Talin. A temperate planet just to the galactic west of Clan Kyodain in the direction of another nation known as the Immortals and one of Kyodain's closest agricultural trade partners. The planet itself was made up of three larger continents and 80% water. Though more than 40% of that water was fresh flowing through rivers and lakes all across the three main continents, allowing for the planet's largely flat terrain to become perfect for mass agriculture. The land that wasn't taken up by flat, watery plains were taken by low mountains and forests of low and thick trees or expansive icy tundras at each pole. Terrestrial Talin didn't have a large amount of easily accessible resources beyond simple materials such as tin, aluminum, iron, and coal. All of which could easily be strip mined by drilling into one of the many mountain ranges and excavating materials from surprisingly stable caverns. Wildlife mostly consists of rabbit-like herds of creatures not dissimilar to Bison on earth and lionlike creatures that hunt them on the plains while the forests are full of harmless insects, smaller rodents, and birds which often fill the roles of hawks or owls. The surrounding system is hardly any more impressive. Talin is one of three inner terrestrial planets and the only one within the 'goldilocks' zone, though it is not close enough to it's somewhat older red dwarf star to begin developing deserts. The only other two planets are either a frozen world beyond what should normally exist, and a tiny molten world chock full of rare resources. The only problem being the colonists who had chosen the planet lacked the ships and technology to exploit it as off-planet stations were mostly limited to mining bases in the system's single massive asteroid belt and a smaller trade port/planetary elevator. The inhabitants are human, elf, and dwarf farmers who wished to live a simpler life away from the high-tech drama and war of the former UNSC. Since Clan Kyodain's first colonization in what was known as the Outer Worlds sector. The lead council in Talin's central spaceport/capitol had immediately sought an alliance with Kyodain, with which they struck a trade deal: grains and food in exchange for more advanced technology. A simple symbiotic relationship between the two nearby planets which ensured close frienships. And now, Talin had decided they needed to further cement that friendship. News of the Immortals had begun spreading with the construction of a planet-sized fortress constructed entirely of metal and increasing numbers of warships and soldiers, so they called on their Kyodain allies for an emergency meeting aboard Talin's orbital station.

Talin had been a close trade ally with Kyodain since the Clan had originally colonized Lux Donum and was the first civilization Kyodain had come into contact with. They had immediately struck a trade deal and were able to exchange large amounts of supplies for the growth of each civilization. Talin had now become able to construct their own mining stations in the asteroid belt and Kyodain had become capable of setting up their own farming communities back on Lux Donum by cleraring out specified sections of forest for maximum sunlight exposure. Tech-King Roi continued revolving the facts and memories around in his head as he discussed the nature of this meeting aboard a single Samurai-Class cruiser flanked by two battleships in mid-warp. The message Talin had sent was urgent and something related to the Immortals. What Roi or any of his Tech-Barons didn't know was the exact nature of their panic. Or why it was a panic at all.

Granted, Clan Kyodain barely knew the first thing of a new up-and-coming faction known as the Immortals. They had been sending most of their exploration cruisers more towards the core of the galaxy in the direction of what they believed to be called the Galactic Systems Union, an empire of planets with a mixture of what was known as 'supernatural' worlds and technological ones. The three cruisers popped out of warp with a great flash of light as the Samurai Class Cruiser, whose size rivaled that of the current orbital station, approached the trade station.

Planet Talin's head council were shocked by the immense amount of development Clan Kyodain had gone through in the few months that the Kingdom had been active in the outer worlds sector. They had already developed a massive capital ship with what they believed to contain more than enough strength to ward off a large enemy fleet entirely on It's own. Before, the pair of battleships escorting the Samurai-Class cruiser had been the flagship of any single fleet, now they were merely an addition under Kyodain's impressive technological advancements. Truly, they were a Kingdom of scientists and those who were simply good individuals.

Phil, the de-facto leader of the council nodded at the docking attendant to send out the green light and allow Kyodain on board. He stood wearing simple farming clothes with the six other council members clustered behind him, each wearing simple clothing which denounced their profession. After all, Talin had no use for those who wished to dress in their sunday best for important meetings, nor did the people really value special clothing except for business people and youth in one of the many smaller cities. The Council waited patiently as the docking tubes launched and connected with the Kyodain cruiser, allowing the diplomats to cross between ship and station. A creaky hiss screeched through the airlock as the docking tubes connected and atmosphere vented in through the rugged air filtration system and Clan Kyodain began to cross.

