Defense Battlegroup 12
Neptune Orbit
EFCF Excalibur, Modified New York Class Battleship
Date: October 20, 2204
13:03 Earth Time
On the EFCF Excalibur, the crew would be rushing to battle-stations. The ship's klaxon blared as crew rushed from their normal duties and to their combat posts. On the bridge, Captain James Holt would be looking up at the face of Heikuro Todo, Earth Federation Defense Force Commander-in-Chief, his face a mix of anger and resolve. "Captain Holt, we have received an urgent transmission from our sentry forces by Pluto." Todo stated as he gave a flat and serious look to the Captain of the Excalibur. It would be at that point, the transmission would split and the face of Captain Amanda Green would come onto the viewer.
"This is Captain Amanda Green of Taffy 7, we are currently engaging hostile forces exiting an artificial subspace portal in orbit of Pluto. Force is numerous yet has inferior weaponry. We are holding them off for now but should heavier weight ships arrive we request reinforcements." Captain Green stated as her ship's alarms blared and her XO barked orders to the bridge staff. The transmission would end and an image of a Venomite Frigate would appear next to Heikuro's face as the screen remained a split transmission. A technical breakdown using the scan data would begin on the vessel.
"This is the combat data the Concorde Dawn had transmitted while dealing with the first waves of these 'Venomite Frigates.'" Todo stated.
"Has there been any communications as to why our ships are being fired upon?" Captain Holt asked. Todo gave a nod.
"Just 4 hours prior to the incident, a small fighter craft had emerged from the same point heavily damaged. The pilot, an anthropomorphic fox, was injured and subsequently treated in the medical bay of the Dawn. When the enemy vessels arrived on the scene, they had claimed that the pilot was a wanted fugitive, but failed to provide any evidence of the supposed crimes." Heikuro Todo stated.
"I assume these 'Venomites' got mad and shot first?" Holt asked, to which Heikuro nodded. "Understood, Excalibur and her battlegroup will warp to Pluto and relieve Taffy 7."
"Make best speed Captain, while the frigates may be weak, there is no guarantee this will continue to be the case." Heikuto Todo stated. Captain Holt nodded and saluted.
"Yes Sir!" Holt stated as the transmission went dead. The black and red uniformed man turned to his Communications Chief and spoke, his brown eyes locked ahead out of the viewport. "Lieutenant Hoshi, Hail the rest of the battlegroup."
"Yes Captain." Lieutenant Hoshi stated as she tapped away at her console, brushing some of her black hair away from her face. "Channel open Captain!"
"Defense Battlegroup 12, this is Captain James Holt, by order of Earth Federation Defense Force command has ordered us to the orbit of Pluto to relieve our patrol forces! All Venomite ships are to be treated as hostile, and our priority will be to secure if not close the subspace rift presumably caused by the Venomite forces." He paused and straightened his cap. "All ships prepare for synchronous warp jump on my order!"
The Excalibur, a 358.5m modified variant of the New York class of vessels, glistened in the light of the sun as her blue and grey hull made the angular, cylindrical shaped vessel stand out from the rest of the Dreadnought class battleships of the fleet, painted in the absolute defense line blue and red color scheme. As the leader of the formation, her blue directional thrusters fired near her vertically aligned twin Wave-Motion Cannons, swinging the ship to starboard and facing the outer edge of the solar system. The 15 Dreadnoughts of the battlegroup also began to angle the same way, all of the ships forming up into a wall formation. "All ships reporting ready to warp Captain." The communications officer reported.
Captain Holt nodded and chuffed. "Defense Battlegroup 12, Warp!" He exclaimed. The main thrusters of the Excalibur and her escorts would blare to life, a fiercely hot blue exhaust cone blasted out of the primary engines as the fleet darted forward. The ships would collide with glowing rings of yellow with pure black centers. When that would occur, the vessels would transform into blue streaks that would wink away as the rings closed behind the ships, soon leaving Neptune alone as it had been for millions of years prior to the current day's events.
