It Begins Again

It was a sunny day like any other on Alus and Natsume Ishikawa was tending to her small garden that she grew for herself. She had Earth plants on it, as a small reminder to her of home. In addition to her garden, she was studying, not only interstellar history, the history of Alus, but space medicine as well. Not all bipedal humanoids were the same.

She looks up at the sky with a sigh. She missed Earth. But, she was happy here. When she was watching the clouds, she sees a rather Large Ship, along with about a dozen smaller Support Ships, drop out of warp in high altitudes, or low orbit, and just hang out there.

Natsume tilts her head to the side a bit "Leon?" she calls out "Leon, what kind of ships are those? I don't recognise them." like at all. Whatever ships they were, her instincts were telling her that they were bad news.

Leon was enjoying the time spent with his family since coming here. There were at times, if briefly he missed the nomadic and dangerous life style as a merc which he supposed was to be expected to an extent with what he was. That said he wouldn't trade that for this or anything else in the world.

He was glad Lana was adjusting here well enough along side Natsume as he had been slightly worried about the fact.  The same could be said for himself since he wasn't born on Alus. It wasn't perfect, no where was but his family was accounted for and that's what mattered.

He heard Natsume call him over which made him come outside. Something about ships. On seeing them, he frowned. What the hell were they doing here?

"..Those are Trojan ships. They're a hostile race but the last time they attacked earth they left and haven't seem to be as active far as conquering planets. " And if it was a invasion shouldn't there be more ships?

He pushed it aside. "We need to get Lana and get to shelter. I'm not chancing it." Leon had been hoping the Trojan would leave people alone at least a bit longer.

The ships had put the planet on pretty high alert, though they didn't attack just yet. Lana was currently asleep in the other room.


__________

"There. You should have it Lila."

The voice came from a woman who was talking to another young woman who seemed to be at most in her mid teens.

The two were in the middle of what seemed to be a royal court yard of some kind. with the younger of two meditating, or trying to at the given moment. They sighed after a moment opening their eyes as they got themselves up. "That's about my record. I Know I can do better but its still hard for really long periods. You managed to do yours for several hours."


"Like with everything else, the more you do it, the easier it gradually comes. You've done well, both you and your brother. Seems like you don't need a bodyguard as much anymore." They didn't sound sad about the fact but rather proud.

Lila smiled a bit and hugged them. "But we'll always need a grandmother. And we have the most awesome one on this damned planet!" They were their god parent and not blood but that mattered little espeically in their culture.

This got a chuckle from the woman as she pulled away. "Flattery will get you some places and not others.  That said this old woman still has plenty of teach you both on and off the battlefield."

"I bet." Lila said sincerely. "You've been around a lot longer so a lot of stuff you can teach me.  I know my brother is just going be as awesome too later one of these days. He's stronger then most already, I don't know why he's still so hard on himself. He's more a Real Alusarian then some of these bozo's that look down on him. They lose heart against a stronger enemy if they lost their fancy super forms. against real adversity."

There wasn't a immediate answer from Amra as she went to a table to sit and drink tea(Yucjk. What did she see in that stuff?) "I'll answer with another question; do you recall how hard headed you could be when you set your mind on something? You didn't want to do meditation as seriously until later."

Lila frowned. "Yeah well that's.."  She paused, then shook her head. "No. No excuses. A Alusarian doesn't make excuses for their mistakes but uses them to improve. Or..something like that right?"

"Close enough." Amara said bemused. "But yes, your brother is going through a rather common pattern in some young warriors he'll grow out of.  He feels he's not living up to the legacy of his family name, and feels his inability to transform as a road block to that. He is already moving past that and will find his own way, it will just take time.  Honor can be our double edged sword, much like pride can be with Sayain's.  The tighter you hold on, the stronger it is but the more brittle it also becomes."

