u/IndividualPirate5467

Author's Note: I finally got through my writing block! Sorry for taking so long with this entry. Next ones will ramp up the action now that we've got all the prep work done. Hope you all enjoy reading ;) Should probably start giving attention to my other fic as well (-/\-)

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[PREVIOUS ENTRY] - [FIRST ENTRY] - [CHAPTER RECAP] - 

Art Pieces: ( 1, 2 , 3)

Subject ID: Tarva - Venlil - Planetary Governor

Current Objective: Bringing in new guests to the Strategy Hall.

The yotul and thafki were never species Tarva would have ever thought to meet in her entire career. As long as she'd know, those two species had been a massive outlier among those the Federation knew about. Between their refusal to accept integration, the years long war that erupted across multiple systems as tension escalated, and the armistice line that was erected across their territories to keep them away. It should have been safe to believe that they'd be the last set of species who'd ever bother with interacting with the Federation of their own accords.

Yet here she was with one of each them, walking along side her and Elias towards the Strategy Hall. Currently, they were occupied with taking long looks at the various decor and designs of the Palace’s interior, quite invested in the intricate architecture they waded through.

“Quite homely don’t you think?” The yotul said, a sly grin cresting across his face as they looked towards the thafki, whose eyes were still gazing around at the various decorations of the palace.

"Oddly enough yes. The only thing the place is missing is an endless ocean surrounding it." Ukhail commented before turning his gaze forward, a small smile cresting on the Duke’s face.

"You always were one for swimming."

"I'm a thafki. There would be problems if I didn't to some level."

Tarva was only halfway listening to their conversation, as she was trying to focus more on getting all of them towards the Strategy Hall. The sudden influx of two additional guests, of which she wanted to give a good first impression towards was putting a tad bit more stress on her than she’d prefer to have.

Fortunately, she was able stay focused enough to reach the ornate doors of the Hall, each of which was thrown open just slight enough to tell that there were indeed occupants inside.

Very well protected occupants, given the amount of guards that she saw around the place. A good deal of them were human, but most of them were the aliens of the Aeon, and as their entourage passed through them, Tarva sought to keep her eyes forward as best she could.

"Quite the welcoming committee." The Duke stated with a whistle, sounding genuinely impressed with the overwhelming security that stood beside them. Weather it was because of the nature of what the guards were, or what they possessed on them, Tarva couldn't ascertain, but she wasn't invested in discovering the fascination.

"At least we know they spare no expenses on security." Ukhail replied back.

----

The moment the four crossed the threshold into the chamber, the doors behind were slid shut by some of the guards, a loud echoing slam announcing the action to everyone in earshot.

The two humans that were present in the room, The Mistress and The Doctor took quick note of their presence. But were more intrigued by the two aliens that stood right behind Tarva and Meier.

"I was unaware we were having additional guests Miss Tarva." The Mistress said, causing the surprised governor to struggle for explanation for a brief moment before Elias took the conversation from her.

"The additional guests are my responsibility." Elias stated "I would have liked to announced them earlier to Governor Tarva her, but I was short on time, and what they bring is quite valuable."

"And whom might these guests of yours be?"

One of the two aliens, the youtul, stepped forth, bowing before the humans.

"Duke Savleris, and his esteemed cohort, Marshal Ukhail. Emissaries of the Yotul Hegemony and Thafki Concordat respectively."

The thafki rolled his eyes at the terminology utilized to refer to him, yotul often had a knack for getting under ones hide like that. Always able to slightly bend the wording of something to make it far more 'dutiful' than it had any right to be.

Ukhail stepped forth regardless, bowing as well before adding to his compatriot's introduction.

"If you'd permit us, We'd like to discuss matters of the conflict you find yourselves at the center of."

The two seated humans exchange a quick glance towards one another, Brackman was the first to break the stalemate with a glance back towards them and a smile on his face.

"There certainly are enough seats, yes?" He said with a chuckle.

"You’ve already went through the trouble of coming all this way. It'd be shameful of us to send you back during such a...turbulent time."

The two aliens moved forwards and graciously bowed to the ancient human.

"You have the thanks of both our people." Ukhail said as the two made themselves acquainted at seats right beside one another.

Tarva and Elias followed suite, both sitting at seats beside each other.

"So." Tarva began, quickly gaining the eyes of everyone in the room.

"Where exactly should we start?" She asked.

"How about with what we know Governor." Brackman answered, and soon after a holographic display emerged from a projector at center of the table, upon it a display of Aafa’s Summit Halls. Above that, was an equally sized model of one of the corvette that was used to sneak behind their lines.

"The information gathered at Aafa confirms our assumptions exactly.” The Doctor began. “The Federation indeed intentionally orchestrated the attempted decimation of one of their…former own members. “

A minuscule part of Tarva still died when she heard that, to know that the only other galactic power her species had known was so quick to discard them. She quickly shook the thoughts from her mind, now was not the time for such pitying, and focused keeping her attention on Brackman’s words.

