Captain Williams who's uniform looked much akin to an futuristic version of 18th century naval wear approached Sarah and held out his hand for a shake while he introduced himself.

"Hello I'm Captain John Williams of the Serpentum Armada,I've taken the liberty of recovering your crew and repairing your ship....You should be aware that most of your crew is suffering from Post-Cryogenic Syndrome....Yourself included.....I think you should sit down at the very least.

The captain then moved to the side and motioned that Sarah should take an seat on the pilot's chair

The cruiser creeped ever closer towards the Aurora who's scanners was still offline.The demonic cruiser was an few kilometers away and with each passing minute cut away at an kilometer.

The doctor was busy with the other patients some of which began to stand and hear,luckily their medicines for Cryo-Syndrome worked on humans.He was reminded of the many Varanidae who recieved similar treatment when the ark crashed.Some of the crew where shocked by the aliens whilst others were glad to be able to walk and hear again....The doctor smiled as he saw the crew conversing with one another although sluggish.

The engineers began to repair the navigation system,reverting power from the large rodded batteries they brought with them.The plasmic energy stored within them provided more then enough power for the Aurora.The head engineer then messaged the Captain.

"Sir tell the AI to reroute the ships's power from it's reactor to the external battery systems we have,it should increase power efficiency by 87%"

The Captain then relayed the message to the AI.

S.J sigheed, she nodded her head and lied back into the chair. A slight familiarity engrossed S.J, soon she responded, "I'm aware of my crew's condition.. thank you.. for everything, we would have been worse off if we had gone longer in stasis." She shook his hand weakly, her hand felt deathly cold to his. Her skin looked pale and sickly after being in cryo-sleep. She was dressed in a simple brown leather trench coat with fur inside, underneath her dark looking trench coat was a tight white nano-fiber shirt with a few kevlar armor patches on her stomach, back, and shoulders, the pants were the same way.

"Rerouting power, bringing power efficiency up, 87.001%, good.." CAT and GAEA seemed to be working very well with the ship. After a few minutes CAT suddenly spoke up, "Please Advise, navigational systems online. Performing a long-range scan.. processing.. warning, large ship on left aft side, they have attached to us, they may board, performing lock down.." suddenly the doors closed loudly and then the HUD turned Red, "Combat mode initiated."

GAEA struggled to keep in her laughter, "you blockhead!" Gaea failed to keep her laughter in check "they're on our side!" Gaea then snorted because she was laughing so hard. Even S.J laughed a bit.
"CAT, Disengage from Combat mode."
"Required voice recognition" S.J sighed annoyed
"Sarah Jane Trace.."
"Red alert disengaged, weapon systems disengaged, security systems disengaged, Neutral shift successful." GAEA had stopped laughing. "Well that was certainly something, wasn't it?" She let out one last snicker before going back to work on the ship systems.

The captain raised his eyebrow...Confused with what CAT said,then he went pale as he ran out of the cockpit his left thumb on his earpiece. "Attention all units! Unidentified forces are attempting to board.Maintain formation Beta Z4!"

The captain ran to where to the airlock they entered earlier,he could hear sounds behind the door,the audible hiss of pressurization,the growling of creatures he knew only to be demonic.He alone had experience fighting against demons,whilst the well trained Varanus marines could best most other marines they would for the first time face the very creatures that plagued the GSU and the Nypherians.

4 orbiters took positions facing the entrance of the airlock their FS-1 rifles aimed at the sealed airlock.Another Orbiter took cover against the wall next to the small hallway that led to the airlock while the others took defensive positions all around the airlock hall.The captain then arrived to take up position behind Decanus Srus.The human captain carried some form of revolver which he cocked as he turned to the Decanus.

"Right....I know for an fact these are demons.....Your power armour can take alot of ranged firepower yeah?....."

"Yes sir!"

"Alright if we keep them boxed into this killzone we should be able to cut them down before they can close in,I want 2 firing squads to cover eachother as the first wave reloads..."

Classic Salvo fire tactic....popular tactic in the Imperium,allows squads to continually pin down the enemy with gunfire not allowing one second of delay for units to reload.

The Captain then called out to Jarvis. "Hey seal up what you can!",the Aurora shook as the demonic cruiser latched itself to the smaller ship. "Now you bloody AI!" The captain turned to the two Orbiters that carried Sarah to the cockpit. "You two fortify the cargo-bay alongside the engineers,be if we are forced to fall back we would need to be ready to dig in!"

The orbiters saluted before they ran,their tails bouncing with the clutter of their armour.

