Chapter 3: Contact

10:46; 5th June; 1648; Testament era

Near the coast – Tuktu City

First contact. This could easily be considered as such.

Masazumi stood at the bow of the ship, and observed the sign frames in front of her, which displayed close-up images of the harbor area of the city. The earlier scout-mission was one thing, but when attempting contact, one shouldn't brazenly cross the border... though that's exactly what they did with England. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. But this, required a more delicate approach. Their targets are post-war survivors living in abysmal conditions.

She squinted at the image that most closely regarded the activity within the harbor. Full of aging hulks so covered by signs of wear and tear that 'boat' would be a fairly generous compliment.

"No resale value at all." Bertoni mused to himself, "And useless to us, even if recycled."

Half-ignoring him, she continued to observe. There's a lot of people crewing the harbor, and the boats moored at it, many which appeared to be armed. Masazumi was able to see signs of people from one boat to another having an argument. They all looked filthy and dirty, as if they hadn't bathed for a really long time. But there was also a distinct lack of camaraderie in place, like they're complete strangers to one another.

Nate hummed as she went to stand next to her and the merchant, "Does it not look like something special might be taking place?"

Masazumi gave a nod, "That is what I'm wondering too. And on that note, I believe that might be our best place to initiate contact."

A divine transmission popped up next to her head, it was the ship's captain; "Milady, they are not responding to our hails."

"You're expecting people like that to have any com tech beyond basics? I doubt they could respond even if they had any."

"What shall we do?"

"Lower the ship and take us in – slowly."

Nate addressed her again once the transmission closed, "Lady Masazumi, I must note: The mood down there stinks, and I do not mean their choice of hygiene. If anything turn sour, it will turn ugly in a heartbeat. Please allow us to take action appropriate to level of hostility if it does arise."

"Unless they start shooting at us, don't do anything rash. Otherwise, feel free."

"Jud."

10:49 – 14 A.E.

Tuktu City Port

"Just shut the fuck up assholes!" Kuln shouted in raw annoyance at the boat used by the Char clan delegation, though it was a delegation only in the vaguest sense. Boats from at least thirty stranded clans had come so far. He had been forced to listen to yet another rant about Tuktu clan hospitality before he turned and stomped away, and made sure to stay close to cover, just in case the idiots decide to send a few bullets after him.

Past the quay, close to the storehouse in the area, good friend Maran came. He held his Gnasher like he meant to use it, "Hey, trouble with those bastards again?"

"Yeah. I swear, they make more noise than the damned COG. Just because they sit on shit-tons of fuel doesn't mean they get to act the way they do. I hope that conference is over and done with soon." and formed air quotes at the word conference.

"Annoying I know. But bear with it, they're Stranded, just like us."

"Go and tell them that. Shit, what I'd give for a proper cup of coffee right now.." Kuln murmured, more to himself than anyone else, and turned to peer at the sea – shrouded thickly by mist. Old luxuries were long gone, and he had long since forgotten what a lot of stuff tasted like. A state he compared to the sea beyond the port hidden by the persistent mist.

But then, in the distance.. a curious light appeared, closing in. At first, Kuln thought another delegation just arrived. But... something was wrong. "Guys, you seeing this?"

The light came closer, whatever it belonged to.. was too quiet. So silent in fact, most across the harbor were none the wiser. "Yes... I'm... uh." both him and Maran who stuttered the response - dropping his Gnasher in the process – was taken aback as a ship emerged from the mist. At first, it looked like an oddly tall ship... until they noticed it was actually sailing through the air, fifty feet off the water's surface. A strange flow of energy passed along where the waterline's supposed to be. The ship's hull so flawlessly pristine it made every boat at the docks look like floating scrapyards... its appearance much like a ghost ship in this dense mist. And since it's sailing through the air with such grace... just about everyone interpreted it as such.

"O-oh, crap!" Maran whimpered in his delayed response as he backed away, turned, and ran.

The same thing quickly happened across the docks as people panicked and fled, shouts and curses uttered. The crews abandoned their ships, mostly simply jumped over the rails and into the water.. since it's quicker. Even the arrogant dickheads from the Char clan lost their heads and ran like they're a bunch of headless chickens.

