The next morning saw Pyrus making his address with Xerxes and Blaze on either side of him, Flare alongside Blaze, using a holo-emitter that Xerxes provided, allowing his image to be broadcast in the common areas throughout the moon simultaneously from the tiny insectoid lights that had been coming through at sunrise and departing at sundown every day. While keeping the address very basic and mentioning the loss of life as briefly as possible, the death toll alarming and disheartening to any, Pyrus reassured his people that they were well protected and were working on something that would help the Firian people as a whole. The Beast planet reappearing had been known about amongst the general public for a while, some shocked and angry that the dreaded black sphere had returned, others fearful and concerned that they would be targeted further.
As Pyrus then explained officially that the Ahr'aht, represented amongst the alliance by Xerxes, and their allies were protecting the alliance as a whole with massive ships placed strategically around the Alliance and between them and the Beast planet itself. Reassuring them again that they would continue to monitor and patrol the area, one of the new impressive Ahr'aht capital ships would remain near the Moon to monitor for Beast activity, and react to it immediately upon being observed. Moving on to the increased Military patrols inside the Moon, Pyrus advised his people that Martial Law had been enacted, to ensure a catastrophe like what had claimed over three hundred lives would not happen again.
Informing then of Flare's promotion, warning of the likelyhood of other races of the alliance being added as extra assistance to the already strained Firian Military on the Moon, and that any concerns of the people can be passed on to those patrols. As he finished up his speech, advising that he would be listening to all the concerns passed on to the patrols as they were received each night with General Blaze and Xerxes, that he wanted to see them helping each other, as his father would have wanted. Food and Water would not be an issue, further provisions for creating items like clothing and toys for the children were being addressed and would be offered as time wore on.
After he finished and the hologram was dismissed, cheers could be heard even inside the palace throne room, Pyrus' eyes going wide.
"I never thought they'd cheer like that, after everything..." Pyrus smirked, turning to Xerxes who chuckled.
"They have had little to look forward to, now, every Firian is excited to see things addressed that concern them. Many have likely felt they did not have a voice that would reach you, so none came forward. I'm hoping the families of houses Blaze and Igneous can set aside their differences, maybe they too can help the other civilians realise that they can and will be heard, they just need to speak up." Xerxes purred then, Blaze nodding.
"I agree, knowing that they will have a way to voice concerns that will be passed on to you, will be beneficial for everyone. It may mean more administerial work however."
"Which I am glad to assist with. I've also mentioned to Tekla and Capacitor that we may need more data padds to be able to provide to the patrols to record concerns and requests, less Military and more ambassadorial roles can be looked into I suppose, once things have settled a bit further?" Xerxes turned to Pyrus when he laughed a bit at the two.
"You two remind me of the Vizier and my Dad, they'd just go on about plans and working out things between themselves." Pyrus paused, wry smile showing that he was okay talking about the two men a bit more now than he had been anytime previously. "Thanks, for everything."
"It is my pleasure Pyrus, really. I've not felt so accomplished in a long time, so I must thank you for this opportunity to give back to the people I was loathe to leave in the first place." Xerxes purred happily, tail-tip visibly twitching with his contentment. Pyrus then realised, a frown on his features alerting Xerxes to his next concern and his expression softened, though went obviously to sadness.
"House Pyre... Don't tell me they were lost?" Pyrus' slight quiver in his voice took hold of Xerxes' heart and twisted it so painfully he again questioned his decision to keep secrets from the young Firian Prince, Xerxes nodding solemnly.
"Sadly yes, only one I know of, Cinder aboard the Aurora, survives from that family line..." Xerxes offered, looking to Blaze who also appeared downcast at the loss of yet another of the royal families of the Firians.
"Could you get word to him on our behalf? If he wishes to temporarily return to get his family affairs in order we can certainly do what we can to help." Pyrus then smiled, shaking his head at the already obvious tell of Xerxes' pinions curling lightly and smirk appearing. "You already did."
"Of course, he's already making arrangements to have his shifts on the Aurora covered by an understudy. Sairyllia has been doing what she can to help organise the alerts for the families of the deceased, this one bloodline being almost entirely wiped out has her concerned." Xerxes smiled, though Pyrus and Blaze knew it was more out of pride for how well the Taalrulthians had adopted the Firians as their personal charges. "I hope he will continue to remain in his position aboard the Aurora, being one of the only Firian on the crew there currently..."
"He asked for leave to do so in the first place, I don't see him wishing to be stuck here with what happened to the rest of his family..." Blaze offered, Xerxes and Pyrus both nodding sadly.
As the alliance recovered and made moves to improve the lives of the Firians on the Battle moon, Jade and Graveheart's engagement being announced and massive changes began being set into motion, Blokk and Lamprey went over their own recordings of the attack that they thought had crippled one of the races of the alliance.
"Interesting, even just a metre of the front of the ship teleporting into the surface of that moon caused the entire ship to explode, but look at the carnage!" Lamprey grinned, excitedly throwing her hands in the air at the chaos that ensued, then frowning at how quickly the Taalrulthians rallied and proceeded to blast all of the nearby Beast forces. "They seem quite invested in those displaced molten stones."
