The Disruption (IC)

Mott made the last connection. He quickly rolled Vey over and thumped his chest, then took his pulse, sighing with relief as he did. "As you can clearly see, I don't really need your help. As for your proposal, as far as I'm concerned, unless Vey says otherwise, there is no deal. We don't trust you with that information."

It was just then that Godmar made a move. By pure chance, when Ravage knocked him down, his left arm had ended up underneath him. With that hand, he slid from his belt a knife. While Ravage was looking up, listening to Mott, he simultaneously kicked her in the ankle joint of her left hind leg, while bringing the knife out in a slashing movement across her left front leg. As she stumbled, he gathered himself together and shoved, throwing her off. Without hesitation he dashed off.

From the roof of a nearby building, someone had been quietly observing all that had occurred. He did not know or care anything about the issue of over the Dark Energy Convertor; he watched merely out of idle curiosity, and out of a lack of anything better to do.

About a month ago, he had arrived on Vathoris, stowing away on a freighter. From there, he moved into the poorer region of Daro's capital, hiring himself out as a mercenary and assassin. However, he wouldn't take just any job, only those that he saw as a challenge.

When the battle had broken out he willing took part, destroying more than a few droids and some stray Mondarian soldiers. Great was his frustration and disappointment when the cease-fire was called. His search to ascertain the cause lead him to the plaza, where he quietly took up a station where he could see and hear everything. Nothing escaped his heightened senses.

When Godmar made his escape, for want of something to do, the watcher decided to go after him. Sliding off the roof on the side opposite the plaza he moved to intercept his target.
____________________________________________

The Vatarri was very distraught and overwrought. Godmar had told him to remain where he was, but he had disobeyed. When he had first joined himself to Godmar, it had been out of desperation. He was both a husband and a father, and without any employment. This coupled with a promise from Godmar that his wife and daughter would suffer no harm during the ensuing attack had made him Godmar's servant and helper. But now, with things going the way they were, he had become desperate, and decided to take things into his own hands.

He made his way to the palace and found it deserted. Going in he quickly found Mott's private workshop. Sorting hastily through various papers and data files gave him nothing. Then he noticed the box. It was sealed tightly and had secure lock. However, after a great deal of fiddling and prying, he succeeded in opening it. Inside was a small chip. Inserting it into the computer, he made a quick check of the contents. No doubt about it. This was what he was looking for.

Taking his find, he hurried out into the streets, ducking into an alley. Flitting furtively from hiding place to hiding place, he started to make his way to the plaza. Just then, one of the UFIAI surveillance drones came by. Taking a chance, he jumped out in front of it.

"Wait!" he yelled. "I have information for you." He waived the chip, hoping the drone was smart enough to comprehend. "This chip has information regarding the Dark Energy Convertor. If you take it, all I ask is that you take all of your forces and leave Vathoris. That's it."

Ravage screeched, but due to the knife having cut the unarmored part of her front left leg, she wasn't able to pursue Godmar. As she watched him vanish, her nostril-slits flared, and she hissed, a reptilian pink tongue flickering for a moment. "Next time I see that grubblon, I won't bother apprehending him. I'll just rip out his throat like he deserved it in the first place. Lawful or not, proven traitors don't need a court system for their executions." She growled. She stood back up and straightened, holding her injured leg up off the ground, the position making her look even worse than before, no feathers, plus the bleeding cut. Her voice was already back to full strength, but she was still hurt. Her body always put priorities in place for what healed first, so thanks to the cut in her leg, which had gone deep into the muscle, thankfully not severing any tendons or ligaments, the wounds left by her burns would be put off, as would regrowing her feathers. First internal damage, and next, whatever limited mobility of the limbs. Superficial things were of the least importance. Ravage held her leg up for a few more moments, before gingerly setting it back down, wincing slightly at residual pain, and leaning on her good leg, not quite ready to trust the front left with full weight just yet.

She looked over at Mott, "I won't say any more about the subject of the convertor, it is best if I refrain from negotiations. In addition, that is the least of my worries, currently. How is he? Aside from the ones we already know about, did you reconnect the device fast enough to prevent any further brain injury?" It was obvious she meant Vey.

Vey groaned as he struggled to sit up. "He's fine, I think," said Mott. "It's not his brain that's really the issue, it's his heart and other essential functions."

Vey sat up, sucking in air sharply. "Where's Godmar?" he said. He looked at Ravage. "Are you all right?"
__________________________________________

Godmar sneeked through the alleys, treading with care, knife in hand. At first, he had been afraid that Ravage would chase after him; however, upon discovering that she was not pursuing him, he calmed down a little. However, he couldn't quite shake the eerie feeling that he was being followed.

He started at a loud clanging sound. Whirling round, he saw a small can toppling from a wall. He began to turn around and promptly walked right into a long sharp blade, impaling him in the shoulder. With a cry of pain he fell, clutching the wound as he looked up at the source of his injury.

At about five and a half feet, the creature was not particularly tall; however, his build was lean and powerful, with not an inch of his frame wasted on adipose. He was a biped, standing on elegant, birdlike legs, the feet of which were wearing what appeared to be modified Markovan foot greeves, complete with bladed toe pieces. His skin was orang ein color with some tints of green around the shoulders, and his body was overlaid with light green-blue stripes of random patterning. He had a medium length tail, and was clad about the waist with a belt which descended down to a loin piece in the back and front, also seemingly some modified piece of Markovan armor. His neck was moderately long, ending in a heavily ossified head. The snout was drawn out into a bony beak, with an far underslung mouth, surmounted by two curved horns. A prominent ridge ran from his snout up his head, which was topped by two half-crescent-shaped crests; two pairs of strange fleshy quills protruded from the back of his skull.

His hands had three-clawed fingers that were webbed. On his lower arms he wore a strange pair of metal cuffs that almost completely encompassed their length. The cuffs seemed to be divided at both ends, with the resulting midsections being further divided lengthwise into three segments. On the left cuff, one of these segments had lifted away from the rest of the cuff, and the long sword which had pierced Godmar's shoulder extended out from under it, with a click, the blade seemed to telescope back into the segment, which promptly retracted back into the cuff with another click.

The creature smiled at Godmar. "Going somewhere?"

The creature seized Godmar and, even though Godmar was the bigger of the two, lifted him with seemingly no effort.

Ravage huffed, and shifted her weight, sensing that her leg could bear it again. "I was just asking the same thing about you, Vey. If my health was a major concern, you'd know by now. I had Godmar, but he apparently keeps a knife on his person at all times. The grubblon slashed my leg, and I couldn't follow thanks to the cut. It's all good, now, most of the damage is superficial, though I think the situation has lessened enough for me to say that being caught in public without feathers is quite an awkward experience, to say the least. On a positive note, Chimerosu feathers typically regrow more beautiful each time they're lost, though naturally we don't molt, except to lose our baby feathers, or in my case, which was severe injury. I've had the same feathers for eleven years, since before receiving mutations, so who knows what they might look like when they regrow? At any rate, I should have them all back in a few hours, at least after all the burns are fixed up.