The captain then quickly jogged back to the cockpit,looking around and shaking his head....He then placed an strange pistol in the pale hands of Sarah.He then showed her the technicalities of the pistol.

"Don't worry about the appearance,it may have been built by these reptiles but it handles exactly like an normal handgun.Just point and shoot it has an 8 round clip." The captain then handed her 3 clips before he rushed back to the airlock bay.

He stood watching the airlock,the bay itself was quiet with the only noise being the soft hissing of the Varanus marines,their eyes slitted and focused on the killzone.For almost 2 minutes nothing happened the soldiers kept their nerve some taking crouching positions to rest from the weight.

Then pounding....heavy pounding upon the airlock which took some of the marines by surprise causing them to take a few steps back.Captain Williams knew these Varanidae were well trained rivaling the best fighters he knew back at the GSU. Some he would say had the skill to become spartans....He was glad to at least have an disciplined force under his command even if they haven't faced demons before.

The pounding grew louder and louder as it began to dent the steel door.....Soon the first battle between the Varanus of the Imperium and the remnants of the Demonic crusade would begin....Captain Williams thought back to the weak and pale looking Sarah.

He wished this battle was under different circumstances.....Without civilians caught in the crossfire.He raised the revolver and aimed at the airlock door shouting. "Ready yourselves,if they breach that door give them the taste of Imperial steel!"

S.J saw the worried captain rush off and this made her even more stressed then she already did. An idea then hit her, " Gaea, how many Atrata HEPS do we have aboard?" Gaea responded quickly "we currently have 15 Human Enchantment Power Suits, 5 were destroyed in the 400 year disablement tour. 10 of these are the assault variant, 3 are the Heavy Variant, and 2 are the medical variants."
"Prepare a heavy for remote access."
"Yes Captain.."

A Heavy HEPS suddenly lights up, the lights flickering a solid green, a very deep robotic voice echoed through the cargo bay. "Heavy Human Enchantment Power Suit online, several threats detected boarding, switching to lethal force.." The suit walked forward and brought out a very high caliber looking gun. "Loading weapon.." the suit suddenly loaded the weapon and walked forward, not looking at anyone.

It quickly ran to where the demons were boarding and in S.J's voice said "get into a formation keeping the suit at the front." A medical HEPS suddenly rushed in and knelt onto the ground away from where the heavy suit was. The heavy suddenly spoke up, "several armed forces in general vicinity, marking as 'Protect.'" The HEPS lifted up its gun and prepared to fire on the first demon to breach the air lock.

"Gaea, send an assault HEPS up to my quarters, and put it on standby."
"Yes Captain.."
"Thank you Gaea.."
"Be careful Sarah.."
"I'll try.."

The captain watched as two new arrivals joined the Imperial forces,the heavy HEPS took position in front of the formation,the Orbiters then adjusted their formation to allow them to fire without hitting the HEPS.As the demons began to dent through the airlock the Varanus and humans could see the red crimson skin of demonic warriors they screeched as the airlock bent creating an small hole in which the demons peeked at their prey.

The human captain shouted. "Maintain formation! Hold your fire until I give the order!" The Decanus nodded before he shouted. "May Armaros guide our flames and Kumaktole grant us mercy.!"
The orbiters began to simultaneously shout. "For Draconus!"

The room filled with chaos as the airlock broke into two,swarms of imps and demonic creatures charged at the Imperials and the Aurora HEPS. Once they broke through the captain screamed his order. "FIRE AT WILL!"

An hailstorm of bullets flooded the demonic ranks,creature after creature fell as the orbiters continued firing with their FS-1 Rifles until the barrels glowed red. The combined firepower of the marines and the HEPS kept the demons at bay,whom bodies would dissipate as it hit the ground in crimson embers.

Despite the firepower of the opposition,the demons kept coming pouring out of the rifts in the cruiser charging to the airlock. Minutes passed and the captain realized their position.

"They keep coming! Don't let up!"

The HEPS fired non-stop, the heavy caliber bullets plowing through demons like a hot knife through butter. The sound of the heavy machine gun firing was amazing, it echoed through and shook the Aurora a bit with every new bullet fired. Then, a demon charged the heavy. The heavy then put up its arm in a defensive position, but when the demon reached the heavy it suddenly grabbed the throat of the demon and with a sickening SNAP the demon stopped struggling. The heavy then threw the dead demon into the advancing demons and then fired.

Black blood ran down the heavy's arm from the demon it had brutally destroyed. The assault HEPS ran by quickly, almost too quick to see. Then it reached the Cockpit.

S.J stared at the HEP suit, it then opened from the back. Its glowing blue lights shone in the dimly lit cockpit. S.J quickly climbed into the suit and pulled out an assault rifle. "Gaea, keep the Heavy under control. We only have 3 of them."

