Sonia Hughes's Story

"I was never one to be hubris." Robert shook his head. "Many have gotten themselves killed because of their pride, or put others in harm's way. I don't intend to cause either of the two."

Robert folded one leg over his knee as he sat, glancing at the watch worn around his wrist. Wonder what's taking here.. Twas more than likely that she was already in a meeting. After all, the broadcast appeared on all working Terran stations. He expected more people to show up, honestly.

Allen followed the others in and then took a seat. "Miss Alfarsi, Mr. Ereb, It's a pleasure to be here." He said briefly before nodding in agreement. "Yes Business, I believe I have something that you might both like to hear regarding the Aschen, but I also wish to offer my resources to help your cause I am dissatisfied on how this government has been operating if something can be done to change the current government then I will be more than happy to support you and finally I have a warning but that will come in due time." He said with a nod as he tried to summarize his intentions to the others.

Will and Yuri remained by the door with the other "Bodyguard and official types." Will noticed Anodyne from the bar and gave her a nod and also nodded to the familiar Alpha Troopers unsure which of them was the "Security" He had seen in action at the bar before.

Mr. Ereb strode through the door with a tall stature. He gave a friendly smile to General Allen and Stryfe. The elderly businessman walked with a certain confidence refined by experience and success. His blue eyes, full of intelligence, liveliness, and benevolence, contradicted his aged and weathered face. Gabriel reached out to shake Stryfe's hand with a firm grip.

"It is good to see you again, Miss Alfarsi." replied Mr. Ereb. "And it is good to meet you, General Allen. As both of you may know, my company has researched, developed, and successfully tested some of the most advanced military, medical, and scientific hardware in this part of the galaxy. And, as a proud citizen of Terra, I have done what I can to assist in the reconstruction efforts by purchasing, rebuilding, and renovating property that was destroyed during the war. I will gladly supply what services Ereb Industries can offer in Terra's time of need."

Agares and Nikolai stood on opposite sides of the door with their legs shoulder-width apart and hands folded behind their backs. They kept a rigid soldierly discipline as they stood guard. Although Nikolai was rarely kept in Wing City, and thus had never seen any of these people before, Agares recognized most of them - including Stryfe, Anodyne, Sonia, and Will. The two Alpha Troopers were near duplicates of each other besides the vibroblade katana strapped to Agares's back.

"No threats detected, Shadow-Sabre." Nikolai said across their secure comm link.

"Acknowledged, Verhasst." replied Agares. "The Parcel is in the Mailbox. Are the Guard-dogs in position?"

"They've taken their posts. Everything seems quiet."

"Stay frosty."

"Fatin is in a meeting right now." Sonia told Robert, "But, I have something in mind for you to earn some points with her." The woman said, "It's good that you aren't one for hubris. Anyways, the Terrans could use someone like you. Someone smart, but at the same time strong." Sonia said, "I could also use someone like you around the lab, but..."

Sonia paused for only a second, "There's a lot of tech we need built and worked, myself and the Terrans, also a lot of heavy lifting that might need to be done, a lot of everything, really." Sonia said, "It's not my place to give you orders, so I'll just ask you what you have the most interest in doing right now and then point you in the right direction." She told Robert.

"Don't want to send you somewhere that'll end with you sticking your head into an oven." The Englishwoman joked.

Back in Stryfe's office the Invictus leader took Gabriel's hand with a nod. She listened to his words, nodding along with what he said to her before casting a glance to General Allen. Anodyne and Natasha standing close to their leader, not that they didn't trust Gabriel or the Joes.

But, who knew what enemies they had lurking around? If they had any and they were near Stryfe that meant Stryfe was in danger. Though it was easy to tell that Natasha was the one who really took it seriously, it was a formality to the ever stoic Anodyne.

"It's one thing to buy buildings and fix them as your property." Stryfe told Gabriel, "But, how would you feel about doing the same thing with government buildings? The police headquarters here in Wing City needs some fixing after the Taiyou attack." Stryfe said to Gabriel.

