Chapter 2: Recruitment

Date: 2651 G.S. Three hours after initial conversation with Expedition leader Matriarch Benezia.

Location: Fourth planet, Prothean archives.

"He's late." Garrus whispered under his breath, lazing against the chair with some boredom. "How long does it take for the Council to see the point?"

"Patience, my friend." Nihlus told his subordinate mildly, "Even for a Spectre, there are times when we need to... slice and dice some bureaucratic red tape. We're talking about a possible first contact scenario that ended up misunderstood."

"Those bastards slaughtered a crew of nearly two hundred. What's there to misunderstand?"

"I'm just saying.." Nihlus shrugged, "I'm going to withhold my judgment until I see what's down there, and what exactly killed those people, and for what reasons." performing a nod with each use of comma.

"The galaxy might not be as open-minded though." Garrus slid his PDA across the table for Nihlus to see.. "The news about their deaths are all around the news. It has probably spread all the way to Omega by now."

The Spectre did not appear pleased as he took a moment to read the articles about the killings.

"See? They're already starting to judge the dwellers of the third planet, like they're a bunch of Vorcha."

"They are being too hasty." Nihlus shook his head with disapproval. And then turned to the door as Saren finally came. "So, how did it go?"

"As good as can be hoped." Saren quickly sat down by the table, resting his head momentarily against his palm. "Managed to convince the Council to marshal, and position a fleet on the far side of the local relay, and at least six frigates on orbit around this planet. I'm not taking any chances here."

"Thorough work, as always." Garrus complimented, though he tilted his head slightly at such drastic measures. Wondering what the hell he said to make the Council go this far. To the Spectre-candidate, this only shows how dangerous Saren can be, with all the weight he's capable of throwing around.

"So what's our next step?" Nihlus inquired, "To assemble a team? If so, I've got the dossiers of possible candidates." and braced himself.

Saren only gave a nod, looking like he's bracing himself. Almost expecting to be disappointed. The two of them are old friends, but there are a few things where they just can't see eye to eye.

Nihlus forwarded the dossiers from his own PDA – onto the hologram projector in the middle of the table. Two tablets appeared, and hovered into place, spinning slowly. He managed to avoid rolling his eyes when Saren grunted in distaste.

"Quarian..."

"One of the best engineers when the chips are down." Nihlus mildly remarked. "We're going into unknown territory. We don't even know what the aliens look like, or if they possess technology we're familiar with. Having a skillful and flexible engineer on our team could be a great boon." It was typical. Saren looked at species, while Nihlus himself looked at skills and talents. This being the area where they butt heads the most.

"Have you spoken to her yet?" Saren looked from Nihlus and to Garrus.

"No. Only gone through personnel data so far."

Garrus hummed appreciatively, "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. and Dr. Liara T'Soni. But... you do know that Liara is Benezia's daughter, right?"

"If she agrees to come along with us, there's nothing the Matriarch can do." Nihlus shrugged it off. "They may serve on the same expedition, but there's a cold front between them these days; according to rumors."

Garrus managed to raise an utterly non-existent eyebrow at that. ".. That's ruthlessness on a whole new level, Nihlus."

"If it's gets us the team we need for this upcoming mission, I'm willing to go all the way."

"Then let's get started. We got until the frigates arrive. They'll be bringing a shuttle for us to use, one especially made for a mission like this. By the time they arrive, we must be ready to begin." Saren informed them, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"Then if you don't mind." Nihlus replied accordingly, folding his arms and unfolding them before he stood up to leave. Garrus remained in his chair for just a moment longer before following suit.

"As you wish." Saren shrugged, watching them leave before turning off the hologram. "Now let's see if someone else might be available."

"Bosh'tet!" Tali grumbled, shaking her fist at the other aliens she had to share space with. Being the only Quarian in this group of engineers... a facility apart from others of her kind that had chosen to get a job here. "I swear, if I get through this day alive. I'll ask for a damn transfer." she angrily vowed while easing her slender frame into one of the engineering shafts dotting this corridor, climbing down with haste so she might get back to trying to force a particularly stubborn set of blast doors that so far managed to curb further progress into the depths of the Prothean facility.

