A Hostile First Encounter -Warning: Language, Violence

[Akira110]

Prologue

**19,500 Years Ago**

An Aries Menschilche was disgusted with the failures that his faction had created, these genetically engineered Super Soldiers were supposed to be hyper intelligent and much stronger than any Menschilche. However they only fulfilled the second one, while their lifespan was much shorter. The only other good news is that these new Super Soldiers were very adaptable and seemed to evolve adaptations rather quickly. He watched as the creatures banged rocks together and looked at sticks rather dumbfounded about them, they were worthless. He had asked for dragonslayers, not idiots that couldn't potentially figure out what a dragon was!

The Menschilche slammed his fist on the table, "Dammit!" Another Menschilche looked at him, "Director, what's wrong?" The Director looked at her, "These are another batch of failures! At this rate the Dragons are going to win the war against us and there's nothing that we can do about this!" The female Menschilche nodded her head and looked at a datapad, "What do you propose we do, release these failures into this world with the hope that they will die?" The Director nodded, "Of course." Suddenly a door opened behind the Super Soldiers and they fled from the cage that they were in.

The director sighed and grabbed his drink, he didn't enjoy alcohol that much, but he was frustrated to the point where he didn't care. He downed the drink and though it burned all the way down, he didn't even show any reaction. The Female Menschilche sighed, "We have another batch." The Director sighed, "If they're not what we want, release them onto this world." The female nodded and walked out of the room, the Director sighed and pressed a button on his desk, "We're packing up and leaving this planet. Leave no technology for these failures to utilize. We don't want them trying to use our weapons against us." The Director sighed and looked at the Super Soldiers that sat out there, "Dammit. Where did we go wrong."

The director walked towards the hangar and got onto his personal shuttle, "I'll be glad to get off this damned planet." The Director noticed blood in the cockpit and sighed, "What the [censored] is going on here? Can my day get any worse!?" Suddenly a Super Soldier rushed him with a club and started beating him to death. Though the Director tried to scream, he was much too weak to fight the Super Soldier off, "I created you! You will stop this at once!" The Super Soldier kept beating him to death, "Me Human! Me kill you!" The human didn't stop beating the director, until he saw blood leak out of his bashed in skull, he left the shuttle leaving the two corpses in it.

The female Secretary walked into the hangar and noticed the shuttle was still on the landing pad. This was extremely unusual for the director, but she noticed that the door was open on the back which worried her greatly. She walked carefully, "Director?" She paid attention to her surroundings, and was hoping that nothing was going to hurt her. She knew that no dragons were out this far, but she couldn't be too careful as things on this planet could still kill her. When she got to the door of the shuttle, she saw blood and feared the worst, but nothing could prepare her for the sight she was about to see. She climbed in and saw the director laying there, his skull bashed in and cracked open, blood everywhere.

She screamed loudly and a security team came to her position, "What is it!?" She pointed at the Director's corpse, hysterical. One of the guards sighed, "Looks like they weren't total failures after all." Still he gave his order to leave this planet and leave them to their fate. Come, we won't let them hurt you." The Secretary nodded as they boarded a shuttle, the security team made sure that there were no rogue humans on board. Within minutes the shuttle took off and she was heading for the cruiser in orbit. She looked back at the planet, angry and upset that her lover had been killed. She wasn't going to miss this planet any time soon, and she knew that after she had given her report to the Emperor, this planet would no longer be part of Menschilche territory...

[Akira110]

Chapter 1

**Present Day**

A redheaded female human sat in the captain's chair of a battleship. She had no idea why she was being sent out like this to a world that they had discovered thirty years ago, but she had her orders. She did enjoy her job as it meant that she could explore the cosmos, but she didn't like when she wasn't given a reason for it. She leaned her head against her hand and sighed slightly, "Helm, how long until we reach this planet?" The helmsman looked at her, "About twenty minutes, Captain." The Captain nodded slightly and looked at the ceiling, "About time." Her first officer looked at her, "Captain, permission to speak freely?"

The Captain nodded, "Always, Number One." The first officer sighed, "Listen, I've known you longer than anyone here. I can tell that something's bothering you, do you wish to share it with me?" The Captain sighed, "Number One, follow me to my ready room." She stood up and walked over to the ready room with her first officer in tow. She sat down at her desk and looked at her First officer, "Thomas, I'll be honest, I'm concerned that we have been given no reasoning for our orders. We've just been told to go to this planet and destroy any military presence near or on it. This is our chance to have first contact with an alien species and yet our leaders wish to [censored] it up by having us attack first! It seems like we're some sort of sacrificial lambs!"

Thomas nodded, "Stephanie..." Stephanie glared at him, "It's Captain as long as we are on this ship." Thomas sighed, "Sorry, Captain. But we've never gone against orders before." Stephanie nodded, "I know, that's the soldier's job. We're supposed to follow orders, not question them. But I keep thinking, what if there's no military base on the planet, what if it's just a civilian colony. From images, we can tell their technology is advanced, similar to the images we received weeks ago." Thomas nodded and the comms on her desk cracked to life, "Captain, we're disengaging the FTL drive now." Stephanie sighed, "We'll continue this later." She pressed the button on the comms, "Understood. I'll be on the bridge in a minute."

Stephanie walked out of her ready room and she sighed as the viewport showed a planet that was not unlike another planet in her star system, it was a bit reddish, but there was obviously a terraforming project underway to make it habitable. However, she didn't have very long to gaze at the planet when six ships of unknown design came into view. The tactical officer spoke up, "Captain, their ships are projecting an energy field and their weapons are online!" Stephanie sighed, she wanted to try a diplomatic route, "Open a channel!" The comms officer looked at her, "Captain, we have our orders. You are to destroy any military presence here." Stephanie looked at him, "And you have your orders. I will assume full responsibility for the actions of this crew."

No sooner did the comms officer turn back to his console, did missiles fly in front of her viewport from the rest of the fleet at the unknown ships. For some reason they passed straight through the energy field and slammed into the ships, damaging them heavily. Stephanie slammed her hand on her armrest, "Dammit!" She felt like there was no dignity within her fleet anymore. She had wanted to try for a diplomatic solution and now it was blown completely out of the water. She watched as gravity took hold of the mysterious ships as a voice spoke up on her comms, "You... [censored]... we were trying... to reach you..." There was a coughing sound, "we were... expecting the Menschilche... not... you..."

The sound cut off and Stephanie watched as the ships fell towards the colony that was on the planet, however, she heard her tactical officer speak, "The rest of the fleet is bombarding the colony. Do you wish to join them." Stephanie knew deep down that it wasn't a military installation on the planet, but a civilian colony, the terraforming of the planet supported that. She felt absolutely sick as she watched the colony burn, but she also knew that she couldn't do anything if she wanted to. If she tried to fight her own fleet, she would surely lose. If she tried to run, she would be hunted down and killed. She felt like her only form of justice would be to stay here and be found by and captured by this strange alien race.

Stephanie got up out of her chair and walked to her ready room, locking the door behind her. She grabbed her trash can and puked in it, the idea that she was at least partially responsible for the deaths of innocent men, women and children was too much for her to bear. She knew that she should've done something to stop this, but she was too uncertain if this new race was even hostile or not. She knew that as a leader, she had failed by not relaying her wishes to the rest of the fleet. She wiped her mouth and looked out of her window at the stars outside. She sighed and pressed the button on her comms, "Tell the rest of the fleet to return to Terra." A voice on the other side spoke, "May I ask why, Captain?"

Stephanie closed her eyes, "Because, this wasn't this race's homeworld. We know that. We also have very little intel on their military capabilities and I refuse to allow the fleet to be destroyed, just because we lack any sort of intelligence on our new enemy." She released the button and sighed slightly as she watched the fleet turn around from her window and engage their FTL drives. She placed her finger on the comms, "We're going to stay here for a bit. Wait for the people who founded this colony to come here. Surely they're going to know that they've been attacked. If our command wants a sacrificial lamb, I will gladly be it. However, I will ask you all to surrender yourselves. I would not see you die on this day..." She let go of the button and turned it off. Sighing, she looked up at the ceiling, feeling like she had made the worst mistake of her life.

[Akira110]

Chapter 2

Yoshiro sat in the council chamber on Lodestar, it had been four hours since the brutal attack on the Verbanan Colony. For the first time in history, all of the leaders of both Verbana and Eltirana were in the same chamber. Everyone had brought one or two others with them. Yoshiro looked up at a humanoid with gold skin, golden hair, green reptilian eyes as well as a Dragon's tail and wings. He wasn't surprised that he was picked for the speakership of the Eltiranans, after all he was pretty much the leader of all Eltirana, just for being a Gold Dragon. The Dragon spoke up, "Have the Verbanans chosen a speaker yet?" Yoshiro sighed and stood up, "I nominate Kauko Aaltonen for Speaker for Verbana."