"Yes Ma'am" S.J then ran off to where the battle was raging. Quickly the She positioned herself behind the formation, and began firing in a three burst shots. "See, I can be helpful too."
The heavy then said in a low angry sounding voice, "We need to detach that demonic cruiser!"
"How?" Replied S.J still firing
"A big boom.."

Minutes passed as the ship's hallway echoed with the fire of bullets followed by the deathly screech of the demonic creatures,some of the orbiters where surprised at the efficiency of the HEPS while the older marines smirked and hissed at the thought of fighting side by side with an machine.

The airlock-bay's flooring was filled with smoking bullet casings,the captain took cover again to reload his revolver looking up only to see Sarah clad in an strange suit of armour firing bursts at the demonic forces. "Miss Sarah...Welcome to the fight!" The heavy then gave an solution to their current issue.

The Captain nodded "Miss Sarah our marines have grenade launchers we might be able to blast away the airlock and send then scum to space....Are these suits of yours pressurized?"

The firing intensified as the marines slowly moved backwards.

Sarah replied "yes these suits are pressurized, but be careful. If that air lock blows, the rest of the passengers may be at risk." The heavy HEPS then grabbed a skull of a demon and crushed it under the awe mighty strength of the suit.

Sarah then switched the rifle to full-auto and sprayed into the crowd, killing several demons. Click, Click, click "Magazine!" The assault HEPS suddenly turned and popped out a silver clip from the arm. Sarah grabbed the magazine and reloaded the gun and quickly put the empty clip on the same arm. She then returned to 3 burst fire.

Gaea was busy with the heavy when suddenly an alarm burst to life. "What is it CAT?"
"Long range scanners picked up another ship a system away."
"Can you identify it?"
"Negative, but it seems too be the same size as this one." Gaea cursed and then went on comms "Attention, captain, CAT's long range scan picked up a similar ship to the one we're fighting." S.J froze for a moment and then turned to face the Captain "there's another one coming.."

The Captain nodded began to draw up plans to secure the safety of the crew,he thought about leading the crew to an area that could be sealed.....Luckily for him salvation would soon arrive.

He fired his revolver once....twice into the chest of an faraway demon,causing it to stumble back into the hailstorm of fire that the HEPS and their Imperial comrades laid upon it.The demons slowly began to gain more ground as the Imperial troops slowly lowered their fire rates to conserve ammo.It was an grim scene as one broke into the Imperial ranks leaping unto an orbiter and with an empowered blade of dark magic,cut through the power armour like an hot knife through butter.

The orbiters surrounding the fallen suddenly got riled up in an blood rage as the grabbed the demon pinning it down as another teared at it with an gladius.Ember ashes and blood lied strewn across the room,as the fallen Varanus marine was dragged away by his comrades towards the temporary clinic back in the cargo bay.The captain cursed under his breath as he took cover thinking..."If they break through it will be slaughter."

The suddenly his communicator ran and he place an thumb on the earpiece.The voice that addressed him made the captain laugh.

"Captain Williams,why do our scanners pick up another ship?" The commodore asked.

"Sir! I...am glad you are here.....We are currently engaging hostiles from the unidentified craft...They already wounded one of the orbiters....They attacked without warning.Sir we request immediate aid!"


The commodore remained quiet then spoke. "An attack without warning or reason is an open declaration of war on the Empire!"

The commodore then opened channels to the demonic ship just as the Xe'mak exited hyperspace.

"Attention demonic craft,your attack on this vessel has been noted,you have ten seconds to surrender your ship to the Everlasting Serpentum Imperium,if you resist we have no choice but to react accordingly."

The Commodore hoped the demonic ship would accept the challenge and detach itself from the Aurora....Which it did.

The demon cruiser floated away from the Aurora and sped slowly towards the Xe'mak,the demonic cruiser opened fire with hellish cannonish spewing reddish energy.This energy was easily absorbed and deflected by the Xe'mak's Impact shielding,and not long after the Xe'mak returned fire with it's coilguns slowly chewing it's way through the old cruiser.It was then that the gunnery masters spotted an weak point in the demonic ship and focused their fire upon it.

As soon as the seventh hit pierced the weak point in the hull,an pulse of red energy flared across the demonic cruiser and what followed was several explosions that tore the demonic ship apart.The remaining demons aboard the Aurora were soon easily cut down by the the human and Varanus soldiers.

The Captain placed his thumb on his right ear. "Ship secured sir,what's the status of the Xe'mak."