She was given that task an hour ago. One stinking hour. And it absolutely had to happen right before lunch. Those bastards she's working with in this section put something in her food that put her to sleep.. and then, adding insult to injury; they went and reconfigured her omni-tool.

And there she was, snoring for almost an hour until one of the supervisors came over and yelled at her for dereliction.

And the bunch of bosh'tets just laughed at her from far away. Seriously, if that drug had been just a tiny bit off in composition, she could have died. All because of one damned immature prank.

She made sure to attach a security rope upon arriving before opening the nearby control panel. Seeing that flawlessly spotless Prothean circuitry before her eyes, she temporarily forgot about why she was so angry about for a few blissful moments and let her fingers dance across the panel. The blast door was sealed very thoroughly, but it wasn't beyond her capability to handle. "Don't underestimate me, you little.." feeling comfortable to be right in her element. "There... just need to rearrange.. there, and there!"

A dull thud shook the wall, followed by the a mechanical sigh not far away as the blast door finally opened.

"It's about damned time." the voice belched into her ear, belonging to the supervisor that woke her up. "If I find you napping again during work-hours, I'll make sure your payment's cut in half!"

Something inside her died a little bit at the ungrateful tone. Even though she did her best to shrug off what she knew would be incoming abuse, "Sir, you should be yelling at the others on my team, they put something in my food!"

"I'm not interested in your fancy excuses, Tali'Zorah. Get back to-" the supervisor paused.. leaving the quarian standing there, waiting.. "Never mind. Someone's here to see you."

"Can it wait? I'm far enough behind schedule as it is."

"Cram i-!" the man's voice exploded into a cough, much to Tali's slight amusement, who for one single hopeful moment hoped he had forced his vocal chord too far this time, "Just go. The guy says it's important."

The quarian grimaced as she tried to think of what might be so important. Last she wanted, was to get fired... Even though she'd love to get away from the idiots upstairs. "Okay... tell him to meet me upstairs." she replied slowly and ended the conversation there, turning back to detach the rope before climbing all the way back up, finding herself in a sudden uneasy atmosphere where everyone watched their step a little too much. And she found out why the moment she saw a heavily armed turian standing not far away.

"Miss Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, I presume?" the man asked, tilting his head as if looking the quarian over.

"Yes... that's me." Tali answered cautiously, placing her hands down on her hips. Easiest way to get ones hands close to one's gun – in case the worst happens. Though, it was more of an automated reflex with little use right now, as she's not allowed to carry guns at work... or she'd already used it on her so-called coworkers by now. "Who... are you? What do you want?"

"Garrus Vakarian. I'm here to offer you a job."

"A job?" she asked, though making it sound more like a statement.

"Yes. You recall what happened recently, regarding the third planet?"

"... All I know is that people died down there. Why?"

"We're gathering a team to investigate, and find out what happened down there. Right now it includes me, and two Spectres. But we need, among others, a skilled engineer to accompany us."

"You just want me because I'm more expendable, right?"

It seemed for a moment that Garrus' cognitive processes crashed as he gaped in a rather dumbfounded manner before instantly recollecting himself; "No. The mission will be dangerous.. That goes without saying. But exactly because of that, we need the best of the best in order to maximize our chances for success. It's not because you're a quarian, but because you are the best within your field of expertise. Skill, that's what we want on our team."

Tali seemed taken aback by this.. "A-are you sure?" barely keeping herself from blushing. "Sure there's no one else more suitable for the job?"

"No, there isn't." Garrus hammered it across, "Because the mission will involve much greater risk than your current job, you will be compensated accordingly. You'll be making ninety credits an hour..."

She stared at him, as if trying to look for any signs of him lying. That amount of credits offered easily being several times the amount she already receives in her current job. "T-that's..."

"There's a chance that we'll be dealing with unknown tech, Tali'Zorah." he continued, practically bringing out a carrot and dangling it in front of her, "So we won't settle for anything short of excellence." … "So, do you accept this job?" he asked with a sense of finality. One that only required a 'yes' or 'no'.