Kuln however, just froze. Unable to move even if he wanted to.

Some got the idea of opening fire; shrapnel and bullets alike were hurled at the ship's hull... only to see them swallowed up by bursts of sparkling yellow lights, which then faded.. the hull not even scratched by the attempted attack.

As if summoned, a figure appeared, it had leaped down from the ship's deck, and landed on the ground close by, breaking the concrete underneath it in the process. Such a drop of several dozen meters would have killed anyone.. but the strange being – shrouded by the mist, with glowing beast-like eyes – survived and recovered without effort, with what appeared to be a pair of frighteningly elongated skeletal arms reaching out to the sides, each with a trio of claws at the ends. One of the limbs curled around the wreckage of a truck and, as though it weighed nothing, hoisted it into the air threateningly.

This shattered whatever kept the few remaining stranded here on the docks. They broke ranks, and left in a tremendous hurry.

This left Kuln as the only one remaining, his stare focused on this figure in utter fear. It eventually threw the vehicle aside like it's a twig, tilted its head in his direction... and approached.

Left with only one way to escape, he rolled his eyes into his skull, and fainted.

10:53; 5th June; 1648; Testament era

Outside Envoy ship – Tuktu City Port

"What a disaster." Bertoni said quietly as he looked around the now-empty docks as the guards that left the ship before them fanned out across a small area, both protection blessings and Ether rifles at the ready. Tenzou had settled himself onto the top of a nearby boat, his gaze focused outward.

Masazumi stepped off the ship in his wake via the rope that had been lowered from the ship – a gravity blessing applied to it, which allows people to move normally along any surface where it's used – and went to stand aside the treasurer, "I knew there would be some culture shock.. but not nearly this bad."

"So what now?" he fixed her with an oblique glance.

She returned the look, "We need to find a native, then use him or her to contact their leaders." and turned to scan the area until a question presented itself; "Now, where's Nate?"

"I am here, lady Masazumi." the half-werewolf called out, her sharp ears picked up their chatter easily. "I have found that which you seek."

Masazumi took a second to process that, "You've found someone?" and navigated in the direction Nate's voice came from, until she found her looming over a body lying on the ground. A man in his late thirties or early forties from the looks of it. His clothes all brown from dirt and such long use whatever color used to be on had faded away. He also appeared to be unconscious, "Did you harm him?"

"He merely fainted, milady." Nate replied, visibly trying not to inhale through her nostrils. Though sharp, her impressive sensory capability is a double-edged sword, "How rude of him."

Her first thought was to have Nate wake him up, but decided to take precautionary measures before that, "Disarm him before he awakens."

The knight complied, and reached down to rifle through his pockets, and under the jacket till she found a weapon stuffed into the back of his pants. Her eyes widened at the sight of it as she pulled the gun out for everyone to see. A pistol that was a strong contender for the arm-cannon title. Impossibly crude in appearance – at least compared with their own firearms – complete with an oversized barrel.

While primitive, it managed to convey itself as an all too dangerous to Masazumi, who invisibly shrank away from it. Nate on the other hand examined it a little, her hand curled around the gun's handle with a finger on its trigger. She almost visibly gave the thought to fire off a single round some consideration, but ultimately decided against it. "For a sidearm, this thing seem rather excessive." it was easy enough to guess just by checking the length and width of the barrel. Such a high-caliber weapon could make a real mess out of any human it's pointed at.

"Indeed. But throw it away and wake him up.. Let's see if we can talk him into helping us."

"No need to, lady Masazumi-"

"-He is awakening as we speak."

Kuln stirred and felt pain surge across his back and as he writhed against the ground from the fall he certainly brought upon himself for having lost consciousness like that. But he was surprised at his own survival in the face of what he remembered as the approach of a monster.

He gasped and opened his eyes.. the absence of his Boltok pistol immediately noted, and came to look upon the same glowing eyes he remembered from the monster he had seen, only to see now it belonged to beautiful young girl with long silver hair, and an equally young girl to the left with long black hair and dark brown eyes. Kuln blinked and looked around further, and found the numerous armed soldiers crowding the area with weapons unrecognizable to him. But most of all, he was stricken by the sheer complexity of the strangers' choice of clothing, especially that of the two girls closest to him, and the blonde man approaching him in turn – formal, unusual and extremely clean.

