"Shit." Galahad growled as he felt the mist around them intensify. He felt the mist around him shift and bubble, as though magic was being conjured, but instead of leaving the surrounding area and focusing into one single point, the mist seemed to just swell around them. The feeling was raw and crushing, and Galahad could almost feel the weight as if it was pressing down on his shoulders. The mage was powerful, extremely so, more than Galahad or anyone he had ever met, but also crude, unrefined and untrained. 

"Mage." He growled in a low voice. He didn't have to project his voice because everyone could hear his voice thanks to their communication spells. Mages, especially enemy mages were always wildcards. As any of them knew, mages often had the potential to be the most destructive force on the battlefield- capable of inflicting extreme enemy and allied casualties alike. As such, an unknown mage was an unknown and dangerous quantity. They could be weak and trivial, but they could also be destructive and terrible. From the way the Mist was reacting to the individual inside the shuttle, Galahad was learning towards the latter. 

Galahad listened to the short exchange between Setzer and the shuttle occupant with only moderate amounts of internal head slamming. Luckily, Setzer didn't set the girl off and led to their deaths. Still The girl seemed unlikely to slowly release her spell any time soon, and Galahad couldn't forcibly shut down her magic without risking the spell going off and setting off the rest of the mist around them, giving them all major Mist Burn and probably killing them all.

“Listen. If you haven’t kill me at this point that means something. Can I please talk to somebody that doesn’t have an IQ of a fucking chipped brick?” the voice called out to them.
 
Taking a deep breath, Galahad ensured his barrier spell was in place, and this time took the bead into his hand and began actively controlling the spell with his own powers to prevent his protection spell from being sucked into her spell like his last. Stepping out from behind Setzer, Galahad placed himself within view without entering the shuttle itself. 

"My name is Galahad Quaid, son of General of the Kingsguard, Epriham Quaid. Please identify yourself." He spoke in an even tone, his voice neither authoritative nor conceding.     

Colette's ears perked up at the sound. A general's son. Maybe he would have answers that the mass of muscle was a sword in front of her would'nt. If nothing else at least he would have the common graces of the nobility. Spell never dropping she called back towards the blonde-haired one. "My [b]name[/b] is Colette Van Skymning of House Skymning, daughter of his Imperial Majesty The Undying Flame, conquerer of the seven lords and uniferer of the broken kingdoms, seventh in the line of sucession of the throne of the Imperial Dragon,  high princess of Vangar, lady of Koskov, Altzer, Zardoff, princess of Sorgod, Oztveir and Twyrl, and mistress of Ordanga."

"Fuck," Gideon muttered. Vangar royalty complicated things immensely, and if she wasn't kidding about the invitation, this was ugly and a breach of diplomatic norms. If it was an internal faction shooting the ship down, bad. External faction that managed to infiltrate and, without being detected before now, create this situation? Even worse. Someone that had access to the travel itinerary and route that knew where to strike. Out here, a strike team could move in and go after their target to mop up anything that qualified as a loose end.

Galahad watched in an almost exasperated silence as she listed off her titles, vaguely reminding him of the reasons Gideon had previously mentioned for disliking being in court. Galahad had never given much credence to such misgivings, but he was tempted to revise his thoughts on the matter. All things being said, Galahad was somewhat impressed with the princess' ability to recite titles, with only a single breath inbetween. In any other situation, this would've been a point for conversation. But such was not the case.

"Wait Skyming like the Emperor of Vangar that Skyming? " Setzer asked.

"No like the fucking carpenter from down the road. Yes that Emperor." 

"Setzer, I appreciate your need to point out the obvious, but please, shut up." Galahad muttered under his breath. Galahad assumed the princess' presence in their lands had something to do with the peace talks that were all over the radio for the past few weeks.

Gideon put a hand on Setzer's shoulder and a finger to his lips. Everyone was announcing titles, but Gideon was a bit more careful with information like that, especially with the enemy right there. 

"Princess Skymning," Galahad offered, with a slight nod, "May I ask what happened here? We spotted unrecognizeable machines in the wreckage with signs of damage from weapons." Galahad was under the suspicion that the mysterious machines had something to do with the wreckage- he wanted the princess to confirm that for him. Not that he absolutely knew that he could trust her word, but nobles were typically not of the lying type, rather they just preferred to stay silent otherwise. Perhaps they were just not good at it.

