After a lengthy amount of time of fairly uneventful and continued travel, and nearing Prince Pyrus' eighteenth birthday, did the Alliance find a possibly suitable solar system for their attempt to settle once more. Tekla had been working non–stop for a week reviewing long–range scans and surveying this possible solar system. There had been many possibilities, but were usually showing signs of the Beast planet having been through, stars with no worlds orbiting them but plenty of debris and asteroids that showed signs of battle and traces of null energy were present. She may have finally found one and called a gathering of the world leaders, with the Sand-kin Zuma representing Sand on behalf of her people and the rather ignorant Sun-people.
As customary, they agreed to meet on planet Ice, as that had been where the alliance first formed. It had been Graveheart, the Rockian miner who saved Tekla and assisted King Cryos of Ice in defeating the first beast drones they had encountered in the cluster. Now, many months after that fateful day and a full year later, the world leaders were to be gathered in the large room around a circular table, to show that all attendees were equal.
Lady Zera, daughter of King Cryos, had been with and assisting Tekla when they found the suitable solar system for their needs. Zera enjoyed the company of her peers, Zuma, Tekla and Jade the most, thankfully having regular interactions with Jade and Sternum had kept her focus and given Cryos a needed incentive to keep her focused while in classes. Her birthday, which had been held a month previously, had seen her receiving gifts from each of the world leaders. Many had gotten her traditional gifts from their worlds, jewelry, clothing, hair decorations, a wrist-mounted blade from Sternum and even a small bone-carving statue of Femur now graced her bedside table. None had topped the beautiful silken gown Pyrus had gifted her. It was similar to the garments worn by Firian females, but adjusted for her secondary arms and made of a shimmery violet and copper silk that fit her comfortably and swished just enough to show off her natural beauty while still leaving much to the imagination. Her words had failed her, the beautiful garment, with a matching traditional veil, that could easily instead be used as a shawl instead, had shocked her. Pyrus had simply smiled, scratching the back of his neck nervously before she quickly hugged him and skittered off to her room to put it on.
When she returned, despite thinking he would have left, Pyrus sat at the table speaking with Femur and Sternum, the group laughing at a joke told by Femur, silence filling the room at her sudden return. She felt more naked than any time before, with all eyes on her in the strange Firian garment. Instead of criticism, the gathered parties in the room shortly began to clap for her. She had blushed so furiously, she thought her skin to be darker than her new robe, but was told she looked beautiful and that the colours, while not traditionally seen on Ice, suited her.
Thanks to his gift and kindness, Zera wanted to do everything she could to help Pyrus and his people, even sacrificing sleep and personal time to help Tekla look over long range scans and the gravitational data she had previously known so little about. When they found this system, Zera had wanted to run off to find Pyrus immediately with the good news, but Tekla instead suggested they make it a surprise, as so little could possibly help raise the Prince from the depression they all knew he fought daily at not having a proper home for his people. Zera shifted in her seat, a bit agitated and excited to see the reactions of her father and their friends, the other world leaders and Graveheart.
Graveheart and Empress Jade of Rock were the first to arrive, their dark slate–grey wedge–shaped Arrowhead showing the signs of the overhaul improvements being made to the alliance fleet, distinct Firian and Icean designs worked into the existing hull and even some obvious Bonean organics snaked in. Much as Pyrus had suggested doing for himself, which had sparked the idea to spread the improvements throughout the alliance.
The peoples of Sand, primarily the Sun people, had become complacent and had long thought there to be no life beyond the skies of their world, an ignorance that was quickly corrected. However, the Sun people were happy to let the offworlders do with the Sand people as they pleased, though they were obviously unhappy with being left out of the alliance proper, and had to change their interactions with the Zumahim in order to continue to live as they had grown accustomed to. Now, Ramset and his people treated the Sand people as equals, though it had taken a great deal of time to do so. Some of the Sun People had seen the visitors from the other worlds as Makers after a time, as they so freely came and went without care for the sandstorms that would appear or the scorching heat they themselves had to frequently abscond from.
Therefore Zuma, of the telepathic Sand people, or Zumahim as they preferred, needed to be ferried from world to world, a job normally accepted by Pyrus. Pyrus had easily taken to using his retrofitted Icean craft with adjusted maneuverability and reinforced hull for longer trips between worlds and greater seating capacity, as he had taken to ferrying a few of the other world leaders around when necessary even before the Beast had been sent away.
He also used it as an excuse to get away from the monotonous politics and the battle moon, but would never admit this openly.
His ship, painted and polished to a beautiful golden-bronze to imitate Firian craft, landed gracefully and soundlessly in the hangar of the Icean captial-caves, alongside the behemoth Bonean ship that landed a bit less gracefully, causing the fine upper layer of shining ice to crack and spider along the floor of the hangar. Sternum and Pelvus joined Femur once the loading bay of their ship opened, waving exaggeratedly as Pyrus and Zuma padded over from their dock.
"It's been a while kid, why don't you ever come and visit?" Femur greeted, feigning a brief sadness as it had been a few months since they had last been able to spend time together outside of meetings and Zera's Birthday. Pyrus shrugged, smirking a bit as he gave a nod to Sternum and Pelvus.
"You know how it is Femur, Zera and Zuma like to keep me occupied." Pyrus joked, Zuma just looking blankly, sending the image of a smirk to their minds. The group chuckled as they continued inside, the Icean guards and ship maintenance crews milling about, some looking over the three new arrivals, awed that the Bonean ship seemed little changed, but knew the inner workings and overall organics had been enhanced and evolved with advancements in bio-technology and energy cell containment allowing the organic ships to operate without any cell degradation due to radiation leaking from the energy cells.
Graveheart and Jade had gone off ahead, as Jade still had little desire to be around Femur in any capacity, and were already inside the meeting room, Cryos speaking with them on the water that had recently been shipped over in exchange for a large amount of copper and steel composite, which would be used to create further engines and hull plating which would be distributed through the alliance ships. Once all were seated and had finished their conversations, even Pelvus and Sternum on either side of Femur, the lights in the room darkened; a holo-image of a blue star, with three small darkened worlds, appeared over the massive circular table. Pyrus fixed his gaze on one of the three worlds in particular, close to the star. This world, larger than the other two, had one moon, and seemed tectonically active, volcanoes erupting brightly beneath the ashen atmosphere.
"This small solar system has a strong sun, the three worlds visible here seem uninhabited, and appear to lack world engines, but I am confident, with study and a bit of time, we can settle the world closest to the sun itself. A few days travel and we may be able to shut down the world engines. That is, providing that there are no other surprises waiting for us." Tekla smiled, watching the others as they gazed at the new solar system they hoped to call home in the near future. Pyrus seemed quieter than expected, Zera eyeing him, crossing her arms a bit in frustration at him saying nothing about their hard work.
"Are we sure none of these worlds are inhabited?" Jade piped up, "The last thing we need is a different hostile race on our heels." She sat back, standoffish and skeptical.
"Long range scans show no signs of civilization, so a closer look will be necessary, just in case we come across something like planet Jungle or even some other species that haven't quite become spaceworthy yet." Tekla advised as the hologram changed to show basic planetary readings including, but not limited to; estimated surface temperature, orbit, speed and surface gravity. "At this range we cannot determine atmospheric conditions, but I remain hopeful." she added. Femur and Sternum were eying the two smaller planets, one significantly cooler than the other, due to its further placement and orbit around their, hopefully, new sun.