Grand Vessel Suar'kum was left agape as the transmission finished. He turned around, nearly tripping over his pure white robes as Barasmus Lano'dum faced him with a similar countenance.

"Grand decisions...Terrible...but grand..." Fakeem repeated. "Barasmus, I-"

"Grand Vessel, I understand. But you went overboard. You realize what this means, do you?" the soldier said sternly.

"I wanted to intimidate them, I wanted to try and get them to back down. I didn't want this to happen, I merely wanted to scare them into backing out. You [i]know[/i] how badly I [i]don't[/i] want war after Domu..."

"But we may not have a choice.You should've stopped right then and there; revealing to them that we were ready to use the Mark I was a purely awful idea. Now they're enraged and we could see another invasion Sazkar...but with even more severe consequences. But alas, there isn't much to do now. Until we can arrange a peace agreement or at least try to talk the Equestrians out of this, we need to keep the assault task force on the move. If the Equestrians launch an assault, the Collective will bite back, and we'll be caught in the fray. Nuclear weapons and gravity wells aside, we'd suffer substantial casualties."

"Perhaps I should send a message to the Equestrian princesses?" Fakeem asked, his ragged breathing intensifying, his palms shaking.

"It may be best. Picking a bone like this with a tour-de-force like the Triarian Collective can cause widespread devastation, and we need to stop it, fast." Lano'dum replied.

"Very well, I'll see what I can do. Open a communications channel with the higher Equestrian bureaucracy and the rest of the Pact Council. I'll see what I can do."

"Aye, Grand Vessel."