"The Firians are like those the Ahr'aht have already taken under their care, of course they would." Blokk admonished, pausing their recording to get a good look at Samateus when she had appeared. He let it play more slowly, grin widening.
"What, what is it?"
"Voyd was right, the Light Bearer is injured, her left wing, look." Blokk pointed her out to Lamprey, who laughed even more.
"Wonderful! Now how to capitalize on this..." She pondered, Blokk shaking his head.
"Voyd has gone silent, I do not wish to be the one to interrupt. Instead, perhaps we should target one of those massive Ahr'aht ships, learn more about them as we've been wishing to, they are simply too large a target to go without address."
"True. Let's launch some of our new craft against them? Spaced out so they don't do what happened last time..." Lamprey offered as an alternative, thankful that Blokk seemed to have improved cognitively, not only verbally, with their more recent reconstitution. Blokk grinned at her, their more evolved forms allowing such, much like the newer forms of their drones, and she returned it gladly.
"Agreed. Let's test their resolve. Pirahnna, take your ship and give the Ahr'aht a good scare. Don't get too close, if the flyers start harrying and getting too close, back off and return to the rest of the fleet." Blokk addressed one of his underlings, the voidling bowing and turning to disappear to their warship.
Cryos found himself approached the morning following the attack that decimated a portion of the Firian population by a group of Icean guards, one he knew had been to the Battle moon before.
"King Cryos, I apologise for the intrusion this morning." Said the female who bowed before removing her helm and holding it under one arm as customary. She stood nearly as tall as he, green compound eyes shining brightly as she spoke and waited for him to respond.
"Virian, it's good to see you. I suppose your friend amongst the Firians has informed you of what is going on there?" Cryos smiled, Virian stiffening that he knew of her conversations with Flare, but offered a wry smile once she realized he did not appear bothered by it at all.
"Yes, he expressed that there was a significant attack on the Battle Moon, that there were increased Military patrols that are also going to be doing a form of public outreach and he wanted advice on how to proceed with it." Virian moved to walk alongside Cryos as he asked her with a simple hand gesture to continue on and walk with him, dismissing her team to continue on their patrol route. Cryos continued to smile as she spoke, the work they had been trying so hard for almost a full two years finally showed signs that the alliance would be able to work as a cohesive force, not as groups of separate races. If only his Grandmother could see them now.
"I offered to help, as they are already receiving aid from our newest allies, and I wished to voice this with you, as perhaps others would like to also join me. I did, admittedly, think it over a bit before coming to you, as we would likely need additional nanite stores for environmental shielding when there, given that the Firians are our opposites of course."
"I fully support and will agree to provision requests on whatever you require to provide further aid to the Firians, however I did wish to ask a favour before you go off to help Overseer Flare." Cryos' caveat and using Flare's name made Virian blush lightly that she had been so easy to read, nodding that she would do what he asked without question, as she was still loyal to her King, despite her interest in helping and learning more about the Firians. "I worry Zera has not had enough time amongst our own warriors, to train as my grandmother had. Additionally, I worry she is hiding her pre-molt pain from me."
"I would be honoured to train with Princess Zera, and of course provide any observations... Does she not have any attendants that could aid her?" Virian understood that Zera had months ago reached the age expected for her adult molt, known to be excrutiatingly painful for most Iceans, as the increase in physical mass under the existing exoskeleton building up before the molting would create painful pinching and often internal issues prior to. Zera posed a unique problem, as she was quite small statured to begin with, and Cryos' shaking his head solemnly with an expression of shame marring his features worried Virian.
"She doesn't, however much I would like, she is very concerned with being able to operate and do things herself without aid in any form. She's been doing her own linens for nearly two years. I hadn't even known about it until I asked some of the attendants in the palace if they had noticed anything strange about her behavior only yesterday." Cryos' sigh and downcast expression further worried the female with him, Virian nodding knowingly.
"I tried to keep my own adult molt from my mother, thought something was wrong with me for a while before she sat me down and we had a firm conversation about it. Perhaps, let me spend some time with her outside of training, she could accompany me to the Firian Moon, I remember she and Prince Pyrus were rather close after the incident on Remora."
"Oh glacier, I had forgotten about that event. Yes, that will help Pyrus as well I believe, he could use the distraction I'm certain." Cryos chuckled, expression relaxing and visibly improving. "Zera has a stone that allows her to contact the Ahr'aht and have her teleported where needed, I'm sure she could have you both to the Moon without any fuss."
"Teleporting? Like the pads used to access the world engines? Don't tell me we are working with the Makers?" Virian lowered her voice, eyes wide, Cryos chuckled.
"No, however Xerxes, the leader of the Ahr'aht, mentioned meeting one. They developed the technology on their own, long before. I have a feeling you will enjoy speaking with him as well, I'll warn you now, he was once on Ice, when I was just a boy. You are likely to wish to see him for yourself, as you would likely not believe who he was otherwise." Cryos warned with a mischievous smile that made Virian grin and raise a brow.