Pluto Orbit
Defense Patrol Group Taffy 7
Same Time
"Sagitarius' shields are buckling!" A voice, rang out from the communications station of the EFCF Concorde Dawn. "Captain Hira reports starboard side hull stress."
"Order them to duck back out of range, pit us between the hostile ships and the Sagitarius as it retreats!" Captain Green said. "Tell Phantom Squadron to divert to destroy frigates attacking them!" The Lexington Class Carrier lurched forward as she continuously fired her Shock Cannons at the now 27 frigates that had emerged from the increasingly unstable and strained portal. Sagitarius fired its reactionary thrusters and launched its bow torpedo launchers, which streaked through space on a unfeeling and caring path of self destruction. The torpedoes struck home and destroyed two frigates outright and heavily damaged a third, which was then picked apart by Concorde Dawn's main batteries. The E-class ducked behind the Battlecarrier and accelerated towards the edge of the combat zone.
EFCF Johnston, the other E-class of the formation, had accelerated towards the Venomite formation. Being flanked by the Cosmo Pythons of Striker Squadron, the ship blasted away with its smaller caliber, but more numerous number of primary cannons. 4 Venomite frigates turned to face the larger cruiser and wave it off of its attack to no apparent avail at first. Johnston fired first and super heated positrons blasted away from the main cannons and raced to cover the distance between the frigates and the cruiser. Meanwhile the frigates found a targeting solution on the over 230m long vessel and fired their 4 main cannons in a concentrated barrage. The shock cannons would hit home first, blowing apart two of the frigates as the retaliatory Venomite weapons slammed hard into the E-class.
A small explosion would rock the ship as the concentrated beams finished off the cruiser's battered shields and punched through to armor bellow. Smoke billowed from the base of the superstructure as the Johnston angled off its attack run. That was when Striker squadron would split off from the cruiser and burn towards the remaining frigates with a vengeful vendetta. The Venomite ships however would do their best to deter the fighters, if not outright blast them out of the sky. Streams of red pulse laser fire would come from the secondary turret of each frigate, trying in vain to ward off the Pythons, who by now would be approaching weapons range. "Strikers switch to mobility mode!" Striker 1 exclaimed as she pressed a switch in the cockpit. The cockpit of the Cosmo Python would shift back a foot or two among the fuselage of the fighter. The engines and wings would angle upwards as a burst of nearly uncontainable acceleration took over the craft.
The other Pythons of Striker Squadron followed suit as their rocketed ahead into the fire, blasting directional thrusters in wild spins and jinks to throw off the aim of the Venomite targeting systems. Striker 1's ploy seemed to be paying off as the squadron had closed to missile range of the frigates. All was not without cost however, as Striker 4's Python would be hit several times, causing an engine flame out and subsequent destruction of the Python and pilot. "You bastards!" Striker 3 exclaimed over the comunications line as both 3 and 5 lined up missile shots on the closest frigates. The launch racks opened as the Pythons acquired lock. The friend-or-foe targeting systems growled hungrily when achieving a lock and the two Pythons launched a pair of all aspect missiles.
Venomite gunners tried in vain to target the incoming sticks of destruction as all four slammed into the prow of the vessel. The ship buckled under the strain and began to suffer catastrophic malfunctions and secondary explosions from the destroyed power lines and particle containment fields. The rest of Striker Squadron roared past the doomed frigate and towards the last one of the small group. "Switch to standard flight on my signal..." Striker 1 ordered. She yanked the stick back into her stomach, causing the Python to fire its directional thrusters to point the nose up. "Now!" With a flick of the switch and cutting the stick hard to the left, the transformation was undone and the Cosmo Python spun 180 on its flight axis, allowing the primary cannons to fire into the weakly armored frigate. Striker 1 sent a barrage of cannon fire into the Frigate. Venomite armor buckled and shattered as the remaining 5 Cosmo Pythons lined up gun run after gun run, causing the ship to detonate after the fourth pass.
