[center][u][color=black][h1]The Seventh Labour[/h1][/color][/u][/center]
[b][u][@Terminal]'s Note:[/u][/b] The first winning entry of the Seventh Labour, [i]Plutonian[/i], exceeds the post character limit. The winning entries for the Seventh Labour are listed in two separate posts for this reason.

[hider=Plutonian, Part 1]By [@PlatinumSkink].

[h2]Plutonian[/h2]

[h3]Chapter 1: Itarion[/h3]

Eviri flew, the young woman soaring with a trail of green shining light to the backdrop of the stars, surrounded by a green orb of power which enabled her to travel through space at her leisure. She was dressed in a tight green suit of superior technology, a helmet on her head giving information about her surroundings directly into her brain. Her eyes were attentive, her expression one of supreme focus. This was her pleasure. Ever since she had been a little girl, flying through space without as much as a visible craft had always been her dream. This feeling of ultimate freedom, to fly wherever she wanted. The sphere of power carried her wherever she wanted, unbound by natural laws and thoughts. But, unfortunately, she wasn't free. Although she had trained all her life to come to this position, this position had duties attached to it. Duties Eviri had been dealing with the past ten years. Duties to protect her kin.

She was joined by hundreds of others similar to herself dressed in varying colours and surrounded in similar spheres as they descended down towards the dark-brown, murky planet of Itarion, which was the last refuge of the race of alien bugs known as Vilemugs. They resembled giant mosquitoes, with great eyes, long mouth-piece, thin bodies, many legs and great wings which they somehow swung against solar-power to travel through space. Eviri frowned as she descended towards an entire fleet of them, defending their home planet like a swarm of bees, their very numbers clouding the planet behind them. However, in the past, it had been the humans who had been protecting their planets from the waves of this alien race. Planet by planet, they had been able to beat the Vilemugs back. Eviri had throughout this war proved her capabilities and showed herself to be one of the most capable pilots of her age. And this, this was it. The final planet. The final battle.

The enemy fired black shots of power from their weaponry, which was surprisingly advanced considering the appearance of the species. Being black, it was naturally hidden in the backdrop of space, yet Eviri's helmet picked out the shots and informed her of their exact location. From there it was easy for her to command her flight-path to sway left and right with her mind as she flew, dodging the shots off gooey destruction. This was the case for their entire invasion force. They were already experienced at exterminating the Mugs. Ever since they had launched that attack on the Solar System, humans had researched this vile race of invaders which plundered the resources of any planets they came across with no regard to those who lived there. They were humanity's first contact with aliens, yet it was decided that they had to be eliminated. And now, here they were.

'You all know what to do! Spread out! Attack from all sides! Fire!' The voice of Koala, Eviri's commander, was heard by all those connected by this system. Eviri knew the woman was flying in her purple sphere further to her left, blasting beams of power through the enemy lines, the Mugs scattering to avoid but getting inevitably burned when caught. Beside Koala, was the brown colours of the sphere of her wingmate, Aimer, projecting his shields to defend the ships. Further to the right, she saw the yellow enveloping her friend Aren, wielding his power as a long yellow lance that he threw into the horde of enemies, seemingly missing before it exploded in the midst of ill-suspecting enemies. It was Eviri's turn, too. Having dodged the black blasts, she dove at the enemy lines at great speed, focusing her energy into large green blades of power which extended out in the directions in which she directed her arms, currently backwards. Behind her, fellow members of her squad charged in with her, while many more behind opened fire, shooting blasts of varying colours of energy at the enemy. The enemy inevitably scattered, most blasts missing. This was why they came into close combat. The bugs were experts at dodging, but in close combat, human technology was faster.

'CHAAAAAH!' Eviri let out a shout as she came up against the first enemy, and unable to avoid her in time it was split into two with ease, her green blade carving through it. A second enemy behind the first directed its black gun at her, but Eviri's field allowed her to swing out of the way and fluently soar behind the enemy, before cleaving it horizontally. Her helmet was informing her of the location of every potential danger around her. The bugs had no such luxury. She even knew she didn't need to bother with the enemy to her left aiming for her, because that one would be intercepted by one of her allies before firing. Even here, in the midst of the numerically superior horde of bugs, Eviri felt no reason to fear for her life. This very same battle had been fought against this foe so many times before, and always with the same result. They'd win. Knowing this, Eviri swung her arms with grim determination and with them the giant blades of energy expanded out of her sphere of power, and the battle above the dirty planet of Itarion continued.

__________________

'The War is now over. The Vilemugs are extinct. They will never threaten the Milky Way any longer!' A cheer went through the groups of humans standing listening to Commander Koala's speech, most with relieved expressions more than happy. Koala was standing at a podium inside their largest hall of their largest starship, the Isabelle, before the crowd of fighters that had partaken in this battle. On her side stood Aimer, the muscular man in brown, for no apparent reason other than to stand at Koala's side. 'I know many of you have lost people close to you to them, and even more of you desire only to come home, but now, it is over! We'll lose nobody else, and we can finally return home!' A greater cheer was heard. Eviri sighed, smiling a bit where she was seated at the side at a table with a couch, made for relaxing in this great room. Truly, it had been an exhausting venture. Unless every single Vilemug was eliminated, they'd come back, so for the past years they had worked very hard to destroy them on every planet they bugs had colonized. They were a threat that had needed to be dealt with, and now it was. Finally.

'That's it, huh. Victory, at last. Rid the Milky Way of its giant infestation.' Max was seated to Eviri's left, leaning on the table and holding some beverage from home. 'It wasn't even a battle, really, we were superior in every way. They were just, like, really many, and we just lost a lot of civilians because we weren't prepared for their sudden attack. Took more time than they were worth. Sci-fi writers must be rolling in their graves, how uninteresting this fighting was.' He drank of the beverage, actually sounding bitter. Eviri was forced to smirk a little. Max was a great warrior, and had become bored of fighting Vilemugs ages ago. Still, it had been very reassuring to have him on their side, no matter how much he grunted.

'Surely you must have gained some manner of tales with which to boost to those who look up to you?' Eviri asked in amusement. The war was over. They could all relax and joke with one another again. Eviri, at least, felt like a huge weight had been taken off her chest.

'Sure.' Max rolled his eyes. 'However, nothing will be spoken about as MY feats. All of this was made possible with Plutonian technology, not by the hands of the fearsome warriors that use them!' It was true that in battle, Max was fearsome. A great red comet wielding his power as if it was a giant morning-star, smashing large numbers of enemies out of the way with ease and brutal efficiency.

'I'm pretty sure the age of heroics is over, Maxie.' A young late-teen girl leaned over from another couch to join into the conversation, her eyes kind of wide as she inspected the two more experienced warriors. 'We've graduated from swords and personal skill, ya know? Every single action can be done better by a computer, anyway.' Jarnet was one of those that let a computer make every action for her, which has proved to be effective. A blue little sprite hovering about just outside the enemy's reach, shooting rapid-fire blue strikes with the accuracy of a super-computer. However, her method allowing a computer to fight denies the potential of human ingenuity as well as the feeling of being in-control, as such most warriors used the more personal fighting system. Max just grunted again and drank more from his beverage at her displeasing words.

'That's not entirely true.' A man in his mid-twenties came by, stopping standing beside the couch, looking down at them. Aren was a steadfast and polite young man who had served as Eviri's friend and mental support through this war. She smiled a little more in relief, looking up at him as he continued speaking to Jarnet. 'As you may know, during the first wave of Vilemugs, the Triton Union found itself entirely undefended, the enemy striking out of nowhere using the darkness of space to their advantage. A Plutonian named Wence happened to be the vicinity, and all by himself he managed to save untold civilians from certain death. Since then he's been known as the Knight of Triton, and despite being Plutonian he's been given many awards from the people of Triton. A hero if there can ever be one, most certainly.' Aren nodded matter-of-factedly.

'Bah!' Max made an unhappy noise. 'Lucky bastard. Just by being in the right place at the right time. Had I been the one there, I would have been the Knight of Triton!' He grumbled something more, drank up the last of his beverage and struck it down into the table with a rather loud bump. 'And now, I'm out of opportunities to become a hero...' Max complained, making Aren sighed a bit at his insistence at that he was to become a hero in some form of way.

'Please, do accept this peace we've fought so hard for. It's going to last for a long time.' Aren attempted to convince Max to let go of his ambition, though his words caused Eviri to lose her smile. That's right. There was something else she worried about.

'I wouldn't promise that. We're not entirely safe yet.' Eviri lost her smile as she said, getting stares from the other three while she herself stared down into the table. She continued. 'We're all Plutonians here. We've defended the Solar System from threats on the outside, but we should be wary of threats from the inside, as well. Ever since we branched from the technology-level of the rest, the other nations have coveted for what we can do. But, fearing for what they might do with it, we have not let them have it. It might get more dramatic than we want it to in the near future, especially with what the the universe has just shown itself capable of.' Eviri outlined her worries.

'Hmmm.' Jarnet poked at her lips and glanced up at the roof, making a thinking noise. 'If any might try anything, it would be the Mars Empire or the Jupiter Confederation. The rest are peaceful enough.' Her words caused a scoff of laughter from Max, who had been mumbling at his empty beverage.