Moloch had stood frozen for some time, as Warmind's concentration was elsewhere; The drone had stopped, and was inspecting the chip the Vatarri had in he's hand. The drone flew closer, retracting one of its multi-jointed instrument arms to carefully take the chip. It rose the chip in front of its optical sensor and also attached multiple tube-like instruments to it. Warmind confirmed that this was most probably what UFIAI was looking for. The drone tucked the chip somewhere to its underside. "You have made a great service to your planet, and to UFIAI. I am more than willing to comply with your request", the drone said with a very metallic and distorted version of Warmind's Jorro'kil voice, and took off flying towards the plaza.

At the plaza, Moloch suddenly turned around and stretched its arm palm upwards. Soon a drone flew from an alley, and landed right on Moloch's palm. Moloch then attached the drone to its back turned to face Vey. "I thank you for your patience, my honoured host. Also thank you  Ravage for your understanding. I will proceed to gather my forces and leave the system in thirty minutes. You can keep the destroyed units, I don't need them." suddenly all Warmind's forces started to move at the same time, fighter craft returning to carriers, land units assembling to formations and dropships picking them up. Moloch walked away from the people and larger obstacles. It stopped in the open with several dozens of feet clear all around it. "Apologies for the damages I caused. UFIAI will not disturb you anymore", it said, as the space around it started to ripple. Several bolts of electricity stroke trough the air, and in a huge bang, the air and Moloch with it collapsed inside, causing a small blast wave and sending a large clue of dust up in the air. As the dust settled, Moloch was gone, teleported back to flagship Limos.

Vey and the rest stood stunned at this unexpected turn of events.

"Are they just leaving with nothing?" said Mott

Vey stood, a look of disturbed thoughtfulness on his face. "Something isn't right," he said. "I find it hard to believe they would just leave like this." He turned to Mott. "You might want to check the power plant."

"Did you lose this?" said a voice. Turning, they all beheld Godmar being carried in a most undignified fashion on the shoulder of an unusual looking creature, who carried his large burden with little sign of effort. Coming up to Vey, he tossed his burden none too gently to the ground, where he lay groaning. "I think this is something you would be wanting. No need to thank me."

Vey looked hard at the creature and at Godmar, and then lifted Godmar up, a suspicion having formed itself in his mind. "Did you give the UFIAI information on the Convertors?" he demanded.

Godmar glared weakly back at him. "I told them nothing. I never got the chance to." He looked around. "Are they all leaving? How odd."

Vey gave Godmar to the Grand Admiral, and then sent a call to Aarin. "What's the situation up there?"

"The UFIAI ships are leaving. Did you manage to reach an agreement with them?"

"No," said Vey. He paused a moment. "Come down right away. Something isn't right?" He turned to the creature. "I suppose some thanks are in order. What is your name?"

"And what are you?" said Mott under his breath.

The creature looked over at Mott. "I did hear that Humdar. I warn you I can hear quite a lot better than you can. However," he continued to Vey, "you may call me Isbar." He looked around. "Are they all leaving? How disappointing. I thought the fun would last longer than this." Then he noticed Ravage. "Ah, you're recovering quite well," he said with a knowing gleam in his eye. "Got rather badly cooked, didn't you? Still, you're looking much better now, though you might perhaps be feeling a little chilly at the moment, if you take my meaning."

Ravage snorted, her beak turning pale pink with a slight blush of embarrassment. "Yes, it is true that without my insulating down that it is uncomfortably cold out here, but at the same time, I know better than to complain. My feathers will grow back, the only sad aspect is that in about an hour I'll be fighting to resist the temptation to scratch. Wound healing is good, but it does not help me if I pluck out new feathers as they grow in, that is only acceptable if they are damaged." She winced, and was clear that she was indeed starting to feel the annoying, persistent itching sensation that all creatures hated. "However, I suppose now that Godmar has been returned back into custody, and is not in a position to try any more surprise attacks, I have no more reason to remain out here and worry. I trust everyone can check the power plant without me, besides, even if I heal quickly, Xenos cannot. It is only the coating on his skin that keeps him in such a good position, despite his injuries."

Indeed, Xenos was covered in dark red spots, where he had been shot with weaponry, and the blood had dried to seal up the wounds. These wounds were covered in something that glistened, his slime, which most likely had some property that either numbed or soothed pain, or perhaps stopped infection from setting in. Regardless, the Spiromander retained all injuries he had received since the initial invasion. Ravage shook her head at him, frowning, "I will go back to the ship, and this time, I mean it, there should not be any other reason for me to overhear something and then turn back. I think both Xenos and myself could use a rest, for a bit." She whistled, and Xenos came over, allowing her to mount him. She turned him so that they prepared to leave. They left the area, both rider and mount alike viciously growling and hissing at Godmar as they passed him. They vanished through the rubble.

Aarin arrived on the surface about half and hour later, and was met by a great deal of activity. Everywhere rubble and droid remains were being cleared away, relief services were running hither and thither. Aarin carefully picked his way through the streets, stopping a soldier to request where Vey was. He hurried to an impromptu base of operations that had been set up in the plaza in front of the power plant. Going inside, h found Vey speaking to a Mondarian soldier.

"So you are part of a resistance movement against Jiiran?" he was saying.

"Yes, Sir," said the Mondarian. "I was a assigned to find out what Jiiran wanted here, and to stop him, if I could. Unfortunately, I was unable to to either of those things."

"No need to be concerned," replied Vey. "We managed to take care of the latter portion. Oh, hello Aarin."

"Are you all right?" asked Aarin. "I heard you had been badly hurt."

"I'm fine," said Vey, "thanks to Ravage and Mott."

Stepping into another area of the command base, Vey brought Aarin up to speed on everything that had happened on the ground, right up to the mysterious departure of the UFIAI.

"You think they might have somehow found the information they were seeking?" Aarin asked.

"I'm sure of it, though how they managed is beyond me. All checks and investigations so far have turned up nothing. In the meantime, I've called a meeting of the Heads of State to discuss the situation, and I've asked Admiral Lirr of the Markovan Empire and Admiral Rakluth of the Krathunian Covenant to be present as well. After they came to aid us like they did, they deserve to know what this is all about."

"Agreed," replied Aarin. He was a silent a moment. "It is indeed disheartening to hear about Godmar. I knew of the hatred he bore and his greed for power, but I never would thought he would go so far as to hand his own people over to Jiiran."

Vey sighed. "I wish I could say that his actions surprised me, but I'm afraid I can't. Still, we were lucky that that fellow Isbar caught him."

'What exactly is Isbar?" asked Aarin. "And where is he now?"

"He wandered off. However, I have no idea what he is. I haven't seen anything quite like him before."

Just then, a soldier entered. "Pardon, Sire, but I think you should come see what we found."