Then there's the ship, it still hovered above the harbor. Did these people come out of that thing...?

The man sat up, his face twisted into a mask of confusion, "What... who are you? What is that thing?! Where did you guys come from?! Answer me!"

"Calm down." the black-haired girl told him with the downward wave of a gloved hand, "I am Masazumi Honda, my colleagues here-" and gave a nod to the other girl and the man in turn; "Nate Mitotsudaira and Shirojiro Bertoni. We represent the city-state of Musashi."

An awkward pause followed as Kuln tried to process that information; "Er, Mu-sa-shi? N-never heard of it..." he wracked his memory for his geographic lessons from many years ago for anything that might resemble that name, but found none. And that was without counting all the questions that now ran laps around his brain.. What is that ship? How does it fly? Is this Nate the one who lifted that truck? How? How did she survive that fall? What are these people? All of these thoughts swirled around until he settled on that word that girl Masazumi used; represent. "D-did you come to participate in the conference?" his brain had pretty much broken down trying to process all of those questions.

The strangers exchanged glances, Masazumi regarded him a little more closely now.

So there is something big going on here after all... Masazumi thought inwardly. "Conference?"

"Y-yeah. Many Stranded clans wanted the discussion on the table, whether to strike against the COG while they're weak, or not. So our territory was chosen as a neutral meeting ground. Since we're most accessible."

Stranded? COG? Masazumi thought about it. So that's what these people call themselves; Stranded. COG sounded like it might just be the abbreviated name of an organization of some kind.. but what kind...? She wanted to know.. but honestly, it had to wait.

But if the other clans lived in the same conditions as this one though.. they're in no condition to even start a skirmish.

"Okay. We're not here with the interest of making war. But we would like to join the conference if possible."

The man thought of it, and looked as thought it was giving him a migraine.. "Er, I could take you there."

"That would be deeply appreciated, thank you." she told him with a friendly smile, which served as sufficient encouragement to get up from the ground. However, he was visibly startled when Masazumi opened the chat with the wave of a hand:

[Vice-President]: Tenzou, come. We're about to head for the native's camp. Margot, keep the ship safe."

[10-ZO]: Aye, milady.

[Gold-Maru]: Jud, be safe.

[Me]: Good luck, Seijun. Just don't crack any jokes, okay?

She closed the window with a sigh and a trembling fist, and waited for Tenzou to join them - which did not take him more than a couple of seconds - before addressing the native again, "Okay. We're ready to go, lead the way." To avoid another incident, they would approach the settlement on foot.

"Right.." the man said, "This way."

11:31; 5th June; 1648; Testament era

Tuktu City – Downtown

The city looked bad enough from afar, but up close, it looked downright miserable. The small party maneuvered through the main street that lead to the front entrance of the shantytown further in. Tenzou maintained a careful vigil over the rest, particularly Masazumi – who seemed like she's having a little bit of a hard time in this wildly uneven terrain.

But so far so good. He did not perceive any threat, and anything not discovered by his eyes would be found by Nate's even sharper senses.

He was disturbed by the view though. Nothing seemed to grow here inside the city. Just broken concrete and granite for as long as the eye could see. Eventually, Bertoni spoke up in a hushed tone:

"The sheer amount of materials needed to rebuild.. One could make a fortune here."

Tenzou dipped his head, "Right on the money, as always."

They wandered past one of the holes in the road, which the ninja leaned to the side to peer into. It seemed to go on forever into the darkness below. He wanted to ask the native about it, but Bertoni accurately guessed what he was about to do, and shook his head, "Save your questions. Let the Vice-President handle this."

Tenzou reluctantly ceded the question, "J-jud."

They rounded another corner, and finally came upon the wall of the town inside this city. One built through the use of rusty vehicles and any assortment of metal one could fetch. It explained the lack of wrecks these last few streets. Atop the wall, above the lone gate – made from an old-fashioned metal garage door – a man sat. His eyes immediately focused on the small group, and recognized their guide.

"Kuln, where the hell did you go... All these folks just came and start yelling about some ghost ship bullshit. What happened, man... and who're they?"

