For the first time in weeks, Pyrus found himself piloting his ship away from the Battle Moon toward Ice to pick up Zera for a trip to Rock. While they all were quite comfortable with the teleportation system of the Ahr'aht, the two had not had any time to talk alone since the incident that left over three hundred Firians dead. Zuma and the Sunians on Sand were keeping to themselves however Xerxes had been keeping tabs on them, and had told the rest of the alliance the week before that strange small aircraft had begun to appear flying over the dunes late at night. Samateus pushed them all to leave Sand and its peoples be, as they neared the Maker's Ark and reassured that the secrets of Sand would be made known when they woke him.
Xerxes had been required less and less, but would still appear and go on patrols with Blaze on occassion, or Virian and Flare if asked. Pyrus had redoubled his efforts in answering the concerns of his people, even personalizing messages to some or making general announcements that would be displayed on a rotation on the Ahr'aht viewscreens throughout the common areas. Only a few still had signs of the UV-B deficiency, the slowly healing patches of dullen ashen grey skin almost invisible amongst the rest of their dark charcoal hides.
Rock had seen to the reconstruction of the Barracks and re-working of the metals from the damage to the moon, further reinforcement of the wind-carved pillars in the high-walled ravines suggested and enacted by the Taalrulthians, several finding they enjoyed flying through the ravines above the homes and riding the thermals from the forges and capital. Samateus had even taken to training her wing back to proper flying shape by racing through the ravines at breakneck speeds, Sairyllia often heard berating her later from above on the bluffs after a longer winding run.
Bone had moved along effortlessly, the lichen yeilds further increasing and other freighters like Lobe were showing they too had learned the habits and requirements of their pilots, the ships almost appearing to take Lobe's direction as some had shown their pilots warnings about what they thought would be needed, or were short on. Even the Capital Ship Spine had surprised Sternum one morning when it reminded him his weapons belt was still hanging off his bedpost, Femur reminded of an appointment with his physician the same morning.
When Tekla and Capacitor had been brought up to speed with and put in their input on events with Bone and their ships, the equivalence to the computer system used in the world engines was brought up. Xerxes had facepalmed, as the group had decided to meet for an update on everything, which caused a riot of laughter throughout the room, having completely overlooked that similarity beforehand. He provided that a similar system was in place on each of the Ahr'aht ships, to allow for vocal commands and psionic ones as well.
Ice had very little to worry about, some of the outlying colonies visited by patrols with members of all races, though at different times, accompanied usually by at least one Ahr'aht or a Taalrulthian. At first there was a great deal of reluctance to interact with the rest of the alliance, the smaller colonies mainly keeping to themselves and only trekking to the capital if needed for education or military service. This led to the inclusion and expansion of the Ahr'aht outreach program, more of the communication hubs placed and connected to the existing system to allow for the outlying colonies on Ice, Bone and Rock to receive the same information and answers to concerns as the Firians had started receiving at the start of their joint alliance with the Ahr'aht.
Though worrysome that the Beast planet still pursued the fleet, occassionally sending a bolt of null energy at the alliance's protective outer wall of Ahr'aht worldships which was harmlessly redistributed through the shields, what worried the leaders more was that there was no fleet flanking it or any sign it had been doing anything but following. Xerxes and Khilseith had then provided the rest with the access codes for the monitoring network, specifying the two cameras for the system that the two Beast gunships had disappeared to. The most recent view had shown two more of the massive gunships had been built, the planets that had been laid as a trap being broken down and reused to bolster their fleet.
Pyrus had barely registered his escort as he travelled from the Battle Moon to planet Ice, two Taalrulthians following behind. He recognized one as Herasucheil, usually aboard the Obsidian Flare, with her blue-violet trail, the other's energy trail a deep green a stark contrast. The two broke off and moved to a holding pattern over the Icean capital as he slowed and carefully guided his ship into the entryway cave, smirking when he saw Virian and Zera waiting on the dock for him. While he offered a wave, he was not really in the mood to talk to Virian, as he knew she was likely to ask him about Flare, who he had not spoken to in a week. The two females gently embraced before Zera quickly hopped down from the upper dock and over toward the back of his ship, which he quickly hit a button and the ramp lowered to grant her access.
