Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:51:18 GMT
The Eyes of Terrkan was battered, bruised, down to half-strength by way of crew and Prizraks, and above all else they were just flat defeated. Everything apart from the landing at Kaikoma had gone horribly wrong, and they had been totally unable to rescue their ground team or their HVI. And their FTL drive was undergoing emergency repairs, so for the moment they could not leave.
With nothing else for it, the Restevian vessel pulled into line with Bohler's fleet, and hailed the Admiral's superweapon in a 'hey we're here' way. There wasn't much else for it, and the Restevians were too exhausted at the moment to really care. Unless they were shot at of course.
As the fires quelled on his ships, the gunfights ceased and those that survived mourned the losses, Bohler took a moment to breathe. Kaikoma was gone, two Admirals, a Colonel and a Corsair Commander are taken, likely never to be seen again, and the one Artificia that had escaped Saber's personal hellhole was also gone. Even as he mourned for a moment, the RSC Cruiser slid silently alongside the Perturbation, addressing it's existence. At first, a flicker of anger flashed inside him. Terri had just settled things and he wished that the RSC was never here.
At the same time though, there where questions, and they lost people as well as himself. He knew the RSC where part of AGA, of which the Artificia belonged to now. He looked to his Comms Officer, who looked back at him with sad, teary eyes, and gave her a nod. Her husband and two children had been among those that weren't confirmed alive with those that fled the planet, Bohler's eyes felt watery, and his throat felt dry, but he had to get these Artificia home, as well as his parting gift.
With a sigh, he lifted from his chair, and proceeded to the Docking bay, giving orders to let out Yehla and her surviving crew, they had been kept in an emergency saferoom during the firefights on the ship, and he was glad they weren't hurt. But even as the Comms Officer choked on her acknowledgement, and sent the RSC Cruiser docking instructions, Bohler knew this was far from over yet.
The first to step out the door of the saferoom as it swung open were the Marines. Somewhat hastily handed Dectrose weapons, they were a tad awkward with the unfamiliar weapons, but either from watching others operate them or figuring them out under their own tuition, they held them more or less correctly and kept them ready to fire at a moment's notice, though fingers were not on triggers.
"What the hell...?" one muttered at the scene of recently silenced chaos ahead of them.
"Uh...Commodore? Might wanna see this." one called, the form of Yehla stepping into view with a pistol in hand.
"Bloody hell..." she muttered. She had calmed considerably since they had been moved out of the second research facility, though to say she wasn't in a foul mood couldn't be further from the truth. She was still angry about everything they had been put through, and especially wanted to see this Saber dead--if he wasn't already--and it was now only exacerbated by a worry for her missing ICO. She hoped Ohuhri was okay, but there was no way to know. With her being taken aboard the ship of a woman who just destroyed a planet, though she had not seen this for herself, she had serious doubts about seeing the green Artificia again.
"Hey, so, uh, any ideas on what the hell we do now?" she asked, barely loud enough for the Marines to hear. For the moment, they stayed quiet.
Samantha Hallrean, acting captain of the Eyes of Terrkan and her former XO, received the docking instructions and ordered the exhausted helmsman to follow them. Commander Hallrean raked a hand through her short ash-blonde hair, and put her cap on before motioning two Spetsnaz to follow her off the bridge. The caped and visored soldiers followed silently.
She wanted to get the meet-and-greet over with so that she and her crew could have time to mourn their dead in peace, but she would do her duty and make nice with the fleet that had seemingly tried to help them retrieve the ground-team. Her trek down the ship towards the docking area picked up one of the surviving Prizraks and another officer (This one with a glavnny starshini's pips) and the moment after the ship docked and the airlock cycled, she walked out to meet with the Dectrose commander.
A Dectrose Marine stepped over another's legs, moving towards Yehla "Commodore Yehla." He gave a short salute "We have a RSC Cruiser coming in to dock, they will be taking you back home, I'm sorry that you had to go though all this." Before tapping his helmet, informing Bohler that he was with the Artificia, and that he and a few others would escort them to the Docking Bay. "If you'd please follow me?"
If Yehla dared to look at the displays on the walls where the AVD nodes acted as windows, she would see the broken and shattered remains of Kaikoma, and her drydocks, as well as a destroyed Dectrose fleet amongst the drydock debris. The marines kept on alert, being ready to kill their own again if there was another attempted mutiny.