"We could use some rebuilding efforts in some areas of Main Street affected by the violence, the Government Center on main street could also use some reconstruction after the defector terrorist known as Whisper attacked. Possibly on orders from the Aschen." Stryfe told the man before turning to address General Allen.

"I'm going to make myself very clear. No more ordnance on populated streets." She said to the man, "You don't jump unless I tell you to and when I tell you to you will not ask me 'how high?'." The Invictus leader said seriously, "You will jump and you will jump as high as you can without questioning me if you would like a future on this planet." She said.

"Now, from you I need aid to civilians trapped or injured around the city. Support those who need support. If you find people out there fighting these things you put a bullet or fifty into the bodies of their attackers or you put a gun in their hands. You do what you can to help them with as little bloodshed on our part as possible."

"I'm willing to do anything you would have me to do, I'm just here to help." Robert replied.

"I do have some ideas that'd I'd like to see built, though they'd be designed for beings of my caliber." A big ol' training facility would be nice, something to keep him in the best physical condition, to help him find the upper limits of his abilities. Though, this could wait of course.

"I could help building any technology you plan to make, and do the heavy lifting and such.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Gabriel nodded optimistically. "My company has large reserves of revenue to work with. However, as you know, I am a businessman - an investor. While I consider my services to be an investment of good faith to Wing City, those below me expect a more... material reward. So I'm afraid I will have to ask for a modicrum of compensation for the rebuilding and renovations."

"Also..." the multi-billionaire continued. "I am sure you've encountered or heard of my Alpha Troopers. Sometime in the near future I plan to expand the program, and I would like to offer their services as peace officers - or to assist in special military operations. They were designed for just that."

Allen took Stryfes words carefully and the offer of Mr. Ereb to Stryfe, he knew the joes had made a massive mistake and something had to be done. "Yes and I take full responsibility for the accident. From now on troop movements will be grounded without full authorization from you or the TNG." Allen said.

"But You have only seen one side of the joes I wish to show the other side and if the people of Terra or yourself or Mr. Ereb are not pleased then we will leave if that is this planets wish." He said, "So here is what I can do, our base has undergone a renovation for those with homes destroyed we will open our doors and help those who need a place to live we have a large housing section above ground that is nearing completion but we have hit a slight snag in our operations, we have enough income but we need a supplier, we have decided to discontinue the services of Sullen Enterprises after we learned of a few startling developments in regards to his corporation." Allen said taking a pause,

"Luke Sullen Cannot be trusted I see him weaseling his way around Terra placing fleets near here he claims it's to protect his "suppliers" But as business leaders I'm sure you both know that's just a ploy. The man has committed genocide, he sells weapons to the highest bidder he has met with enemies of Terra." He said with a sigh.

"I have one final offer and then I will be done something political, it doesn't have to be done now call it an ace in the hole. During the occupation Our base was destroyed by the Aschen Nuked 400 personnel died along with over 100 civilian workers our base was destroyed and we hadn't even provoked and attack military action had not been taken against them. So if need be I will publicly speak about the event."

"I'll pass your words on to the NPA and the TIB." Stryfe told General Allen, "Or, you can do it yourself. Bring them proof of what you say about the Aschen and Mr. Sullen. For now, we only have your word, no real reason to start an investigation." She continued, "Give us a reason to take down a few bad men, General Allen."

Stryfe then turned her attention to Gabriel, nodding in clear understanding of his words. "Usually I would like results before handling such things, but... I'll get in contact with those who still remain with the government, maybe get you in contact with them as well." The Invictus leader told Gabriel.

"I don't think they'll be against having more help rebuilding. Though, I have a lot of money to spare. You could say I was bribed, clear political move to earn some points with me." She told Gabriel, "Anyways, how do your people feel about diamonds?" She asked Gabriel.

Down the lobby Sonia stood up from her seat, "I'll have Fatin get in touch with you. Who knows how long this will take or who else she'll be needing to speak to?" Sonia said to Robert, "Leave your number or other way to contact you, Mr. Reynolds. I'll be sure to poke Fatin in the back of the head until she contacts you."