A Mermaid king looked at him, "What about for us sea dwelling creatures!?" Yoshiro looked at the mermaid who was in a tank of water, "One of our colonies were destroyed and your first instinct is to start [censored] here!? There are more important things to do than bicker and fight like petty children!" The Mermaid king looked at him, "Come over here and say that, Yoshiro! Don't think that just because you're married to a sea elf that I can't drown you!" A hand slammed down onto the table, and a rather growling voice spoke up, "Both of you! Calm the [censored] down!" Yoshiro looked to see the Centaur King and his bodyguard, Walthari and he sat down with a sigh. The Gold Dragon spoke, "If there are no more interruptions, I would like to continue."

Yoshiro got an idea and stood up, "Excuse me, Speaker Stephanus, may I have the floor for an issue that I wish to bring up first?" Stephanus looked at him, "What is the issue?" Yoshiro sighed and closed his eyes, "Stephanus, I know the timing isn't right for this, what with a Verbanan Colony being destroyed, with the deaths of 3000 Verbanan Civilians, 15 Eltiranan Soldiers and 760 Verbanan Soldiers. But, there may never be another time where all of us are in the same room." Stephanus nodded, "If it is what I think it is, you may go ahead." Everyone in the room looked at Yoshiro who became a little nervous, talking to his people was easy in comparison to this, and there were only 272 different people in here.

Kauko stood up and placed his hand on Yoshiro's shoulder, "I'll say it for you if you want me to." Yoshiro nodded and sat back down, as Kauko pointed towards the twelve Eltiranan leaders, "The twelve of you lead the twelve factions of Eltirana, and the rest of us lead the nations of Verbana. Long have we occupied the same binary star system, but only recently have we had contact. Any threat posed to one world is a threat to the other. We've learned this long ago when our planets were overrun by the Menschilche and our peoples enslaved. Yet, no effort has been made by Eltiranan nor Verbanan to attempt to unify ourselves as a star system, instead of just two individual planets."

Yoshiro smiled softly at what Kauko was saying as Kauko continued, "I do not ask you as a Speaker for the Verbanans, nor do I ask you as a King of my Nation. I ask you merely as a Paladin of Sinikka, as Kauko Aaltonen. Please, let us form an alliance and together move towards the future." Stephanus nodded, "Our military is currently small and we would not be able to help you in this conflict, is that acceptable?" Kauko nodded, "That is acceptable, Stephanus." Stephanus placed his hand on his chin, "What would it be called then?" Yoshiro spoke up, "The Eltiranan-Verbanan Alliance." A humanoid with blonde hair, green eyes and ram horns on her head looked at Yoshiro, "Being Verbanan, I thought you would've proposed Verbanan-Eltiranan..."

Yoshiro looked at her, "It doesn't roll off the tongue as well, Tamara." Stephanus nodded, "Quite. All for the alliance between our two worlds?" Yoshiro, Kauko and almost everyone's hands went up. Stephanus counted out, "Alright, two hundred and sixty-seven. All opposed?" Everyone's hands went down but four of them went up. Stephanus sighed, "Kaori, do you abstain?" A female Fennikusu looked at him, "I apologize, I'm a Theocrat and do not wish to make that decision without consulting with my deity first." Stephanus nodded, "Understandable, motion carries, we are now in a system alliance." Yoshiro smiled, however Kauko spoke up, "For the next order of business, declaring formal war against the aliens that attacked our colony."

Yoshiro sighed and stood up, "I oppose this idea." Kauko looked at him, "Why? They murdered innocents." Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Because I know more about humans than all of you do." Everyone looked at him and Yoshiro's hands balled into fists as he held back tears, "These are people who were genetically engineered to be super soldiers. They were literally created for war, their technological level is below our own, so I doubt they had scanners that could tell the difference between a civilian colony and a military installation. They probably saw our ships in orbit, which had their shields up and weapons ready to fire, and panicked." Kauko sighed, "Still, the point were that civilians were killed... all Verbanans that wish to declare formal war against this Human Military raise your hands."

Yoshiro opened his eyes to see a vast majority of hands go up, but to his shock, Kauko's hand didn't go up. He wasn't exactly shocked to see Kaori's or Masaru's stay down either. A few other royals that he recognized had their hands down, but a rather large Lupine had his hand up, "Bruno... you're the last person I'd expect to want to go to war." Bruno sighed, "I support attacking their military, not their civilians. Plus, we Lupines are natural born warriors." Kauko spoke up, "Hands down." Everyone's hands went down as Kauko continued, "All who oppose, hands up." Everyone who didn't agree with war put their hands up and Kauko looked down, "Motion carries, Verbana will go to war with the humans."

Yoshiro slammed his fist on the table, "All who opposed this war, I want a vote to see if we support it with troops or resources! All who are in favor of doing so, raise your hands!" No one's hand went up. Yoshiro sighed, "All who are in favor of staying out of the conflict, raise your hands." All the people who opposed going to war raised their hand. This filled Yoshiro with a little bit of hope, however a voice to his left spoke in a heavy Mofetian accent, "Of course, the cowardly Kitsune doesn't wish to hurt someone." Yoshiro sighed, recognizing that voice as to belonging to Rogelio's father, Arturo.

He tried to ignore it and started to walk out of the chamber, when suddenly Arturo spoke up again, "You're nothing but a [censored] coward and that's why Katriina died! She killed herself so that she wouldn't have to deal with your [censored]" Every bit of Yoshiro's sadness turned into rage and he spoke coldly, "Arturo?" The Mofeta spoke up, "Yes, coward?" Yoshiro turned to him and glared at him, "If you ever speak ill of my late best friend ever again, I swear to whatever deity you worship, I will end your life." Yoshiro didn't even give Arturo a chance to speak, he knew that if he stayed in the room he would try to make Rogelio fatherless.

As Yoshiro left the room, Rogelio looked at him, "Arturo, Milord?" Yoshiro nodded, "We're staying out of the war, Rogelio." Rogelio sighed, he was happy that he wasn't going to go to war with the humans, but he was upset that his own biological father was continuing to antagonize Yoshiro, even after hundreds of years have passed since their first meeting, "Come on, Lord Yoshiro, let's go back home." Yoshiro nodded and looked up at the stars from the dome of Lodestar, "That sounds good, Rogelio. But... I wonder, what if we never were enslaved, where would we be?" Rogelio looked at him, it was a good question, "To be honest, Milord. I have no idea." Yoshiro chuckled, "That's a good answer, Rogelio." The two of them smiled and walked towards the hangar to return home.

[Akira110]

Chapter 3

Yoshiro hit the button next to the door of the hangar bay, but he heard a voice speak up behind him, "That was rather brave of you. Standing up to those warmongers like that." Yoshiro sighed, "It doesn't matter, I lost in the end." The voice spoke angrily, "That's it then!? The Yoshiro I knew wouldn't tuck his tail between his legs and retreat. It's winter and you become more fierce during those months." Yoshiro turned around to see a mouse anthro standing there in regal attire, he brushed some of his gray winter hair out of his face and sighed, "You don't understand, Freja. There's nothing I can do to stop this war from happening, all we can hope to do now is to not join in. Besides, the fire in my heart is gone. Mamoru's in a rehabilitation center, I no longer have to worry about him."

Freja frowned, "Yoshiro, I've known you since we were both very little. I know something is bothering you badly. Your white winter coat doesn't hide your expressions very well, Yoshiro." Yoshiro sighed, he didn't like when his fur turned white, he preferred his reddish brown fur that he had during the warmer months. He sighed and closed his eyes, "It's nothing, Freja." Freja looked at him, "If you cannot tell me, or Rogelio, then who can you tell." Yoshiro opened his eyes to look at Rogelio who looked at him, "Milord, the Mofeta king would like to speak to me. May I have your leave?" Yoshiro nodded, "I'll be safe, Freja's guard is protecting me." Rogelio nodded and left the two old friends and her guards to talk.

Yoshiro folded his arms, "Freja, you and my children were born royals, most royals were born that way, I wasn't." Freja frowned, "Neither was Bruno." Yoshiro shook his head, "Lupines get their throne by being the strongest and smartest. I founded my own kingdom, Freja. But, I was born to a noble and a palace guard. I wasn't born to royalty, Masaru was." Freja started to interrupt, but Harumi walked over to them, "Auntie Freja, it's good to see you again, Father, is something bothering you?" Yoshiro sighed, "Well Harumi, there's something I want to tell you." Harumi looked at him, "What is it, Father?" Yoshiro frowned and hugged her tightly, Harumi's voice spoke up scared, "Are you and mom getting a divorce!?" Yoshiro blinked and broke the hug, "What!?"

Harumi looked at him, "Daddy, are you dying?" Yoshiro blinked again, still confused, "No! Just let me tell you!" Harumi nodded, "Alright." Yoshiro sighed, "I'm abdicating the throne, your sister Hiromi is taking the throne." Harumi tilted her head, "Why not Tatsuya, he seems better suited for it." Yoshiro looked at the stars, "Well to put it simply, he chose his path." Harumi nodded, her younger twin having become a diplomatic ambassador, rather than trying to be a royal. She knew that he was giving up the throne in doing that, but if her brother wanted to do so, that was his business. Freja however looked at Yoshiro in confusion, "Why are you giving up the throne?" Yoshiro sighed, "I can't take it anymore, it's too stressful of a lifestyle. I'm going to a psychiatrist every two or three days now. I'm going crazy."