Following the soldier, Aarin and Vey went out and were confronted by a Vatarri whom they had not seen before, though Ravage might have recognized him as the one cloaked Vatarri she saw amongst the refugees. He was obviously not well in his mind, for he babbled to himself unceasingly, saying things that didn't make any sense. "What is wrong with him?" asked Vey.

"We found him wandering the streets, talking about the Dark Energy Convertor."

The Vatarri looked, his eyes glittering madly. "I did what had to be done. No one else would do it, so I did it." Then he began to weep. "Please try to understand. I have a family. I had to protect them. You understand, don't you?"

Vey looked the insane Vatarri in the eye. "What did you do that I should understand?"

The Vatarri looked away. "I gave the robots the information they wanted. I had to. I had to protect my family. That's all that mattered." He went off into a stream of babbling again.

Mott came up. "Vey, I was just back at the palace, and I found the box that I kept the chip in gone, the chip with information on the Dark Energy Convertors."

"Had to do it. Had to do it," went on the Vatarri.

Vey was grim. "I fear we have the thief right here, Mott, and my suspicions are confirmed. The UFIAI have the chip."

Mott groaned. "Oh dear, who knows what they're going to do with that information. There's still much we don't know about how dark energy works. If they do something foolish with it, who knows what might happen."

Having been observing the conflict from a long distance via various energy detection instruments, the Jorro'kil had a large fleet drifting ever closer to Vathoris. Leading the fleet was not only a commander, but a Shipmaster herself. Consisting of a leading Super Destroy, a few Destroyers and many Cruisers and Carriers, the Jorro'kil Fleet had recently emerged from slipspace, and after a time of slowly moving towards vathoris, preparations for battle were made ready, including possible strategies and Fleet firing solutions. Eventually, after the planet was well within sight to the Fleet and also within communication range, a message was sent.


"This is Shipmaster Xolva Xavitra of the Jorro'kil. We are here, so ready yourselves."

Vey examined the plastic bag held out to him by Allé. "You say you found this in the main room of the power plant?"

"Yes," replied Allé. "Judging from what you said about what went on in there, I'm thinking that these are fragments from Jiiran's armor that were broken off when Ravage struck him with her claws. I must say, considering how strong Jiiran's armor is, this material seems to be remarkably brittle, more than anything I've ever encountered. I had to use a vacuum to get these pieces up. Whenever I touched them, they kept disintegrating into smaller and smaller pieces."

Vey scratched his chin a moment. "That's certainly unusual. Could Ravage's claws have altered the chemistry of it somehow?"

"Without examining them, I can't make any hypothesis on that," replied Allé. "Shall I take this to the lab?"

"By all means," said Vey. "Anything we can learn about Jiiran's armor would be extremely valuable."

Allé hurried off, just as Vey's communicator began beeping. The call was from the fleet in orbit over the planet. "What is it?" Vey asked when he opened the channel.

"Jorro'kil, Sire. A large fleet has just arrived, and they bid us prepare for their arrival."

Vey gave instructions concerning this information to the person contacting him, and then began to see to preparations to receive the Jorro'kil and to get ready for the meeting.

The Jorro'kil arrived on a scene that would be common to any battlefield. Functioning ships were mixed with fragments of destroyed ones. Battleships stood guard while service ships worked to clean away the debris and repair ships ht still functioned, while rescue ships combed the wreckage searching for survivors. As the Jorro'kil approached, they were met by a Vathorin vessel.

"This is Captain Gerren Demistir," came the transmission. "On behalf of the Confederacy of Vathoris, we welcome you. Please excuse the mess," the captain added in wry tone. "The High Prince of Daro sends his greetings, and requests that you send representatives to the surface at these coordinates." The Jorro'kil received the coordinates of the Daro Capital landing field. "The Prince is currently convening a meeting of the Vathoris Heads of State, along with representatives of the Markovan Empire and Krathunian Covenent of Sethega to discuss matters pertaining to an attack upon our world that was recently attempted by the UFIAI and the Imperial Despot of Jiiran, and thinks that you would benefit from attending The High Prince will brief you on all necessary information when the meeting convenes."

While the Jorro'kil were arriving on the surface of Vathoris, a single, large object slowly entered the solar system where the planet was. There was no cloaking of ay sort, and it was very conspicuous, clearly alone, and easily detected by various sensors and scouts throughout the area. The cruiser was of a strange design, and in all the databases in the galaxy, there was not a single file about it, not of the blueprints, origin, or even the planet, race, or empire it belonged to. There were no ties that gave anything away about this large ship, the people inside it, or what their intentions might be. What it was doing in the system belonging to the Confederacy of Vathoris was a complete mystery, and in many different ways, it was arriving at perhaps the worst-possible time. How people perceived the cruiser, though, depended entirely how they saw the situation, and the vessel itself. Indeed, for its great size, it didn't appear to be any sort of war spacecraft, if it was, all its weapons were concealed and not visible. In addition, despite the situation calling for at least suspicion, the way the ship approached seemed completely docile, no speed suggesting a threat.

The gigantic cruiser itself was a work of art, more than simple design put into its making. It was made to be a beautiful ship, lacking the harshness and dullness many larger spacecraft possessed, due to the sheer size of the vessel and the time it would take to focus on aesthetics. Despite whatever time might have been invested in constructing it, whoever had built the cruiser had been willing to pay attention to the finer details that made it so majestic and grand, without being gaudy or excessive. A sort of elongated oval, it had a kind of disk protrusion wrapped about the stern, with perfect circles indicating hatches leading to multiple separate airlocks, marking the ship as some kind of carrier containing several smaller ships. The ship's main body was perhaps a bit egg-shaped, for it began thick and then tapered off near the end in thickness, resulting in it looking like a teardrop from the side. On the top and bottom of the ship rose curved fins, which sheltered and partly covered the engines that made it move, the top fin being larger than the bottom. The large, hexagon-shaped cockpit, located at the front, was enormous, and would clearly cover a several-story building, and serve as a window for an entire control room piloting the vessel. The cockpit was one-sided, nothing of the interior of the ship visible, but it appeared to be made out of some sort of pale blue crystal, for the way it reflected light. Indeed, the entire ship seemed made of crystals, for its smoothed shape, pure white in color, was upon closer inspection formed by multiple different facets, like the cuts in a gemstone, each reflecting light like a jewel. Each individual panel, save for the ones containing hatches or air-locks, was engraved with artistic designs forming geometric shapes, such as spiraling triangles, cubes and boxes, simple and refined, yet not overly elegant or old-fashioned so that it would seem excessive.

As the ship approached, it beamed a transmission to Vathoris, but when it was received, it seemed completely incoherent, the devices used to send the transmission hardly compatible at all, clearly dated, or not advanced enough for anyone to make sense of it all. Screens meant to display video feed merely showed static, and translators failed to convert the alien's native speech into proper words, instead, past the background noise, sounding a chorus of high-pitched chirps, falcon-like cries, odd whistles that were widely varied, and finally, an eerie screech that sounded like a bird of prey, but also had a sort of underlying caw, like a raven. After a moment, the transmission cut off, and was followed by another one, this time, the aliens on the other end speaking another language, but again hardly coherent past the static of a fuzzy transmission.

