An Eastern Jewel [Richard/Iammelon]

Roughly over a decade has passed since the self imposed exile of the Confederate fleet and their new allies in the nomadic fleet of Eliksni survivors came together to share a new future together, since those first few shaky days of opportunity and new beginnings both sides have since found new homeworlds close to one another. While the Eliksni resettled on an oceanic world of Riis Nova, the Confederate remnants resettled on a world of their own where they have since flourished with the help of their alien allies.

Both sides had much to teach and with the guidance of the exiled Iammelonian's the Eliksni would find themselves in a new golden age of wonders. Colonisation and expansion for both sides began within the first 6 years, both budding civilisations remained close ties and happily aided the other with whatever issues were plaguing them.

While Stranek, the Kell of Kell's of the ruling House of Vengeance, would soon be reorganised his House into the House of Starlight as their desire for vengeance faded, knew that for the renewed sentiment for seeking a better future for their people to take root they must let go of their desire for retribution for the time being. It was not off the table, but they had not as so much heard a peep from the Godly enemy since fate first had their paths intersect more than two decades ago.

For the Confederate Leadership, it was known that Commander Ilox was now known as Ilox-Kell to the Eliksni people as she wanted to remain close to them, many of her close crew following her on the path of forging a House of their own. Ilox's House was made with the best of what she knew and with the help of Fraph who helped with shaping it to suit both peoples it became one that became second to the House of Starlight in its popularity as it helped to keep the bridge between the Eliksni and the Confederates alive.

Many clanless Eliksni ended up joining Ilox’s House after she made the offer that they could. Many had obviously accepted the chance at a better future, much like the clanless Engineer Gallek who had worked with Captain Sysglow. The Ialao and the scrawny Eliksni got along well with their fascination in the engineering possibilities of each other's races and peoples, the both of them together easily inspired many innovations that put their House at the forefront of joint progress for their respective civilisations.

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The anniversary of their people’s alliance would be coming about in several days, it had become something of a public holiday, one of fated chances and joy. For the Eliksni it was a momentous occasion running into aliens that did not think of them as vagrants and pests, something to exploit or enslave. The Confederates came to realise quickly that the holiday was something that really brought the Eliksni together, the suffering their race had likely seen on their meandering into Hoshi was likely great if they would create a holiday solely around meeting friendly aliens.

And with that day coming soon, many would seek to celebrate it early with notable individuals. Though for others, the date meant other things. For Mithra it was the day that his aunty Fraph would have been matched up with the Confederate lieutenant Maltoi, a Taurus who serves as the right hand to Commander Ilox. And for Stranek it was the day that he saw a chance for his people to do more than merely survive, he saw in the Confederates a chance for his people to live.

So the Kell of Kell’s, along with Mithra who had since become the Kell’s right hand man, would visit Ilox-Kell wherever she had set up her House’s base of operations, this could either be on one of their colony worlds, the Confederate Homeworld or on the Eliksni Homeworld of Riis Nova. Whatever the place they would still go to see her when she had the time to meet them away from the busy affairs of being an important figure of both peoples. Mithra and Stranek would be meeting Ilox on her terms this time.

The Former Confederates, in the course of that decade, had of course not been idle. While the Eliksni settled upon their new world of Riis Nova and began to reorganize their society, Ilox was directing her Iammelonian expats to do the same upon their own new world. In the early years, they would mostly refer to it as a new capital world, with the term "homeworld" not really taking off. The planet they chose was a nice, temperate one, with life on it but fortunately (for the Confederates sake) devoid of natural sentient life. The planet was given the name "Baxtra", named after Ilox's deceased Grandmother as a form of remembrance of the homes left behind. To start the new colony, some of the older, aging, and damaged ships were broken down and their materials used to set up temporary housing and facilities until more proper homes could be created. Cooperation with the Eliksni was for that reason essential, as the first years would be the most difficult and having a reliable ally mitigated much of the trouble.

Ilox, still the effective leader of the Iammelonians, also set about reorganizing society to suit the new situation. They would still be Confederates, but they were now Baxtran Confederates. Their Iammelonian heritage would be preserved, but it would be quite clear that they were no longer any competing government for the Jade Nebula now so very far away. One sign of the heritage however would be in Ilox's own new house, which she created to better facilitate diplomacy and relations with their Eliksni allies. Ilox's house was now the "House of the Nebula", which would be structured like any other Eliksni house so Ilox could approach them on their own terms. And it would accept any who wished to join it, Iammelonian or Eliksni.

The Government of the Baxtra Confederacy was still being set up, with Ilox currently reigning as a clear military administrator. Her long term goal was to create a semi-republican government, with a functional senate and courts. But Ilox is ultimately a military woman, as are the entirety of the fleet that has come with her. As such, a strong military leader for the new Confederacy is seen as the best option, with the military and government being heavily intertwined. Ilox in turn decided to change her title away from simple "Commander", to "Kell-President", combining her title as both Kell of her new House and also President of the Baxtra Confederacy. In turn others had to fill in other positions. Maltoi was actually promoted to Commander, taking Ilox's old post, and Sysglow as well Gallek would find themselves in charge of the Confederacy's Development Institution.

It would be in the latter years of the Baxtra Confederacy that saw more use of the term "homeworld" for Baxtra, as the Iammelonians settled in. More importantly, it was also because new generations were finally being born on Baxtra. Families were being made, and that helped many of the expats to accept the new future more wholeheartedly. In addition, other couples were willing to adopt Eliksni children who had lost their parents, accepting orphans of various ages. While the older ones were still more Eliksni in general, the younger ones were raised in a more Iammelonian fashion, seeing new, young generations of Iammelonian-Eliksni on Baxtra.

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The Iammelonians did realize the importance of this holiday, if simply meeting a friendly race was so major for them, but the children of the Nebula could understand the feeling. Iammelonians were nationalistic and cautious when it came to interacting with non-Iammelonians. Species was irrelevant, but there was a major distrust in those who did not come from Iammelon, as in Iammelonian history they typically proved to be invaders and barbarians. In truth there was still a little tension left, as many of the new Baxtrans couldn't quite believe they were lucky enough to encounter yet another group of refugees fleeing a lost war, and actually friendly ones at that. That was why Ilox was quite careful in the early years, but much of the tension was gone now as the Confederates interacted more and more with the Eliksni, and came to accept them. Despite their names being close, they were not Eskalivi. Still, the Eliksni would find that in general their new Iammelonian friends would warn them often of others in Hoshizora. That Iammelonian distrust of the outside was far from gone, and they were keen on spreading it to their new friends. Not just because of Iammelonians and their typical pride making them want to spread their ideas, but out of a low (and yet all so clearly present) fear that there would be some threat that would come to strike down the new allies, and they needed to be ready.

Ilox, for her part, saw the holiday as a good time to celebrate incredibly good fortune. She was still cautious about the future, but she did not share the more paranoid beliefs of some of her subordinates. In the Eliksni, she similarly saw a chance for a good future, and a prosperous potential future for their new worlds. Still, no point not being ready, so she kept much of her fleet ready just in case. As for Maltoi, he was more of a beacon of optimism. He still coordinated military readiness, but felt everyone should be allowed to enjoy this day to the full. Besides, this was an anniversary for a very good day for him in particular, as it was of course an anniversary of the day he met Fraph. Somebody he spent plenty of time with now, both in his free time and in work, as now in his new military command position he would often work alongside his new Eliksni counterparts to coordinate defense.

The visitation was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Ilox would invite Stranek and Mithra to Baxtra's Administration Center, which was currently serving as the headquarters for both the Confederate Government and the House of the Nebula until a proper facility for both could be constructed in the future. Ilox couldn't really leave Baxtra very often, there was much to do. Be it preparing its first city, "New Valus" (named after Ilox's hometown), setting up the new fusion power plants, or coordinating logistics to keep everything supplied. She was a very busy woman, but she decided this holiday could give her a break. Not like much construction work was getting done that day after all, with all the workers having their own breaks for the holiday. And of course Ilox would have her friends and advisors with her, to join the celebrations.

Stranek seldom got to leave Riis Nova these days. And while his family had wanted him to spend it with them, he saw this as a unique opportunity to build bridges. He already got to know the ex-commander and now Kell of the House of the Nebula on their few occasions together in the past while their fleets were travelling the galaxy together a decade ago now. He knew that it was unfair of him to drop by without an advanced notice but he thought it was nice to be able to drop by like this during a holiday like this. He disliked things that were too formal, he grew up in a small clan so endless pleasantries and social protocol bothered him to no end. He was a very informal person, but knew how to hold himself as the leader of his people.

Something that Mithra was happy about since he had known the Young Kell since he was just a small front line grunt, long before he had become the Kell of Kells. Mithra of course had kept in close contact with Maltoi and his aunt Fraph, happy to see that Fraph had become more confident and able to come out of her shell thanks to the Taurus’s encouragement and positive affect on her generally. There has even been talk from her that she may want to try for children soon, though such a case of crossbreeding has not yet been found to be possible. Though there have been cases where viable eggs have been found with human partners that have brought about new eye colours and flesh colours in Eliksni offspring.

That aside for the time being, the pair happily arrived at Baxtra’s Administration Centre. They delighted at the sight of the amount of activity going around even on a day like this though they could tell that the work that had been put in while new places were being prepared to become the seat of the new Confederate Government was impressive but they could not wait to see what the complete works would look like once finished would be like. Though this place was also a temporary base of operations for the House of the Nebula, Stranek mused about offering help to have them settle a new base somewhere but he did not want to spoil the independent work ethic that the house has cultivated since their formation.

Undoubtedly Ilox was a busy woman, something that Stranek would understand very well with his own efforts in establishing the capital city of Zerlir (Named after his own father according to Stranek’s mother), and helping it build deep ocean wave generators to harness the power of the ocean currents alongside wind farms. Riis Nova was not a sunny world, often having storms and rainy days thanks to the lack of landmasses on the surface, so most settlements were built under the water possessing their own simulated seasons and environments like that had on their liveships, with very few settlements on the surface being for the sake of maintaining Wind and Wave farms.

Stranek also had the duty of dealing with new Light Bearer’s that awakened amongst their people, and had to deal with the formation of new Houses and greet new Kells amongst them. No Kell may form a House without first meeting him naturally, to do so was seen as a Taboo. Of course Ilox already had her go ahead long ago. Light bearers amongst the Eliksni population has been steadily increasing over the last decade thanks to the relative peace that they have been able to enjoy. Light has been something that has been an object of study for both their peoples since it behaves in a peculiar way with the world around them. Not like magic would but it takes on similar characteristics in that it can react to the users will, offensive, passively, defensively and in many different ways depending on the users imagination. It isn’t like magic in that it requires intense incantations or formulaic calculations and directions. The Light only needs a direction and the wielder's imagination. Despite its relative simplicity it has been seen to do things that defy its simplicity in the way that allows Eliksni Sacred Splicers, a term referring to special Eliksni who once served as a sort of religious clergy for the great machine and over such technology, to directly interface with tech and computer programs to the extent that they can render themselves down into programs themselves, allowing for greater interactions and universal connectivity for their tech.