'Don't pick out opponents yet, little one.' He warned her, Jarnet looking at him with an expression of surprise. 'I'm pretty sure they'd find that rude.' Max continued, causing the girl to raise her eyebrows at him as he then turned to Eviri, placing down his glass as he did with a little smile. Aren looked on with mild interest in what he had to say.

'Don't worry, lass. As disappointed as I may have sounded, this is a time of happiness.' Max told her, in a surprisingly comforting tone. 'The different planetary nations of our Solar System might covet our technology, but guess what, there's a reason they can't. It's the same reason as why it's we Plutonians which are out here fighting Vilemugs. We were blessed. The moment the Solar Gates were opened, allowing solar energy to be regulated to planetary bodies outside the habitable zone, something just happened. All the geniuses were born and all the progress happened with us on Pluto, leaving the rest behind. Even if they try to take our progress, the only thing they can take us on with is obsolete space-crafts.' He grinned, in his own comforting way, saying that everything was fine.

'So, stop worrying, you worry-wart. Instead of the negative, think of the positive. We're going home to our families again. You DO have a family waiting for you, don't you?' He inquired, looking at Eviri expectantly, and so did Jarnet and Aren at his question. Eviri blinked a little at him, but breathed out, feeling a bit calmer as her mind got to focus on something else.

'I do. My good mother and father, a younger brother who's currently studying to work with terraforming, dreaming of colonizing outside the Solar System. There's also my aunts and quite a few cousins, then my grandparents...' Eviri sighed a bit at the thoughts of their happy faces, the ones whom she had fought to keep happy. Satisfied, Max nodded.

'So do I.' Aren smiled, building on. 'I'm the youngest of four siblings, and most of them already have families of their own, so family gatherings tend to be crowded. But, indeed, seeing them all, old as well as young, is a more comforting sight than anything else I can possibly imagine.' It was a sweet mental image, indeed, Eviri admitted. She had seen his family in the past, so she knew first-hand what he was talking about.

'Oh! I do, too!' Jarnet raised her hand to speak, as if simply to join into what the rest were doing. 'My parents were really worried about letting me go to war, but I convinced them that technology would keep me safe! They'll be so happy when I come home! It's just me at the bottom of the family ladder, everyone else is old or ancient! But looking after those old people makes me happy too! I can show off all the new things and they get so amazed!' She smiled brightly, and Eviri could just imagine what the youth shining with energy meant to those old ones. Yeah, that's a good image.

'And of course, so do I. I'm pretty sure I'm a grand-uncle by now.' Max chuckled. 'We were all out here fighting to protect our families. Don't you all forget. We Plutonians, we're practically shunned by all others in our Solar System, so we must never forget our sweet ties to one another. To our families and friends. If we ever feel alone in the emptiness of space, always remember. Just think of all of us smiling together with our families one day. We're all practically one big family here, anyway. Yupp. So, let's go home and meet them all with smiling faces, alright?' He smiled, and Eviri had to admit she hadn't expected him to be that good at giving a comforting speech. Sure, it was cheesy and such, but it made her heart warm. Aren and Jarnet also seemed to be in pretty happy moods after that. Satisfied, Max stood up with a proud little smile.

'Oh, and by the way, did I tell you? I have a fiancé now.' He said a most surprising thing. Eviri looked at him in surprise and interest, accompanied with that unmistakably happy emotion.

'Oh, wow. Congratulations!' Eviri immediately clapped her hands together a bit in delight at the news. Was this the same guy that had grumbled about lack of heroism as before? 'That's an odd time to find one. How long ago?' Aren smirked and asked his companion, wide-eyed with surprise as well, going forth and clapping his friend on the shoulder.

'I proposed just before the first wave. Unfortunately, there became the war, so we agreed to wait with saying anything official until after the the war was over, just in case any of us died on this mission.' Max nodded with pride, looking happy. Why wouldn't he? He's getting married in this post-war world.

'Whaaa-aaat? On this mission? Then, she's on this ship!?' Jarnet looked extremely confused, leaning over from another couch, staring in disbelief at that Max actually got such a person from somewhere. 'Whom!? Whom is it!?' She demanded, and Eviri got a feeling that it looked like Max's nose got longer as he raised his chin in pride, but, he deserved this one moment.

'Oh? I hear you're already bragging.' A playful voice caused three of them baring Aren to jolt a little in surprise, since they all usually associated that voice with barking strict orders they're supposed to follow. Max grinned wider in a guilty display, blushing a little from having been found out, here. 'N-no way...' Jarnet immediately sat up straight again, staring in disbelief. Indeed, Eviri herself felt a feeling of amazement at this revelation.

Commander Koala was the superior officer of this mission and according to any of the fighters here she was a tough and beautiful woman who commanded respect and sowed destruction among the lines of their enemies. Yet here she came with a playful little smile, walking up to the side of an innocently grinning Max and locking her arm with his. There were numerous stunned expressions as this became a scene the average fighters also could take interest and amazement in, Eviri flinching as Koala looked over them with a smile clearly taking pleasure in their reactions.

'Eviri. Your numbers were very good last battle, and you're quite the close combatant. If I ever want a body-guard, I'm picking you.' Eviri felt a little blush of pride come upon herself as she nodded in gratitude at her commander. 'Aren, your numbers were exceptional, as usual. You're becoming a fine soldier.' Aren nodded to her, a smile on him that was still happy for their happiness. 'Jarnet, you were the most energy-efficient fighter in the whole attack. I've never seen an AI quite THAT good. I'll put a good word in for you to the computer science division if you admit to having programmed that AI yourself.' Jarnet flinched backwards a bit from the commanders words, and then mumbled something while seemingly shrinking together a bit. Eviri raised an eyebrow. She had assumed Jarnet had used a normal AI... but she had programmed it herself? That's impressive. Jarnet didn't look like she wanted the attention, however. Hm. Good for her.

'And of course, you...' Koala grinned as she turned her body towards the man she had entwined her arm with. Max grinned back at her. 'You're as violent as ever, but the numbers don't lie. Behind you was among the safest places on the battlefield...' Max made an amused chuckle back, and replied. 'Only because I had been directed by your dependable guidance, my lady. And you, yourself, was a force of nature which no bug could stand against...' The two giggled together in the strangest case of flirting which Eviri could remind herself of ever having seen. There was a bit of a commotion after, multiple people coming up to congratulate the couple. Eviri sighing, sitting in place while Aren came and sat down beside her.

'They look happy. Guess he didn't need need to become a hero after all.' Eviri commented, causing Aren to chuckle a little.

'Aspirations in love and ambition in power are two separate things, Eviri. If one achieves one it can make up for failing the other, but it can never replace it.' The way Aren said that almost sounded like he himself had experience in that. … Which was troublesome to Eviri, who threw some glances at him where he looked happily at Max and Koala. If the boy had a secret lover, that was in her highest interest so she didn't make a fool of herself... whenever she made a move. She blushed a little thinking about it, quickly determining that today wasn't the day she would be making said move. Jarnet was looking over at the two of them leaning her hands against her cheeks, looking like she was thinking something interesting.

'So, the trip back to the Solar System will take two years. What will you all do? Freeze yourselves or stay around?' Max asked when he finally was able to get back to the table, Koala smiling at his side. While they could travel quickly through space faster than light in these ships, they couldn't travel quite THAT quickly, and as such freezing oneself was popular to not have to wait for that long. Some people did have reasons to stay unfrozen, however.

'I'd like to do some work. Though, when I get bored, I'll freeze myself. Two years is too long to wait.' Jarnet declared, shaking her feet back and forth a bit as she did, already looking a bit bored with the current festivities.

'Except for my shifts, I think I'll do the same.' Aren followed up after Jarnet's words. 'Maybe I'll wake myself up once every 30 days just to check around.'

'Oh? Would you like to match cycles? Just for some company~!' Jarnet immediately asked him back with a brilliant smile, after which she gave Eviri a sneaky and expectant look. Eviri refused to be affected.

'What about you, my lady?' Max asked to his fiancé, their faces rather close. She turned back with a rather clear smile.

'Since the war is finally over, I'd like to let loose and do as I like. So, with that, I want to have a one-year old kid when I arrive.'

'That-' Max looked a bit taken aback at this declaration which caused Eviri slight embarrassed discomfort just listening to it. Max looked just a little bit panicked as well, but after a pause he gave an improvised answer. '-can be arranged.'

'Great~!' Koala sounded out happily in front of a slightly panicking fiancé, before she turned to Eviri.

'How about you? Now that the war is finally over, do you have anything you wish to do now that you aren't constrained by constant impending battle anymore? Anything you've had to hold back?' There was the air of something obvious being hinted at.

'I'll freeze myself.' Eviri declared outright and with finality, standing up and leaving the table. She felt both Jarnet and Aren's eyes following her while Max and Koala burst out in tiny giggles to one another. Eh, this was fine. There were peaceful times ahead. Some playful teasing as well as fun and games were fine. After all, they were free now. Free to return home to their families on Pluto, where they belonged.

__________________

[h3]Chapter 2: Pluto[/h3]

'Huah...!' Eviri's eyes shot open in surprise as she awakened. Her mind was immediately supplied with the information of what was going on through the Plutonian information-network, even as she stumbled with tired limbs out of her freezing capsule. How... what had happened!? They were just now arriving at home, after the two years of travelling back to the Solar System. What had happened while they had been gone? Even though Eviri's body was only about half a year older than it had been when she left for this mission, it had gone about ten years since they had left. What had happened in these ten years? Why... why was Pluto under occupation!? … And by the Triton Union, of all nations!?