It would be during this time that more ships would appear from the unstable portal, the Venomites seemingly not caring about the increasing instability of the subspace exit point. This time instead of the normal frigates it would be four long vessels about the length of an E-class cruiser, though very much shaped like bricks. They would be long rectangular prisms with quite a number of turrets on them, all about the size of the point defense guns of the frigates but there would be four primary turrets that would be double the caliber of the twin barreled main weapons of the Venomite frigates. The most prominent feature of the ships would be the image of a monkey head with cross swords bellow it. They would pull into the formation of the remaining twenty frigates and begin to start firing upon the Earth vessels.
Johnston would be hit first, the already battered cruiser receiving two direct hits from the broadside from the new arrivals. The E-class lurched and rolled to port as a new gash formed upon the outer hull, smoke billowing out as the cruiser was forced to retreat. Concorde Dawn would receive similar fire being directed upon it, but the modified dreadnought for the moment held the line, at least for the moment, but even its shields began to strain and were close to failure.
That would be before above the Venomite Fleet on the galactic plane, over 60 new beams of bright blue positrons came racing through space and tore into the alien vessels with ease. Seventeen of the frigates would erupt in balls of fire as they'd be obliterated within just the first volley while the other three began to limp backwards to the portal. Only the new arrivals would fair better but by chance of not being the focal point of the attack. The source of the beams would be the 16 ships of Defense Battlegroup 12 charging into the fray of combat.
"Warp complete Captain." The helmsman of the Excalibur stated while dead ahead and put the view window would be the dorsal sides of the Venomite fleet and Taffy 7.
"Reading heavy damage to the EFCF Johnston, Sagitarius' shields have failed and Concorde Dawn is about to lose hers as well." The sensors operator said looking up from his radar station.
"Launch Ghost and Yellow squadrons, Lieutenant Ryu keep firing the main batteries. Wave-Motion use for now is prohibited due to the unknown affect the subspace portal would have." Captain Holt stated to the tactical officer. "Lieutenant Hoshi, hail Captain Green, tell her to get Taffy 7 to the fall back point, we are taking over combat operations.
"Message sent." Lieutenant Hoshi stated to Captain Holt. The older man nodded as he affixed his naval cap. Down in the hangar bay, Ghost Squadron would be hurrying as fast as they could in zero-G to climb into their Cosmo Tiger IIIs that would be sitting on the walls and ceiling of the hangar bay, while Yellow Squadron would be firing up their Cosmo Pythons. Once the pilots got situated in their aircraft, the platforms containing each 2 fighters on opposite sides began to revolve around the chamber.
A hatch on the rear of the Excalibur would open up and angle out towards space. One of the platforms the fighters would rest on would come to a stop as a hook slid under Yellow Leader's Cosmo Python. Python would be slid back and lowered onto the door, before being forcefully ejected out the door as the launch system wet to grab Ghost Leader's Cosmo Tiger.
At the same time, the Dreadnought class vessels of the battlegroup would be deploying their Cosmo Tiger IIs as the the Venomite frigates retreated through the portal, which by now had begun sparking and crackling, slowly beginning to collapse in on itself. The brick shaped vessels, undeterred however, turned their guns upward and fired away with everything they had at the incoming attack wave, trying in vain to prevent the inevitable.
Within an instant, Excalibur turned 4 of its sextuple barreled turrets at the lead ship of the four new arrivals. The barrels 6 barrels of each turret would glow a whitish-blue hue before unleashing their stream of destruction, eviscerating the Venomite warship by literally slicing the vessel in half. The Dreadnoughts flanking the Excalibur also fired into two more of the brick shaped vessels, both of them meeting a similar and grizzly fate. "Fleet to move to form Attack Formation M, create a wall between the portal and Taffy 7. Let the fighters finish off the last of the visible Venomite ships on outside of the portal." Captain Holt ordered over a fleet wide channel.
"Got it guys, let's tease 'em!" Ghost Leader calls out over the radio, accelrating ahead.
"Acknowledged Major," Ghost 2 replied as she rocketed after her squad lead.
"Yellow Squadron let's take out the stragglers, aim to disable their engines!" Yellow leader ordered, banking his Cosmo Tiger III towards the fleeing frigates, one already crossing the threshold back to Venomite space, the other two frigates would soon discover they weren't so lucky. Yellow Squadron and Cosmo Tiger IIs from 4 Dreadnoughts would do strafing runs on the engines of the frigates, causing one to buckle and come to a crawling halt. The other frigate however would erupt into flames and ash as it blew apart from the excessive damage.