The Englishwoman was serious about that, she tended to be on Stryfe like white on rice when she needed to be.

Robert gave a quick nod and moved over to the help desk to fetch something to write on. A few seconds later he returned to Sonia's side, and handed her a small card with his information written on it. "I can't help but say I was eager to begin working immediately, but I understand that she's busy."

Robert looked around the inside of the lobby. They were the only ones here. "How long until you check out?" he asked, not yet ready to leave.

Directly outside the Palace a single black, rather imposing SUV, resembling a Chevy Tahoe moved up towards the gates of the Palace.

When they reached the gate, the vehicle came to a stop, the sounds of brakes on rotors heard as the black vehicle moved to a stop, waiting for any gate guards.

The black tinted window rolled down and the single, sunglasses clad, suit clad agent peered out the window, looking around.

"I'm here to see Fatin Alfarsi." The Driver said.

"No." Stryfe said to Gabriel, "The Palace and The Courtyard are Invictus land, if anyone is going to send a message it will be me and my own people." The Invictus leader told Gabriel, "You may go now." She told the man and his escorts before gesturing Natasha over.

"Check in with the gate and tell them to let the agent in." Stryfe ordered, "Da, ser." Natasha answered, raising a hand to her left ear as she moved to open the office door for Gabriel. "Anyone down at the front gate? Stryfe wants the Aschen to be allowed in and brought to her office. If anyone can find Dr. Hughes, inform her to make her way up to Stryfe's office as well."

The words rang through Preston's head, the order to let the Aschen agent into the plaza and then into The Palace didn't sit well with the French-Canadian soldier. But, orders were orders. "Understood." Preston responded, "Open the gate." He ordered, the gate keeping the LDA Agent out sliding open.

In the lobby Sonia also heard Natasha's words, frowning slightly. She didn't enjoy speaking with the Aschen, but it had to be done if she wanted to get things back on peaceful path. If she wanted to stop building weapons and armor for war.

"I tend to check out when I'm done working." She told Robert, "Unfortunately, I'm not yet done working. Drop in another time soon, we'll pick this up." The Englishwoman told Robert, "I'm always here. Just come to the front desk and ask for me."

The Lone LDA Agent gave the gate guard a look, and then he nodded when the guard opted to allow him to pass.

The Agent nodded and tipped his dark sunglasses before he moved to drive into the property of the Palace itself, up towards the front doors.


Once he arrived at the front of the Palace, he opened the drivers side door to the SUV, and slowly emerged. One foot followed by the other, and the Agent had fully emerged from the SUV. After adjusting his tie, he began to move towards the front doors.

The large unmarked ships facing off with their Terrans and their allies began to open fire. The Invictus, the Terrans and the NPA moved to avoid the attacks, firing their own weapons at the ships in hopes that they would destroy their attackers.

Alas, many ships were destroyed by the sudden barrage from the superior ships. These new alien vessels. Several larger Invictus ships moved up, the ships being used to protect their allies while they scrambled to figure out what exactly was going. how they could fight back.

"Can we get the militia up here?" Lieutenant Murs asked, "What about the superhero lady from the Invictus?" He asked his crew, "We'll get in touch with the Invictus on the ground and see what can be done." A crew member told Murs, "We need as many of our troops we can muster up for this fight." Murs added.

Ships continued to be destroyed in the fighting, whoever these people were they came with enough firepower to start the big bang all over again if they really wanted to.

More and more ships began to join the fray against the unknown beings attacking Terra, from the ground one would likely see the bright flashes as ships, missiles and torpedoes exploded.

The attacking ships began to move towards Terra yet again, still firing at the planet's defenders while being fired on themselves. It was clear that it was going to take a lot to bring these ships down.

Several of the larger Invictus ships fired concentrated beams of energy which glowed a bright blue at Terra's attackers. The beams meant to bypass any shields they had and do a lot of damage to the alien vessels. Anyone on the ground could see the beams cutting through the empty space above the planet.