Lila wasn't going to touch the tea, but she did to her juice. "Yeah. Our people being stubborn or prideful isn't new though Just its..less then what it used to be ad we try not to make the same mistakes of our ancestors."

"No its not. I suppose its why we have a interesting relationship with Sayain's in some ways.." She stopped her sentence looking at the sky and frowning. "Trojan.." She said with a low growl. "I don't know why they went quite and then came here, but it can't be good. Let's go back inside."

The young future monarch was uncharacteristically quite, she didn't like these creatures in her home.
_______

In their own personal private quarters, a beautiful woman hummed something quietly to themselves as they continued to look over various things on a data pad.  Queen Lura had a lot to wind down upon for the day; reports, plans and everything else under the sun. She rarely got as much time as she would like just to wind down.

Both the leader of the Acorian and Eldarian people would me visiting later this month's cycle and she wanted their stay to be as pleasant as possible when they did come. Besides that there was nothing that required her immediate attention  There was the Red Moon which was always a concern but they had ways damage control it in various ways when it Did happen. Thankfully they were also usually many years in between.

Mating season could also be at times problematic but it was old news at this point. For outsiders it may of been slightly ironic or not that the females were often more territorial during those times. Breaking up fights was a common thing. Between things like, the Red Moon or those off world that say joined the planet trade or became pirates, there were some that even now still thought Alusarian's are savages that didn't know better.  Their past reputation as conquers didn't help.

It was unfortunate some would think that way, but something that happened. It's not like her people cared too much and if their deeds didn't speak for their character, nothing else would.

'I should let Kai and Lila know of my other plans. i think they'll be happy they'll be a good will tour..'

She planned and telling them today, it be good for them. Visiting Vegeta, Acor and other planets on not just themselves but behalf of their people would work. She felt they were ready.

"My Queen. I have disturbing news of Trojan ships."

This troubled Lura greatly as she quickly got completely dressed before heading out where a young woman was waiting outside. "Report." She ordered, gears changing.

"We don't know much. They just appeared but haven't attacked just yet. Planet is in deep orange and we have the order to escort civilians to shelters. And if need be, evactee off planet."

"Good. Let's play it cautiously, and be prepared to send a message to Retina if our 'friends' have started their conquest of this part of the galaxy." She walked a brisk pace to the throne room, looking around where others were out and about. "Has there been a report of attacks yet?"

"Not yet." One of them replied. "It's strange they haven't just yet. Are you seriously going to try to talk to them?"

Lura shook her head. "I don't expect anything and they haven't attacked just yet. If it stalls for any length of time it helps. Besides, if they had been rampaging about these parts we would have known. But be ready. Try to open a line between the big ship."

While skeptical of anything, they agreed and it did make sense not to hit the trigger finger Just yet but be ready at a moments notice.

Natsume looked a bit alarmed "Wait, these aliens attacked Earth?" she asks, this was the first she had heard of it "Is it okay?" she asks. She was more then a bit worried. If an advanced people like the Alusarians were worried about these Trojan, how would a world like Earth fair against them?

The capital ship fires something out towards the city, but it wasn't an attack, rather, it was a probe of some kind. The probe stops a half mile above the city and just floats there.

Something starts to shimmer into view. It was a holo-vid message and it showed a cyborg "Citizens of Alus, I am Legion and I am the new King of the Trojan." he announces "Your planet has been chosen to be the first in our New Empire and as such, will become one of our Colony Worlds. If you surrender and submit to our rule, no harm shall befall you. But should you resist in any way, we will attack with our Full force and Alus and it's people Will be Cyberformed into the Trojan. You have forty-eight hours to comply." he says as the holo-vid disappears and the probe turns around and heads back to the capital ship.

Leon gave Natsume hand a gentle squeeze. "it's fine. Somehow or another earth warded them off, but no one is quite sure exactly as to how they did it. It was a remarkable feat, especially since other more advanced words didn't hold them off. "

At the news he frowned. "This doesn't seem out of their normal playbook either. They usually just attack first, the change can both be good or bad."