"Good morning Pyrus." Zera greeted happily, Pyrus smirking when Virian disappeared in a flash of light once Zera had left her line of sight.
"She's on shift with Flare again?" He responded with a playful smile, waiting for Zera to be seated before he started takeoff procedures, the ramp lifting back up and locking into place. Zera lightly buckled the safety belt around her middle and settled back with a laugh.
"Of course. She said he wanted to talk to her about the training regimen for his underlings, see if she had any feedback from her experiences directing the same." Zera smiled, though that quickly turned to concern when she saw his expression was more saddened in response. "Is something wrong?"
"No... well, maybe. I haven't spoken much with Flare in the last week, too busy addressing individual concerns." Pyrus sighed, side-eyeing Zera as he guided the ship back out the way he had entered once given the clearance from the dock monitoring station, their two escorts quickly blinking down to flank the ship as they climbed back up out of the planet's atmosphere.
"Really? Are you certain you can't put some of that on Blaze or Xerxes to ease some of the stress? You don't have to be the one to answer every single concern." Zera frowned, sitting forward a bit. "Let someone else take the controls, you can do a once over before anything is sent on your behalf."
"Nah, it's not a big deal. Nothing like what Xerxes is having to deal with right now. Houses Blaze and Igneous are trying to get along, he's the only one they are listening to for some reason. I suppose him being neutral makes it easier, though he's caused a couple of fights, and promptly stopped them himself." Pyrus chuckled, smiling lightly at the memory. "Hest is, of course, at the center of house Blaze, and up front with his distrust of outsiders. His mate tried to ease his angry tirade before Xerxes could rebuke, and Hest let his anger get the better of him and he moved to strike her. Xerxes then picked him up using his back arms and tossed him aside like a bag of linens, hissing viciously at him for even attempting to harm his mate, which had been outlawed publicly by my Father when he was young. I heard about it after because Hest stormed right to the palace to talk to me, demanding that Blaze let him in, and snuck in anyway." Zera laughed lightly at the image of Xerxes simply picking up an elder firian with his massive-taloned back limbs, the look of shock and fear must have been worth it.
"So what happened after? I assume Hest insisted you go with him and remove Xerxes."
"Oh yeah, it was awesome. I feigned concern of course, as Xerxes had forewarned me of his actions, following him to where the two families, with him between them, were still calmly chatting. Lady Hest -her real name is Infria- was next to him with her veil off! Which caused another tirade from Hest, and more of the females asked their husbands quickly before they too removed their veils in a show of support. Hest tried to reason with me, but Xerxes was quick to remind him of the other part of that public decree my dad put out almost right after he became Emperor, in which females did not need to wear facial coverings. It was always something he hated, my dad, and Xerxes also thought it ridiculous, so they worked together on my dad's first decree, which was what we were citing and using to get Hest to settle down. Did he ever get angry, geeze, looked like he was about to erupt his flame was almost white." Pyrus laughed, Zera inwardly thankful he had taken to speaking, as she had not even a single tale to share, only doing her schoolwork and training over the last several weeks. Pyrus could tell she was listening and not wanting to speak much herself, unaware that her restraint was because of increasing discomfort in her entire body. She knew her Molt was imminent, had been feeling the onset of the discomfort for a few days, and dreaded what was to come next.
"So once I finished repeating the decree almost verbatim, furthering that I also felt that hiding the beauty of one's mate from the world to be stupid. Which it is, why not show them off, or let them show what they wish to, within reason? I mean really, my mom never would have covered her face, at least... Dad said she was way more bold than most of the Igneous guard, could keep up with him in training, even bested him once." Pyrus' slightly sad smile twisted Zera's heart in her chest, or was that more sign of her Molt?
"Probably part of why they had you, they were so close they just had the right chemistry." Zera responded, thankful that the next strange twinge she could mask as she adjusted herself in her seat, feeling a tightness and pain in her lower right side.
"Yeah. More than likely. Anyway, that whole incident saw Hest stepping back fully, Infria taking over from him for house Blaze. Anyway, how's training with Virian and Jade going?" Pyrus asked, seeing the Princess wince but able to tell she tried to hide it. He kept it to himself, thinking to himself he might bring it up with Cryos or Virian later if he got a moment.