As he felt the slightly colder air of the Docking Bay hit his face, Bohler stepped out of the elevator, and looked on the RSC Cruiser, once again, he felt a flicker of anger, but he quelled it again. If all goes well, he could repair, if slightly, the relations with AGA, RSC and the AU, but he knew they might hesitate to trust the Dectrose, after all that Saber had done. He stepped closer, a squad of Marines behind him as he awaited the RSC and Yehla's arrival.
"O...kay..." Yehla nodded slowly, the Unanimity Marines spreading around the wide spectrum of pastel coloured synthetics as they started to move. As they walked, her gaze couldn't help but look outside, at the shattered remnants of a planet. From the evident devastation, a recently shattered planet.
"What the hell kind of entity could do that?..." she muttered.
"I dunno, but I sure as shit hope we don't have to deal with it." one of the Marines grunted.
The Restevians that came out of the ship to meet Bohler were smoke stained, all three of the fighting men were wounded with small bandages visible under their armor as they walked, and the younger looking of the two officers walked with a limp. The leader bore a commander's uniform with the bars of an executive officer, and the officer at her side was of far lower rank. But they all looked exhausted, in pain, and like their souls had been struck harshly.
If Bohler hadn't guessed before, it was perfectly clear now, the Restevians had suffered too on Kaikoma. To what extent and how many they had lost was unknown to him, but the commander extended her hand gamely to him.
"Starpom Samantha Hallrean." she said, blinking slowly and brushing loose hair out of her face. "I wanted to thank you for the aid you attempted to give us."
Extending his hand to Sam, he nodded back, his suit a match to the Dectrothian flag, an appealing shade of purple, with black accents. Medals aligned his chest, his eye had a subtle metal ring around the socket, as it pulsed orange and fed information to his eye. "Johannes Böhler, Leader of the Dectrose Empire in the Ancerious Galaxy. I'm sorry we couldn't save your crew on Kaikoma, we've all suffered a great loss today." His gaze shifted to the small pile of marines now being taken out of the Docking Bay, a flash of sadness coming across his face, before turning back to her.
"I must ask though, after Ural, why would a RSC ship be in Kaikoma's system, as well as giving us false information? You do understand how that can be viewed with some suspicion." His gaze, augmented eyes included, shared the quality that Morgan had, though even with his more forgiving demeanor, his eyes felt as if it could cut through the people in front of him. But his stature and body movements hinted at a more cautious approach.
"Reconnaissance in the face of possible conflict." Commander Hallrean replied. "The RSC wished to know Dectrose capabilities, and Kaikoma was to be our first stop. The last, now, as we are mission ineffective. As for the false information, that is standard procedure when undergoing missions like this. I cannot say any more."
Keeping his gaze on her, there was a tense moment of silence, before he spoke "I'm going to guess that, because the Dectrose's Government knows about it, we'll be given the chance to talk to someone about it? This Recon Mission happening after Terri smoothed things out is going to stress her beyond just losing her ship, losing her crew, losing her base and her home." He looked out to Kaikoma, sighing before turning back. "I can replace all of those, of course, but I need my diplomats clear-minded, as well as focused on a retaliation strike on the enemy Annointed fleet."
He got an update on Yehla's group, and inhaled "We also wish to do an exchange, Saber had a plan to experiment on a group of Artificia, to create a Genophage Plague that would sterilize them for spirit knows how long. We had been informed that a by-product of this testing had actually developed a cure for their reproductive issues, I had not known of it when I took power after Saber, as he had most of the program under lock to his personal supporters."
"They're on their way, by the sounds of it they're soon to be here. Commodore Yehla and what remains of her crew are on their way, your presence has offered an alternative to what we wished to do, and should help make the process both easier, and less stress for the Artificia. I was also made aware that Saber had bought their Battlecruiser, but all records of such ship after the purchase are not found. I'm going to authorize an investigation into it so Yehla can be reunited with her ship in the near future."
He looked now to his marines, before saying "At least some good came from all this mess, they can go home, and to their families, but I know that a lot of her crew died, perhaps they too can mourn and have closure."
"Pardon me?" the commander said, cocking her head to the side. "There was a diplomatic meeting? This is the first we're hearing of it, and we departed our base right after the Ural incident."