Eviri didn't understand the information she had been provided. There was no helping it. She got herself dressed in her green battle-suit and helmet as quickly as she could, frowning as she dashed for the hangar along with a lot of other soldiers. In the hangar there was a large open space with energy-windows leading out into space. The soldiers were dashing, jumping out through these barriers and were enveloped by spheres of power in their colour as they came out on the other side, protected from space. Keeping her teeth clenched, Eviri dashed as well. Diving out through the field, her suit woke to life and enveloped her in her green sphere of power, which immediately soared out into space along with the other soldiers.

The Triton Union was a union of the different countries that had formed on Triton, Neptune's major moon, after its terraforming. They were Pluto's closest neighbours for this century, they had mostly kept to themselves except for their regular appearances at the Earth Council. They received notable attention after having taken the brunt of the Vilemug attack, saved by the actions of the Plutonian Wence and his white powers. Yet... where had this thing appeared from? In front of Eviri was Pluto, Charon circling around the now green and blue healthy dwarf-planet, the sun shining through a Solar Gate to her left giving the dwarf-planet the solar energy it needed to survive with the help of healthy technology. It looked untouched.

However, right above it, was a positively enormous spaceship, floating in orbit. It's diameter looked to be about one tenth of the dwarf-planet itself, way more massive than anything humanity had ever put into orbit. It consisted of two giant metal pikes, pointing down at the sides as it slowly and ominously rotated horizontally above their home, a great white spire of power pointing down at the planet. The ship looked very much like a trident, pointing down at Pluto with the potential to skewer it. The readings which Eviri's mind was given about the power contained in the middle spire... it was off the charts.

'Plutonian forces, welcome back.' A voice hailed them, coming from the ship itself. The voice was calm and as ominous as the ship itself, making itself heard to all incoming Plutonions. 'I advice you not to make any sudden moves. The Trident contains more than enough power to eliminate all life on Pluto.' The numerous starships which had arrived, including the Isabelle, used energy to come to a halt and the many fighters were given the halt command. Eviri came to a stop, staring at the dangerous scene before her. Upon closer inspection, there were far more metallic crafts of war than just the Trident in orbit, but it was definitely the most eye-catching.

'Wonderful. Now, I would like to negotiate with your commander in person. You may bring a single ally onboard the Trident. No contact with the surface world of Pluto will be allowed. Failure to comply will be met with immediate consequences.' Eviri felt a combination of anger and panic, floating in mid-space looking at their home planet. This had been supposed to be their last action for a while. They were supposed to come home to see their families. She thought of the faces of her parents and little brother. Were they safe? What had happened? The Tritons shouldn't have the technology to defeat the Plutonian garrison! Yet, she felt no sign of them! What had happened? How long ago? … She didn't know.

'Eviri.' She blinked in surprise, hearing Koala's voice speaking directly to her. Eviri turned her attention towards the bridge of the Isabelle, where she knew Koala was. 'Y-yes, Commander?' She responded, unsure why she had been contacted. '… Come with me.' Koala asked her, and although surprised, Eviri was quick to bite back her doubt about the situation and resume her duty as a fighter. 'Yes, Commander!'

Shortly after, Eviri in a green sphere was following Koala, who was floating right in front of her in a purple suit and sphere. The woman looked as determined as ever, and there was no clear change in her body-structure, as far as Eviri could see. Yet... that conversation before Eviri had gone and frozen herself... 'Commander...' She asked, sounding worried.

'Yes, Eviri?' Koala asked, as they were drifting towards the Trident, ominously welcoming their tiny existences and a signal from the craft showed them where to enter. This was very stressful and scary to Eviri, but Koala showed no sign of being disturbed. Yet, there was no way she wasn't. Building a bit of courage, Eviri asked the question.

'Is the little one alright?' She asked, staring focused at Koala. If she had made a mistake, then the commander could simply correct her. Koala, a looking a little surprised at the question, smiled a bit back at her. It was a really kind-looking smile.

'Yeah. Karen's alright. She's frozen right now. I couldn't have her be awake when this crisis started.' Koala answered, causing Eviri to sigh a bit in relief. 'To have the first soul you worry about after this to be me and my daughter, I'm a bit happy.'

'Ah, no...' Eviri blushed a little, but had to hold a little smile. 'The first ones I worried about was my family. It's just that, um, I can't come into contact and hear if they're alright, but I could hear if you're alright. That was all.' Yeah, somehow, all signals were being jammed from the surface of the dwarf-planet, there was no hearing what was going on.

'Oh, yes. Of course.' Koala nodded, before turning back to the situation. They were both high on alert, but... it still made Eviri feel a little good knowing that part had gone well. Still. The many Tritonian metal space-crafts with their guns directed towards them as they drifted towards the Trident was very uncomfortable.

'I've analysed the components of the Trident.' Jarnet's voice was heard from somewhere behind them, no doubt having her computer run through every single piece of data which she could obtain. 'It is possible that they were developing it from the materials of Neptune's core.'

'So, they hid it from us. This thing has been in development for longer than we've known of the existence of Vilemugs.' Koala quickly surmised, glaring ahead at the giant craft. This led to Eviri making another realization.

'Then, it must have been originally built to combat us.' She shared, a very worrying additional fact that brought an air of tension from the unknown powers this machine had to offer. Indeed, the Triton Union did not usually have the power to occupy Pluto. They must have used something, some trick, in order to neutralize the garrison. The question was, what was it?

'Indeed.' Koala nodded at Eviri's conclusion. 'Jarnet. Continue analysing. I want to know as much as possible before I come back. Aimer, take command while I am away. Make sure nobody moves before they should, this is a delicate situation.' She gave quick orders as they approached the giant craft.

'There's a lot of interference, but I'll do what I can.' Jarnet responded, sounding worried.

'Don't worry, we'll keep things in order. Good luck, commander.' Aimer added on, now having been given command during Koala's absence.

'Great. Let's go see if we can deal with this, then.' They continued onwards as they by distance disconnected from the network of the others, into the suddenly very silent environment of space.

__________________

'Welcome.' A very thin, yet obviously pleased man was sitting behind a desk in the well-lit room which Koala and Eviri had been led to. Since they had entered the enormous craft and been led towards this room, all the soldiers of Triton had been sure to show their numbers and their courage standing around the Plutonians, but they were obviously unnerved. It wasn't strange. Their whole lives they had been taught that the technology of the Plutonians was unbeatable, yet here they were, holding Pluto hostage right before the full power of the Plutonian invasion fleet. However, the man in front of them held nothing but vile confidence, extruding an aura of being in utter control of the situation. The sight of his expression made Eviri feel very uncomfortable. It felt like he took pleasure in their troubled situation.

'You must be the famed Commander Koala, correct? I'm Lord Umeron of the Triton Union. I'm honoured to meet you.' He stood up and raised his hand to shake, but neither Koala nor Eviri were particularly interested in becoming friends. Eviri shrunk back a bit, frowning at his pride, feeling uncomfortable. She was a bit amazed at how Koala could stand there, looking virtually unperturbed, her expression practically emotionless as she addressed the man.

'What are you doing?' Koala asked, both Eviri and Umeron looking surprised at her question. Seeing how she wouldn't take his hand, Umeron retracted his hands to behind his back, looking at her with a seemingly respectful look, though Eviri could tell he was looking down at them mentally.

'I beg your pardon? What does it look like I'm doing?' He asked, looking at her with curiosity.

'By invading Pluto, you've turned the entire Solar System against you.' Koala's voice gave away the hints of her irritation, but the contents of her words did not let themselves be swayed. 'Triton, while respected, does not have the manpower to command this system, especially not with us while using the majority of your forces just to keep us Plutonians in check. With this invasion, there is no way the different nations of the Solar System aren't gearing up for battle, making alliances and keeping a watch of your every move. All you have is the Trident. Other than that, you have no army to fend them off with.' Koala stared judgingly at Umeron, who smirked a little at the woman's sentence.

'My gentle lady, you underestimate the power of fear.' He told, smiling gently. 'The Trident is able to strike any planetary body in the Solar System in moments. Now, we wouldn't want to do that, but we're holding far more than just Pluto hostage, here. It might be in orbit around Pluto right now, to celebrate your arrival, but at any point we might point its edge somewhere else. We haven't said any threats, however. As such, yes, the other planets are gearing up for war, but they won't act. What if Triton is happy with just Pluto? They all hope that is the case. Sure, they might beat us in a fight, but they may lose so much more as a result... nobody wants to take that chance.' He grinned, seemingly taking pleasure out of the words he said, looking at the two women before him. Umeron raised his head even higher, as he came to his next point.

'Speaking of which, that army you just claimed we don't have... didn't it just arrive?' Eh? Did he just...? Eviri's lips parted slightly in disbelief as he hinted on something without explanation. He definitely just referred to the Plutonian invasion force as his army.

'… You're more confused than I thought.' Koala answered, a clear edge audible in her voice. 'What do you think will happen should you destroy Pluto right now? We'll destroy you. Your own bargaining chip against us is also the one reason you're not floating debris right now. So, we cannot attack you, but you most certainly cannot attack us either.' She answered with confidence. Eviri blinked a little in surprise. Something felt wrong. There was something about the promise of mutually assured destruction which scared her. 