“All in bid to try and pull potential sympathy or favor of their member states away from us. Thankfully, through all of our efforts, neither of those came to pass. Additionally, some of the information we gathered along side this has proven very…controversial, for lack of a better terminology." The Doctor gave a short chuckle as the hologram shifted once more showing a still frame of the very footage that got the Federation into its current predicament.

“As expected, this information has caused quite a stir. A stir big enough to allow us a chance to strike back at our foe, while they are still reeling.”

“And where would we be sending such forces?” ‘Tarva asked, a hint of intrigue in her voice as thoughts of their next course of action bounced around her mind. Only for them to be snapped back to reality with a sigh from the voice of the Green Mistress.

“Thats the issue Governor. We don’t know.” The Mistress answered with a sigh, much to Tarva’s surprise.

To Tarva, it didn’t sound right in the slightest. How could the humans not know about the territory they were within? Surely a species of their technological strength would have methods to determine such things, right?

As if an on queue answer, the hologram on the table shifted to display a star map. The venlil’s system was at the center being represented with a small graphic of their planet in its typical trio of colors. Across it were lines branching out to different systems.

One was connected to the gojid Cradle, and another on the Zurulian homeworld. While many more lines linked out to various other systems, nearly all of them had been marked in red, or a question mark.

“We know little about this arm of the galaxy Governor, very little.” She began.

“What records we did have on this place were.. scarce for brevity’s sake.” The Mistress slightly looked to the floor for a moment, a slight glimmer of sadness in her eyes about something. Elias’ voice quickly took Tarva's attention from the attitude of the cloaked lady.

“As a matter of fact, the most reliable frame of reference we have for insider knowledge on the Federation, has been you Tarva. “ Elias said to her with a very small smile. As thankful as he was for their assistance, it was unfortunately not as usable to their current plight.

After all, as far as the Federation could be concerned, why would your weakest species be granted vital knowledge on military infrastructure? Not like they’d ever need it, right?

“Didn’t your people find one of your star-map in the ruins beneath our surface?” Tarva asked.

“Yes, but it’s centuries out of date.” Elias answered.

“The stars and systems in may be in the same general place, which is expected. But without any intel on what's actively happening on those planets, we’d be continuing this conflict completely in the blind. With each of our moves being either a guessing game, or a very likely risk.”

A small smile then crept up the human’s face, as he turned to the two aliens he had brought here.

“Luckily, thats where these two gentlemen come in.” He said, giving the floor over to them now.

The thafki stood up and bowed before inserting a small drive into the holographic projector.

“Thank you Sir Meier.” Ukhail said as he rose with the yotul in tow. The hologram shifted, now displaying the regal flags of their nations. One, in various shades of oceanic blues and deep aquatic shades of purples, with a crested shield at its center. The other flag was coated with more rugged and warm colors of brown and green with a large silver gear at its center.

Tarva shifted her focus as Ukhail began speaking once more to the group around him.

“To put it lightly, our nations have always had a deep running distain for the Federation since..well.... the very moment we met them."

The Duke silently chuckled behind his partner.

"I could go into why, but that would take a considerable amount of time that I’d rather not waste right now. So I'll cut quickly to the important parts." Ukhail stated before the hologram shifted once more, displaying a separate collection of systems with two small clusters being highlighted. The thafki's territory in deep blue, and the yotul's in brown. And various other system lightyears away coated in a cautious yellow.

"We've been spying on them for quite some time now and we have gained quite a bit of knowledge on them. In particular.." He held the rest of the sentence as the hologram relit up a few of a yellowed systems in a deep orange.

“We’ve managed to locate quite a number of various high profile military installations and infrastructure across their territory. It unfortunately isn’t much, we couldn’t afford risking getting caught, but from what you can see here.”

Various photos then popped into view, all of them showing some sort of aforementioned military infrastructure. Some depicted sizable space stations that were currently hosting several military ships, all were either held for traditional storage, or undergoing maintenance. Others were aerial views of sections of planets that on first glance didn’t appear related to the topic at hand, but once one looked deeper they could notice the extensive fortifications and complexes erected to maintain the ever going military machine.

“There is still much we did find.” Ukhail said, as everyone’s gaze stuck to the projected images before them.

“Well, this is certainly better than a star map several centuries out of date.” Brackman said, a hint of amusement gracing his tone in the process.

“Be that as it is, I am certain that you all are aware of the fact that all of these locations are places vastly deep into our enemy’s territory.” The Mistress pointed out her hands folding over one another.

“Precisely, which is why such places are an ideal set of targets.” The yotul said with a smile, as the Mistress’ posture shifted a little, wondering slightly about where this line of thinking was leading.

“As the good doctor said before, the Federation is reeling from both the failure at Venlil Prime, and the…leaking of very unsatisfying news that the member species are contending themselves with.”

