### Imperial Warship Tomerarenai-fū, Captain's Quarters

Lasis examined the alien for a moment, their wings especially caught her eye. She had seen them twice before, in the ancient databases. The first time, they were shown as the wings of an insect called a "butterfly" in what appeared to be a massive digital encyclopedia. The second time, it was in the same encyclopedia, and was also formatted to display as a hologram unlike the first. The latter seemed most relevant, as the creature displayed was Abhoid, and in general appeared quite similar to the alien that stood before her. However, both species were listed as extinct, the first being wiped out when its world of origin was destroyed, and the second dying off while fighting a war (Not a surprise, as it was small enough to be carried in one's hand).

For some reason, every other sentient species appeared to be Abhoid. A part of her wanted to think this was due to the inherent superiority of the Abhoid form, but the more rational part of her decided that it was because the environments of the different planets happened to be well suited to the form. It made a lot of sense, the ancients were Abhoids as well, so it was likely that they had terraformed the galaxy to suit their needs.

She shivered at the memory of the ancient's appearance, it was a secret that she had kept well. While it was shocking enough that they were Abhoid, what made her shiver was the fact that the page began with the words "The original form of the Tellar species...", and was coupled up with a picture of a man that looked very much like her. She kept trying to dismiss it as their own adaptation to space travel, but something inside her kept saying that there was more to it than a simple adaptation.

Snapping back into reality, she slowly put down her katana, her mouth opened in shock. She wasn't doing it so slow just to be non-threatening, in a microgravity environment, anything not strapped down would have to be perfectly placed so as to not float away. The moment she had finished placing down the katana, she bowed (an action that looked somewhat odd in microgravity).

"Apologies for my reaction and appearance, I was in the middle of changing. As for your questions, no I did not, we have an atrium, and yes. As an Abh noble, I am honor-bound to provide you with room and board, as well as any amenities that you wish for. I will tell you, however, that this is a warship, the gravity will always be off-it's a personal preference-and there will be a lot of radiation."

She glanced at the alien's face. Though their skin was purple and they had wings, she could almost see herself in the being. She had been very much the same way when she first went to space, way back before the war. Smiling at the memory, she decided to continue.

"If you want to stay, though, don't let any of that stop you. If I had given up because of risks, I would have been planetbound and coddled my whole life. Instead, I get to command my own ship and fulfill my duty as a noble. Again, as a noble, I an honor-bound to give you whatever you need."

### Roman Colony World A-02

As the alien fleet conversed with the Romans, points of intense light appeared in the distance. Rainbow-colored bubbles suddenly appeared out of the lights, faint silhouettes of warships visible inside of them. After only a few moments, the bubbles disappeared, revealing the light blue hulls of three hundred Abh warships. The lead ship was an absolutely massive vessel, standing out from the rest of the fleet with its stark white paint job. A ludicrously large flag was painted on its bow to proudly declare its allegiance to the Eight World's Empire, making sure that the enemy knew well who they were facing. From this starship, a message was broadcast in binary to the whole system, marking the first time a message had been sent to the Romans since the start of the war.

"This is Empress Spachna Na'brel. This system is now the territory of the Eight World's Empire. Unknown vessels, identify yourselves or exit our space, you have no place in this conflict unless you choose to stand with us. To the demons that would conquer us: we will show no such mercy towards you."

With that final sentence, two hundred antimatter bombardment slugs were fired from the fifty bombardment ships, smashing into the enemy defense stations as the fleet advanced. A beam of antiprotons was fired from the lead ship, larger than any beam the Romans had seen before. It streaked towards the planet, its orange glow spelling doom for the enemy.

Fifty destroyers rushed ahead of the fleet, rocketing towards the enemy battlegroup. They began to open fire with their antiproton pulse cannons, hoping to smash any resistance to allow the fleet to begin the glassing of the planet.

((Sorry for not responding to the diplomatic stuff yet, I'll get to that ASAP))