The Prizrak cocked his head at the words from the Dectrose commander, and tapped on his armor comp. The last reports from the ground team had mentioned an Artificia... He notified Hallrean and the others of this. Samantha nodded, and looked to Bohler again.
"You mentioned an 'exchange.' What do you want then?"
He gave a questioning look, but knew how things could happen that way "Yes, Terri explained that the RSC and Dectrose need some time away from each other, but it seems like this can be an exception." His eye ring flickered, and he nodded to her "Yes, I'm going to hold a press conference on the incident, and I'd like an RSC representative there, and possibly an AU representative to take custody of Johnathan Saber, the AU deserve to punish him for what he had done."
"All I'd need them to do is answer any questions they have, and state that we had handed over the Artificia. As well, we would like to know if you would be able to commit anything to a strike force to rescue the comrades that where captured when the shuttle was taken."
"I see. I can't guarantee that there will be a representative of course, but I'll tell the RSC." Sam nodded. "Now, where is the commodore? I'm assuming we'll be taking them and theirs home?"
A door slid open, sure enough revealing the array of colours. They were considerably smaller than one would expect of a battlecruiser's crew. Which, most likely, said enough about what they had been through. The Marines had kept up their protective ring around the group, and Yehla had led the way, the perpetually stern, disgruntled looking purple Commodore stepping in first.
"What's this all, then?" She grumbled.
Turning around, Bohler gave a salute to the Commodore, and tried to give a reassuring smile "I am Johannes Böhler, Leader of the Dectrose Empire in the Ancerious Galaxy, and this is Starpom Samantha Hallrean, Acting Captain of the RSC Cruiser. As I'm aware that the Unanimity and RSC are members of the AGA, I believe an exchange of your crew to another member, will soothe your return to the Artificia, and help to de-escalate things. I also have good news that came from your unfortunate imprisonment."
He slipped a datapad from his side, and gave it to Yehla "The DRI staff at Frumentarii had stumbled upon a cure for your race's inability to grow your numbers, though the intentions of Saber had been to create a Genophage Plague to threaten you with, which would in turn drive your race to a slow extinction." Bohler frowned at the thought, and continued "That is why Saber will be handed over to the Unanimity, to pay for his crimes against your race."
He looked to Sam, before continuing "As well, we are aware that your Battlecruiser is somewhere in the Dectrose Empire, but I fear Saber may have had it moved to an unknown location, and I will begin an investigation into it immediately."
Yehla nodded slowly, briefly poking at the datapad before a blue Artificia, evidently some form of science officer, caught the Commodore's attention, and with a nod Yehla handed it off to her. A slow extinction? As far as she was concerned, that was what they were already facing. As the science officer muttered things, showing it to others in the group, Yehla's attention returned to Böhler.
"I...suppose you have my thanks." She said slowly. "If you do find my ship, I'd...appreciate it back. If not for me..." She paused, looking over shoulder at the more lost looking members of her crew. "Then, for them. For...closure, I guess." Her gaze turned back.
"I...uh...don't suppose you're expecting an apology for, uh...all the losses I caused."
"I'm assuming you mean the 47 men and women you had killed, and the large amount of damage and repairs that needed to be done to the DRI Facility?" His gaze shifted to the side, before returning to Yehla, a look that could kill, if it wasn't for his next words "No, as much as it does pain me for those families' losses, any one of those men and women could have spoken up about the atrocious events happening at that facility. The repairs and compensation will be taken directly from Saber's account, as we had seized his funds, and anything else he had of value. We have several departments going though his personal database as well."
His mouth almost formed a smile, as he thought over another more, interesting piece of information from Frumentarii about Yehla "You know, Commodore, the files at that facility had given you an unofficial nickname. 'Sicarius', it's an archaic spider, known for catching it's prey quickly and killing it. It's not glamorous, but I thought it was worth noting to you."
"Right. That's...interesting." She nodded, rubbing the back of her head as a couple of the Marines chuckled. "I don't think any of those families would want to hear anything from me anyway." She chuckled bitterly. "Is there, uh, anything you want from me, before we go?" She raised an eyebrow.
"You want these back?" One of the Marines asked, lifting up the PDW he held.