"Oh? Now I must meet him." She laughed, Cryos adding to it himself as they both heard footsteps running toward them. Cryos turned as Zera ran up to and promptly hugged him, turning to bow to Virian in greeting.
"Good morning father, Highguard Virian, I know Jade and Sternum are busy today, did you receive word from Pyrus or Xerxes? Samateus is busy again today with her kin and hadn't spoken to him since yesterday." Zera greeted happily, outwardly showing no sign of any discomfort or issue, and was dressed in the garment Pyrus had gifted her for her last birthday, the flowing silken fabric hiding most of her body from view anyway.
"I did not, however Virian here has been speaking with Overseer Flare via comm-letters and has let me know they are doing well, organizing patrols and are, surprisingly enough, adapting very well to their Military being more visible amongst their populace. She offered to help him with some of the administrative organization and even help others of our own forces work there alongside them." Cryos smiled, Zera grinning lightly at the two, understanding immediately that he was already aware she had wanted to go and see how Pyrus was faring. Meeting Virian and going with her, barely two years older than Zera, would be a welcome change from her usual escort of one of the other leaders.
"I would love to join you, or was that your plan Father?" Zera chided playfully, Cryos chuckling and nodding. "Then I would gladly go off and speak with Pyrus and Overseer Flare, if Blaze is occupied elsewhere. We may even run into Xerxes while there."
"I keep hearing that name, I would like to meet this serpentine being I've heard so much about." Virian grinned, Zera giggling lightly before she gently touched the stone she had carefully wrapped in a thin cord so it would remain at the center of the choker around her throat, lightly touching her exoskeleton. Samateus' mind touched hers a moment before being redirected to Sairyllia, who chuckled and quickly arranged for the two to be teleported to the Firian Battle Moon. Zera held out a hand to Virian, who touched it gladly, bid her father farewell and let Sairyllia know they were ready, the two whisked away in a flash.
Khilseith soon found himself angrily redirecting his attention from what his father was doing with the Firians, to the massive Beast capital ship sitting just outside standard weapons range sending volleys of null energy bolts easily large enough to take out one of the Battle moons amongst its new more vicious appearing ships. He had lost seven manned fighters already, watching closely as three of the newer drones raced past one of the recording camera drones alongside the ship. One of his kin barked at him, confirming that there was no control crescent on the drones that passed them.
His nod and frown was enough to show the observation and comms officer he had heard, her turning back to monitoring her readouts. Khilseith was glad their shield wall was holding on each World Ship, however he knew it would be a matter of time before the Beast realised they were siphoning its energy and redistributing it to their own systems. Watching the sphere had been difficult, even at a distance, in their early years, Khilseith himself having only been around about half the length of time his father had thus far lived, and it had already reached the size it would need to devour a world, nevermind a moon.
Musing to himself that Molostroi would have wanted the damnable Beast to have had their full military might sent at it the first moment they learned it had devoured a planet, nevermind one of the Maker's worlds, envisioning doing so now, Samateus unleashing Ashtareen's full might at the sphere, made him smirk to himself. Xerxes had told him of the first time the two had met, several hundred years before he was born, seeing the plume of flame and light from the Temple to Setesh as she melted it down to its foundations, from space as he entered the system aboard the Obsidian Flare. The brightness had easily dwarfed the star the Taalrulthian homeworld had orbited, her kin then liberated by prompt teleportation off world. Envisioning that, splitting open the shell of the dreaded Beast, tearing Voyd from it and sending him back to wherever he had come from, would forever be the one thing Khilseith wished for most, aside from finding a cure for his elder twin, who had been in stasis now for almost half his life outside, over seven hundred years.
Secretly, he hoped working with the cluster alliance worlds and even those on Sand once they had been brought up to speed, might provide them the much needed break in the research into the strange autoimmune disease that plagued his father even now. Xerxes briefly checked on Khilseith then, the younger reassuring his father he was alright, just musing on the past and his twin. Xerxes reassured him that his efforts amongst the Firians was going smoothly, asking for a brief update on their pursuer.
Advising on the lone gunship, if they could call the gaudy looking cannon-bearing craft the Beast had sent ahead such, moving closer and attacking with unmanned drones without visible containment units led Xerxes to ask for a full report, schematics for their nanite systems and a dozen of their handheld communication padds be sent to the Firian palace throne room, just aside from the Vault, where he would collect them later. Curious but knowing already that they would be requested in time, Khilseith relayed the request to their requisitions team and made the necessary arrangements, Xerxes thanking his son and advising that he was doing well amongst the Firians. Xerxes' thoughts withdrew then, as Khilseith found himself needing to grasp onto the control rail next to his command seat. He had no time to ask what had happened, when the wireframe appeared before him showing the Beast capital ship had launched several of the new unmanned drones directly toward the bridge, through the shielding, to impact the outer hull. While the damage was minimal, it was an obvious shot at doing their command center damage, and Khilseith hissed angrily as he recovered his footing.
**Go to Red, call the Flare back over, Sam needs to respond to that insult.**