Harumi nodded, "You and mother tried to raise us to be royalty, because the two of you knew this would happen someday, wouldn't you?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Sweetheart, I didn't try to raise you to be anything you weren't. I let you make your own decisions, hell I fought my own knight and friend just so that you could marry the woman that you loved, despite the fact that he didn't want his daughter marrying the daughter of his king. I went to blows with that man, remember?" Harumi nodded, and Yoshiro smirked, "Hiroshi was the psychic in the family, not me. When I founded my own kingdom, I didn't imagine how stressed out I'd be at this point. I just wanted to fulfill a dream of mine, to have a haven for people to be safe and that's what I created."

Freja smiled, "And you did a very good job at that, Yoshiro. But will your people accept their new leader?" Yoshiro nodded, "Hiromi is very well loved amongst the people. Especially since she is one of the first Kilves to ever exist, along with her siblings." Freja looked at Harumi, "I see that you're a Queen now, that's good." Harumi frowned, "Auntie Freja, with all due respect, I'm a Female King." Freja bowed respectfully, "I apologize for my rudeness." Harumi hugged her, "You'll always be family to me, so you don't have to worry about that, Auntie." Yoshiro smiled at this, and Freja looked at them both, hugging Harumi back, "How come the two of you haven't seen me in the past twenty years?" Yoshiro frowned, "Sorry, ever since I found out that I had a clone, and that I captured Mamoru, I've been super busy."

Harumi frowned, "I became King around fifteen years ago, it's been quite hectic as of late though. The Mermaids aren't exactly thrilled about Grandpa giving up the throne, and want to know what kind of leader that I am." Freja nodded, "I understand, so Yoshiro, what are you going to do when you abdicate the throne?" Yoshiro sighed, "I don't know honestly, I really don't know. I'm thinking about taking a vacation on Eltirana, I need to get away from the stresses of Verbana for right now." Yoshiro turned around, "I'm sorry, but I would like to be alone for a moment." Freja nodded and Harumi spoke up, "Alright, Father." The two of them left him alone and he leaned against the wall, with a sigh, his arms folded and his eyes to the stars.

[Akira110]

Chapter 4

Rogelio sat in a room with the Mofeta king and his biological father, Arturo. He was incredibly uncomfortable being near that man. The Mofeta King looked at him, "Rogelio, do you know what I called you here for?" Rogelio shook his head, "Permission to speak freely, sir?" The Mofeta king nodded, "You can call me by my first name, Rogelio, I'm not your king." Rogelio sighed, "But you are Royalty and as a Knight I have to show you respect. I however am not obligated to give that man there any respect. I would like to have him leave this room, sir." Arturo looked at him, "My king shouldn't have to listen to a fatherless [censored] such as yourself."

The Mofeta king looked at Arturo, "Behave yourself, Arturo, you have been on rather thin ice for a while now." The elder Mofeta nodded at the king, "I beg your leave, my liege." The king nodded, "Go ahead." Arturo nodded and left, leaving the two there, the Mofeta king sighing, "Rogelio, we're friends, why don't you call me by my name? You know it." Rogelio shook his head, "Because I was raised to be a knight first and foremost and I was recently cleared by Lord Yoshiro to take Paladin Training." The Mofeta king nodded, "About that, Rogelio." Rogelio looked at him and frowned, "You know that I cannot leave Lord Yoshiro's guard, I have a life debt to him." The Mofeta King laughed, "I know, Rogelio, my father, the previous king taught me about that."

Rogelio nodded respectfully, "I understand, sir." The Mofeta King leaned in, "Rogelio, I know Arturo is your father, also while he thinks that I don't know he's standing out that door, there's one thing I want to know." Rogelio held up his hand, "I apologize, sir. But if I may interrupt?" The King nodded, "Of course." Rogelio pointed at the door, "With all due respect, he is not my father. He disowned me because I chose to become the Knight of a Kitsune, rather than a Mofeta. So by all rights, I have no father." The king nodded, "So you take after your mother, but how can you be so calm about this?" Rogelio shook his head, "I'm actually rather livid, it was part of my training to be able to hide this so that I can speak respectfully to other people."

The King nodded, "My father would speak so highly about you, Rogelio, part of the reason I'm glad to be here is that I get to see you again for myself. You are truly great man, Rogelio and as king, only I have this authority and no future king can revoke this title. Rogelio, I spoke to Yoshiro earlier, he said that he has no issues with it, but I would like to give you dual-citizenship." Rogelio blinked, "Lord Yoshiro really said that it was alright?" The king nodded slightly, "Yes, he mentions that it is important for people to remember where they come from. He told me that he's a dual Kitsune-Kilf Citizen while still being a Kilvish king." Rogelio sighed, "Alright, what's the catch?" The king smiled and laughed, "Catch, there is no catch."

Rogelio nodded and the king placed his hand on his chin, "Unless, you consider getting a statue of you built in your honor and getting the title of Legendary Knight." Rogelio blinked, that was a title usually reserved for knights who have done great deeds, but he to his knowledge hadn't done any, "For what, may I ask, sir?" The king smirked, but Arturo barged in screaming, "What!? That fatherless [censored] gets to be a Legendary Knight, and yet I bust my [censored] working for your family and I get nothing!?" The king looked at Arturo, "Get out!" Rogelio held his hand up, "May I remove him, sir?" The king shook his head as he called for security who removed Arturo, then he returned to talking to Rogelio, "Rogelio, you have not done one deed, but many. Your entire life has been dedicated to serving Yoshiro, no matter what."

Rogelio nodded slightly, "That's my job, sir. That's all I'm doing, I fail to see how that makes me legendary, no offense." The King chuckled, "You were there when a Deity tried to kill him due to a mistake in what his holy blood was, you even were there, knowing you could die when he confronted his great-grandfather. You were there when he founded his own kingdom, you've been with him every step of the way ever since the Kitsune Civil war that was kicked off by Mamoru. After everything you've done, you deserve to be a Legendary Knight and a living Legend. New recruits will learn about the great Rogelio as an example of who they should model their lives off of."

Rogelio looked down, it was all so much. However he looked up, "I accept your offer of a dual-citizenship. But with all due respect, sir. I am no Legendary Knight, I'm just a Knight in the employ of Lord Yoshiro. I will have to turn that title down." The King looked at him, "You are very humble as well." Rogelio sighed, "I understand, sir. May I please get back to my king?" The King nodded, "Alright, but Rogelio." Rogelio stood up and looked at him, "Yes, sir?" The King looked up at him, "There are many knights who have heard of your exploits and your loyalty towards Yoshiro and they look up to you. They already consider you a Legend and have been asking me to make you one officially." Rogelio sighed and turned towards the door, "Sir, with all due respect, a wise man once told me that Legends are merely remembered for their deeds, not the person they are." The King nodded as Rogelio left the room.

[Akira110]

Chapter 5

Stephanie sighed slightly as she walked the bridge, "Helmsman, how long until we reach the homeworld of these people?" The helmsman looked at her, "We're not, we're stopping just outside of it. Sorry Captain, but it would be foolhardy to invade their system without the rest of the fleet." Stephanie nodded and looked to her crew, "Thomas, you're going to stay here, with the helmsman. The rest of the bridge crew is going to come with me, I wish to surrender myself to their mercy." Thomas looked at her with sadness in his eyes, but he knew that this was for the best, "I love you, Stephanie."

Stephanie nodded, "I love you too." The helmsman looked at her, "Disengaging the FTL drive now. We are just outside of their star system." Stephanie nodded, and walked over to the lift with the rest of the bridge crew. She silently entered it as the door opened, and the nine of them stood close together as she hit the button that would take them to the deck the hangar was on. She waved to Thomas as the door closed and felt an extreme sadness. The lift traveled downwards towards the deck that the shuttle hangar is on. When the doors opened, she walked down the hallway to the hangar bay.

She walked over to a shuttle and opened the door to it, "Alright, we're going to this strange planet to give ourselves up, anyone that wants to walk away now, do so." Everyone that was with her walked into the shuttle and one of the officers sighed, "Nous serons toujours à vos côtés, Stephanie." Stephanie nodded with a smile, "Thanks Eudo, that means a lot to me." Stephanie climbed into the shuttle with a sigh as she looked at her ship feeling that it would be the last time that she would ever see it again. She walked to the cockpit and sat in the seat next to the pilot, she placed a headset on her head, "Open the hangar doors please." She watched the hangar doors open, and she watched as the pilot guided the shuttle out of the hangar.

She switched the frequency over to the bridge, "Thomas, I want you to return to Terra, you need to go warn people that we might have kicked a hornet's nest. I'm going to try to go to their homeworld and face the music, I love you and I'll miss you, Captain." Thomas' voice spoke over the headset, "I love you too, Captain, and I'll return for you, I promise." Stephanie tried to hold back her tears, "Please don't. Just go home Thomas, I'll be fine, I promise." Thomas tried to speak, but she cut off the headset. She watched as the ship turn around and the FTL drive get engaged, they were now alone out here in the middle of a system that they had only recently discovered.