The attacking ships continued on their path, either unaffected by the attacks or completely ignoring them. It could have been that was a kamikaze style attack. A suicide mission meant to kill as many people as possible if it could be done.

The attacking ships fired off what appeared to be large orbs at the planet. They were big enough to hold at least ten people in each. There seemed to be hundreds being fired, more than a thousand.

"Shoot those down!" Murs ordered, several ships turning their weapons on the orbs falling from the sky. But, it was clear that they couldn't destroy all of them. For every one blown up, there were five entering the atmosphere at high speeds and they'd hit the planet soon.

Murs expected the worst, explosions, devastation. But, it never came. The attacking ships continued on towards Terra, seemingly intent to crash land on the planet.

On the surface of Terra, Stryfe stood on the roof of The Palace with Anodyne, Natasha and Sonia. "Aschen?" Stryfe asked, looking around for an answer. "I doubt it. Our people are saying there aren't any markings. Why would the Aschen suddenly want to be secretive?" Natasha asked, shrugging a shoulder.

"Mobilize everyone. NPA, TIB, even the Taiyou. I have doubts that these new... invaders? Terrorists? Are friendly." Stryfe said, "Is it all the murder they just did that gave it away?" Sonia asked, one of the large orbs slamming down on the roof near the group.

"Fuck!"

"This place looks like shit." Nina said as the Seraphim Carrier containing her, Sonia, a small group of scientists and a team of Invictus soldiers flew over the falls. "Please, don't be so negative or surprised." Sonia responded, "I mean, you still live in Wing City despite all that goes on there." She continued.

"Yeah, but I'm a trained soldier living an army of trained soldiers, demi-gods, witches, fuckin' wizards, vampires, and all that shit. I'm not worried." Nina told Sonia, "You shouldn't be worried now. There might not be anything dangerous that'll eat us." Sonia assured Nina, "Maybe. I'm actually not sure."

"That's comforting..." Nina muttered, the aircraft descending to a clearing near a ruined bridge. The clearing itself didn't seem natural, rees were scorched and toppled over. Grass burned black.

"I can't get too low, but I can get low enough that you all can get out." The pilot said, hovering over the ground. "Let's go!" Sonia said, getting up quickly to jump out of the vehicle. "Come on." She said, heading towards what remained of the bridge/death trap.

"Terrible idea." Nina said, she and other the soldiers helping the scientists and their equipment out of the carrier before getting out to join them. The helicopter ascending moments later he group to their own poor choices.

"Let's get started." Sonia said, "Much to be done."

Dozens of eyes observed the arrival of the carrier overhead, and of the descent from it by the team of Invictus soldiers and scientists. The thought that the ones from before might return to this place had been enough to warrant leaving a small war party to watch over it - and to scavenge what they could from the combat zone should anything have been left behind by the involved combatants.

It was these that now watched Nina and Sonia from the surrounding jungle.

"They are foolish to have returned to this place," Kuruka growled under his breath from his perch atop a tree branch.

He knocked an arrow into his bow as he lined up a shot on Sonia - the one he assumed to be in charge from the manner in which she gave instructions.

"No, Kuruka," Apiya told him as she grabbed his arm to stay him from releasing the arrow. "These are not the ones that came before them," she told him.

"They come from the skies like the others, and carry the same weapons," he retorted. He lowered the bow but didn't yet unknock the arrow.

"Patience, brother," Apiya told him. "We will watch, and we will see what they choose to do."

And so the game began. The Mira did not acquire the nickname of ghosts of the forest without cause, and both Kuruka and Apiya lowered themselves from the tree they were in without so much as a sign of their passing.

The scientists began to set up their equipment near the falls, a few soldiers, including Nina, tethering rappel cables for going down to the bottom of the falls if there was need to do so.

"There was fighting here. Recent fighting. This is a bad idea. "Nina told Sonia again, "We've been over this. I'm not going to let someone else's war get in the way of doing some good science. Something I can be proud of. I'm not going to keep making weapons for Stryfe, for anyone, for long. That's the reason I left the Empire." Sonia explained.