Ghost Squadron and its escorts mean while would be hounding the brick-vessel, blowing apart defensive plasma repeating cannons and beam weapons alike. The Cosmo Tigers that accompanied the Pythons would be aiming for the engines, disabling the vessel and leaving it dead in space.
Shortly after the destruction of the Venomite attack fleet, the Portal would sputter its last dying breaths as it would fully collapse, leaving behind the surviving Venomite soldiers, debris, and disabled ships in its wake. After which the Excalibur would raise the Venomite ships over an open channel, being indiscriminate on which one would respond first. "This is Captain James Holt of the EFCF Battleship Excalibur. Your fleet has been defeated and your vessels disabled, I would highly advice you to surrender your vessels and be taken into custody by our marines with no trouble. Should you offer resistance or refuse to surrender we will destroy you and your vessels just as we have done to the rest of your have 30 seconds to reply." Captain Holt stated over the com line while gripping the arm-rests of his command chair, projecting an air of certainty and authority.
As if to emphasize his point, every main gun of Defense Battlegroup 12 would turn and point at the last two remaining Venomite ships, their fury ready to be poured out in earnest. It wouldn't take long for a response would come from the Venomite warships. The frigate would be the one to hail first, the viewport activating to reveal an Ape like creature with a red vizor over its eyes. Its brown fur would be singed as the garbled image revealed fires in the background. A wound would be bleeding on the side of its head, which it was clutching and it spoke in a very fearful tone. "W-w-we surrender!" It said with its other hand raised while trembling. "P-please spare us, we were only following orders!"
"Glad you have come to your senses, you are to stand by and await boarding parties. Should you resist in any way, you and your ship will be destroyed." Captain James said before cutting the line. "Hail the Concorde Dawn, Hoshi."
"Yes sir." Hoshi called out, tapping a few controls as the screen came alive again to show the bridge of the Lexington Class.
"Sorry we were late Captain," Holt stated as he sighed, his tone softening.
"Don't worry about it, figured the message would take time to reach." Green stated as she chuckled. Holt snorted and sighed.
"Here here, we'll have the prisoners sent back within the hour. For now though we will stand guard here should the portal reopen." Captain Holt added with a nod.
"Thank you Captain, Green out." Captain Green stated as the comunication line cut. Holt turned and looked out the bridge of the Excalibur, drumming his fingers on the console in front of his command char.
"Tell the rest of the battlegroup to remain on station and launch a few Seaguls to deploy subspace buoys. I don't want any surprises." The Captain ordered.
"Entering Earth's orbit now Captain." The Helmsman replied while typing a bit at his console. Captain Green nodded and turned to the Communications officer.
Defense Patrol Group Taffy 7
13:18 Earth Time
Outer Lunar Orbit
On the outskirts of the Lunar Orbit defense perimeter three winks of bright blue would flash as the seemingly ice covered ships of Taffy 7 would emerge from Warp. The "ice" would begin to crumble and flake away as the three ships' normal engines flared to life and plotted a course for the blue planet before them. The two E-class cruisers, which would show the signs and scars of their damage would break off from the Battlecarrier and head towards the nearest dockyard for repairs. The ships would signal the Concorde Dawn of their departure, dropping back in the formation as they split off.
"Entering Earth's orbit now Captain." The Helmsman replied while typing a bit at his console. Captain Green nodded and turned to the Communications officer.
"Prepare the ship for landing, and inform HQ of our predicted landing co-ordinates, we need to arrange a pick up point." Captain Green ordered as the door to the elevator would open. The crew turned their heads over to see one of the pilots of Striker Squadron accompanying James McCloud who seemed hesitant to step off the elevator, not due to fear but because of it being a vital area of the ship. The fox would rather not try his hand at overstepping boundaries, though when he looked out the windscreen he'd be quite surprised seeing Earth.