The pilot started flying the shuttle towards the planet that they knew was the homeworld of these aliens. The journey for the next twenty minutes was rather quiet, then suddenly, she saw a fleet of ships approaching, her heart sank as she knew they could destroy this shuttle and kill everyone on it. However, they ignored her, she breathed a sigh of relief and tried to broadcast a message on an open channel, "Alien command, this is the Human officer, Stephanie Matthews. I come to your home system to surrender myself to your mercy. I was the commander of the fleet that had destroyed your colony and killed all of those people. Please respond..."

There was silence, she thought that they were out of range, but a voice spoke up, "Stephanie, continue on your course, until you reach Verbana. From there we will tell you exactly where to go. I am obligated to tell you that our factions are currently at war and you will be a prisoner of war. Unless you manage to seek refuge in one of the neutral nations, or choose to be a defector, your choice." Stephanie sighed, "I'll give myself up as a prisoner, my command crew and I have already made this decision." The voice spoke over the headset, "Roger that, remember, continue course until you get to Verbana, we will guide you from there." Stephanie nodded and looked at her pilot, "How long?" The pilot looked at her, "Another hour, ma'am."

[Akira110]

Chapter 6

Yoshiro sighed as he sat in his study, he felt restless and upset. Though it was night, he was completely incapable of sleeping. He knew that this particular war was wrong, he knew that this shouldn't be happening, but he didn't know entirely why. He felt that he should know more about these humans that he was told about by Mamoru a few weeks ago. He looked at the doors as they opened and Yoshiko walked into them, "Cousin, you should sleep. It's starting to get late." Yoshiro noticed that she was in her pajamas, "You sleep, Yoshiko. As long as this war is going on, I'm going to be king. Unfortunately, I have to do a lot of work and it's stressing me out even further..."

Yoshiko sighed, "Cousin, please... you need to relax." Yoshiro placed his elbows on his desk and placed his hands on the sides of his head, "I know, I absolutely know. But..." Yoshiro stood up, "I'm going for a flight." Yoshiko blinked, "Excuse me?" Yoshiro looked at her, "I'm going for a nighttime flight, I'm going to go wake up the Alpha Flight of the Dracoknights." Yoshiko frowned slightly, "Okay... if you want." Yoshiro nodded and walked over to her, giving her a hug, "Don't worry, cousin, I'll be fine." Yoshiko nodded and hugged back, the two of them breaking the hug and Yoshiro walked towards the throne room. A young Menschilche boy looked up at him with green eyes, "Daddy?"

Yoshiro sighed and picked him up in a hug, "Yeah, Sven?" Sven frowned, "Where are you going? It's bedtime!" Yoshiro chuckled softly, "I know, Sven. I guess you want to be tucked into bed and read a bedtime story." Sven nodded, and hugged Yoshiro's neck, Yoshiro turning towards a maid, "Excuse me, ma'am, can you tell the Alpha Flight of the Dracoknights that I want them to be ready to go within 15 minutes?" The maid nodded, "Of course, sir." Yoshiro took Sven to the room that he shared with his older sister, another Menschilche that he adopted named Galina. Yoshiro put Sven into the bed pulled the covers up to his neck and tucked them in. He turned over to Galina and started to do the same, but she protested, "I'm not a little girl anymore, Daddy!"

Yoshiro smiled softly to hide the fact that he was stressed from his adoptive kids, "Of course you're not, Galina. You recently started school, but still, you have to remember that Daddy's a Kitsune, and the age of ten was a very long time ago for him." Galina gasped, "How old are you, Daddy?" Yoshiro looked up, "I'll be four hundred and twenty-one years old tomorrow." Galina nodded, "What are we doing for your birthday?" Yoshiro smiled, "Surprise me. Though to be fair, I'll just be happy to spend my birthday with my wife, kids and family. I know your grandmother is working as hard as she can right now to bake me a perfect cake." Sven whimpered slightly and Yoshiro frowned, turning towards him, "I almost forgot, Sven. I'm sorry."

Yoshiro thought a little bit and told a story that he was told a long time ago, "Once upon a time, there was a young Kani knight. Despite his age, he was very skilled with a sword, and very few could match that skill. However one day, the Kani princess was kidnapped by a group of bad guys and taken to their hideout. Many Kani knights rushed to save her, but none were successful and few were able to return. Then the hopes of the entire kingdom fell upon the young knight. He took up his sword and traveled to the hideout and fought valiantly. The evildoers didn't stand a chance against the determination and the heart of this young knight and quickly fell before his blade. When he encountered their leader, the two of them fought for the hand of the princess, but the young knight emerged victorious. The princess declared the knight, a hero of the land and the Kani Deity herself bestowed her gift upon him. This made him the First Kani Paladin and allowed him to marry the princess and they lived happily ever after."

Yoshiro smiled as he saw Sven's eyes close and he kissed his son on the forehead, "Goodnight, my son." He walked over to Galina and hugged her, "Good night, my daughter." Galina yawned slightly and hugged back, "Good night, Daddy." They broke the hug and Galina laid back down to go back to sleep, causing Yoshiro to smile softly and leave the room, gently closing the door behind him. He didn't want his youngest children to know that they were currently in a war. However, he picked up a familiar scent, and whispered, "Maritta, I know you're there, come, walk with me." Maritta nodded slightly, and the two of them walked away from the room, when they were out of earshot, the Kani Deity asked, "Father, what's going on?" Yoshiro sighed, "Another day, another war, my daughter."

Maritta nodded slightly, "I guess life just doesn't want you to live in peace or give up the throne." Yoshiro shrugged, "I'm going to go on a nighttime flight, want to come with me?" She blinked slightly, "Father, you've never asked me if I wanted to ride on Julius before. Doesn't Lilah usually do that?" Yoshiro shrugged, "If you don't want to, it's fine." Maritta shook her head, "It's not that, Father, I was just surprised is all. Of course I would like to go with you." Yoshiro nodded, "Then get ready and meet me outside, oh and bring a spare pair of night vision goggles will you? You know how hard it is for me to see at night." Maritta nodded and walked off, leaving Yoshiro to his thoughts as he walked out into the courtyard and whistled to call Julius.

[Akira110]

Chapter 7

Yoshiro sighed as he sat on the back of Julius, Lilah and Maritta behind him. Julius was flying rather slowly through the skies of Verbana, allowing the other two to safely remain on his back without holding onto him. Yoshiro looked around him using his night vision goggles, it was a beautiful night, but he was annoyed that he saw everything in a greenish tint. He sighed slightly and Lilah looked at him, "What is it, Yoshiro?" Yoshiro looked up at the skies, "Why are we having this [censored] war in the first place... I just want to give up the throne and live near my first friend, ya know. I just want to relax and retire... but nope." Maritta nodded, "I know, Father, but usually you're more calm than this."

Yoshiro nodded and sighed, however, something caught his attention on the horizon, he looked up at the skies and saw something moving in their direction. He activated the zoom function on his night vision goggles and noticed that it was a shuttle and that it was damaged, however the design was unfamiliar to him. He looked down, "Julius, I need you to intercept that vehicle." Julius nodded and they flew up to meet up with the shuttle and Julius growled slightly, Yoshiro patting him on the head as it came into view, "Julius, what is it." Julius hissed, "Humans..." Yoshiro nodded, "I know that they were designed to kill your kind, but they need our help, this could be a way to stop this war." Julius sighed, and nodded, Yoshiro looked back at the other two, "Hold on, and don't worry about the air getting a bit thin, Julius and I aren't used to flying higher than this either."

Julius flew higher, and Yoshiro held on tightly as Julius flew faster to intercept the shuttle. Maritta held onto him as tight as she could and Lilah held on to Julius as tightly as she could. Soon, they came across the shuttle and Yoshiro could see that the engines had blown open on the back. Yoshiro sighed, "Catch... the... shuttle..." Julius nodded as Lilah spoke up, "Are... you... alright?" Yoshiro nodded, "Not used... to being... four kilometers... up..." Julius grabbed onto the shuttle as tightly as he could, Yoshiro could notice that the four of them were starting to suffer from the beginnings of altitude sickness, but Julius tried to slow the shuttle down, digging his claws into the metal and holding onto it as best as he could.

The shuttle took them down with it, but they noticed that it was starting to slow down in its descent, Yoshiro breathed a sigh of relief when they got under two kilometers, as he was able to breathe easily. Within a few moments, they were only a kilometer off the ground and he turned to Maritta, hugging her tightly, "Sorry about that, sweetheart." Maritta nodded as the rest of the Dracoknights formed around them. Julius sighed and strained, "Si shilta ti thirku wer ekmiv di nomeno shuttle!" Yoshiro nodded, "What territory are we going to land in?" Julius watched as the shuttle started to slip from his hands, however, he wrapped his tail around it. Yoshiro sighed, "Damn, this isn't good!"

