[center][h3]Outskirts of Abh Space: Listening Post[/h3][/center]

The Listening Post stood on the border between Abh and Roman space, and was one of the few constructions equipped with an FTL comms array. Nobody knew how the hell it worked, but it did, and that was good enough for them. A large starship, about the size of a Dreadnought, was docked with the station. Interestingly, it was the one that responded, undocking and heading out to meet the alien vessel.

"This is Countess Lasis, currently commanding the Imperial Warship [i]Tomerarenai-fū[/i]. You are in the system known to us as Development Target 231, but we far more commonly use the name [i]Gateway to Lakfakalle[/i]."

Lasis seemed like she was going to explain that name. However, she refrained from doing so, deciding that she would rather not let the aliens know that nobody actually knew what any of those words meant. It was a name that they had borrowed from the ancient archives, and only a few people knew any of the Ancient language. Even then, they all only knew the second word in the name, which provided absolute no context whatsoever since it was a preposition. 

"This system is held by the Eight World's Empire, and the year according to our calendar is 429 A.F. According to the calendar of the people who once inhabited this area, the year is somewhere around 1,000,000, our best estimate is 1,053,400. The difference between calendars is negligible, though they apparently based their months around the phases of their moon rather than simply using them as a way to break up years into equal parts."

Even as she spoke, she felt her stomach tighten up. Her transplanted [i]seniichi[/i] tingled, and everyone else on the ship seemed to be feeling the same way. She could almost hear a voice yelling at her, desperately telling her to open fire. It was so powerful that it was all she could do to not follow its orders.

[center][h3]Cathacia, Arcadia[/h3][/center]

The Empress looked on as everyone watched the Naga steal from the town's inhabitants, her teeth clenched and hands in fists. Her ears twitched over and over again on every gunshot, again like instinct. She clutched her katana like she planned to use it, though she knew that she would barely be able to move out of the building before being shot. Or worse, taken prisoner. Still, she couldn't stand the sight. The Naga swept through the town without any kind of remorse, not caring what happened to its inhabitants. And all the time, doctors just watched, [i]doctors[/i]. Any Abh doctor who stood and watched as a gang raided a town would be cast out of their house.

"I don't believe it, I'm forced to run from battle, and now I'm just watching as innocent people are robbed and shot." She said, her eyes fixated on the Naga leader. Doctor Ire'merok would likely notice her grip on her katana tighten, as well as her arm muscles become tenser. She tried to raise it, but she barely had enough strength to stand, even with the Doctor's help. Her jaw suddenly fell open in horror as she realized that she couldn't raise her katana, and she weakly turned her head to look at the Doctor. With the look on her face, one would have thought that she had seen some unspeakable horror.

"I-I... I'm... I can't..." She stuttered, words refusing to come. She dropped her katana on the floor, staring at the Doctor like she wasn't there. "No... not this... anything but this..."

Her gaze fell down to the floor, and her entire body tensed, something she in all honesty should not have been able to accomplish. She raised her head once again, scowling at the Naga leader.

"The tank... does it have a binary digital control system?" She said, raising her arm (now free of the weight of the katana) to her ear, grabbing hold of what seemed to be an earring. "I can't protect any of them with my katana and I can't take my own life with it either, but there might still be a way for me to be called an Empress."

[center][h3]Kibō-hosh[/h3][/center]

A message was sent to the Roa'marii fleet, the same Admiral who had devised the plan speaking to them.

"I suppose the leader of our defense would be me, the Count of this world had no children, and he died in the battle. Our people do not make it a habit to kill those who have no intent of doing the same to us, especially not those who ask for peace with true words. I am glad that you don't want to fight us, I have had enough of this killing. It is odd that you would be working with our enemy though, your words do not strike me as those of a person who would condone what they have done. Nevermind that though, I would rather have that conversation with you in person."

[center][h3]Heiwa no tochi[/h3][/center]

The colony of Heiwa no tochi wasn't a normal Abh planet, and it wasn't inhabited by normal Abh. The entire colony was made up of those exiled from the homeworld, though trade vessels still passed through from time to time. At this point, the original exiles were nearing the end of their lives, and the majority of its inhabitants were considered fully legitimate Imperial citizens. Even so, they had been taught by the exiles, and the Abh of this world wouldn't fit in anywhere else. None of them had any ancient weapons inherited from their ancestors, and the few weapons on the planet were for hunting. The original exiles were, after all, there because they refused to fight, refused to kill another sentient being.

Now, they had no way to defend themselves. The few trade ships in orbit opened fire on the Roman fleet, but were inevitably destroyed in seconds. As the Roman transports began to land, the soldiers found that the only resistance was a few hunters, who surrendered when they knew they couldn't win. It was obvious that these Abh were different, no Abh the Romans had ever encountered before had surrendered.

((Sorry for the bad post, but I'm busy and burned out at the moment))