'Don't.' Eviri surprised herself as she spoke. But... she couldn't keep silent. Because, she could read Koala powering up her suit. Koala, realizing that it was her that had been spoken to, turned her head and gave a mildly intimidating look at Eviri. 'Th-they were able to take down the garrison at Pluto. They have some kind of way of fighting us. As long as we don't know what it is, don't challenge them. W-we don't know what they might be capable of.' While scared of turning her only ally into an enemy on this front, Eviri couldn't let Koala go and risk all the people of Pluto just for the sake of this threat. Umeron was visibly pleased with her words.

'Good, good. I love me some drama. Looks like your disciple here is smarter than you.' He said, looking from Eviri to Koala, entwining his fingers as if to keep them from showing his excitement. 'She's correct. We have measures to combat your kind. Your fleet stands no chance against us as it looks now. We're well prepared for your arrival. We just can't fight the other regular machines. So we'd like your help with that. Should you not help us, then we have no use holding our army up by keeping you in check here, so we could just eliminate you all and then place our forces at more strategic locations. The choice is all yours. It would be a pain to have to eliminate you just because we needed our fleet somewhere else...' He outlined a definite threat.

'Hm.' Koala turned her stare back at Umeron, looking somewhat annoyed at having been talked back to from her own picked aide and being put in an unfavourable position. 'That may be the case. Alright, so we might have a bit of trouble facing against your unknown weapon...' She placed her hands on her hips, staring forward at Umeron, who was still smiling with his hands entwined. '… But you made a grave little mistake. You shouldn't have let a Plutonian fighter onboard your super-weapon.'

'Wait.' Eviri muttered in stunned fear, raising her hand to attempt stopping her commander, but Koala had already flared up, her hair flattering as a purple field of power enveloped her and she was in full combat-mode within a second. Eviri felt it. Koala was going to charge straight through the internal structure of the Trident's core and wreck havoc. Since it'd be hard to imagine them firing their weapon onboard their own ship, it was hard to imagine some form of counter-weapon arriving in time to block a free-moving Plutonian fighter already inside the ship, but Umeron had not stopped smiling. That pleased, disturbing expression that seemed to dare her to do exactly what she was about to do. Eviri wanted to interfere, but fear stuck her on the spot.

Koala took off upwards, the direction of the highest concentration of energy in the Trident. However, just as she was breaking through the ceiling, a shock of power erupted from right above, forcing a surprised Koala back onto the floor. Eviri's eyes widened in surprise. This power-signature! It was...!

Standing beyond the hole one floor above, surrounded by a white sphere of power, was Wence. The Plutonian Knight of Triton. He stood with as straight a back and as knightly an aura as always, but he was staring down at Koala with a look which could be described as if he was disgusted with her. In his right hand, he was holding what appeared to be a steel gun, with a barrel long enough to reach outside his sphere.

'I see.' Koala commented, frowning. 'If you let them research your-' She wasn't able to finish the sentence. Wence directed the gun at her, the end of the barrel outside his own sphere. Noting being in danger, Koala dodged to her right, carried by the high acceleration of her field. However, Wence's hand was faster. He intercepted her flight-pattern and fired. The shot felt like it reached its target instantly, an echoing bang resounding through the room. Pounding into Koala's sphere, the shot sent a ripple through the purple power of Koala's defence. Normally, the sphere would protect its host from most damage, but... Eviri flinched as she watched Koala's sphere shatter, the various power-cells spread through her suit cracking. Her mouth opening in pain, black steam rising from her fried suit as the powerful commander fell powerlessly to the floor, blood spilling out of her from numerous wounds under her suit. Eviri stood, helpless and terrified, watching. Th-this... this was real danger. She had never felt it before, only dealing with Vilemugs...

'W-wence... Wh-why did you...?' Eviri tried, looking up in fear at the man with the gun, the man formerly having been known as a hero. The man looked at her as if she was little more than an insect.

'What is it to you? If you have to know, Triton had more to offer me. On Pluto, everyone is doomed to always be treated equally. In the Triton Union, I can finally be treated like I deserve. Like a proper hero.' … The supremely skilled fighter outlined the most base desire humanity had ever known.

'Wh-wha...' Eviri stared wide-eyed at Wence, not believing what she had heard. 'You... You're terrible...' Wence merely met her gaze, seemed as if he felt her fear, and stared her down. Eviri realized she couldn't look at him anymore, and even less could she look at Koala, so her eyes settled on the man still looking so very pleased with himself having seen the scene before him. Reminded by the situation around her by looking at Umeron, Eviri felt her soul quiver a bit. Fearing what he might do, she sunk down on her knees and bowed to him.

'I-I'm sorry.' Eviri heard her own shaking voice say. She was crying. She was afraid. She had no choice. 'P-please, forgive my Commander for her transgression. Th-the Plutonian forces will obey your commands. B-but, please don't make us attack civilians and those who don't resist. We're... not made for that.' She attempted to compromise, fear having taken root in her heart, her head down before Umeron. And... she heard his bone-chilling laughter. He loved it.

'That's it! Good girl! That's what I like to hear! Yeah, sure, as long as you wipe out their fleets, I'll be most pleased!' She could hear his grin, and some guilt went through her as he accepted her proposal. Eviri would have to go through with this, now, wouldn't she? She... was keeping Pluto safe. Would... would the cost be worth it? 'You! I like you! What's your name?' Umeron asked, excited.

'E-eviri! My name is Eviri, sir!' Her voice still afraid, she responded instinctively to him while staring straight down into the floor. Wence made a noise of disappointment, as if he had wanted her to act some other way, and she could read that he powered down his suit and wandered off on the floor above. Even with her sitting like this, her suit still told her how Umeron bent forward, staring approvingly at her in that wicked way of his.

'Good girl. From this day on, YOU'RE the Commander of the Plutonian invasion fleet, Eviri. I won't accept anyone else's leadership from this point on. We'll keep Koala here, captive, as extra insurance of that. Don't worry about her, we'll take well care of her. I trust you'll make the Triton Union proud, Plutonian girl. For the sake of dear Pluto and Koala here...' His voice. It was so... creepy, frightening, merciless. This huge responsibility... From the beginning, Eviri had wanted to dress into this suit for the sake of flying free, but was drafted after the Solar System came under attack from Vilemugs due to her excellent capability. And now... now she was...

'Yes, sir...' Eviri answered him, her tone defeated, feeling utterly helpless.

__________________

[h3]Chapter 3: Eris[/h3]

Eviri felt so tiny. When she came back, she now had to stand in the place where Koala had been standing where she had given the speech that the war was over. At the podium in the largest hall of the Isabelle. There were so many eyes on her. She just wanted to sink away and vanish. But...

'For those who don't know me, I am Eviri. Feel free to look up my record as you please. I was tasked with accompanying Koala onto the Trident. As Koala has been taken hostage along with the rest of Pluto, it falls on me to tell you what has happened.' There was fear in the eyes of the many fighters that were watching her, too. She didn't know how this would be taken. But she had to. She saw Aren and Jarnet in the back, Aren with his arms crossed and Jarnet looking worried. Where... where was Max?

'The Triton Union has a new weapon able to shoot us down. I saw it happen. Koala was neutralized with a single shot from a strange gun. We don't know how it works, but as it stands, we stand no chance against them. We've been tasked to destroy the military fleets of other nations. I've managed to ensure we don't have to hurt civilians and those who don't resist, but if we do not assist Triton in invading the Solar System, the Trident will lose its reason to keep us hostage and annihilate Pluto for the simple reason of keeping its backs clean when moving on to conquer other planets. If it's for the matter of defending our families, we don't have a choice. I've been selected by Lord Umeron of Triton to lead us in his name.' There were heavy murmuring around the crowd. Frightened murmurs, angry murmurs, all kinds of negative ones.

'Any complaints-'

'You're damn right there are complaints!' Eviri quieted as her words had been interrupted. A notably annoyed Aimer, the large man who was always at Koala's side, stepped up towards Eviri. She shuddered a bit. He was so large and intimidating. 'We shouldn't obey the commands of one who's threatening our homes! Let's attack! Their secret weapon be damned, it's just a gun that happens to be effective, right!? Now that we know, we can dodge it! We should take the chance and hold onto our honour, and blast the Trident into pieces! I won't let the Plutonians become the lapdogs of the Triton Union!' He informed, angrily, glaring down at Eviri. There were numerous agreeing murmurs in the crowd. N-not good.

'W-we can't.' Her voice sounded anything but convincing. 'If we fail, he'll just destroy Pluto. Th-they have Wence. Wence betrayed us. He was the one who shot Koala. They've researched on his suit, and found a weakness. We must-'

'We must not at all.' Aimer countered, his voice filled with anger and vigour, making Eviri flinch back. 'We'd betray our families even more by letting Umeron use us to take over the system. You, little girl, have fallen for fear and is right now as much of a pawn of Umeron's as Wence is.' Eviri panicked at Aimer's words. This was going all wrong.

'I-I'm just trying to defend Pluto!' She tried. 'You didn't see him! Umeron... he's heartless! He'll destroy our home without a shred of hesitation if given reason! I'm...' Eviri placed a hand over her beating heart. [i]I'm in the right... right?[/i] 

'Now, now.' A steady voice was heard through the hall. Eviri and Aimer both looked in its direction. Max stood with a little smile by the door, in his hands a tiny sleeping one-year-old little girl named Karen. 'Don't bully the poor girl. Give her a chance. After all, we're not completely lost. Koala's given us a chance.' He said, rather confidently. With those words, Max wandered over and handed a little datapad to a surprised Jarnet, Aren blinking a bit in surprise looking on.