Julius let go of the shuttle about half a kilometer off the ground, allowing it to fall at a slowed descent towards the ground, "Yth re persvek Mus zaneunisal." Yoshiro nodded, "The Mus kingdom, that's not bad. Freja should be home, it'll just be a matter of getting there." Julius landed next to the shuttle, allowing the passengers off. Yoshiro drew his sword and approached the shuttle that had crash landed. He didn't know what to think about these humans, but part of him didn't care. Yoshiro opened the door to see these strange creatures that looked like Menschilche without any sort of facial ridges. He had expected to see maniacal savages, but what he saw were seven terrified faces, three female, four male. The scent of blood was strong, he sighed and lowered his sword, "Are all of you alright?"

The lead female spoke up, she had red hair, "No, two of us didn't make it. Something attacked our engines, one of them died up in space, the other died on impact. Why did you attack us?" Yoshiro shook his head, "We didn't. I tried to save your lives, I'm sorry that I failed you." He extended his free hand to her, "Our factions are currently at war, but I'm a neutral leader and you have managed to land in Mus Territory. They're a neutral nation as well." The red headed female nodded, "If you didn't attack us, who did." Yoshiro shook his head, "I don't know, but when I was up there, I got a good look at your engines. They're an archaic design, and the heat shielding was stripped from them." The female sighed, "Sabotage." Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, your engines blew apart the moment you entered the thermosphere of our planet."

The female tried to get up and Yoshiro put his sword back in the scabbard to offer her his hand, "You will find it a bit harder to stand and breathe on this planet, than you're used to. You're used to a gravitational pull of 1G and an atmosphere that is 21% oxygen, correct?" The female looked at him as she took his hand, "How do you know this?" Yoshiro smiled softly, "I did research on the humans. Not much is known about you guys. But those facts are some of the little data we have on your species. By the way, you're under the force of 1.5G and the air you're breathing is only 19% oxygen." The female nodded, "I'm Stephanie and this is my bridge crew, we're here to surrender ourselves for our role in the attack on a Verbanan Colony."

Yoshiro sighed slightly, "Well Stephanie, I'm Yoshiro. And I wish to know what role you played before I start considering pressing charges on you." Stephanie looked at him, she tried to stand straight up, but was having minor difficulty, "Sir, I led the fleet that annihilated the colony at that world. I bear full responsibility for the actions of my subordinates." Yoshiro sighed, "Did you fire a single shot?" Stephanie shook her head, "I did not." Yoshiro didn't hesitate, "Did you order your fleet to fire?" Stephanie shook her head again, "I did not." Yoshiro nodded and folded his arms, "You're a honest person. It sounds like your subordinates weren't following orders. They are at fault, not you. Anyhow, my men will help your men. The closest city to us is the Mus capitol."

Stephanie looked at him as the other Dracoknights walked around the shuttle to help rescue the other humans, "Why are you helping us, we're you're enemy?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Stephanie, humanity isn't my enemy. I'm neutral, remember. We had a vote on this a hour and a half ago, the majority of Verbana decided to go to war, the rest of us were neutral and we refuse to throw in our lot with them. We already know the outcome of this war." Stephanie sighed, "I know too, I saw your fleet as it passed us. Your navy is far larger than ours." Yoshiro nodded, "That's not the only reason. We're technologically far more advanced than humanity. The reason this has been stressing me out so much is that this won't be a fight. It will be a blood bath..."

[Akira110]

Chapter 8

Thomas walked down a sidewalk on his homeworld, he had been debriefed while in orbit on the planet and had been discharged dishonorably from the military. He didn't know what to do and he felt absolutely lonely. He was walking to his apartment that he shared with Stephanie, the two of them were going to get married in two months, but now she was on the alien homeworld, and he felt like he was never going to see her again. He wished that he could've gone with her, but he knew that she wouldn't have allowed it. He stopped in front of his mailbox and opened it, finding a few bills in the mail. He sighed slightly and opened the door to his apartment.

Walking into it, he closed the door behind him and walked over to the table. He didn't know why the human high command wouldn't listen to him. He had seen the alien ships firsthand, even though they never fired at his fleet, they mentioned something called the Menschilche. He wondered what that was and thought that it could be an even bigger threat, if the aliens were expecting them and were worried about them. He walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer, before going to the table. He didn't want to fight this alien race, he wanted to figure out how to apologize to them, and try to forge an alliance with them, which is part of the reason high command had thrown him out. He opened the beer and started to drink it, when there was a knock at the door, he sighed and turned towards the door, "Come in."

A human woman with black hair and brown eyes walked in, she looked very far eastern. She looked over at him as she closed the door, "Thomas, you're here alone and already drinking, it went that bad, huh?" Thomas sighed, "Stephanie is a prisoner, and our fleet was responsible for killing off an entire civilian colony, Lisa. I feel absolutely terrible right now." Lisa nodded, "There's more to it than that, Thomas. We've been friends our entire life, you can tell me." Thomas sighed, "I was dishonorably discharged, also I learned about something called the Menschilche... only by name though. If these aliens we encountered which were obviously more advanced than us were afraid of these Menschilche, then they are a massive threat and we should try to forge an alliance with these aliens rather than fighting them."

Lisa sighed, "Do you think that we're going to be attacked?" Thomas nodded, "Almost certainly." Lisa frowned, "They're more advanced than us, what do you think our chances of victory are?" Thomas took a swig of his beer and looked at her, "If they're tactical, they'll exploit our inability to sense them from farther than a few light minutes away. Then they'll destroy our fleets... and then destroy our military bases, it would lead them to a very swift and decisive victory. If they try to fight us within our sensor range, our weapons penetrate their defensive energy fields, so we'll have a chance of winning. This is the only scenario in which we have a shot at winning."

Lisa nodded, and looked out of the window, "How long do you think we have until we're attacked?" Thomas shook his head, "I haven't a clue. They probably already figured out how to get here. It'll merely be a question where they're going to attack from in our star system. Lisa, I want you to stay here, stay away from any military bases." Lisa nodded, "Alright. Thomas, if you need anything, I'll be next door." Thomas nodded slightly, "Thanks, Lisa." Lisa smiled and hugged him before heading out of the apartment, leaving Thomas on his own. Thomas went back into the kitchen and made himself a bit of dinner, eating it at the table, feeling terrible since Stephanie was gone and Lisa was next door.

He walked to the bedroom and stripped down to his smallclothes, he sighed and looked around the room, thinking that he needed to clean it up a bit because it was very untidy. He climbed into bed and his cat jumped onto his chest, with a meow. He smiled softly and scratched him behind the ears, "Hey there, buddy. Come to make sure that I'm not all alone tonight?" The cat purred and curled up on his chest as Thomas pulled the covers over himself. He looked out the window at the full moon, with a sigh and closed his eyes. He felt the cat continue purring on his chest as he slowly started to drift off to sleep, his thoughts fixated on his fiancee and his best friend.

[Akira110]

Chapter 9

The Verbanan Fleet left warp at the edges of Human space. They had followed the fuel trails back to this system and didn't know the capabilities of the human sensor range. The leader of the fleet, an aging Fairy captain sat in the captain's seat of the leading ship. He sighed slightly as he felt a little bored, he could've been at home with his wife and grandkids, but instead he was here fighting this war against the humans. He looked at his tactical officer, "Are we getting a sensor ping from the humans?" The tactical officer shook her head, "Sir, long range sensors detect no human sensors on any planet aside from the fourth planet from the sun."

The Fairy nodded and sighed, "Close in the max of our short range sensors and scan the human forces. They're bound to have a defense patrol somewhere in this star system." The helmsman nodded, "Aye, sir." The Verbanan fleet moved in relatively slowly. They reached the seventh planet of the system and stopped, the helmsman looking back at the captain, "Sir, we're at the edges of our short range sensors." The Fairy sighed, "Scan their defenses and fleet." It took a few minutes, but the tactical officer looked up, "Sir, they have one hundred and fifty ships facing us. They're not firing, so I don't think they know we're here." The Fairy nodded, he stood up at his full 5'9", "Alright, open a subspace channel."

The communications officer looked back at him, "Open, sir." The Fairy closed his eyes, "Human forces, you have committed an unwarranted attack on a Verbanan colony that ended up killing three thousand civilians in addition to seven hundred and seventy-five soldiers. We have decided to declare war on you for this action and this is the formal declaration of war. We also offer you the chance to surrender, if you choose to surrender we will not open fire. We'll leave peacefully upon the delivery of those who ordered the attack." The Captain fell quiet and waited for the Human response, he sat back down.

After a few minutes the voice of a human spoke up, "We refuse to surrender to you! We were put in this universe to put colonies on every planet and lead this universe! If you want a fight, then..." The Fairy looked at the communications officer and signaled for him to cut communications, he then looked towards the tactical officer, "Fire upon the human fleet, they don't know where we are right now, so we have the advantage." The tactical officer nodded and the captain looked at the communication's officer, "Open a channel to the fleet." The communications officer did so and looked back him, "Open, sir." The Fairy stood back up, "Attention all ships, this is Captain Sacha Garnier. The humans refuse to surrender, so we will destroy their fleets and attack military targets until they do surrender. Permission to open fire, is granted."