"..Is everything ok?" It was Lana who seemed kind of spooked of what was going on

____

Lura was annoyed that had been ignored, but at least there was a answer of something. The idea of being transformed and turned to twisted mockeries of their proud heritage disgusted her. But the idea of being pets of the Trojan didn't appeal to her either.  Pushing her pride and instincs aside, she needed to think of this tactically.

"I gathered them both. Whatever you ask, we'll get to it." It was Amra who had came with Kai and Lila.

"Are we Really going to surrender?" Lila asked, not sounding too happy.

"Sometimes there isn't any good options, just less bad ones." Kai said shaking his head. "Have you tried talking to them?"

"They haven't responded." The queen said. "I suppose I could try  once more to maybe figure out information but unsure how successful that would be.  We have over a day to figure something out."

"I know its unothrodox, but maybe Vegeta should be the first planet we try to contact?" Amra suggested. "If I recall, they have some Chozo with them. If things go bad, if nothing else perhaps it would give them and others time to prepare something."

At times like these, Lura missed her mate more then ever. Alusarian's were built to go through adversity but even so. She didn't like any of her present options, but as a leader she had to make do with a bad situation which was a burden her children were going have to learn to deal with. Honor demanded them being vocal so even if they did go down, others would have time. Instinc said just to attack because a enemy came into their territory. But she knew the rational part of her, these both had their downsides.

"Give me ten minutes, and I will have a answer." It was more then she wanted, to but she needed to think. Kai gave his mother shoulder a comforting hand and Lila stood by while Amra's calm demeanor gave away uncharastic worry.

No good options. Only less bad ones indeed.

Natsume didn't know Earth could even Do such a thing "Maybe... we should try to get in contact with Earth and ask them how they did it?" she suggests she would have no idea either, unless it was some kind of invention from Paragon Corp or something. When Lana came out, Natsume thought it best not to scare her "We're going to.be playing Hide-N-Seek for a bit. It's nothing to worry about." she says with a smile.

* *

"Your Highness, if I nay make a suggestion?" asks one of the Artican Scientists that Cryogenia had sent over as an Goodwill Envoy to open trade talks "The Trojan have never posed a threat to my people, despite advantage our advanced technology would give them, for the simple fact that they can not Cyberform us." he says.

"Now, they nay be jamming communications at the moment, but the Artican have way of getting around them." he says "Allow me to contact my people and we shall get in touch with others who have beaten the Trojan. If they see that we have an alliance with races who had withstood them, they may rethink their advance."

Lana seemed unsure about it, looking briefly back to the sky. "O-okay." She at least wanted to believe everything was all right and nothing would happen to her or her family.

It made Leon feel bad. Lana had always been through so much, on top needing to hide the fact she was a Esper to certain people or they want to use that power, never mind one that had been experimented on.

And to think earlier he was going to talk Natsumi into visiting the beach today.

He ruffled her hair slightly. "We'll be fine kiddo. You have your pack for school right? Get a few important things but not too much if we have to leave, all right?"

Lana seemed slightly reluctant but didn't protest as she gave them both a hug before returning inside.

Once they were alone, Leon turned back to Natsumi. "Making a guess? Trojan probably blocked long range coms, but it doesn't hurt to ask since earth did it somehow. I'm pretty sure those in power would have a stronger interest.  Maybe we could get you a audience."

Natsumi may of been extremely important to him and Lana but on earth she was just a civilian. Still those in power had some interest since earth had done it somehow, and civilian or not they were the only link they had.
_________

Lura released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding on that bit of potential good news. "That's good, and yes if you would I would be eternally grateful."

On his end, Kai was wondering why their kind couldn't be turned to cyborgs like those other Trojan victims. Extreme cold and their unique biology perhaps? They were, after all, a bit different then the average humanoid races.  Their main goal had been to turn others like them..or had been. Now? He wasn't so sure. A new empire but for exactly what purpose?

