"Dr Kushrenada! Mr. Maxwell! Come here immediately!" General Noin ordered impatiently.

Maxwell stared at Rua. "Should we tell them about this? What is it, even?"

Rua seemed upset. "I... I don't know! Why the hell would I know?"

Maxwell clasped a hand over her mouth, although since she was wearing a helmet, it didn't have much of an effect. "Shhh! You're being way too loud! We already have at least one dead person, our ship blew up with the crew inside, your maniac robots are trying to kill us, and we have two soldiers missing along with that crazy psychologist who got her foot shot off. We don't need you raising any more panic."

Private Winner walked up to the two. "What in God's name are you two doing? Haven't you heard General Noin yelling for you? You were acting in direct defiance of-" She cut her sentence short for a moment. "Never mind. What's important is that we need to stay together until Ëhen, Falcon, and Dr. Mayaka catch up. So get over there... now."

Rua opened her mouth to protest, but Maxwell quickly said "Yes, ma'am." As they began following Winner, her turned to her and said, "Now's not the time, Rua."

Rua sighed nervously. "I'm sorry Maxwell, but if you found a plaque with your family name on it on the Earth of all places, you'd be somewhat shaken up too."

He shrugged in reply. "There's nothing we can do right now. We need to worry about the missing people and how the hell we're getting out of here. Besides... do you really think Private Winner is the person to tell something like this?"

"Mmm?" Winner said upon hearing her name.

"Nothing, ma'am. Carry on," Maxwell said jovially. Winner scowled for a moment and walked a little faster to join the group more quickly. Rua hadn't realized how far she and Maxwell had wandered off.

As they joined the group once again, they expected to be chewed out by General Noin. Instead, she seemed distant and stared blankly up at the sky.

"We've returned, General Noin," Winner reported.

"...Temporary," Noin said in reply.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Noin suddenly snapped back to attention as if she had been hit with something. "Nothing. Good. Scout the area for shelter. We may need to use it if the IOMSes followed Ëhen, Falcon, and Dr. Mayaka here. We're giving them twenty more minutes. I'm afraid that's all the time we can afford to pass up. Then I'll try contacting the main ship for help once... if they arrive."

~ * ~

Falcon ran as fast as he could to catch up with the others at the meeting site. He was slowing down, though, as it was becoming difficult to run in the snow, and Czelise's unconscious body seemed to gain wait every few minutes. The IOMSes had still yet to continue their pursuit. He hoped it would stay that way.

In a few moments, he reached the meeting site. The ground was largely flat with the exception of numerous snow-covered mounds of varying sizes scattered here and there. It took him a few minutes to reach where the others were gathered. Noin was the first to see him, and let out a surprisingly joyful exclamation.

"Falcon! You made it! Is Dr. Mayaka all right? Where's Ëhen?"

"I... don't... know..." he panted. Winner came over and removed Czelise from Falcon's arms. As soon as she backed away, Falcon fell flat on the ground.

"Falcon? Are you all right?" Noin demanded.

"I'll be... fine. I just need a moment to... rest..."

"Are the IOMSes still in pursuit?"

"No. I'll... explain..." he replied.

As Winner walked off with Czelise limp in her arms, Rua followed her. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked.

"I don't know, Dr. Kushrenada."

"What are you going to do with her?"

"I'm just going to set her down here while I see what supplies I can find." Winner approached a small smooth are between three of the mounds, when the ground under her made a soft cracking noise.

"What's that noise?" Rua asked cautiously.

"It's just the snow crunching under my feet, Dr. Kushrenad- aaaah!" Suddenly, the ground underneath Winner collapsed, and she fell into the pit below with Czelise still in her arms. There was a sickening crunching sound when she hit the ground below.

"Private Winner!" Rua yelled in surprise. She wanted to look down to see if they were all right, but her first reflex was to get out of the area and avoid the unstable ground.

The others quickly ran towards the area. "What happened?" demanded Noin. She started walking towards the hole, but Rua held her back.

"The ground gave way underneath them," Rua explained. "They're both down there."

"Private Winner! Can you hear me?" Noin shouted. There was no answer.

"Look at the ground in this area," Ferdinand said. "It's all ice. This must have once been a pond before the ice age hit."

"Hmm..." Noin said thoughtfully, not really listening to Ferdinand. "Falcon? Do you have any rope?"

"Yes... ma'am..." he said as he handed it to her.

"Falcon, hold on to the end here while I go down and see what condition they're in. The rest of you stay up her until further notice," she ordered. She gave an extra glare to Rua and Maxwell. "And try to stay together."

"Yes... ma'am..." the fatigued private repeated.

As he held on to the rope, Noin started walking across the icy area. It cracked under her weight a bit, and then completely crumbled without warning. She fell down into the pit, but was able to keep her hold on the rope and slowly inch her way down to the ground. After a few moments, she said. "I'm down!"