Tech-King Roi followed a Tech-Master and a Tech-Baron as they walked down the freshly sealed docking tube. They had chosen to keep their breathing masks off as a sign of peace and friendship between Talin and Kyodain, showing that Roi trusted their humanoid allies to not pop the airlock and that they trusted the air each side breathed. The three formally bowed in greeting just as they exited the airlock. The surprise on the Council's faces was barely covered as they realized that the leader of Kyodain itself, Tech-King Roi, had chosen to respond to their call for help.

"Tech-King Roi," Anthen, an elf, said in shock, "We had not been expecting the leader of Clan Kyodain to come to us."

Roi smiled broadly and replied simply, "We would never send any other than the most suited to helping our close friends in their time of need."

"Thank you."

Phil and the council led the three Kyodain down a curved hallway along the upper disc of the station and into reasonably sized meeting room, completed with a large, curved window in the ceiling which looked down across Talin as a whole. The room itself consisted of a central holographic table, technology courtesy of Kyodain, and several tiers of seats for public forums aboard the station for class field trips and public council meetings. The normally comfortable metallic room felt looming and ominous with the lack of people combined with the nervous energy of Talin's head council.

The age lines on Phil's face became even more pronounced as he grimly tapped a few button on the holographic console. After he had, grainy blue holographic images of a seemingly metallic planet and a large, warlike appearing cruiser. Both were rugged and tough in design, not dissimilar to those designed by the dwarves on planet Talin. The very same tough, durable, and rugged construction that had thought up the various stations now constructed throughout the system.

"These are constructions by a nearby nation known as The Immortals," Phil explained, "We've only seen them through our telescopes on the far edges of the system, but their nature makes us... nervous." He motioned towards the obvious turrets on the starships. "We're afraid that with the Immortals' new warlike technology, they may be prompted to invade surrounding planets by 'liberating' us from raiders, much like what they've done with other nearby systems." One of the other council members, a dwarf this time, let out a nervous sigh.

"I remember the designs to be a similar species of dwarf who live nearby," The dwarf explained, "If they're working this closely with the immortals, I'm afraid their warlike nature will only get ahead of themselves and begin attacking us before we know it. Especially since our design techniques are similar enough to exploit one or the other."

Tech-King Roi and his fellow Tech-Master and Tech-Baron paid close attention to what their Talin allies had to say. They had sent very few, explorers out through the planets to the outer edges of the galaxy. Largely because they had explored or scanned much of the area before they had discovered and colonized Lux Donum. Now, it appeared that a new nation with a similar amount of power had decided to spring up and begin taking territory for themselves and planet Talin had made it clear that they were more than afraid that The Immortals would swoop in and destroy what simple tech they had in the process of 'liberating' them from raiders.

"Of course Clan Kyodain would immediately come to your aid should such an attack ever occur," Tech-King Roi replied, "Though we somehow get the feeling that simply assured defense against a potential Immortal invasion is not what you desire." Roi's second statement was nothing more than a guess, but he considered it an educated one. After all, there's no way such a close ally would desperately call for help unless they needed some kind of help right away. "Of course, we will not invade the Immortals. It would be a violation of our honor."

Naturally, Clan Kyodain was expecting that the head council of Talin had a very good reason for so desperately calling their closest allies with such urgency. To do so without one would be horribly impolite and a breach of honor on both sides. So that meant Talin had to show that they had such a good reason, and that was it. The planet had voted, and they had decided that joining Clan Kyodian as a world under their jurisdiction would be far more beneficial to the planet rather than simply having a trade alliance. By becoming part of Kyodain, Talin would gain access to much more advanced tech and perpetual defenses, perfect for warding off the prying eyes of the Immortals, whatever their intentions were.

"Of course we don't want you to invade the Immortals," Phil replied calmly, "The planet has voted on this matter as a whole. Every single person counted, and the vote has fallen with over eighty percent approval of Talin joining Clan Kyodain as a world. We as the council would like to maintain local jurisdiction over planet Talin, but full executive control will be turned over to Kyodain as our guardians and representative for foreign affairs."

Tech-King Roi glanced towards the Tech Lord and Baron at his side for their thoughts. Their eyes flashed in an alien version of morse code as they communicated their thoughts on Council Talin's request. Kyodain would get full control of foreign affairs and ownership of the planet's resources so long as the council kept local power and Kyodain provided defense. In another person's eyes, the deal would be seen a loss, but Kyodain simply saw it as a way to deepen relations between the two worlds. Not to mention, it would give Kyodain the perfect opportunity to develop new stations and test them out in a brand new environment.