Meanwhile, Gideon muttered into their link they had, "Folks, we might want to spread out some and keep a perimeter here. Keep an eye out for emergency rescue or...anything." Gideon wasn't necessarily a spit and polish sort of guy, but he did have a strong appreciation for good patrol discipline and fieldcraft. 

"And keep an eye on that truck," Gideon added, "but assume roads might be watched." Military training said that the easiest path was usually mined. Or at least, that's what his favorite instructor, Master Sergeant Rask, liked to emphasize.

"I [i]told[/i] you already. Your king invited me here to attempt something of a peace talk. We ran into a Mist Storm popped out here and were besiged by machine like creatures. I tried to get to my escape shuttle but as you can see they managed to shoot that down. And then Mr Sword for brains opened the door and now we are here. And you still haven't given me a good reason not to turn you all into smoldering ash yet." She responded gesturing to her hand still glowing.

"Well, for one, if you haven't noticed, the Mist around us is pretty unstable," Galahad pointed out in a matter-of-factly sort of way, still aware of the pressing atmosphere around them. "And by pretty unstable, I mean dangerously so. If you tried to turn us into smoldering ash, you'd probably end up turning the crater we're all in, into an even bigger crater- you along with it. So for your safety, as well as ours, I'd suggest you very carefully dispell that spell. 

"The other is that you don't know what our numbers are. It's dark, it's cold, and you're in enemy territory that you don't know very well," Gideon likewise, was matter of fact, even while he shifted his position to keep an eye outward, "And whoever these things are, in their shoes I'd be sending a team to verify that you are in fact dead and, if not, finish the job. Just a thought, while we chit-chat. There's a big fire to light the skyline for many miles. so they don't need a big sign to find us. And I don't want to be here when that happens, do you?"

"Gideon's right. We need to get out of here, fast." Galahad said, half to her, half into the communicator to the rest of the squad.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as Colette considered the situation in front of her. They could feel the unease in the Mist as it almost seemed to react to the girl's own emotional state. It charged and sparked around them frantic. Finally she let out a breath of resignation and the glow in her hand slowly began to dispell itself, the pressure in the air lessening as the Mist began to withdraw. Yet the high levels of energy seemed ever-present around the girl like a cloak of sorts. "Maybe you have a point. Though at this point I wouldn't be suprised if you were all working with whoever is on that ship."

"If we want you dead, all we have to do is walk away." Gideon's tone had a bit of a hard edge to it. Sure, they were in on it. And they came loaded for a Rassvet Royal University stag party. Lesson learned; he wanted something with automatic fire capability and would never go without ever again.

She looked at the blonde-haried on that the other blonde had refered to as Gideon. He looked familair for one reason or another but Colette could'nt quite put her finger on it. None the less she give a half-hearted shrug. "Fair enough."

Slowly she rose to her feet and limped her way out of the corpse of the shuttle. The freshly healed-leg give way under the pressure and Setzer reached out quickly catching her and holding her up with about two fingers. "You're welcome." 

"Fuck you." 

"Glady." Setzer felt the elbow slam underneath his ribs.

"Wait, what ship?" Galahad questioned, "We didn't see a second ship in the air, just yours." He said as they began climbing out of the wreckage. Perhaps this ship was the source of the strange machines, but they had nothing to base that off of. For all they knew, the machines were Vangar mechs and malfunctioned and turned on their owners.

"The ship above..." Colette started but as she turned to look up at the empty sky. "What the fuck?"

"Forget that ship for now, we'll work it out when we aren't standing around like targets. Let's check that pod for useful supplies. We're loaded for a kegger, not a fight and her leg's gimpy. We need to get a move on before anyone decides to follow up on their work."

"You're not going to find anything. The shuttle's meant to act as a landing craft for docks that the ship was too big to land at. It's not supposed to carry people for more than a couple of seconds at a time." Colette pointed out.  

"Well, good to know we're not the only ones that thought we were coming for a party." Gideon's tone was not impressed; they might have forgotten their guns, but at least they'd brought medical supplies. He'd be happier once they were in a treeline or something.

"And good to know that assholes aren't just a thing in Vangar." 

"Spirits get a room already won't you?" Setzer responded with a sigh.