It didn't take long for the Aschen to notice the strange vessel appearing in high orbit above Langara. Almost immediately, roughly three hundred individual orbital defense arranged inside battle-clusters of four to six bastion platforms in geosynchronous orbit. It was a synchronous show of massive space stations aligning onto their targets.

There was a panic, millions of souls spread across tens of thousands of kilometers were ushered to readiness in a few moments, one after another, battle-stations in orbit began to adjust their alignments, until they had all come to bear against the single two and a half kilometer ship.

Many of these defense stations were long range mass driver platforms, but roughly a dozen were singularity drivers, massive fifty-kilometer long stations that bore an elongated gun like appearance.

In orbit, thousands of Aschen warships began to move into defensive position, there were only three Reverence IIs that could be spotted among the chaos of the responding home defense fleets. However, a rapid-response task force of three Hastati class cruisers, and two Triarii class fast-attack cruisers were closing on the Cobalt Glaive quickly.

--

Through all this, Admiral Claire Hanley was watching her display, which had lit up with the brillaint blue icons of thousands of Aschen warships. Her expression darkened.

"Transmit a message to the Ministry of Defense." Claire said to EVE. "Have the watchtowers run a full diagnostic on their planck systems, and prepare an intercept course. All hands action stations!" Claire called out, the low rumble of her Reverence II lurching forward was felt as a reverberation throughout the entire superstructure.

"Esteem Actual, this is Commander Jensen, of the Hour of Need! I'm on an intercept course to the unidentified vessel, estimated time to intercept, two minutes!"

Hanley nodded in response as a transmission came in from the Ministry of Defense.

"Admiral Hanley, Sitrep." Minister Chaska said, as her face flickered into view as a three-dimensional hologram in front of Hanley.

"Unidentified Xenos vessel somehow managed to slip through perimeter defenses, fleet's moving to intercept." Hanley responded.

"Keep me updated, I'll inform the Emperor." Chaska responded, and then terminated the link.

"EVE, Transmit hostile challenge and ID." Hanley ordered.

The flickering hologram of EVE nodded, and a message was transmitted to the Cobalt Glaive.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Home defense fleet of the United Aschen Empire, lower your shields, disengage your engines, disarm your weapons, state your intentions, and prepare for boarding action. You have thirty seconds to comply, failure to do so will result in the immediate destruction of your vessel."

The Tethys Ocean was known to be a cold, and unforgiving ocean among the inhabitants of Langara, a planet that was important in both Galactic Commerce, and the Empire of which it was the seat of power.

The sky was blue, and the harsh sun beat down on the ocean, the air was calm, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. It was a good day to fish, and that's exactly what the fishermen of the MV Coho, an unassuming fishing ship happened to be doing.



Fishing nets were cast, and the sound of a bell filled the air.

A gutteral cry almost immediately followed. "Air adhart làn!"

The grizzled captain cried from his post within the helm station of the ship's pilothouse. "Sinn a 'dol a tharraing a-slaodaidh math an-diugh!" The Captain cried out once more, while the boat continued to move underway.

One of the crewman spotted the figure in the water not shortly after, and his hand outstretched, the ragged redhead in a bright yellow rain slicker cried out. "Corp san uisge!" He shouted.

Another voice rang up. "Dè?" A second fisherman asked, and a small group began to gather on the main deck of the fishing boat.

"Hyperdrive stands ready!" The Bridge officer called out.

"Sir! I'm getting increased readouts across the board! Something's pushing us away!" Another officer called out.

Hiroki breathed a sigh of relief.

The shrill whine of the hyperdrive continued to fill the superstructure of the Soja, and in sheer defiance of Eras, Hiroki called out.

"Execute Hyperspace jump!"



Lines filled the display screens of the Soja, and Hiroki braced himself. The ship lurched forward with all it's might, and in an instant, it wrenched itself free from Eras' grasp.

Amid the dark halls of the mountain fortress, the sounds of a Latinesque language filled it's dark, stoney hallways. A small group of individuals, an IIA operative and two archaeological researchers slowly made their way through the fortress to happen upon a large chamber with several other individuals.

Erin moved in first, the brilliant blue white beam of her flashlight illuminating the strange door before them, while the strange eyes sent shivers down her spine.

"This place must be incredibly ancient..." One of the archaeologists commented in Anquietas.

"See if we can get any references to this door in local texts..." Another replied, the small group of Aschen for now, paying little attention to the others, their gazes fixated on the strange door before them.

When Asvith's fist collided with the Mizuho, it would not shatter, and the result would be completely different than what he would expect.



The fist careened towards the ship, but smashed some kind of energy field, brilliant shimmering panes of light coalesced out of nothingness, Hyper-dimensional energy easily counteracted the kinetic blow of Thrym's fist. The wings of the Light Hawk could stand up to the divine whims of even the most powerful entities.

As the kinetic energy from the fist dissipated, the panes of light slowly vanished into nothingness, but their brilliance illuminated the darkness of space, and even cast a light onto the surface below.

The Mizuho remained, sitting in orbit, it did not take any action against the Jotuun.