"Of course we will take you up on the offer," Roi said gleefully with a broad, friendly smile. "Your council will be seen as to our tech-lords as the jurors of this planet. Your people will be allowed to join with Kyodain as members of equal status." It sounded like a fair idea. No one should lose any rights. In fact, the only difference should be increased Kyodain presence and technology within the system. This friendship would allow for greater infastructure to be put up within the weak system and for farming communities to spring up over on Lux Donum, not to mention plenty of Kyodain intermingling with other races of the galaxy.

Thankfully, Kyodain responded with bright kindness after carefully deliberating over the idea. In retrospect, it seemed that Talin would be the sole benefactor of the exchange considering that Kyodain was their only trade ally in an otherwise violent and hateful universe around their peaceful farming planet. However, Kyodain seemed to desire the planet as equals rather than simply subjects under their kingdom's rule. Phil and the council breathed an unseen sigh of relief as Kyodain swore they didn't desire to put the inhabitants of Talin metaphorically beneath their feet.

"Thank you, Kyodain Friends," Phil responded. He paused though, deliberating on what to say next. "I believe it's within your right to know about the twenty percent who voted against the assimilation. Needless to say, there's a group of them who wish to violently defend the independence of Talin, and I'm afraid that they may try to kill you in order to destroy relations between our peoples."

Just as Phil completed his statement, alarms immediately went off and the amplified bangs of ballistics going off echoed down the station's curved hallways. Someone was attacking the base. The members of the council either fell frightened or joined Phil in either pulling out a cleverly concealed weapon or assembling a kind of rifle hidden under the holographic table.

Only Phil and the handful of other weapon-wielding head Council members had been paranoid and attentive enough to notice the dissidents and their hatred for any alien races, most likely runoff from the Covenant wars and whatever reasons their parents, themselves, or their families had for leaving the former UNSC altogether. They were likely swooping in to prevent any kind of alien domination much like their friends had fought off the covenant. The very fact of it disappointed Phil. In one sense, it was honorable that they wished to defend their planet against 'alien invaders', yet it was disappointing that they hadn't bothered to escalate their argument directly to the Council before doing so. Their words would have been heard just as closely as anyone else's. 

Phi opened a hidden closet and tossed several Kevlar vests around, one for each of the council members, and pressed his back behind the door. The sounds of ballistics were growing closer, and Phil, nor the other council members, could afford to let themselves be overrun by those who didn't bother to talk things out. The creaky fifty-year old man slapped a button on the sliding door, leaned around the frame, and unleashed a hail of bullets down the hall with his personal hand cannon. down at a team of ten or so dissidents.

One of the other council members tapped several commands on the blue holographic console. Large blue construct of the station popped up and hovered in the middle of the table. Several clusters of blinking red lights moved about the station, one such group being down a nearly invisible diagram of the hallway right outside the meeting room. Tech-King Roi and his fellow Kyodain took a moment to fully observe the diagram before stepping in the line of fire. Three insurgents kneeled at the end of the hallway in firing positions.

"We do not wish war or control over your planet," Roi began saying, only to be cut off by a hail of low caliber bullets. The poorly aimed rounds ricocheted off of the Tech-King's chest and shoulder plating. The lord wasted no time in darting to the side, reapplying his breather mask, and charging forward. A hail of bullets buzzed down the hall towards Roi, several collided with his armor as the lord activated his emergency kinetic shield. Clear blue light flared to life in a hexagonal grid ahead of him. Bullets sparked as they slammed into the glowing grid and fell harmlessly to the ground until Roi reached the group of attackers. Shock was clear on their faces after Roi had reached them more or less unharmed. The Tech-King took advantage of this surprise and dropped his Kinetic Shield and snagged the three shooter's guns. Ripping the now empty rifles out of their hands and knocking them over the attackers' heads with a satisfying clack. Roi didn't wait for the three to fall to the ground before moving on to the remaining four, shoulder charging the nearest into a corridor wall while swiftly kicking another into the opposite. There was a faint clack of weapons being readied, to which Roi wasted no time in lifting the attacker he'd shoulder-charged over his head, easily tossing the human into the two men attempting to aim their weapons. He took a moment to ensure each weapon was sufficiently smashed before marching back to the meeting room.

Phil and the council were understandably shocked at how easily Roi had disabled the attackers. Each had been prepared to fight to the death with a body count on both sides, yet the benevolent warrior-king had clearly decided that killing would only make things worse despite his brutally efficient fighting style. Truly the mark of warrior who has fought in countless battles both against equals and armies. Phil and a pair of others turned on their safeties and lowered their weapons.

