[Exalted]: Into the Fire

[Janos Tem]

Star's Vengence

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Sevus spoke up once Janos finished speaking. "With the insight and revelation you have shown me, I am willing to stand with you at this time. But I don't understand your purpose here, what is the point in assisting these Marshal's in their purpose, why join you fate's with them?" He inquired curiously.

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With the transmission cut, Sevus's question was timed such that he would be able to answer it plainly, though he was still facing the screen.

"Because I have vision. In the coming years, the Empire will continue its slow, convulsing demise until such a point that it implodes on itself. When that time comes, its member worlds will be screaming for something to believe in, a new order. As a Marshall, I am in a position to visit multiple worlds and spread the Policy of my own order. To say nothing of the collection of magical materials and femtotechnological weaponry that is recovered."

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Janos's stone gaze turned to Sevus.

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"Your associates onboard the Demon's Reach are about to come under fire. I would recommend contacting them and informing them that assistance is available if they are willing to join my forces as I protect my own. Be certain that they are aware that I do not believe in equality and if they wish to sail under my banner they accept all which that entails. If not, they are free to try their luck with the Empire."

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Space Team

As the away team headed down to the surface of the industrial moon (with a few minor hiccups to make sure that they got down there safely), the fleet commander and his captains could see that the Imperials and the Lintha were fully engaged with each other, both of the fleets were fairly evenly matched, the Demontech ship was more powerful then the Imperial's Jade ship, but the Imperials had more exalted support, so the nature of their fight remained to be seen.. The diplomatic efforts of the Marshal's had managed to get the many fighters of the local system disengaged with minimal damage, though clear evidence of many ships having been destroyed as residue of the conflict could be seen, and the Deathknight's ship started to close on the battle.

Meanwhile, aboard the Star's Vengence Sevus Torm was speaking to Janos Tem. "You will not get Blood Scourge to join you regardless, he is crazy, much like his patron.. and as for Cathena, she is unpredicatable, dark and dangerous, and more powerful then you or I, the strength of her essence is remarkable, she won't consider joining you unless she has no other options." While aboard the Dawn's Wrath "The away team has departed, Captain, they have an escort from the local forces, looks like the locals are putting themselves between our team and any direct assaults that can be made.. you wish me to open a connection with the forces still engaged?"

Star's Vengeance, Janos's personal flagship straight from hell, until this point had been largely uninvolved in the conflict. What did an insignificant amount of life was lost in this skirmish? On one side, Green Sun Princes, oyal to a doomed cause and sworn to a follower of the patron Intelligence of treachery and bad planning. On the other, the Imperials, sworn to a dying empire and blindly following the orders from on high, regardless of their foolishness. They would fight, and they would die, and it would be according to design.

The true subject of Janos's attention was the Soulsteel battlecruiser, a heavily armed vulture floating in space. He had been instructed to remain separate until the ship made its move, and so the bait had been set, and now the trap would be sprung. The *desires* and *failures* of those beyond his own vessel would be their own demise. To Sevus: "Then it seems to be time to remove the other options. Thaya, you are in command. Mr. Torm, rain sorcerous hell down upon that Soulsteel Monstrosity. I am going outside" Janos spoke as he headed outside the starship.. meanwhile, Marshal Dan had orders of his own to give.

"Keep tabs on them, Althea. I want to know the second one side gets a real advantage. Our Quarry is the Battleship. Send secure messages to Sun Kai and The Endeavor, Have the Endeavor shield the Voidswimmer as much as she's able, I want the Voidswimmer in position to cut that monstrosity's propulsion and power. Send word to Janos that he is Free to engage the battleship at his discretion." He input a set of coordinates to the nav computer, and the Ship's AI almost seemed to smile. "We're going to be direct?" The Dawn Caste fleet Commander smiled even as his armor's Helmet closed around his head. "I will show them how the chosen Warriors of the Unconquered Sun do battle."

As the Marshal's fleet moved into posistion, it was clear that the strategical acumen of the Dawn caste was superior, at least with fleet commands to the Dusk caste aboard the Soulsteel ship... though the question remained, was the deathknight even aboard the enemy ship? The Marshal's fleet was fully engaged with the Soulsteel Battlecruiser, which fired opon the Voidswimmer, but as commanded, the Noble Endeavour covered her sister ship with Anima Circuit shields and her own armor, as the marshal's fleet returned fire across the void of space. Meanwhile, Thaya gave Janos a salute upon his departure and moved her own ship to support Dan's commands... Dark blasts of some entropy energy colder then death was fired from the Soulsteel Battlecruiser, draining energy as they did so, both from shields and from the essence of those aboard the Endeavor, a situation that was quickly reported by the Captain to the fleet commander "Commander, information update, the enemy weapons drain both energy and essence from those it strikes, we should take out those weapons as quickly as possible.. I'm relaying this information to all captains, your orders?" Althea responded even as Janos launched from the Star's Vengeance.

The fleet commander reacted quickly to this new information, already sending orders to his captains. “Have all batteries focus on their weapons turrets, Each ship focus on one set of turrets, Let's make them split their fire and not give them a chance to focus on anyone. IIt has a fair number of armaments, but none of the turrets can face the full brunt of the ships. they'll prick us, and we'll bleed, but we'll tear that ships fangs from her until there's nothing left. Deploy our fighter screen, and have the Compliment attack from here." He provided the coordinates. Hit the enemy ship hard, but should any of their own emerge The fightercraft are to engage them and destroy them at will."

Meanwhile, The Radiant Avatar of Succor fired across the void of space, its very core and desire slaved and bent to the will of its god-pilot. Wings of prismatic crystal beat so quickly that all that could be seen of them was a multicolored spray of light in their wake. his would have been a beautiful sight had the vitriolic cloud of infernal death surrounding a frame of warped and reshaped steel and silver demonflesh not ruined the image. Janos's Mind Hand was at the ready to deflect what came his way, should it be necessary or possible to do so. Pouring on the speed with the movement granted from its Agata component, Janos looked over the soulsteel vessel with a cold, calculating gaze, seeking a launch bay, a docking point, some chink in the armor. All he had to do was get past the shields and this battle would suddenly be going very poorly for those who dared serve the Void. Unfortunately, from what he could tell, the ship’s defenses seemed exceptionally strong...

