deep pockets for any more party favors but only finding loose cigarettes and no lighter. Even in her frantic state, Itxaro was pleased to see Kareet using the notebook and pen, and wondered how the studious Tekeri was enjoying The Years of Revolution. Then she remembered that the paper could spontaneously combust in the atmosphere, destroying all of Kareet's notes and her loaned book. Gonna have to fix that after this clusterfuck.

Itxaro continued to stall, trying to pump them for information. "S'tor read think..." she struggled to remember the native word. Her tongue felt too heavy and slow for the quick native language. "Head. Question?" Since it was difficult for humans and Kanth-Aremek natives to read eachother's intonations that could suggest a question, Shirik and Itxaro used the word "question" to indicate that something was indeed a query. She pointed to her head for added effect, not knowing if they understood that the brain is the center of cognition. Why am I the only idiot out here?