Rain of Fire

Lennix was curious about this ship. Noreal was going to have their own ships, eventually which would be nothing like the one Ness had but even so. Ness wasn't a commanding officer or anything like that but he was in charge of the ship. So he'd treat them like one while there unless noted otherwise."Ready when you are sir."

"Same." Caleb added. "When ever you are." The young man was glad Ness and others were helping, not only for Noreal but it meant he wouldn't have to use that 'other' form of his. He disliked it because it made him go beserk and hurt who ever happened to be there. Despite his best efforts he hadn't ever been able to control it, so it was more a liability then a assist.

After a brief transporter cycle, the three of them were in the transporter bay of the ship. There was no one operating the device.

Ness looks over to his guests "Okay, let's head to the bridge and we can scan out some places for safety bunkers." he says as he starts out.

There were No other crew on the ship, only small robots crawling around. They almost looked like spider crabs, but the size of small dogs.

Once they get to the Bridge, it was pretty much the same thing, no crew. Ness takes them to the back of the bridge where they had a small command area "Okay, let me show you what the emergency bunkers are going to look like and what all they come with." he says to them as he brings up a schematic of what he was talking about.

They would be multi-leveled and could hold Hundreds of people. They had facilities like sonic showers and food replicators. There was even an emergency transporter, just incase the main door was damaged. They were also modular, allowing for more attachments like hydroponics and arboretums, as well as schools and libraries, just incase people were required to stay there for much longer.

Each emergency bunker was powered by a matter/anti-matter reactor that was Heavily shielded. The bunker was Also heavily shielded with ablative armor and a regenerative shielding unit.

Ness looks to his guests "Okay, so what do you think? Will these do?" he asks. He might have to program each with a few holodecks, just incase.

Caleb hadn't seen anything like this and it certainly looked impressive. He couldn't see anything visibly wrong with the bunker and it seemed to have all the needed to be holed up for a long time. "It looks sturdy and seems to have all the things needed to have everyone safe and accounted for."

"I agreed. But in case of a breach what about security? Do you have any of those bots that can defend themselves?" Lennix asked. "Since it'll be all hands on deck holding the line we might be slightly understaffed sending people here spread out. But with allies on the way we might not have to do that alone."

Ness nods "I got ya covered..." he says as he pulls up the schematics of the NS-5 "I'll be stationing my robots down there. The King and Queen can vouch for their reliability as I had demonstrated them before." he says.

He looks over to Lennix "Now, let's talk about hoe to keep your people safe." he says as he pulls out a hightech armlet "These are personal forcefields that can stop a lot of directed energy attacks, such as blasters, plasma bolts, and phasers." he tells him "Now, combine that with my style of personal armor and they'll be ready to stand against many of the Trojan's ground troops." he explains.

Lennix looked over the high tech armlet, it didn't seem at a first glance it would generate a strong enough shield but he knew better to judge by that. There was a lot to learn and keep in mind for later but right now one thing at a time. "Anything and everything that helps is appreciated. Speaking of, have the Trojan encountered races where magic is a thing? Any bit might help of its new to them."

"They had some of our people as their collective, so they should at least know it exist here and be completely flat footed." Caleb said after a bit. "Since they've been to multiple worlds I doubt we be the first time they encountered anything magical related before."

Ness quarks a brow to Caleb's words. The artificial Heartless should know these weren't 'His People' and he shouldn't count himself amongst them. After all...

Ness looks over to Lennix "This armor and shields will be useful in a firefight against the troopers, but let's be real, the Trojan are gonna hammer you with Everything they got." he says "But we have a solution to that as well." he says.

He looks back to Caleb "Yes. The Trojan Have encountered magic before, as this isn't the only planet to use it." he points out "But just remember: magic is just another form of energy, like Ki energy and if they built a defense against Ki, assume they've done so for magic." he cautions.

He looks over his shoulder, then back to Caleb "A word in private?" he says as he walks back to the bridge.

Caleb wondered what this was about, but with a mental shrug went to go follow and see what he wanted.

Ness moves over to the view screen when Caleb joins him "You should know, however this ends, win or lose, you will be leaving Noreal. Possibly for good." he tells him "There are many artificial Heartless down there Right now who need someone to lead and guide them and they can't get that here." he tells him "I know of a place where they can be safe. Free to live their lives in peace, but they will need someone like them in order to keep them focused and speak on their behalf." he says.

Caleb didn't want to think too much about the whole losing thing, of course it was a possibility as nothing was certain. However if they did fall it meant this part of the galaxy was doomed since even with all the races that fought them off they still lost. No where would be safe, unless it was a separate realm or something.

The young man regarded Ness neturally silently for a moment as he finished. "I know more my kind is out there, most are on earth but I'm not sure everyone single one of them would want to up and leave. Unless there's more I don't know about. What place are you talking about?"