"Earth pushed them back somehow." Lila said suddenly. "I mean if talking strictly about places that did it. No one really knows how or anything. Leon Trinity's mate is from there."

"Maybe." Kai was thinking. "Keep in mind if the Trojan are smart they would have blocked planet side coms to make it harder to do anything not just off world."

"I don't know how useful that would be, still it doesn't hurt to try.." Lura turned to a solider that was present. "Could you see about escorting her family to here?"

After that she turned back to the scientist. "As I said, its a sound plan and we would be grateful in this instance for any help so please do."

Natsume shakes her head "I wouldn't be of any help there. I was here when Earth was attacked. So I have No idea how they pulled it off." she says on a hushes tone "The resources needed to get us would be better spent on helping others in the city." she mumbles.

* *

The Artican scientist nod "I will express the need for urgency and great haste." he says as he heads out.

Above the city, a Smaller Transport takes off and heads straight towards the palace. It's weapons weren't powered up and it soon lands on the landing pad and as the main ramp lowers two Trojan Commanders come tromping out "Queen Lura's presents is required." one says to the closest guard "Bring her here at once. She has been summoned by King Legion."

Leon wasn't sure how Alus was going to respond, obviously they were weighing their options since they hadn't attacked and all hell hadn't brook loose.  "In the mean time, probably not a bad idea to grab a few things if we leave to somewhere safer." He didn't have his old equipment since he left that life behind, but he did have a fire arm for self defense.

There was a slight knock on the door. [color=gold]"Anyone still home?  My name is Lieutenant Cindy and I'm here to escort any civilians to a safer spot." The young woman behind the door didn't seem like a Ki user, and if they guessed that they be correct.  There were specific divisions of the army excsluveily for non-ki users and the version of the Alus marine's were one of them.
_____

Besides the obvious of what was going on, what was also itching at Kai was the fact the Trojan were acting so strangely.  It seemed they were still a invasive race with expanding, except this time they just didn't instantly attack. If he remembered correctly, weren't the Trojan led by a queen?

 Legion definitely wasn't. Multiple things weren't adding up, with the only silver lining being they had some time.

"Their leader has requested your presence. alone" A guard came addressing Lura, not seeming to be pleased.

Lila was more vocal. "You can't be serious. Just go there and who knows what they have in mind?"

"I would very strongly advise against it. However, these aren't exactly normal times. I will trust your judgement on it." Amra wasn't happy about these things, but having to bend at times for the greater whole was a lesson she learned earlier in her life.

"I am unhappy about this too. That said, I'll see. I don't believe they intend to harm me. My guess is the 'conditions' of surrender or the terms" Lura sighed a bit.

One of the younger council members frowned. "I mean no disrespect your majesty, but they have already come into our home and humiliated us. If you do, or lean towards that we would have further dishonored ourselves by bowing to their commands. With no guarantee no less its not a ruse to make us easier pickings."

The queen came over and squeezed their shoulder. "I appreciate your concern my young friend, but I will be fine. Is it humiliating our people have to carefully steer through for a threat we weren't prepared for? Of course. But with that string comes a fire to do better and improve as well as lessons. Don't forget a sound minded is needed for a complete warrior. In this case, its clear what we need to work on once this is dealt with. We will be stronger for it, and we will make them regret thinking they can just threaten our home."

"I understand.." The answer seemed to do it, even if they remained unpleased.

Lura turned away. "I will be leaving for now. Kai, until I return for however long you will be in charge."

"All right. Just be safe." Kai hated doing this, nesscary as it was.

As soon as Lura was seated, the transport doors shut and the ship takes off back towards the capital ship, which doesn't take long, and once there, the two commanders lead the queen out.

The light level was pretty low in the Trojan ship, with the exception of the work stations and the recharge alcoves. Through out all of it, it was the level of noise that could be heard. The only noise was the sound of their foot steps, and the workers.