"I told ye.....fix.....communicators...can't....a thing!" It sounded like one alien was scolding someone else. It was clear they knew they weren't making much sense to the people on Vathoris. This voice was harsh, with an odd accent to it.

"We are attempting....international tongue.....are likely to understand...speak it...." The next accent was just as different as the first, but it was proper and polished, a beautiful one, seemingly educated.

"Enough arguing...transmitting now...I'm in charge...mission..." This third voice sounded more modern, but it was long and drawn out, a kind of drawl with somewhat exaggerated vowels.

The first two voices fell silent, and for a moment, there was only static.

The third voice spoke after a moment, "Greetings...we are...peaceful mission...requesting...send representatives...speak...you..."

Captain Demistir had hardly conveyed his transmission to the Jorro'kil, when the helmsman called his attention to the scanners. A large ship was approaching in a leisurely fashion, of a design not seen before. He quickly opened a channel to Vathoris. "Prince Churim, can you here me? This is Captain Demistir."

"This is Aarin Tiirmot responding," came the reply. "I'm afraid Vey's a little tied up at the moment. What's the problem, Captain?"

"A large ship of unknown design has just entered our system and is approaching the planet, Sir. What action shall I take?"

"Send some ships to intercept. Have they attempted to communicate?"

"Not as yet, Sir. . . Wait a moment, somethings coming through." The Captain listened to the static sounds and strange bird-like noises coming through the comm. "What on Vathoris?" he muttered. "Comm officer, why aren't we getting a clear signal on this?"

"There seems to be an incompatibility between the our system and theirs, Sir," was the reply. "I'm trying to compensate now."

"What's going on up there, Captain?" asked Aarin.

"They seem to be trying to communicate, Sir, but we're having trouble making sense of it. I'll put it through so you can hear too." He gave the order to the comm officer. Just then, more came through.

"I told ye.....fix.....communicators...can't....a thing!"

"We are attempting....international tongue.....are likely to understand...speak it...."

"Enough arguing...transmitting now...I'm in charge...mission..."

"How's that compensating coming along, Lii?" the Captain asked the comm officer.

"Almost done, Sir."

Then another transmission came through. "Greetings...we are...peaceful mission...requesting...send representatives...speak...you..."

"Are you hearing this, Sir," the Captain asked Aarin.

"Loud and clear," replied Aarin. "Can I speak to them myself?"

"I can put you through as soon as Lii here gets the transmission fixed," replied the Captain.

"Done," announced the comm officer.

"The comm is all yours, Sir," replied the Captain.

As the vessel approached Vathoris, it found itself surrounded by several Vathorin war vessels which began to guide it towards the planet.

"Greetings, my name is Aarin Tiirmot, speaking on behalf of Daro, of Vathoris," came a transmission to the vessel, far more clearly than the message they had sent had been received. The Vathorins had managed to compensate for the differences in radio frequencies. I have to ask you to state our identity and intent, and excuse us for the caution of our greeting. We are not normally so unfriendly to strangers but we have a bit of a situation here that we are trying to deal with at the moment."

There was a moment of silence coming from the strange, crystalline cruiser, as though the beings inside were debating how to respond, but after a moment, a Com. link was sent in reply. It seemed that they were all capable of speaking international tongue, albeit that each one had a somewhat different accent and use of grammar. It was also clear that their native speech was too complex for translators, or perhaps was not present in any database. Perhaps they all spoke different languages, from what could be determined from earlier sounds, but the languages were similar enough to be understood, as though they had all been derived from a common root tongue. Regardless, these aliens were obviously not known in the galaxy. They did react in a friendly manner, however, so it seemed unlikely they were hostile.

The com. link was much clearer with the frequency issue fixed, though it appeared no image was going to appear on the screens, perhaps their cameras just wouldn't work, or maybe they didn't have any cameras at all.

"No offense taken, sir, that would be a good explanation of that fleet we saw a bit earlier, got the sense we shouldn't bother 'em. I'm guessing that was a smart move." The voice with the drawl was the one that responded, each vowel long and drawn out. "As for who we are, my name is Travis, and we're the UCN, that's short for the United Chimerosu Nations, and we've come here because we've gotten word that a member of the original race, Chimerosu quicquam, the one all of us here evolved from, is currently living on your planet."

The Travis fell silent, allowing the Vathorins to digest this information.

The Joorro'kil coordinated a pair of cruisers to move closer to the surface, covered by some of the heavier ships in the fleet. Once in orbit, one cruiser released a shuttle carrying an Executive Officer, someone from the High Councils on Irooscin, along with a Diplomat, while the other cruiser released escort fighters and a dropship meant to accompany the shuttle to the surface of Vathoris. When they reacehd the surface the shuttle pilots requested a point of landing, and waited for the response.

Meanwhile, above Vathoris...


The Jorro'kil Shipmaster, and also operating Fleetmaster Xavitra was notified of the a transmission being beamed to Vathoris via the Super Destroyer's advanced signal detection system, or ASDS.

"I want a tap into that transmission, let's see what they're saying." She said.

"Ma'am?" Replied a crewman.

"Do it, crewman. It's not the most pilot thing, but..safety first." The crewman followed her orders, and the Shipmaster was soon listening in to the message sent by the at first unknown-to-be UCN.

Then she heard the identification.

"Chimerosu? I know that name. We had....an alliance with them. Atleast before..."

The Shipmaster remembered the burning worlds left scorched by the Dominion. The Jorro'kil had attempted to halt the assault after hearing of it but it had been too late and the enemy too swift.

"Du'rakk...They're still alive." She muttered.

Aarin sat silent at the comm down on Vathoris for a full minute. Chimerosu! Living Chimerosu! This was astonishing. Hadn't Krylon been destroyed? Then he answered.

"Excuse me. Who did you say were?"
_____________________________________

Meanwhile, the shuttle pilots received their landing coordinates and the shuttle touched down. Prince Vey stood ready and waiting, watching the shuttle as it landed. When its passengers issued forth, he gave the traditional Daro greeting symbol, a slight bow while placing the right fist against the left palm.

"Welcome to Itirri, the capital of the nation of Daro. I am High Prince Vey Churim, and it is an honor to welcome you here. I only wish," he added, looking around ruefully, "that such a meeting could have occurred under different circumstances."

The UCN cruiser was silent for another moment, and once more this lack of response was most likely to be the result of a debate going on between the aliens inside. It was clear that a few of them had a tendency to bicker, though that was rather normal; even people who were of the same species could come from a different region on their planet, and possess different views on a subject. There was nothing wrong with carefully considering one's actions and words, especially in a situation that could end very badly. Although there was very little chance that Vathoris could identify the UCN as a group of hostile aliens, they still had the right to reject the UCN's request to send down representatives. Although if rejected, the aliens would be disappointed, they would respect the decision. It did seem that Vathoris was recently attacked, and they were fully aware that they had arrived at perhaps a bad time.