"Minor damages to the hull,the impact shielding took most of the damage.....We will board momentarily for an debrief...."

"Yes sir,I will report after the debriefing."

The medical HEPS ran quickly too the injured solider, Sarah followed it quickly. "Disengage." The suit suddenly stopped and the back opened up and Sarah climbed out, her skin tight suit completely visible due to the reason of her Aviator Jacket wouldn't fit in the suit. She then quickly lifted her arm with the APDA on it, "Gaea, what's the condition of the Orbiter?"
"Ma'am, he's in critical condition, he's losing a lot of blood." Sarah cursed softly, as she replied
"Gaea, prepare ISMTP 3.00a"
"Yes ma'am, preparing Intensive Special Medical Treatment Procedure 3.00a"

The heavy HEPS stood down, an injured demon crawled up and scratched harmlessly at the thick Tungsten armor. The HEPS took the demon by what was left of the demon's leg, and them grabbed the other stub of demon flesh. "Target Acquired.. preparing to dispose of target."

The sickening sound of bone and flesh ripping, sequencing, and the demon screams filled the Aurora. "Prime directive, protect crew and all allies to Aurora Crew. You are a threat to that directive, you will be disposed of accordingly." Black blood sprayed over the white tungsten armor plates as the heavy slowly tore the demon in half.

Sarah quickly ran to see where the orbiter was lied, when she got there she quickly located him and ran over too him. "Oh god.." the orbiter looked terrible, his blood seeping out of one large injury from his shoulder to the center of his chest.

She slowly put a hand on his and with a sorrowful voice said "I'm so sorry this happened to you.. it should have been me.." she held his hand, "you've done so much for us, I don't want you to go out trying to save this petty vessel."

Cat suddenly blared "WARNING! Debris headed on a collision course with Aurora-7!"
"CAPTAIN! We have debris headed our way, shall I move us out of the way?" Sarah suddenly replied "yes, do it.. can the engines fire up?"
"Negative, but the retro boosters might do it."
"Do it.."
"Hold onto something.."

As the Xe'mak engaged the demonic cruiser,several medics from the medical team began to carry away the half dying orbiter only to stop halfway to the clinic,as blood continually gushed out of the gaping wound of the reptilian marine leaving an trail of wet red liquid,as the doctor rushed to him he fell to his scaled knees.

"Parrlok! What happened!" The doctor carefully examined the wound keeping his panic hidden under an strained grin,as one of the other orbiters explained how the marine got the wound.The doctor lowered his head to meet his right clawed hand as he sat gazing back at the wounded marine.The doctor knew he wouldn't be able to save him,the wound was deep and enough blood was lost.The dying orbiter would not be able to survive long enough to regenerate his wound,whatever foul magics were imbued into the demonic weapon prevented most of the medicines from working,after a few strained breaths the armour-clad marine died and the doctor uttered an silent prayer for his lost son.

"Kumaktole guide him to rest."

The Captain watched the grim scene,and was conflicted with anger and loss.He had no time for tears as Sarah spoke. "Hold onto something." The captain nodded and ordered for the rest of the Imperial team to do the same.

The vessel jerked suddenly, sending some small things flying back. Then it stopped as suddenly as it had started, "all clear " Gaea reassured, she also told everyone that the force that knocked all the small objects wasn't normal and the interior inertial stabilizers were offline. Sarah then looked to the dead oribiter.

"ATTEN... TION!" Quickly all the crew members in the makeshift medical center that could stand, stood up. "Present.. ARMS!" Everyone suddenly saluted but not moving their hands down, the HEPS, like they were programmed to do so, moved their weapons to their shoulders and then held a horizontal hand to the underneath of their weapons at the middle-beginning of the barrel. "Order.. ARMS!" They all at once lowered their hands and weapons.

Sarah then turned around and with tears in her eyes walked back to the cockpit "As you were.." she said, barely audible. She walked across the steel grate flooring, every step clanking through the ship. "Gaea, what other systems are offline?" Gaea quickly responded
"Lights on research floor, research rooms, engines, exterior lights, and dorsal and ventral inertia dampers."
"Try to work on the engines.. the exterior lights can be minimal priority."
"Yes Ma'am.."

The Imperials aboard the Aurora estimated the damage and each marine and medical team member gave their status to Captain Williams who then opened communications back to the Xe'mak.

"Situation stabilized waiting on you sir" He then walked towards the armour clad captain of the Aurora. "Feeling better Ma'am? Nothing like an good battle to get the blood flowing." The Captain kept his pace to remain next to Sarah,he was worried about her health but respected her valour in combat.He was sure that she had gained the respect of the warrior Varanus orbiters as well which will improve the opinions of her in the Imperium.She could push to gain financial or medical aid if her cause was good enough.