"Yo, Matt. It's tough to explain, but these came to participate in the conference, is all. Open the door will ya?"

"Shit. You sure about that? I mean, they could be..."

"Yea, that ghost ship you mentioned.. these folks are part of its crew."

"Huh? Er, wait a bit.. need to check with the boss. Hold a minute."

And just like that, the man rolled out of view. On the far side, it sounded like things are just a stone toss away from a riot.

As if out of instinct, Nate moved closer to Masazumi. And following her example, Tenzou did the same. Out of all of them, the Vice-President's the only noncombatant. Bertoni could handle himself just fine. He was the one who beat a ten ton God of War into the ground, after all. Of course he'd need a broker, but Heidi's just one divine transmission away.

"Lady.." Tenzou whispered, with one hand tilted covertly against his tanto.

"Easy." Masazumi said, her expression one of firm concentration, as if trying to perceive what could happen next. "I doubt there's gonna be a problem."

Not fully as confident, the ninja stood fully alert. He expected hostility would crop up at any moment, and swore to be ready if anything happened.

11:35 – 14 A.E.

Tuktu City – Town hall

Matt pushed through the crowds inside the town hall. All the foreigners that had fled into the settlement had gathered within to alert their leaders. But from the looks of it, all of them were ushered out by armed guards that would ensure the meeting would face no further disturbance. Evidently, the participants of the conference wanted to hear nothing about a damned ghost ship, and demanded their respective crews to go back.

And probably wanted no further interruption.

Still, Matt tried to brave the guards now standing outside the meeting room - though he had no desire of wading into that ocean of sharks beyond the door. Thankfully, one of the guards faced him off immediately.

"Matt, what are you doing here? Your shift ain't over yet."

"H-hey, bear with me – okay? Kuln just got back, and he's got some more who wants in on this here conference."

The guards exchanged glances.

"Huh? Thought all clan leaders able to come were accounted for."

"Those folks ain't no Stranded, man. Neither are they COG. They're just... something else. Kuln said they came outta that ghost ship everyone keep yelling about."

"... I'll tell the boss. Wait here until I get back."

No problem.. Phew, saved...

11:48; 5th June; 1648; Testament era

Tuktu City – Downtown

It took a while, but they finally got a response. Before them, the gate opened to let them inside the settlement.

Behind her, Nate visibly flinched and redoubled her efforts to avoid taking in the stench of the place. Masazumi sympathized, her nose was not nearly as strong.. but still the smell was obscene. Matt exchanged a few words with Kuln before the latter lead them on through the subsequent streets, full of people living in horridly unhygienic squalid conditions. Shacks and primitive abodes lined the buildings, with pens filled with animals in-between.. together with small patches where the locals are cultivating vegetables.

They passed a stand where a woman cooked some food of questionable standards. Masazumi was almost shocked to discover that the native was cooking a form of freakish bat-creatures. But they barely crossed half the first street before they became the center of attention. A large crowd of Stranded gathered to peer at them.. some close enough were rude enough to touch them.. their clothes to be more specific. More than a few men ogling her and Nate. But what especially earned the stare of plenty, was the half-werewolf's long silver hair, styled into five incredibly voluminous ringlets long enough to very nearly touch the ground.

All this attention was mildly degrading. It's like they're a circus parade.

Fortunately, it was not long till they arrived at the town hall, where they finally escaped the bulk of the crowd.

"They're the worst... the worst." Nate hissed under her breath.

Masazumi leaned close:

"Please bear with it, we're on official business."

"I know that. Does not make me feel any better."

"Here we are." Kuln said as they arrived at a large set of doors, with guards standing at its sides, "This is as far as I can bring you guys.."

"Thank you for your help." Masazumi nodded her thanks.

All the man did though was shrug awkwardly, "Yeah, whatever. I need a drink." and turned to leave.

"Ready then?" she asked the others. The man's words stung a bit, but ultimately, they got bigger things to direct their attention at.. Like maneuvering through the bulwark of an unknown tribal bureaucracy.

All this time, Bertoni's face hadn't changed in the least, "Ready when you are, for a price."