Sacha sat down and looked at the tactical officer, "Scan the human ships and send information to the fleet, the last thing we want to do is harm Civilians so don't fire more often than you need to destroy them. The rest of the fleet, do the same." The channel was closed and he turned to the tactical officer, "Put the Tactical readout on screen, please." She nodded, and Sacha watched as a readout appeared on the screen, he saw the locations of the human and Verbanan ships. After a couple of minutes, he watched as the Verbanan ships opened fire upon the human ships. It took the weapons fire a few minutes to reach their targets. He watched as human blips started to vanish from the screen, one by one.

Within mere moments the human space forces were annihilated without any chance to return fire. He looked at his helmsman, "Close in on the human world in the system and scan it." He watched as the fleet closed in on the human world on the screen, they hang back near the fifth world and he watched as scans of the human world revealed a startling fact. There were roughly 12 billion people living on the planet, this was no mere colony, this was the human homeworld. Sacha immediately felt angry, he had not only been called back into duty for some pointless war, but his opponent was so technologically far behind that they didn't stand a chance. He slammed his hand on his armrest, he was pissed, yet he still had a duty to preform.

He looked at his communications officer, "Open a channel to the fleet." The communications officer looked back at him, "Open, sir." Sacha sighed, "All ships, establish standard orbital pattern. Find military targets and use precise orbital strikes on those. I do not want any civilian casualties, whether incidental or otherwise. We're here only to destroy the human military until the point they agree to surrender." The communication's officer nodded, "They received the message, sir." Sacha watched as the Verbanan fleet continued to travel towards the human homeworld. When they established an orbital pattern, he sighed and stood up to go towards his ready room.

[Akira110]

Chapter 10

Yoshiro continued towards the Mus capitol city, he was still escorting the humans there so that they would be able to return to their homeworld in peace when this war was over. He was rather frustrated, but his ears picked up a sound as he took his shirt off because it was getting a bit hot for him, however Stephanie spoke up, "Yoshiro, you have a scar on your chest. Are you alright?" Yoshiro rubbed his hand across his old scar with a slight smile, "Just the end result of an injury I received so many years ago, your great-grandparents weren't even a concept in the minds of your ancestors when this happened." Stephanie folded her arms, "And what's that supposed to mean?" Yoshiro looked at her calmly, "This happened hundreds of years ago. Long story short, I had to have a lung transplant involving a cloned lung."

Stephanie nodded and the sound got louder, which could now be heard by the non-canines of the group, "What is that sound?" Lilah sighed, "A Pegasus, headed straight for us. Do you want me to kill the rider?" Yoshiro placed his hand in front of her, "No, let's see who the rider is and what they want." The dracoknights and humans moved in order to allow the Pegasus to land, Yoshiro blinked when he saw who the rider was, "Boss?" Kauko looked back at him, "Hey, Yoshiro. It's been a while." Yoshiro nodded, "It's a pleasant surprise, but I thought that your nation is neutral in this conflict, like mine." Kauko sighed and dismounted, "Yoshiro, I've come to seek you out in particular, I thought you'd be at home, but when your wife told me that you gone on a flight I looked for you and ran into Julius who pointed me in this direction."

Yoshiro nodded and pointed at Stephanie, "These are the humans, they tried to come here to surrender themselves to our..." Kauko interrupted him, "Yoshiro, that can wait. Here, I want you to take this." Kauko handed Yoshiro a piece of paper, which Yoshiro put in his pocket, "Thanks, but are you alright, Boss?" Kauko shook his head, "Yoshiro, I have a degenerative brain disease. I'm literally losing gray matter, the process is particularly painful and unpleasant, in a matter of a few months, I will have total loss of my sanity. After that, my life will be constant excruciating pain until I die within a year. Before you ask, there is no cure. No one has actually been able to take the step that would preserve their brain before. They always clung onto life, but I hope that my death will save future generations." Yoshiro sighed, "Is it contagious?" Kauko shook his head, "No, it's not. Once the host dies, the bacteria die as well. Even when the host is alive, unless you consume the brains while they're still alive. You have zero chance of catching it, even then... it's extremely low."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Alright, Boss. What do you wish me to do?" Kauko frowned, "Yoshiro, I want you to kill me." Yoshiro blinked and took a step back in shock, "You cannot be serious, Boss!" Kauko looked at him with a look of anger in his eyes, "Yoshiro, do you know why I came to you!?" Yoshiro shook his head, "I do not, sir." Kauko frowned, "Because, Yoshiro, I know you'd do it. You're the only royal that I know that would be willing to kill me that's on this planet right now." Yoshiro sighed, Kauko was right, but though he was willing to end his former boss' suffering, he found himself unable to draw his sword, "Boss?" Kauko sighed, "You're not going to do it, are you?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Please, Boss. Draw your sword."

Kauko sighed, "You know that I cannot draw my sword against an innocent." Yoshiro looked at one of the dracoknights, "Hand me your shield." The bear anthro known as a Karhu nodded slightly and handed Yoshiro his shield. Yoshiro adjusted the straps of the shield and placed it on his arm, "Please, Boss. It's all I ask of you, draw your sword. You know that I can't kill someone if they don't have a weapon out." Kauko sighed, "You're a sniper, Yoshiro. You kill people who can't defend themselves all the time." Yoshiro shook his head, "They have a weapon drawn and are currently a threat to someone else. There is a difference between killing someone that cannot fight back because you have greater range, and killing someone that is unarmed." Kauko closed his eyes, "I see, I guess since you are going to be putting my life in danger, I can draw my weapon."

Yoshiro nodded and drew his weapon at the same time as Kauko did, the two of them took a fighting stance. Yoshiro sighed slightly, "Boss, are you absolutely sure you wish for me to do this?" Kauko nodded, "Yes, Yoshiro. Go ahead. By the way, I want you to have my sword." Yoshiro blinked slightly, but nodded, "I understand, Boss." Yoshiro walked over to Kauko, and sighed as he lifted his sword and plunged it into Kauko's throat, with closed eyes full of tears, "I'm sorry, Boss!" Yoshiro knew he had left himself open to attack, but didn't care, even though one never came. He opened his eyes and gently removed the blade from Kauko's neck and cleaned off his blade on the grass. Yoshiro took his shirt and used it to stop the bleeding from Kauko's wound, as he watched the life from Kauko's eyes leave them. Sheathing his sword, he took two fingers and slowly closed Kauko's eyes.

Yoshiro placed Kauko gently on the ground and took the sword in Kauko's hand, gently as well as the scabbard from his belt. He slid the sword into the scabbard and placed it on his belt, he was honored that Kauko would give him his sword. But he didn't know why, he didn't care why. He just picked up Kauko's lifeless body and continued towards the Mus capitol city. However, as he passed the humans he spoke up, "Anyone speaks ill of Kauko, and I will put you into a coma, understand?" Stephanie nodded, "Why did you call him boss, though?" Yoshiro sighed and looked up at the moon, "Kauko is my former boss, but his every action, his every decision earned my respect. He was known as the champion of Sinikka, the greatest of Paladins. I was honored to work with him, and for a time, serve under him as town guard." Stephanie nodded as the Mus Capitol came into sight as they continued walking towards it.

[Akira110]

Chapter 11

The group arrived at the Mus Capitol city, Stephanie looked at the gates and noticed that they were closed and Yoshiro sighed, "Damn. There are no guards on the outside of the gate, they're all inside. Guess that we're not getting in tonight." Stephanie frowned as one of her people spoke up, "Êtes-vous absolument sérieuse!? Ce est des conneries, il doit y avoir un chemin dans cette ville! Vous avez appelé votre allié!" Yoshiro nodded towards Lilah and spoke to the man, "Relax, we have a way into the city." Stephanie looked at him, "Wait a second, you understand Französisch?" Yoshiro shook his head, "What's a Französisch? Lilah, you know what to do right?" Lilah nodded and started walking to the wall and Yoshiro called out, "No casualties!"

Lilah nodded as she jumped onto the wall and stuck her hands into the cracks. Though they weren't big, she was a natural climber, so they didn't hinder her. Looking over to the gate's tower, she jumped over to it and grabbed onto a few stones that were jutting out. She looked up as she continued climbing up the wall, watching for any guards. When one of them walked towards the wall, she walked towards the corner and hid in the shadows, she started to concentrate and the shadows around her started to gather to hide her, from her perspective, she could see perfectly. From the perspective of anyone around her, they'd see only a dark shadowed region within the shadows.

When the guard walked past, she stopped concentrating and started to climb up the wall again. She stopped at the top of the wall and peeked over it, so that she could see where each of the guards were and climbed over the wall, hiding near some boxes and she applied a diluted wyvern venom to her dagger. She peeked out from around the box and watched the guards as they walked their patrols. She didn't move until she knew that she would be able to get another hiding spot. She darted across the wall, to the next hiding spot behind a stack of crates. She waited until she knew that the patrols would give her the most time to start climbing down towards the gate.

