A Hostile First Encounter(Violence, Language, Blood)

Chapter 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Epilogue: Ascension

Hiromi looked down at her formal dress, she already felt uncomfortable. It had been a month since her father had told her that he was giving her the throne, but for the past month, he had been setting everything up to be ready for her to take the throne finally. She found that she couldn't stay still, so she stood up and walked over to her window, looking out of it. She saw people starting to gather in the courtyard of the castle and this only made her even more nervous. However, there was a knock at her door. She looked at the door, "C-come in." She watched as her little sister, Misaki walked in, "Big sister, you look nervous. Harumi told me to come check on you." Hiromi frowned, "I'm fine. It's just a big day is all." Misaki nodded, "I know, Father even said that if I steal anything. I'm going to be thrown in a rehabilitation center."

Hiromi nodded as Akira walked in, "There's my granddaughter!" Hiromi looked at her grandfather, "Hi, Grandpa. You're here for my ascension ceremony too?" Akira nodded, "Your entire family is here, this is a big deal, one of our own becoming a Queen." Hiromi smiled slightly and hugged Akira, who hugged back, "Thanks Grandpa." Akira smiled softly, "Anything for my grandchildren." Hiromi nodded slightly, "I wonder if Grandma Luthien is here?" Akira nodded his head, "Of course she is. She's sort of waiting for you on the Balcony. Mind if I take you there, it's almost time." Hiromi smiled, "Of course." Akira broke the hug and walked with Hiromi to the balcony that hung over the courtyard, most of her family happened to be there. Yoshiro was standing in his new Paladin armor, and smiling as she walked onto the balcony, "Hey Hiromi, are you ready?" Hiromi nodded and Yoshiro turned towards the people in the courtyard.

Yoshiro placed his hands on the railing, "People of the Kilvish kingdom. I'll admit this to you all for the first time in my entire life. I've never been good with formal occasions, my wife usually handled them. However, I've decided to give up my throne, however, your new leader is already here. Those of you out there that are Kilves, are younger than her and have known her your entire life. Those of you who are Elves and Kitsune are of varying ages, but many of you have watched her grow up from a little girl and become a wonderful woman who would make a great queen. My successor is Hiromi Miyamae, she'll be your queen and I hope that you'll show her the same respect that you showed me over the past few centuries." Yoshiro motioned towards Hiromi as he stepped aside.

Hiromi walked over to the railing, she was extremely nervous, "Hello everyone, this is really my first time addressing you all. Like my father said, I'm going to be your new leader, I hope to be as good of a Queen as he was a King. Um, I hope that you all will bear with me, during this transition period." Yoshiro sighed, "Sweetheart, speak up with a little more confidence." Hiromi nodded slightly, "I've spent my entire life being taught by my parents how to lead this nation, I've been paying attention to what they have been doing, I've always been there during their decision making and I hope to lead this nation in the same way as they did." Yoshiro nodded, as Elbereth walked over with a crown and placed it on Hiromi's head.

Everyone in the courtyard cheered wildly at this, they seemed to be happy that Hiromi was going to be their new leader, which made her feel happy inside. Yoshiro hugged her and smiled, "The Dracoknights are going to be your honor guard now, Hiromi. They'll protect you and your Pegasus, no matter what." Hiromi nodded and smiled as she turned to face her family, "I guess it's time I go to the throne." None of her family protested, but followed as she walked to the throne room where people were lined up, waiting to watch the new queen take the throne for the first time. Hiromi sat in her mother's throne and there was wild cheering, Hiromi for the first time since she woke up was filled with confidence, "I shall lead this nation into a new era of prosperity!"

The people cheered and after a while, left, leaving her with her family. Hiromi looked at her elvish grandmother, who had green hair and green eyes. However, aside from that, she looked a lot like her mother. Luthien smiled, "You did good, my granddaughter, you reminded me of your older sister when she took the Sea Elf throne." Hiromi nodded, "Thank you grandmother." She however noticed that her father was heading out, "Dad, where are you going?" Yoshiro turned and smiled to her, "To get some coffee, before I head out to oversee the construction of the memorial for those that lost their lives in that unwarranted attack. Don't worry sweetheart, I'll be back." Hiromi nodded slightly and looked out the window, the skies were beautiful and a gentle wind was blowing into the throne room, she took this as a good omen.