Stranek with Mithra to his side walked the many halls, the Baron was still towering a good 4ft over the much younger Kell of Kells though it was hard not to notice the radiance of his light spilling through the cracks in his chitinous plating across his body like white flames softly lapping at the air around it. It was utterly harmless as anyone who touched him would find, it was more to show that he had a connection to the Light that was far ahead of his own race given his direct connection to the ‘Machine God’ that now resides on Riis Nova.

Reaching the HQ of Ilox’s House they could already tell that more than a few people were attending from the amount of personal craft that they had seen on the way up. They certainly didn’t mind events like this, Eliksni were a very communal people so they felt at home in gatherings. Stranek hoped that he would be able to meet the Kell as they got inside, wanting to bring something that he had noticed recently to her attention since they both had homestead colonies beyond this system that they had allowed to start construction.

The independent work ethic was certainly something Ilox had wanted to cultivate. For while she did appreciate her allies, she was intent on ensuring that Baxtra and the House of the Nebula both could stand on their own should they have to. Still, as Stranek and Mithra walked through New Valus, they could see plenty of work was underway. While many of the workers themselves had taken off for the holiday, construction projects were abound in the streets. All sorts of things were under construction. Shops, military buildings, houses, and even some skyscrapers were now well under way to being built. They would also see the varied people of Baxtra. Many of Iammelon's species were here; Humans, Taurus, Cuthians, Valorians, Human-Ghashyr Hybrids, Drelakini, and even a couple Anubites were seen in the streets. Not to mention a few new additions, those being Eliksni who had come to live on Baxtra in some form or another. Lots of celebrations were underway as the day was just being taken as a nice break from the work, a time to have fun. Each group had fun in their own ways, as many continued traditions from their own homeworlds. A group of Zantines were celebrating by drinking and singing, Cuthians were performing magic tricks, fireworks were being launched by Avalantines, and a couple Valorians could be spotted luring away women for whatever they did in private.

Arriving at the Baxtra Administration Center, where Ilox worked and was hosting her social event, the two could see that things were more relaxed here than some of the more boisterous celebration in other parts of the city. Ilox clearly wasn't the sort to enjoy loud revelry. This was more of a simple social gathering, but people seemed to be having good times in general. In attendance were members of Ilox's officer corps, as well as those who had taken up the now appearing civilian administration roles. Here the people were mostly in suits, dresses, and other formal wear. That formal ware could vary dependent on the person. Some of the more stiff officers were still in military uniform, while others wore outfits more fitting of their home culture. One Zantine official for instance was wearing a fancy noble robe, and the singular Anubite mystic Ilox had in her fleet was wearing his own noble outfit. There were some guards posted around the building still, caution seemed to be common with Ilox, but there was little tension in the air. For despite the formal outfits, this was clearly an informal event. There was no specific point to this except for people to chat and enjoy their time with one another.

Soon after Mithra and Stranek arrived, they would meet with Ilox. The former Commander and now Kell-President was wearing a suit, having never been one to wear a dress.  She had her long black hair in a ponytail, but she seemed to still be somewhat tired. The work had its effect on her. Alongside Ilox was the now Commander Maltoi, wearing more casual clothes. The Taurus was more jovial and, like Mithra was with Stranek, he towered over his superior officer. Finally, the third figure with Ilox was somebody neither Mithra or Stranek would recognize. A female Valorian wearing an officer's uniform, with a stern look on her face and clean brown fur.

Ilox waved to Mithra and Stranek as they approached, and spoke up, "Welcome to Baxtra, Baron Mithra and Kell Of Kells. Sorry we couldn't arrange any sort of fancy welcome, don't quite have the resources to spare on that. Before we begin, allow me to introduce you to Baxtra's new High Justice, Aloir Zanil." She gestured towards the Valorian, who simply gave a quiet nod and did not speak. Ilox continued, "She doesn't talk much but somebody needs to run the courts now that we've actually built a couple of them. How have things been going on Riis Nova?"

Getting to see the mesh of cultures working well was uplifting for the pair, Stranek’s existence as a hybrid made it all the better to see so many cultures working well together. Though to his shame he didn’t know too many of the nebula cultures other than the ones that he had been exposed to over the decade. This being primarily Human, Taurus and Ialoan thanks to the initial exposure of meeting the ex-commanders group on that fateful day. Still he did what he could to learn about the other cultures seeing that they are now all equally part of their own culture now.

Mithra was a son of the Forge through and through, a loud and boisterous atmosphere suited him fine but his mothers side of the family helped to temper him well. This served him quite well once they got to the House of the Nebula section of the Baxtra Administration centre.

For the occasion Mithra had decided to wear a human style suit since his own people's sense of style had been lost to matters of function and form encompassing everything else, lost to the generations of banditry that they had been condemned to. So it has been an interesting time trying to find something that fits their individual tastes and needs while the finer parts of their culture can recover and flourish beyond the matters of religion and social structure.

Meanwhile Stranek had tried to go for something that was traditions to the Athailian people since his father hailed from there, though he quickly came to realise that Athailian attire is made of heavy fabrics reliant on Psionic energy to become lighter. Unfortunately, despite his heritage he lacks Psionic capabilities… So he would just be wearing a really heavy robe. So instead he opted for a more zantine style, still wanting to go for a robe but also wanting to be formal for the occasion.

Once the pair were greeted by Ilox, the new Commander Maltoi and a new woman they haven't seen before, the pair greeted them back with glad tidings. Stranek was the first to speak though Mithra still beamed a smile to his uncle, the good commander Maltoi and Ilox he greeted with a respectful nod, happy that their decade old gamble was paying off nicely so far. “Why thank you, oh you needn’t worry about the lack of a reception. Honestly I prefer a sincere hello to some flashy grand welcome. While spectacle is good for show, we are here as friends first and officials second.”

Stranek and Mithra naturally turned their attention to the mentioned new High Justice, unfamiliar with the role but understood the meaning of the title to a degree with some better understanding as Ilox later mentioned the construction of courthouses. Both gave a respectful nod in kind as Aloir wordlessly greeted them. Though neither of them minded this silence.

The starry eyed Kell of Kells beamed as Ilox asked how things were progressing on Riis Nova, it was clear that while he had also faced many a sleepless night fretting over details he found it all as a point of pride. “Better than I could have dreamed if I may be so honest. Zerlir is nearing completion, with the completion of a new wave farm being made our cities can soon start being self-sufficient without the need to use the recycled ship reactors, they can soon be recycled again being used in constructing new ships or go towards being used in other colony projects.” Nothing was wasted in Eliksi culture, even if it was thought to be worthless to some cultures it was likely that the Eliksni would find some small value in it. It was only natural for a people who snatch up derelicts and refurbish them into live ships or combat craft to be used in the defense fleets.

“Alongside that there have been more awakenings amongst my kind, my people are starting to reawaken their long dormant powers once more. Something I’ve been paying careful attention to... “ Stranek's prideful beam would reflexively waver, something he had been attempting to grow out of doing. Yet it was hard for him not to wear his heart on his sleeve. As someone who arose to such a powerful position amongst his race from nothing more than a foot soldier, it is unavoidable that he lacks the finer touches of utilising a poker face. Thought that is why he had someone like Mithra or his sister close by. Stranek’s sister was unavoidably unable to come with him this time, being needed to go and investigate something out in the colonies. Which is what spoiled his smile.

Mithra picked the conversation up for the moment, the matter that troubled his lord was hardly one that needed to be mentioned here in the open. Even if they were among friends and allies. “It has been quite a sight to see so many once more wielding the Light that had been taken from us. It has opened up new avenues to explore, I have already seen many start to use their Light in Forge work.”

Stranek, picking up on Mithra’s direction, naturally shifted gears back into a better mood as he nodded along. Though he decided to ask the Kell-President something instead of continuing along with the topic of the light, he can pick that back up at a better time. “I hope that things have been going as smoothly on your end as well IloxKel.” As Ilox was made aware years ago once she accepted the title, the addition of ‘Kel’ to the end of her name is something similar to honorifics. For instance a good example is Ilox-Sama or Dono if you want to be hardcore about it. Essentially it is to highlight her place as a superior of her house. Even he, who ranks above her in his culture as Keell of Kells, should address her in this way as a sign of respect. Just as it is customary for him to be referred to as Stranekkel. Though this can slide in social situations where it is not really needed, you do it more as a sign of respect in these situations where they aren’t in big meetings or events where lots of people will see them.

Ilox gave a small smile at the news Riis Nova seemed to be doing well, "That's good, seems everything in general is proceeding along with schedule. That's rare, to have everything go so well without much bad news to muck it all up. Best utilize this streak of good luck while we have the chance. Although sounds rather ambitious to start yet more colonization efforts so early, I'm keeping my focus for now on what we already have. Don't got that many folks you know, so I can't stretch myself thin. Though I guess we could use some waystations and early warning information bases. But I'll avoid talking about that, that's future talk and too work centered."

She was confused for a moment at the naming, but then quickly remembered, "Ah, yes. I haven't fully adapted to the additional suffix added to my name, but I guess that's part of the role now ain't it?  Anyways, Stranek... Stranekkel, I need to start using that more, in general I can say things have gone well here on Baxtra. We've set up all the essentials for survival and habitation, that was easy enough to unload from the ships. Food won't be an issue until the population expands by a fair bit, and quick assembly plants have been set up to get a bit of industry going. Now we're just setting up all the various bits of infrastructure, be they civilian, government, or military. Like those courts Aloir here will be running."

"Most importantly, the various communities have settled in. All the initial folks knew eachother thanks to all being from the same fleet, so military organization served us well for a time. But now that things have settled, all the various bits of home culture are returning. Feel free to have your folks look around and inquire into that. I'm sure the Ialao would be all too happy to discuss their Life-Worship or Valorians talk about their Goddess of Justice. Only really the Zantines will keep their beliefs close to their chest. That's how they roll, you know."

She then looked around for a bit, and gave Aloir a small nod. The Valorian returned the nod, and then walked off towards the closest group and started talking to them, and seeming to guide them away. Ilox then turned back to the two Eliksni, "Now, I can tell there's something a little more serious about this Light thing of yours. And it ain't the Ghashyr Light, I know that. That religion is closer to what Ialao think. The sideroom over there is a bit more empty, and safer from prying ears, if you want to talk." Ilox gestured towards her right, towards a door that led into a small sideroom. This also showed the purpose of the Valorians actions, as she was currently making sure nobody was looking in their direction.

Stranek smiled as he could see Ilox’s face flash as she remembered. It was surprising she didn’t hear it more from the likes of Garrek, since he held more traditional values despite his past. Though with the meshing of cultures being more prominent here, it may seem to the Eliksni under Ilox that using other titles would be more polite since they aren’t on Riis Nova or infront of other Kell’s at the very least, taking cues from the Confederates around them. Though he was happy that her pronunciation was getting better. “Don’t stress over it too much, it is an older custom so you’ll only see some gripe from traditionalists.”

The Starlight Kell was glad to hear that Ilox’s people have been settling in well, though with the news that parts of their home cultures were starting to come back with everything starting to settle there was a shine in Mithra’s eye. He was especially looking forward to getting to explore more of the mixed cultures. Though he couldn’t say off the top of his head which culture really caught his attention out of all the others. “I look forward to seeing what comes of this new meshing of cultures.”

