The Stjornhestr was moving slowly. The Conflagration was now 622 miles away, but moving swiftly through space on an incoming path towards the smaller Norse space ship as the Aschen struggled to get their systems in order. The jarl, Goffre Alvisson was not overly concerned, as he had seen the Hastiti Class cruiser through his telescope from several kilometers away and was given ample time to prepare.
The captain and co-pilot, Forstein and Rolegh, carried out their orders from Jarl Alvisson as they got the Stjornhestr up and running, and sank into the skies out of the Conflagration's path in case it was not able to stop its course. "All systems are a go. We are running smoothly, turning now five degrees south," Hanson Forstein said calmly. "Five degrees south," Rolegh the Young repeated, carrying out the captain's commands.
The Stjornhestr's crew was now ready to embark on the next part of their mission. While the 500-man passenger ship did not have offensive weapons, it did have quite an elaborate defense system. The crew was in position, but was not really expecting any hostility from the incoming cruiser as they activated the shields and stood by to await further orders. Soon, the Stjornhestr was in motion again, moving slowly towards the exosphere of Bastion IV like a hot-air balloon in outer space. Five degrees didn't seem like much at first, but given the distance between the Stjornhestr and the Conflagration, it would be enough distance and in enough time to evade an incoming collision between both vessels in case the Aschen were unable to stop or turn.
Just then, there was another voice over the telehorn. It was a call from Svegdir Staghelm, informing Hanson Forstein that the convertiboats were ready to launch. Forstein gave the issue, and soon two small almond-shaped silver pods were released from the Stjornhestr's hull, sinking below the much larger longship, each having five explorers onboard. These smaller vessels did not appear to have thrusters of any kind, nor windows, yet they operated all the same, as the passengers aboard each convertiboat peered out through their mirror-glass windshields towards their destinations. One of the pods immediately sank into Bastion IV's exosphere, and using the force of gravity, it soon began to glow reddish white and hasten speed towards the planet's surface like a meteor, its exterior becoming super red hot as a tail of green light and white smoke traveled behind it. The other small convertiboat hovered above the planet for a moment before closing in slowly towards the distressed Aschen cruiser in order to investigate the situation and make contact with the survivors onboard, if there were any.
Svegdir Staghelm was now in charge of the Bastion IV expedition as he piloted the small craft downward at a diagonal forty-five degree angle towards a small river heading for Dracos Valley on the continent of Xamoyos, accompanied by four other Empyrean Norsemen as the tiny karvi-sized convertiboat fell from the skies and dove nose first into the water. The other convertiboat was piloted by a karl named Wolfgang Yorisson, who was also accompanied by three other able-bodied Norsemen and a Norse woman named Kelsey, who happened to have medical experience incase the Aschen were need of medical assistance. Both convertiboats were labelled Karvi-1 and Karvi-2, while the Stjornhestr still had eleven other escape pods onboard in case of emergency.