“The last thing they’d be capable of handling is a strike so soon into their territories. They wouldn’t have the time to properly organize themselves, and even if they did try and take their time. It’d be quite the risk, and could leave the system without proper assistance.”

The hologram shifted again, displaying a sizable orbital shipyard that was commandeered by Federation soldiers.

“In addition to this initial unsavory position of theirs, the Federation would also be forced to make a choice regarding us. They could either keep those pestering soldiers of theirs holed up on our shipyards , or divert much needed manpower to a more practical field. Neither of which are ideal options for them to pick.”

“Were it to be successful, we could join the fighting with you in mere weeks, if not faster, depending on the conditions of our reclaimed shipyards."

There was a silence as the Duke sat back down, the hologram resetting back to the multicolored map as everyone else contemplated the information and suggestion handed before them.

"Any Objections from the rest of the table?" Elias inquired, a silence persisted as the others thought this through. Tarva’s mind had long been made up, the venlil were well past the point of return by now, and the long haul was the only path that they could traverse now. At one point something like that would be worrying, not anymore.

"It its quite a gamble." Brackman said, before giving a conceding sigh.

"But, currently, it is our only source of reference on our enemy." The doctor said, conceding to the two royals.

"Are there no other targets you could have chosen?" The Mistress said to Ukhail, who shook his head.

"None would be as decisive a first strike Madam, other systems would have given the Federation notice, and time to prepare their defense much better. And not even we are sure how quickly they can still rally ships to their war."

"Then I suppose this will have to do." The Mistress said reclining back into her seat as she folded her arms.

"So we are all in agreement then?" Elias asked. The others exchanged a few looks, before giving a simple approving nod to the silver haired human who smiled in turn.

Tarva exhaled a silent sigh of relief, the intensity of the situation now having died down. She'd been able to hand meeting with those of other races before, but the presence these three humans gave off made that experience feel rather moot. Yet she persisted, and asked the next important question to regard now that this matter was delt with.

"When do we start then?" Tarva asked, the hologram shifted once more, now displaying countless ships of all shape and size departing from their docks at placements around Retribution Station, a few of them even being upgraded vessels of the VSC.

Elias gave a small chuckle, before looking towards her.

"As soon as the needed repairs are fully completed in the coming days."

—————————-

Covasteli System

The scans had been completed. All survey teams in and around the ship had mapped out the entirety of their required areas. By all accounts, this system, despite the dangers that were rumored to be within. Seemed to be a lucky break for their fleet.

The asteroids and planetoid were filled to the brim with precious metals and minerals that could sustain their need for anything not food related for potential decades, potentially even more it such a trace continued across this system. Most of the crew of Bilyeth’s ship were optimistic, they’d finally found a place for their particular slice of home to rest, repair, and potentially expand if managed correctly. Perhaps other Union vessels could join in if it was as bountiful in resources as initial readings had indicated. But Bilyeth didn’t have such optimism.

Far as he was currently concerned, this place had to be some sort of bad omen. There had to be a somewhat good reason that the Federation heavily advised against travel in this region for so many generations. What other reason could lead to cutting of such a seemingly rich system?

"Captain?"

Bilyeth was brought away from his internalized worrying by the sound of Keltor’s voice. The sivkit looked towards his second in command, apparent concern all over their face.

"Is everything ready?" Bilyeth asked him breaking the silence with something more important to concern themself about.

"Yes sir. I a couple minutes contact and coordinates to Union-9 should be established, and our job here will soon be done.”

Bilyeth continued to stare out at the bridge’s main viewport to the nebula as Keltor spoke. As always its dull reds and oranges hung there, barely moving in the vast expanse they covered. The sight use to be somewhat comforting when the first arrived here, but now, the captain only felt a sense of lingering danger the longer he looked upon it. He tried to push those thoughts out, to try and rationalize it as his tired mind making things that weren't there. But he couldn't. He wouldn't be able to. It was impossible for him.

"Captain?" Keltor asked once more, concern ever-present for him.

"Is...something wrong?"

"Keltor, I need you to be honest with me about this." Bilyeth said with a weak groan, like he’d been debating against bringing this up to him.

"Has..any..any, of our crew reported strange activity happening within the nebula?" The captain asked, getting only an inquisitive look from Keltor as they though back as far as they could to remember anything particular.

But all that Keltor gave was a light shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Not that I can recall of. The only unique things we've noticed about this place are the excess of mineral deposits in various planetoids and asteroids, as well as the subtle heat wafting through the nebula that encases us. "

The captain’s face scrunched up in worry, the further reinforcement from those around him that his worries were lacking weight was not helping put him at ease. A part of him was beginning to doubt his memory. Maybe he really had been out for too long, and the

"Is there something you were hoping to see sir?" Keltor asked, garnering a groan from the captain in question.