Mithra was reassured that the new challenges that come with adopting a new style of leadership thanks to Eliksni customs certainly hasn’t done anything to Ilox’s keen intuition. The given option to move into the side one was one that the Kell of Kell’s decided to take now instead of dragging out the tension needlessly.

Naturally the pair nod and watch for people seeing them as they make their way to the side room that Ilox mentioned, once inside and sure that they were safe from others listening in unnecessarily the Kell of Kell’s relaxed before shifting his attention again to Ilox.

“I’m not very versed in the Ghashyr Light, but what I wanted to bring up in regards to something happening out on a colony world that was established several months ago, Paxus. It started as a small agricultural venture and still is. My sister Zalia, who originally went to investigate the claims of Light bearers appearing on the colony, has encountered two of them... Light bearers have awoken there… Normally this is a good thing but I had no hand in helping these Eliksni reawaken the Light, and I have no memory of helping our God bring the ghosts that are paired with these two Eliksni into existence.”

Ghosts, as Stranek calls them, are magical constructs that help with nurturing the Light in Eliksni and helping to initially awaken it and help the individuals learn how to use it since the race is so starved magically thanks to generations of atrophy and neglect, the Ghosts help to safely nurture it again. She would have seen one or two amongst the Eliksni that were in her house, small orb-like constructs with a single eye with individual personalities and thoughts all their own. These ghosts and the nature of their God had always been something that Stranek had promised to let her in on once things were settled, so it was likely to happen soon enough.

“They reached out to me, these Eliksni. They are even resettled orphans, children who are directly related to one of the Kell’s who led the original three Houses before I united them into the now House of Starlight… I believe they are from the House of Broken Dreams, storytellers and fate weavers while they originally had the Light in the past... They want to create their own House.” Stranek seemed torn about this, he wanted to give any new House a chance to prosper but the amount of unknowns surrounding them and their pasts seemed too coincidental.

“What’s more they have a recommendation from an Old Warlord, one of the oldest that are still alive. Normally I would not heed any word of a Warlord’s since they led our people on hateful warpaths across unknown spaces before we became a migrant flotilla, but he is the predecessor to Mithra’s family line. Vaxim Graphis, The Fury Meister.” He says as he even looks to Mithra beside him while the towering Baron nods.

“Vaxim is the one who allows his son, Shazra, to succeed him and reform the House of Scorched Skies into the House of Forges. Shazra wanted to create devices that would help make the worlds they might one day settle livable instead of making weapons to pillage them. Vaxim is my ancestor, even though he relinquished the right to lead both House and Clan, my mother Kizsana still listens to his council despite being the clan Matriarch. Despite being retired he had astronomical political weight. Several weeks ago he pulled a Ketch from active service just so this new House could use it… 2 months before that he seems to have pulled a ‘personal shuttle’ away from a privately funded Merc group for someone else to use, who has since left our territory…”

Mithra looks to Stranek for a second before he nods to the Baron, it would seem there is more. “There’s something else too.” Mithra says this as he pulls a small device from his pocket, just your standard personal mobile but he had it with a holo-projector since his hands were too big for the buttons. He pulled up the image of the stranger in question, seen hanging around with the two Eliksni in question. The image used was one taken from CCTV in the Colonies Bazaar near the space port, the Human is with the two Eliksni in question helping them sell produce and Ether tanks. “A human, pretty young looking despite the signs of age in his white hair. I have no idea who he is, I can’t find anything about him in what public records I have access to. I wanted to bring it to your attention since he seems to have appeared from nowhere just before the Light appeared in these two…”

Ilox payed attention to the briefing given, as what was happening in the colonies was relevant to her and the Confederates as well. And it was certainly an odd bit of news, which she wasn't entirely sure what to do with. She looked over the picture of the strange human, trying to see if she recognized him, and then shook her head, "That's nobody I recognize, so it's not one of mine, or at least not one I know. Send the images over to me and I'll perform a check on my other records. See if he's part of my fleet and I just don't know him, or if he's Iammelonian at all. If he is not... Then we have a stranger and an outsider on our hands. And that's trouble. I am not interested in new immigrants at the present time, especially not Eskalivi ones. We have enough issue as is."

She sighed, "This will be a destabilizing factor if allowed to fester. Alright, so we have a few things to address then. The new House, its sudden acquisition of support and psionics users, these ghosts that are linked to it, and the strange Human potential benefactor. All four need to be looked into. I can dispatch some agents to keep watch on the Human and the House, that should be easy. Find out who the hell that is, and if they are a threat. However I don't know much about your Light, but I shall try and see if there is any sort of connection there. If there is anything dubious, in particular."

"In any case, as for how to officially handle the house... Let it exist. Better to keep it out in the open than in the dark. But we must keep eyes on it, and that Warlord Vaxim. Retired or not I don't like the idea of a former Warlord just suddenly supporting a new house which oddly has an outsider part of it, and apparently with means to awaken your people's abilities. But I do want to know how they do that. If we can figure out that, we can use it for more proper purposes. Still, in order to do this... We'll need a better presence on Praxus. I don't like the idea of this new House getting too many recruits, when they might be dangerous. Time to provide competition. Maltoi." She looked over to the Taurus.

At the que, Maltoi thought for a moment before speaking up, "Suppose we can set up more presence for our own House of the Nebula over there. Any Iammelonians will pick it over an outsider's house, and we can use that as a sorta means to justify increased Baxtran presence on the colony. A cover for any agents performing their investigations. And if anything too darn dangerous is found to be going on, a jumping off point to quickly handle the trouble. Shouldn't cause any alarm there either, given that the House of the Nebula is already established as one that wishes to extend an offer of unity and acceptance to any seeking a House."

Ilox then looked back to Stranek and Mithra, "If that sounds good to you, that can be my contribution in trying to figure this whole thing out. And Stranekkel, your sister can use my house as a cover as well if she wants to perform any additional investigations. Based on what I am hearing it might be dangerous to investigate alone. Something a little fishy is going on, so it would pay to have somebody watching her back too. This might be a good thing, if somebody has a means to reawaken your abilities, but it might be a bad thing. After all... What's their motive for doing it? If a Warlord's involved, might be building up an opposing force right within our own region."

She then sighed, putting a hand to her face, "I damn hope it's just something odd and not a damn conspiracy. Otherwise we've got two potential problems, which I suppose I should bring up as well." Ilox, for all her calm demeanor, was clearly and visibly stressed, but seemed like she had to say this, "Since we're bringing things to attention... You remember dealing with some Apex Pirates, right? The ones with the cars?"

Stranek felt bad about adding to Ilox’s issues, but if he really wanted to keep this in house and handle it internal it would draw too much attention as is, he hoped that at least this way it would mean that it would show that it isn’t about being reliant on Ilox but willing to ultimately put their trust in them.

Though this ‘Eskavali’ word she used was one he’s heard plenty of in the past. Their word that they mostly use for outsiders, with other negative connotations. Given the circumstances it might not be out of the question for the time being… With a nod to Mithra the picture of the unknown human male was sent over to Ilox while he took on her advice for letting the House exist, at least for now it would dissuade any questionable actions since this would be the first time he has openly had to deny the creation of a House when it’s purpose seems genuine and with good intention.

He didn’t think she would go all in and send agents, and go further with establishing a cover by extending some of her influence out that way… Inherently this is the best move, by having a safe area out there it means they can move more effectively. “I'm all for the House of the Nebula providing opposition out there, the more we can minimise the potential influence they can get while assessing them the better. And having my sister use the House branch out there as a base to conduct more investigations would be ideal too.”

Mithra seemed somewhat uneasy about this, so he did voice his opinion on it, of course Stranek didn’t mind his Baron’s speaking their mind, he was fine since it was Mithra. “If I may, I would like to handle my own investigation into Vaxim. He is my ancestor so I would like to hear his reasoning in supporting this fledgeling mystery instead of aiding his own family.”

“I’m sure we could accommodate that, though I think it would be best that you are monitored by an agent too. Better to have unseen support just in case he has been hypothetically compromised.” Stranek didn’t want to think that there was a potential situation surrounding an old warlord wanting to rekindle the old days of barbarism… That was the last thing he wanted for his people.

Mithra gave an accepting nod, he didn’t want to think that one of his family was trying to consolidate power for an attempted uprising or civil war… This wasn’t as much about protecting his family's image and honour as it was making sure that a potential threat doesn’t split their race in two directions. He shares Kell Ilox’s sentiment in hoping that all of this was just a strange incident of happenstance and easily explainable..

Both Mithra and Stranek looked to Ilox as she made mention of Apex and a potential issue arising… The implications are already troubling. “I remember them well… Why? Don’t tell me they’re starting to make rounds in our region of space.”

Ilox looked to Mithra and gave him a nod, "Doing your own investigation is smart, but feel free to use my own agents as you need. It's not a bad idea to have backup when it is no burden to provide it. What threatens you, threatens us. Our people are in this together, one way or the other, so if there is trouble... It concerns the both of us. Still, good that you take the lead in handling your own family. Means my folks can focus their attention on the Human and anything else suspicious. I just wish I had more magic experts, but we will make do with what we have."

She then sighed as the topic came to Apex, and she rubbed the back of her head, "Well, based on the reports I'm getting, they are indeed coming around this area. Which is the issue. They shouldn't be here at all, and definitely not in the strangely erratic pattern my scouts have found. Apex has two typical things about them. First, they rarely leave the general area around Iammelon for very long, they're more a local faction than one that likes to extend their influence galaxy wide. Second, Apex isn't the type to be so sneaky. Sure they'll sneak around for a bit when scoping out a potential target, so they don't run in blind, but they'll usually do that only for a while and then launch an overwhelming, unexpected, and most importantly fast attack. They prefer speed to subtly, which you might have guessed from their extremely unsubtle cars."

"But the Apex Pirates my scouts have been reporting are breaking both of those precedents. They're very, very far from home, and they've already exceeded the usual timeframe they use to scout. We've grabbed a couple probes in fact, which ignored perfectly easy targets. The implications of this is rather bad. Apex is here for one of two reasons. Either they are looking for somebody, or somebody hired them to do the looking on their behalf. In either case it's a bit more than just regular piracy."

Ilox crossed her arms, and sighed, "And I haven't any idea what the hell they could be looking for out here. If they were looking for an easy score to pillage, they would've attacked the lone ships and poorly defended colonies already. And at least that would've been normal Apex behavior, and dealt with in a way I can handle! This schemey nonsense though, it ain't in my ally. Back in Iammelon under Omnipo, this would've been the job of OMNI Intelligence to figure out. Those shadowy bastards were good at that. Still, if I were to guess... I doubt they're here for something of mine. If Apex is looking for something, whether for themselves or on somebody else's behalf, I'll be willing to bet it's something of yours. That's why I need this brought to your attention. Specifically, if you can think of any specific that Apex might want out of you for some reason."

She started tapping her left foot, and her right hand began twitching, "Worst case scenario too, this is linked to this new house and your former warlord and all this other stuff, one thing on another and another..."

At that point, Maltoi stepped forward and put a hand on Ilox's shoulder, which got her to calm down a bit. The Taurus seemed far more calm, and smiled, speaking in a more positive tone, "In any case, when it comes to those Apex boys, best way to handle em is rooting them out first. Based on my experience, if they're tip-toeing around like this, I reckon they ain't expecting anybody to go to them. And then maybe we can rip some info outta them. If we do that, it's a quick way to see if our two situations are connected, or separate. Got anything to spare for just such an event? All we'd need is something nice and speedy. Apex often is a bit surprised when somebody turns their own tricks on'em!"

