Vice-admiral Knaggs had been insistent that the Kurultai's plan of action would be followed to the letter. Both the Khan and the fleet admiral had not returned yet, so he was still in command of the entire fleet. He had ordered all of the ships to start orbiting a nearby planet. He figured it would be one of the safest yet closest places where they could recuperate from their disastrous wormhole jump that had violently thrown them into another universe. Soon, the titanic ships moved, fusion thrusters lighting up as they pushed the ships towards the planet. Khaganate thruster technology was very advanced, so the journey only took a few hours, and soon the fleet was in orbit. Scanners indicated lots of life on the surface, but the entire civilization only lived in a low-tech medieval society, and would be unable to pose any threat to the Khaganate fleet. Knaggs chuckled. Now that he thought about it, it must've seemed like a new constellation appeared in the night sky of the planet below them, so large was the Khaganate fleet, as well as its ships. In addition to the planet being scanned while they were in polar orbit around it, several probes had been set out to discover where the fleet was exactly positioned. The results were very concerning. Not only were they in a completely different universe, their location results based on pulsar locations and star-maps were completely different than their location before entering the wormhole. They had no idea what the time or date or age of this universe was either, so at least they could use their own standard dating system without having to change anything. A bit of good news was also there though, as an earth-like planet was found a few hundred lightyears away, a distance that could easily be travelled with a wormhole jump. Then, more news came in. During their polar orbit over the planet, the fleet's scanners had found a communication signal. One that belonged to the Lanist Khaganate. It must have been one of the missing ships, so they tried to send an away team, but their dropships were ripped apart in a strange gravitational anomaly that seemed to cover a thin layer of the atmosphere between the planet's surface and its exosphere, effectively disabling any attempt to get people on the surface of the world, meaning whoever was there could only come up, effectively trapping whoever was left of the Khaganate's crew down there. As he was pondering this new information, he got a call from the captain of the [i]Atlas[/i]. He told Jens that the person they had rescued wished to speak to him. Luckily for the vice-admiral, the Kurultai was over that exact moment and both the Khan and the fleet admiral returned, so he was no longer needed at that moment, and he went to the shuttle bay. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [@Hokum] As the small spacecraft extended its landing gears and its door starts to open, James' task forces raised their rifles and aimed them at the door, ready to shoot anything hostile that might come out. To their surprise however, the only thing that emerges is a young woman, and some of them started to lower their rifles slowly, not seeing any threat the woman could pose. James, as well as several of his colleagues, kept their weapons up however, aiming at the woman's head, and he ordered the rest of the soldiers who had let their guards down to do the same. What confused James most however, was the calmness the women visibly displayed while twelve rifles were pointed at her, and the look of concern on his face was hidden by his Re-Mask helmet (Rebreather gasmask) that covered his entire face. James turned off the speaker on the outside on his helmet, and talked into his communicator, so that the words would clearly be recorded and saved: "Operation Command, this is PA-1. Subject appears to be a female human who calls herself "Fanny May", as told by herself when she had recorded her distress call. No anomalous activity nor visible hostility has been detected yet of her or of her ship.", telling his commander that Fanny May was probably not very dangerous, and at first glance did not seem to be anomalous to say the least. Subject is apparently pregnant, but you must've heard that already through comms. Fanny May requests to speak to Vice-admiral Jens Knaggs, the man who initially decided to answer her distress call." "PA-1, request granted. You are to escort her to Containment cell HC-3-2-12. We will try to get Vice-admiral Knaggs there as well. Please make sure to stand guard in the room while Knaggs is in there. Operation command out." James turned on his speaker again, saying to Fanny May: "Please follow us, and do not try anything stupid. You will be able to the man who decided those things." The soldier then walked away, expecting her to follow. If Fanny May were to follow, she would be flanked by 6 soldiers at each side, marching in unison. The group reached a small transporting vehicle with a metal rail attached to its floor and another one to its roof. The rails ran through the entire length of the hangar bay. As soon as the group of 13 people had entered the transport, James tapped a few buttons that were next to its door and it moved further into the giant stratocruiser at a breakneck pace. The task force was completely unaffected by the sudden acceleration due to their magnetic boots. Soon, the vehicle had stopped, before changing direction upwards with the same acceleration that it had earlier. The vehicle stopped again, and a voice came from a speaker in the elevator saying: "Containment bay 3, level 2". After some more walking they had arrived near a containment cell made out of steel. In it, there was a table with two chairs facing eachother. James walked inside, expecting Fanny May to follow, and told her to sit down on the chair while the vice-admiral was coming. James and another member of his task force then stood guard inside the room, flanking the doorway, weapons ready. Meanwhile, the [i]Atlas[/i] had joined the rest of the fleet in orbit, and soon a small shuttle departed from the [i]Genghis[/i] and flew towards the Omega Order's stratocruiser. It docked in the hangar, and out stepped vice-admiral Knaggs, he took the same elevator as the group earlier did. Soon, in containment cell HC-3-2-12, a knock on the door could be heard. A man with gray hair and a friendly face, dressed in a simple T-shirt and jeans, walked in and sat down in the chair opposite to Fanny May. He started speaking: "Hello Fanny May. I am Jens Knaggs. I understood you wanted to speak to me." ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ That same night, someone else, in an entirely different region of the world, was having exactly the same dreams as the stranger many kilometres away did, and she too woke up covered in sweat, her red hair reflecting the moonlight. She went outside, standing on the balcony of her sleeping chambers, looking up towards the night sky. Like the stranger before her, she also saw some strange lights slowly moving towards the south. The woman went back to sleep. After waking up and eating breakfast in the castle's great dining hall, she ordered her servants to make preparations for a voyage... It was the fifth day of the stranger's journey towards the southern lands in an attempt to explain the strange dreams together with the new constellation in the sky. Everywhere he traveled, he encountered vastly different reactions to the appearance of an entirely new group of stars. Some saw it as an omen from their gods, either good or bad, while many others didn't really care about it, seeing as they were asleep during the night anyway. The stranger was awake that night though, and could see fire raining from the sky, great explosions appearing from very far away. He was slightly distracted as he remembered the events that happened that night, not hearing the low growl in the bushes next to the road. Soon it was too late, and the great wolf-like beast ambushed him, slashing him across his face with its paw with three claws. The stranger was slightly dazed and could not see clearly because of the blood running across his face, but still managed to draw his sword, and he plunged it into the beast's heart, killing it. He had to act quickly, grabbing the few medical supplies he had, and cleaned the wound while checking it. It was not too deep, and he would only need some bandages to stop the bleeding until his blood would coagulate inside the wound. He then continued on his journey. It was four days later. His wound was starting to heal, and the stranger felt like he no longer needed the bandages. He had always been tougher than most people, after all. The stranger had been walking down the road, continuing to the south, when he heard a horse behind him. The stranger turned around, and saw an attractive woman with long flowing, red hair, sitting on a brown mare. The woman started speaking: "I have heard rumors of your travels stranger, and I know you are good at fighting with a sword. I have an offer for you." The stranger replied: "I will listen to your offer, but I do not know your name." The woman chuckled, and said: "My name is Duchess Katie Anderson."