"More hoping to never see." He replied in an almost inaudible tone, they’d been through enough as is. The arrival of those humans had now been the next thing in a whole line of issues that caused quite a bit of commotion and trouble across the fleets, and the power they displayed was more than enough motivation to convince most to stay as far away from them as possible.

Perhaps, this place, it could be the safety they’d been craving ever since they heard of those new predators. The captain looked back to Keltor and sighed, maybe he had been staring out at stars for too long that night.

"Forget it. Prepare to send a clear message to Union-9 let them know that our work here is done."

"Yes sir." Keltor said before descend into the main workplace of the bridge.

The captain looked to the viewport again, inadvertently zoning out the voice of his second in command as the crew beneath spurred into action.

Silently he stared on into the multicolored abyss, expecting to see something there. But, he never did. And that brought him no comfort at all.

"Captain, their on." Keltor shouted from the station below. As if on queue, the screen of monitor beside him lit up as a small green bar traveled across the screen as the connection was being loaded into form. When it finished, the simple loading screen gave way to the view of another sivkit, the station behind them multitudes wider than the one of Keltor's vessel. They greeted the captain with a plesant expression, which Keltor attempted to reciprocate.

"Nice to see you again Eridanev." The operator said over the light commotion around his station.

"How's it looking over there? Is it good?" They asked. Keltor was hesitant for a moment, looking to the viewport one final time worry still present within his soul. He gave a sigh as he looked back down towards the operator.

"Yes." He responded simply.

"Everything looks...clear around here. Nobody's reported anomalies aside from the vast array of resources contained with the various asteroids and planetoid of the system."

The commotion from the operations end seemed to become more focused on them when he mentioned that part.

"What have your crew found?" The operator asked.

"A lot." Keltor responded simply.

"There's a whole list of stuff we've found, enough to last us decades on decades if we make use of it properly."

The commotion on the other end became even louder, seemingly invigorated by the sound of that. Union-9 was never starving for materials. But it was always beneath the standards of fellow Union vessels. They'd been lacking a good long term source of materials for quite some time now. And this sounded like just the lucky break they needed.

"Do you have a clear ingress vector?" The operator asked.

Bilyeth nodded. The operator turned from their console and shouted to someone far off, earning a response that while inaudible to him, was certainly to the approval of the fellow crew around them.

"Have your crew send it over. Once were there, hook your ship back up, It'll be good to have you all home."

"Thanks. We'll see you all soon." Bilyeth said a smile cresting further on his face. Perhaps what he'd seen, really was just a figment of his tired mind. A beep on the opposite end of his console told him the proper coordinates were ready. And with the press of a button they were sent out.

"Coordinates are coming your way." He said, much to the operator's glee.

"Finally, some good new for--"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the line went silent. Bilyeth was confused, he was certain that he hadn't ended the communication. He attempted to reconnect, only to find the monitor unresponsive to his inputs.

"The hell?" He muttered under his breath. Perhaps the ship's connection wasn't as good as he'd expected. But that couldn't be, they did a check before they departed and everything was in working order.

And thats when he heard it..beeping. Looking down into the stations of the bridge, several of the scanner teams had their terminal screens flashing, and beeping at infrequent consistencies.

"Whats going on?" Bilyeth exclaimed to Keltor who looked just as confused as the captain did.

"I don't know sir, we've somehow lost contact with Union-9 and-"

More beeping began, much more frequently, much more erratic.

"Something's approaching the ship." One of the operators said, her voice shaky and filled with confusion.

"I though we dealt with the asteroids already?" Bilyeth said as he began typing away at his console to get his own feed of the radars.

"Their not asteroids captain." Keltor stated in an exasperated voice as he looked towards one of the operators screens. Bilyeth would have asked about that if his own feed didn't pop open soon after to answer him. Before his eyes, a simple green radar. And as it pulsed. Over a dozen massive dots were detected around the ship. Each one approaching with abnormal speed. And thats when the fear hit him, they indeed were not asteroids, they were something worse.

Unidentified ships.

And energy was rising from each of them.

Author's Note: Writer's Block suck. Hope you all enjoy reading :]

[PREVIOUS ENTRY] - [FIRST ENTRY] - [CHAPTER RECAP] - 

Art Pieces: ( 1, 2 , 3)

[November 1st / 3856] 278 days before the Siege of Aafa

Subject ID: Tarva - Venlil - Planetary Governor
Location: Strategy Hall
Status: Uneasy

Going to war, directly against the Federation itself.

By every metric the idea should have sounded and been considered nothing short of utter insanity.

Us. The Venlil. Fighting against a conglomeration of worlds that had existed for generations and had held military power in excesses that was nearly uncontested in our the galaxy.

Nearly. The existence of the humans had shattered that visage completely, and with a might that was uncontested by any of the forces that dared stand before it.

They were the very reason we were all still able to wake up the next day to a pristine undamaged world, an opportunity barley any species was granted after such a thing.