But as the Radiant Avatar of Succor sought a chink in the soulsteel ship's armor, and the Marshal's fleet fully engaged the soulsteel monstrosity, the enemy ship began to launch fighters, strange and terrible ships that seemed to be made of blackened bone, and who's pilots where clearly ghostly in present, several of them immediately moved to attack Janos and his demontech warstrider, while others moved out to engage the other fighters that Dan had ordered launched.

At the same time, the Marshal’s orders and tactical leadership were finding purchase on the enemy, concentrated fire was doing wonders at forcing the enemy to refocus his fire. The soulsteel ship seemed to redirect it's fire directly at Dawn's Wrath at this point, clearly identifying the source of its enemy command structure.

With regards to the Infernal however, Janos deflected the voidships' shots with a practiced ease, as if he had done the same a thousand thousand times. As each phantom shot came near, an unseen force would knock it away or disperse it entirely into passing phenomena unseen in Creation since the Stellar Intelligences themselves. Janos nearly allowed himself a smile as the three void fighters continued on their path to intercept, their ghost pilots completely unaware of the doom that awaited them. Unknown to them, the demon used to construct this demontech warstrider was the rare Tomescu, the cloud arsenals, who were nature combatants and all of whom could instantly counterattack those who attacked them, the wastrider reacted to their attacks, doing damage to all of the attacking ghostly fighters.

Meanwhile, aboard the Dawn’s Wrath, the attack on his ship had Dan reacting with terrifying power, and his anima blazed forth from both the command chair and the ship itself, lighting up the sky like the sun itself had come down in all it’s glory.. looking at Dan and his ship, was the manifested aura of red and gold flame with what appeared to be some grand gateway opening behind him.

"All Hands brace for evasive, Fleet com Roll Starboard and Fire immediate broadsides at those turrets we're gonna gut this flank!" He quickly keyed in the sequence for the ships Starlance, a weapon on a grand scale, that would let him defend his people most fittingly. He deployed it and used it and his utter mastery of his ship to deflect away the Battleship's wrath with no harm. From the hellish wash of energy dissipating around the lance, Dawn's Wrath surged forward into a Starboard turn bringing her full broadsides into play. "Fire Port broadsides into that Abomination!" His voice roared as his fleet came through the devastating salvo unscathed guns blazing with the wrath of a supernova, His counterattack was swift and sure, the blasts from the Dawn's wrath blazing with Celestial fury, the use of essence making them even more lethal than ever. "Show them how We Marshals FIGHT!"

The terrible force of the Dawn's Wrath's weapons required that one close to very close range, but Dan's tactical and strategical acumen had brought them into close enough, and his deep integration with the essence and spirt of his ship made it react swiftly and easily with it's captains desires, the unleashing of the terrible force of all of it's weapons ripped though the anima circuits of the soulsteel ship, bringing it's shields completely down, then pierced though the ship itself, leaving a gapping whole right though the middle, the sort of opening that Janos had been looking for, though this one was far wider then he needed.. if the ship had a living crew, that would mean it's doom.... as it was, it was clearly crippled, most of it's weapons and propulsion having been taken out by one terrible blow.

Seeing the damage done, the Dawn caste began to give orders to take advantage of it, certain that this battle was all but finished. “All ships Focus on the remaining turrets, Leave them no weapons to even spit with, Then focus on Elimanating any fighters remaining with point defense weapons.” The Dawn's Wrath was linked inexorably with the essence of it's Captain as at continued past the aft quarter of the dead in space battleship, his weapons firing another salvo into the ship, "Aft gunners focus fire on any aft turrets remaining, and then point defense. We're going to continue the roll and and come back around and give the starboard crews a chance to lay hurt on this Monster. All marines, stand by to repel boarders, I don’t really trust this ship to be truly dead yet."

The Radiant Avatar of Succor, which to this point had been firing at its top speed through space had barely slowed in response to the relatively insignificant ants that had struck at it before. It was not until the abyssal cruiser was nearly cracked in half by the Dawn Caste's assault that it stopped its advance.

Over the Marshall's intercom and communications systems, there was a voice speaking in Old Realm. "And the warrior, sure in its strength and proud in its splendor did issue challenge to Ligier, the Forgemaster of Malfeas. It was not until the Green Sun gave its response, cleansing the warrior's pride with searing emerald radiance that the warrior knew its folly. It, like those before it, had been found wanting" It was then, with the abyssal void cruiser no longer a significant factor in his plan that Janos allowed himself to give focus to the vessels that had dare strike at him. In Old Realm: "Pathetic. With the authority of the Endless Desert and the sanctity of her laws, I declare that you have been found guilty of violating the conditions of your being. You are hereby consigned eternally to Oblivion. Judgment is passed, expect no mercy, for here you will find none" It was then that Janos lashed out with brutal efficiency and flawless precision, the strength of the Radiant Avatar of Succor fueling his strikes.

Almost in response to the honor and dignity that had been paid to one of the primordial forces of Creation, time itself seemed to stand still and wait, anticipating the brutality, carnage, and devastation that came from the judgment of Cecelyne. As quickly as the judgment had been pronounced, the Radiant Avatar of Succor had shifted, now standing on the vessel that had been most harmed in his initial assault and lashing out at it. A strike to the cockpit. A strike to the engine. Quick, clean, brutal, and shocking. No sooner had the second strike been delivered than the warstrider was already atop the second fighter, which had been hurt only slightly less delivering identical blows. Just as quickly, the third, which had been spared the brunt of the demon's fury, would not be spared the vengeance of its pilot. The first two strikes were identical, it was the third, delivered directly down the nose of the fighter, that marked it as "special" and "unique", doomed by the hypocrisy and "fairness" of the Endless Desert.

At the end of the series of strikes, there were no more fighters attacking the Infernal but at that point, he was contacted by the ground team, who were apparently celebrating their own victory, or sorts, but had a few problems they needed his expertise to sort out.

Ground Team

Exquisite Dynamic Synergy turned to Kestrel as she voiced her concern, and put a hand on her shoulder even as they joined Kestrel in the shuttle bay. "I believe that we are going to be escorted by the system forces, they should be able to give us a defense screen, so it won't be as bad as you think, but I might be able to jury-rig the engines to give us a defensive shield, wouldn't be able to take more then a single hit, and it would kill the engines if it became nessary to use it. "

".. and if worse comes to worse, I'll shield you with my body and carry both of you down to the moon," added Karren with a smirk, leaning against the shuttle in nothing more than her normal uniform, clearly beyond ready to go.