"Lieutenant Nagasae, pray tell why you brought our guest to the bridge." Commander Everwind stated looking over to the pilot as she looked slightly sheepish under the glare.
"Figured he'd like to see the procedure sir." She replied as she pushed her red hair from her caucasian colored face. "Besides we kicked the ass of those 'Venomite' bastards, I doubt he'd be a threat."
"I'll allow it, but Striker 3, this is the only time I will allow this bypass of orders." Captain Green stated calmly, making the pilot nod some. She would then take note of the surprised expression of the seemingly older fox and followed his gaze to the viewscreen as Earth seemed to be approaching. "Something on your mind Mr. McCloud?" She asked the fox.
"Oh, it's just your planet looked very similar to Corneria, minus the land mass placement." He said honestly, rubbing the back of his head some. "Didn't think other planets looked like this aside from Corneria herself."
"Are other Lylat planets not able to support life?" Commander Everwind asked as the Concorde Dawn began to descend through the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
"Some can, just don't look so vibrant, aside from Aquas that is." James remarked as the ship pierced the clouds in its descent.
"HQ has approved our landing." The Communications officer stated.
"Beginning final approach." The helmsman stated, causing James to blink as the closest land mass was still off in the distance when looking through the windows of the bridge.
"Take us in." Captain Green ordered.
"Wait your ships can work underwater to?" James asked with genuine surprise and curiosity, indicates by his ears raising sharply and his tail a bit on end.
"Technically yes but most of the fleet sticks to surface operations when landing and taking off. It keeps from disrupting the wildlife and ensures safer operations." The Captain replied with a nod. The ship would shudder and groan as the aft made touchdown first, followed by the rest of the vessel soon after. Water would splash up and onto the main deck and super structure as the lower half of the hull would be submerged and the top half remaining dry above the water, giving the impression the Battlecarrier was truly a surface sea ship.
"Wouldn't landing at a space port be better though?" James asked, trying to regain a bit of his balance.
"If our population was smaller, perhaps. This is the best solution we found considering most modern EFCF warships are built from a design foundation based on what we learned from the Yamato." Captain Green answered.
"Yamato?" The displaced McCloud asked while looking on out the window with surprise and awe at the fact that a warship could operate on 3 environments at once.
"The flagship of the EFCF and the oldest in service." The Captain replied simply, looking on as a massive city scape would begin come into view. The ship would be approaching the coast of Japan, the city of New Capital coming into view. "It's also the only reason our civilization still exists today." She added with a bit of a somber tone to her voice before shaking her head. Before James could ask what that meant, Green was about to begin giving orders. "Helm, come to starboard, 45 turn and have us face bearing 090." The captain ordered the helmsman.
"Bearing 090 aye." The Helmsman replied, pulling the control wheel at his console back and turning it, causing the ship to begin turn to face parallel with the coast line. For those not sitting it would be a little bit of a lurch as the ship turned but nothing major.
From the shore, a small crowd of people had gathered to see the Battlecarrier as it began making its way for the dockyard. As the Lexington Class wadded through the water, the take off of a Dreadnought class battleship could be seen from the edges of the bridge windows. Though a normal sight for most of the bridge staff, and a new one to James, it would still be a sight to behold as the vessel climbed from the water and activated its Wave-Motion Engines mid-air. A plume of yellow fire and smoke would come from the ship's rear thrusters as it disappeared into the atmosphere and subsequently into orbit.
The ship would slowly approach the port and come to a stop adjacent to some other smaller military vessels on the port side and the massive visage of a standard fit of the Andromeda class, AAA-13 Scorpius, on the starboard side painted in a deep gray primary color, starkly contrasting the bright blue of the Concorde Dawn. with typical white accents on her turrets and prow. "You guys certainly have a high defense budget..." James commented, causing a few in the bridge to shrug.
"It's what constant warfare brings Mr. McCloud." Commander Everwind stated as the Helmsman spoke up.
"Anchor deployed and ship is at a standstill, Captain." The helmsman reported.
