Outer Plaza

Sabnach has arrived, coming from Space Depot Z.

Halena and Xylose made their way through the outer plaza, going across the different shops and locations. The princess perused dresses, jewelry, books, and cookware just as equally as she did military grade combat armor, weapons, and computational software. She had a particular interest in the engineering department, investigating a number of mechanical and electronic devices and tools.

Tolend, for his part, did as he usually does. He stayed by her side and said nothing, looking over the items only to ensure they were of no danger to his charge, and once he had verified they were not, their entire existence became as air to him. He cared not about the weapons or armor, no more than any other item at any rate. The other customers and the clerks in charge of the stores were of slightly more interest to him, as he watched and eyed them to ensure they never came too close to Halena.

Anton stepped into the outer plaza from the corridor, and quickly slung his disruptor rifle into a lowered ready position, flipping the power indicator switch to armed, the man cast his steely gaze on the shops, and the people coming, and going. He maintained a steady uplink to EVE.

He took a step forward, and called out.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is an inspection! Present identification paperwork for purview, let’s keep it orderly so we can get on with our inspection, and move about our business. Line up, single file, papers ready!”

Tolend heard the commotion first, and promptly marched over and grabbed Halena by her waist, bodily carrying her to a separate part of the store.

Halena for her part, needed to ask no questions to understand what was going on and what was on Tolends mind. She did however roll her eyes as she said "No no no, this is the wrong way to go about this Tolend. These people don't know who we are, and as long as that's the case, they won't have the authority to apprehend us. What's more, your just acting suspiciously by being so obstinate."

"The proper way to handle this is with diplomacy. But honestly, it'll take them time to locate us regardless, so we might as well finish shopping. Now, lets take a look at those 'watches' I saw earlier. Such a curious creation, they actually measure their perception of time." She said to him, proceeding to lead him to a stand of watches, even as other customers acted in shock and surprise.

Of course some of the customers would likewise ignore the summons, being so used to the way things were normally, and then still others would be confused as to what they were supposed to do, since something like this hadn't come up to them before. An inspection on station Z? Nobody ever got searched on station Z, and this was a shopping mall for pity's sake. These were the arguments and mutterings being issued amongst the population as they meandered about like confused sheep.

"An Operation to seize the station, and the docked ships is underway. Confirmed enemy contact. Maintain order, and do what you can to avoid spooking a potential enemy VIP." EVE's voice said, chiming into Sergeant Valerian's earpiece. "Stall for time." She added.

"Right." Valerian muttered, switching the safety on his disruptor rifle, the weapon began to make a shrill whine.

"Alright everyone! I won't ask again! I need you to form up in an orderly fashion, and present your papers for inspection!"

He hoped the shrill whine of his weapon would put the confused people on notice.

"Any deviation from these orders will be deemed an act of aggression!"

The sound of a disruptor rifle charging, and the very no nonsense tones Valerian was taking was enough to get the sheep moving. They proceeded into an orderly line and readied their documents, those that had them.

Those that didn't, along with those that were still foolish enough to think the station beyond such reproach, began shouting obscenities and protesting against the Aschen presence.

And then still others continued to ignore them, and this somewhat smaller number of individuals included the princess and her guardian, who kept a hand on his charges shoulder despite her attempts to shrug it off.

"Honestly, what are you going to do Tolend? Even you couldn't carry me safely through all of that disruptor fire. We'll just do what we can to finish our shopping and, when they get around to us, we'll go with them peacefully." She said to the irate protector, who remained silent as ever. "Yes, I know father would be upset, but this situation is already well enough out of hand that we can't honestly be expected to return without blood shed."

Tolend gave her this blank look and she placed a hand to her heart. "Absolutely not, It would be appalling and an embarrassment, besides if you kill everyone on the station, they likely won't welcome us back, and I do very much like these shoes." She said as she inspected pair of intricately designed heels.

The entire room plunged into darkness, only to be re-lit by red light which dimmed in and out. The doors slammed shut and were locked- the Outer Plaza quarantined. A voice came over the speakers;

Anton quietly rolled his eyes as the lights shut off, his integrated HUD switching to infrared, allowing him a clear view of the people inside the room, and those in the shops.

"Why can't they ever do this the easy way?" He asked himself, before he raised his weapon, and fired it once into the air.

"Alright everyone on the floor! Anyone still standing is going to get put down!" He bellowed. "Nobody frakkin' move!" He began to point his disruptor rifle into the crowd.

A green gout of brilliant light shot fourth from his weapon, searing up into the ceiling, and impacting with a deafening crack, molten metal falling from where the weapon struck the ceiling.

The bullet of plasma punctured the ceiling. Many hit the deck in fear, screams of the frail rising above the din on the panicked.

"Calm, Tolend. They're just posturing. They won't shoot everyone here, we're too valuable for that, and besides, it wouldn't do too well with their already poor public image." Halena placed one hand on Tolends, as the guard had reached out to grab her and high tail it out. After her words, he returned to his neutral stance and waited for the threat to get close enough for him to snap it's neck.