Tali's mind raced at a thousand miles per hour as she ran the whole conversation over and over again through her head. Trying to see if there's anything she's missing. Countless questions needed to be answered about the planet they're going to. And more about what they might find there. But Garrus and his companions might not know much more than she did. What interested her even more was the mentioning of unknown technology; wondering if she might find something along the way that might greatly benefit the Migrant fleet.

"Miss?" he asked, his arm stretched out.

She blinked rapidly as all of her thoughts finally reached a conclusion. She grabbed, and shook his hand, "Yes. I accept." with a brilliant smile to go with it.

"Glad to have you on board, Tali'Zorah." Garrus exhaled with great relief.

"Please. Call me Tali."

"Alright, Tali. There's still a few days until the mission's gonna start, so make whatever preparations you deem necessary in the meantime. We'll call for you once it's time for the briefing." he informed her crisply, "But for now, I think it'll be best for you to return to work before that surly supervisor throws another fit."

The quarian momentarily froze as if she could feel the man's eyes digging into the back of her head. She turned to look, but no one there but those idiots in the distance. "Y-yeah, you're right." she climbed back down into the hole she left.

As soon as Tali had vanished into the darkness below, Garrus opened a link to Nihlus.. "She's in."

Location: Mess hall.

"Good." Nihlus responded to the good news. That's one down. "I've gotten a general fix on Liara's location." odd thing to say, considering that this facility isn't all that big to begin with. But the girl was being surprisingly elusive.

"I can go and try to talk to her if you want me to." Garrus replied, "Where can I find her?"

"Hmm, she's down in the 10th floor of the Archives. Spends most of her time down there, according to the people here."

"How come?"

"She's got a little bit of a grudge going on because Benezia decided to pull her out of an ongoing archeological project on the far side of the galaxy. Presumably to keep her daughter where she can keep an eye on her." Nihlus explained while watching people pass by on their way back to work.. "Since the lower levels of the archives became accessible, Liara went ahead and immersed herself in whatever she found down there. On that note, feel free to use that bit of cold shoulder she's giving her mother to your advantage - if it comes to that."

"I'll see what I can do." Garrus paused.. "Say... where's Saren by the way? Haven't seen him since the meeting."

"He went to the medical wing. Trying to recruit a certain salarian doctor; Mordin Solus."

Garrus was surprised, "No way, the one who used to serve in the STG? If he's here, why-"

"I tried to recruit him earlier, but the guy's stubborn to a fault. He rejected my offer, saying that the patient to doctor ratio here's too high for him to venture on dangerous missions with questionable chances of return."

"Think Saren can convince him?"

"No. The old guy is hardcore by anyone's standard. I'll be heading down there soon to pull Saren out of the fire before he gets too pushy. Or we'll be scraping his charred remains off the floor."

"Need some help?"

"No." a weary sigh followed as he stood up to leave the mess hall.. word was already getting around about a fiery discussion going on in the medical wards, "Just focus on getting Liara on board the mission, okay?"

"... Got it."

Ten minutes later.

Location: 10th floor.

Getting there was not the hard part. It was just two floors up from where he met Tali. Garrus' relaxed his posture while waiting for the elevator to arrive at the designated floor, though technically it is more proper to call it a sub-level due to most of the structure being situated underground. Only the very top of the facility poked above the surface.

Once in the tenth floor, he passed through a couple of corridors before finding the main chamber in this part of the complex. A large spherical room filled with interlinked circular platforms that surrounded a bunch of databases what resembled a small city, containing miniature versions of various Prothean structures, all covered by geometric lines that continually pulsed a bright green light. It was almost welcoming to the eye for some reason.

But then he'd look at the one sitting at a nearby control panel and the place suddenly felt that much colder. A young asari – by asari standards at least – sat there, her attention utterly focused on the screen in front of her.

No one else could be seen, so Garrus quietly wondered if most of the eggheads are focusing their effort on exploring the facility before browsing through the contents of what they've found so far. Well, all except this one.

He approached her almost silently, not wanting to disrupt such fervent concentration. But in the end, he had to.. "Liara T'Soni?"

The girl barely acknowledged him with a twitch of her right hand.. and nary a nod. "If you're here on Benezia's order, leave." she told him, not once did she take her eyes off the screen. "Tell her I'm busy."