Kestrel sighs and nods, and boards the shuttle, even as Karren follows and settle in a chair, stretching her arms overhead to work out the kinks, both of them followed by the Adamant caste who took a seat of her own across from Kestrel. Once everyone was aboard the shuttle, it headed toward the surface of the moon, ith about two dozen fighters from the system forces to provide the screening forces, and even as the shuttle headed down to the surface of the planet.

During the landing period, the Marshals fleet moved to engage the Deathknights ship directly, and the battle was engaged even as the shuttle landed on a shuttle pad on the surface of the moon, which looked more like a factory then a moon up close.

This part of the moon had no atmosphere, in part due to damage done to the force field generators that had been destroyed by the passage of the Deathknight from his soulsteel shuttle, leaving a trail of death and murder in his wake. The passage of the Deathknight was actually clear and easy to follow, that of the ghosts who he had sent in were a different matter.

While the other two lunar unbuckles her restraints and moves to be the first to disembark in the face of whatever welcome wagon was in place, which turned out to be non both in waiting folks and in terms of atmosphere, but the lack of atmosphere doesn't affect any of the three exalts.. both the Alchemical and the Lunar had gifts to be able to deal with it, but Kestrel went ahead and put on a suit to insure communications were fully active, knowing that Dyna possessed telepathic and radio communications directly built into her body if needed.

"Who's in charge down here?" Kestrel asks Dyna as she unstraps and goes to the shuttle's airlock after Karren had already exited.

Dyna responded to Kestrel's question. "General Adan is charge of the moon's military forces in times of conflict, though there is nomally a Administrator in charge of things, this is a conflict based situation"

"Alright, well, looks like the abyssals aren't in a subtle mood." She considers. "Dyna, how hard would it be for you to sabotage their shuttle?

Dyna considered Kestrel's question and shrugged. "I don't know, the technology of the tombstars is very, strange and mixed with the spirits of the dead, I can't say for certain I can do anything to it."

Both Dyna and Kestrel exited the shuttle, to see Karren studying the trail of destruction un bothered by the vacuum, she gestured at the shuttle and made a panotyme suggestion of just breaking the shuttle to bits where it sits.

"No radio, Karren?" Kestrel buries her face in her hand, as she had prepared for this situation to insure communications continued, going so far as to wear a suit she didn’t exactly need considering the capabilities of the symbote she had bonded too.

Karren holds up her combed and displays her nonexistent abilties at speaking in a vaccuum as she smirks wickedly in amusement. Kestrel just shakes her head and motions in the direction of the devastation. "Alright...I don't want to wreck it. That'd tip them off that we're here. Lets go."

Karren shrugs and gestures at the trail of destruction, whole body going into flux as armored chiton replaced much of her clothing, a clear 'shall we go?' on her still human face.

Following the direction of destruction lead to the an area with glowing shield generators that had been damaged due to someone ripping though them, but the shields had gone back up again not too long after, some degree of atmosphere could be detected on the other side of the shields, but someone would have to either take them down, or persuade someone to lower them temporarily

"Dyna, start analyzing that system while I talk to General Adan." She attempts to use her suit's comm to raise the General as Karren amiably leaves the other two to their work, stretching further and keeping alert for any lingering abyssal surprises.

The Adamant caste began to follow Kestrel's instructions, while she put though to the General.. it took a few minutes to get though the comm system to the general himself, sense Kestrel had to get though several other individuals to get to him. "I'm very busy but, with the the Queen's command, I have a moment or two for you, what is it?" There was impatience in the tone of the responses, even as Dyna returned to to indicate her scanning was complete.

We're chasing abyssal exalted who landed and started tearing your moon up. There's a shield blocking our way. We need it to be lowered. Though what I'd really like is blanket permission to bypass any defenses we encounter while we're doing this."

"Look, I have my own problems, I may have listen to you, but I don't have the time to hold your hand, you have my permission to do whatever you need to, I'm sending you the power codes to the shields in your area, now leave me alone." the General responded, his tone was curt, rude, and to the point, then he cut the feed.

And...that one's getting recorded," Kestrel murmured. She fed the code to the shield controls.

The codes cause the shields to alter their composition enough to allow the passage of the three exalts following the path of death and destruction left by the deathknight, but not to allow the internal atmosphere they were holding in to escape, although from the destruction in the area, the Deathknight's passage hadn't offered that degree of consideration. Essence flows and ghostly after affects, as well as some necrotic reside was present, and Dyna frowned as she looked around. "We have a problem... the deathknight isn't causing this destruction mindlessly, he's deliberately seeking to taint the flows of essence here on the moon."

What does that mean?" Kestrel asks tensely, scanning the area for signs of ambush. "Karren, there's air now...you can hear me, right?"

"Yup. Bad stuff happening. All the more reason to find and stop him soon as possible. Then we can get an expert in here to smooth over the scars," Kestrel remarks bluntly before taking off in the direction indicated by the destruction.

"Someone more familiar with essence flows and sorcery could tell you more. " Dyna tapped her forhead just above the eyes. "I can see the flows of essence, and the necrotic taint, and I can see that he's choosing to taint the flows of essence deliberately, the direction was not chosen at random, but I am an engineer primarily, not a sorcerer, but the study of engineering among my people includes the basics of essence flow."

Alright, well, we don't have time to sit and think about it. Lets go." She breaks into a run to keep up with Karren.

"Dyna, relay your results back to the ship. They have experts up there."

Alright done, but according to Althea, they are fully committed into the battle with the soulsteel starship, and a bit busy, she'd relay the information, but can't say if or when she'll be able to get back to us." She responded even as she shifting to running in order to keep up with the other two exalts. "I can try and make some sort of guess or throw out a few possibilities" The trail of destruction lead to a large moonsilver circle, with runes in old realm written on it.. and someone had recently added a number of new runes written in blood.

"Guessing is fine," Kestrel says. "Time is fine. We can't really DO anything about it yet anyway." She pauses at the circle. "Huh. Hold up a second."

Karren comes to a halt, nostrils flared as she skirts around the circle, careful to not step in yet, "Jog anything?"

Both Kestrel and Karren were looking around the circle, not entirely sure why the path seemed to stop here, when Dyna spoke up. "Wait.. this is a door, and the deathknight forced his way though it.. the runes here indicate that only a solar or lunar can open the way into the depths

here, but he forced the door by somehow making it acept his own necrotic essence as a reflection of the brighter essence of the solar. Also, written in blood are the following words. 'To He who Holds in Thrall and the Father of Murder I gift these souls as sacrifice to the essence of Oblivion, by will the Tomb Stars."