His face slightly frowned, and nodded "Yes, I do, we would appreciate an AU representative at the press conference we wish to hold, regarding the destruction of Kaikoma, as well as the revealing of Saber's plots and to take custody of Saber himself. If you wouldn't mind coming back to Trudchen after you check in with the Unanimity for the press conference?" Meanwhile, a Marine Officer approached the AU marines "Yeah, set them on that wall over there, sorry we couldn't recover your own weapons, mate."
"So few..." Commander Hallrean sighed, looking the AU over. "Dmitry, make sure Barracks deck 6 is ready for them." she said to the senior petty officer.
"But... 6 was PS company two's..." he began.
"I know, and now they don't need it. The Artificia do. Go."
"Yes, ma'am." the petty officer said, and ran back into the ship. With that, Hallrean walked over to the Artifica, doing a quick head count to see just how many there actually were before nodding to Yehla.
Yehla nodded, first to Bohler, and then to Hallrean.
"Right. I'd...say Ohuhri would be best for that, but..." she stared in the direction of Kaikoma for a long moment. "With her...absence...I suppose I'll have to do." she sighed, a morose hint to her tone.
"Those are not unacceptable requests. I'll...see what I can do. No predicting what Highcom will want, or think." she shrugged.
The Marines, meanwhile, nodded, heading over and, one by one, set the weapons down in a surprisingly ordered fashion, rejoining the Artificia crew.
"Ready when you are, ma'am." was all one said.
"Ohuhri..." the Prizrak muttered, tapping on their armor comp again. "Commodore, Ohuhri is an Artifica like yourself yes? A green one, maybe?"
Yehla raised her eyebrow. "Yes, that's her. My, uh..." she paused for a moment. "..second in command."
"Our ground team under command of Viktor Rekov secured a green Aritifica by that name on the planet before..."
The Prizrak went quiet.
"...That happened. Either way, the team secured her and the last we had the ground team they were taken aboard the Annointed dreadnought that jumped away from here. We have had no further contact. As far as we know however, Ohuhri and the team with her are alive."
Yehla nodded slowly. "Well...that's something..." she sighed. "I just hope she stays that way."
"Da."
"Commodore, we'll be wanting to move fairly quick so we can get back to friendly space for repairs." Hallrean said, politely breaking in to the conversation and jerking her thumb towards the Eyes of Terrkan.
"We'll get your crew settled in and seen to as soon as we can, but we're on a timetable here."
As they spoke, Bohler made himself busy, contacting ANC, sending out the news of Kaikoma's demise and the request for an emergency admiralty board meeting. He wasn't too worried about Decoroso's safety, it was firmly under the control of Powell's fleet, and all interdiction stations where up. The mention of Powell brought up an important detail, and he swiftly ordered out promotions to certain individuals, raising their ranks based on what they could do or what he wanted from them.
He ordered Decoroso to call in more Admirals and Diplomats from the Wormhole, and then opened his eyes as they finished "Yes, the sooner we can reunite you with the Unanimity, the better, Commodore. I also know Saber had nullified the NAP with your nation, but I will authorize an emergency command to not take any hostilities towards the Artificia in any way. Perhaps, when this is all settled and wounds are healed, we can try to be friendly neighbors again."
He nodded and saluted the both of them "I must say, it has been an odd day, but I'm glad that we are not enemies this day. I hope our futures are brighter from now on, Commodore Yehla, Starpom Samantha Hallrean, safe travels."
The cruiser's commander gave him a tired Restevian salute, and nodded to the Prizrak. The power armored operator nodded back, and called a few orders to the other Spetz. Together they moved to the Artifica, and began guiding them up the Eye's ramp and inside the armored hide of the stealth ship.
"Alright...I suppose farewell then, Admiral." Yehla nodded, and followed after the Spetsnaz into the Restevian vessel. She hoped this wasn't some ruse or trick, but based off the evidence she had seen, she doubted anyone had much of the heart to. One hell of a trick if it was. The Artificia broke up among the barracks, still too many to occupy just one. Yehla herself found hers shared by what was left of the bridge crew and some of the Marines. The science officer from before circled around, datapad still in hand.
"Uh, ma'am?"
"Mmm? What is it?"
"I thought you might be interested to see this."
Yehla paused, before sighing.