Garrus frowned, "Easy now. I'm here for a completely different reason." taking a few steps closer to look over her shoulder, "What is it you're watching?"

"Footage." Liara responded simply, "The Protheans established this outpost to observe a sapient species native to the third planet. Back then, they were little but hunter-gatherers."

"I see." the turian whispered, "Too bad they're gone now.."

"Who, the Protheans, or the primitives?"

"I'd like to say both.. But at least the Protheans impacted the galaxy greatly after their demise. But the primitives died off without leaving much beyond ruins on their home planet." Garrus replied with a thoughtful hum, "As they say; to be forgotten is worse than death."

Liara looked up and finally turned, "That's... true. If only I could learn more about them. But after what happened to Dr. Mornoa... and his team..."

"But you would like to go there someday?"

"... If it is possible... yes." she raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"

"I think an introduction is in order; I'm Garrus Vakarian.. Me and my comrades in arms happen to be gathering a team for a covert ops with the purpose of finding out what happened down there. We could really use your help."

"You want me?" taking what sounded very much like an offer in stride.

Garrus nodded very firmly, "Yes. And without a doubt, it's going to be a dangerous mission. But the potential payoff could be huge. It'll be a great opportunity to study ruins merely centuries old.. with many potential treasures just waiting to be found."

"Yes, it does sound like one. But what of my mother..?"

"My comrades are both Spectres. And if you want to join us, then there's nothing your mother can do to hold you back."

She did seem to consider it very strongly, slowly turning back to the screen and watching the footage. Deep in thought. "A part of me says that I should accept your offer. However, I may have to think through this more first before making my decision."

"It's alright. The mission won't commence until a few days from now. So... will two days be sufficient?"

"Yes. Thank you." she answered kindly.

Garrus exhaled, "Fair enough, looking forward to your favorable response." giving a nod before leaving.

"Later." the asari near-mumbled as she once again immersed herself into her work.

Date: 2nd April, 3573 A.D.

Location: Europe – Northern dome in Scandinavia.

Both a village and a fortress, the Northern dome is one of five habitats on Earth that serves as the home of the Dôji. Each located at largely undisclosed locations that is unknown to all but the fewest in order to maintain secrecy. Each dome was constructed through excavation and construction crews being transported directly into hollow pockets deep within mountainous regions through Grand Aspect Ultimo's spatial techniques. Only way to exit the cities are through the use of specialized spatial transit hubs. Otherwise, one would have to physically dig a way out.

Being few and static in numbers, the aspects often move around in order to maintain a presence in all of the domes. Only the Grand Aspects remain stationary, being seated in the largest dome in 'Dôjidom'; Center dome.

Currently, only three out of sixteen aspects lives in the Northern dome.. each with their own great responsibilities. One of them, the aspect of Patience; Pardonner, currently sat in his office with the hustle and bustle of the metropolis visible from the window behind him.

He was busy as always, and did not have the luxury of enjoying the view as he toiled his way through today's worth of paperwork, while his assistant; Daos, ran about to complete various tasks given to him. In stature, the minor dôji was similar to the aspect of Discipline, Regula, but with a more demonic appearance.

However, he expected the aspect of Wisdom, Sophia, to arrive soon. To talk about the strange encounter that occurred days ago. Promina, one of the minor dôji under Orgullo's command was wise enough to send a report of what happened. Sophia took it seriously from the start and forwarded it to Pardonner, who in turn dispatched a recovery squad to Luxembourg for the purpose of bringing back anything out of the ordinary: Alien bodies, and any unfamiliar technology.

He wished that more among the more studious aspects would convene alongside them. But most of the others are already busy. Which left just him and Sophia.

Eventually, just as his current work-session came to a close, the hospital's receptionist called in; "Sir. Aspect Sophia has arrived, and wishes to see you."

"Send him in." Pardonner answered, and got up, circling the stable after inserting his forearms into his broad and angular gauntlets – pausing for a moment to direct a soft pat on the bump on his right gauntlet, during which the fellow aspect finally arrived. "Been five months since last time, hasn't it?" he asked.

"Old friend." Sophia replied with a quiet as they immediately greeted one another with a warm and welcoming hug, which only lasted for a couple of seconds before they parted and moved on. "So, did your crews find anything?"