Karren growls and steps into the circle, "well. fire it up. wonderfully direct or not. he's going to die. again."

"So...the blood is basically him hacking the portal," Kestrel surmises. “Lets wash that off, and get it working."

“Yes, but worse, I think he's trying to make this place.. shadowed.. so that it exists half-way in the realm of the tombstars and half in the regular universe, a shadowlands, and there has to be something more that he wants." Even as Dyna spoke, she began to produce the tools to begin cleaning the runes. "You need to simply feed the door a mote of essence, from the rest of the runes, and show proof of your exaltation"

“Caste mark," Kestrel surmises.

"Most likely" The Adamant responded.

Kestrel goes to the circle, waits for the runes to be cleared, then directs a sliver of essence into the silver, and intentionally causes the mark of her Exaltation to flare to visibility...a burning brand on her forehead like a golden ring. And the moment Kestrel feed the essence to the portal and manifested her caste mark, the moonsilver circle in the ground opened, ike liquid metal showing a tunnel about 12 feet in diameter leading down into the ground, inside a trail of glowing lights gave just enough light to see by, though the light was fairly dim..

Karren's on the trail in a heartbeat, throat swelling slightly as she started clicking ultrasonic echoes off the walls of the tunnel ahead.

“Well, all right then," Kestrel murmurs. "Lets go." No sooner has she said anything than Karren is charging though, so she gives Dyna a wry grin and heads on after her.

Karren pauses and comments, "this spirals all the way down. no sign of our target yet." Then she picks up the pace again.

The signs of the deathknights passage were much less here, though there were clearly places where blood been tracked on the near perfect metal, and the light was fairly constant, dim but enough to see by. "All the way down?" Dyna asked even as the doorway closed behind her and Kestrel, once more leaving a smooth circle with runes on it behind you.

"Far as I can sense. Now hurry up. Stuff can probably break down here. Something expensive," she replied, still running.

Kestrel nods and follows Karren's lead.

The trio ran down the spiral hall for several minutes, at thieir pace and speed was quite swift, the spiral went down for about a miles, before there was any change, it was a good thing that all of them were fairly fit, because the pace that was set by Kerran was a fast one, and not one that any mortal would have had an easy time with. At last though, there was a change, the spiral tunnel went straight to come to a cross, at perfect right angles there were now three seperete directions to go.

Karren halts the progress of the race after the deathknight at the three way cross, unable to make out exactly which way the deathknight had gone, the walls and underground nature of the area were not at all familiar, and gave the young lunar some trouble. Fortunately, the deathknight was still dripping blood and wasn't hard to follow, with a bit of investigation, Kestrel was able to make out a blood trail to the right. "Cocky bastards," Kestrel mutters. "Guess they weren't expecting pursuit."

"More fools them," growls out karren through sharp teeth. And then she's off again, sonar clicking ahead as her boots pound out the pace.

Following the trail lead to a large room that had a gleaming circle of what appeared to be solid light over a large perfectly circular pit, standing on the glowing light was a dark fellow in soulsteel armor and a soulsteel direlance that was dripping blood in one hand.. e glanced at the three of your arriving and shook his head. "I told Nova not to get in my way.. it seems he ignored me."

"No, he's not in your way," Kestrel replied. "He's in orbit, gutting your battleship. We're in your way. Or, more accurately, you're in ours."

Kestrel takes the room in, and tries to see what the Abyssal is trying to do here, and tries to spot any others who might be lurking.

Karren's form flared with silvery light as she inhaled deeply, a flash that obscured her transformation from xeno-armored warrior woman to 9'2 monstress. A spider's legs and abdoman replaced her human one. Heavy organic armor covered everything except her head. ong silver talons extended from the tip of every didget, leaving pockmarks on the floor behind her. Her hair, thickened into fleshy dredlocks, writhes like a nest of serpents on her shoulders. Crowned with the full moon of her castemark and burning with a storm of illusionary shadow tendrills, she looked down at her prey and gave a 'bring it' gesture.

"That thing's an elevator," Kestrel murmurs to Dyna. "Goes to the main control center." Her eyes were a little unfocused as she said it...and she quickly snapped out and shook her head. "Damnit, we'd better get on that thing before he sends it down." She breaks into a run towards the platform.

All three of the exalts managed to leap onto the platform as it begins it’s descent, and a epic battle begins as the platform elevator descends deep into the lunar core. The platform is 15 meters across, and there is no avenue of retreat at this moment, but no one here was thinking retreat on any level...

Battle Joined

Karren laughs darkly and charges, a monstrous armored xeno-hybrid, clawed hands blurring as she swings down at the deathknight. Essence flows into his movements as he is attacked, the Warlord of Blood and Ash spins his dire lance as almost a shield knocking the assault of the lunar to the side.

Kestrel runs around the descending platform's edge, hunched over, with the orichchalcum scythes of her tiger claws extended and ready. There's a shower of sparks as she momentarily scrapes them against the wall, digging them in just a little to let the platform start to sink away underneath her...then leaps sideways from the wall, spinning in midair to keep herself on course as she arcs over and torpedoes straight down on the Deathknight from above...those golden claws leading the way!

Charm use allowed the night caste to vanish from sight, though in actuality she was above everyone, and then she back down and struck the abyssal across the left side, here his defenses were open even as he moved to block an attack by the Adamant caste

As the dark abyssal begins to bleed from one side he frowns and then his ssence gathers around in him as a dozen blades dripping in blood rise around him, empowering his attack with dark and terrible essence. Moving with terrible force and elegance he unleashes a flurry attacks with the horrible perfection of the Dusk caste, each blow flowing with dark and necrotic essence, trailing visible black energy as he strikes, and cutting though defenses like a scythe, each blade

circling around him seeming to strike with each blow, unleashing it upon all his attackers

Karren’s war form didn’t bother to dodge, she simply took the blows, and they landed only to barely scratch the surface of her armored form, but she could feel the cold touch of the abyss draining away essence with each strike.

Kestrel barely seems to stop moving, as quickly struck she's already streaking away...and this insane mobility benefits her greatly when the dread knight's counter assault is brought to bear. For all the blades and necrotic slashes he has, she is simply not there to receive them.

The Admanant caste managed to block the first attack of the dusk caste and his second completely missed as she moves out of the way of the direlance by only a millimeter of perfect action, essence flowing to make her untouchable for an instant.