'TH-THIS IS...!' Jarnet became ecstatic as she looked at the contents of the datapad.

'Indeed. It's the data from Koala's suit from when she was shot. She had it plugged in just in case, to give readings on what happened to her should she be countered. She planned to force them to shoot her.' Max grinned at her, then waved at her to scurry off. 'Now, off you go.' Jarnet didn't hesitate for a moment as she spun around and dashed for a better place to analyse the data. Then, with little Karen still sleeping on his arm, he turned and looked at Aimer, who was frowning back at him with his fists clenched.

'With the data Koala has given us, we'll eventually be able to gain a counter for the enemy attack. And when we're done, we'll be able to regain superiority once again.' Max informed, not backing down for even a moment. 'When that has happened, we can strike back against Umeron and his Trident with better luck. As it stands, we're unprepared. A greater chance might follow if we allow Eviri to command us for a little while, until we've discovered the means with which we'll take back our home. Now, shouldn't that be a healthy compromise? Or will you just ignore this chance which Koala has offered us?'

'…' Aimer was silent, staring at Max. Eviri stared at Aimer, afraid of what conclusion he could make, while feeling privately helpless. Even now, she was just being helped by those around her. Was flying really the only thing she could do? Did she have no choices, was all the choices already made by those around her? What was Aimer thinking right now?

'Fine.' Aimer finally ended with, causing Eviri to breathe out in relief. 'Do note, I do not approve of this plan, but I do accept it. For the sake of Koala.' He turned and left, and the rest of the fighters seemed to more or less accept it, too. The crowd dispersed, although permission had not been given to do so by Eviri, but she felt in no way like she was in any position to tell them otherwise. She sheepishly went over towards her friends, Max and Aren, feeling exhausted.

'D-did I do the right thing?' Eviri asked, looking for answers at Max and Aren. Max grinned, standing with the little one on his arm while Aren stood with a grim expression, but nodded. 'You did the best you could. I do not envy your position.' Aren said, his arms crossed looking at her. 'Koala knew this would potentially happen, if she set up her suit to get those readings. Meaning she picked you over even Aimer to be the one to take care of the aftermath of her being shot. Koala trusts you. You should feel better, knowing this.' He shared, and Eviri blinked a bit at this realization. Yeah, that was right. Koala HAD picked her for this.

'Yeah, you're right.' She said, with a more steady voice. That did calm her down a bit, strangely enough. 'I'll make sure to make her proud. … If I can.' Currently, however, that just meant playing Umeron's lapdog, obeying his commands.

'Good thing, too.' Max grinned, lightly bouncing on the spot with a small baby sleeping there. 'Had it been Aimer, we'd likely have attacked, too.' Eviri quivered at the thought of what Umeron might have done then. 'In any case.' Max turned his head and looked at Aren. 'Luckily Umeron agreed that we didn't need to attack those who don't resist. Aren, I'd like you to escape and message the other nations about this deal. Tell them to stand down. If possible, also request for aid in liberating Pluto. If they accomplish that, we'll have no reason to fight for Triton anymore. When we have regained control, we'll wipe out the Triton occupational forces. That way, we will not have to actually invade anyone.' Aren frowned a bit, looking at him.

'And if I'm seen leaving this ship?' He asked.

'Oh, we should be able to explain one deserter, should we not? Plutonians are a people of freedom, after all. You'll likely not be the only one.' Max continued to grin, and then turned to Eviri. 'Is this plan of action approved, Commander?' Eviri winced, realizing she had been spoken to while being referred to as “commander”.

'Ah. W-well, yes. Please do.' A feeling of strange guilt went through her. Not only because she had taken a title that she didn't feel she deserved, she also hadn't been able to defend herself in this situation. It had been all Max. That, and they were still planning to rebel against Umeron, despite the danger of doing so. Of course they intended on doing so. Living under the control of the Triton Union was no way to live, but it filled Eviri with fear for their futures, and the future of their home planet. Of their families on it. How were they doing? It was... impossible to know. Still...

'And... you have my permission to do things without asking me first for this intention.' She told them both, feeling that it was easier to let that responsibility off her head by saying so. 'Please be careful.' She asked Aren, who looked at her with a little analysing look before he put a hand on her shoulder and smiled a bit.

'Don't worry about me. I think I'll be on one of the safer missions around here. Just you be careful dealing with Umeron and his Triton Union. Good luck, Eviri.' And with that, Aren turned around and left her, lifting his hand off her shoulder as he did. Eviri's heart felt a little cold after his touch left her. He was going out on another mission, and now Eviri would not be able to take comfort in his presence. It'd just be her, Max and Jarnet...

'Awwaaah...!' Eviri flinched when the little creature in Max's arms suddenly reached out for her while making a loud vocal noise only a baby could make. Her flinch seemed to frighten the baby, too, for Karen retracted her hand to her mouth and looked at her with a confused, almost panicked-looking big eyes. Oh. That's right. Eviri giggled little, smiling at the little one who had turned in her father's hands to inspect Eviri.

'I'm sorry. Did I frighten you?' She carefully held a hand forward to let the little one become familiar with her hand, but instead got surprised when Karen lifted her arm and softly struck Eviri's hand with her arm and then laughed as if she had done the most amusing joke in the eternity of forever. Max proceeded to laugh as well, readjusting his grip on her a bit, joining Karen's little fit of laughter.

'Yes. Funny, was that? Very funny. Daddy's sense of humour is having a hard time catching up to your comedic genius. That's how funny it was.' And the two laughed together for no apparent reason, Karen encouraged to continue laughing from Max's laughing joining in. Eviri was just watching the scene and it was hard not to laugh herself, despite the situation that was going on. That's right. This was what she was protecting. She had to stay strong for a while longer.

'Thank you, Karen.' Eviri muttered, before she waved them off and started walking herself.

__________________

'Do your duties and you will be rewarded, Plutonians! Obey the order of your Commander, and clear the way for us! That's all you need to do! For the Triton Union, and the safety of Pluto!' … The voice was coming from a relatively large space-cruiser behind them, along with the small army of Triton attack vessels. He had been going on non-stop since they left Pluto. In one of his first sentences he had referred to himself as Captain Sewbrig, but really, most of the Plutonian forces had stopped listening to him within the first few shouts. They all knew what they were being asked to do.

Eviri stood at the forefront of the flying fighters, a sphere of green surrounding her and her arms crossed. In front of her was the dwarf-planet of Eris, with the Solar Gate shining down energy from above at it. There was a meagre fleet of ships defending the yellow and green-spotted planet. They didn't stand a chance.

'Stand down.' Eviri commanded. 'We have no reason to attack you if you simply lay down your arms.'

'Yes!' Sewbrig happily called out from behind her. 'Lay down your arms, and accept the Triton Union as your new masters!' … Eviri felt the inevitable tinge of annoyance. He was potentially making this a whole lot harder. There was silence. Most likely the people of Eris were discussing the best cause of action among themselves. Eviri just had to pray that they didn't do anything that would force the Plutonians to attack them. 

'This is Admiral Suen of Eris.' A voice said after what felt like forever, hailing from one of the vessels around the planet. 'I'm afraid I'll have to decline.' And with that said, suddenly the ships blasted forward small capsules at considerable speeds towards the Plutonian fighters. 'Oh.' Eviri made a small noise of realization as she stared. They were nukes. How did you counter super-fast Plutonian fighters that's way more agile and powerful than your own ships? With extremely huge explosives, appeared to be the answer of the Eris fleet.

'Jarnet.' Eviri commanded, and she knew immediately what to do.

'Yes, ma'am! Uploading schematics!' Because unlike the Trident, this was a known kind of projectile, it was possible for the information about these projectiles be provided to the fighters. This provided a very peculiar detail. The nukes worked on a timer, and upon the timer being triggered a small projectile would be launched and detonate the bomb. Very well.

'Forward team! Intercept the explosives! Slice off the detonator!' Eviri commanded, naturally knowing what to do as she and many other fighters soared forward, closing the distance between them and the nukes in a mere fraction of a second, way faster than the Eris' commanders could even react to. Closing her hands and letting the computer in her helmet calculate exactly where to strike to help her, Eviri let green blades of power extrude from her sphere in the directions of her arms, and her dance started. Swinging her arms as she passed the explosives, she split off the detonators from the rest of the bombs, her sphere swinging from explosive to explosive. On her sides, her many fighters were doing the exact same, flawlessly executing their commands with the help of the information provided to their minds.

Noting the actions of the Plutonian fleet, the Erisian ships opened fire. Notably at the nukes, intending on detonating the already deactivated explosives. Without even needing the order, Aimer flew in front of Eviri, the big man in brown putting his hands forward with a grim expression on his face as a brown barrier extended from his sphere, blocking the shots along with many other defensively suited fighters, creating a wall that the Erisian ships simply didn't have the firepower to blow through. Max was flying around in red behind her with numerous others, carefully picking up the explosives and removing them from the battlefield in case of instability. Eviri... felt safe again. Her many fighters were doing their jobs flawlessly. However, so far, it was all defence.