"Alright. Got nothing better to do." she nodded, gesturing to the spot next to her. "Not until we get...wherever we're headed."
"Home, I hope, ma'am." the officer responded, sitting down.
"Don't we all..."
With nothing else for it, the Restevian vessel pulled into line with Bohler's fleet, and hailed the Admiral's superweapon in a 'hey we're here' way. There wasn't much else for it, and the Restevians were too exhausted at the moment to really care. Unless they were shot at of course.
As the fires quelled on his ships, the gunfights ceased and those that survived mourned the losses, Bohler took a moment to breathe. Kaikoma was gone, two Admirals, a Colonel and a Corsair Commander are taken, likely never to be seen again, and the one Artificia that had escaped Saber's personal hellhole was also gone. Even as he mourned for a moment, the RSC Cruiser slid silently alongside the Perturbation, addressing it's existence. At first, a flicker of anger flashed inside him. Terri had just settled things and he wished that the RSC was never here.
At the same time though, there where questions, and they lost people as well as himself. He knew the RSC where part of AGA, of which the Artificia belonged to now. He looked to his Comms Officer, who looked back at him with sad, teary eyes, and gave her a nod. Her husband and two children had been among those that weren't confirmed alive with those that fled the planet, Bohler's eyes felt watery, and his throat felt dry, but he had to get these Artificia home, as well as his parting gift.
With a sigh, he lifted from his chair, and proceeded to the Docking bay, giving orders to let out Yehla and her surviving crew, they had been kept in an emergency saferoom during the firefights on the ship, and he was glad they weren't hurt. But even as the Comms Officer choked on her acknowledgement, and sent the RSC Cruiser docking instructions, Bohler knew this was far from over yet.
The first to step out the door of the saferoom as it swung open were the Marines. Somewhat hastily handed Dectrose weapons, they were a tad awkward with the unfamiliar weapons, but either from watching others operate them or figuring them out under their own tuition, they held them more or less correctly and kept them ready to fire at a moment's notice, though fingers were not on triggers.
"What the hell...?" one muttered at the scene of recently silenced chaos ahead of them.
"Uh...Commodore? Might wanna see this." one called, the form of Yehla stepping into view with a pistol in hand.
"Bloody hell..." she muttered. She had calmed considerably since they had been moved out of the second research facility, though to say she wasn't in a foul mood couldn't be further from the truth. She was still angry about everything they had been put through, and especially wanted to see this Saber dead--if he wasn't already--and it was now only exacerbated by a worry for her missing ICO. She hoped Ohuhri was okay, but there was no way to know. With her being taken aboard the ship of a woman who just destroyed a planet, though she had not seen this for herself, she had serious doubts about seeing the green Artificia again.
"Hey, so, uh, any ideas on what the hell we do now?" she asked, barely loud enough for the Marines to hear. For the moment, they stayed quiet.
Samantha Hallrean, acting captain of the Eyes of Terrkan and her former XO, received the docking instructions and ordered the exhausted helmsman to follow them. Commander Hallrean raked a hand through her short ash-blonde hair, and put her cap on before motioning two Spetsnaz to follow her off the bridge. The caped and visored soldiers followed silently.
She wanted to get the meet-and-greet over with so that she and her crew could have time to mourn their dead in peace, but she would do her duty and make nice with the fleet that had seemingly tried to help them retrieve the ground-team. Her trek down the ship towards the docking area picked up one of the surviving Prizraks and another officer (This one with a glavnny starshini's pips) and the moment after the ship docked and the airlock cycled, she walked out to meet with the Dectrose commander.
A Dectrose Marine stepped over another's legs, moving towards Yehla "Commodore Yehla." He gave a short salute "We have a RSC Cruiser coming in to dock, they will be taking you back home, I'm sorry that you had to go though all this." Before tapping his helmet, informing Bohler that he was with the Artificia, and that he and a few others would escort them to the Docking Bay. "If you'd please follow me?"
If Yehla dared to look at the displays on the walls where the AVD nodes acted as windows, she would see the broken and shattered remains of Kaikoma, and her drydocks, as well as a destroyed Dectrose fleet amongst the drydock debris. The marines kept on alert, being ready to kill their own again if there was another attempted mutiny.