"Well enough. I'm glad to be learning the fighting styles my Great-Grandmother used, it's only fitting as I'm to wear her diadem when I turn eighteen." Zera explained happily, watching as the blue sky gave way to the black star-speckled void of space around them, their two Taalrulthian escorts joined by two others as they headed to Rock.
"That's something to do with Xerxes isn't it? I swear, there's more he isn't saying. About my dad, that is. He's got secrets woven in between our families that really confuse the hell out of me." Pyrus shook his head and smirked, Zera lighly chuckling as she nodded. She instantly regretted doing so, as she felt something sharp at the back of her neck, just under the choker she wore Samateus' scale-stone on, but thanked the Maker it was hidden.
"He and my father had a rather drunken night during that first week after the incidents with the Beast. Father was hungover all day. I don't think I've ever seen him so miserable, though he smiled through it, no regret at all."
"Oh man, that's something I'm glad I never had to see, my dad so hungover he was completely miserable. I think he stopped after mom died." Pyrus laughed a bit, sighing lightly after a moment. "Can I ask you something, seriously?" Pyrus' voice almost sounded like he was pleading, Zera raising a brow lightly.
"Of course, though I hope it's not something about relationships, I know nothing about Firian females." Zera's light smile widened when he laughed lightly, blushing a bit himself. She could tell he tensed a bit, quickly checking a couple of his controls before he asked his question.
"I have no idea about girls myself, but I was more wanting to know... If anything happens to me, would you look after my people with Xerxes? I... I know-"
"Yes! You don't have to ask, of course." Zera smirked, though her interruption was more to stop him from getting upset, as she could tell he almost had, it also masked a sharp pain in her lower back, so sudden and unexpected she had almost cried out. Pyrus noticed the intensity behind her words, smirking a bit to himself almost knowingly, able to tell she was definitely hiding something, but he had no idea what. About to ask why she appeared to be in pain infrequently as they travelled, both jumped slightly when an alert chimed on the console between them and another expression of alarm was raised by the Taalrulthians flanking their ship. Three barely visible ships dove past them, aiming to strike one of their escorts, Zera and Pyrus both growling at the appearance of the ships, two of their escorts breaking off to engage.
"Now!? They show up now, after almost two months? What are they up to?" Pyrus snarled, pushing his ship toward Rock, Zera's fingers instinctively touching the scale-stone on her throat.
**Already here! Go you two!** Samateus then streaked past them toward the Beast ships that had appeared, a contingent of other Taalrulthians following and breaking off in smaller groups to engage the Beast drones showing up in greater numbers than before seen. **Khilseith saw an alert a few minutes ago, that fake cluster of planets is completely gone now, and the Beast ships that were accumulating there started to disappear as he watched. Xerxes is scrambling the capital ships, shield emitters are already being launched. You need to get out of the crossfire!**
**Already on it!** Pyrus grinned, knowing she would hear, quickly hitting a couple of switches and activating a secondary engine to boost the outward thrust on his ship, racing for the supposed saftey of Planet Rock.
Xerxes had been happily sitting aboard the bridge of the Obsidian Flare catching himself up on the progress of the Language classes his fellows were working on when Khilseith issued a Red order, sending the alert from the camera drone he had received. Samateus was already armoured up and in the fray before Xerxes directed his crew to move as needed, their Taalrulthian Herasucheil currently on assignment running escort for Pyrus.
Xerxes snarled and growled as he watched Beast ships teleporting in above their fleet, inverting their positions and firing volleys of null energy down toward the entirety of the alliance fleet. Taalrulthians and Ahr'aht capital ships moved to create a wall, between themselves and the unprotected worlds in their midst, Tekla and Capacitor soon appearing upon their own capital ship and launching many small devices in quick succession that unfurled to appear like snowflakes. Each one emitted a shield, that coalesced and connected to the rest near them, several dozen of them in total creating a web large enough to protect and cover planet Ice and the Firian battle moon near it.
**Xerxes, they're flanking us from below!** Samateus quickly chimed, Xerxes promptly nodding to his helmsman who teleported them below the fleet, feathers going flat as he observed just how many ships the Beast planet had accumulated. One capital ship for each of theirs, two fighters for each Taalrulthian, with more to spare in the initial group that had appeared. Four of the massive gunships were spaced out below, raised their cannons to aim at the maker's worlds, and fired.