"Cute. But I'm queen bitch of your universe right now. Might want to focus," mocks karren as the cut inflicted heals shut. She then moves to disembowel him with a horizontal slash at his gut

"We shall see" He countered her attack and made a swift counter in response, once more barely scratching his opponent, though the cold touch the abyss continued to drain away her essence.

Kestrel hits the ground running...weaving, and doing so with apparently reckless disregard for the laws of momentum. Distracted as the deathknight is with Karren, she combines inhuman speed with preternatural intuition about where he can afford to look, and where he can't...and takes ruthless advantage of it to avoid his line of sight. When she comes, it is swift, and silent, and as deadly as a shark in the water.. and it it comes without warning...a slash from behind. When he twists to catch her, the real attack hits...a devastating thrust from the opposite side

that punches through armor and undead flesh alike. "You're slow, knight," she hisses...and then she's gone again.

Once more he channels essence to counterattack his attacker, but Kestrel is too fast, and simply too good at being elsewhere before a blow can land, by the time his counterattack is launched, she's long gone.

Meanwhile, the Adamant caste takes a moment to activate White Reaper Form, oving into a grim and deadly combat stance to prepare for the next phase of combat

The flows of essence rising around him in dark and menacing manner, the Warlord took a moment to reassess his situation, he was badly wounded, Kestrel kept vanishing in and out of view for terrible assults, while Karren and Dyna were forcing him to split his attention.. he turned his full and most terrible force onto the night caste. He was sure he had her...he saw the motion, saw her shape...but when the attack pours out of him too late he realizes the shape was a shadow...the real Kestrel was poised over to the side, where a bit of light reflecting from Dyna's body cast the illusion just so...

"Poor baby. Not so fun dying when others do it to you, is it?" scorned the monster lunar, stabing with needles of blurred quicksilver at his chest.

The bleeding and badly wounded Abyssal brought his direlance to block the lunars terrible strike, dripping sweat and blood, it seemed like he was definately loosing here though

There's a pattering of feet to his right...the knight whirls, only to find that there's pebbles on the floor. She's thrown them. And now she's gone again. But he doesn't have to wait long. This time her attack is cut short...he's getting savvy, wise to her tricks. She manages a quick shallow slash, but has to pull back when he starts to anticipate her blindside attack.

Then Adamant caste came into view on the other side even Kestrel strike from one side and Karren from the other, taking advantage of his preoccupation with the lunar and the solar to unleashed with a single terrible attack. Her anima manifested as she channeled essence into her attack, perfectly aligned prismatic crystals appeared around her in a synergy of perfected essence, the shimmering light making her somewhat difficult to see and mixing with the light of the of the other exalts casting shimmering multicolored patterns of light on the walls of the descending elevator, as she struck, unfolding out of her own body in a single smooth was her Crystalburst Lance, and she struck with terrible force and elegance, and then as her strike is successful, the strike drove the spear deep into the abyssal's side, she unleashes essence down her spear to do an additional damage leaving crystal shards in his skin as she tore the spear out his flesh, the deathknight went down, the trio of exalts had dealt the bringer of death a lethal blow, his life's blood was bleeding out onto the shimmering platform.

"Mine," singsongs Karren as she bends down to pluck up the spear, "Anyone else want the armor?"

"Yeah, not my thing," Kestrel demurs, breathing hard as she slows from her blurred pace to a halt. "Cut its head off though. Just in case."

"The fate of the universe is death, you seek only to stop the inevitable.. " Was the death knights last words before he closed his eyes forever.

"Yep, that is exactly what I seek to stop." Kestrel pulls out her gyroscopic chakram and sets the gears on its rim to motion, making it a kind of circular chainsaw. Then she takes off the deathknight's head herself.

Dyna responded "I have no need or desire to wear soulsteel.. but it might be interesting to take it back to the ship for study"

"That or we can destroy it." Kestrel responded “..my preferred solution."

"Get me into a big enough room and I could eat his corpse whole. I've yet to see something that can come back from that," karren offered, hefting the dark weapon in both hands.

“Yeah well, that's disgusting, Karren," Kestrel shot back. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Head off. Problem solved."

"Prude. Well, if you want the armor for study, I'd like to atl east take some of the abyssal shuttle back to trade to Janos."

Animas still blazing, reflecting light and shadows along the walls, as the exalts continued speaking, the platform at last came to a stop, and a door opened. Kestrel turned and quickly went to the door to peek out of it.

"I'm not sure that soulsteel can be destroyed, damaged sure, but permanently destroyed, I don't know" As dyna responded to the statement and door opened to a large hallway, at the other size of the hall you could clearly see what appeared to be computer terminals and what appeared to a command station, with a holographic display of the moon and planet, and it was real time, as you could see the ships in space around the planet in combat, from the looks of things, the Marshal's had just taken down the Abyssal's battlecruiser

"Well, that can be the subject of your research..." Kestrel said as she enters the room slowly and looks around. "This is where he was going. Probably to use the old weapon systems in the battle..." As she tries to raise Dan on the combead.

Karren points to the fight between the lintha and the imperials, "Dyna. Think we can do something about that from here?"

“I’ll look into it.” The Adamant replied to Karren even as she moved though the room, but waited for Kestrel to finish her activity first.

"Captain, do you read me?"

Dawn's Wrath's communication officer responded. "Kestrel? Althea here, the Captain's a bit busy with the aftermath of the battle, still a few ghost fighters to mop up, how can I help you?"

"We killed the deathknight and made it to what looks like the moon's old control center. We can probably take control of any of its defenses that are still working from here, but...the knight was mucking around with the manses. Not sure it'd be safe."

Althea reponded "Well, I know you don't get along, but I could contact Janos, he's familiar with essence flows enough to be able to answer that question."

Kestrel grimaced and nodded. "Alright. Put me through to him."

Karren laughs and waves her free hand, "Hey. Guys. I'm gonna head up to the surface and make sure that deathnight shuttle doesn't try to kill anyone else. Dyna, I'll drop your trophy back at the shuttle for ya if you like." The xeno-monstrous lunar was almost bouyant now that the day was saved.

"Give us a call if you run into trouble, Karren," Kestrel says, giving the lunar a look. "There might be more of them out there, on different missions."

Janos can see that Althea is trying to connect him to Kestrel. "Connectioning.. Lord Janos, Althea here, I have Kestrel on comm link here, reported that the Abyssal Commander is down, but they have an important question regarding essence flows that needs your expertise"

"Scout Kestrel, what can I do for you?"