As he felt the slightly colder air of the Docking Bay hit his face, Bohler stepped out of the elevator, and looked on the RSC Cruiser, once again, he felt a flicker of anger, but he quelled it again. If all goes well, he could repair, if slightly, the relations with AGA, RSC and the AU, but he knew they might hesitate to trust the Dectrose, after all that Saber had done. He stepped closer, a squad of Marines behind him as he awaited the RSC and Yehla's arrival.
"O...kay..." Yehla nodded slowly, the Unanimity Marines spreading around the wide spectrum of pastel coloured synthetics as they started to move. As they walked, her gaze couldn't help but look outside, at the shattered remnants of a planet. From the evident devastation, a recently shattered planet.
"What the hell kind of entity could do that?..." she muttered.
"I dunno, but I sure as shit hope we don't have to deal with it." one of the Marines grunted.
The Restevians that came out of the ship to meet Bohler were smoke stained, all three of the fighting men were wounded with small bandages visible under their armor as they walked, and the younger looking of the two officers walked with a limp. The leader bore a commander's uniform with the bars of an executive officer, and the officer at her side was of far lower rank. But they all looked exhausted, in pain, and like their souls had been struck harshly.
If Bohler hadn't guessed before, it was perfectly clear now, the Restevians had suffered too on Kaikoma. To what extent and how many they had lost was unknown to him, but the commander extended her hand gamely to him.
"Starpom Samantha Hallrean." she said, blinking slowly and brushing loose hair out of her face. "I wanted to thank you for the aid you attempted to give us."
Extending his hand to Sam, he nodded back, his suit a match to the Dectrothian flag, an appealing shade of purple, with black accents. Medals aligned his chest, his eye had a subtle metal ring around the socket, as it pulsed orange and fed information to his eye. "Johannes Böhler, Leader of the Dectrose Empire in the Ancerious Galaxy. I'm sorry we couldn't save your crew on Kaikoma, we've all suffered a great loss today." His gaze shifted to the small pile of marines now being taken out of the Docking Bay, a flash of sadness coming across his face, before turning back to her.
"I must ask though, after Ural, why would a RSC ship be in Kaikoma's system, as well as giving us false information? You do understand how that can be viewed with some suspicion." His gaze, augmented eyes included, shared the quality that Morgan had, though even with his more forgiving demeanor, his eyes felt as if it could cut through the people in front of him. But his stature and body movements hinted at a more cautious approach.
"Reconnaissance in the face of possible conflict." Commander Hallrean replied. "The RSC wished to know Dectrose capabilities, and Kaikoma was to be our first stop. The last, now, as we are mission ineffective. As for the false information, that is standard procedure when undergoing missions like this. I cannot say any more."
Keeping his gaze on her, there was a tense moment of silence, before he spoke "I'm going to guess that, because the Dectrose's Government knows about it, we'll be given the chance to talk to someone about it? This Recon Mission happening after Terri smoothed things out is going to stress her beyond just losing her ship, losing her crew, losing her base and her home." He looked out to Kaikoma, sighing before turning back. "I can replace all of those, of course, but I need my diplomats clear-minded, as well as focused on a retaliation strike on the enemy Annointed fleet."
He got an update on Yehla's group, and inhaled "We also wish to do an exchange, Saber had a plan to experiment on a group of Artificia, to create a Genophage Plague that would sterilize them for spirit knows how long. We had been informed that a by-product of this testing had actually developed a cure for their reproductive issues, I had not known of it when I took power after Saber, as he had most of the program under lock to his personal supporters."
"They're on their way, by the sounds of it they're soon to be here. Commodore Yehla and what remains of her crew are on their way, your presence has offered an alternative to what we wished to do, and should help make the process both easier, and less stress for the Artificia. I was also made aware that Saber had bought their Battlecruiser, but all records of such ship after the purchase are not found. I'm going to authorize an investigation into it so Yehla can be reunited with her ship in the near future."
He looked now to his marines, before saying "At least some good came from all this mess, they can go home, and to their families, but I know that a lot of her crew died, perhaps they too can mourn and have closure."
"Pardon me?" the commander said, cocking her head to the side. "There was a diplomatic meeting? This is the first we're hearing of it, and we departed our base right after the Ural incident."