Mithra was glad that Iloxkel was kind enough to let him do this his way, he didn’t mind taking on additional help when she put it the way she did. Taking his two right arms he crosses them to the left of his chest and gives a courteous bow. “I appreciate the support of Iloxkel, I would be honoured to have your agent’s help in this. And… Thank you for understanding. We are very communal people, we don’t like to… Ah.. What is the expression…? ‘Air our dirty laundry’ to those outside our close groups.”

Once the topic shifted to Apex, there was a noticeable shift in the Eliksni’s behavior. For the last ten years they have begun to cultivate and foster a more outgoing behavior, a friendlier and tolerant culture. But listening to the reports of shadowy looming and Ilox’s anxiousness of the situation, Stranek and Mithra both lulled back into the old survivor mentality that predated their attempts to make friendly alien connections. It was only brief, and to live day by day to lose your life to an old ship falling apart or a pirate raid at any minute is a hard habit to kick, even in a decade of peace.

The vibrant white flames that flicker through the exoskeletal plates of Stranek’s body dulled, growing darker as his mind turned to grim possibilities. His thoughts centring around the vulnerable and the weak willed out in the colonies, fears of mutiny and infighting amongst the populace as thoughts of these pirates taking advantage of his people did no good to the Kell of Kells… One second he was the leader of a budding Commonwealth and now he was the lowly Dreg on a scrappers rig to avoid dishonouring his clan with his hybrid defects.

Anxious thoughts filled his mind as Ilox presented her opinion. If they were after someone then they will need to drum up a list of potential targets, himself included… If they were after something in particular… Then he dreaded that they could be after the Machine God, she was still incomplete.

In all cases Ilox was correct, if they were just here for simple reasons then they would have already attacked but the mere fact they were all the way out here means they’ve either been paid an awful lot to do so or there was something out there they think they absolutely need… Petty revenge for beating them back a decade ago wouldn’t prompt a sneaky response like this… Right? There was no way.

But if Ilox’s people picked this up…

“Mithra.” His mind couldn’t handle linking the two situations right now, he couldn't’ bear the thought of one of his own relying on those maurarders that slaughtered so many of their kin all those years ago. Speaking Mithra’s name was a question, asking if he had any knowledge of this. His family has connections to the network of assassins and intel gathered in the Scout Section so there was no way something like this would have slipped the net… Not unless they were careless.

Mithra, without even missing a beat had lost the warm voice of gratitude he had moments before to rightly have one of dark concern. “I haven’t heard a word of this Stranekkel, I doubt my mother or the Master of Secrets would withhold this information lightly. Not from you…” These were not encouraging words, as he spoke he resisted every urge to start using his personal device to start combing through his network of contacts to verify all this.

Stranek didn’t like being in the dark, he has had too much of that in his life to allow it to take root again. Not when he and his people are just starting to regain a culture and a peaceful life after generations of hardships. That is when Ilox asking if he could think of anything specific that Apex may want from them came to mind, of course he could think of scattered things, important things and mundane things but only afew screamed out at him. “I would rather not consider it… But the Machine God is a possibility. It could also be Light Bearers. Or perhaps Splicers in my House, they experimented with the original engines of the cars we got from the Apex cruiser we ‘appropriated’ a decade ago. The Splicers had tried to recreate them for new variants of our Pikes and potential new vehicles. But such projects were mothballed when colonisation of Riis Nova began. All but one project really...”

Said project would become relevant in a moment once Maltoi spoke of taking the fight to the sneaky Apex, and the need for a ship that is ‘nice and speedy’ as he put it. Mithra looked to Stranek who gave a nod, now was hardly the time to worry about secret projects being hush hush when the safety of their people was at stake. “Well… as you know we prefer to recycle and retrofit old ships instead of building new ones. As we do with most of our tech when we can.” This time he pulled out his personal device which now showed off a new looking ship design. “Project Fireball is an exception to this, completely made of new materials and tech, she is a prototype frigate designed for long range recon and guerilla tactics. Shields and weapons above her weight class for hard critical system strikes along with engines designed for speedy getaways to fit the needs of guerrilla warfare. Conceptually she was meant to be an artillery frigate, something to fit long range to target fighter screening vessels. But with our focus and need for small and powerful strike groups, we felt a vessel that could punch cruisers and carriers hard before a response could be presented was necessary.”

“Realistically she still has a ways to go before I would consider her worthy of being ready for live fire testing… But considering the circumstances I think an early field test may be necessary. I can also pull a patrol fleet to be reinforcements in case Apex attempts to escape our ambush.”

Ilox got a bit nervous again, holding up a hand and speaking again, specifically towards Mithra, "A quick apology if my words came off as a bit too accusatory. I don't mean to jump to conclusions and accuse your family of collaborating with the pirates. I'm just on edge, and can't help but bring up the possibility. It's just a crazy thought. No such evidence of any form of collaboration exists, as far as I know. Apologies for the wording that may have made it look like more of a accusation than it really is. Investigating that matter is not my place, I leave that to you."

With the apology that she felt was necessary said, Ilox then looked towards the new ship design and its description. She seemed to calm down much more from this, as this was far more in her area of knowledge. With a hand on her chin, Ilox nodded, "Such a frigate is indeed just the sort of thing we need right now. Something fast enough to hit Apex before they can fall back, and with enough punch to ensure we still have the advantage. This'll do, even if we encounter some of their heavier vessels. I doubt the pirates that came all the way out here have some of the biggest ships I've seen Apex use, it would be too obvious and they couldn't keep those secret. Thus, I surmise that the ships they do have would be perfect targets for this Fireball of yours. Well then, consider this the perfect field test, and exactly what we need right now. Guess there's no better way to  test it, huh?"

She smiled, and then went on, "Alright then, I have the plan in mind. Project Fireball and a small escort fleet can handle the ambush mission. You can keep your patrols, my ships can handle the trapping and reinforcement efforts. We box them in, and we let your new ship crush them as they are trapped. And, if needed, my ships will ensure a safe exit if falling back is necessary. No reason to take big risks. We have limited resources as is, so we don't throw away any ship we can keep alive. That sound good?" Maltoi gave a nod of agreement, as the Taurus found the plan acceptable.

However, before Mithra or Stranek got a chance to respond in turn, the room shook as the sound of an explosion went off. Ilox and Maltoi both instinctively got into combat stances, with Ilox even pulling out a concealed sidearm. She quickly opened the door of the private room to the main hall again, to find out what just happened.

What happened was immediately obvious; they were under attack. A hole had been blown into the ceiling of the building, and two more explosions went off soon after, each creating holes in the walls. The ones who descended down from the hole up top were instantly recognizable to group of leaders, fully geared up Apex raiders.

A group of three pirates landed straight in front of the group, rifles raised at them. One of them spoke up, "Oi, now that was quick, we found em! The tall one's the target, right?"
His compatriot, the one at the front of the group, shouted in an annoyed voice, "No moron, the shorty is the leader and the target! But all of 'em are valuable, stun 'em and bag them all!"

But while the pirates were clearly about to fire, they clearly hadn't been paying attention. Two high powered plasma blasts killed the two pirates in the back, and as the frontal one turned to look back, a power-axe was quickly smashed into his skull. The wielder of it was the Valorian they had been introduced to earlier, Baxtra's new High Justice Aloir Zanil. Aloir kicked the corpse of the pirate, so she could release her axe from his skeleton, and then looked up to Ilox, "We have a problem. These pirates have breached out perimeter somehow."

Ilox grimaced, but quickly looked over the situation, "They said they were after you, Strankkel, which means this is a specific mission. A clear target, a coordinated attack, this is not normal Apex procedure. Fortunately, if they did sneak past, this is only a small group. Which means we can beat them. And maybe beat some information out of one we take alive... But this problem is now a priority. Project Fireball is needed now, the ambush happens tomorrow. But today, we handle the party crashers."

Maltoi took one of the rifles from the fallen pirates, which looked more like a pistol for him, and he nodded, "Specifically, them." He gestured at one of the two wall breaches. This is where a new group of about seven Apex pirates emerged out of. These ones ran into trouble as the guards of the event quickly moved to intercept them. However the guards were not that many, and the second breach also had a squad of Apex coming in.

Ilox grunted, "Aloir, get any civvies who can't fight out. I'll stay and handle these ones. If there were more I'd prefer to hold back and wait for the response force that's surely coming in, but this is not enough to scare me. Come on Maltoi. And apologies for the rather crappy party guests, my Eliksni friends, and for this next question... You both know how to fight?"

Mithra listened to Ilox’s apology, though in truth he could not blame her for said thoughts since he himself had them. He appreciated her candid apology. In response as his calm composure was recollected, the Eliksni only bore a smile towards the woman he entered into a gamble with over a decade ago now. Thanks to their work there wasn’t much of an opportunity to become anything more than work friends, but even that was good enough for Mithra. He didn’t need to know her personally to respect her greatly. “You needn’t worry, honest. I’m guilty of these thoughts myself. It’s in our nature as leaders to worry for the worst, no? That was we’re ready and hopefully glad when such things are revealed to be what they are. If not, then the blow is lessened and the resolve is there to use. You have done my clan no dishonour.”

Once that was said and done matters moved to the Fireball and her maiden voyage as their tool to make the pirates reveal what the heck they want with their homely cluster of stars.

But of course. In Apex fashion. The pirates came through the wall like rats. Much to the surprise of everyone present.

Of course the one who was the most surprised, and unamused, was Stranek after he heard firsthand that Apex was here for him… And his key identifying feature was his stature… He really didn’t like that. Thankfully the Valorian they met before, the High Justice, was to the rescue for the moment before Ilox had her round up civvies for evac while they needed to get to the bottom of why the pirates were here for the Kell of Starlight, why they are here, and how they knew he was going to be here.

As Ilox asked if the two knew how to fight, Mithra was already looking over one of the pirates' rifles. Which compared to him looked similar to Maltoi’s situation. He had to hold the gun with his smaller arms as he crunched the knuckles in his top arms. “You wound me Ilox, in this confined space I would be more worried about the pirates.”

Similarly, while Stranek did not pick up a rifle he did raise an arm as the white fire that burned across his form gathered in his hand to take the shape of a revolver. “Not formally, but when you work for scrappers for most of your young life you learn to fight by surviving.” It was not something he liked to admit, being the leader of his people, but most do not get to choose their upbringing or what destiny they are picked for. And while he was glad that fate handed his people a second chance, he could have done without the Apex kidnapping work. “Mithra, some covering fire if you could? Let's show these pirates why we Eliksni are a terrible opponent to have in close quarters like this.”

The Baron gave a smile and gave a soft nod in compliance as he moved to the closest wall, kicking off his shoes before he began to effortlessly scale the wall and move for the ceiling to help fire down the party crashers from above while he moved across the ceiling to be wary of them shooting him down.