Soon the Commodore ordered that the gunnery masters use low powered batteries to destroy and thin the remaining debris from the Demonic ship.With unparalleled precision the coilguns shot at the debris floating around the Xe'mak and the Aurora,making sure nothing hits both ships.

The Commodore signaled the Aurora. "Attention Aurora.....We will attempt to reattach you to the Xe'mak to allow ship-to-ship transfer through the exterior airlocks.Please do not power your engines during the docking process." The Commodore knew that if an ship smaller then the Xe'mak would move during the process it would cause immense damage to both ship's hulls.

The Commodore signaled Captain Williams. "Captain.....Is the commanding officer of the vessel awake?"

"Yes sir"

"Good I want you back on the Xe'mak for debriefing....And I want the Zodarrin captain to follow you so I we can meet personally."

"Understood sir"

The Captain then stopped in his tracks and called to Sarah. "The Commodore wishes to speak to you aboard our ship,I am also called back for debriefing.The Orbiters and medical teams will remain to tend to your crew until we are sure no demonic forces remain on the ship."

The Captain then began walking back to the airlock falling in with an group of Orbiters and medical units who carried the fallen orbiter to the Xe'mak,the Varanus doctor from before grinned as he watched his only son being carried away by strange claws.It troubled the doctor deeply that he could not have been there in his final moments.....It was just another burden to bear.

The Captain waited at the entrance to the airlock as he waited for Sarah to follow.

Sarah was fiddling with a terminal when she heard that the Commodore aboard the ship that had saved her crew wanted to speak with her. She then walked quickly out of the cockpit. Soon she was at the air lock with her formal dress. It was a very elegant looking uniform, several medals and ribbons were adorned across her chest. The white uniform was in okay condition for being on the Aurora for 400 years. One medal in particular stuck out though.

It had a simple religious figure on it, an Angel. The angel banished a spear that was longer then she was, an archangel. The medal of Valiant Interstellar Combat, this medal told on lookers that this pilot has killed over 20 enemies.

GAEA suddenly spoke up, "Ma'am, we have engines online."
"Good.. work on the FTL drive next if you can.."
"Yessum." Gaea soon went to work on the systems.

Sarah then turned towards the captain, and with a somewhat normal voice, she said "shall we?" She soon started to walk towards the airlock, her cords on her uniform swaying gently with her movement. "Also Gaea." She suddenly said in a calm voice "don't start the engines. We're docked with another vessel. You know what happened to Aurora-19."
"I won't ma'am, don't worry, and God rest their souls." Sarah sighed a bit at the sound of 'God' obviously slightly atheistic, she didn't really care about an invisible man in the sky.

Surprisingly the captain didn't take a guard, or any protection whatsoever, she believed if these saviors had protected the Aurora-7 then she was in no harm. She was incredibly confident, but almost careless. Another crew member soon walked towards her, "Captain! Permission to join you?"
"Granted Solrite Barris."
"Thank you ma'am." Sarah simply nodded and stared across the airlock, her heart pounded but not from panic, but from excitement. She had to contain it though. Then she remembered suddenly, "Solrite, grab the diplomatic documents, with all due haste if you do not mind."
"Yes ma'am." The Solrite quickly ran off towards the captain's quarters, this was not where the documents were though.
"Solrite, the cockpit is over that way.."
"Sorry ma'am.." a small curse was barely heard and Sarah missed it.

The Captain walked in front of Sarah keeping close to her while he led her into the Imperial Cruiser,inside the silvery metallic walls were smooth to the touch while an blue energy line can be seen built into the floor.The hallway leading to the various sections of the ship where large almost twice the size of that on the Aurora,orbiters clad in power armour could be seen patrolling the hallways which was either empty or filled with the movement of grey-jumpsuited reptilians working their rounds across the cruiser.The Captain continued leading Sarah across the ship through an large hallway that contained large glass windows flanking the walls that showed the hanger bay of the ship which was filled with 10 dropships which Sarah was unfamiliar with.

The Captain continued walking straight down the hallway towards an metallic double-door guarded by two Varanus Orbiters who saluted both Captain John Williams and Captain Jane Sarah,before opening the doors to the bridge.

Inside stood the grizzled naval Commodore turned to see both Captains,he then adjusted his red and black coat containing rows of ribbons and medals adorned with strange sigils as he threw his clawed arms open and smiled. "Welcome back Captain Williams I'm glad to see you still breathing." The grey-scaled Commodore turned his one horned head {the left horn broken halfway} to gaze upon the elegantly dressed Sarah.The Commodore grinned and nodded his head impressed with the pride she showed in her uniform.