"Janos." She nodded at Dyna. "We're going to upload some data to you that we found here on the moon. The deathknight was doing something with some of the manses down here. I think they're the ones powering the moon's weapon systems. Can you tell what he was trying to do?"

"Send the information"

“Will do, thief. Blow up a few lintha for me if it's safe," responds karren cheekily as she skitters back into the elevator, strips the knight of hsi armor, and heads straight up the wall of the shaft, dire lance in one hand, armor in the other.

"Uploading data directly to you, transfer it to Janos if you would, Althea dear." Dyna responded

Janos took in the information that was transferred to him. It seemed the Death Knight had an interesting plan. A bit crude, no question about it, but functional. "It would appear that the slave was attempting to infect the moon's weapons systems with necrotic energy. I will not bore you with the details but suffice to say that the final objective was to connect the system to the Terminus and by extension its Tomb Star masters."

Kestrel listened and responded. "...alright, so don't try to fire the weapons is what you're saying."

"The process does not seem to have been completed, so the weapons systems are safe to activate presently, with the slave dead. Though if the energies are not purged, it would be a relatively simple matter for another death knight or even a simple necromancer to finish the process"

"How do we purge them?" Kestrel asked.

"Time, geomancy, and systematically visiting the manses themselves to deal with the necrotic energies there. No doubt there have been ghosts or other undead attracted. By the looks of it, there are easily a dozen tainted manses of various degrees. With the proper tools I can take steps to shift the essence flow. The ghosts are more the domain of the more martial of you"

"How did he do that? I mean, the confrontation with the battleship was not long. They couldn't have been here for more than an hour or two." Kestrel responded.

“Some powerful ghosts, Nephwracks, Necromancers in their own right, have the capability to infuse Abyssal Essence into an area rather rapidly. Possession, infiltration, this has likely been happening for some time. If I recall, the Deathknight was personally on the ground before we arrived here."

"You knew that?" Kestrel slaps her forehead. "Did Dan?"

"I don't doubt it. The slave's shuttle was never seen departing its ship, and yet it was on the ground. Without powerful Sorcery, which warrior Slaves are not known for, there is only one explanation"

"All right...so nothing I can do about it now then. How's the battle going? Want any backup from the ground weapons?" Kestrel responded.

"The battle goes roughly as expected, though if it is possible I would ask that when I ask for it, target the Lintha demon ship but do not fire, by the time control is established over the moon's defense matrices, there should only be a few lintha ships remaining."

SalmonMax nods to Dyna. "We'll see what we can get going down here."

"Is there anything else you require my attention for?" Janos asked.

"As long as using these weapons won't yank the whole moon into a black hole, I think we're good." She pauses, then adds, "Thanks."

Dyna moved up the computer terminals and put her hands on the control systems, as she did a dozen fiberoptic's cables came out of her arms and directly connected her to the weapon systems of the moon. "Establishing full control over the moon's weapon systems, over other inactive or underutilized systems." Her voice echoed in the room with the computer voice. "Estimating capabilities of bringing this conflict to an end at near 100% with direct application of weapons systems to forces still in conflict..Contaminated Manses feeding power into the system estimated at approximately 24%.. isolating locations and putting them up on display"

“You are welcome, Scout Kestrel" Janos responded as he signed off.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan sent orders for the fleet to reform as he brought the ship around. He brought up a secure link to Dyna. "I want you to Engage all the Lintha vessels, aside from Janos', provided the weapons are safe to use. Once they're eliminated, We will contact the Imperial Fleet, and bring this to a quick end, in our favor."

,,

He quickly had Sophia send a text only file. "Send this to the queen."

,,

"We will be ending this soon, one way or another. Afterwards, I'd like to meet face to face, with you and the Imperial Commodore, for a formal parley regarding the system."

,,

He surveyed the system. "Sun Kai, stay with the abyssal ship, make sure it stays dormant. Janos, have your friends rejoin the formation." As his fleet began moving in to flank the Lintha, he watched the battle unfold. "

[Janos Tem]

Janos's position in space remained relatively steady in the system, the Radiant Avatar of Succor encasing him and making periodic corrections to ensure that his position did not shift.

,,

"...bring this to a quick end, in our favor." When Dan sent his first set of orders out, a brief moment of irritation passed through Janos's mind. Had he not just moments before declared them safe to use? Had word simply not been passed along? Piggybacking off of the same signal Dan sent, he sent a message of his own.

,,

"So unfortunate incidents do not occur, I would like to state for the record that the Demon's Reach is mine. Its current occupants are simply not aware of this fact. As such, unless I indicate that I wish my possession to be destroyed that it be left alone. The rest of the pirates are yours to spare or destroy at your leisure."

,,

"Janos, have your friends rejoin the formation." It was at times such as this that Janos Tem had to remind himself that there were people in the galaxy that believed that having a mutually agreeable relationship with someone else made them 'friends'. It was a simple exchange of considerations. Thaya worshipped him, he allowed her reign of his vessel. The Star's Vengeance and its crew obeyed his commands, he refrained from turning them inside out and letting their remains burn in some distant atmosphere. His terms were not unreasonable, more considerate than the terms he had given others. This did not make them friends.

,,

"They will be with you shortly, Captain Hawkins. There are still a few small matters to attend to first."

,,

Janos raised the Star's Vengeance. "Patch this through to the Demon's Reach, have Mr. Torm break their encryption if they try to resist..."

,,

"Officers and Crew of the Demon's Reach. My name is Janos Tem, know it. Those of you who I count among my Peers I will accept oaths of fealty. My name is Janos Tem, fear it. Those of you who are not Chosen of the Stellar Intelligences, I will accept nothing short of your adoration and service. My name is Janos Tem, worship it. Pray to your chosen deities if you will, but you will count me among them.

,,

"Know you now that I am all that stands between your continued existence and oblivion. Should you be contemplating refusal of my grace and mercy, you are advised to take notice of the broken husk that is all that remains of Grave Digger. Look now."

,,

As he spoke, Janos extended a hand towards the Soulsteel Warship, emerald wings flaring as the Hand of the Great Maker, corrupted and fueled by infernal essence and augmented by nothing short of a collapsed universe of potential, came to life. Grave Digger itself, floating broken in orbit came apart seamlessly. The power cells and support structures of iron and sinew being torn apart, whole sections of Soulsteel plating and work splitting and dividing in a manner entirely too precise and perfect to be simple happenstance. Those tortured and hungry dead that had been caught at the separation points floating into space, no small amount of them burning in atmosphere. Shortly enough, the vessel was divided, neatly, into several portions, bound back together like a gargantuan bundle by the same sinew and calcified tissue that had once been its support structure.