After a moment, there came another Com. message. "We're the United Chimerosu Nations, and taking into consideration that Krylon was destroyed by Karthla several years ago, it's reasonable that our presence comes as a bit of a surprise. My companions and I are going to give you an explanation of how we've come to be here, so you ain't confused, frostbite, I'd be confused, too, if I heard a whole extinct race was suddenly back from the grave!" Travis wasn't exactly using proper grammar, but he sounded friendly enough.

A different voice stepped in, the strange, eloquent voice that seemed to speak properly at all times. "How we have come to be here is quite simple, but only if one has studied and learned a certain specific amount of knowledge regarding the Krylonian people. The United Chimerosu Nations are forever tied to the original Chimerosu Empire, however, as you are aware, there is no history on any database regarding the times before they adopted an isolationist policy. Unfortunately, unless you were able to obtain a tome of printed material, you will not know anything regarding what I am about to tell you." This alien did not bother with giving his name, and perhaps it was because he didn't want anyone to know it, unless Vathoris permitted the UCN to send their representatives to the surface. There was the distinct impression that this one individual was somewhat more secretive than the others.

The voice continued, "In the times before the Chimerosu Empire took to isolating itself from the rest of the galactic community, it was recovering from a devastating war that resulted in great tension between it and its neighbors, the original reason they came to believe that they should separate themselves from other races. As you are aware, the Empire controlled several systems, but you only currently have knowledge of the ones they controlled after the isolation policy ended, and you already know that all three systems were eliminated by Dominion attacks. Because there is so little information about the Empire before they entered isolation, you can clearly see what I am pointing you towards. The simple truth of it is, that before isolation, the Chimerosu Empire controlled much more than just the three stars you are familiar with, and we have already investigated twenty such stars, although we found nothing of any value, as all these colonies were long since abandoned, technology too old to be salvaged, and the buildings overrun by the native flora and fauna."

There was a pause, to allow the information to be digested, before continuing, "As you can probably determine on your own, when the Empire entered isolation, most of these colonies were abandoned, the residents leaving and returning to either Krylon or to the other two planets that the Empire decided to keep. However, at this time, some of the colonists on certain planets refused to leave, and instead declared independence from Krylon, which was willingly given by the Empire, there was no fighting to maintain control. Each planet became an independent homeworld, no longer a colony, no longer dependent, but also, no longer having any right to receive aid. The four planets that we know of that did this were all dramatically different from Krylon, and when we no longer had assistance from the Krylonians, we were forced to fend for ourselves."

The voice began to refer to the independent colonies as 'we', so it was obvious that the UCN was made up of these four planets. In addition, everything seemed to make sense, it was consistent, and there was little doubt that this alien was telling the truth.

The voice continued, "With many unable to adapt to the environments of their new home worlds, and with no technology to protect them, most of the original colonists died, and so there is evidence that more than just four worlds declared independence, but perhaps after a short amount of time some of them were destroyed as a result of the harsh conditions. However, how the UCN was born, is rather simple. Not all the colonists died, the ones that were better-suited for survival in their new environment lived, and as the theory of natural selection dictates, over many generations, they began to evolve into an entirely new species, each one suited for survival on their new home planet. Although for a time, all four worlds that we know that lived were temporarily forced into a regressive state, and were unable to leave their planets, or locate Krylon or other independent worlds due to the data virus that deleted the information, we eventually re-developed our space technology. We then had the good fortune of discovering that our four colonies were actually located rather close to one another, though you would never even know the Chimerosu Empire had colonies in such places, as they are rather far from where it originally was. It was not long before we joined together to form the United Chimerosu Nations.

There was a pause, before Travis came back to speak. "Alright, then, that was the brains of our group, but he doesn't really want me to mention his name, Stagnumians are a secretive bunch, even this guy, though he's technically gone out on a limb to be on a diplomatic mission. That aside, we ain't the same Chimerosu you're familiar with, we're four different species that evolved from the Krylonian variant. Let's just leave it at this, Krylonians are pretty much extinct, they ain't coming back, but we got word that there was a Krylonian living on Vathoris, and this individual might have valuable knowledge that could be of much use in an ongoing research project that the UCN has been working on."

Aarin listened closely and with great interest to the history laid out for him by the more officious (and more secretive) individual. So there were in fact Chimerosu still alive in the Galaxy, the descendants of some stray colonies of the original empire that had decided to go out on their own. This was indeed something big.

"Please hold for one moment," he said to the Chimerosu. He then tried to contact Vey, but got no response. He left the message: "Vey, it's Aarin. You may or may not have learned that a strange ship has entered the system. I've just been speaking to them, and they say they are Chimerosu, the descendants of a few colonies that were apparently left over from the original Chimerosu Empire. It seems they want to see Ravage; they seem to think she may have knowledge concerning Krylon. Contact me as soon as you can. In the meantime, I suppose I'll see about taking care of them."

Aarin then reopened communication to the Chimerosu vessel. "Please excuse the absence. I must say it is a delight to know that the Chimerosu have left living descendants. Allow me to welcome you to Vathoris. I'm afraid that the individual you are seeking is unavailable at the moment. But if you are willing to send someone down, or have someone up, I would be happy to oblige you until she is ready for visitors."

The UCN cruiser responded quickly, with Travis speaking, although there was a commotion in the background, a racket of different bird sounds, the different Chimerosu languages and dialects that didn't seem to fit in any translator. The ship seemed to level off, changing the direction in which it moved so that its nose wasn't pointing at the planet, but so that the bottom part of the ship pointed towards the planet, showing that it wasn't approaching anymore. It was too big to land, but the number of airlocks around the back rim of the cruiser suggested it had multiple smaller ships which would probably land easily on any planet.

"Alright, then, we'll be down in a minute, we got representatives of all four races, it'll be me, and a few others. We'll introduce ourselves more properly when we get down there. We ain't gonna try to land the Majesty, it's too big, but we got some smaller ships we can use. We'll be down in a flash." With this, Travis disconnected the com. link.

After a bit of time passed, one of the airlocks on the Majesty began to slide open, emitting a harsh white light, as a smaller ship, very similar in design, but more like a comet in shape than a disk, began to fly out. Like the ship that had carried it, the smaller vessel had a hexagon-shaped blue cockpit, and was faceted like a gemstone, each facet carved with designs, and reflecting light like a mirror. The ship dropped down from the cruiser, and it started up, flying towards the planet to land.

Aarin made sure to beam them the coordinates, a smallish port near the palace. On his way there, he thought hard about the situation. How had they known about Ravage? More importantly, how would Ravage respond to this? Should he go and see if she was ready? He settled on sending a message to her ship, requesting that she come to the palace as soon as she was up to it; he mentioned that someone wanted to see her. She should receive it the moment she woke up.