"What little they could. The kurozu went back after the battle to gather up everything they could, from the looks of things." Pardonner brushed past Sophia and gestured for him to follow.

It did not take long for them to arrive at the morgue, which was one of the least maintained rooms in the facility due to the general lack of organic outside specialized areas in the wake of the human-machine war. Patients and workers alike respectfully stepping out of the way shortened the time getting there.

Inside, only a few lights seemed to work, and the place carried numerous signs of having been hastily cleaned recently. Machines quietly hummed, as to keep the room refrigerated. "Here we are..." Pardonner said, closing in on one of the closets, and from it extracted a body that looked strangely elongated, "This is the only body we managed to find." and gestured to the region where the head was supposed to be.. "We couldn't even find the head."

"... It'll have to do. What can you tell me about it?" Sophia asked as she went to stand on the other side of the table, examining the body that unbeknownst to them used to be Maelon.

"Well, it's certainly not human. And it's not a mutant." Pardonner noted. "There's not even enough biomass outside to sustain cockroaches, so this thing is most definitely not of this world. As for taxonomy, I believe it's an amphibious species."

Sophia paid rapt attention to what his friend revealed to him, "I see. The report written by Promina described two other species: One that looked mammalian, and one with avian traits."

"Yes, but the kurozu got there before we could, mind you."

"But... why would they gather those bodies? They don't care for organics of any form."

"I can only guess as to their motives." Pardonner answered while not taking his eyes off the body, "Maybe they wish to alter and modify the poison gas they adore so much, so it'll affect these."

Sophia nodded grimly, that made sense. Back during the human-machine war, the kurozu fought by either using Nuclear weaponry, poison gas, or sheer attrition through deployment of veritable oceans of guns and claws. Or when they felt particularly sadistic, they would use all of these in rapid succession. "Anything else?"

"Well..." Pardonner turned away and fetched something from a nearby closet.. placing a few items down on the table next to the body. "The alien were equipped with these items. Now this..." he pointed out one of them.. "I've only done some preliminary tests on this one.. but it contains a wealth of information. Since it was attached to the collar of the alien's suit, I'm guessing it's some sort of translator."

Sophia hummed, "That does sound possible. The chances of them having a common language is terribly small, it'd make sense to use such devices in order to ease communications."

"Yes, and I believe we're going to need something like this if we are to communicate with them at some point. Just need to find out how to add our language to the program."

"Can you do it?" Sophia asked interestingly.

A firm nod came from his friend.. "I can try."

"Good. What can you tell me about the other items here?"

"Not much about the rest... except this." Pardonner put his right gauntlet onto the table and detached his arm from it. Proceeding to pick up a strange device consisting of a series of interconnected rings and snaked his free arm into it until he could curl his hand around the handle at the end. The dôji paused for a moment as the device adjusted itself to Pardonner's arm before he tightened his fist.

Sophia's eyes widened upon seeing a brightly glowing gauntlet made out of pure energy pop into place, surrounding his friend's arm. "What is that..?" he asked, fascinated by the sight.

"Don't know.. but it is some kind of tool. So far I've only managed to make it do this.." tapping a series of buttons until a light erupted from the tip of the gauntlet. "See? A flashlight."

"Nice. So it's a tool with multiple functions, kind of like our gauntlets?"

"Possible.. but I can't read the language." he raised his shoulders for a second.

"Then we'll have to do it the hard way."

"Random, you mean?"

"Short of learning the language, what choice do we have?" Sophia sighed, "But lets be careful. If it starts making weird noises, throw it away."

The two dôji moved in close to one another so they could both see the strange interface.. "Okay. Lets try this one, okay?"

Sophia gave a curt nod as he pressed it. Nothing happened, but a series of options became available. Humming a low tone, he tried one of them. Opening an image that showed the table they're standing next to.. "Hmm.. looks like a camera."

"... How about this then?" Pardonner asked, pressing a series of buttons until the camera was replayed by footage that showed a clogged vent. "Seems like this one found a well-preserved leftover of the poison that the kurozu used during the war."

"With some enthusiasm, I hear." Sophia said, pointing out the rapid voice that probably belonged to this alien.

"Hmm..."