'Magnificent job, Plutonians!' Sewbrig's voice was notably louder in the ears of those who heard him than it needed to be. 'Now, finish the job! Annihilate them, for Triton, and for your home!' That man... Umeron had very intentionally put Sewbrig in this job. The Lord of the Trident knew very well how this fanatic would sound to the ears of the Plutonians, yet they could do nothing about it. It had to be pleasing Umeron to no end, imagining this. However, should the enemy continue to resist, they would have no choice. Would they have to kill the innocent? Eviri frowned angrily as she turned to the enemy fleet.

'So, Admiral Suen? Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve, or would you like to stand down, now?' Eviri asked, making sure that her irritation at this trick of his was clearly audible. The ships of Eris stopped firing, and silence was heard once again. Eviri stared in silence, glaring down at them, surrounded by her other fighters while Aimer let down his shield for the moment and turned to stare at her a little.

'… You do make a good Commander.' The brown fighter commented, looking at where Eviri stood with her arms crossed. 'You have the aura. You just needed to get out on the field of battle to show it. Had circumstances been different, I wouldn't have objected to following you normally.' With that, Aimer turned back and stared down at the enemy forces. Eviri was still annoyed at having to deal with the explosives, as such couldn't appreciate Aimer's odd praise, but she duly noted it as she stared down and awaited the enemy response.

'You leave us little choice.' Suen's voice was eventually heard again, more somber than it was before. 'We're prepared to discuss the terms of surrender.'

'EXCELLENT! That's where MY role comes in!' Sewbrig announced. Eviri grimaced, but assumed her job was done with. The Plutonians parted way to let the Triton vessels in so that they could dock with the Erisian one, but they had to stand around to warn about the consequences of sudden resistance. Eviri felt horrible, this felt wrong. She had just let Umeron conquer another world. But, it was for the sake of Pluto. That's what it was. So she stayed there, feeling empty, standing inside her sphere of green in mid-space, watching the two vessels docked in orbit around Eris.

The deal was finished soon enough. The dwarf-planet did not have the means of defending itself from Plutonians, as known. However, not all planets would so peacefully roll over. The Uranus Tetrad, made of the moons Ariel, Titania, Umbriel and Oberon, all resisted fiercely. To a watcher's eyes it would look like the forces of Uranus severely out-powered the Plunonians, with all the many energy-beams and explosions from Uranus ships blasting everything in sight, but the truth was the opposite. Commanded by Eviri to merely disable the enemy ships rather than annihilate them as Sewbrig's obnoxious yelling demanded, the Plutonians cut the weapons and disabled the engines of the ships they flew past, easily dodging the shots of the Uranus forces. They were superior enough to do so. The only casualties in that battle were those who the vessels of Uranus shot down of their own numbers by accident, since they fired so widely in all directions. That battle was also one which was soon won, the Plutonian experience in fighting Vilemugs coming well to use. The moons of Uranus was under Triton's rule soon enough.

__________________

[h3]Chapter 4: Saturn[/h3]

'The Jupiter Confederation and the Republic of Saturn are planning to make a surprise strike at Pluto to drive Triton away from our home, in order to free us from Umeron's rule.' Aren reported to a distressed Eviri. The battle against the Uranus Tetrad had shaken her a bit. Even the slightest mistake while attacking would have resulted in the death of those she was attempting to disable, yet she had to dodge enemy attacks herself in order to stay alive. Fighting Vilemugs had been so much easier than fighting humans. It had been so much easier when the order was “exterminate”. But, seeing Aren again and hearing this report in her office on the Isabelle, it comforted her. Present in the room was Aren before her, Max and Aimer by the side and Jarnet sitting backwards on a chair, leaning her arms on the backrest.

'Th-that's good news.' Eviri said, breathing a bit heavily and letting her expression soften, sitting in her chair hearing his report. 'It will happen in tandem with our scheduled attack at Saturn.' Aren continued, standing professionally in front of her. 'With the sheer numbers of ships defending the moons of Saturn, they estimate the majority of the Triton fleets will be there, leaving Pluto relatively undefended, not counting the Trident. Commander Shum Wei of Jupiter will gather as many ships as he can and attack Pluto while we attack Saturn. President Omair of Saturn wishes you good luck in our coming battle, hoping you'll spare his troops as you did those of Uranus as well as that hoping you don't suffer too many casualties.' … So, the coming battle would be a fight between allies set against one another, both sides acknowledging it but letting it happen regardless.

'Very well.' Aimer spoke. 'Then there's no question about it. We'll turn around and leave for Pluto before the attack starts, arriving just in time to help Shum retake Pluto.' He declared, beating one of his hands into the other. This caused Eviri to blink a bit in surprise at him. That was... no.

'We will not. We will attack Titan, as Umeron wishes. When Shum's message that he has retaken Pluto arrives, first then will we turn our forces to fight Triton.' Eviri declared, rather sure of her position on the matter. That's right, she thought. Their hope would be put into the sheer might of the Jupiter military force. They outnumbered the Triton forces at the very least ten to one.

'What?' An outright hostile one-word question of someone who didn't believe what he had just heard came from Aimer, causing Eviri to turn and stare in slight surprise and fear at his angry glare. 'We're not going to get a better chance than this. Jupiter's forces are the strongest in the Solar System. And we're NOT going to help them retake Pluto?' He asked, angrily. Eviri, needing to reaffirm her own beliefs, stood up to meet him.

'If this attack on Pluto fails, then we don't want Umeron to have reason to punish us. We cannot risk that we'll lose. As such, we will continue our attack on Titan. That way, Pluto won't be destroyed, even if we lose.' Eviri said, confronting him. Yes, she believed what she was saying was in the right. Jupiter didn't need their help. They sounded quite confident in their own capability, since they had decided to do it this way.

'If we lose...?' Aimer repeated, clear anger arising in his eyes and voice. 'This is the Jupiter Confederacy we're talking about! They're the best chance we've got!' He was shouting at her, and Eviri was feeling quite intimidated by the large man. 'So imagine Jupiter loses. We take Saturn, and then Jupiter just lost their fleet attacking Pluto, hm? What's left? The engineers and researchers of Mercury have no army to speak of and Venusians are renowned for their peaceful oblivious attitudes to everything! We're left hoping for the Mars Empire and the Earth, and not only are they a weaker alternative to Jupiter and Saturn, they're also long-time rivals and enemies! If we let this chance go, we'll never get it again! We'll live all our lives under Umeron's thumb! So you really want that!? Are you on our side or not!?' Aimer shouted at her, those words stinging really badly. He did have a point, but...

'We can't.' Eviri said, her heart shaking in fear within her. 'Our duties is to the people of Pluto. This has the greatest chance of keeping them alive, as such, we have no choice. We're still vulnerable to Triton's counter-measure against us. There will be no change of plans. We will attack Titan as commanded.' Her heart wasn't in the words. She did want to help defend her home from the occupation of Triton, but she felt frightened. Frightened about risking her family and everyone else on Pluto for the chance of everything going fine. She didn't want to do that.

'…' Aimer glared angrily at her, before turning and walking angrily out the room, his every step sounding like the step of an angry giant. Eviri was left pale and looking after him, unsure how to best handle the situation.

'Oh, wow. He was really angry, huh.' Max commented, scratching behind his head looking after Aimer with a small smile.

'Oooouuuugh...' Jarnet complained, pressing her forehead down into the backrest of the chair. 'If only I could actually analyse the bullets or whatever it was to complete the readings of what happened to the suit, then I could really get to know how it worked and how to counter it...'

'It's not your fault.' Aren told her. 'Would you like me to attempt stealing one for you?'

'No waaaay.' Jarnet said in a disinterested tone staring at him. 'The scanners of today would find you in a heartbeat. Don't go risking Eviri's hard-earned trust from Triton with such a stupid thing.' Aren winced a bit at her words, and then shrugged in an “as you wish” manner which caused Max to chuckle a bit. Eviri looked between them for a bit, feeling doubt in herself again.

'A-am I doing the right thing?' She asked for the fifteenth time since the was given command.

'Wouldn't be able to say. I see the points both of you are making.' Aren would say, looking at her quite honestly. 'If we attacked the Trident and lost, then you're right. If we attacked and won, then Aimer's right. From here, I can't say who's more right.' Aren said, making Eviri feel a little better about this, at least. They can't tell, either.

'It's also a question of if you'd prefer your people to be dead or living under Umeron's control.' Max smiled and chimed in, making Eviri wince.

'Don't make her imagine that.' Jarnet complained and sighed. 'The battle's coming up. We need to get ready.'

'Y-yeah...' Eviri said. This was a battle that would be a diversion for a more important battle at Pluto. Hopefully, Shum Wei would be able to destroy the Trident. The only thing Eviri could do was her best in an attack on Titan commanded by Triton. She felt helpless and useless being forced to do so, but her mind was convinced that this was the one thing she could do.

__________________

'Woooaaah, they're so many...' Jarnet commented as they stood mid-space inside their different coloured spheres, staring forward at the yellow moon of Titan, behind it the absolutely giant planet of Saturn, it's magnificent rings making a brilliant backdrop to the battle which would be occurring. The space around them was filled with mechanical structures, towers floating in space defending their home, and before them was a more tightly focused armada of Saturn's best as well as the myriad of smaller one-man crafts which were emerging from them, their ships ranging from giant cruisers to tiny space-fighters. “Fighters” was the term Plutonians referred to their suit-wearing combatants surrounded by spheres of multicoloured powers standing around in the midst of space, but here they'd face an older version of what was called a “fighter”. And indeed, there was a lot.