Consequently, I hadn’t seen or even heard of a single breathing Venlil who even thought to think low of the humans anymore. The populace saw them all as heroes, and held it in the highest regard to show that appreciation all they could.

So, if their leaders were going to come down here and discuss their plans for the war effort, I could only imagine the controversy that would erupt if hadn’t made sure the place I was holding them was of the utmost quality. Suffice to say, the pressure was quite much on me to make sure this meeting was done right.

“You’re sure everything inside is in order?” I exclaimed lightly towards the trio before me. Cheln and Kam looked upon each other before nodding their heads with certainty. Noah stood behind the two with his arms crossed, not seemingly in any averse reaction to something. Or, so I hoped.

Learning about the signs humans gave off with the motions of their arms wasn’t too tricky to understand. Quite a number of them were similar to some that we had, although their lack of flexible tails did limit things quite a bit.

“We’re sure Ma’am.” Cheln answered. “The entire hall has been cleaned and decorated to the exact specifications you and Mr. Noah sought to include.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, I’m certain the humans will appreciate the work you put in to make the Strategy Hall more presentable.” Kam added, I kept pacing back and forth before the trio, their confident confirmations did help, but only somewhat as my mind was still gripped by unease.

“But what if it isn’t for them?” I said dejectedly, continuing to pace around them with worry still building within me.

“It was one thing being invited onto their ship to converse what to do after the Battle. But having all of them come here, to me, and so soon?!”

I could see a bit of my worry reflected in Kan and Cheln’s faces.

“It’s been decades since significant numbers have been within the confines of that Hall, decades! The last time it was used was when Noah and Sara landed here, and now some of the most important humans we know of are seeking to speak there alongside me!”

“The place has to be presentable, thats the bare minimum I should do to show appreciation for what they’ve done for us!”

“And it’s certainly done precisely towards that Tarva.” Noah spoke up, his face far calmer and more confident than the rest of us. He stepped closer to me, and gazed into the massive room beside him.

“I’ve been inside the place over a dozen times now, and I can assure you, they’ll appreciate it wholeheartedly.”

“You…You think so?” I asked, he nodded his head with assured confidence.

“No doubt about it.” He said before crouching down closer to my eye level.
“Just try and not focus on that. If you keep worrying, it’ll only make things worse for you.”

I took a deep breath as I considered his words. l needed to make this right...but...perhaps I was pushing myself too much in the process. With a heavy exhale, I was able to look up at him again.

“Your…Your right. I..I’m worrying too much aren’t?” I asked, earning a slight shrug from the human.

“If I was I your place I’d be worrying the same way too, just, try and not think about that too much alright?”

I was silent for a brief moment, but quickly gained the will to look back up to him and nod.

“Alright…” I finally replied with some confidence.

“Thank you Noah.” I said with a meager smile.

A beeping from Kam's datapad took everyone's attention, and given the expression on his face, it was exactly the thing I'd been worrying over.

“They’re on their way now Ma’am." He said, his voice a mix of surprise and light concern. "Their shuttles have already breached the atmosphere, they'll be here in a few minutes.”

Noah stood back to his full height, our eyes locking on one another as the arrival of the shuttles encroached further and further.

“Think your ready?” Noah asked, a comforting smile adorned on all of their faces, but his bore gave off the most confidence in me.

I smiled back to him, my tail wagging ever so slightly behind me as I did.

“I think so.”

—————————
Subject ID: Sovlin - Gojid - Coalition Agent
Location: Black Glass Bar
Status: Annoyed

Cilany had wanted to know more about the humans. That was expected, given what she’d been recruited to do, and the things she had been privy to see thus far. I was hoping she’d take a simple route of going through all the documentation that was publicly available to get her fix that way. But that would be too easy wouldn't it. She couldn't get what she wanted from that, she needed a more hands on approach to get her consensus.

So, for the past few hours I'd been here, walking with her, and listening to countless venlil talk about how they thought about the humans. And what a riveting experience that had been. Hell, I can still hear their words bouncing around my skull.

"They’re heroes!"
“I can’t believe I ever doubted them before!”
“They saved us! All by themselves!”
“Its actually less safe when you don’t see them!”
“They still scare me sometimes. But if thats the price I have to pay to share a planet with our saviors, who cares right?”

Every person, every single venlil we’d run into had been exactly like that. I had hoped spending some time with Cilany would be a good way to keep myself occupied until the humans had need of me again. And, to a degree that certainly worked. But by the Protector!!

Humans this, Humans that, Its all they damn care to talk about now and I’m not sure how much more of it I can take!

Not that Cilany seemed bothered much, if anything she was utterly thrilled to listen to people go on and on about them. On a level I completely understand why they’re doing it, but the length I’ve been exposed to what boils down to the same conversations is beyond maddening.

Desperate for some sort of relief from the monotony I dragger her to a nearby bar under the guise of taking some relief from the walking. Whether she knew that or not, it didn’t matter in the slightest. As she found a way to continue her ‘research’ through speaking with the bartender. And what a chatterbox she was.