"I got into science to heal, not kill people with weapons of mass destruction." The Englishwoman continued, heading over to a bag placed down near her. The woman reached inside the bag, producing a metal briefcase. "Okay, babies, do your thing." Sonia said, opening the case.

"Those things creep me out." Nina said, glancing around the jungle. It was clear she wasn't a fan of places like this. Too much room for something, or someone, to hide behind.

Out of the case Sonia held went about six orbs, each floating around the area to scan for any life or anything unsual. "Creepy or not, they do their job. It's much better than walking around herr and trying to search on my own, right?" Sonia asked.

The jungle was of course teaming with life. With the carrier moved on, much of the wildlife that had taken cover were beginning to reemerge. Strange primates, insects. reptiles, and birds were prevalent.

One orb passed near to what appeared to be a large reptilian - or draconic - species of some nature that was plastered against the side of a tree for camouflage. A single yellow eye split open to observe the orb hovering near it.

The large predator could well pose a threat to a human - but the large number of individuals seemed to discourage it. Clawed hands released its hold from the bark of the tree as it fell free and glided off into the jungle.

Meanwhile no sign of the Mira's earlier presence seemed to remain.

Nina tossed pebbles over the falls, looking around at birds every now and then. She always disliked jungles. Every movie, TV show, comic book, and book she'd seen about jungles was always about the worst thing. Bugs that crawl in your ears and eat your brain, parasites, leeches, the Viet Cong, lost tribes of cannibals.

"Are you guys done?" Nina asked, "Calm down, my Eurasian friend. We're going to be here for at least a few days. We're compiling data to figure out what we should take back. What we know, what we don't know, and what we want to know more about." Sonia answered, "Why couldn't you bring Taco along? I'm like... ninety percent sure his grandparents were talking sentient apes." Nina said.

"He'd love the jungle." The Serbian soldier added, stepping away from the falls to search the area. She planned to use her time to figure out who had been fighting. She was curious about what went on.

The last thing Nina wanted was to be sucked into some jungle warfare because the falls were home to an ancient magical artifact or because there was a geyser that shot out diamonds nearby.

"Patrick, come here." Nina said, peering through the trees. "What is that?" She asked, Patrick, usually known by Telford, coming to stand near her side. "An Aschen drop pod." Telford said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, don't say it like it's cool." Nina told the man, "It could be old." Telford informed Nina, "Yeah, but the signs of fighting are new. Recent." Nina said, "Sonia, we should go. There's an Aschen pod here and you know how they are. What if they come back to salavage important equipment? I don't want to deal with that mess." Nina said loudly.

Sonia waved a dismissive hand at Nina, while she didn't have much faith in Aschen empathy, she assumed they weren't smart enough to come back for their things.

With Kamil's departure, and the meeting with the Dark Rain woman soon to begin, Avantia sat quietly at a table in a large hall that was empty save for a translator. Kamil had yet to return, or to send word as to the situation regarding the downed ship out in the countryside, and not minutes earlier word of a second vessel crashing nearby had reached her. It would seem that the day was slated to be quite an eventful one even before the Invictus had attempted to make contact with her.

Given the current situation in Volaria, Avantia might well have declined to speak with them, but the matter they wished to discuss had been that of Shanthi. The Taiyou had assured her that their own investigations were proving fruitful and she had her own people working with the TNG on their end of the investigations, but she was interested enough in hearing what the Invictus had to say on the matter to agree to speak with one of them.

She reached out and pressed a button on a small device sitting on the table which opened a communications channel with the Invictus woman on the other line.

"We're through." An Invictus comm officer told Sonia, "Thank you, Rane." Sonia said to the officer, clearing her throat for the conversation. She didn't want to sound like she had been chain-smoking her first time speaking to Avantia.

"Hello, my name is Sonia Hughes. I'm a scientists with the Invictus and I run their investigative branch for the time being." Sonia said into the line, "I had some questions concerning one... Shanthi Hakkar." Sonia told Avantia.

"Most of the questions are pretty routine, but they'll help me and my people piece together what we already know or anything we might not be paying attention to." The Englishwoman said.