Arriving at the port, Aarin watched the Chimerosu vessel come down.

The small spacecraft descended and docked in the port that had been designated for it. Although it was different, it clearly had similarities with the ships that had been built by the Chimerosu Empire before it was destroyed, and this small model, in particular, had certain things in common with Ravage's Stealth Strider. Both ships had large, gem-like hexagonal cockpit windows that were blue in coloration, and one-sided, allowing the pilot to see through, but preventing someone from looking into the ship. However, while the Stealth Strider had been extremely sleek, composed almost entirely of smooth curves, the UCN ship was an aerodynamic shape built up by multiple smaller planes, giving it a somewhat more geometric appearance. Also, unlike Ravage's vessel, which was pure black, and seemed to constantly fade in certain places, as though it were a mirage, the UCN ship was more solid, and pure white, the flat planes etched with designs having a mirror-like quality that reflected the area around it. It created a surreal, optical illusion. It wasn't ethereal, like the Stealth Strider, but it looked as though it were not a part of reality.

Seamless spots in the ship opened, and landing gears came out, flexible, suction cup-like structures that would probably allow it to cling to any surface, even if it wasn't completely flat. Small serrations around the edge reinforced that it could probably be parked on the side of a cliff, and it wouldn't come loose and fall into a ravine, though the edges were lifted up, to avoid damaging anything, suggesting that the gears were specialized for landing in multiple kinds of terrain, as well as ports. The ship powered down, and a hatch in the bottom of the ship opened, the only circular shape in its design. A kind of ramp slid down, and the edges of the ramp were notably lined with what looked like flotation devices and anchors, suggesting it could land in shallow water, also. The segmented ramp was flexible, meaning it could cope with an uneven surface, just like the landing gears. It could also be folded up, if it wasn't needed for people to enter or exit the ship, the ramp was mostly a design meant for people who lacked wings, and would otherwise struggle to enter. Older Chimerosu pilots who started to suffer arthritis had usually installed ramps, because their wings hurt when they tried to fly. Overall, the vessel seemed to be multipurpose, and built for all terrains.

One by one, the various Chimerosu marched down the ramp, and it was extremely obvious that they were not the Krylonian variant everyone was familiar with, although what they were was undeniable, for they still had many features that linked them to their common ancestor. All of them possessed four legs and a pair of arms, making their limbs total six. They all had wings, and beaks, and all of them had blue eyes, manes, and tufted tails, as well as horns. They were all similar, but they were also dramatically different. The variation in them was incredible, and one would be amazed, as they were all clearly like this because they were adapted to surviving on a certain planet. One's imagination could run wild, trying to determine the kind of challenges that resulted in these wild adaptations, what kind of environment each specific planet had, and how the adaptations aided in survival.

The first Chimerosu to exit, the largest, was from the front leg up to his horns about six-foot-five, but this was not taking into consideration that a Chimerosu was serpentine in shape, and thus longer than it was tall. The comparison of measuring from the front foot to the top of the head was found useful by humanoids, however, so it was useful. This large Chimerosu was pure white, and lacked plating running down his stomach, as well as the scales that normally covered the hands and feet. Instead, he was entirely covered by long, thick feathers, the angular hooks of black, bear-like claws still visible past them, clearly long and sharp. They were more like the claws of a mammal, than a bird's talons, and the thickness of each limb reinforced the thought, though he was still clearly a bird of sorts. His beak was a dark black-grey color, and so was the skin visible around the bright blue eyes that all Chimerosu had in common. The nostril-slits pointed downward, however, rather than up, which seemed to conserve moisture in the nasal cavity, which would trap heat and water. There was a somewhat leathery patch of skin that ran up his face to meet his long mane, and his horns were thick and curved, more like a ram's, and strong, similar to the powerful horns Ravage seemed to possess, tougher and thicker than a Krylonian. He had large, dense wings that were supported by powerful, bulging muscle, still notable beneath the feathers, showing that he was not merely a large ball of down, but strong, as well. The only color aside from this Chimerosu's eyes were the faint, slightly darker-blue stripes that covered his body.

The second Chimerosu to exit was a bluish-grey color, with darker blue stripes on his feathers, which seemed stiff, and dull-looking, but not because of poor health, but because of a naturally rough, hard texture that resulted in a perfect fusion of armor-like reptilian scales and soft, downy feathers. He was the second-tallest in the group, aside from the white one who came first, being about six-foot-two. His feathers, instead of ending at the hands or at the end of the ankles, stopped just past the shoulder and hips, his limbs almost entirely being covered in hard, rough-looking brown-grey scales. his rough, black talons were long and straight, but slightly hooked at the tips, the ones on his hands looking as though they would lock together perfectly. His wings were somewhat smaller, and the feathers weren't very long. They could still support his weight in flight, but he was probably not a good flier, like the others, perhaps because flight wasn't as heavily needed on his planet. He was also probably a noisy flier, the stiffness of his feathers would make a distinct rattle with each flap. His mane and tail tuft were shorter, and more modest, also. His beak, while hooked with nostril-slits going going up towards his face, was quite odd, in that there were rough, yet symmetrical protrusions on each slit, and it seemed that the skin was extremely tough and thick, even for the skin of a Chimerosu's beak, giving him a rough, rocky-looking face. Pads of thick, somewhat bony skin covered his entire face, leaving room for feathers only around the eyes, which somewhat softened the harsh appearance. His bright blue eyes seemed to sparkle with radiant energy, and his tough horns were extremely thick like a ram's, similar to the white Chimerosu and to Ravage. Clearly, he was adapted to living in a rough, rocky environment, for his bare, scaly armored legs would be an advantage, where feathers could catch on things.

The third Chimerosu to follow was smaller, an average five-foot eight, but his appearance alone was somehow unnerving and menacing, in an odd, predatory way. His feathers were pure black, with a sleek, glossy sheen, and had a blue iridescent quality, which was far more prominent in certain places, where at one point his kind had possessed stripes, now only visible in a certain light. The plating on his stomach, as well as his beak, were a only slightly paler shade of black, and most closely-resembled the Krylonian variant in shape, though there were still differences. A sharper hook was at the tip of the beak, and while nothing was visible when closed, there appeared to be some sort of serrations on the inner part of the mouth, not real teeth, but tooth-like, a combination of thicker and smaller protrusions which would help grip slippery prey, perhaps like fish, as well as allow filter-feeding. It seemed it was a multipurpose omnivorous beak, though it seemed to lean slightly closer to a carnivorous diet. His feathers ended where they were supposed to, past the wrist and the ankle, but around the wrist and ankles the feathers, mostly sleek and contributing to a stream-lined form, flared out a bit. It accentuated the talons, which were extremely long, razor-sharp curved hooks that were pure black, similar to the dramatic length of Ravage's talons, an equal match. However, what was unique was that the four fingers of the hands, as well as the talons on the front part of the foot, were webbed, and except for the large scales that traditionally ran down the upper part of the foot from the nail, the scales were remarkably small and smooth, more like skin, but sleek and waterproof like the oily feathers. The webbing excluded the thumbs and the back toes, allowing freedom of movement for each digit. The toes on the feet seemed to be splayed out, indicating that perhaps they were meant to distribute weight, something that would be useful in wading through water without sinking into mud. Clearly, he came from a wet environment. Despite this, his wings were not like a waterbird's, instead, they were incredibly large, deep-slotted wings normally used by inland soaring birds, and when one looked very close, each feather had serrations about the edges, which would completely muffle any and all sound created by flight. Clearly, not a creature that dived deep into water.

