Bastion Earth, along with its in construction orbital ring loomed out in the skies above the Luna Planeshift Facility to Tarvek of Clan Dark Hills as he cleaned up under the great armoured 'glass' dome of the gymnasium and entertainment hall. Only the lightest of workouts, as duty called, as it ever did, to him, with these last checks and exercises being completed before the dangerous planeswalking travel to the City of Doors, The Cage, through the Outer Realms. It had been identical in the previous two such journeys to Sigil in service of his clan, House Outis-Zor El, and of the League of Aquitaine above them. Some foolish human notions to relax before such duty, yet also to prepare lightly as well.

The orc pathfinder merely rolled his hulking shoulders to get the shirt comfortably in place, thinking the whole thing a waste of time. He, after all, had ensured his Will and Testament were completed should he be slain in battle, or merely lost for time as had happened to some view, in the event of failure. All while training and preparing such events were less likely to come to be than was statistically likely on such a role in life that he chosen. A mere caravan guard some might mock amongst other roles as a pathfinder, but Tarvek was young yet he knew, and proving oneself, largely through duty, honour, and survival was oft the means to gain such higher honours. Perhaps to gain a place amongst the spelljammer warriors ranks. As the third son of a second son, blessed with strength and guidance by their God, the Shrouded One, this was his chance to raise his status by merit and strength. Or, at the very least, to contribute to Clan and The League by his death bringing honour to his bloodline.

It was the Way of Skartaris to be so, be it amongst the orcs such as his clan, or the humans of their world that were closer to sane Skartaran Orc than most humans were, even within the League of Aquitaine as a whole.

"Are you done breaking punching bags?" the feminine, elven, voice of their team medicus, Sasha said to him as she, with her usual annoying gracefulness and near silent movement amidst the bustle of gymnasium "Let me have a look at you, make sure you didn't break anything else"

He glanced at the raven-haired elf as she stood beside his sitting form, but still being at his height despite the standing/sitting imbalance "I am not Krull"

"No" she admitted as he flexed his arms at her waving "But you listen to the fool"

"It is called having a sense of humour" he rumbled, standing up and towering over his teammate, and once fellow Collegium student in the land of Skyrim, with secondment to the Arcane Academy here in this dimension's Earth, on Bastion across the darkness of space. Sasha frowned up at him, almost a pout as she folded her arms across her near flat chest "And I too am a medicus…"

"Assistant Medicus" she corrected unhelpful and Tarvek gave a bemused grunt.

"Trained medicus" he stated with a rumble as he picked up his back "I just prefer the hitting of foes than in the healing of friend and foes"

"So barbaric" came the quiet mutter from the pale-skinned elf that he towered over at seven and a half league feet, to her mere five and a fraction. She shook her head "Fine, you are not after wrecking your arm just before a mission…"

"I told you, I am not Krull"

"…so" she ignored his words, flicking her arm upwards to glance at the watch on her wrist "Best we get going to prepare for suiting up. You make take some time for disguise"

"Power armour is power armour" he answered, though he began to wake slowly with her as he opened his bottle of flavoured nutrient water and taking a drink to quench his thirst and ensure he had taken all pre-mission supplements "I have done multiple practices in both wearing and fitting the modified Avenger suit. You are always so impatient for missions, yet rush things"

"I do not!"

'You do" he did not follow up with, wisely, to the elf, whose wizardry skills were far, far, superior to his own, and at least had a temper worthy of a barbarian berserker back upon Skartaris at times "It is just good timekeeping then, as you were with classes?"

"Yes! Exactly that!" came back enthusiastically from her "Can't wait to get Sigil, the embassy has granted my request for paid study time during my stay"

He gave his own nod, sighing as he closed the lid on the now empty water bottle "I too, but, remember it is dependent upon the length of the stay, and maintaining such disguises as taken"

Surprisingly it was easier for himself than with Sasha, despite human being the chosen guises, as Sasha, while possessing the skill and training…did not, truly, possess the temperament. As evident from her deciding to regal him with all that she intended to learn and acquire during this precious trip. His own access was much more meagre, being of lower rank than the team's true medicus and full-time spellcaster, along with fulfilling the assistant quartermaster role. Unlike he Sasha had an excellent grasp of theoretical knowledge, as well as 'pop culture understanding' of various planes of existence – compared to his own bare passing grade, and the whole 'cultural understanding' was just odd to him. Odd, boring, and requiring a second attempt to get past in training as a pathfinder.