When that opportunity arose, she darted to the other side of the wall and climbed over it, starting to climb down the wall, her dagger still in her hand. She paid attention to the guards as she quickly scaled down the wall. Noticing the guards were about to catch her, she jumped off the wall and landed on the ground with a roll. She quickly darted into an alleyway to avoid being caught and hid in the shadows. She grabbed the hood on her cloak and pulled it over her head, pulling the lower part of her cloak over her mouth to hide her identity. She carefully walked towards the street again and looked around to see the guards. When she was confident that it was safe, she darted towards the gate.

She found a guard standing there, and she snuck up behind him, pulling out her dagger and stabbing him in the shoulder. The venom coursed through his veins and paralyzed him quickly. She walked over to the gate wench and started turning it, opening the gate. She watched for any guards to try to stop her, but none came. She completely opened the gate and walked out, motioning for the others to come. As they came to join her, Yoshiro looked at the Paralyzed guard, "You paralyzed him, was that entirely necessary?" Lilah put her dagger in it's sheathe and pulled her hood down, "He was patrolling the gate, I wouldn't have enough time to open the gate before he caught me."

Yoshiro nodded, "Alright then, well, we're in the city now. Lilah, what's the alert status of the Mus guards?" Lilah sighed, "They seem to be at moderate alertness. Seems to be normal wartime procedure." Yoshiro nodded, "As a foreign dignitary with his guards, I can walk through the city unimpeded from now. Lilah might have a slight problem, but you humans are going to have a hell of a time. Also explaining why I'm carrying my former boss' dead body is going to be a headache. Maritta, you and Lilah take the rear, Rogelio, you and half of Alpha group take the right flank, the other half takes the left. We'll go into the castle with a formal royal escort formation to show these humans are our honored guests." Lilah nodded as they all fell into formation and traveled towards the castle.

[Akira110]

Chapter 12

Thomas was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of an explosion in the distance. He jumped out of bed and quickly threw on pants, grabbing his gun and pulling out his military radio from his bed. He turned it on and heard nothing but absolutely panicked voices as he looked out his window and saw light descend from the skies onto the nearby military base. He had nothing but a bad feeling about it. The sirens started to blare, he couldn't stand the sound of the sirens, but he knew they were there to alert the populace of the danger that was raining down from the skies. He didn't leave his house, and his radio screamed with panicked voices, however the voices started to die down, and eventually fell silent.

The light raining from the skies stopped, however, this only made him less comfortable. Thomas placed his gun on his table and got fully dressed. He grabbed the gun and walked over to his door, he had no idea of what these aliens wanted, but he was intending to find out. He placed his hand on the doorknob and opened the door, expecting a full invasion of Terra, but he saw just a single shuttle descend from the sky, followed by a few fighters as an escort. Thomas, walked down the stairs as the shuttle landed and kept his gun at the ready. The door of the shuttle opened up and Thomas saw a fairy come out. He was confused because in the stories he heard as a kid, they were always tiny, and while this guy was a bit on the short side, he was still much taller than three inches.

He watched as the Fairy looked around and saw him, the Fairy called out, "Lower your weapon." Thomas nodded and placed the weapon on the ground, he held his hands up in surrender, "Do you take prisoners?" The fairy shook his head, "We do not intend to, we merely wish to ask, is this your homeworld?" Thomas nodded, "Of course." The fairy sighed, "Well [censored], that confirms my suspicions. Anyhow... we would like to speak to your military leadership, what little of it you have left." Thomas sighed, "Technically the President of this Federation is the Commander-in-Chief of the military, but there was no formal declaration of war on our side." The Fairy sighed, "Before we continue, let is introduce ourselves, this is a bit awkward. I am Captain Sacha Garnier. I'm a fairy from the planet of Verbana."

Thomas nodded and extended his hand as he walked towards Sacha, a gesture that confused the fairy and made the soldiers in the ship nervous. Thomas stopped, "It's a handshake, it's a sign of greeting around here." Sacha nodded and grabbed Thomas' hand, the two of them shaking hands as Thomas introduced himself, "I am Former Commander Thomas Clarke. I'm a human and this is the planet of Terra." Sacha nodded slightly, "Well, Thomas. Can you take us to your President? I would like to meet him to discuss an end to this war." Thomas nodded, "I can take you to her, yes." Sacha motioned towards the shuttle, "Get in." Thomas blinked and stepped into the shuttle. He couldn't believe his eyes, these Verbanans were far more technologically advanced than the humans were!

Thomas sat down as Sacha moved back in, "Alright, show us where on this map we have of this landmass where your President is." Thomas pointed at a city, "She wouldn't have enough time to get out of the city, nor would any military bases exist still. Unless you destroyed the bunkers as well." Sacha nodded, "Any sort of base that held some sort of combat vehicle such as a tank or a fighter, or a ship for that matter. We targeted." Thomas nodded as the shuttle took flight, he noticed that it built up speed rather quickly, but it felt completely natural rather than jerky. Before he knew it, they were over the capitol city of his nation and Sacha pointed towards the cockpit, "Tell the pilot where to land." Thomas nodded and walked up to the cockpit, he pointed towards a building that seemed a bit dated and was painted blue, "She's there."

The pilot nodded and landed the shuttle, Thomas going back and sitting down, expecting to be able to stay in the shuttle, but Sacha shook his head, "You're going to come with me." Thomas blinked, "Why?" Sacha sighed, "Because Thomas, I don't know anything about human culture. I don't wish to insult a human leader and start the war anew." Thomas nodded as Sacha and his men led him into the building. They walked through the building until they reached a room with an aging woman with bronze skin, Thomas looked at her, "Madame President, these are the Aliens that our expeditionary force attacked a colony of." The woman looked at Sacha, "Their eyes, they're... much like ours..." Sacha nodded, "This fact shocked me." Sacha's communicator beeped and he sighed, "Hold on."

Sacha turned his communicator onto the speaker, "This is Sacha, go ahead." A voice spoke over it, "Sir, these strange creatures... they don't look like the wide eyed savages that we envisioned. They... they look afraid. They're scared of us, sir." Sacha sighed, "That's because we destroyed a vast majority of their military force. Look, try to get in contact with remaining military leaders, if you cannot, find Civilian leaders. We need to end this war now, through a peaceful solution, not more bloodshed and death." Sacha turned off his communicator and the woman looked up at him, "Sacha, in my long years, I've never heard such words spoken. I never imagined I'd hear them spoken by an alien race." Sacha nodded slightly, "I understand, Ma'am. But... would you be willing to try for a solution of peace?" The woman sighed, "After you killed off ten percent of humanity, I don't see any other choice." Those words cut deep into Sacha's heart, he didn't expect he'd cause that much death. Now more than ever was peace important to him.

[Akira110]

Chapter 13

Yoshiro lead the humans into the Mus castle without any sort of problems, however, when he got to the throne room, he saw his old friend, Freja standing there at her throne, "Yoshiro, why didn't you announce the fact that you were coming, I would've had the gates opened to you and the Dracoknights." Yoshiro shook his head, "I wasn't originally planning on coming, plus I left my communicator on Julius." Freja nodded with a smile, her thin tail seeming to point at him, "You're starting to get a bit forgetful, but I have good news." Yoshiro didn't hesitate to speak, "Oh?" Freja put her hands together, "Yoshiro, this war is over. We're no longer at war."

Yoshiro placed his hand on his chest and grabbed the clasp, with a twist, he broke it, allowing his waist length cape to fall to the ground. He took the crown off his head and dropped it onto the ground, "If that's the case, then I am no longer the King of the Kilvish kingdom. I announced to my middle daughter, that when the war was over, I would abdicate the throne, Freja. I'm done." Freja nodded, "I understand, and I know that you have your own reasons. Are these the humans we went to war with?" Yoshiro shook his head, "These are the humans that led the fleet that attacked our colony." Freja placed a hand on her chin and let out a bit of a saddened squeak, "Did you directly attack our colony?" Stephanie looked at Freja and stepped forward. Yoshiro placed his hand on her arm, but she broke free, "I am the leader of the fleet, I bear responsibility for their actions."

Freja sighed, "Legally, we have to deliver you to your homeworld anyhow, but tell me, did you attack the colony yourself?" Stephanie shook her head, "I didn't get the chance to tell them not to fire. I was trying to figure out what kind of installation was on the planet below, ma'am. The fleet opened fire and that's when it hit me, we had destroyed a civilian colony." A kilvish man with black hair, but bright green eyes walked out. He had the same white tail and ears as Yoshiro, despite having blue skin. He looked at Stephanie, "My eldest son was on that colony." Stephanie was stunned at how calm his voice sounded, when she looked at Yoshiro, she watched as he spoke, "Tsuyoshi, it was Bainor that passed away, wasn't it?" Tsuyoshi nodded, "Yes, Father." Yoshiro looked down, saddened, "Tsuyoshi, I promise your son will be honored."