The Prizrak cocked his head at the words from the Dectrose commander, and tapped on his armor comp. The last reports from the ground team had mentioned an Artificia... He notified Hallrean and the others of this. Samantha nodded, and looked to Bohler again.
"You mentioned an 'exchange.' What do you want then?"
He gave a questioning look, but knew how things could happen that way "Yes, Terri explained that the RSC and Dectrose need some time away from each other, but it seems like this can be an exception." His eye ring flickered, and he nodded to her "Yes, I'm going to hold a press conference on the incident, and I'd like an RSC representative there, and possibly an AU representative to take custody of Johnathan Saber, the AU deserve to punish him for what he had done."
"All I'd need them to do is answer any questions they have, and state that we had handed over the Artificia. As well, we would like to know if you would be able to commit anything to a strike force to rescue the comrades that where captured when the shuttle was taken."
"I see. I can't guarantee that there will be a representative of course, but I'll tell the RSC." Sam nodded. "Now, where is the commodore? I'm assuming we'll be taking them and theirs home?"
A door slid open, sure enough revealing the array of colours. They were considerably smaller than one would expect of a battlecruiser's crew. Which, most likely, said enough about what they had been through. The Marines had kept up their protective ring around the group, and Yehla had led the way, the perpetually stern, disgruntled looking purple Commodore stepping in first.
"What's this all, then?" She grumbled.
Turning around, Bohler gave a salute to the Commodore, and tried to give a reassuring smile "I am Johannes Böhler, Leader of the Dectrose Empire in the Ancerious Galaxy, and this is Starpom Samantha Hallrean, Acting Captain of the RSC Cruiser. As I'm aware that the Unanimity and RSC are members of the AGA, I believe an exchange of your crew to another member, will soothe your return to the Artificia, and help to de-escalate things. I also have good news that came from your unfortunate imprisonment."
He slipped a datapad from his side, and gave it to Yehla "The DRI staff at Frumentarii had stumbled upon a cure for your race's inability to grow your numbers, though the intentions of Saber had been to create a Genophage Plague to threaten you with, which would in turn drive your race to a slow extinction." Bohler frowned at the thought, and continued "That is why Saber will be handed over to the Unanimity, to pay for his crimes against your race."
He looked to Sam, before continuing "As well, we are aware that your Battlecruiser is somewhere in the Dectrose Empire, but I fear Saber may have had it moved to an unknown location, and I will begin an investigation into it immediately."
Yehla nodded slowly, briefly poking at the datapad before a blue Artificia, evidently some form of science officer, caught the Commodore's attention, and with a nod Yehla handed it off to her. A slow extinction? As far as she was concerned, that was what they were already facing. As the science officer muttered things, showing it to others in the group, Yehla's attention returned to Böhler.
"I...suppose you have my thanks." She said slowly. "If you do find my ship, I'd...appreciate it back. If not for me..." She paused, looking over shoulder at the more lost looking members of her crew. "Then, for them. For...closure, I guess." Her gaze turned back.
"I...uh...don't suppose you're expecting an apology for, uh...all the losses I caused."
"I'm assuming you mean the 47 men and women you had killed, and the large amount of damage and repairs that needed to be done to the DRI Facility?" His gaze shifted to the side, before returning to Yehla, a look that could kill, if it wasn't for his next words "No, as much as it does pain me for those families' losses, any one of those men and women could have spoken up about the atrocious events happening at that facility. The repairs and compensation will be taken directly from Saber's account, as we had seized his funds, and anything else he had of value. We have several departments going though his personal database as well."
His mouth almost formed a smile, as he thought over another more, interesting piece of information from Frumentarii about Yehla "You know, Commodore, the files at that facility had given you an unofficial nickname. 'Sicarius', it's an archaic spider, known for catching it's prey quickly and killing it. It's not glamorous, but I thought it was worth noting to you."
"Right. That's...interesting." She nodded, rubbing the back of her head as a couple of the Marines chuckled. "I don't think any of those families would want to hear anything from me anyway." She chuckled bitterly. "Is there, uh, anything you want from me, before we go?" She raised an eyebrow.
"You want these back?" One of the Marines asked, lifting up the PDW he held.