Eviri felt tense. As superior as the Plutonian fighters were, she couldn't promise a fight without casualties this time. While they were no strangers to fighting superior numbers thanks to Vilemugs, Vilemugs didn't have the thing that was called human ingenuity. The forces of Saturn had known that Triton had taken command of the Plutonian invasion forces for a while now, so they could have prepared. Behind her many fighters standing in mid-space was a small armada of Triton's ships as well, but they were inferior in number to Saturn's. These were the forces of all of Saturn's moons gathering to fight their one united foe, in the space above Titan. 

However, something that disturbed Eviri was the presence of Wence, standing notably higher than the Plutonians in the direction they had decided was up, far behind them with his arms crossed and gun prepared on his right side. Why was he present? He had never been present before. Was there a reason why the Plutonian forces needed extra supervision? … Yes, there was. The battle at Pluto that would be occurring, they could potentially turn around and attempt to help. But Wence shouldn't know that. And if Wence knew that, then Umeron would know that. Eviri silently prayed that the only reason he was there was because this would be a major battle that would determine the result of the war in general.

'Do not falter for their numbers!' Sewbrig's voice was as persistent as ever. 'Fight, fight gloriously for your homeland! There's plenty of rewards in this for those who distinguish themselves on the field of battle! For Triton and Pluto! ' He shouted out, as if the two planetoids were allies due to the hostage situation which was going on. Eviri couldn't deny that the thought of betraying just for the sake of shutting down that mouth wasn't too abhorrent, but she had to keep it up, however she could.

'Advance.' Eviri commanded, starting to float forward, today joined by Aren and Max on each of her sides, their yellow and red spheres backing up her green and making her feel stronger.

But meanwhile...

'… Tihi.' Jarnet, seeing Wence would be watching over the battle, giggled as she got a silly little idea watching the gun at his side. In her blue little sphere, she bounced upwards and back to get to his side, aware that she caught his attention. She stopped at the side of his white sphere, looking out over the armies from beside him as if she was his comrade.

'What are you doing?' He asked, his voice sounding like contempt itself.

'Oh, since you decided to pay an unanticipated visit to this incredibly dangerous field of battle, we didn't have time to prepare for you being here! Just in case, Commander Eviri felt it appropriate to appoint me as your personal guard for today. Don't worry. Even if the enemy goes out of its way to target you, I'll totally defend you!' Jarnet lied cheerfully.

'I don't need your protection. Begone.' Wence predictably looked away from her and banished her from his presence. But Jarnet wouldn't have it.

'And defy my Commander's very specific commands? No way! In addition, Pluto and Triton command chains are still separate, so you have no rank to override Eviri's order with! I'm staying!' Jarnet stubbornly refused to leave. Wence's expression frowned, his fingers on his right hand twitching near the handle of his gun. Don't rile him up more than necessary, Jarnet quickly decided. Let's see. Something to talk about.

'So, um. Don't you have family and friends on Pluto, too? You know, in case Umeron destroys it...?' She leaned forward a bit to peek up at his unamused expression where Wence was glaring forward.

'None which I would miss.' He answered, an edge in his voice.

'Um. So you mean there IS family and friends.' Jarnet quickly translated what she heard, leaning back and pulling out a datapad from a pocket in her suit. Examining the database with her finger, she could poke her way into the database to check individual records, homing in on Wence... 'Aha! There is a family! … And a large one, at that!' Jarnet blinked somewhat in surprise.

'Plant-engineer father, gardener mother, eleven kids from six births, you being the oldest, them all living just outside the city of Venetia, taking vehicles into town to work each day...' Jarnet looked on the images of their Facepad accounts, and it looked like a rather happy family. 'So, what's wrong with them for you not to care if they die? Did they overwork you because you had ten younger siblings?' She asked, looking at Wence with a curious expression.

'No. I was quite alright with taking care of my family duties.' Wence said, finally sounding like a decent human being with some of his words, making Jarnet smile. 'However, they're nothing special. I feel nothing thinking of their potential deaths.' He insisted, his eyes twitching at being made to answer these questions.

'Oh, you lie. Nobody feels nothing thinking about their family in peril...!' Jarnet grinned as she said, thinking that she saw the signs of somebody who's trying to convince himself of a lie in Wence's words.

'Enough.' Wence put his foot down, turning and glaring angrily at her. 'Your futile attempt to stir feelings of empathy has failed. Stop at once, or I will treat your intrusion into my privacy as an attack and-' He stopped at once, and Jarnet blinked in surprise. Because both got the same information about the surrounding battlefield at the same time.

Further away, at the tip of the advancing force of Plutonian fighters, Eviri's eyes widened and came to a halt. They still had yet to come within firing range of the enemy forces. However, something just happened that required her immediate attention. Eviri and her green sphere spun around on the spot, staring at the long lines of units of fighters, who were glaring at her where they had stopped. In the front of them stood Aimer, surrounded by his brown sphere, glaring unhappily at her as well.

'I'm sorry, “Commander”, but we're going to Pluto. We're deserting.' Aimer declared. Eviri felt a bit of panic go through her. It was roughly a third of her force. Many of the remaining fighters were too confused to determine the proper cause of action in this case, and looked to Eviri. She herself felt stunned and unsure. Sure, their opinions were different, but that he'd go and gather support to then desert!? Nodding to them, Aimer and the many fighters he had rallied turned around, facing towards Wence and the Triton fleet behind him.

'Alright, fellas! This force is going to go retake Pluto! If you want to be stuck here fighting your own allies as Umeron wants, fine by me! But if you want to make a REAL difference and retake Pluto for the sake of our ancestry and descentry, COME WITH ME!' There were numerous cries of approval, joined in with more cries of approval, and it looked like most of the Plutonian forces were more or less in favour.

'Ouchah, that might be bad...' Max scratched at the top of his helmet looking over the field of average troops, Aren frowning as he looked over the same field. However, both of them blinked in surprise when suddenly Eviri took off at highest possible velocity like a green arrow.

'And we'll, of course, be starting with you...' Aimer declared, glaring straight at Wence, who stood there within his sphere of white with his chin raised ready to accept the challenge. Jarnet in blue at his side flinched away in fear realizing what was going to happen.

Aimer accelerated, a brown rocket taking off with a huge lot of power towards Wence. Behind him, the army of Plutonians accelerated, intending to take on the lone white Plutonian and the Triton fleet behind him. 

'What are you doing!? Are you betraying the almighty Triton Union!? A thousand curses on your kind! The Plutonian kind shall be annihilated for this treachery!' Sewbrig shouted out from a craft behind Wence. Wence showed no sign of fear as Aimer approached with eyes of hatred, intending on doing his mark on the Knight of Triton. 

'This one's for Koala...!' He roared out, intending on punching with brown power. Wence, not hesitating in the slightest, pulled out the gun at his side and directed it towards the what he considered an incoming brute. However, there was a bright flash of green coming in from the left. Wence didn't care. He fired anyway.

Guns in space make no sound.

… However, just before the gun had been fired, any onlookers would have seen a blue flash, which flickered into white.

Eviri had suddenly charged in front of Aimer, her eyes wide, panicked and determined, his giant brown fist of power having been successfully halted by Eviri's green blades, held in a cross outside the sphere just as she herself held her arms in a cross of defence inside her sphere. She had charged into place precisely before Wence pulled the trigger. However, just as Jarnet's eyes had widened because she realized what was about to happen, she blasted herself in. By matching the frequency of Wence's sphere of power with her own, Jarnet had managed to dive straight into his sphere just in time to push his arm upwards, making the shot fly straight out into space instead of hitting Eviri in the back.

There was a silence. The charging Plutonians halted at the scene before them. The panicked but determined Eviri in green faced against the grim look of Aimer in brown, a fist and two blades meeting and still bubbling with power. Behind Eviri, Jarnet in a blue suit had somehow gotten herself into Wence's white sphere, the young girl holding the knight's gun-arm raised into space. Her eyes looked up at him in relief and fear, while his glared down on her with nothing short of pure loathing.

'… GET OUT.' Jarnet flinched at the sound of Wence's voice, that look of hatred much more intimidating this close to him. She let go of his arm, jumping back out into space and was enveloped once again by her own sphere, which first appeared as white as the sphere she just jumped out of until it periodically faded back to her personal blue, her own eyes blinking in disbelief at what had just happened. Wence lowered his arm, looking like he debated aiming it at her, before he finally lowered it completely and looked ahead of what was going on. Eviri had just defended him from Aimer.

'What are you doing?' Aimer asked, giving her a tired and grim glare. 'Will you really stand against me?' The brown fist and green blades of power extruding out of their spheres were still in contact.

'I can't let you do this.' Eviri told back, notably more distressed than the currently calm man she was facing. 'I can't let you endanger everyone's lives like this!' That's right. She had to hold onto her beliefs.

'HAH! I'M the one endangering their lives? Little girl, YOU'RE the one who's taking them on a trip of either death or misery! At least I offer between death or hope!' Aimer retaliated, regaining a confident grin.

'It's not as simple as that!' Eviri replied, panicked. 'I want us to be under Umeron's rule as little as you do, but death isn't valid alternative! At least in life, there is always the hope! The hope of a new chance!'