The final two Chimerosu to come along were of the same species, though one was male and the other was female. Both of them had shorter necks, and a smaller distance between their limbs, making much of their length their tails. They were also rather small, the male being about five-foot-three, and the female an extremely short five-foot-one. Notably, these Chimerosu lacked the stripes typical so far for all species, and their coloration was the most different from the original bright blue. Both of them had extremely vivid, iridescent emerald-green feathers, and their long, yet sleek manes, capable of clamping down over their heads during flight, were tinged a bright, aqua green, the male having an additional patch of the color around the sides of his face, also. The plates on their bellies, and the scales on their hands, were a dark wooden brown color, almost black, and their nails were short, but hooked, suggesting they were meant to land on a rough surface, even if it was vertical. Their matching beaks were smooth, and very stiff, also having the most dramatic shape, being long, thin, and curved, the nostril-slits being almost completely even with the surrounding area, and not running down the entire beak, but instead only being at the base, which was slightly thicker, with tooth-like ridges. Clearly, a nectar-feeding variant, though the ridges of the beak suggested a large amount of fruit, though it was sometimes present in predatory species that speared their food. Most likely a more herbivorous species, though meat was still edible. The wings of these Chimerosu were uniquely built, having a blade-like shape. The muscle supporting these wings was large and powerful, but it seemed that the wings were not connected at any place other than the shoulder, which would allow almost 180 degrees of motion, making them flexible. When these two Chimerosu opted not to walk down the ramp, seemingly disliking how its texture was so smooth, they opened their wings and hovered, producing a kind of humming noise with rapid beats, as they flew down and promptly landed again, moving with unrivaled maneuverability.

There were five of them in all, but it appeared the large white Chimerosu was their leader. He looked at Aarin, a kind of friendly smile on his face, "Well, we're all here, and since you've allowed us to land, I might as well introduce everyone." Just by his voice, once could clearly tell that this was Travis, the leader of the diplomatic mission. He then gestured to each Chimerosu, the tall, grey, rough-looking one that was somewhat scaly first. "This is Blair, he's a Cavernian, and my second-in-command, you won't find anyone more trustworthy or loyal, if I had to put my life in someone's hands, he'd be my first choice." Blair gave a nod of his beak, a form of greeting and acknowledgement. He looked highly tempted to say something, but he didn't, because Travis was already introducing the others. The next to be introduced were the two emerald green Chimerosu, "This is Haku," Travis said, gesturing to the male, "-and this is Aolani" he gestured to the female. "These two are Vitisans, and also, they've been childhood friends since they were nestlings, I'm amazed they ain't regarded as siblings. Where one goes, the other one follows." He explained. The two nodded in unison.

Finally, Travis got to the black one, clearly the Stagnumian Chimerosu who had explained the UCN's history, and refused to allow Travis to mention his name, secretive, and reluctant to be known unless it was absolutely needed. "This fellow here is Kerr, one of the few Stagnumians that will actually get involved in negotiations with other races. I'm sorry, but your people really need to be a bit more open, it makes everyone else nervous." Kerr bowed his head respectfully to Aarin, before drawing himself back up and flicking his tail slowly. For some odd reason, the way he carried himself seemed the most like Ravage, the strange, predatory look that was always at first unnerving, but could not be helped. Ravage always looked threatening, but one forgot this aspect once they knew her better.

"I apologize, for not releasing my name at first, but the galaxy is a dangerous place, and so I am cautious. Com. links can be spied upon, and so I dare not let anyone know my identity unless we meet in person. My people and I have naturally learned to be suspicious, call it paranoia, if you wish, but the swamps on my planet all too often swallow the curious and naive. We guard ourselves because we have learned to be suspicious of strange things." Kerr's grammar was proper and polished, and though his explanation might not excuse his behavior, he appeared to honestly state the fact. Up close, his feathers had a strange smell to them, slightly sweet, like citronella, normally present in insect repellent. Chances were, if he was talking about swamps, he was naturally also producing something that kept insects away.

Aarin smiled, and gave the Daro greeting gesture. "Allow me welcome you all here to Daro, my friends. I am Aarin Tiirmot, brother of Prince Vey Churim. I'm afraid the one you are seeking isn't here presently, but I sent her a message, so she will know where to come when she is ready. I also sent the Prince a message, so he can greet you when he can. Would you please come with me?"

He lead them on the shortest way towards the palace. Although the way was fairly short, it was still obvious that a fierce conflict had taken place. Buildings were damaged, people were hurrying back and forth removing rubble, or providing medical attention, or carrying away bodies. It was a dismal sight.

As they passed one area, there were three Vatarri busy cleaning some rubble away. One of them looked up and saw the five visitors. An angry expression crossed his face.

"More aliens?" he said angrily. "Haven't we had enough of that already?"

"Just leave it alone Festin," sighed another. "They're not hostile."

"Is that right?" snapped the first angrily. "And what of it? What good has letting alien races in ever done us? Nothing but trouble! There out to be none here but Vatarri; all the rest are just bad news."

"You're starting to sound like that traitor Godmar," said the third, disgustedly.

"Well, maybe Godmar had a point in his favor," said the first. He grabbed a stone and made to throw it at the Chimerosu ambassadors. "Begone!" he yelled. "Go back to wherever you came from!" Aarin quickly jumped in front of the Chimerosu, but the other two Vatarri were already up and wresting the rock form the first. "Blast it, Festin!" he said angrily, "that's not helping anything."

The first Vatarri struggled for a while, then gave up, some tears in his eyes. He glared at the Chimerosu. "My wife is dead because of aliens," he said. "What do you want here anyways? Just leave us in peace!" he staked off miserably.

Aarin sighed sadly. "Please accept my apologies on his behalf," he said as they approached the palace. "Ever since the Humdar came to Vathoris over a thousand years ago, fleeing the destruction of their own world, the twelve nations of this world, especially Daro, have tried to make this world a place where all are welcome, regardless of species. However, the feeling is not entirely mutual, and I'm sure recent events have done nothing to help such things."