"Thank you for saving us," Phil said as Roi returned to the original meeting room. The Tech-King simply sighed in response before the Tech-Baron behind him spoke.

"We must safely return to the Cruiser and retrieve shock-batons and stun rounds." He stated before exiting the room. Roi and the Master followed suit, gliding surprisingly lightly down the curved metallic hallway back towards the main airlock. Just fast enough to be a difficult to hit despite their seven foot tall stature yet slow enough so that the mostly older Talin Council could keep up with weapons in hand. Distant alarms echoed down various hallways as the small number of insurgents charged through the station. Security teams reported being overrun if they didn't join in with the Insurgents' violent cause and aim to control the station and 'drive out the alien invaders'.

Fortunately, the attackers hadn't quite yet reached the airlock, which also meant that the cruiser was still connected to the station. And with the cruiser still connected to the station, that meant guardian suppression squads could easily quell the attackers now taking over the station's vital systems such as the reactor and atmosphere. Security teams reported still holding out in areas such as the armory, master gunnery, and command center, but they wouldn't be able to hold out too much longer.

Then a flash of red fire erupted along the connector bridge. Paired with a distant thud and blinding light, the connector was torn apart. Bits of metal and venting atmosphere scattered away from the nearly complete breach. The Samurai-Class cruiser, in turn, wasted no time in retracting the airlock bridge and launching three dropships darting towards the landing bays.

"Council, you will be protected on our cruiser," Tech-King Roi said as he darted down the corridors towards a small string of landing bays on the deck below. With any luck, the attackers wouldn't have enough thought or numbers to lock down Kyodain's second source of reinforcements, albeit a somewhat more limited one.

Tech-King Roi's hopes were confirmed as he entered a smaller gunmetal grey landing bay, probably one football field wide and two long, and was greeted with three fresh dropships bearing Kyodain's signature blue and gold color scheme. Roughly forty armed Kyodain Riggers stood in a mass close to the center among the various discarded and emptied metal cargo crates and forklift loaders.

"We will not kill our fellow Kyodain," Tech-King Roi addressed the newly arrived soldiers. The riggers appeared understandably surprised, but their gazes quickly fell upon the tired senior council and understanding washed over their faces. Talin had called because it wanted to join Clan Kyodain and deepen their bond, which also made the people of Talin also citizens of Clan Kyodain. Perhaps not quite Riggers yet, but it was not the Kyodain way to kill each other outside of honorable combat. And even then, such combat was incredibly rare except as a final solution. The riggers immediately pulled weapons racks from the sides of their dropships, each gearing up with a shock baton in and set their weapons to a stun setting which would launch arc-rounds with lower velocity and voltage. "Split into smaller teams, take each of the important systems," Roi requested of the small army, "Five of you, protect the elderly council while we quell any of our new citizens' somewhat more violent tendencies." With that, Roi took off at the head of a five man team of Riggers headed straight for the command bridge.

Everyone quickly organized themselves into evenly sized teams before preparing the plan. Of the forty, thirty-five were organized into seven teams of five warriors each, each assigned to a different major system: Master gunnery, command center, environmental controls, reactor bay, engineering, elevator controls, and gravity controls. Some mattered more than others, but reports from the nearly depleted security forces suggested those to be their main targets.

Now with a general plan set in place, the strike teams each set off in their respective objectives. The Tech-Baron and master each lead their own teams headed towards the engineering bay and environmental controls in that order while Tech-King Roi led his team through curved hallways and elevator shafts to the command center, located on top of the disc-shaped station. 

Even with the incredible speed of the Kyodain strike team, Roi barely arrived in time. The cracks of ballistics had just ceased and their echoes dispersed in the face of a tightly locked bulkhead leading to the command center. The panel itself was surrounded with dead security guards and roughly twenty attackers. Mostly human, though with a small handful of dwarves and Elves in the mix, and all dressed in black clothing.

"You are now citizens of Clan Kyodain," Roi said as he rounded the corner. "Equal members of our society with your leaders at the same rank as our own."

Roi's words appeared to slide over the attackers as they raised a mixture of bolt-action rifles and pistols and unleashed a hail of low caliber fire down the short hallway. Roi immediately raised his kinetic barrier and darted forward. The Kyodain behind him followed suit. Each activating a shock-baton and activated their kinetic shields. The shock sudden shock and speed of the assault quickly overwhelmed the attackers and each fell to the ground with either blunt knockout or tasered with just enough voltage to put them to sleep.

"Hopefully, these people will understand truly what we aim to help them with." Tech-King Roi said as the doors opened to a grateful team of security officers and station operators.

[End]