His face slightly frowned, and nodded "Yes, I do, we would appreciate an AU representative at the press conference we wish to hold, regarding the destruction of Kaikoma, as well as the revealing of Saber's plots and to take custody of Saber himself. If you wouldn't mind coming back to Trudchen after you check in with the Unanimity for the press conference?" Meanwhile, a Marine Officer approached the AU marines "Yeah, set them on that wall over there, sorry we couldn't recover your own weapons, mate."
"So few..." Commander Hallrean sighed, looking the AU over. "Dmitry, make sure Barracks deck 6 is ready for them." she said to the senior petty officer.
"But... 6 was PS company two's..." he began.
"I know, and now they don't need it. The Artificia do. Go."
"Yes, ma'am." the petty officer said, and ran back into the ship. With that, Hallrean walked over to the Artifica, doing a quick head count to see just how many there actually were before nodding to Yehla.
Yehla nodded, first to Bohler, and then to Hallrean.
"Right. I'd...say Ohuhri would be best for that, but..." she stared in the direction of Kaikoma for a long moment. "With her...absence...I suppose I'll have to do." she sighed, a morose hint to her tone.
"Those are not unacceptable requests. I'll...see what I can do. No predicting what Highcom will want, or think." she shrugged.
The Marines, meanwhile, nodded, heading over and, one by one, set the weapons down in a surprisingly ordered fashion, rejoining the Artificia crew.
"Ready when you are, ma'am." was all one said.
"Ohuhri..." the Prizrak muttered, tapping on their armor comp again. "Commodore, Ohuhri is an Artifica like yourself yes? A green one, maybe?"
Yehla raised her eyebrow. "Yes, that's her. My, uh..." she paused for a moment. "..second in command."
"Our ground team under command of Viktor Rekov secured a green Aritifica by that name on the planet before..."
The Prizrak went quiet.
"...That happened. Either way, the team secured her and the last we had the ground team they were taken aboard the Annointed dreadnought that jumped away from here. We have had no further contact. As far as we know however, Ohuhri and the team with her are alive."
Yehla nodded slowly. "Well...that's something..." she sighed. "I just hope she stays that way."
"Da."
"Commodore, we'll be wanting to move fairly quick so we can get back to friendly space for repairs." Hallrean said, politely breaking in to the conversation and jerking her thumb towards the Eyes of Terrkan.
"We'll get your crew settled in and seen to as soon as we can, but we're on a timetable here."
As they spoke, Bohler made himself busy, contacting ANC, sending out the news of Kaikoma's demise and the request for an emergency admiralty board meeting. He wasn't too worried about Decoroso's safety, it was firmly under the control of Powell's fleet, and all interdiction stations where up. The mention of Powell brought up an important detail, and he swiftly ordered out promotions to certain individuals, raising their ranks based on what they could do or what he wanted from them.
He ordered Decoroso to call in more Admirals and Diplomats from the Wormhole, and then opened his eyes as they finished "Yes, the sooner we can reunite you with the Unanimity, the better, Commodore. I also know Saber had nullified the NAP with your nation, but I will authorize an emergency command to not take any hostilities towards the Artificia in any way. Perhaps, when this is all settled and wounds are healed, we can try to be friendly neighbors again."
He nodded and saluted the both of them "I must say, it has been an odd day, but I'm glad that we are not enemies this day. I hope our futures are brighter from now on, Commodore Yehla, Starpom Samantha Hallrean, safe travels."
The cruiser's commander gave him a tired Restevian salute, and nodded to the Prizrak. The power armored operator nodded back, and called a few orders to the other Spetz. Together they moved to the Artifica, and began guiding them up the Eye's ramp and inside the armored hide of the stealth ship.
"Alright...I suppose farewell then, Admiral." Yehla nodded, and followed after the Spetsnaz into the Restevian vessel. She hoped this wasn't some ruse or trick, but based off the evidence she had seen, she doubted anyone had much of the heart to. One hell of a trick if it was. The Artificia broke up among the barracks, still too many to occupy just one. Yehla herself found hers shared by what was left of the bridge crew and some of the Marines. The science officer from before circled around, datapad still in hand.
"Uh, ma'am?"
"Mmm? What is it?"
"I thought you might be interested to see this."
Yehla paused, before sighing.
"Alright. Got nothing better to do." she nodded, gesturing to the spot next to her. "Not until we get...wherever we're headed."
"Home, I hope, ma'am." the officer responded, sitting down.
"Don't we all..."