So here I was, in a bar, not having had a single drink, and my ears numb to the conversation that those two were having.

Perhaps I should have recruited somebody else, or just gone back to the barracks to sleep. At lest then, things would be naturally quieter.

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me Ma’am?" The sound of something different in the conversation jolted me from my waning sanity just enough to hear Cilany respond to the inquiry.

“Not at all miss, I think thats everything I need to know.” Cilany responded to the bartender, a low groan from me was finally enough to garner attention from them.

“Oh, sorry. Got a bit distracted here. Is there something you’d like to drink?” She inquired.

“Something strong please, I don’t care what it is.” I responded to the bartender, she moved away to find something that fit my request.

Cilany looked down at me, I glared up at her with exhausted eyes. The implications of which, I found to be lost on her.

“Its quite impressive Sovlin.” She began.

“Throughout the dozens of people we’ve talked to, not none of them”

“Thank you for reminding me of that.” I said with sarcasm bleeding through my teeth.

“I’m serious Sovlin.” She retorted to me, unaware that I was partially checked out of whatever stuff she was going to say right now.

“In my line of work there is at least a bit of variation between interpretations of events from person to person. But here? There’s not a single individual we’ve met whose even slightly different in their thoughts on the humans.”

“What a surprise.” I muttered under my breath.

“Well of course there isn’t!” The bartender interjected, coming back with a glass that had a deep purple liquid within it. I quickly reached for it as she placed it towards my end of the countertop, and then began conversing with Cilany further.

“How could anybody think less of them with everything they’ve done for us? That reminds me, I remember speaking with this—-”

I took a deep swig of the glass before me, hoping to drown out the sounds of whatever monotonous conversation those two were going to have again.

It didn’t work entirely, but it was enough to keep my mind distracted for a time. Unfortunately, the glass ran dry and the conversation became more audible again.

“So you truly think they’d protect you even if there weren’t those artifacts here?”

“Well if that wasn’t the case they wouldn’t have set up shop with those massive city blocks of there's now would they?”

“I suppose so, but that doesn’t exactly translate to them meaning that they—”

“Excuse me Miss.” I said to the bartender cutting off Cilany’s words.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a larger glass to put this stuff in now would you?”

“I’m sure I do somewhere around her, How much are you looking to have?”

“Enough.” I blankly stated. She gave me a look that said equal parts ‘if you say so’ and ‘I’ll see what I can do’. Hopefully I’d be long enough that it could keep the conversation with Cilany staved off.

As the bartender disappeared to find a larger glass. I looked towards Cilany, who was jotting down in a notepad of hers.

“Are you done asking questions yet?” I said tiredly towards her.

“Not even close Sovlin. What kind of journalist would I be if I just ended the search here?”

"One that knows when to stop." I thought to myself, my eyes drifting off towards the countless bottles at the

“Besides. Didn’t you want to spend time away from the barracks of the humans?” Cilany asked, I gave a groan in response.

She wasn’t wrong thought. Even after everything I’ve done on their behalf, I can’t ever shake the feeling of dread when I’m in their presence. There’s only a few of them that I feel somewhat okay around, and they were certainly a unique lot.

So, I decided to accompany Cilany to try and keep my mind off of the humans. How ironic in that attempting that, my ears had been assaulted by people talking about them nonstop.

“I was hoping to do something more lucrative than this.” I finally answered back. The bartender then returned soon after, a larger glass of the purple liquid held within her hands. She softly placed it before me and I would have eagerly drank it down. If my ears weren’t then assaulted by a gradual loudening tirade of noise from outside of the bar. The other patrons took notice as well, and turned to witness a very unique sight indeed. Outside there was a small crowd of venlil, and at the center, two very familiar human soldiers. Tyler and Carlos, both of them locked to be in quite the situation.

Around the two was a small crowd of venlil, all of which were clamoring around the humans, somehow out of all the humans, they were somehow fascinated with these ones.

Carlos took notice of me and Cilany within the bar, and after a brief moment of conversing with the rowdy crowd they were allowed to part through them. Tyler stayed behind to satisfy whatever wonders were on their minds. Likely just more praises if I could take a guess.

The noise of the crowd soared tremendously the moment he opened the door, and thankfully it was shut just as quickly.

“Well aren’t they enthusiastic?” he asked no nobody in particular as he soon began approaching our seats. Unbeknownst to him, the patrons of the bars had shifted their attention to the human, not expecting to meet a soldier of one of their clans in such an abrupt manner.

Some exchanged whispers to fellow patrons, others stared blankly, until Carlos’ gaze turned slightly in their direction, causing them to avert quickly, likely out of some latent fear they still held within them.

“Hey you two.” He said before taking the seat between us, though with his height he would have fine enough just standing.

The bartender shrank somewhat in his presence, her ears flopping down her face and a slight shivering of her arms and tail. While she clearly admired the humans for what they did, She clearly had never been this close to one, let alone with one of their soldiers.