Stranek despite his potion did show his colours of his past as he opted for aiming his ‘Star Magnum’ as he named it, named for the fact that each shot burned with a total heat of 2000 Degrees celsius, more than enough to rip a hole through most metals bar tungsten. Stranek was using these shots and firing them into shins, aiming for elbowls, chins and the pelvis. Enough to cripple and harm horrendously, shots meant to cause suffering instead of kill, but such shots were made by a usually kind soul. Though he was no stranger showing no mercy to strangers that endanger his life and the lives of his friends.

For their parts, Ilox and Maltoi were no slouches either. Ilox decided to join up with the group of guards who were already present fighting the pirates, moving up to support them with her pistol but also, and more importantly, coordinate them. Ilox's specialty was command after all, and quite quickly she was able to organize the batch of guards from a haphazard defense into a far more cohesive unit, taking advantage of the fact that the pirates were only entering through the holes they blew open in the walls. Which meant they had inadvertently created perfect kill zones for the defenders to make use of. The Kell-President had good aim, but the coordinated volley fire of plasma rifles was in the end far more deadly, and one of the Apex breaching teams found themselves cut down quite quickly.

Maltoi, a former shock trooper and close quarters combat expert, took a more aggressive approach. He let Ilox, Stranek, and Mithra handle the two other holes, and he focused his attention on a smaller breach at the door. Surprisingly sneaky for a Taurus, Maltoi took an ambush position behind a toppled table, fairly comically laying down behind it in order to hide his large form. However it did do so, and as a batch of about three Apex pirates entered the room, he kicked that same table at them with full force. One was taken out instantly by that, as a table thrown with full force by a large Taurus like Maltoi has considerable weight behind it, while the other two were then shot dead by well placed shots of the "requisitioned" pirate rifle.

Finally, the breach that Stranek and Mithra found themselves handling would be handled effectively as well. The Apex Pirates, quite used to using jetpacks often, were quite surprised by the presence of a shooter on the ceiling of all places. Something they had experienced before, thanks to dealing with Arachain, but were still surprised nonetheless as they weren't expecting the Eliksni to do that. Still, they did try to shoot back. And in doing so, that group opened themselves up to Stranek. His weapon was one they hadn't experienced prior, and it had quite the impact. Despite his shots not being aimed to kill, as those shots had quite enough power and force behind them to pierce their armor, and kill them outright, mostly due to the shock.

The pirates, who had clearly expected this is to be far easier than it had ended up being, were defeated rather rapidly. Above them, in the skylight, the Apex ship that had been hovering above Ilox's abode quickly blasted off without caring for the fate of the pirates left behind. As speed was rather necessary now for it escaping before the net of Baxtra's defenses closed on it. Which, unfortunately, it would accomplish.

When checking the bodies of the pirates, most of them had died. Either outright in the fighting, or due to wounds that weren't able to be treated in time. However, they would find one who survived. That being the poor soul who Maltoi had slammed with the table. He was not in the best condition, with a broken leg and ribs and not a small amount of splinters, but he was alive and stable.

Ilox, once the fighting was done and the survivor was collected, went over to Stranek and Mithra, waving for Mithra to come back down from the ceiling. Once he was back down with them, they could see she had a smile on her face, "Well, that was handled easier than I expected! Much smaller group than Apex normally sends, so it seems we could handle them easily enough." She then grimaced, as she thought about the implications, "But again, this is a problem. A well coordinated strike with a single goal of apparently kidnapping you, Stranek, and having the capacity to sneak a ship past my defenses to land such a striketeam? This isn't Apex at all. They're absolutely working for somebody, somebody who has a far more subtle touch. Plus, if they wanted to kidnap you, either they're trying to decapitate your people's leadership or use you as a bargaining chip to get what they want. One bit of good news, we're all safe, no casualties among the guests or guards. And some luck in that we got one alive. That's fairly rare, you see. Apex's aggressive tactics leaves little room for non-lethal methods. Still, one survivor, one person to interrogate for answers on what Apex wanted here. Given you were the goal... Would you like to participate in this interrogation, Stranek?"

She gestured over towards the restrained Apex Pirate, who was being treated by some recently arrived medics. The pirate, who's helmet had been removed, was revealed to be a fairly young Human Male. He still seemed to be a bit out of it, which was probably due to the lingering effects of table to the face. Otherwise his Apex Crew outfit seemed to be mostly clean and newer than most of the armor from the other pirates, which suggested inexperience.

Ilox then looked over to Mithra to add something, "Oh, and call up your Fireball. If they are so willing to act already, we need to hit back very soon. Preferably, tomorrow. We can send Fireball and some other ships towards the spot my scouts have reported the most Apex activity. At best, we find a base of operations to raid. At worst, we scare them. Either way, we need to set them off balance, now. Before they get an idea like trying to do a full force raid on either Baxtra or Riis Nova." She looked back to Maltoi, "And Maltoi, gather our best marines. I want them joining that force. If we do find a base, we need to raid it as soon as possible. They'll go with Project Fireball."

Once the carnage of the short engagement was over and the bodies were checked to only find a single survivor amongst the Apex raiders had an effect on the Kell of Kells. Once combat had ceased his Light dimmed as he released the form of the gun in his hand. The lapping flames returned to roil and rise across his body without heat or harm to those or objects around him.

Death had come swiftly to those he had aimed to only maim. By his hand, in careless enthusiasm and the urge to defend himself against those that sought to take him to some unknown place, they had perished where they could have at least been spared and made to repent if possible. For a long moment his eyes were fixed on the hand where his revolver had been forged with his own Light, coming to an understanding that he must always bring caution when using this power that their ancestors once wielded freely.

He did not necessarily mourn their death, far from it seeing as they were here to enact some other beings will and take him to places unknown or just an early grave, he just disliked his careless application of his might. Something he will be more mindful of going forward… And something he must pass on to those of his kind that wield the light. He must serve as an example, as always.

Mithra climbed down from the ceiling, tossing the spent pirate weapon onto one of the many corpses that littered the hall for the moment as he was glad that they managed to prevent civilian and guard casualties. He agreed with Ilox’s evaluation. “A situation expertly handled, mere numbers and gear are no match for genuine training and experience.” Of course his cheers were brought and tempered back to the reality of the situation. Apex had just targeted Stranek to kidnap him… Not kill him. Someone wished to take him alive. But what for? Mithra didn’t like this one bit.

If they remove Stranek that would be removing the sole pillar that is currently binding the settling factions and newly forming Houses… If The House of Starlight fractures now then other Houses will try to usurp its place while the Kell of Kells is missing, now any Light bearer could potentially rise and claim their seat as Kell of Kells is Stranek were to die… Including Mithra’s mother. Not out of malice, but more out of reactionary panic, to make sure no one else tried to destroy the legacy they were trying to build. But that panic would cause a domino effect… It would be chaos, civil wars and infighting between clans and houses. This could not be allowed to come to pass.

Stranek knew the implication and the worst case scenarios that his death or kidnapping would cause. It would be a catastrophe. And so he asks himself ‘Why? Who would want to hurt his people like this?’ Yet conveniently… That answer was potentially before him. The sole pirate left alive. So when Ilox asked if he would like to be there for the interrogation, the Kell of Kells gave a single nod to the Kell-President. “Of course. I would love to hear all about the depraved bastard who finds me so appealing that it means hurting my people’s chance of finding our feet as people again. To no longer exist as nomads, exiles and murderers.”

Stranek’s current mood was driven by anger, rightly so, that led to him miss the obvious visual clues available to him about their situation. But Mithra took more notice of the situation of the pirate they have in their possession… And he didn’t like their chances of learning anything important. The human was young, fresh faced, and his armour was too clean with a depressing lack of markings or trophies. Absent were the makings of a seasoned killer or pirate… This was a kid who had only recently joined. At least this is what Mithra could deduce from a simple look of the young man. Yet he saw no need to dissuade his allies from their interrogation, instead he would focus on something that Ilox had reminded him of.

Mithra was already tapping away, working at the screen of his personal device to send across the need to get Project Fireball ready. Ilox’s request for it to be ready tomorrow was unexpected, but undoable. Eliksni can be very crafty with their machines so getting their frigate ready for its maiden live fire voyage would be all too easy to provide. “I can have the Fireball out of dock and on its way here to us within 12 hours. We can meet it halfway with the forces you and the Commander can prepare for our ‘chat’ with whatever base or forces we run across at those coordinates. Outside of that I have notified you clan my Starlight Kell. As long as the target is you, we cannot rule out that the one who is ordering Apex around will not try to get you to give yourself up through other means. Your mother and sister will return to the Bedlam estate within the House sanctuary district back on Riis Nova under Fable Guard escort.”

Stranek could breathe alittle easier, yet his vision was still metaphorically tinted red. His anger would not be quelled so simply, but the news that his family would be safe back home was welcoming and calming. He would have a clearer head in this interrogation because of it. “Thank you Mithra… Now then.” Stranek centred himself, breathing in as white fire filled his hand once more. Today he would lend his hand to intimidate, to see if anything will come of it as this mystery becomes more dire. The fire in his hand reformed the earlier revolver. “Let us see what our new friend can tell us. Shall we?”

Ilox nodded to Mithra, pleased that the rather rapid time schedule was workable for the Eliksni. But more pleased to see the extra security measure for Stranek's family being taken. It was smart, given how brazen the pirates had already been thus far.

In the meanwhile, Ilox waved away all the personnel around the young Apex Pirate, causing them to back off. She spoke out a bit louder, "Alright, everyone out. If you want something to do, help the cleanup crew handle the rubble. But just get out. I'll do this myself." That caused everyone who wasn't Maltoi to properly disperse, a couple taking the advice Ilox gave as orders and heading out to help clean up the debris left behind from the Apex attack. This left just the restrained pirate. His hands were tied down, as well as his feet, and he was tied to a chair.

The young pirate shook his head a bit as he looked up at Ilox and the others, and then grunted, "Oh, so I pulled the short stick and I'm the one getting questioned, huh? Look, don't bother with this cop nonsense, I don't know squat abo..." He was cut off rather suddenly with Ilox stepping up and punching him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

Ilox stepped back, glaring down at the pirate, "You'll speak when you are prompted. But you are right, I am not going to bother with the cop nonsense. I'm not a cop, I'm a soldier. And one who has worked alongside OMNI Intelligence..." That name got a flinch out of the pirate, which was repeated when Ilox suddenly drew a small knife from her belt.

Giving the knife a twirl, Ilox continued, "So the smart boy knows the name, good. I'm going to keep honest with you. You are being interrogated because you are the only one left. The rest of your compatriots either died or succumbed to their wounds..." She pointed the knife at him, to give off an implication of what wounds she was suggesting killed them, "So no good cop here. OMNI Intelligence protocol is very simple in how we operate. I don't care what you know, or what you don't know, so don't bother. I'm going to hurt you until I get something to work with. As you are the only one left, you will not die, ever. That privilege has been revoked. The process of hurting until we get something will go on indefinitely. Since you seem to be interested in defiance, let's get started."

Ilox stepped forward, showing no hesitation. This display combined with the fear and inexperience of the pirate was enough to get him to yell out, "Wait, wait! I'll squeal!" A moment of silence followed.

And then, Ilox punched him again. After a wince of pain, she dusted off her shoulder, "I told you not to speak until prompted. But good to see you came around. Talk."