For her own part, Halena was largely unconcerned with the Aschen and their weaponry. Tolend would protect her, he always had and nothing had been found that could kill him yet so her shield was well made and positioned. On the other hand however, the lights going out made it more difficult for her to inspect the dresses she was looking at. She honestly couldn't tell the quality of anything in the dark, and pulling out a light would only draw attention.

As it stood, she settled for feeling the fabric and designs thereupon, couldn't tell the color but if the designs were alright she would purchase it and if the colors were distasteful she'd just have them altered.

A Deep thud reverberated throughout the outer plaza, the sound of heavy metal, clanging against metal echoed through the darkened plaza. Sergeant Valerian looked up to the ceiling, and then back down to the people before him as they presented their paperwork.

There was a hissing sound, a portion of the ceiling began to glow a bright orange color, after a moment the hissing sound grew to a fever pitch, a blinding indigo-violet laser shot fourth through the ceiling, chunks of molten slag, and metal began to fall from the ceiling as the hole grew larger, until a large automobile sized piece of metal was cut free from the ceiling above, left to fall onto the ground, and whatever innocent denizens were caught in the path.


Through the hole, lights could be seen bobbing, and weaving about, until two Adepts of War, clad in a sleek, glossy black armor descended from the ceiling, landing with a deafening crash.

Each one chambered their heavy magnetron weapons, a 22mm Gyrojet assisted linear acceleration motor that propelled a depleted uranium slug at hyper-velocities.

Their armor was thick, bulky, yet they moved with a certain grace. Their armor's shields flared with a blue iridescence across their glossy black plates. However, both Adepts didn't move, they waited for something else, a woman that dropped in behind them, landing on her feet with a grace that was almost inhuman. She had psychokinetically slowed herself down prior to touching the floor. Her form fitting black armor seemed to dance with the light, which scintillated across kanvium plates.

The pair of Adepts stepped aside, and the figure's glossy black visor retracted to reveal a woman's face, with stark, unsettling blue eyes that seemed to fluoresce in the light.

Her gaze immediately transfixed on Tolend in the shops, through the walls, sensing his power, her lips contorted into a frown as her mind extended outwards.

Her gaze was cast back to the heavy door that had sealed behind Valerian, and inexplicably, hydraulic lines that held the door shut ruptured, fluid leaking around the door's frame. Forcibly, and with a deafening screech, the door slid open.

"Sergeant." The woman said. "Return to your superiors, I have the situation under control."

Halena looked up from a book she had been perusing, glanced over at Marlene and then smiled brightly like a child who's seen a puppy. "Oh oh, that's perfect." She said to Tapping him excitedly on the forearm, which hung at about her shoulder. She then took several steps towards the Aschen arrival before stopping, turning to face him and pulling on his belt, which signaled him to bend the knee and bring his face level with hers.

"Now then. Your purpose is to keep me safe and fulfill my needs. So to make this absolutely clear, I NEED you to not harm anyone intentionally. If you have to go through someone to get to me then it can't be helped, but under no circumstances are you to attack anyone, ANYONE. Is that clear?" She said to him in a very no nonsense tone, the sort a parent might take with their child. It was almost comical coming from the child sized girl to the Man who stood nearly seven feet tall.

Tolend himself said nothing, but his blank gaze seemed slightly relaxed. This was the only change, and meaningless, but Halena rolled her eyes. "Yes fine, stay by my side, i'm not saying to stay here or anything. Just don't touch anyone I don't explicitly tell you too." She said before turning and continuing on her way to Marlene.

The Approach of the girl was nonchalant, seemingly oblivious or uncaring of the armed individuals that she was approaching. She didn't even look at the Adepts of war, but kept her eyes only on Marlene.

Once she stood before her, Halena spoke clearly and with a voice that seemed to cut through the noise and panic of the station. "I am Princess Halena Auroran Asylia of the Kingdom of Asylia, which has recently assaulted your colony of Molecay, declared war on your people, and seeks to annihilate your entire species. You may now take me prisoner, I and My guardian come willingly. All I ask is that you do not separate us, as he would get quiet unruly if you did."

She then smiled at Marlene like a child who fully expected their parent to buy them a present they had asked for. Despite the apparent arrogance of her words, there was no hostility or rudeness in her tone, and she spoke like someone explaining simple facts and making a request akin to ordering a meal at a restaurant.

Her Confidence was impressive...

Marlene furrowed her brows as she watched the woman approach intently. Her eyes flared with an unsettling blue-iridescent hue before the storm inside them calmed. Marlene couldn't perceive a reality where separating Tolend from the young princess bode well for the station, and forced her in a power struggle that could otherwise be avoided.