As the Commodore neared his full uniform was seen unlike the other crewmembers he wore an white jumpsuit with black boots compared to the others who wore brownish boots.The Commodore stood in front of Sarah towering over her slightly as he hunched down to meet her gaze.He continued looking at her face not blinking once before turning to the Captain. "She carries the face of an warrior.....I can respect that." He then bowed his head to Sarah.

"Greetings Zodarrin-Ka..." He raised his head and continued to speak. "I am Commodore Leer'an Karish of the Serpentum Armada,I command this vessel and welcome you aboard."

The Commodore noticed the strange medal and grinned an slight smile under his canines as he admired the medals she wore.Nothing pleased an veteran Varanus more then an fellow warrior of merit.

The rest of the crew on the bridge continued working sometimes sneaking an glance towards the strange new arrival aboard the ship.

Sarah did not flinch to the Commodore, infact, she quickly moved to attention and then said. "Thank you sir." She then saw the Commodore looking at her Valiant Interstellar Combat Medal. "Sir, that medal shows that I have successfully caused more than 20 E.K.I.As, 15 of those being in the vessel you currently have docked to your vessel." She then realized what she had done. "I apologize sir, that wasn't intentionally ment to be boastful." She then waited for a response. She shifted a bit, her other medals jingled as she did so. Another medal showed another angel carrying what seemed to be a wounded solider out of battle. The Angel's Mercy Medal, for directly putting one self in the line of fire to save a wounded comrade.

The Solrite quickly ran back to the airlock dressed in the same uniform, except, he didn't have as many decorations as the Captain. He then entered the ship, and then asked one of the guards for directions to the bridge. He had a white envelope with the Aurora-7 seal on it. Which consisted of a winged star in the middle of the sapphire seal. The seal also had the words 'Aurora-7' and 'Atrata Federation' printed on it.

The Solrite entered the bridge and positioned himself at attention next to Sarah. He had a few medals, but none as grand as the Captain's. One in particular depicted a silver HEPS in a firefight, distinctive ground combat. He, though, like the Commodore, had battle scars, some of which include a scar across his right cheek. He was a HEPS operator, a few more HEPS medals shone on his chest, including a purple heart, the Atrata Federation had kept some of the Ancient Earth Military medals.

Gaea had been working on some computer issues, mostly the initiation programs. When suddenly an alarm blared. Gaea quickly searched for the issue. "Son of a.." The rear thrusters had ice in them and they couldn't purge the extra water in the sparking cavity. Gaea soon sent a message to the Captain "Captain, the engines need to purge the water and ice in them, we need a HEPS to leave the vessel and correct the problem." Sarah had her APDA on mute for the diplomatic discussions and didn't receive the message.

The Commodore smiled an smirk as he said laughingly "Heh....Apology accepted Miss..." The Commodore looked towards Williams.

"Jane Sarah"  Captain Williams replied.

"Ah yes Miss Sarah....Formalities aside...I think its be..." The Commodore was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Solrite who handed an sealed document to Sarah.The Commodore slightly annoyed by the interference slightly shook his head before continuing. "Formalities aside....I think its best to move this meeting to the conference room aboard the ship follow me please."

The Commodore followed by Captain Williams led the Atrara crew members outside the bridge,taking an short walk to the right towards an sealed door which opened to reveal an tidy yet bare room containing nothing but an bolted steel table and some chairs of an similar metal as the table.The Commodore took an seat at the one end of the table whilst the Captain sat next to him.The Commodore motioned for the Atrata officials to take an seat on the opposite end of the table.

Meanwhile back on the Aurora the medical crew continually took care of the more sickly members of the Aurora crew while the engineers prepared to move back to the Xe'mak after doing basic repairs to restore functionality of the ship and it's AI.

The wrecked remains of the demonic cruiser littered the nearby space and began to float away from the two ships.

Sarah stiffened her poise a little, she glanced at the Solrite. She nodded for him to follow. Her dress shoes clicked against the flooring of the Xe'mak, her uniform made her look slightly older then she was. She admired the ship design, it looked more pristine then her own. although in its defense the Aurora-7 was a 410 year-old vessel. Her heart pounded and she felt like it was getting hot. She was nervous now.

Soon, they were at the meeting room, the Solrite walked close behind Sarah, and sarah kept her distance from the Commodore. Her heart still pounding from the tension. Sarah looked back to the Solrite, she quickly saw that he had a small fire arm on him. She gasped suddenly and stared at the Solrite with anger.