The pirate, after recovering from the suckerpunch, spoke again, "Alright, jeez... Okay, so I really, really don't know much, I'm a recent recruit! But I know we were here to grab the shorty Eliksni, the one who doesn't look like the boss but he is." Sensing Ilox was about to do something if he didn't tell more, he quickly continued, "And! And I know where we were supposed to take the shorty! We weren't supposed to go back to base with him. The mission was to stage a crash. Fake his death and ours. Then we'd get picked up by another ship, and bring the short back to base on the new ship. Far as everyone would know, he'd be dead. I don't know why we wanted him alive, honest. I can just tell you that the boss wanted you to think the short was dead while still having him kidnapped!"

Ilox quietly loomed over him for a moment. And then, she gave a nod and walked back towards the others. Maltoi, who looked rather surprised, quietly whispered to Ilox so that only she and the Eliksni would hear, and not the pirate, "Ya worked for the shadow boys, Ilox? That never came up before!"

The Kell-President shook her head, "No, never did. Never tortured anybody either. But I know the reputation of my former organization's intelligence division. OMNI Intelligence Interrogators have a reputation for always cracking their charges. Both their resolve and their bones. Lots of messed up rumors about them, and how they often cause pain simply to test new methods of torture and for no other reason. And that's a reputation I know Apex would know too, and the kid is too young to call my bluff, so I just had to leverage that reputation. Torture is less effective than a well done threat of it." She then looked to Mithra and Stranek, whispering to them, "Kid's still warmed up. If there's any other questions you two got for him, go ahead. I'll play the part of looming torturer to keep his mouth open."

Stranek and Mithra observe the interrogation in full, it was rather educational for Mithra to watch Ilox work. She played her game rather wll, not that he knew exactly what OMNI intelligence was; he has heard through the former citizens of the Nebula what they were like through rumour and reputation. Using their name was effective, clearly, and yielded some interesting answers.

While the work was impressive, it became very clear that this job of theirs aimed to be a carefully executed one. The idea to crash the craft and hide until another one came was… Well it wasn’t very ‘pirate’ like that was for sure. Especially not a plan that would have been seen by the Eliksni. Each ship is special, wasting one was practically unthinkable… And that's what worried the Starlight Kell and the Baron.. It would have worked. Especially if they had a way to suppress Light. But did they have something like that?

Mithra started to drift his gaze back to the dead pirates to start rummaging through the gear they had on them, if their plan hinged on getting the kell then they would need a device to suppress the Light, a magic suppressor may work too but if they didn’t have that on them… Did their shuttles have them? Or did their plan hinge entirely on surprising them? Or… Did they not know that Stranek could use the Light? Or think he wouldn’t use it?

Stranek looked at the weapon he had forged from his Light as Ilox said she would play the part of looming interrogator. He was tempted to keep the pistol as is, to press it against the armour and watch him squirm as he cooks in his tin suit. But he released his manifested weapon, letting out a slow exhale before he nodded. “Thank you. I do have something I want to ask.”

The Starlight Kell brought his eyes onto the captured pirate, in a strange way he could see his former self in this man. An unfortunate and naive fool… He did not know this boy's situation, but he had been sat in a situation like this one. Though he really did know nothing useful for his interrogators.

He let that memory fade away to where it belonged and stepped forward. “I only want one thing from you boy, it should be very simple to answer. Even for you. Who is your boss? Who is so interested in me that they would ruin this day to fake my death?” That is the only thing he wants answered. All the superficial questions of ways to get past their defenses, through their patrol fleets and the like were wasted on this child… He needed someone more important. So he wanted to find out what bastard found him so interesting.

Ilox, true to her word, simply followed behind Stranek as he walked up to ask his question. She stood off towards the side, carefully positioning herself to be in the periphery vision of the pirate, with the knife still drawn. Just to be a small reminder that honesty was the best policy in this situation, given the threats Ilox had given.

The pirate, who was indeed still warmed up, was notably surprised by the question. But he did answer after a bit of thought, "I can answer the first part, can't answer the second part. It's not so simple. My only boss is my Apex Captain. And that would be Captain Darkscar, he recruited me back on Avalantus just about a month or two ago. Big, strong Taurus. Got his name cause of the scar on his chest which is stained black! Not somebody to mess with!"

His boasting was stopped by Ilox snapping her fingers, which made the pirate wince and talk more calmly again, "Ehm, right. So, uh, the Captain was hired by this weird guy before we came over. I've never seen him, only heard some of the other boys talk about him. Captain Darkscar took on a job for him, and that's why we came all the way over here to your little backwater. Must getting paid a lot to come over here, barely had enough fuel for the whole fleet. It was that guy who told the Captain to kidnap ya, shorty. From what I heard, he don't speak basic, spoke to the boss through some drone interpreter from what the other boys said. Dunno why he wanted you both kidnapped and your death faked, but that was just in the job. Was supposed to bring you back to the captain, and then the captain would take you to the mystery guy. What would happen then, out of my paygrade, boss didn't say."

He paused for a moment, and then spoke again, "Uh, that's all I know, honest. Boss only recruited me recently, ain't important enough to get told any of the big details. Just the parts that matter for my job."

Ilox looked him over, and then nodded, "He's being honest. And I do know the name Darkscar, he's been a problem for a long time back in Iammelon. Infamous for his hijacking operations in far eastern Iammelon. Very strange to find him here of all places, but he is dangerous. And somebody decided to hire him, which means the worst is true, we have somebody else to worry about. Somebody who apparently needs you, Stranek. Quite concerning. Still... If the Captain knows where to find this mysterious individual, then we just need to grab him. Who knows, maybe he'll be with the captain when we get there? All I know is we'll get more answers soon as we launch the raid."

Stranek didn’t like the answer he got but it was better than nothing, at least now he knew just who to go after next. Of course he found it amusing that he would big up his boss when the kid had to watch as he shot golf ball sized holes through his comrades' nice armour. Sure it was unintentional as he aimed for wounding shots, but he did that in error of mistaking strength.

He wanted to hit the young bastard for calling his home a backwater. Foreign bastard had the cheek to complain about the location even when he was tied up, he didn’t know if it was just the pirate social acclimation or if other Iammelon urchins held a similar level of disrespect for other peoples homes. Each new time he was being called ‘shorty’ there was a notable change in the pale flames across his body, they grew darker. Something that followed his tone that got darker as the idea of holding his revelover against the kids soft tissue face to watch it scorch grew more appealing.

A low sigh in his throat did its best to shut away such dark ideas as he had to be different to his old self. He wasn’t some Dreg on a scrapper barge anymore. He was a ruler. A beacon of hope that his people could go back to being people instead of pirates, vagrants, killers or worse. Though it's hard to ignore the number of times he’s already imagined himself sticking the barrel of his gun against the kids' temple to fire. Though that he could uneasily put that up to stress over the current situation and ramifications of what would have happened if this plan succeeded. Not that he could easily just get over his own imagination.

Mithra knew of the large Tavern world, that world was a staunch Confederate world up until the final days of the world while it was fending off a resistance movement that had taken the underworld of the plant to fight against the Confederates that controlled the world. Leading it were stranded Union forces that were on the world when the Civil war began and a number of Union supporters and local crime fighters. Most notable of the bunch being a local self made SuperHero from Proscore named Iron Sun. A human using advanced self designed tech to fight back against corruption. If Apex is still recruiting from there then the Superhero must be pretty busy.

With the questioning all done, Stranek steps away from the young pirate now that Ilox has confirmed that he was telling them the truth. The news that Darkscar was a problem, and one with a reputation, means that it was all the better that they were looking to get themselves a new lead. Outside the Darkscar issue they knew he was hired by some shadowy person they don’t know yet with Stranek starting to spiral with worries that it may just be a third party for someone else behind the scenes… But that was his paranoia talking.

“I wonder what for… Going so far as to fake my death.” Strank didn’t like this at all, the fact that someone would go so far just to get him. He knew it was for no good, such a person was a danger to his people, nevermind himself. “Mithra, I may need to create a contingency for this. That way panic doesn;t destroy our people if this person gets a hold of me.”

“Don’t even think it Stanekkel, we will deal with this. Those pirates will regret taking their job and thinking our ‘backwater’ would willingly cater to scum.” Mithra says as he turns to the Starlight Kell, laying a hand on his shoulder to reassure the young ruler before he looks back to Ilox and Maltio. “What do we do with the boy? And would we be able to get intel on this ‘DarkScar’ Taurus? If we can prepare appropriately then we can deal with him and remove him from the playing field… Send a message that we will not cater to deranged kidnappers.” Mithra would soon soon get confirmation that the Fireball was going to be in orbit soon and awaiting if the would need transport or if they have some to come on up. Telling everyone that the ship was going to be here soon.

Ilox looked over the Apex Pirate again one more time, thinking of how to deal with him, and then she grunted, "We handle this as we should. We intend to make an actual nation and functional state here, so we handle it like one. The kid will be handed over to the fledgling justice system, given a trial, and then charged. He'll be punished appropriately. Good thing we have a prison built. We have plenty of evidence and witnesses, so he'll certainly end up in there. Who knows, maybe he can be rehabilitated? Still, assassinating a ruler, pretty big charge. Drag him off." Ilox waved over some guards to take the young pirate away, off to a holding cell.

With that, she then looked back to Mithra and Stranek, "As for Darkscar, we can send over what information we have on him over to you if you wish. But I'll tell you what I know about him right now. As mentioned, Captain Darkscar is a fairly infamous Taurus hijacker associated with the Apex Crew. He's been active for well over a decade, and he is a rather audacious pirate. His hijacking was generally within Eastern Iammelon, and usually targeted merchant shipping. But he has been aggressive and brave enough to target military vessels on a number of occasions as well. Worse, he usually succeeded, giving him a small fleet of both converted civilian ships and military vessels. He ransomed any survivors, what few there were on any of his operations at least. Oh, and Darkscar isn't his actual name, it's just his nickname. His actual name is Recka Icorn, but he adopted Darkscar as a nickname after he got a large scar on the right side of his face, which contrasts with his black fur. Darkscar is rather formidable by himself. Like most Taurus, he's strong, and no slouch in close combat. But he's more famous for his tendency to use a missile launcher. And like most Apex big bosses, he of course has a car. Or, I guess a Monster Truck, in his case."

Ilox continued after leaving that implication, "His gang, the so called "Dark Riders" as he calls them, are of course hijackers. They like speed, and they like stealing things. If we fight them, we should be ready for boarding actions. They're quite likely to try and steal our ships. But they're only held together by adrenaline and Darkscar himself, since he's apparently quite charismatic. Take him out, and they'll fall apart. We can pick off the remnants easily enough. And they won't be ready for a fast attack of our own. I would be willing to wager they aren't used to the enemy launching boarding actions."

She then looked to Maltoi, "I'll be leaving this to you, Maltoi. Take our Marines and we'll see what we can do. I need to stay here, both to govern and keep Baxtra safe. You should get to safety as well, Strankkel, since they seem to want you." Finally, she looked to Mithra, "I'll guess you're gonna handle this. Make sure you keep Maltoi safe and alive. Both for me, and your aunt Fraph, since they seem to get along well. You get the mission going as soon as you are ready."