She cast her gaze up to the hole in the ceiling. There was a force-field there. How annoying. Marlene's mind exerted itself, though her facial expressions didn't change, Technology was useless against a mind like hers, and a hole was forced open to bridge the outer plaza, and the Scylla. A gravity beam bathed the panicked denizens of the outer plaza in a luminous purpose glow, Marlene only gestured for Halena to accompany her towards the beam, her mind reaching out. The pair of War adepts merely grunted, taking positions on either side of the Princess.

"A bold move for someone who could be walking into an execution." Marlene commented. "Your kind did assault our worlds, and continue to do so." Marlene added. "But to resist capture wouldn't bode well for anyone here, yourselves included. Let's go, we have a great many things to discuss."

The mind's eye became clouded for a brief moment, Billions of possibilities flashing before the woman's eyes. It was almost disorienting, but she didn't show it. She had grown quite adept at hiding the madness that clawed at her psyche.

Halena smiled at Marlene. "Your not nearly so stupid as that one." She said, jerking a thumb over at Valerian. "And from the look in your eyes, I'd say you already know that a forced attempt to take me would bring a lot more trouble than your willing to start."

"I've no intention of allowing more bloodshed to occur, I'm trying to stop it. And after careful consideration, I've come to the conclusion that, while your people do lack the same mental capabiltiies as my own, you do not lack in imagination, or in armament. Continued conflict will bring chaos and ruin to many innocent lives who already struggle to get by as it is." She said, monologuing in a not unpleasant way, but her tones seemed less serious than her words indicated. She sounded like someone discussing the weather at Tea, rather than a prisoner walking into incarceration.

"And an execution isn't something your leaders would do either. Killing me would bring you little benefit in the long run, where as holding me could provide you with a trump card to use in the event that the war turns against you, and you find yourselves in need of a maneuver to grant yourself time to recover." She went on, walking blithely to the gravity well and stepping into it's light as she spoke. "This course of action is the only one in which everything goes as I need it to. You take me for interrogation, learn the true depths of the trouble your people are facing, and while holding me hostage you further encourage my father to pull the reigns on the attacks, thus slowing the forward momentum of my adversaries, and allowing me the time necessary to organize a proper restructuring that will end the war and establish a lasting, if uneasy, peace."

Tolend, for his part, says nothing, but stays so close to Halena he may as well be her shadow. He looks at the War Adepts with the eyes of a beast looking for the opportunity to take the kill.

Marlene quietly followed Halena into the gravity beam, the two Adepts of War following without so much as a word. When Halena stepped into the gravity beam, weightlessness took hold, and she would find herself rising up into the ceiling, into the belly of the Scylla, with Marlene, and her two Adepts of war in tow.

Once inside the Scylla, Halena would find herself inside a large dimly lit bay, deep red lights filled the cargo bay with a red glow, it's glossy black metallic walls gave the interior of the Aschen warship an eerie feel. There were cargo boxes all around them, Adepts of War surrounded them, but their weapons weren't pointed, or readied. There were also what looked like marines, but they were wearing some kind of sleek black powered armor, their faces obscured.

Spiral doors slid shut below them, and the gravity field disengaged, allowing everyone's feet to find purchase on the armored hull. Marlene released her mental grasp on the space station's containment field, and the Scylla lurched to the side, detaching from the space station's hull.

Marlene only glanced briefly at Tolend, then she turned to her other personnel before she began to speak. "You don't share their sentiment, Princess." She commented offhandedly, as she started towards a pair of armored doors that led to the interior of the ship.

"Take us away." Marlene instructed. "Protocol seven." Marlene added, as the Scylla's FTL began to spool up.

"They seek to kill us all, down to the last man." Marlene added, clasping her hands behind her back, leading the way towards the Scylla's CIC. "But they will be disappointed, even with a total Asylian victory, every reality I can see shows at least some Aschen survivors."

Marlene was holding something back.

"You're right that you'd make an effective bargaining chip, but that assumes that we can actually use that bargaining chip. Your friend here won't let us do anything that would harm you." Marlene's footfalls echoed through the hallway, she would continue to walk as long as Halena, and Tolend followed.

Marlene stopped, and turned around, her eyes continued to shimmer in the darkness, and she seemed almost distracted. "I'll play your game, only because I can see favorable outcomes. But how far are you willing to partake in this little farce?"

Halena seemed entirely used to the lift, and the presence of the Adepts of war in the following chamber perturbed her no more than those in the plaza had.

She patiently listened to Marlene with the expression of one who is being told something they've heard a dozen times before, but is being respectful instead of impatient.

She tilted her head as Marlene finished, looking with curiosity at her eyes. After a few moments she smiled brightly "Oh I see, your some sort of extradimensional entity, well that explains that talk about realities. Well that'll be particularly useful for me. I'm very happy to have made the right choice."

"And to answer your question, a farce is only a farce, when it fails to become truth." She adds, smiling in a very not so innocent manner.

With everything locked down, the sensation of an FTL jump washed over those aboard the Scylla, and what could be described as a time lapse washed over everyone. Once the sensation passed, the Scylla was gone.