[center][h3]Defenders of Harmony Space Station[/h3][/center] Fergus responded to Lahnha, his voice so entirely monotone that nobody could tell just what he meant by it. "Whatever must be." A portal opened up in the room, but it wasn't the usual glowing blue one. The portal seemed less like a portal and more like a merging of the room and the destination. There wasn't even an outline to mark it, it simply existed, and seemed to toy with the minds of the others. A pain took hold in the heads of anyone who tried to figure it out, as if Fergus didn't want anyone to learn how he created it. It clearly wasn't a normal spell, as Fergus didn't move an inch when it opened, he didn't even speak. "Enter first. I must wait." Was all he said, apparently deep in thought about something. [center][h3]Sevren System, Ahman Sul Space[/h3][/center] The [i]Kaku[/i] chose to follow the alien ships, its crew floating in the giant room at its center in order to observe the scenery. They were amazed by the sheer amount of vessels in the system, as well as the present infrastructure. The crew chatted among themselves as they followed the aliens ships, kept away from the plasma window by a system of repulsor lasers that covered the inner part of the window. "Their ships are as common as cars are on Earth! They have to be the most advanced society we've encountered!" Another one took notice of the jump gate, pointing it out to the others who all stared in amazement. "The Krasnikov tube to Pluto is still under construction! They already have some kind of interstellar gate!" The gawking of the crew came to an end as the ship docked, some of them observing the alien drones outside of the plasma window. Both Rin and Hugh chose to enter the station, the rest being told to wait until they gave the okay signal. They found it odd that the Captain and First Officer were both going onto an alien station together without any backup, but then again, most of the best Terran leaders were extremely reckless in similar ways. Praskoviya Lovisa and her idea that the Captain should always be in the most danger, Fergus McClain and choosing to pilot a fighter instead of command a warship, and Archangel with his choice to always take point during the Second American Civil War. Rin and Hugh both complied with the decontamination procedures, somewhat surprised that such an ancient civilization didn't have major problems with drug-resistant diseases. Both of them took great interest in the decontamination equipment itself, carefully observing it before exiting the chamber and heading into the waiting room. [i]That tech would save millions without access to nanobots[/i] Thought Rin, wondering if they could buy it somehow. When they entered the waiting room, they were shocked. Not at the number of species present, but that there were plenty of humans there as well. They immediately wrote it off as some kind of ridiculous evolutionary coincidence, but they couldn't help but remember the Mars Incident where dozens of flashes of light suddenly appeared over Mars. Earth hadn't yet recovered from the Third World War, and humanity was unable to cope with the constant natural disasters, so nobody was on Mars to see what the flashes truly were. Both Rin and Hugh had the same thought in the back of their minds: [i]Perhaps there were[/i] Assuming it was what they were supposed to do, the two approached the woman behind the desk. They acted as if they were talking, though neither of them actually spoke. Standing just far enough away from the desk so as not to block a path to it, the two conversed silently, trying to decide on something. After a short while, they apparently reached a consensus and approached the woman. Hugh spoke first, assuming that his words would be translated. "Hello, I'm Hugh Klopas, Captain of the Terran Science Vessel [i]Kaku[/i]." He said, then gesturing to Rin. "This is Rin Tomiko, my First Officer. We just arrived here, so we don't know much beyond old radio broadcasts, but I assume you're who to go to after arrival?" [center][h3]Taoshe[/h3][/center] The Terran diplomat frowned at the mention of a defeat at 11-A. He knew little about the Iscandarian colonies, but he did know that A-11 was tens of thousands of light years from their homeworld. Being defeated a such a distant world was surely not a good sign, but whether it implied Iscandarian strength or Septonian frailty wasn't something he could deduct. Instead of asking how many ships they sent and what their capabilities were, he decided to present the Terran side of the war, not wanting to come off as condescending to the Septonians. He pointed to a star not far from Jaques rest (On a galactic scale, at least), he zoomed in on it, leaving the hologram to display a 25 or so light year sphere of space. Keeping his finger pointed at it, he spoke. "This is our home system, where we fought two battles against the Iscandarians, both before the current war began. One after that meaningless peace treaty, too. From what I know, we're either currently engaging them at that system or the battle has already been decided. Given the strength of our forces there, it is likely that we won already. They apparently attacked with eight hundred vessels, representing the bulk of their fleet. If they lost, then the Iscandarian war machine will be broken. According to the plan, if we've won, then their home system here is currently under attack." He pointed to a second star with his other hand, about twenty light years from the first, then continued. "We have enough firepower to decimate their homeworld, which is what we plan to do, but there's also an experimental weapon of some sort there. I don't know the details, but it's supposedly some kind of planet-killer. If that thing worked, then that firepower can be saved for upcoming battles. The invasion plan calls for every enemy world we come across to be ordered to surrender and threatened with bombardment. If they resist, then we destroy the planet's crust or use that superweapon on them. It sounds harsh if you haven't seen what they'll do to have their way, but believe me, it's the only way to defeat them. Their magic would tear apart any forces on land, so even if we could transport enough troops, they'd be slaughtered." [center][h3]Sol System[/h3][/center] [i]Oh, and the horse-alien things are Russians too. Of fucking course they are. Oh look, Earth animals and Earth symbols. Why the hell is there an Iron Cross with a Hammer and Sickle? That makes no fucking sense, why would a ushanka have an Iron Cross on it? You know what, fuck it. Just fuck it. Alien horses and Vulcans exist. Nothing is going to make sense today.[/i] As he came back into reality, the diplomat heard them talking about them translating their language. He was obviously confused by the remark, and spoke while taking the gifts. "Thank you, but I do have to ask, we thought [i]you[/i] were translating [i]our[/i] language. Surely you are, after all, you are the ones with magic. We didn't even have an interstellar fleet until recently, relative to our extremely long history, of course."