Both Stranek and Mithra watched as the young pirate was taken away. It was for the best for the new civilian government to handle this matter. If it was left to them then regardless of the boy's status as human, many of his people would have likely demanded he have his arms docked, at the minimum, for this crime. Not that Stranek would allow such a barbaric thing to happen.

“Justice is an odd thing depending on the species. I wonder how he will be punished for this attempt.” Stranek remarked, watching the young man get dragged away while he thinks back to just minutes ago when he contemplated using his pistol on the young man.

The information that Ilox gave on Darkscar, or Recka which is an oddly fitting name for a hijacker now that he considers it, Mithra now had alot to think about. And Stranek too much to think about. The line about his car being a monster truck was nice, it would need to be given how huge Taurus were. Though the amusing mental image of a comparison with a Taurus squeezing into a tiny Hardlight car was some solace in this situation.

Mithra now had to think on how best to proceed. Baiting him into a boarding action while counter boarding him wouldn’t be terrible as long as they ensure that ‘Darkscar’ and his ship can’t just retreat once they start to gain the upper hand. So targeting engines is a must.

Darkscar, and other Taurus, do have a reputation for being powerful close range fighters. But Eliski were no slouches when it came to the glorious practice of melee, that's what the Shock Cutlass of old was for. Though such archaic weapons of the past have been replaced with more… unorthodox melee weapons to use in the field. Especially for Mithra himself.

This news that he preferred to use a missile launcher did worry him. Using that within a ship could end terribly… For him anyways. As long as his rebreather wasn’t damaged, a quick trip into the Hoshi-Ether wouldn’t be terrible for him or any Eliksni. “In close combat I feel capable of engaging him, especially with my choice in weapons.” And it was quite natural for him to think so, given that he was close to his good old Uncle Maltio’s height now. And quite strong for someone of his weight class. So he may be able to fight a Taurus one on one. Plus with how slippery and nimble he was for his size he had a natural advantage over most soldiers. “I don’t like how he’s known for using a missile launcher when he mainly hijacks ships… How has he not been spaced up until now?”

“Hoshi lacking a usual vacuum at below zero temperatures helps. There are warmer space walks here, so as long as he has some sort of sealed suit then he might be able to go nuts with it.” Stranek mused aloud, wondering if any of what he said was actually true. “That said, the idea of counter boarding him could be a double edged sword. How many other commanders do you think thought the very same thing?” He says to Ilox’s suggestion. Of course the Kell of Kells could likely be paranoid about this detail. But it was always something to consider.

Mithra however figured that he would need to do away with such archaic stigma’s. The Confederates viewed them as nothing more than scummy pirates who were just brutally efficient. This was true, but the fact that he was charismatic and successful with a clear line of tactics… He was chosen for more than just his Monster Truck. And whatever he was getting out of this had to be really good.

Then again this attack was rather ill conceived for how easy they got behind their defences.

Mithra was conflicted. Recka had to either be the luckiest Bull in the galaxy to win this much or something else was going on with this attack… And these fresh troops… Was this a faux attack? A provocation to get them to retaliate to leave the Starlight Kell defenceless?

Mithra seemed wary of the ex-commanders suggestion for Stranek to get to safety. “Travelling now is not advisable, I could be ultimately wrong… This attack felt too half baked to be serious. Even with the intel we got from the boy seems to good. There are too many missing pieces.”

“But Apex already slipped through the planet's defences, Mithra. And in comparison we barely got any intel from the boy outside of Darkscar’s being here.” Stranek pointed out, though he was happy that it wasn’t just him that felt like something wasn’t adding up. “I too feel that we’re only seeing half a picture here.”

The Kell of Kells did however seem less convinced of what Mithra was being wary of. “The attack was executed well though. They just didn’t expect me to be able to defend myself. My stature made them underestimate me.” The fact that the little fleshy bastard kept calling him shorty didn’t help with how much he wanted to fire several sunshot’s rounds into him. But right now he was glad it helped in painting an air of helplessness that he can readily exploit. “Regardless I have no intention to go offworld seeing as I’m not going with Mithra, and they will be aware their attempt to capture me has failed. I see no reason why I shouldn't stay in the Eliksni Embassy here on Baxtra until Darkscar is dealt with and we see where that thread leads. I don’t know if going to the Embassy will necessarily keep me safe. But it is better than waiting for a transport to bring me back to Riis Nova that the enemy could be waiting for.”

Mithra was happier about this decision, though he didn’t like leaving Stranek alone without his Shadows or Fable Guard. He did consider calling in reinforcements, but right now they needed to work as quickly as possible.

As Ilox tells Mithra to look after Maltoi, the Baron just smiles under his rebreather. “Like I could face my aunt if anything happened to him. With how emboldened she’s become thanks to him there wouldn’t be anywhere safe to hide between the two of you gunning for me.” He says jokingly, though the prospect itself in trust was haunting.

He looks to the Taurus beside him with a smile, eager to work beside his uncle on this as he begins to walk out of the room. “Then I shall begin right away, we have a pirate and a shady third party to uproot.” He says with a wave back to Ilox. “We’ll drop off Stranekkel at the Embassy before the Fireball arrives with transport.”

Ilox smirked at the two Eliksni discussing Darkscar's use of a rocket launcher and how he avoided being thrown into space. She spoke up to provide some clarification, "I suppose I should add on. Yes, he uses a sealed suit with a jetpack. That's something he and his crew use quite a lot, to jump about in the Ether and board a ship. As for how he avoids getting spaced, he doesn't. He gets spaced constantly. And then uses his suit's jetpack and another shot of the rocket launcher to simply make an additional entrance to get back in. If you can't guess, Darkscar tends to leave the ships he attacks quite damaged and messed up."

She does pause for a moment though at the suggestion, "You might be right that counter-boarding could be dangerous. Still, I believe we have the troops capable for it, and better that than potentially letting Apex get the situation they want. The Fireball getting boarded and, worse, hijacked is a bad case scenario. All the same, I will leave the actual operation's tactics to those who go. Do what is best."

At the suggestion of the embassy, Ilox nods, "If you think it more safe, that can be arranged. I'll increase the guards around the area as well. Trusted guards, specifically. Just in case. There is still plenty more to this, and there's plenty reason to be cautious. All the same, I would recommend at least bringing in more of your own guards and troops, even if they take a bit to get here. As much as it pains me to say, they pierced my defenses, which means I have to do a check of how the hell they managed that. In any case, good luck." With that, Ilox walked off, hand on her chin as she mulled over the additional possibilities.

That left Maltoi with Mithra and Stranek, and the Taurus smiled, "Well, no use waiting around! Embassy should be close, so let's get ya to safety right away, Stranek. And let me call up my boys. Based on what happened I bet most of the Marines are already getting in uniform for emergency response." He took out a small personal Comm Unit, and typed out a few messages, "And... sent! They'll be there at the Starport when the Fireball shows up!"

He patted Mithra on the back as they began to walk out, "Should be nice to work together on a big operation like this! Been a while since I did a nice anti-piracy mission, and longer since I've gone up against Apex. Got high stakes this time too. Time to show I haven't gotten rusty. Let's go make a story to tell your aunt about later!" With that, he was quite ready to go drop Stranek off, and then get to the Fireball for the mission.

Mithra walked beside his Taurus uncle, shoulder to shoulder almost as he smiled behind his rebreather while they walked with the Kell of Kells to the Embassy. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t in a dropship already. It’s too bad we arrived early and planned on staying on Baxtra for the next few days, I ended up sending Stranekkel’s personal ship back.”

“Given how quickly news of this calibre tends to get around, I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t already getting ready to come back.” Said the diminutive Kell of Kells. He didn’t think they would be too far out by this point, they were only gone afew hours so they should be back in several hours since they shared the same cluster of stars.

“I’ll confirm that once they call. So far Glisran hasn’t contacted me about this. For all I know she hasn’t gotten a whiff of this yet.” Mithra says back as he watched Maltoi call up his boys on his personal device. It was good to know that they’ll be ready at the docks once they are done. They’ll need all the help they can get for this OP without drawing too much attention.

They walk out of the building, continuing through the streets as he shares the sentiments of his Taurus uncle. He was looking forward to seeing this operation through with him, it was rare that they get to work together like this. “I wish we could get together more often. Perhaps we should think of organising some war games once we sort out this mess with the pirates.”

The streets were still in turmoil, news spread fast and hard since it had been over a decade since they had to deal with Apex, now they were appearing in their skies, over their new homes and fighting their security forces. There weren’t riots, just unrest and growing paranoia. They could see it in the faces of the people they passed in the streets, with worried eyes turned towards the building they just left a short time ago.

It was hard to stay in such a jovial mood for the Kell. But Mithra knew that this would not truly last, they would bounce back. They will have their chance too once the head is cleaved from the snake that orchestrated this… And if possible it will be him that delivers the blow.

In his family, they understood the importance of great figures as beacons of great power. Both positive and negative… Stranek was a positive beacon who always had negative attention and a negative pull to him. There were clans that did not think that such a young and small Eliksni could possibly earn the title of Kell of Kells… There have been patriarchs and matriarchs, barons and captains who have attempted to assert themselves over him, his family. Or outright made sure his ascent was impossible… It has been Clan Graphis who has made these disruptive people disappear. Sometimes dragged into the light, other times handled with the same level of cruelty they wished to employ… Mithra held no guilt for the lives he had ended as the unofficial shadow to the Kell. He has done all this for the good of his people. This was more of the same.

Not all of the clan was aware of these missions and dealings. The Clan Matriarch was aware, she orchestrated all of this though. She wanted to invest in the future of their people after they have done so much to burn worlds in the past… A way for their family to pay penance for the past evils of their ancestors. Fraph was not aware of these dealings. She wasn’t mentally sound to endure such. Which is why she served to ensure the safety of all instead of just the clan like her dear nephew.

“I think she will like this story. Her darling nephew and her lover single handedly beat down a notorious pirate and stop a plot of kidnapping the Kell of Kells? Hatchlings would love that, nevermind my aunty.” Mithra says with a merry tone, of course he knew it wouldn’t be that easy. But embellishing some details was often good in stories. No one likes a totally factual story unless it's a witness statement.

Dropping Stranek off at the embassy, with teeming numbers of Eliksni who were worried ill for their Kell after hearing that Apex was here for him only seemed to embolden them to protect their Starlight Kell. Mithra and Matloi left the small Kell in the capable hands of the embassy staff as they made their way towards the dock. “Have you faced many of Apex’s numbers before uncle? I have faced small-time raiders, slavers and the occasional insurrectionist group. But these guys… They’re more organised than the small-time thugs or illusions of grandeur.”

Maltoi smiled and gave a nod to Mithra as they were walking, "War Games eh? I daresay I like the sound of that! More meetups would good fun, and it seems apparent that we need to prepare ourselves for trouble in the future if this is any sign! Plus any excuse to work with you on official hours would be refreshing. I be willing to bet your aunt would be happy too. I'll talk to Ilox about it after we settle this here trouble, my sense is that she'll be up for it."

As he was walking the Taurus was looking around the streets for himself and thinking. He had an air of annoyance about him as he saw what was previously a happy atmosphere having become far more uncertain. It wasn't hard to find out what had happened, and news spread quickly. All the people of Baxtra were now quite concerned with the security breach, and worried about additional troubles to come, ones that may concern themselves. That made Maltoi quite unhappy, as he had been very happy at seeing the previous jovial atmosphere. But it also left another issue, a feeling of failure for not having stopped this ahead of time.