Travis shook his head sadly, "We ain't angry, Aarin. War's an ugly thing, and so is death. A lot of people I imagine are afraid that the next alien to land on their planet is going to be aggressive like the ones that did all of this. Seeing certain things, they'll scar you, and different people deal with it different ways. We ain't strangers to death, it's a part of life, but that don't make it any easier to deal with." As he spoke, the others nodded in agreement, and it was clear that they were familiar with people behaving oddly when they were mourning their loved ones. Chimerosu, in fact, seldom died of illness, because they rarely got sick, they were usually exposed to things, caught them, and then recovered. Illness didn't spread quickly, because there wasn't overpopulation that caused crowding. Most of the time, what killed Chimerosu was either predators, old age, or both. When they grew old, sometimes they became senile, and then they wound up wandering into a situation that got them killed. Travis, in fact, had lost both grandparents on his mother's side to predators, because they wandered out into the territory where such animals lived.

"We all lost loved ones to predators, lad, but not intelligent beings." Blair said, coming up next to Travis, "This case is different, there be the matter of intentions, animals are forgiven because they kill for food or in defense, but people will kill in cold blood." The Cavernian's rough face frowned slightly, "Ah, we best not linger on bad thoughts, they bring down the spirits, and we're about to meet a Krylonian. First impressions matter, Travis, let's not look too serious, after all, I imagine the lass will be surprised to find there are other Chimerosu in the galaxy."



Ravage had woken up a bit earlier, and was surprised to find a message from Aarin waiting for her, asking for her to go to the palace. Someone wanted to speak with her, but it wasn't anyone she knew, and the message didn't say who it was, either. Her feathers had re-grown while she had been asleep, but when she opened her wings to check that the plumes were all in their proper place, she had immediately clamped them shut, stunned. Her mutations had changed her appearance, again, as she was absolutely positive that this wouldn't have happened had she been normal. After a moment, she had opened them and examined them again, this time carefully grooming each feather, before closing her wings and folding them forward, making it so that only the back of the wings were visible, not the inner part, which was normally what people saw. Chimerosu normally kept their wings folded against their backs, and that had been what Ravage normally did, but she didn't want people to see the inner part of her wings, now. She now folded them as a normal bird did. She did have to groom them though, regardless, or her feathers wouldn't muffle the sound of flight, as they were designed to do.

Taking a breath, she had exited her Stealth Strider and walked off to the palace, Xenos following behind, wounds coated with a salve meant to help accelerate the healing process. Where Ravage went, the Spiromander followed, it had become an unspoken rule that the two would not be separated if it could be helped. She saw several people cleaning up the streets, but if they noticed her, they went back to their work, Xenos and the strength that the mutant Chimerosu had displayed in managing to survive a rocket blast and still re-grow her feathers in such a short amount of time with no scarring deterred them from doing something that might provoke aggression.

When she arrived, she stayed in the area where she was supposed to meet the strangers and Aarin, still keeping her wings tightly clamped shut, like a normal bird's, if not a bit too tense to be comfortable. She sighed, and leaned against one wall, her tail flicking impatiently.

It wasn't long before an attendant noticed her, and sent word to Aarin, who had put out people to keep an eye open for her. Aarin had seated the Chimerosu in the library, and done his best to engage them in casual conversation, asking some questions about their worlds and cultures, and answering those they made about his own. Hearing that Ravage had arrived, he excused himself, and hastily went to meet her.

"Hello, Ravage," he said. "You're looking much better. Feeling alright I trust?"

He paused a moment before going on. "I suppose you got my message," he began carefully. "I didn't tell you who it was who wanted to talk to you because I didn't know what your reaction would be, and I ddin't want to give you the impression that I was trying to play some mean-spirited rank on you. Even now, I hesitate to speak of it. I've decided that the best thing is for me to simply show you."

He lead her to the library and ushered her in. "My friends," he said addressing them in a formal manner, "I present to you Ravage of Krylon, a person whom we have been honored to have here Ravage, allow me to introduce Travis, Blair, Haku, Aolani and Kerr of the United Chimerosu Nations."

Warmind had left the system just before the Jorro’kil had arrived. Its fleet was now in the middle of deep space between star systems. Inside the flagship Limos the chip was retrieved from the Moloch, and attached to Warmind’s core with numerous different interfaces. Warmind downloaded the data directly to the UFIAI network where the AIs sank their virtual teeth to it like a pack of starving wolves. Each started to tear down the theory and technical information it contained. After several long microseconds of silence the UFIAI network was suddenly overflowing with AIs’ conversation: “This technology approaches the problem from completely different angle that we have…” “The device is rather volatile, but its potential energy output is very large, probably enough for us…” “In theory this reaction could be done reversed…” “…and this makes it unstable. We should test it and study the results. If we only had time…”

This continued for some time, until the AIs’ had solved the basic theory and calculated the size of the converter needed. It was much heavier and more powerful than the large device on Vathoris, but UFIAI technology and optimization would allow it to be about same size. AI Keeper volunteered to build the device in one of its sophisticated foundries, and it was unanimously accepted, as Keeper unarguably had the best knowledge and experience from extremely complex and volatile constructs.

“Even if we now have the converter, we are only halfway through at max”, Absolute noted, silencing the conversation for now. “That is true. We should go on with our original plan”, one of the AIs agreed “Let’s not ignore our fresh allies. We should use them while we can, as Jiiran might betray us if he gets to know we have the convertor” noted a chorus-like voice. “Jiiran is very unstable person, but unfortunately quite intelligent too. We must keep very close eye on him, but he is a force to be reckoned and undoubtedly useful”, Warmind added. “I’ll inform him on our plans. Since we don’t exactly know when or where Orb might appear, we can’t make exact plans” Absolute concluded “Improvisation is one of our strengths. I’m off to prepare my fleets”, Said a high-pitched female voice, disconnecting its main awareness from the conversation. Soon other AIs started to disengage from the conversation too. Absolute sent a comm request to Jiiran and immersed into recent tactical information from all Confederacy’s planets within UFIAI’s survey network while waiting for response.

As a ramp on the Jorro'kil shuttlecraft slowly lowered and extended, four Jorro'kil emerged. One was a Diplomat, dressed in white with blue and gold highlights. Second was the Executive, an Officer who had volunteered to go on with the fleet going to Vathoris for any negotiation needs.
The other two were guards, dressed in blue and black power armor, Mk V, the latest on the line. They carried energy staffs, large metal pikes with electric energy pulsing at the tip held upward. Only Royal Guards were allowed to carry such ceremonial weaponry, Royal Guards being caharcterized by golden Power Armor, however for this mission the two that accompanied the Diplomat and Executive Officer wore regular Power Armor, which is less cumbersome than the special armor they normally wear.

The Executive and Diplomat both walked up to and greeted Prince Vey.

"I am Xerin Grei, Executive and Jorro'kil High Council member." He dipped his beak, as was the Jorro'kil custom similar to a handshake. The Diplomat did the same, then introduced himself. "I am Hezek Re'se, Diplomatic Officer. It is good to meet you."