Lura was lead into a room with a table and two chairs opposite each other. Sitting in one chair, was King Legion himself. He doesn't bother standing when she enters, as that was a Organic thing to do.

He looks over to the commanders, who just turn and leave "Sit." he says in an even tone "I will get Right to the point, Alusarian Female, there is a way to get us to leave your world alone and never return..." he starts "Interested in what I have to say?" he asks.

The lack of respect annoyed the woman but she pushed it aside since the safety of her people came before anything else. The proposition was something she probably was not going to like, but she was going to hear them out at least. "I will hear you out." That's all she was going to promise. Why they had chosen Alus she was still unsure.

Legion shakes his head "You have no choice but to hear me out. However, whether or not you act upon what I say, is a different matter all together." he points out "There is a Human, amongst the stars, who goes by the name Calvine Mort. If you were to find him and deliver him to us, alive, you and your people, and likely this whole side of the galaxy, will not likely hear from the Trojan for a very long time." he says, holding up a picture of Calvine with various bits of information that were in an unknown language "The fate of your world, and the fate of every other world in this part of the galaxy, will depend on how you respond next."

Lura didn't like being anyone's lap dog, still she supposed she didn't have as many options as she would like. "I can attempt to find them but I can't make any promises. we will be able to if you can't." It was odd taking a interest in a human like that.

Legion shakes his head "You will not Just attempt to find Calvine Mort, but you will either find him, or surrender to us. In which case, we will establish a presents on this world and garrison over it." he says, leaving no room for debate "However, When you find him and hand him over to us, we will leave Alus alone. Now, isn't the safety of your world and people worth one Human?" he asks.

Lura frowned a bit. "Fine. Hand me this picture and I'll have my best find them. How long do we have?" The whole situation left a bitter taste in her mouth, she wondered if it was what the Sayain's felt when Cooler came for the first time.

Legion nods, satisfied "It is within your best interest that you locate him fast, as you will be staying with us until..." his sentence dies out as Queen Lura was suddenly Transported off the Trojan capital ship!

Im the transporter room of the USS Odyssey, Cedrick finishes the transport cycle and then taps her combadge "Transporter Room Three to Captain Glay, the Queen is aboard. You can uncloak and raise shields whenever you are ready." she says.

She moves over to Lura "Your Highness, we were contacted by the Cybertronian's and made aware of the situation." she says as she helps Lura down "We are the Earth vessel USS Odyssey, and we brought friends to help."

Out in space, the Odyssey uncloaks just as a Massive Space Bridge opens up and a Cybertronian Ship, the size of one of Alus' bigger cities, comes out of it! As soon as it clears the space bridge, it lets out dozens of Cybertronian Fighters, all who go straight into attack mode!

Following the the Arc, were a a few Artican Warships, all of them had their weapons powered up and trained on the Trojan ships!

Cedrick looks.over to Lura "Your Highness, I believe you have a few things you would like to say to the Trojan?" she asks as she opens a channel.

Realistically, Lura was doubted they would be able to find this Calvine person if they were unable to. With how things were at the moment she essentially had to say whatever that would buy them the most time even if that meant tolerating their presence for a bit.

The transportation happened fast enough that it threw her off before she quickly gathered her bearings even if she was greatly confused at first of what just happened. She also wondered how some Artician ships came so quickly; there must of had a closer presence somewhere.

"Understood." Was the only thing a voice said before the shields did their thing.

As for talking to this Legion character, Lura could say some choice words or something else. But in the end she decided he wasn't worth the further effort; actions would speak more boldly.

She shook her head. "I have nothing further to say to them. That said we are incredibly grateful for you coming to our aid and our honor bound to assist you in anyway we can. We..aren't used to needing help to take care of our own, but its clear there are things we need to improve we have neglected. My name is Lura Lausten, may I have your name?"