Carlos quickly noticed and tried to inject some sort of levity into the situation to keep her mind off him.

“Just some water please, I know how venlil liquor is.” He requested, the bartender stared for a moment, before shaking sense back into her body.

“O-Of course sir! I’ll get right on it sir!” She said before composing herself a bit, taking a deep breath and nodding to the human before departing.

“Hope I don’t make her worry too much.” He commented before then turning his attention towards us.

“So, what have you two been up to?” Carlos asked, I would have given him a very quick and somewhat harsh answer to that. But Cilany was the first to speak up and give one.

“Interviewing. I want to try getting a bigger picture of what the venlil think of your presence here. So far the results have been, well… Lacking in variations.”

Carlos’ face shifted with a slight bit of confusion, quickly coming to realization any normal person would have.

“I think the answer’s a pretty obvious one. Right?” He questioned.

‘Thats what I’ve said!!’ I screamed internally.

“At a glance sure. But every story has to have its opposites, and while there undoubtedly is a standard view Venlil Prime it has. I’m not very much sold on it being a total shared viewpoint." Cilany retorted back. Carlos scratched his head, still not seeing her perspective on this quite futile matter.

“Sorry if this feels presumptuous, bit it feels like you’re just looking for depth, where there is no depth. Perhaps just what you see is what you get, and there’s nothing else to the story.”

“I mean, look at Spiney over here he doesn’t seem all too enthusiastic about that idea. Are you Sovlin?” Carlos said, I merely groaned as two looked at me.

“What do you think?” I slurred out before taking another massive swig of the beverage before me. The cacophony of voices from outside seemed to persist despite my attempts to smother it out.

“What's with the crowd?” I asked tiredly. The human chuckled to himself, as if he was caught in the act of some mischief.

“Well. Lets just say that Tyler is a very good story teller and leave it at that.” Cilany seemed a little disappointed by him glossing over the story, I however, couldn't be better.

“Good enough for me.” I responded back.

"What are you two doing here anyway?" Cilany asked right as I was going to take another drink, only to now realize the glass was completely empty, much to my dismay.

"We came looking for Sovlin. Sure you two heard the announcement, and how all military personnel are being called back right?"

Cilany gave a look understanding at that, I’d recalled the announcement too. But I hadn’t been thinking about it for some time.

"How soon do you need me?" I asked. Carlos looked to a device on his wrist then shrugged.

"Not too soon, why?" He asked.

The bartender finally returned, a tall glass of water with nearly a dozen ice cubes within it. I extended my empty glass to her, and waited as more of the purple liquid spill free from a larger bottle. When she finish, I took a long swig of it, and answered with a chuckle.

"Because I'll need something to stomach all the stories about humans I'm going to hear there."

—————————

The rooftop landing pads were the only applicable places that the humans could land. Normally such an action would be a notable violation of security procedures, under Federation law. But, those clearly no longer applied for a multitude of reasons. Including the fact that only one of the spaces was ever occupied by a vessel at the best of times.

But now, it was properly being put to use, and the three vessels before me were a perfect example of that.

On the far right, was a sleek shuttle of silver and gold, with bleeding accents of green through its frame. There were intricate embezzlements and carvings in the hull, signifying that this craft, and its occupant were of the greatest importance to the Aeon humans.

The next to land was a much more angular, yet smaller vessel, easily mistaken for a type of arxur craft. The though of that was strangely, comforting to me. I already knew these humans were in communion with the arxur. Working to orchestrate a plan that seemed impossible. But, then again, much of what the humans were was supposed to be impossible. Defying expectations is just in their nature I suppose.

Finally, the last shuttle landed on the left, clunking against the landing pad on strong legs that looked as if they'd leave deep dents. Its stark shades of blue and sharp, yet cleanly cut edges denoted it a creation of the UEF.

The ramps of the three vessels spilled out onto the landing pads, one after the other, and from the Aeon vessel, the occupants from within exited. Or, more accurately, the guardians of those occupants.

From the Aeon’s ship descended eight of them, all covered in deep black armor that encapsulated their varying forms. Their faces were obscured bully by a thick dark green visor that made perception of the alien within near impossible. Not that I’d want to stare at them, the glowing ammunition they carried, and swords strapped to the backs of some was more than enough to discourage that idea for me entirely.

They quickly formed into parallel lines at the sides of the ramp in time for a female human figure to descend from the ramp. The Green Mistress, as she was know to them. An accurate title, given what adorned her body.

Her form was covered in a pristine and elegantly adorned cloak and hood, leaving only her face and hands visible. Parts of the coverings that she wore upon her would lightly glisten in the sunlight, making the already vibrant colors of her form pop out that little bit more.