Tsuyoshi frowned at his father's actions, "Father, I know that you feel compelled to act now that you're no longer royalty, but... I'm going to ask you to do something very big for me, alright?" Yoshiro looked up at Tsuyoshi, his tail touching the ground, "Anything, my son." Tsuyoshi smiled softly, "I want you to accompany me to the human homeworld, while we're at it, we can deliver these people back to their homes." Yoshiro nodded and looked at Stephanie, who shrugged, "I really do want to get back home. We humans don't belong this far out into space, just yet." Yoshiro then looked at his son, "Alright, Tsuyoshi, I'd love to. When do we leave?" Tsuyoshi looked at his chronometer, "In about thirty-five minutes. We'll be taking your personal ship to the homeworld, if that's alright with you."

Yoshiro nodded, "Of course, my son." Tsuyoshi smiled, "Thank you, Father." Yoshiro nodded, "You're welcome." As Tsuyoshi left the room, Stephanie looked at him, "Why is he so calm about the death of his son, Yoshiro?" Yoshiro sighed, "Tsuyoshi doesn't want to show it, but he's hurt badly. You stay here with the others. Lilah, stay here. If Tsuyoshi smells that you're near me, he won't show his emotions." Lilah nodded and Yoshiro walked towards the direction that Tsuyoshi went, he followed the scent of his son and knocked on Tsuyoshi's door, "Tsuyoshi, can I come in?" The kilf's voice spoke up on the other side of the door, "You may." Yoshiro opened the door and entered the room, closing and locking the door behind him, "Tsuyoshi, I know you're hurt."

Tsuyoshi walked over to the window, "Are you alone?" Yoshiro nodded, "I had Lilah and Rogelio stay behind. At any rate, Lilah would be the only one that could pick the lock of that door and you know she won't go against my orders." Tsuyoshi nodded as he leaned against the window, "It's not fair, Father..." Yoshiro nodded with a hint of sorrow in his voice, "I know, my son, believe me, I know. It's hard on me too, the rest of the family when they get the news will hurt as well, but I don't pretend to imagine what kind of pain that you're going through." Tsuyoshi's voice became angry, "Father, how do you keep yourself from hurting people when something like this happens!?" Yoshiro sighed and walked over to him, giving him a hug, "My son, I don't know. Maybe I've gotten so sick of all the killing, that I can't do it anymore."

Tsuyoshi turned around in Yoshiro's hug, Yoshiro could see the tears streaming down his son's cheeks, this made him angry, seeing his son hurt like this. However, he recalled the techniques that he was taught to fight this feeling during his training with Kauko and he sighed slightly, drawing Tsuyoshi's face into his shoulder, "Let it all out, Tsuyoshi. Better to let all of your emotions out here with your own father, than to snap on the way to their homeworld." Tsuyoshi nodded and continued to cry, soaking Yoshiro's right shoulder with his tears. Yoshiro scratched his son behind the ears idly as he cried. Yoshiro knew that for him, the time for mourning would be later since he had to ensure that the new queen of his kingdom was going to be accepted by the people.

Tsuyoshi stopped crying and looked at Yoshiro, "Father, why do you not cry?" Yoshiro looked at him, "Tsuyoshi, I'm very angry and very sad right now. But I have to keep my composure for a while longer. I'm giving up my throne to your little sister." Tsuyoshi blinked, "I thought Harumi..." Yoshiro interrupted him, "Your younger sister." Tsuyoshi nodded, "To Hiromi, I understand now. What are you going to do after that's done and over with, Father?" Yoshiro sighed and looked out the window, "You know, Son. I have absolutely no idea. I just want to relax for a bit, I can't take the stresses of politics anymore." Tsuyoshi nodded and stood up, "Well, we should get to the shuttle." Yoshiro nodded and stood up with his son, "Lead the way." Tsuyoshi nodded and the two of them left the room.

[Akira110]

Chapter 14

A few hours had passed since he had talked to his father, as Tsuyoshi found himself in front of a council of human leaders. This was something that the humans had called a United Nations, something similar to the council of leaders on Verbana. He was sitting in a chair, in between his father and Freja, he waited for Freja to speak as she had the floor, the Mus leader looking at him and nodding slightly as she stood up, "As you all know, there was a formal war between our people. The leading captain of the fleet is here today as he led the fleet that crippled your military severely. Anyhow for those of you wondering, I am a neutral party in these talks." The human leaders talked amongst themselves and then one of them spoke up, "Are you going to cripple us further?"

Tsuyoshi looked at his father, who he knew wanted to get up and address it, but he placed his hand on his father's shoulder as he stood up himself, "Sir, with all due respect, what we are talking about here is a peace treaty. You are to be formally recognized as a faction within our universe whether we want it to be so or not. We have no further issues with you, so if I may ask, please refrain from future outbursts." Tsuyoshi sat back down and looked at Yoshiro, "Please, Father, let me handle this." Yoshiro nodded, "Diplomacy was always difficult for me, my son." Tsuyoshi nodded as Sacha spoke up, "The only punishment I see fit to put upon the human race is to ban them from entering Eltiranan-Verbanan territory for the, how long do your people generally live?"

One of the humans spoke up, "Eighty years." Sacha nodded, "For the next sixty years then. This generation of humans will be forbidden from entering our territory. After sixty years are over, humanity may once again try to establish contact with the Verbanans or the Eltiranans. Until then, any incursion into our space will be considered an invasion and we will chase out any human ships. Furthermore, our colony will be re-established, that solar system will be part of Verbanan territory, however that will be the closest border of our territory to human space." The humans spoke amongst themselves and one of them spoke up, "With all due respect, how can we tell that you won't just attack us again." Tsuyoshi looked at Sacha, "Let me handle this, Captain." Sacha nodded as Tsuyoshi stood up, "I know for a fact that someone amongst you were informed that you attacked a Verbanan Colony. Our military merely retaliated in response to an unwarranted attack."

The human that spoke nodded, "Of course, ambassador. But we had no idea that it was a civilian colony to begin with." Tsuyoshi nodded and felt a tap in his arm, he looked at the humans, "Excuse me for a second." Tsuyoshi turned to his father who looked up at him, "Son, ask Sacha for a star chart." Tsuyoshi nodded and looked at Sacha, "Captain, can you upload a star chart, please?" Sacha nodded and placed a chip into the console at his seat an image of a star chart appeared, it had recently been modified to include human territory as well. Tsuyoshi turned back to the humans, "The area of space you see highlighted in green is territory of the Eltiranan-Verbanan alliance. The colors of Blue, Orange, Purple and Brown are of the Menschilche Imperium, at least the different alliances within them. We didn't have enough time to consult you, so the area in white is your territory."

One of the humans looked at the map and spoke, "This includes a few worlds that we have yet to discover!" Sacha nodded, "We figured that you were trying to expand, twelve billion people on a single planet is a bit much. We ran a cross check on these planets and they have the about the same atmospheric qualities and gravitational pull as your planet. They would make excellent colony worlds." The humans spoke amongst each other and then one of them looked at Sacha, "And what is the catch?" Sacha shook his head, a bit disappointed, "No catch. You wiped out one of our colonies and we sort of devastated your entire military. We more or less committed disproportionate retribution and most of us feel rather bad about it, so we're giving you these worlds as gifts. We were going to colonize them ourselves, but we found out about humanity earlier today and well they're closer to your homeworld than ours."

The humans spoke amongst each other and another human, this one a dark skinned male spoke up, "We've considered your gift and thank you. What other terms do you have to our surrender?" Sacha shrugged, "Tsuyoshi, Freja, Yoshiro?" Freja shook her head, Tsuyoshi shook his head and Yoshiro sighed, "I'm retired, Captain. My input isn't necessary, nor does it hold any weight." Sacha nodded, "The Verbanans have no more terms of surrender. Each of you has been given a copy of the peace treaty, and we would like you to sign it." Tsuyoshi watched his console as each human leader's signatures appeared on it, he also watched as Freja's signature showed up. Tsuyoshi looked up at them, "We will take this back to our homeworld and have our leaders sign it. We'll send you the fully signed and ratified copy within a couple of days, if that's alright with you." The humans nodded and Tsuyoshi spoke up, "If there's nothing else, shall we adjourn?"

There was silence and Tsuyoshi nodded, "This meeting is adjourned." Everyone started to leave and Tsuyoshi sighed slightly, the loss of his son was still weighing heavily on his shoulders, but he would be able to go to Verbanan and at least tell his wife and his other children now. His father walked up beside him, "Come on son, let's go home." Tsuyoshi nodded slightly, "Indeed, I'm just glad this is all over. At least now, the dead will be able to sleep peacefully." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I agree. This war was pointless from the beginning and all it caused was misery and death. For all of those involved and those that were innocent bystanders, when we landed, I saw the faces of the people, they were scared of us." Tsuyoshi nodded sadly as they boarded the shuttle and sat down, the shuttle took off and headed back to the ship that would take them back to Verbana.