,,

"This is what awaits the defiant. I offer you the chance to avoid this fate as a peer. The offer will not be made again. You will comply or you will be annihilated"

Janos cut the transmission, though it would not be difficult for interested parties to reach him again.

[Karren Gaunt]

Meanwhile, Karren skittered along the service tunnel towards the surface, bleaching the walls and floors silver with her anima, one ear out for danger, her eyes on the soulsteel relic that had been stabbing her and draining her essence not minutes before. Good make. Nasty cut. If the death knight had been better trained or not outnumbered three to one, he might of even hurt somebody with this toy. Well he hadn't been trained and he had been outnumbered, so it was *hers* now. Or would be after a little effort.

,,

The xeno-aspected lunar took a deep breath, tangle of moving dreadlocks slithering behind her to keep a hold on Dyna's trophy armor, clawed hands moving up and down the weapon's shaft to get a feel for it before forcing what was left of her essence into the weapon. For a second, the hungry cold of the black weapon seemed to be swallowing her energy for no return, like she was throwing rocks out an airlock, but after a grunt and another mental push, she started getting an echo of herself back from the weapon. The deathknight's foreign feel vanished like mist before a rising sun, the direlance still acutely dangerous but now *Karren's kind of dangerous*, no more evil in it's way than a bacterial infection or scorpion's sting.

,,

It disappointed Karren a little to see the strange hearthstone set in the weapon's tip vanish with her mastery of the weapon. Maybe Dyna or Janos could of backtracked it or something.

,,

No matter. New toy to think up a name for. Day saved. Salvage to claim. Speaking of which...

,,

"Security Chief Karren Gaunt to Dawn's Wrath," she opened as she got moving again, combead triggered on, "Dan, good job on the light show above. I'm enroute to the abyssal shuttle on the surface. Do you want me to destroy or guard it when I get there?"

,,

[djala_envoy] 2:04 pm: rolling attunement for the direlance in exalted.

[djala_envoy] 2:05 pm: channeling convcition for +4 dice.

djala_envoy *rolls* 7d10: 10+10+7+4+3+10+8: 52

[djala_envoy] 2:05 pm: whew! witness?

[Krul] 2:06 pm: yes

[Dan Hawkins]

"Preferably get it off the moon's surface and watched by yourself or a fightercraft. Let's not take a chance that some sort of booby trap was left aboard."

,,

He was moving his fleet in, Fresh from gutting the abyssal ship, the ships of his fleet Few in number, but no one there could deny the strength of a fleet beneath a Dawn Caste.

[Karren Gaunt]

"Will do, Honey. Karren out," brightly concluded the Lunar over her channel to the Dawn's Wrath, moving into the spiral stairwell.

,,

The hulking xeno-hybrid took the tunnel in skittering spirals along the ceiling, floor, and walls, enjoying the sheer physicality of her warform in the grip of anima flare. The fight had taken it's usual 100% of her reserves that she gave everything worthwhile, but between that and the win, nothing was going to ruin her day. Her chiton-armored features went from exultant to amused at a thought. Oh this could be fun. And profitable maybe.

,,

"Security Chief Karren Gaunt of Dawn's Wrath to the Star's Vengance. I'd like to talk to someone about getting a piece of potentially dangerous salvage off this moon," she rattled off, fingering her combead over and onto the required frequency, the tac-tac-tac of her upward progress playing a cadence to her voice.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

With the Marshal's fleet and the weapons systems of the moon online, there was no one who could match them, not here at least, and when Janos put though his communication to the Demon's Reach, a few moments later there was someone who called back, the Fiend caste known as Cathena, and she laughed as she responded..

,,

"Well played, Priest of Cecelyne, very well played, clearly I am over-matched at the moment. Of course, the art of shifting loyalties and betrayal is one that someone of my background is quite well aware of the potential for.. we shall meet again, but this ship and it's crew will not be yours this day, nor shall destruction find us now.. there is a capability it possesses that none by I have know before this day, there are other seas that we sail.. seas of silver that you would be familiar with..

,,

Even as she spoke, Janos sent a command though the network "Fire Everything!" preparing his own magics, but the enemy ship seemed to shift to a sand like substance for an instant, though it actually dematerilized, allowing all damage to bypass it.

,,

"if you would pursue, and my warlock comrade certainly desires such, seek us at the city in the heart of the silver sands five days from now, do not try before then, we shall be in the heart of the infinite desert. We will linger there for a few weeks, if you don't wish to follow immediately, though my partner here will be disappointed if you don't."

,,

After the first sandlike shimmer, the ship simply vanished, leaving an amount of silver sand to float in the void of space in it's wake of similar size and shape to the ship that had been there a moment before.

,,

Leaving only the Imperials, and a few remaining pirate ships on the field of battle, battle that was now quickly ended as the Marshal's approached, and a message was sent in response to Dan's message to the queen agreeing almost instantly to his request. Meanwhile there was comm request from the Imperials now that they and the Marshal's remained the only one's on the field of battle... and though the marshal's may not have as many ships, their forces here were clearly the superior ones, with the moon's weapons systems and multiple artifact ships.

[SalmonMax]

Meanwhile, at the heart of the factory moon, Kestrel watched the displays and readouts where they hovered in midair above the holograph emitter. Despite the victory, her expression was pensive. She glanced over her shoulder at Dyna, who was operating the systems, and then went to another terminal and started running through its controls, looking for directions to the single most secured, battened-down room the moon had. Probably wouldn't be labeled, 'room with the superweapon' in the directory, but it was a good place to start.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan smiled as the Imperials hailed them "Excellent work, everyone." After his short congratulations, he answered the hail. "Commodore, I see you held your own and fought well with the Lintha, My thanks for occupying them, while we dealt with Grave Digger."

,,

I would ask why you contact me, now, but I can guess." He gave her a knowing look, and with his Intimidating anima flaring brightly, the mark of the Sun upon his brow, he offered her a smile. "My offer of formal Parley, negotiation, is still good. I've seen enough blood and death today. The Queen has already accepted my invitation for a three way summit between us, face to face and would happily host it planetside. I would welcome your sister to attend, as surely those I trust most will be there with me. I don't mind being away from my fleet, as we go under a flag of truce." The Imperials couldn't break such without serious consequences, including outright war with the Marshals, and all independent systems, if they broke faith. Dan was putting her out, and himself, equally, giving the queen the lead, as she was the ruler of the system, still at the moment, all knew exactly who held the real power.