They spent nearly twenty minutes going through the functions and examining the contents until they finally arrived at the final option. And like it often does, the best comes last.

An image of the Solar system popped into view. Causing both aspects to pause before going further. This image provided them with a touchscreen.

"Interesting."

Pardonner scrolled to the outer edge of the system, finding something odd about a particular detail. The icon where the moon Charon's supposed to be looked different from the rest of the celestial bodies within the system. He gave the icon a prod.. the enlarged picture brought great pause to both.

"What's that?" Sophia asked, his eyes looking like they'd pop out any second now. His voice filled with awe.

What they saw was a true marvel of engineering, hanging in space above Pluto. A huge construct that consisted of two long and curved metal 'arms' with a set of revolving rings between them, which in turn contains a massive glowing core of some kind.

"Can't believe this.." Pardonner huffed in disbelief, "How could a thing like this go unnoticed for so long?"

"The location fits though, maybe it used to be encased within the moon itself?" Sophia suggested, seeing as Charon's missing. And a massive cloud of debris surrounding the artifact only served to solidify that line of thought.

His friend thought intensively about it, "... That's possible. But question is... what is it?"

"I don't know. Could be a weapon for all we know."

"Perhaps. Any possibility of it being a base?"

"I don't see how.. look." Sophia turned the image, gesturing at various places.. "There's no docking areas. No entrances whatsoever."

"You're right. But if the aliens have any bases at all, we must find out where they are." Pardonner zoomed the image away from the strange artifact so that they could search the rest of the system.

They checked the celestial bodies closest to the artifact first, and found nothing of note. Only small amounts of data that couldn't hope to match the amount of information gathered by late humanity. The failure to find any kind of alien installation in the outer system eventually left them to search inwardly. Past Saturn, past Jupiter, past the Asteroid belt. It couldn't possibly be any on Mercury and Venus. So the only remaining options consisted of Earth itself, Luna, Mars and its tiny satellites.

Eventually, only Mars remained. "Here goes..." Pardonner grunted, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he watched Sophia open up the file involving Mars with a sense of foreboding until a dot appeared on Mars' image, close to the location of Deseado crater. A press of the dot confirmed their suspicions. A base.

"Ugh... by Father's hand." Sophia shook his head, "Let's stop for today, we must notify the Grand Aspectsabout what we've learned so far, right away."

"Agreed. Go. I can't leave the Northern dome right now... you know." Pardonner tilted his head at his left gauntlet, indicating the bump across its palm. "I'll work on the translator while you're gone."

Sophia understood, giving a sympathetic nod before turning to leave, "Alright. I'll come back once I'm done."

"Okay, see you later." Pardonner replied as he removed the interface and put it back down on the table, shoving his right arm back into the gauntlet he put down on the table, and quickly undid the mess from there. Placing the corpse back into storage before leaving with the translator firmly in his grip.

"Sir." Daos stepped into view, "The latest batch of wounded just arrived, but our workers are stretched to capacity treating them."

Dôji can usually recover from even dire injuries without assistance. Self-repair, self-maintenance. As long as they have energy, it's not an issue. What doesn't outright kill a dôji, he can eventually recover from. They go to hospitals for help to accelerate the process. The best which can be gotten from Pardonner himself because of his Noh, and those whose 'bloodline' traces back to him that innately possess energy reserves vaster than any other 'bloodlines', and freely able to distribute said energy. Every aspect got their respective 'bloodline', which possess either special traits or Noh-like abilities unique to them.

Pardonner sighed as he stepped past his assistant without even looking at him, "I'll take care of the more urgent cases. Have the others do the rest. Which room?"

"Room sixty-four through seventy." Daos replied, not offended in any way by the aspect's nonchalant mannerism.

"Thanks. Tell them I'll be there soon."

"Yes, sir."

Three hours later.

Location: Africa – Savannah highways.

It was daytime, or at least as close to it as it could get with the layer of clouds covering the whole world. The dust had just cleared from the area in the wake of the hectic battle that just took place between dôji forces and one of the many heavy-weight convoys that followed this route. It's a highway that was created by the kurozu specifically for the sake of their Leviathan land-trains. One of the largest types of ground-based vehicles in the world right now. Used to ferry large amounts of cargo across continents.