Masazumi rolled her eyes covertly and lead the group to the door ahead. A motion that landed her under the scrutiny of the numerous guards that only moved aside to let them in once it was certain they did not carry any weapons. Or at least, not any they deemed to be a threat.

But as she got close to the door, she heard the argument underway inside, a part of it. The girl placed the palm of her hand against the door, and visibly hesitated as she listened in. The plan was to observe what was going on at first, and enter when an opening presents itself – unless addressed first. But now, at what she just heard.. opened the door with a shove and burst in.

Behind her, Bertoni arced a single eyebrow, and whispered a very quiet and nonchalant; "We're in business."

"-When are you assholes gonna realize this is the big chance we've been waiting for?!" Griffin almost shouted at the opposition with an underlying growl. Prodding a heavy finger against the wooden table that separated the largely split group of clan-leaders for emphasis.

Just like he was practically leading the pro-war party after hours of back-and-forth deliberation, Janet lead the clans that were against it. An old hag of a woman with a hard-ass attitude, and who liked to adorn her hair with old coins – the closest thing to jewelry now, but worthless otherwise. She was livid, and fixed him with a withering glare:

"And waste a perfectly good meat-shield? So long as the COG's around, the grubs will be gunning for them.. not us. We're better off saving our own asses and ammo."

"So you're gonna ignore everything those piece of shit bastards ever did to us?! You've forgotten about the hammer strikes? Everywhere they go, everything they do.. there is always pain, death and misery."

"You are really that obsessed about revenge over taking care of your own people?" a new voice asked as the door flew open with a resounding boom, a young one from the sound of it. Griffin and everyone else present turned to the door, where a small crew of four stood. An odd group of youths with clothes of a craftsmanship that could not possibly exist in this day and age. The one up front, a flat-chested girl with dark hair and eyes approached the table.

Griffin snorted and rose up from his chair – to his full height, and loomed dangerously over the girl, "And who... the fuck... are you?"

The girl made a sweeping gesture, apparently not impressed by his posture nor choice of words, "Vice-President Masazumi Honda, my compatriots and I represent the city-state of Musashi. But our purpose here is not about this war you're discussing, but to establish relations, and hopefully, trade."

The former CEO tried to shout down what he saw as a wave of bullshit, but Masazumi practically rolled over him, figuratively speaking:

"But while we are here, please accept the viewpoint of a third party." her eyes on Griffin and his cronies, "Look around you. I am under the impression that everywhere is like this. People living in poor conditions, with few resources at their disposal. And a general lack of everything people would take for granted in a modern society at the height of its prosperity. A small population vulnerable to disease, with few medicines. A limited access to equipment. And you want to form an army out of this and declare war on an enemy that very possibly got access to everything you lack, with the inevitable result being self-destruction all because of your lust for vengeance. Is that not the size of it?"

Janet arced an eyebrow, seemingly impressed. "That is the size of it, yes." even Griffin's supporters looked confused and uncertain.

But Griffin was not about to back down, "Don't listen to her! You heard what she said; Musashi, city-state. You forget that the COG burned everything beyond their plateau with the hammer. I've never even heard of any place by that name!"

"It didn't burn everything. The islands made it out alright. Maybe this city of there are based on an island someplace far away?"

"That does not explain why we've never heard of it before!" the man pointed at the youngsters, "You might all be COG spies for all we know. So tell me your answer, you wordy bitch!"

Masazumi frowned at the man. At the start of this trip, she had deliberated with the others what to tell the natives. Information from England reveals that this might be a wholly different world altogether, which meant they got two options available.

Either tell them about themselves in full. About the world they came from.. and of the events that brought them here. But from a point of view, it is undeniably the most risky. Presumably, it would be too hard to swallow.. with the predictable outcome being isolation due to being labeled as lunatics... advanced tech or not. And they needed a speedy solution to their problems... thus:

She would instead package their story in a way that would make it easier to accept. It could cause problems later if they ever learned the truth.. which would damage the Musashi's reputation. But it's the fastest way to solve the current issues.

"What you said, is correct." she gave Janet a nod, "Our city-state exist far out at sea, and until recently have practiced overly strict isolationist policies we abolished just recently. Because of the same policies, we knew very little of the situation on the mainland. But know this.. we are interested in lending you aid, in great part through mutually-beneficial aid. Thanks to our culture's heavy focus on R&D, we possess the most advanced technologies in the world. We are willing to give you limited access to our technology in exchange for basic necessities we believe you may be capable of supplying."