"Good." Captain Green stated while standing up from the command chair of the bridge. Some of the other crew would also begin standing up as some boarding ramps would be set onto the vessel by the side door entrances of the ship. "Tell the hangar to prepare a Gul for launch." She ordered while stepping out towards the elevator. "Mr. McCloud, if you'd care to join me." The Captain offered the injured fox who nodded as his orange and white fur would shine a bit from the sunlight helping illuminate the alien fox.
"Where to?" James asked as he decided to follow her. The pair would step into the elevator and the door closed.
"To defense HQ where I can give my superiors a on the situation with the Venomites and hopefully see if there is a way to get you home." Captain Green answered as the elevator continued down about five decks to the primary hangar bay. The answer seemed to satisfy the fox who nodded as the door to the elevator opened and Captain Green began walking down the hallway. "Of course they would also probably ask you about your 'Arwing' as well."
"I understand. I don't know all of the engine's functions, but I know enough for field repairs." James replied while humming and the two reached the hangar entrance. The door hissed open to reveal a large and expansive rearming and refueling space with fighter craft the fox would've never seen before in his life. Though to the left of the hangar held up by ropes would be a slightly disassembled Arwing, but the disassembly was very professionally done despite the lack of knowledge of its make up and composition. James sighed at the sight of his craft, causing the Captain beside him to look over to the airframe and hum.
"We'll try to see if it can be fixed, once we can get everything else squared away." Captain Green stated before nudging the fox towards the Cosmo Seagul as it rested on the launch elevator. The two would approach the Seagul and climb inside as the pilot turned back to the pair.
"You two sitting in the passenger section or up front?" He asked the pair as the Captain moved into the cockpit with the pilot, taking the co-pilot's chair. James, not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts, and wanting to see how this foreign craft flew first hand, also sat up in the secondary seating row behind the pilot.
"Take us to EFCF Defense Headquarters." Captain Green stated putting on a helmet. She offered one to James who took it and tried to put it on. The fox would slide it on but it wouldn't be that comfortable due to his ears being compressed under it. The craft would jolt as the elevator the Seagul was on would be hoisted up to the top of the flight deck, causing the pilot to flip a few switches. As the craft rose, the dull interior of the Lexington Class would be replaced by the light of the sun and the blue sky in the air above. The engines of the Cosmo Seagul would roar to life as the elevator reached the flight deck, revealing the true scale of the cityscape around the dockyard.
The sight would cause the alien vulpine to look around in amazement as a few small aircraft flew by the numerous towers and sky scrapers, though a lurch from the Seagul would snap him slightly from his staring. The box like craft with wings would lift off from the deck of the Battlecarrier and begin to make its way into the city, minding the other air traffic around while heading for the center of the city. The human crew couldn't help but notice their passenger look around and take in the sights of the city around them as they flew by, passing over a residential sector than a comercial one.
Various cars and trucks of all standard types would be driving up and down the high ways and streets without a care. Soms of the smaller streetz would seem to house some form of vendors for products that couldn't quite be made out at properly from this altitude. The various small parks would be populated by families enjoying time with kids and people on strolls, helping add to the sense of pure life the fox was feeling seeing it all. "Heh, really is a lot like home." James mumbled to himself, causing Captain Green to turn back to face him with a confused expression.
"Did you say something Mr. McCloud?" She asked as their destination approached. James blinked and was pulled out of his train of thoughts. He'd rearange the harness so it wouldn't dig into the cast on his arm and hummed a bit while shaking his head.
"Just admiring your planet Captain, just reminds me a bit of home." James replied with a small nod. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was the capital of Corneria." He added causing the Captain to shrug.
"Guess some things can be considered cosmic coincidences." Captain Green replied before turning back to face out the window, watching as the HQ building drew near. "As I haven't seen Corneria I cannot attest to the accuracy of it however." She stated as the Seagul got permission to land on the landing pad of one of the tallr buildings of the city center. It would be adorned with the symbol of the Earth Federation Government and seemed to be a bit more tightly run than a normal building considering the armed guards at the edge of the landing pad.