Aimer's grin faded at her words, his expression just sinking into disgust. He saw her point, but he didn't like it. He couldn't live like that, and she wouldn't change her opinion. '… Out of my way. Or I'll kill you first.'

'I-I...' Eviri swallowed, looking at him in fear. As much as she feared him, she couldn't let him pass. 'I can't do that. I can't let you pass.'

'STAND BACK, ALL!' Aimer shouted out, causing the soldiers around him to flinch back. 'THIS BATTLE WILL DETERMINE WHAT BELIEF YOU'LL FOLLOW FROM NOW ON!' He said, suddenly forming a brown shield of power with the hand not making a fist, and then slamming it at Eviri. Eviri blinked in fear, but used her excellent reflexes to propel herself upwards and place herself standing in space, sideways looking down at Aimer, her two arms held straight and mirrored by two green swords outside her sphere.

'B-by show of force is a horrible way to determine whom is right!' Eviri shouted down at him. '… But I won't let anyone pass!' That was her way of acknowledging that working by that logic was beneficial for her too, she couldn't stop everyone. With that said, and Aimer having grinned at finally getting to battle, Eviri soared down to slice at him. However, as all Plutonians he gained information about how it looked around him in an instant. A brown shield took form from his brown sphere and blocked the hit, even as Eviri completed her fly-by and turned around to face him. This was bad. She had never fought another Plutonians before, and Aimer specialized in defence. Plutonians were already near impossible to hit because they could see your every move and attack, and this guy had impenetrable defence on top of it! How would she ever injure him!?

'What? Are you done already? Offensive specialist Eviri?' Aimer taunted her, knowing she had no means of striking through his defence. 'Damn it.' Eviri cursed. To deal with things with good defence was why high-power people like Max was sometimes necessary. Eviri had customized her fighting-style after battling quick but weak Vilemugs. This was way too different. But, she couldn't stop. Her tactics relied on speed, so she couldn't stop. Turning around and soaring straight back, way more agile than the large defensive man, Eviri's green sphere darted back and forth, left and right above and below the brown sphere, the green blades swinging at unpredictable angles as Aimer lifted his brown shields to block every single one. It was an awesome display of power between two elites, so many fellow Plutonians watching in amazement and wondering as the colours clashed and flashed.

Jarnet looked at Wence in worry. The man was just standing upright in his white sphere, chin raised, holding the gun in his right hand. He was simply awaiting the result of the battle in front of him instead of judging the obvious intended treachery. Jarnet swallowed and watched the battle as well.

Aren was just about to fly in to help Eviri, the man in the yellow sphere frowning out of displeasure seeing his friend in such a dangerous position, but Max's red sphere placed itself right in front of him.

'Don't.' Max said, watching intently with a grim little look. 'If we open the doors to outside interference, what do you think is going to happen?' He followed, making Aren have to reconsider, staring at the fight in displeasure.

'Ekh...' Eviri's arms were growing more heavy, her breathing getting heavier as she swung and struck against the brown shields which Aimer confidently held in place. When her swords hit something solid which she couldn't get through outside the sphere, Eviri's sphere provided the equivalent resistance to her arms within the sphere, and as such her arms and blades would always be as synced as possible. This did, however, mean that her arms grew tired after repeated strikes against solid defences. She had no choice. Eviri started slowing to make some stronger strikes...!

'That'll do. Sorry, little girl, but we need to reach Pluto in time to help.' Aimer declared, losing the grin as he glared at Eviri. 'Eh...' Eviri realized the trouble she might be in due to the absolute confidence of his voice, when suddenly a new brown sphere formed. It formed around her green one, locking her in place. 'A-ah...' Eviri's eyes widened as she realized she was caught. Caught outside Aimer's brown sphere, inside another brown sphere. A powerful shield was formed between Eviri and Aimer. She'd be squashed here, the brown sphere she was in pressing down on her green one, forcing it down.

'Ah...!' Realizing she would die if she stayed here, Eviri put her arms together in front of her. She summoned as much power as she could contain, swinging her arms over her head and then swung it down towards Aimer. Her arms stopped as her powerful giant two-handed sword barely came out the constrained sphere and hit against Aimer's shield. 'Nh...!' She'd die here. Defending what she thought would be the best choice, she'd die here. Eviri didn't want to die. It felt like the wrong time to die. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands down against the solid defence with all of her strength, and...!

'Whah-!' Eviri almost stumbled as the pressure holding her arms up unexpectedly vanished, her arms flying down and hitting her legs. She heard numerous gasps and shocked sounds in front of her from the other fighters, interlinked by their sound-system through signals. The girl breathed heavily, raising her head in confusion, not sure what had happened... and was met with the sight of Aimer's body, cut cleanly in two. He was drifting in space, his sphere shattered, the two halves of his expression filled with stunned surprise. His blood and organs were- Eviri's hand soared up to her mouth, to stop her from puking. She had to close her eyes and look away a bit, letting her sphere fly somewhat upwards to prevent her from seeing that again, having to force down the contents of her stomach back into her belly once already. Finally, she stood straight, looking at the fighters of Pluto, standing with her back right in front of Wence.

'TH-THAT'S ALL!' She shouted out, not sure what to say. 'I-if anyone else wants to try to come past me, I'll fight them, too! Otherwise, turn right around! We have a battle to fight!' There were murmurs through the crowd of Plutonian fighters, until...

'I'll follow your beliefs, Commander Eviri!' Aren declared, loudly. He clearly wanted to be heard.

'Yeah, me too!' Max joined in, smirking at what they were doing.

Numerous more acknowledging sounds came from throughout the crowd of people standing in coloured spheres, the leader of the people who had wanted to go to Pluto having been defeated it was easier to fall in line with the rest of the pack, following the trend Aren and Max had started. Eviri sighed heavily in relief at that they had come to a decision of what to do.

'Alright... Then, we have a battle to fight! We'll advance immediately to-' Eviri blinked in surprise when she was suddenly grabbed from behind and held back from advancing, somehow, inside her green sphere in mid-space, small arms grabbing around her chest. Jarnet had matched her frequency and jumped into her sphere to hold her.

'Whoops, whoops, whoops, not like that you're not. Do you realize how shaky and pale you are?' Jarnet informed, holding onto her. 'Let Aren command this one. You'll be staying right here.' Eviri blinked a bit in surprise, but looking forward she saw Aren holding a thumbs up to her, which confirmed that this was the way to go.

'… Alright, everyone! Due to current unsuitability, you'll follow Substitute Commander Aren for today! He's the guy in yellow in the front! Follow his commands, and remember to kill only if you have to! Disabling their vehicles if possible comes first! Good luck...!' Eviri shouted out, and got a reply of acknowledgement before she breathed out and fell backwards into Jarnet's hands inside her own sphere, which turned from green to blue as Jarnet took over powering it.

'Geesh. You worried us all for a bit, there.' Jarnet smiled down at her, with a little sadness in that smile, as she held Eviri leaning towards her.

'I'm sorry...' Eviri breathed out in response, still remembering how easy it had been to kill after his defences fell, and it was so disturbing a feeling.

'It's fine, it's fine. Not something you could help.' Jarnet made a sad little giggle in reply, holding Eviri as the battle started, the Saturn forces having waited for when the Plutonian forces came charging, Sewbrig shouting praises and glory sentences after them from way behind. Seemed like Eviri had protected her beliefs for today... She blinked awake realizing that Wence had floated closer to her, looking down at her. His judging stare was really hard to relax with.

'Did you, or did you not, assign this girl to be my personal guard for this battle?' He asked, in a way that sounded so sincere that it made Eviri confused.

'I did.' Eviri replied without even thinking about it. Jarnet smiled ever so happily at Wence.

'I see.' Wence said, looking down at her. 'It was unnecessary. I need no protection. However, today you've shown your dedication for our deal. This will not be forgotten, as such I will disregard the rebellion within your ranks this time and any other unnecessary actions which has taken place.' He said, turning away.

'Ooooh... I killed someone...' Eviri complained, the reality of it coming to her. She never intended to kill. Certainly not another Plutonian. The possibility had occurred to her, of course, and she had killed so many Vilemugs too, but that didn't really count... But this time, she had made an attack intending to kill, and it had killed. Her eyes were about to cry. She felt horrible.

'It's okay. You'll come to terms with it.' Jarnet encouraged her. 'For now, relax. I'll take you back to the Isabelle.'

Eviri really did want to relax. But, it felt wrong, somehow. Right now, her forces were engaging their greatest threat yet, whom was honestly trying to kill them despite the “friendly” terms of agreement. However, there was something else that felt really foreboding. She couldn't describe it, but as Jarnet was accelerating to bring Eviri to the Isabelle her eyes focused on Wence. He stood, his arms crossed, staring very determinedly in a specific direction. That was the direction of Pluto. What was he looking for? What was he-

There was a brilliant light. A light so powerful that any normal person had to shield their eyes. A white light, it shone in the distance. A common witness would perhaps even refer to it as beautiful. However, there was a sense of dread which came along with it. A sense of foreboding wrongness, that something horrible had happened, and nobody knew because it had taken the light so long to get here to tell them about it. Because that was in the direction of Pluto. The fact that the light had come from Pluto meant that it had happened multiple hours before, but what had happened to cause the light? Jarnet stopped moving, turning to stare along with Eviri. Th-that was...!

__________________[/hider]