It didn't take Noin long to find Winner and Dr. Mayaka. Czelise hand landed on top of Winner, and there were think layers of jagged ice both under and on top of them. Noin took both their pulses; Czelise had a faint one, but Winner had none. As Noin examined her, she saw the large spikes of ice that she had fallen on sticking into her back.

"I've found them!" she called up to them. "Dr. Mayaka is still alive, but Private Winner was killed."

Suddenly, she saw Rua slide down the line and land next to her.

"Dr. Kushrenada? What's going on? I gave orders to stay up there."

Rua opened her mouth to answer, but Aalin slid down and Noin interrupted her.

"What is going on here?"

"The IOMSes are attacking," he replied.

* ~ *

Governor Spacehart sat quietly at the rectangular table in the palace meeting room. Colonel Winner took the seat to her left, and Colonel Reese was to her right. Reese was taller and thinner than Winner, and he had a completely bald head and sharp green eyes. Across from her were the three other governors. The leftmost one was a dark-skinned man named Governor Fiat, who was in charge of the cities of Mari and Candui. Beside him was Lady Penumbra, who ruled Lunar City. She was normally pale and plump, but her light blue dress and stark back hair made her appear even more so. To her right was Governor Luciérnaga, a short, fat man with a long red beard who was in charge of Torrij.

There was a final person standing at attention in a dark corner. Spacehart knew her only as Colonel Catalonia, a ruthless woman who controlled the third division of the Imperial military- the Faceless Regiment. Spacehart was much more unaware of the Faceless Regiment's purpose than she wished to be, but it was also well known that he who inquired of such things would soon have his whereabouts inquired by his friends. The governor could only see part of Catalonia due to the shadows, but what she could see disturbed her as much as it had the first time they'd met. A gray fishlike mask covered half of Catalonia's face. The only visible eye was deep blue and had a gray eyebrow looming over it that was extremely forked. She had long, light blond hair that reached down to her waist, and no hands. Instead of hands, she had large metallic claws that were several inches long each, and Spacehart could see the wires running into Catalonia's sleeves. No one really knew where her machine parts ended and body began.

At the end of the long table, Emperor Tybalt took a seat. He was wearing his usual military panoply, and had a long saber sheathed and tucked into the blue sash around his waist. When Une squinted, she could barely make out the name 'Catalonia' etched into the sheath. He must have been taking fencing lessons with the colonel again.

"I'm sure you realize why you have been summoned here," he began to say as he took a seat. "I have received no word from the crew investigating the issues with the IOMSes, nor from the ship that took them there. I am not panicked, but in case they are unable to repair the robots and the ice and soil mining returns, then we will have some problems to work out with the cities. Governors, please explain what your individual cities have done to overcome the shortage problem."

Luciérnaga stood up and smoothed out his beard. "I believe I speak for the other governors as well when I say that we have each founded a government-run soil- and water- recycling facility in each of the cities, but the citizens found them insufficient and started running facilities of their own. On top of that, separate neighborhoods have begun rationing their supplies and begun using their supplies more carefully. Overall, the civilians have helped make this even more successful," he ended nervously. He could tell that he had given the most honest answer, but not the right one.

"And that is where our problem lies," Tybalt said coldly. "Do any of the others have anything to add?"

Fiat, Spacehart, and Penumbra all barely uttered a soft "No."

"Good. We don't need any more than that," he rose out of his seat and began pacing back and forth behind his chair. "The people are becoming too independent. When water and soil supplies began to run low, they panicked and turned to their government for help. Therefore, we had the IOMSes created and sent to Earth to mine. But when the IOMSes malfunction, what do the citizens do as a reflex?" he demanded. When no one answered, he said "They start doing everything on their own. They don't need the help of the Empire any more. We can't afford to let feelings like this spread rampant." He paused a moment to see if anyone had anything to say. It was unlikely, since this was not the first time he had given this lecture. "But we have received no word from the expedition crew. And the central computers can't pick up the Queen Relena's tracking device. So for the time being, we must assume that we have to take other measures."

"What kind of measures, your Excellency?" Fiat inquired to help overcome the monotony. This was the first time Tybalt had spoken of using other methods to keep the citizens of the cities in their places.

"The cities are very interactive with one another, no?" he stated, more than asked. "Each one has their own specific product or entertainment or type of education for them to trade back and forth. But they are all so distant, how do people and products get from one to the other?"

"There are several trader families that use ships to transport goods from one locale to the other," Winner said.

"Indeed," Tybalt replied. "And we are going to buy them out."

"What?" everyone exclaimed, incredulous. Even Colonel Catalonia, who had seemed as if she wasn't even paying attention to any of the meeting, let out a slight confused protest.

"You can't buy out the trader families!" Penumbra said, trying to maintain a calm composure in the excitement. "Your Excellency, do you realize how much money, or perhaps even power, a family that has been trading for several hundred years, would demand in order to loose the lifestyle they have?"

"Oh, we won't buy them all out at once. We'll just do it one at a time, make it a gradual process. Once we have a couple, the others will succumb as well."