The engines would wind down and the caft landed with a soft thunk, the seats jerking slightly under the weight of the craft as it came to a rest on the pad, the doors hissing and sliding open. "Here you are, sir." Pilot stated as he flipped a few switches and powered off the Seagul fully. "Wish you two luck dealing with the suits." Captain Green rolled her eyes and took off the flight helmet, gesturing for the fox to do the same.
James, finally able to do so, joyously took off the helmet and breathed a sigh of relief. He gave his ears a few tender rubs as the Captain passed him when heading to the door. James would follow soon after, standing behind the Captain who would be standing before the guards as she awaited James. The guards would turn to face the duo as the fox caught up, careful not to hit his cast in the small jog he performed. "Captain Green?" One of the guards asked, causing the Captain to nod. "We were told to escort you and the alien pilot to the command room. The President and Defense Command would like to have word with the both of you." The Captain gave another nod and the two guards turned about face and marched ahead, the Captain and fox following behind as they entered the building and into a corridor.
The walls were a smooth grey with blue and natural lighting that entered through the various windows along the hallway. The group would continue on straight, passed a few other officials, who would move respectfully out of the way of the four, but James could feel the rathee confused and surprised looks directed his way. While none were malicious, at least not based on observations, it still felt odd to have so many foreign eyes upon him. It wouldn't last to much longer however, as the group came to a wide door that seemed to be a form of elevator. One of the guards hit a button on the side of the door, and the group patiently waited. "So are you an actual like fox, or do you like, call yourself something else?" The guard opposite the button asked James, causing him to blink.
"In terms of..." James replied trailing off.
"The idiot means species." The guard by the buttom stated, causing the other to grumble a bit.
"I'm not an idiot." The second one stated.
"Really? First time you see a non-Garmillan and you ask 'what do you call yourself?'" The first replied boredly and sighed.
"I um...never really thought about it? I guess fox works but that would be confusing back where I am from." James replied.
"Why is that?" The second guard asked curiously.
"Because that's my son's name." James replied simply, causing both guards to snicker, to which they were both snapped out of it when Captain Green coughed. James would be a bit confused about the snickers at first before something clicked in his head. The others turned to face him as he chucked a bit, shaking his head. "I guess I am a bit funnier than I gave myself credit for." The tension in air lifted as the humans let out a chuff while there was a soft dinging noise from a near by speaker.
The door opened with a soft hiss and the four stepped inside, the second guard pressing the floor number for the conference room. After a few seconds the floor would lurch and the elevator would begin its ascent into the upper floors of the command building. A soft jingle would play as the group rode up, watching the display as the floor numbers increase. The ride would be mostly silent aside from the jingle, air a bit heavy with awkwardness a bit as the guards wanted to ask questions to James but weren't sure where to start due to just the circumstances at hand.
The pause of conversation would end when the elevator door would slide open, the classic ding playing to alert its passengers that it had arrived upon the desired floor. The four would step through the door and into a massive hallway with and even bigger door on the far end. "They are ready to see you both." The first guard said stopping by the elevator with his compatriot. Captain Green nodded and led James forward to the door and opened it.
Within the room would be an office with a few individuals sitting behind the main office desk of the room. The one on the left would be tall and averagr built form of Heikuro Todo. The figure on the right would be a shorter mustached, man who would have two grey streaks of hair above his ears, built in a somewhat heavier set manner. Both men on the left and right would be in EFCF command uniforms while the one in the middle would wear a nice blue suit and tie that would be rather sharp for the brutish build of the man. His brown hair would be swept back in streaks and his eyes fixed on the duo entering the room.
Captain Green snapped into a salute, the other three humans in the room reciprocating the gesture in kind. James would also do a Cornerian salute to the men, assuming they were very important by the fact the Captain had saluted them on cue. The man in the blue suit gestured to two chairs on the oposite side of the desk as the windows brightened up a bit behind the trio. "Thank you, Mr. President." Captaim Green stated while sitting down. James would nod and sit as well. "It's and honor to be here." The blue suited man chuckled.
"It is no trouble Captain, you and your crew have the most experience with this first contact." The President stated, his gaze then turned to the fox. "So Mr. McCloud, is it?" He asked, earning a nod from James. "Tell me, just what sort of device brought you to our neck of the woods..."