[Janos Tem]

When the Demon's Reach translocated, it did not make for a pleased Janos. Well, as much as such a thing was actually possible. The Fiend had done her share of gloating and had demonstrated a defensive means that he had not planned for. Her erratic behavior had shown that she did not share enough characteristics with the Principle of Hierarchy to be terribly skilled with her charms, though he should have planned for the Endless Desert. He had not. This was not a mistake he would repeat.

,,

Darting through space towards the ship-sized mass of Cecelynian dust, he set to work cleaning the wreckage. Contacting Captain Hawkins about the remains of the Grave Digger and its ultimate fate, he was informed that he was to destroy the majority of the vessel, leave a small amount for the proof of destruction, and 10% of the remnants were for his own use.

,,

"As you wish, Captain. Once I have had a moment to examine the remains, they will be dealt with accordingly."

,,

Using the chassis of the Radiant Avatar of Succor as an anchor, he activated the Gateway of Silver Mist, tearing a hundred meter diameter hole in space. The Hand of the Great Maker flared to life one more time, seizing the very threads of Creation and drawing the packaged and parceled remains of Grave Digger through the portal in a baroque progression until only 10% of the ship remained in the system, being enough to identify as having once belonged to the Grave Digger and having been scanned for femtotechnological aspects and found lacking.

Shortly after the rest of the Grave Digger had been pulled through the portal, he drew on the Cecelynian sand that now occupied the space that had once been the Demon's Reach. The sand broke from the shape and size of a warship and formed into a twisting serpent of dust and glass, flowing through the portal like water. Always the enterprising spirit, he had plans for what could be done with this much material. Cathena had the patronage of the Ebon Dragon, which was fine. She was welcome to him. He had something else. The sand that she had so brazenly left in her wake contained the very essence of Cecelyne, that which bordered all things. and, if he was correct, his channel to the last truly untapped source of power in the Cosmos. The Dragon Beyond The World.

,,

Were Cathena's patrons be any others than the ones she claimed, he would have contemplated following her to the meeting. As it stood, however, he satisfied himself with the knowledge that they were fundamentally unable to comprehend the doom being forged for them.

As he worked, Karren's hail was forwarded to him. It took a moment, as he was not onboard his vessel, but he eventually received it.

"What do you require, Security Chief Gaunt?"

[Karren Gaunt]

Janos' answer reached Karren as she was navigating the corpse-strewn wreckage after the tunnel, a piece of soulsteel gear in each hand. She was back to her default human form, not wanting to terrorize any rescue crews that may have started their work yet. Nothing on that front yet, but at least her as a glowing amazon was less likely to be shot at than her in her full terrifying glory.

,,

"Oh, hey. Janos. Yeah. Dan wanted the death knight shuttle removed from the surface before it ate someone or something. And I figured your crew would have the gear needed to get it outside the gravity well. Plus, you're smart enough to dispose of it safely, whatever you want to do with it. Possibly in partial exchange for a favor? I just found myself in need of a second hearthstone, and like I said... You're smart."

,,

The red-headed lunar laughed lightly as she finished her spiel, booted feet coming to a halt as the forcefield came into view. Oh. Right. That thing. Kestrel had gotten them through it the first time, right? Or was that Dyna? Eh, She'd get through somehow. The field couldn't take that much punishment, could it? Hmmm... Her brow furrowed as she considered her options and waited for Janos' answer.

[Janos Tem]

Janos guided the sand and soulsteel through the portal like some sort of hellish conductor. The soulsteel itself had largely been passed through, it was simply the sand at this point. He did not put terribly much thought into where these materials would be stored, such things were the responsibility of his labor forces. He simply concerned himself with the speed at which they were removed from the system.

,,

"A point of clarification, Security Chief Gaunt. You wish my assistance with a task assigned by your captain. You wish me to bring this shuttle out of gravity, dispose of it safely and correctly, and in return I owe you a favor? Am I hearing correctly?"

[Karren Gaunt]

"Call it a finders fee, Janos," laughed the amazonian lunar, "You do those have those in the hell sector, right? I figured you do something more interesting with a working death knight shuttle then cut out the alarm and steal the tires. Besides, we're allies. The more heavy lifting I can do next fight, the less heavy lifting you and your giant robot have to do next fight. Makes sense to me."

,,

"If you're too busy, I can always call the Imperials, the natives, or just say frack it and see if I can trade the wreckage to someone else should it act up before Dan gets back."

[Janos Tem]

The last of the Cecelynian sand flowed through the tear in space, at which point he closed it. Meanwhile, Security Chief Gaunt said some things that were moderately sensible. Her reference to the Radiant Avatar of Succor as a "giant robot" both overemphasized its size and oversimplified its nature. He was briefly reminded of those discussions that he heard when stationed onboard the Voidswimmer during which Dan's concubine-soldiers would find themselves educated on the difference between a 'toy' and a 'model' by the engineering department.

,,

How difficult was it to understand terminology? If you know not that of which you speak, do not speak of it. It could not be terribly difficult.

,,

The Radiant Avatar of Succor darted towards the world. He did not move at fullest speed, as it would not due to be lacking in his Essence reserve when he arrived.

[Sunstar]

Dan sent orders for the fleet to reform as he brought the ship around. He brought up a secure link to Dyna. "I want you to Engage all the Lintha vessels, aside from Janos', provided the weapons are safe to use. Once they're eliminated, We will contact the Imperial Fleet, and bring this to a quick end, in our favor."

,,

He quickly had Sophia send a text only file. "Send this to the queen."

,,

"We will be ending this soon, one way or another. Afterwards, I'd like to meet face to face, with you and the Imperial Commodore, for a formal parley regarding the system."

,,

He surveyed the system. "Sun Kai, stay with the abyssal ship, make sure it stays dormant. Janos, have your friends rejoin the formation." As his fleet began moving in to flank the Lintha, he watched the battle unfold. "

,,

Sophia quickly sent the message.

,,

"Sent Dan. I'm gonna head down to meet the ground team."

,,

The Waxing Moon Caste said getting up from her seat and heading towards the Shuttle Bay