Griffin's hostile visage faded slightly, and took more a business-like stance. He did not relinquish his views.. but if the strangers truly does possess it, he could use it in an eventual war against the hated COG, "Well then, if you're looking for fuel, then you need not go any further. Our Imulsion-"

"-Is useless to us." Bertoni barked as he came to stand next to Masazumi. She had no idea what Imulsion even is, neither did the merchant, but they could safely guess what this fuel might be, by giving the natives' tech a look. They were probably just sufficiently advanced to utilize air power, nuclear power, gas, petroleum, and so on. All of which are indeed useless to the Musashi.

To the satisfaction of most people within the room, except those who might also only have fuel to trade away, Griffin was noticeably deflated by Bertoni's crass interruption, "Our treasurer.." Masazumi presented him; "Shirojiro Bertoni."

"We have too little space to expand our fields after a recent... crisis." he continued, playing along; "Thus we seek to invest in food from the mainland. However, if you worry about limitations in regard to your own fields, we are willing to provide assistance to facilitate large-scale agriculture."

Janet looked like she had just dropped head-first from the moon itself, overwhelmed. Same with many of those around her, "Th-that is... extremely generous, but it's dangerous... with the grubs and all."

"You mentioned those before.. what are they?" Masazumi wondered aloud.

Griffin snorted, "You're joking."

"They said they used to be isolationist, asshole. Besides, the grubs probably haven't checked the outlying islands at all." Janet chewed him out, then turned back to the girl; "Grubs, or Locust.. monsters that started to come out of the ground fourteen years ago. They were the ones who started this damned war, and is still trying to wipe us out. They murdered billions already on day one. It's gotten quiet lately, but we're still on our toes, preparing to head for someplace else if the grubs come for us. What can we do otherwise...?"

Masazumi felt sick to her gut as she attempted to process that piece of information. For a moment, she was too busy trying to process the thought of billions of dead in a single day, as the stranded claimed. That is, until Nate sent a suggestion via chat. The window which popped out of thin air in front of her made more than a few of the stranded leaders jump in their seats. She read it, and nodded; "One possible solution is to establish a protectorate. Which means you who decide to open relations and trade with us will be under the protective aegis of Musashi's military."

But there's the difficulty. Musashi doesn't have much of a military beyond that based on the city-fleet for self-defense. Other than that, we only have a small fleet of transport ships, and the envoy ship we came with. But... maybe we could try to convert a few of them into warships...

"Does that sound satisfactory?" she asked.

"It does sound good." Janet partly murmured, deep in thought.. "Lots of ground to cover though. You got some serious mobility?"

"Yes, we do."

"Wait, hold – the fuck – it!" Griffin once again invaded the conversation, addressing everyone. With nothing to offer besides fuel he was looking at the evaporation of his own power to affect the other clans. "She's trying to bribe you. You wanna end up like all those poor schmucks who were part of the COG, and got stabbed in the back during the hammer strikes? You're letting these damned newcomers take away your freedoms!"

"Oh, so now you're worried about liberties. Asshole." one from Janet's side huffed. "We got the chance to finally get out past lives back proper. So what if they wanna establish some sort of alliance? They're not COG.. and that's good enough, far as I'm concerned."

Some others nodded at that, but a few took note of Griffin's side of the argument and generally agreed with him.

"Fine." the former CEO stood up and picked up his staff, "You wanna become someone's lambs, ready for the slaughter? Fine, join the damned protectorate.. But don't come crying to me like a bunch of whiny bitches once you realize what you've done." and motioned to leave the room.. a dozen of the other leaders, including a pair from Janet's side, proceeded to get up and leave alongside him. Freedom was the key word here, it was obvious those people wanted to keep it at any cost.

Masazumi said nothing to stop them. It was their decision. But more than enough potential trading partners stayed behind. She was momentarily worried about what this split might mean for the future, but brushed it aside.