"But they will never agree to it!" Penumbra said, continuing her protest. "I come from a trader family that has been active since before the formation of the Empire, and I know from experience how stub-"

"Governor Penumbra, silence!" Tybalt yelled, slamming his open palm on the table. "We do not speak of that," he continued, a little more calmly.

Penumbra opened her mouth as if to reply, but found that she could think of nothing to say that wouldn't get her demoted.

"What route does the Penumbra family trade along?" Tybalt demanded.

"...Lunar City to Rezzaka to Candui and back again," Penumbra said reluctantly, her voice almost at a whisper.

"Hmm..." Tybalt said with a chuckle. "That means that Rezzaka doesn't get their wine, Candui doesn't get their newly trained engineers, and Lunar City doesn't get their seeds and eggs, no? Isn't that what your family deals in, Governor Penumbra?"

"...Yes, your Excellency."

"I see. And your family will be all to willing to take whatever is offered them, of course, considering that they have a daughter serving as Governor with a fragile reputation, correct?"

Penumbra didn't reply. She let out a faint choking sound as she held back tears of frustration.

"Correct, Governor Penumbra?" Tybalt repeated.

Penumbra looked around the room, searching for sympathy. She found it in every face save Catalonia's, but in an argument against an Emperor, it did her little good. "...Yes, your Excellency."

"Good. I shall send the Lunar ambassador immediately to go make the offer to them." He turned to the other colonels and governors. "I know that almost all of you come from influential trader families. While it is inevitable that some sort of bargain will eventually be made between your families and the Empire," he said, as he seemed to be using his words more delicately "you can lengthen the time before that happens by having to prudence to not speak disrespectfully to me." Everyone nodded. "A meal will be served downstairs. For that, I adjourn this meeting for an hour and a half. Everyone is dismissed."

* ~ *

Everyone had climbed down into the ice cave except Falcon. "Hurry!" Noin urged him.

"They're almost here!" he exclaimed to the people below as he tried to hastily tie the rope to something that would hold so he could climb down. Finally he just took a rock and placed it over the rope to hold it still until he could get at least a fourth of the way into the pit... he hoped. "I'm coming down!" he said to the people below.

"We'll catch you if we can!" Maxwell said in reply, which surprised Falcon.

"A... all right..." he replied. He hoped he could trust them enough to catch him instead of letting him plummet and impale himself as Winner had.

A laser shot past him, and he realized that he could wait no longer. He tried sliding down on the rope, but he was barely all the way in before he noticed the rope slipping. "I'm falling!" he shouted to those below. But no sooner than the words had come out of his mouth had he noticed a plethora of laser shots being fired in front of and past him. He suddenly realized that they were trying to break the ice sheet. "Everyone, get out of the way! They're breaking the ice!" he shouted, but it was too late. All they heard was the crashing of the icy ceiling collapsing and falling to the floor where they stood.

~ * ~

"A fine meal you've provided for us, your Excellency," Luciérnaga said as he used his napkin to comb the crumbs out of his beard.

"Why, thank you Governor Luciérnaga. I was quite impressed with my chef's efforts as well, if I do say so myself," Tybalt replied. The response was nothing but small talk, as the entire dinner conversation had been for the past hour and a half. After Penumbra's punishment for speaking out, no one dared to take the risk of saying some asinine comment that might irk the emperor.

"Yes, one of the best meals I've had in ages, your Excellency," Colonel Winner agreed. "The meat was wonderfully seasoned."

"Indeed."

"And the crushed ices were a wonderful little novelty to finish it off," Winner continued, with a peculiar emphasis on the word 'ices'. Governor Spacehart stared at him. She couldn't tell if he was trying to pick a fight, find out more about the Emperor's family situation, or simply had too much to drink.

"...Indeed."

"It's a pity the General herself was unable to join in," Winner concluded. Une's mouth fell open in shock at Winner's bluntness.

"...Indeed, Colonel Winner," Tybalt said in a voice that was colder than any dessert ice.

"Well, then!" Spacehart interrupted. "Has anyone heard of the results of the Leos vs. Cancers game? I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to watch the news today."

"The Cancers won," Fiat said. "Sixteen to twelve."

"Oh. Well, then," Spacehart said as she tried to think of another delicate topic.

"Has everyone finished eating?" Tybalt asked suddenly. When everyone nodded, he continued. "Then we will regroup back in the meeting room in ten minutes. I look forward to seeing you all there." Everyone quietly rose out of their seats and made their way back to the meeting room. "Oh, Governor Spacehart? May I have a word with you?"

She turned around. "Yes, your Excellency?"

He paused a moment until everyone had walked through the door. "I appreciate your attempt to calm things down during dinner."

"N-no problem at all, your Excellency."

"Do you have any idea what Colonel Winner was trying to attempt?"

She paused. "I haven't a clue."

"Hmm. I shall have to keep an eye out for him."

"I suppose so, your Excellency." Time to whip out the smile, she thought to herself. And so did the soft, eerie smile appear over her face.