Thankfully there was little of such in this time as they arrived, ahead of schedule, for the mission prep, going through the multiple layers of security, both mundane, divine, and arcane; descending deep into the bunker-like fortress of the Gate Facility. The rest of their time began to trickle before the appointed hour, going through their own security and health checks as Tarvek began to get into the power armour. It was an Avenger-series, the heavy variant, but so heavily modified on the outside so as to be unrecognisable; and internally anything traceable to the League had also been carefully removed. Even the parts themselves had been crafted on worlds beyond here to prevent easy track back the League as his arms slide into the bulky looking blue armour, then locking in place the funny bird-like helmet.

His friend Krull was similarly clad, for they were orcs and it was dangerous to place a human in such guises when travelling to other realms. Especially ones where connections might be attempted, as these armours were mimicry of a human god based upon his research, and it was dangerous for Associations to be too strong in very rare realms. Twas why there was a purple skinned gnome within the cyborg human-tentacle-being in red, an annoying gnome named Isuriel at that, as disguises was best not to go too deep either. It was a potential, albeit very rare, risk to be forcibly Made into the Mask with such dark magics in realms beyond here. Such was why he, Krull, and Isuriel, were blessed servants of other goods, however weakly they might be in such roles in his case. Though the annoying gnome was fun at times, such as now…

"What are you doing?" Captain Falkirk, a human firebender, clad in the funny peaked hat and overly gaudy and bemeadaled uninform after he'd asked them had them familiarised themselves with the mission data. As if he hadn't been there, beating it into their heads, the data for their disguises and for the background story of the disguises. Isuriel hit music to his annoyance, as they were not, quite, on Duty, yet…

"Hiya, Barbie

Hi, Ken

You want to go for a ride?

Sure, Ken

Jump in!"

Then both Tarvek and Krull began to dance to the tune with thumping, thudding, impacts as the funny old human song played "WE IS SPEZ MARINES, OF EMPRAHS! FIGHTS FOR GIRLYMAN, IS FANTASTIC! HAVE TIOLETSEAT ON ARMOUR, SHOOTS CODEX EVERYWHERES…"

"Please. Stop" the captain groaned, overridden by their noise as several of the others started to hoot and clap along, Isuriel stepping in with her words in mechanical synth.

"GIVE ME TOASTERS! I NEEDS TOASTERS!"

The captain face palmed, then moved with a grunt, spreading hands and then slapped them together in flames for mild explosion/puff of smoke of emphasis as they broke into the second verse "ENOUGH OF THAT NOW, PLEASE"

"BOOO! BOOO!" one of the others, a 'Trooper' called out from where the human was doing last checks on his 'lasgun' mimic weapon as the music cut out "Killjoy! The cake thing went…"

"WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE CAKE MISSION!" Captain Falkirk stated, loudly, pointing at the Pathfinder Lorvadan, then sighed, hands on his hips "Fine, yes, you are all up to date on your disguises. After that issue with the amazon armour"

"They wuz ugly weemans" Krull offered in response to that mild reprimand after failing to understand on that mission, Tarvek's very first, that the disguise was that of an ugly female rather than a man-bot as they thought "We nots at faults theres, shoulda been stayed quiet me says"

"Eh, we were Noble Battle Brother!" Tarvek could admit, while also reminding his friend to get in the role "We must listen to our Spiritual Liege"

"Okay, you three idiots just…stay quiet unless deemed necessary on the mission" the captain grumble, shaking his head and walking away to check the others as the trade caravan formed up. Secret one, as the materials and goods carried this day were very valuable, and likely to be highly desired…as they were expecting high rewards, but also high interest levels too. Therefore not showing who was buying such goods was deemed essential by House Outis-Zor El, as well as the rest of the great mercantile Trade Houses "Once your full prepared, get into formation we'll do our last briefing"

"Yes Honourable Commissar, in the Emperor's Name!"

"Must you?" Tarvel asked Krull as he picked up the storage pack and placed it on his back, noting Krull…being Krull still.

"Ah, iz just relievins tenshuns"

"Fair, now do a visual check on me please, and I'll do for you" he came back with, as they turned towards all business as the systems of the armour highlighted everything in bright green on the HUD. But, that didn't tell you that your disguise was fully intact, merely that all systems were functional and at the maximum percentage of optimal performance. So, as the trade caravan began to assemble, and a final briefing was given, Tarvek fell into position as the caravan's heavy guard element before they entered the Gate Room in formation. Beyond that lay the path towards another day in service of the League as pathfinders. It would be a very long time before he ever saw it again, though the orc did not know so yet…

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