Each Leviathan's easily eight hundred feet long, and weighs fifty thousand tons without cargo. They very much look like a crossbreed between a tanker, and a bunker on wheels.. With a little bit of hedgehog on top due to dozens of gun-emplacements dotted across their surface. Yet despite their immense size and mass, can travel up to three hundred kilometers per hour.

Plainly, its the type of vehicle that stops for no one. Capable of shattering villages with just the tremors caused by them driving by. But it only lookedunstoppable.

A very lengthy stretch of the highway had been ruined after a protracted chase when two dôji battalions ganged up on one of these convoys. The wreckage of gunships and smaller kurozu units covering the distance along with the corpses of ruined Leviathans. Some still sputtering smoke.

Slow, the aspect of Diligence sat on top of one of the hulking vehicles, watching as his and Jealousy's battalions searched through the prolonged stretch of devastation to gather the wounded, and the few that were killed during the battle.

But their sacrifices were not in vain, as there's now one less convoy to ferry mass amounts of ore and fuel to the kurozu factories. All which have been working unusually hard on something lately. This loss will surely slow the enemy down.

However, while he continued watching the scenery, he was approached by the aspect of Envy. "Slow, just received new orders."

"They want us to hit another convoy?" Slow asked as he rose, "That won't be too difficult."

"No." Jealousy shook his head, "For the time being, both battalions will be under my command. You must choose three of your best, and leave for Central dome."

"Central dome.. why?"

"Shit. I don't know.. They say it's important." Jealousy drawled while waving a claw.

Slow did not look very pleased, but he accepted the order anyway. "Sigh, fine." and half-whipped around to shout into the crowd below, "Ridge, Sweeper and Dirge, on me. Now."

"I envy you. You're probably going to receive an important mission." Jealousy spoke flatly.

"If it makes you feel any better.." Slow replied, heading over to the spatial ball that's been summoned for the dead and wounded, "I'd rather be fighting here alongside the rest of my battalion."

Jealousy watched him leave for a moment before he went to prepare and reorganize the troops. With this convoy down, the kurozu are likely to send a recovery force. Time to arrive... one hour at the minimum, plenty of time to prepare an ambush.

Slow, with the trio of soldiers he had chosen to come with him, paced calmly through the corridor that would lead him to the antechamber of the place only known as 'The Core'. It is basically the closest thing to a palace in 'Dôjidom'. The place was built underneath Central dome. It's no castle, more of a fortress inside another fortress. And its build was simple enough. Nothing grandiose like human palaces of old. Just a few rooms on a single level, with the 'throne chamber' in the center.

He passed at least a hundred guards before finally entering the antechamber, where he found a very old friend; "Sophia. They called you in too?"

"No." Sophia responded with honesty, "I simply brought them information that I found alongside Pardonner. And now, they got a high priority mission that needs to be done. A mission most suitable for you."

"I see." Slow grimaced faintly, and tried to smooth his expression immediately for the sake of appearances. Despite being the most aggressive among the virtues, he's also one of the more elegantly dressed and mannered. The only exception being his face which could very easily twist under the force of a feisty grin.

"Come. Now that you're here, it's time to go in." the aspect of Wisdom briefly glanced at those soldiers Slow brought along. All dôji inevitably wear similar clothing, but each still with characteristics that makes them easily recognizable. Ridge only sticks out in a crowd because of his lofty dreadlocks. Sweeper, with his long scarlet scarf wrapped around his neck. Dirge faintly resembled an olden Samurai with shoulder pads and helmet to match. All three of them stood stiffly at attention.. not because that's what they usually did, but because of the tension in the air. The fact that they'll be following the aspects into the throne chamber to meet with the Grand Aspects made them stand even stiffer, if that's even possible.

"What's going on?" Slow asked as the two moved on. Matching paces with one another. His soldiers following only with great reluctance, utterly quiet.

The aspect of Wisdom did not answer. The corridor seemed to stretch on endlessly. But they hit and walked through what felt like a wall of liquid just after leaving the antechamber. On the other side, a large chamber opened up before them. The aspects had seen it often enough, but Slow's subordinates were stunned by the sight – and halted clumsily in their tracks.