Before he could make the command, three other Ahr'aht ships teleported down just in time to take the fire from the gunships, Xerxes bracing himself when they were struck with the last. Jade, always alert for signs of trouble, reached out through Sairyllia with Graveheart, asking for an update on what was going on, as they knew Samateus to already be in the thick of the battle. Xerxes reached out and connected Cryos, Sternum, Femur and Blaze, his rage barely held as he did so.
**Voyd has made his move. We're doing what we can, but they've flanked us and outnumber us easily two-to-one.** Xerxes explained, looking over his readouts, able to feel the onset of a headache for his psionically connecting to the others over such a distance without a Taalrulthian near him.
**Where is Pyrus?** Blaze asked hurriedly, concerned for his Prince being potentially caught in the battle.
**Headed to Rock with Zera. They saw the drones start coming in initially.** Samateus chimed, taking some of the strain off Xerxes.
**And their escort?** Blaze almost growled, Tekla quickly joining their conversation, using Capacitor's scale stone.
**A bit preoccupied, but they are protected under the shield wall.** Tekla shared, concern masked under her determination. **Capacitor is working on the next set of emitters, should have them launched and protecting another quarter of the fleet in a few minutes.** Xerxes smiled, purring lightly to himself at the efficiency and speed of the Tekians in their response to the threat, thankful that the appearance of a Tekian battlecruiser, similar in overall size and shape to one of his own ships, did not cause alarm amongst the rest of the alliance, as most of them had been shut down for lack of use. **They are running successfully, and the wall appears to be connecting to existing shields and transferring power to them as well to lessen the strain on the network.**
**Wonderful, I knew you'd work out that compatibility issue. If you need more fabrication drones Khilseith has already pre-approved whatever you need.** Xerxes smiled to himself as Tekla then withdrew, Sternum leaving the conversation as well to start directing their fleet to help the already strained Ahr'aht and Taalrulthian forces. Khilseith then sent another alert, warning that he was going to move one of the front world-ships to the back and attempt to ram the gunships harrying them from below.
**I will definitely want to see the recording of that.** Cryos laughed, the amusement welcomed gladly despite the direness of their situation. Xerxes agreed, grinning as the Lead Worldship, the one known beforehand as a farming world, broke off from its position and disappeared through a slipstream corridor only to reappear in a flash between the Beast fleet and the Beast planet itself, engines at full and promptly plowing its shields through the assorted craft.
"No! Pirahnna, Barracuda, fall back!" Blokk screamed at his command console, growling angrily as he watched all his hard work destroyed in a matter of seconds. His warning to his commanders had come too late, the Beast General wincing as he felt the pain of his underlings' deaths almost as his own. He slammed the side of his fist on the console, turning to Lamprey who had directed the first group into position for their trap. She had taken to assisting him, figuring the two of them working together would improve their chances, neither expecting that the Tekians had survived as long as they had, nevermind begun working alongside their hated enemies.
**Send in the other half, drop them under Tekla's shield.** Voyd's voice in their heads had both commanders dropping to a bow, withdrawing only to allow them to enact his will, watching from the shadowed surroundings of his shell. He had conversed long and hard with others like him, dwellers of the Void that he had been summoned from, and found they were willing to aid him if he could open the door to them.
One had gifted him further insight into his Teleport engine, which he easily used to move the remainder of the fleet Blokk and Lamprey had put together directly over planet Rock, the group promptly directed at the one world that had claimed both their commanders, if only briefly. As Lamprey and Blokk continued their efforts, Voyd reached deeply through his own void, casting out four smaller orbs that were then teleported on either side of the alliance fleet, and began to grow. Voyd focused on each orb, expanding and forced them inside out, which generated a portal he had learned how to create from the whispers of those of his home realm.
One immediately collapsed, Voyd unable to hold the four open at once as the strain on him increased, holding three open long enough for a pair of long, slender, blade-like limbs to pass through, which took the control of the rifts from him in a breath. Void thrashers, from another universe entirely, roared challenge and moved to strike out at the Ahr'aht ships from both sides, their size easily large enough to dwarf one of the World-ships of the Ahr'aht. Blokk and Lamprey cheered, redoubling their efforts to cause destruction amongst the fleet before them.