"Excuse me for a second Commodore Leer'an Karish." Sarah took the Solrite by the arm. "What in Good God's name were you thinking!" She said in a harsh whisper. "Ma'am.. I only had your safety in mind."
"Good god.. they helped us! Why would you think they wanted to harm us!?"
"I..I don't know.."
"Go back to the ship Solrite Barris, you almost compromised this diplomatic meeting.."
"Yes ma'am.."

Gaea sighed and sent an intercom message, "highest ranking engineer, please report to the cockpit." Gaea quickly searched through the ship data base and tried to find the last known log in the labs. Soon, a message appeared, 'All logs are locked by Captain S.J Trace aka, StoneWolf. Please consult the Captain of the Aurora-7.' Gaea let out a small curse.

The Commodore nodded as Sarah and the new arrival exited the room for an moment.The Commodore turned to Captain Williams. "While we wait.....Brief me on what happened aboard the ship."

Captain Williams took the small canteen hidden in his uniform taking an sip of water before he began to brief his commander on what happened.

"We successfully removed the crew from the stasis pods and began treatment for Post-Cryo Syndrome,the results are good and it would seem that most if not all the crew-members will not suffer any permanent damage.I have yet to gain further information from the medical team.......During our operation an Demonic cruiser prepared to board the ship without warning,I immediately ordered the defense of the ship and placed the orbiter units into firing lines at the mouth of the airlock.............The amount of demons would have overwhelmed us if not for the aid of the crew who deployed strange battle suits that provided the firepower we needed to keep the demons at bay......Then you arrived sir and saw to the demonic cruiser."

The Commodore nodded. "Good good."

The Captain spoke his voice getting softer with each word. "Unfortunately....we...lost one of our orbiters.....An legionnaire Orpion.......Orpion is also the only son of the head of the medical team aboard the ship......He is taking the loss hard."

The Commodore sighed. "We all know the risks of service.....I'll be sure to arrange an funeral of the highest honour for Orpion....He died defending innocents....He would be worthy of the Imperium Star.

The Captain smiled. "I think that would put the good doctor at ease sir.....Thank you."

The Commodore nodded and turned back to the table awaiting the return of the Aurora's Captain.

Sarah heard the Commodore and the Captain speaking of the Orbiter that had fallen. Her heart ached at the sight of the doctor's son dying. Her breath was shaky and she struggled to hold back her emotions. Soon Sarah couldn't help it, and with a confident voice said. "I should have taken that hit, I take full responsibility for the death of the Oribiter on our vessel." She hastily stopped and stared at the Commodore.

The Solrite kicked the floor underneath him, a silly mistake to take a weapon to a diplomatic meeting. He continued to walk huffing and puffing about how he just wanted to keep the Captain safe. He loved the Captain, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he would kill to have her hand. He, a humble Solrite, should have some chance.

Gaea sighed and sent the announcement again "highest ranking engineer, please report tp the cockpit, thank you." Then suddenly an alarm blared, again. Gaea checked it out quickly "well, weapons are offline." Gaea sighed once more, if only an engineer would report to here she could tell them what needed fixed.

Sarah soon took a seat, her medals jingle as she does so. She slowly opens the documents, just to check the contents. She lifts a document out of the envelope, and starts to skim it. Its is a detailed report of the Atrata Federation's military, well formal military. She then pulls out a pen from her uniform and begins writing on the page, all she writes on the page is a star and a note, 'Atrata Federation pre-collapse' she does this with all the documents that have something to do with what capabilities the Atrata Federation did have.

The Commodore smiled and nodded his head. "No need..Whomever is responsible it doesn't matter now.....He fought bravely to the end.He died with honour befitting an soldier of the Imperium.As an officer yourself I do hope you understand the cost that comes with leadership."

Meanwhile back on the Aurora,the head engineer was busy welding new plating to the interior of the ship's he switched off the welding tool just in time to hear the announcement.He placed his tools safely into the corner of the room and made his way to the cockpit.As the Varanus engineer entered he looked towards the holographic figure that was Gaea.

"You need something?" he would ask with his clawed arms crossed.

Sarah sighed and put all the documents back into the envelope. She then got up, straightened her uniform, and walked over to the Commodore. She brushed the last bits of dust off the envelope and handed the documents over to the Commodore, she then said calmly, "here are the past capabilities of the Atrata Federation, along with other past alliances aswell as wars, that list however, is a small one." She then walked back over to her seat, and sat back down.

Gaea looked at the engineer, and said calmly, "we have ice in the engines that cannot be purged, basically, the only thing hampering our return to Asmelia." She continued "it needs to be removed manually, we'll send a HEPS but we need to have clearance, will it in anyway affect anything on this ship negatively?"