Lura knew neither the Arkon or especially the Alusarian's wouldn't be happy about being helpless. But the good news she supposed would be taking the non Ki arts more seriously then just 'good enough' and put the same drive and energy they did to that so they wouldn't be in this situation again. It had wounded their pride a bit but these life lessons were nesscary to improve. They could hopefully learn some things from the others after this was over.

Legion's face appears on tue monitors. They were sending an open message "In defying us, you have doomed your entire planet to Oblivion" he says, sounding like he was containing his rage "When we return, in Full Force, the people of Alus, will cease to be." he snarls as the screen goes blank.

The Trojan ships turn from Alus, and suddenly go to warp, disappearing into the infinite void of space.

Cedrick looks over to the Queen "My name is Cedrick Darkside and you and your people owe us nothing." she says "The Trojan have been too comfortable in getting their own way. We three races have come together to show them that is not the case anymore... however, I am certain there would be no objections to making it the Four of us." she says, implying an alliance between the four worlds.

The young woman hadn't expected the offer but in light of what happened it wasn't something she could ignore "That's a generous offer and one I can confidently say we wouldn't be opposed to. I would still have to talk some others on the ground about it. The Eldarian's will probably be here before too long as I'm close with their leader, Maybe others as well. I can have something set up in the palace for further talks?" She offered.

Earth to her limited knowledge hadn't been all that more advanced then Noreal and some other worlds were far as space travel went. She wondered how they made such a jump so quickly.

Cedrick holds up a hand "One thing at a time, please." she says "For now, let me show you to the bridge. I am certain our Captain would like to meet you." she offers as she walks out of the transporter room and waits.

Not too long after, a older African American gentleman that seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties came. The way they were dressed made it fairly obvious who they were to begin with. "I'm Alden Glay, the Captain. It's a pleasure to meet your highness. We have things to talk about but while you're here, you're our guest."

The extended hand shake was something that would have not had registered if not other things she had learned. "Likewise. Today has been pretty jarring."

Cedrick nods "I understand." she says as she nods to Alden "I am going to go back to engineering and check to see how we are holding together." she says as she heads on back to the turbo lift.

The NS-5 at the science station looks back to Alden "Captain, we are receiving a hail from the Arc. It is Captain Megatronus." it says in a calm tone.

"I'll be right there." Alden then turned to Lura. "If you'll excuse me for one moment I'll be with you again shortly."

"Of course. I understand." Lura said simply. "Has there been a word sent to my people? The Trojan are gone, but last known my presence was in their ship and I rather not cause a misunderstanding."

"While I'm positive it was already done, I will double check if it puts your mind at ease." As Alden said this, one of the bots escorted Lura to the guest quaters.

In the mean time once that was handled, Alden went to the bridge and patched it in.

The main view screen blinks on and Megatronus Prime appears "Captain Glay, we have a lock on the Trojan's warp signature and will be in pursuit shortly. Give the queen our regards and inform her that we shall be arriving shortly, when we deal with the Trojan who attacked Alus. he says in a rather blunt tone "The Arc out." the screen goes blank as the Arc starts to move off.

Alden was glad they were on their side and not the other way around instead. He was looking over a few things in his data pad before he decided to check on his guest and inform them of things. Though he thought it better for them to come onto the bridge.

Lura came onto the bridge after a bit. "How are things on the ground?"

Alden turned to his guest. "It's going well. Your people know you're safe and sound so no worries there. The captain of the Arc is currently in pursuit of those who attacked and will join us when they are finished."

Cedrick also comes back to the bridge "Captain, I had just finished my diagnostic of the ships systems and everything is as it should be." she says. And while she could have just told him over the coms, she Actually wanted to see about heading to the surface of an Actual alien world.

One of the NS-5s looks over to Alden "Captain, we have received a message from the lead Artican ship." it says "They say they are awaiting the Queen's word on if they can land some ships to support her." it reads. It was clear that Queen Lura was in charge of this situation.