As she fully exited the shuttle, her guards moved in beside her, and all of them began to approach my direction. I tried to keep Noah's advice on my mind, I took a deep breath and approached them in turn. My brain was screaming at me to just stay where I was, to let the humans come to me rather than the other way around. But I fought through. If these people were going to be here, I should make a effort to properly greet them.

Their pace slowed as we closed in on one another, stopping mere meters from one another. For a moment there was silence, I could feel the eyes of the Mistress' guards staring me down, ready to pounce if I made the slightest of an improper move to them. The gazes of Cheln and Kam staring back at me were certainly no help either, and I was certain one of them was holding their breath or shaking in anticipation.

I was about to extend a greeting towards the Mistress. But she made the first move. In unison with her guards. They bowed, before me. A gesture I wasn't expecting at all. When she rose back to her normal stance, she had a meager smile upon her face.

"I am glad to see you once more Governor." The Mistress said.

"I trust you are ready for our communion, yes?" I nodded to her, trying my best to keep myself as focused as I could.

"Indeed I am Ma'am." I managed to speak out

"If, you and your guards could follow one of my associates back their, they'd be more than willing to escort you to the designated room I've chosen."

"Very well then Governor." She said with a soft nod of her head. The Mistress then looked to one of her guards, and with a tilt of her head, they pulled behind her in unison, no longer needing to put on the guarding stance they were originally formed into.

"I shall take my leave, do show the same curtesy to my peers could you?" She said with a smile before heading for the entrance door to the Palace. I made sure to give a wide berth to her and her guards, some of which took a look upon me as they followed their lady inside.

The moment they were gone from sight I exhaled a massive sigh of relief. It seems that even in the presence of allies, security will always take some measure of priority for these humans.

But so focused was I on my first success, that I was nearly caught off guard by the presence, or rather, the visualization, of one of her apparent peers. Thankfully, the thumping of the walking projector was enough of a warning to shake me from my stupor. I did my best to not try staring at the guards of the projector. It'll be a while before I ever can handle that.

"I hope she did not bring you too much strife Governor Tarva." Spoke the projection of Doctor Brackman as a smile crested on his face, a mix between somewhat playful and truly happy.

"Not in the slightest Doctor." I responded, the title still feeling odd as it left my lips.

"Its kind of strange to know that's the official leading position of your people."

The human gave a low chuckle, the hologram slightly amplified it with a faint yet audible echo.

"I suppose it is quite the adjustment to make, yes?" He said with a small grin, his fingers resting on his chin in silent contemplation.

"It is." I said back, a small smile creeping up my face before I cleared my throat to focus on a more pressing matter.

"Kam should be able to guide you and your-"

"Thank you for the offer Dear Tarva, but I am already aware of which location I am needed within." The Doctor interjected, I felt like retorting their statement, they'd never been in the palace before, how could they find their way to the hall. But with the look on his face, I could tell he was certain in his actions.

"Don't be so worried Miss Tarva, Sara has quite the memory from when she visited last, oh yes indeed." He said with a hint of mirth in his voice. The quadrupedal machine marched onwards, along with the two guards beside it.

"I shall await your arrival within Governor." He said before the hologram blinked out of existence.

(Two down, only one left to greet.)

I turned towards the last of the shuttles. Around the exit ramp were four guarding humans, each covered completely in thick power armor that looked as if it would permit them to run through solid concrete.

Now that I think about it. They might have one that does exactly that.

As I approached, a familiar figure with cloud white hair did the same.

"I do apologize for all the security Tarva. But The Coalition do not feel like making exceptions right now." Elias said. I brushed it off, if anything, I felt a tad bit more secure with such forces around. Only a tad though.

"Its okay. I just want to make sure that I have everything going smoothly for this meeting of ours."

The human looked at me with a slightly worried expression on his face, like he was about to be responsible for something very…abrupt.

"I am afraid that I may have thrown a spanner into the workings of that." He said.

At that I was confused.

‘Was there something I missed along the way!? N-no that can’t be, he’s the one apologizing, so what could-‘

He took note of my worry and found it best to add some context.

"Perhaps, It is better they show you themselves." He said.

‘They? Who’s they?’ I wondered. But the wonder was quickly answered when two figures descended the exit ramp and left me speechless at they the stood before me.

I was facing the two species, I’d never thought I’d ever see in my entire career. A thafki, and a yotul.

What were they doing here? Why were they here? How did Elias bring them here?

I was snapped from my questions when the thafki extended his hand towards me. Being polite, I gripped it firmly, and slightly shook it.

"Greetings Governor Tarva." The said as the handshake broke,

"I am Marshall Ukhail of the Thafki Concordat." The thafki then gestured to the yotul beside them.

"And this is my associate. Duke Savleris of the Yotul Hegemony."

The Duke gave a short bow towards me. Before rising his full height.

With a smile on his face, the yotul then announced their purpose for such a surprising visit, And it certainly caught me off guard a bit.

"If you'd permit us entry Governor. We have many things we'd like to discuss about the war effort with you, and the humans."