With Griffin out of the way, Janet addressed her again; "We're going to need a few days to talk this over amongst ourselves before we sign anything. So.. till then, in case you have to go, what is the frequency we can use to contact you?"

With their current technology, they're probably still using radio waves – which won't reach us. "We will supply you with something to facilitate contact. A gesture of good will, if you will." Masazumi reopened the chat:

[Vice-President]: Naomasa, is it finished?

[Smoking woman]: Just waiting for your approval. Here.

[Novice]: Time for me to enter the stage then?

[Poor Retainer]: Don't go overboard, please.

A sign frame opened next to the chat-window, which informed that the items are ready for transfer. With a click on the sign frame, it shattered into pieces which immediately floated into the air above her, formed additional sign frames – each with the word 'Summon' engraved. From each, a component slid out in a burst of light. The pieces converged at the hand Masazumi held out to accept the delivery, and put themselves together until a single rectangular white/green-colored device came to rest in her palm.. which she proceeded to place on the table.

Masazumi smiled a little at how stunned the crowd appeared. To them, this was very much like a magic show. "Here, you can use this to link up with our clerk. All you need to do, is push this button." she directed their attention to the lone button located in the middle of the device.

Janet stood up and walked around the table, and experimentally pressed the button.. after which she was greeted to a divine transmission, as an image of Musashi's SC clerk appeared above the item, and showed off a cheerful grin:

"Greetings. Toussaint Neshinbara at your service."

Masazumi almost rolled her eyes. Neshinbara had probably rehearsed something more grandiose, and just barely kept it at bay. "Only got one to give away at the moment. We did not expect to see such a grandiose meeting when we came here. Hope this one will do for now."

"Yes." the stranded chief nodded breathlessly, "Very much."

"Now then... before we take our leave, and let you process all that's been said – in peace.." Bertoni reentered the conversation, "Let us go through a few remaining details."

The meeting had gone better than they had dared to hope for. Masazumi fought down the elation to remain composed as the merchant took it the rest of the way. Which left her to invest her attention on other lines of thought. About the COG these Stranded kept mentioning.

And the genocidal monsters they refer to as... the Locust.

We're going to have our hands full for a while...

20:16 – 14 A.E.

Makeshift camp – Kashkur highlands

The sun was dipping slowly back into the horizon as night once again greeted the lands. In the middle of the largely untouched forest that covered the landscape, a small camp existed, partially hidden by the extensive foliage, and consisted of a small circle of vehicles surrounded by small tents, and a lone campfire in the middle. A tiny group that consists of what might be the last Pesanga on Sera.

Sitting on top of one of the vehicles on the other hand, was from the southern islands, a former Gear who left Jacinto in a state of deep depression after the hammer strikes. A man by the name of Padrick Salton.

He sat there, partly on lookout.. and to enjoy the view, with his Longshot resting on his lap.

"Food's ready Pad." Harua – wife of Bai Tak, who died during the Pendulum wars – called out, "Come and get some."

"Coming." Pad called back in pesan.

But the moment he was about to get off, he felt the slightest tremor.. and was just about ready to call for everyone to get into cover as it grew stronger.. until the thing that caused it emerged. Not from the ground though.. it was actually caused by something in the air above them.

In the camp, the laughs and conversations died down. A few on the way to fetch their weapons... only to stop and stare with open mouths, stunned as what just appeared above.

Sailing effortlessly through the air above the trees... a massive fleet of outwardly rectangular-shaped ships passed. The ground shook, but the noise made by the fleet itself was almost nonexistent. A few of them being big enough to qualify as battleships, their hulls covered with turrets that sported a menacing array of weaponry, surrounded by a swarm of ships of various – but smaller – sizes. Including hundreds of small craft that could qualify as corvettes.

It passed overhead, without paying any attention to those on the ground.. of which Pad was thankful for – his Longshot suddenly felt so pitifully small in his arms.

"What are those?" Harua's words eventually found their way to his ears as he watched the fleet slowly continue into the distance.. towards destinations unknown.

"I don't know, Harua... I don't know. But whatever it is... I hope it's friendly."

Author note: And here it is. Was thinking of which named characters from GoW canon would appear first. And ended up with Aaron Griffin, who we see shortly in the third game. And Pad, whose only appearance has been in the books so far.