It wasn't all that much to look at though. The ornamentation of the room largely consisted of a yin and yang, though with the addition of a an additional gray part that took up a third of the space. The big three, formally known as the Grand Aspects, sat before them. To most of their people, just looking upon them would be an overwhelming experience. But to Slow and Sophia, it was little more than a meeting between friends that have known one another all their lives.

The fair flame-haired Ultimo sat to the left. While the fierce Vice, sat to the right.

And in the middle, the Grand aspect; Dragon ascendant; Milieu of Moderation rose from his seat, magnificent as always, beckoning for Slow and Sophia to come closer. "Good, you're here." a wind passed through the chamber, carrying his words.

"About time." Vice grunted.

Ultimo hushed him down, "Don't be like that. I'm sure he came as quickly as he could."

Choosing to ditch the pleasantries, Slow went right ahead, "And now I'm here. Can you explain why you've called for me?"

Milieu did not seem bothered by how direct Slow went to the point. In fact, he seemed relieved, "Recently, there's been a less than ideal first contact with extraterrestrials."

"Meaning the aliens got slaughtered in the crossfire between Orgullo's battalion, and a horde of kurozu." Vice put it bluntly, slumping in his seat like it's a non-issue.

"A most tragic event." Ultimo verbally brushed his way past Vice. "Pardonner and Sophia investigated what little they could find about the aliens. And discovered these." he waved a hand, and two large images appeared from thin air. Showing the construct, and its location, where Charon used to be. The other displaying the base on the planet Mars.

A smile painted itself onto Slow's expression, "Interesting. What precisely is it you want me and my subordinates to do?" drawing slight attention to the three in the back who all desperately attempted to fade into the background.

"Simply put." Milieu spoke softly, "You are to go and investigate the base on Mars, and find out everything you can about the aliens, and that construct. And for the sake of making the mission brief enough for all involved, you'll be given access to Booster frames."

Slow shivered with some anticipation. There's barely any infrastructure left for the construction of Booster frames, so those that remained are being carefully kept and maintained. They allow for exiting and entering the atmosphere, as well as quick travel between planets without the need of a spaceship.

"And do remember to try and be nice if direct contact happens. Keep damages to a minimum if possible." Ultimo told him gently, pressing his hands together like he's praying.

"Booster frames are already being prepared.." Vice drawled.

"As for translation, Pardonner's currently modifying the one we found to include our language." Sophia added.

"When can we start?" Slow inquired.

Milieu looked back at him, "Tomorrow. No later than that. How you go about gathering information is up to you depending on if the translator's finished by then, or not. Understood?"

"Yes, I understand. And I humbly accept this mission."

"Not that you had any choice to begin with." Vice shrugged.

"I knew you'd like it." Milieu formed a clever grin before tapping a finger down hard a few times, "Now then. We got busy times ahead of us. As usual. So, for now... meeting's adjourned."

Slow and the rest slowly left the way they came, leaving the Grand aspects to continue with their long-distance Noh-related contributions to the ongoing global war.

Finally after having left the Core, Slow finally turned to Sophia who was about to leave for the transit hub. "Sure Pardonner can finish that thing in time?"

"You mean the translator?" Sophia paused to regard him before moving on, "Don't worry. It'll be finished before the launch."

"Sure hope so." Slow turned to his subordinates. All three looked quite crushed, breathing heavily. "Look at you guys. Get your chins back up, so we can go and get some food." being away from all of his soldiers, he felt like drowning himself in food. And once done, pay the local shrine a visit to pray for their well-being.

"Easy for you to say." Ridge coughed as he picked himself up. "But.. whatever. A snack sounds just about right."

And so the aspect moved on with his subordinates in tow. Despite having a mission way out of the ordinary up ahead, he could not help but feel that something bad's going to happen soon.

Author notes: Yeah, this chapter was filled with chatter. Was thinking of a little battle scene involving the mentioned convoy of Leviathans, but then thought better of it. Sufficed to say, the whole idea of the vehicles was inspired by a map on an old Unreal tournament game where players basically fought across a large convoy filled with huge vehicles going ahead at neck-breaking speed. Loved it.