The Solrite strode into the Aurora-7 angrily. "Gaea, prepare to detach from the Xe'mak."
"You must be out of your mind Barris, and even if I could, you'd still need clearance from the Captain."
"Gaea, do you trust the Serpentum Imperium?"
"Well.. hey! You need to quit trying to disrupt the Captain's diplomatic attempts! Stop being so Xenophobic!"
"You'll see! They'll back stab us one day!"
"You seriously need to calm down before you put the lives of the Xe'mak and the Aurora-7 in danger!"
"Yes Gaea.."

Sarah waited for the Commodore to read all the documents before speaking, "we are not technically a federation yet, but with your help, we can turn our two dominions into a great empire, united, under one singular purpose." She continued "the technology on Asmelia is somewhat even to your technology, not to be aggressive, but together we can become greater then the Atrata Federation."

The Commodore took the documents and began to read through it.It was neat and well organized it seemed that for the short period that this "Federation" existed it had two wars with powers that no longer exist.The Atrata Federation had undergone great advancements in the fields of science and technology some of which could compete with the Engineering Corps.The Commodore was impressed at the small collection of colonies as he continued to read through various reports included in the documents.

The engineer nodded...The Imperium long discontinued use of waterfueled engine designs long ago specifically because of this reason....The solution was simple...They had to chip away at the ice to start the engines. "I recommend clearing the ice as soon as possible.....The ship will be unable to use it's engines,also use caution when chipping away at the ice...The ship's hull might be slightly brittle under the ice.Do you require my clearance or that of your Captain?"

The Commodore finished reading the documents and pondered over Sarah's request.He thought about it for an few minutes then tapped his claw on the table bringing an holographic console built into the table to life.

"I cannot make such an decision....It's up to the Imperial Court and the Emperor to decide....I do however have the authority to recognize your people as an protectorate under the Imperium until an decision is made.....As an protectorate you will have financial aid and military support from us as well as being totally autonomous."

He tapped on the console and brought an hologram of the Milky Way.He then looked back at the documents before he tapped the coordinates of Asmelia bringing up an holographic slightly orange 3d image of the planet.

"Hmm our recon records say there is evidence of an extinct civilization,beyond that we know nothing.I assume you are aware of this..."

Sarah nodded at the Commodore, "I am aware of the mist around the civilization, its almost been 400 years since we left on that faithful day." Sarah continued "our cities were built to last thousands of centuries, with the abundance of Tungsten and titanium on Asmelia and all in the Eon Triangle, we were able to make a super alloy consisting of Titanium, Tungsten, and hardened carbon." Sarah reached out to her hand with the APDA on it. A quick slide and the small half bracelet of glass suddenly lit up shooting several different Atomic structures. She swiped in thin air for a second until she found the material.

Barris paced back and forth in the Airlock. He was overly nervous, his heart pounded. If anything ANYTHING happend to his sweetheart he would barge into the Xe'mak with a heavy HEPS and kill every single Varanus in his ship and their own. Suddenly the Solrite quickly walked over to the Captain's quarters. He sat down and sighed, a small smile appeared over his face. He relaxed, being close to the Captain. Well as close as he could be.

Gaea thought for a second, and said "No, im preparing a HEPS for remote control, would you do the honors?" Suddenly an assault HEPS suddenly came through the door to the bridge, it gave a salute and waited to be linked.

The Commodore had little interest in Zodarrin metals but continued watching at Sarah's presentation.The Commodore would turn once to look at Captain Williams who has been watching Sarah during the course of the entire meeting.The Captain then asked. "Did you have any family on Asmelia?"

The Commodore turned with an scornful look on his face to the Captain who had no business asking such an question.The Captain then looked down before apologizing. "Sorry....It was not my place to ask such an question."

The engineer turned to the HEPS and nodded. "Of course it is my duty." He approached the bridge console and looked at the controls,the human console had similarities to most of the consoles the Varanus used.....Despite this the engineer had no idea how to control the HEPS,he thought the controls would be similar to using an Asi'mar Drone the Engineering Corps so heavily relies upon.

It took a few minutes but soon the HEPS's controls became familiar to the engineer who proceeded to march the machine to one of the nearby airlocks.The engineer turned his head from the console to the AI hologram. "Open the airlock when you are ready"

One of the orbiters entered the room where Barris was and asked. "Report to the medical bay the doctor wants to do one final checkup on all the Aurora crewmembers....."  Without awaiting response the Orbiter left to find whatever other crewmen and women lurking around the ship.