After all, the Taurus had been promoted, he was a Commander now. He felt responsible for the safety of Baxtra, and those Apex pirates had slipped right through. Maltoi liked to stay positive and optimistic, his mama had always taught him to never let mistakes drag him down too much, but he couldn't help but wonder if he had missed a chance to stop this. He grunted, that was unproductive to focus on, mere things of the past now. Maltoi was quite aware he was never the greatest of long term planners, he had specialized in close quarters combat because of his preference for more direct methods and solutions to issues. A common stereotype for Taurus among many folks, he knew, but so be it. The faster he dealt with issues that threatened his folks, the better. Be it back home when he was a teenager, or here and now on Baxtra.

With that sentiment brewing in his mind, he cracked his knuckles while listening to Mithra, and he smirked, "Stories are built to inspire, nephew. Sure, they ain't always true, but that ain't the point. Especially not for folks like you and me, not in our positions. Warriors and defenders, we exist to inspire safety. Hard to be happy if you can't feel safe, right? So, that's our job. Build the stories that make people feel safe, give them the freedom to be happy. It's the simple way I look at it."

The Taurus smiled at seeing the crowd of Eliksni worried about Stranek, showed that people cared. He was confident he would be safe here. Baxtra was redoubling its own security efforts, and the Kell of Kell seemed to now be surrounded by caring protectors. That was enough for Maltoi to feel confident about it. He gave a chuckle at Mithra's question while walking, and then nodded, "Oh, yes, I got myself plenty of experience with em. You're right that they are oddly organized for pirates, it's the odd thing about'em. Back in the Nebula, I started off as just a militia man on my homeworld. I was intent on becoming a farmer, like my pops, but I did my militia training when I got the free time. Felt good helping protect folks, you know? Didn't really see much action as a militia boy, mostly just dealing with the occasional petty criminal who didn't put up any fight. Only ever got in a gun fight once with a drunk merchant, and he gave up before he got shot. But my first real experience in a firefight, it was with Apex."

"My first experience with Apex was watching a batch of their ships raid my homeworld's sole starport, attacking a cargo freighter that was there to pick up the food shipments. Viscous, they were. They were flying about with their jetpacks that they love so much, shooting anybody they saw. Worst of all though was that they brought these electro-spear type weapons with em, meant to knock folks out so they could be dragged off, straight into the sky, and then dropped them to the ground. Watched them make one poor sailor go splat, his legs shattered. Just for amusement. It was because of them I learned that I enjoy the closer range scuffle, as one of them tried to stick me! Took the spear right from his hands and turned it on him! He was pretty surprised, let out a big ole yelp! Made the rest of his spear wielding buddies come after me, and I got them too. Bigger arms, better reach. So I got about four of them pirates, and then the rest fled once the rest of the militia rolled up. We figured out why they came for that freighter from the ones we captured. Reason they did all that, including the dropping stuff? The merchant who owned the freighter scratched their boss's car, so they came to kidnap him and kill his crew. Weren't there for money."

"You'll find that's common with them, nephew. Apex ain't really in this for profit. Sure, they steal stuff, do some ransoming, even a little slavery. But what they're in it for most of all is the excitement. They got no illusions of becoming some big ole empire, or the shaky spines of some thugs chasing some pocket change. They call themselves a crew, because they're a batch of crazies who are bonded together out of a similar desire for the self satisfaction and excitement of it all! But you see, that incident with Apex is why I stopped being a farmer boy, and became a soldier. Since back when I joined up, Apex was one of the big folks we'd fight. The whole Civil War business came later. So, I got a fair bit of experience with Apex. They're why I'm here, in a funny way."

"Stories aside, lemme see... For useful info on Apex, I can tell you they ain't regular pirates in how they organize. They're more trained, more dedicated. Put up a much better fight than regular pirates, and they got this kinda crazy aura to em. It's dangerous, since they can use proper tactics combined with their rather brutal method of operation. Back there we got lucky we didn't see one of the worse things I've seen them bring out, which are some Psionic boys. They like speed, so their psionic users like using electricity and lightning. Hurts a lot, and they're quite bonkers most of the time. But don't let that fool ya. Apex has an actual concept of a chain of command, even if their leaders are typically elected by killing prowess and charisma rather than tactical skill. Still, means they stay organized, even in a fight. Apex has a culture of respect to them. They respect their bosses, and their boss's bosses. It's annoying, since infighting among Apex ain't common. Still, in my experience, kill the boss, and it makes the lower ones less confident."

He thought a bit more on that, and then added something, "There is one thing though. From what I've witnessed, Apex does have one split in them. It's to do with those cars they love so much. Some batches of Apex find just racing more fun than piracy, and others are the other way around. That seems to be the only thing that makes them fight. Different batches of Apex lean different ways. And a Racer Boss might get in a fight with a Pirate Boss over the better way. That's one way we've managed to get Apex to infight, inflaming those rivalries. Darkscar is a Pirate Boss, that I know. If we kill him, and his two underbosses are split between Racer and Pirate affiliations, they might actually turn on themselves. No idea how one could go about setting all that up though, I leave that to the folks with their daggers and cloaks."

They were approaching the dock now, and Mithra could see in the distance a force of Baxtran Marines loading up onto two dropships, checking their equipment before getting in and assuming their positions. The Marines were a mix of various species, and their equipment was still mostly old Confederate style gear. A few of them however were wielding some new weapons, Baxtra-made rifles and shotguns. That sight got Maltoi to smile. The Baxtra military "Nativization" project was one of his own ideas, in fact. He felt it fitting to develop their own new style of weapons, homemade ones. Combining the ideas of the various Iammelonians present on Baxtra, and even incorporating some Eliksni tech and inspirations, mostly notably in the new combat daggers which were based on the Eliksni styled shock daggers, although with some modification to include a small plasma based tip to the dagger for increased stabbing and piercing potential. It was both symbolic, and practical. They couldn't rely on Confederate era designs, not when Baxtra lacked the same sort of industrial and technological capacity as Iammelon. It was time to get creative.

Mithra was pleased that his uncle liked the sound of some war games, it would be good to sow some healthy competition and make stronger bonds between prospecting captains in their respective fleets. With the new innovations, change in tactics and creation of new ways of life being made out here it was good to make sure that they develop new ways of standing out against the likes of Apex and other threats from the East.

The Baron had been paying close attention to the fact that Confederacy was starting to set up industrial sectors so that they could create new armour, weapons, etc. Of course their friends in the Eliksni had lent the long term use of prefabricated industrial facilities, such things were a dime-a-dozen to them back when they were a nomadic flotilla, once they began to settle worlds however, these Fabricated Factory Units were able to loaned out where needed before some were broken down to be used elsewhere, turned into actual factories or sent to bolster the capabilities of growing colony worlds.

But his recollection of borrowed assets came to a halt as he could see that Maltoi was growing annoyed with the atmosphere of the world he and Ilox worked so hard to make safe gain an air of uncertainty. That peace was broken. Broken by some greedy pirates and their shadowy employer. On that front, Maltoi was understandably unhappy. The Baron shared those sentiments, to be denied a home for so long and crossing countless stars only for their colonies, their peoples and even their leaders to be harassed by interlopers… It was things like this that made the old Warlords sound sane in their vengeful xenophobia.

The young Baron agreed with the Taurus on the matter of stories being meant to inspire, and that they are meant to help that process along. He didn’t know about that, his work tends to be more focussed more in the sort of cloak and dagger sort, hardly the stuff of honourable songs of glory. Though it was not uncommon for him to get his hands dirty up close and personal like. “You flatter and honour me, I don’t know if I deserve that kind of praise though. I am just a loyal Baron to my House and clan.” He liked to maintain that image despite being dubbed as the ‘Shadow of Starlight’ in less reputable circles. Said circles had good reason to call him that seeing as they are clans and clanless organisations who wish to abuse their power. “But I wholeheartedly agree. We must make sure that the people have the freedom to be happy. They deserve it.”

Mithra listened well as they walked the rest of the way to the docks, he listened to the tale of what the Taurus had to deal with while he was but a strapping militia lad just doing his job to protect his home from those pirate bastards. Getting to hear a heroic tale like that, one that was likely filled with adrenaline and preservation instinct at the time, he did wonder what the Commanders folks would truly think if they could see him now and their opinions were uncoloured by the bias of the nebula…

What really caught his attention amongst this story was that he learned that Apex is more than the already unorthodox image he has of them. They aren’t your average pirates, guided by avarice and the vices of sin that guide most of the common ilk that brand themselves as ‘pirates’. That is to say that not all of them are like that, but most still fit into that handy dandy stereotype. They’re in it for the excitement, the thrill of it… Mithra didn’t know how else to react. “That aligns with what I was told about them a decade ago. Thrill seeking junkies with fast cars. But… It’s odd that they could accrue fleets and a vast following with just that small commonality alone.” It was odd but he had a good idea why it happened. Like them, they were held together by their leadership. He understood that Apex had a sort of command structure, a clear and somewhat unified leadership. They just had ‘crews’ that were loosely affiliated that would call them ‘allies’ unless they were both in the same system when someone else was attacking them. Or the pay is good enough to get their interest apparently.

But that boiled down to a simple method of disbanding the rank and file. Eliminate the bosses. The tried and true that's easier said than done most the time, but it was better than all the tireless espionage, backdoor dealings, double crossings, behind the scenes manoeuvring, bribes and whatnot that usually made up the bulk of Mithra’s dealing with the less reputable part of Eliksni society.

Then came the valuable nugget of information from his uncle, a veteran of his craft and one who had pretty good knowledge of the pirates they now face… There was a split in Apex’s faction makeup. The Racer Junkies and the actual Pirates. If Darkscar goes… He could cause a schism with his underbosses! Now. This was information that he could use~ It was pretty quick after being told this that he had his communicator in his lower arms, typing away to his mother with everything he just learned. He didn’t know if anything would come of it right away, but it never hurt to let the Eliksni Information guilds in on something juicy like this, especially when his mother belonged to the upper echelon of the Ring of Shadows. “Well you never know uncle, knowledge like that can always come in handy.”

As they came to the docks, seeing people shuffling around now working with an uneasy atmosphere, Mithra could tell that everyone was still on edge. Scared and worried that this was just the precursor to a greater pirate invasion… The sight of the marines did alleviate some of the worry in the air. Seeing the new equipment that some of the marines were carrying, all made here on Baxtra, it was encouraging to see. Especially seeing some of them carrying the co-developed weapons like the Shock Dagger with that plasma blade tip.

A smile grew across the baron’s face as he watched the two dropships getting loaded up, ready for when the Fireball came into orbit no doubt. Since it was just a frigate it didn’t have a large cargo hold… Its role as a Skirmish Frigate did allow it to have a modular bay where it had a limited ability to house Fighters. Thankfully that modular bay is still very bare, so it should be capable of packing those dropships in with enough room to move around. “There should be room aboard the Fireball for those to land.”

A melodic series of notes came from Mithra’s pocket, his communicator. A quick glance at what that notification was for made him smile. “She’s in orbit, her Captain is wondering how we’re getting aboard. Shall I tell her to hold orbit and await us in the hangar?”