Ness raises a brow "You seriously don't know then..." he says "Artificial Heartless have been cultivated here on Noreal. They aren't as 'Complete' as you or the others that were made on Earth. They were made to be disposable weapons and now that the program has been shut down, they have no direction, no purpose, and no one to lead and guide them. Most don't even have any Real personalities." he tells him "After this invasion, I will talk to an acquaintance of mine and see about sending them to a place where artificially created beings like them can live in peace and just be themselves, but they will still need someone to watch over them and speak on their behalf. Do you think that's something you can do for them?" he asks "As a commander you are the most logical choice for this endeavor." he points out.

"No. I actually thought maybe I missed another group, I was over thinking it." He admitted, sometimes that happened. All the same he really had gotten used to Noreal. Sure it wasn't perfect but it had been closes thing to home.

As for the comment, since they had rescued them as children before they could get fully brainwashed and there was no adults or even teens among them then they probably need said voice more then ever.

Finally, he spoke. "I would be willing to do what I can, especially since that group entirely is made of children. I don't exactly have a lot of experience dealing with little ones." He admitted. "But I would be willing to learn for their sake, I guess its no different then a new parent. Is there a name of a person or two there to look for that's good with children I could get help with that already lives there?"

Ness shakes his head "That's for another time. But just know that they'll be around kindred spirits. For now, let's go back to focusing on preparing for the Trojan." he suggests as he starts back to the briefing room.

Caleb wondered why that part was held off, it shouldn't have been that long to say a name or two of a person that lived there. Not unless there was a lot more to it then a brief excerpt for some reason. That being said, he did agree to focus back on the Trojan invasion for the time being.

"Welcome back." Lennix greeted both men. "So I was wondering how long would it take to construct these bunkers. That and maybe it would be a good idea to get people inside ahead of time instead of causing rush and panic at the last second. Even if we don't say exactly people aren't stupid, they'll know something is up the moment it starts."

"It's best not to hide something like that anyway." Caleb pointed out. "Not to mention not practical to come up with a big enough cover for it. But its a good question."

Ness nods slowly "Yes, that's a very good idea. Get everyone who wishes it, secured." he looks over to Caleb "Would you mind heading back down to the planet and inform the King and Queen of this?" he asks.

Ness looks back to Lennix "Once the build is programed into the transporter pattern buffers, it should only take a few seconds to transport the area empty, and transport the structure into place. After we're finished here, I'll have the computer work on an estimation on how ling it will take to set up enough bunkers to comfortably house all the people and pets on Noreal... though spoiler alert, it'll take a while..." he mumbles.

He goes back to the command panel "In the mean time, I'll get started on those supplies for all the soldiers on Noreal. The armor and personal shields." he says as he looks up at Lennix "What kind of weapons does your military use? Do you still use projectile based firearms or have you since moved onto directed energy weapons?" he asks.

Caleb had another question to Ness, but it could wait for a bit after once this part was settled. "I'll have it done. The faster we get this done, the better."

Lennix turned to address Ness. "We use both, but our projectile weapon development is far ahead. Some of the enemies we fought seem more suspecitble to kinetic damage then energy. We also have done things to improve the former, our Gauss Rifles and railgun weapons are a example of it."

Ness frowns a bit "That won't do. The Trojan can withstand most handheld projectile weapons and for the larger battlements, they also have shields. You need directed energy weapons set to a rotating frequency if you want to be able to break through their shields." he says.

Ness goes silent for a moment, thinking "Okay, let's call it for now. We all have some things to do, so let's all meet back here in a few hours. I'll have something set for you when you get back here." he suggests.

Both Lennix and Caleb hoped right to it after those words were said. The later had to tell the Queen and King of a update of all what briefly happened here.

Lennix also left, but he was wondering if direct energy weapons were the Only way to do so or if there was ways to bring down shields. Something to ask for when he came back
_________

When Lennix got back to ground, or rather was requested to be dropped off to one of the main bases by Ness he already knew what he needed to do. As expected, the base was humming with activity and radio chatter. People were either busy doing something or hurriedly going to one place to another.

A woman was looking at what seemed to be a globe of Noreal tapping a few things on it while another young man was taking with her.

"I don't care right now. This isn't the time for your fragile ego, you're dismissed."

At those words, they seemed disgrunted but left after that as Lennix came. "Ma'am."

The woman turned towards to regard Lennix a bit, the dog tag under the seemingly many decorations listed as 'Ameila;' on it. "I got the run down already of the gist of what happened and you went with Burger. You have good news for this old gal I hope?"

 "Mixed bag ma'am." Lennix went straight to the point and gave General Ameila what happened.

When they finished Ameila frowned slightly. "So..we essentially have to reroute our main weapons, or rather upgrade our energy weapon and armor. All less then a month somehow.." She felt like she needed a drink, and she would have if not for things needing her in the present. "I would say that's impossible logistically to do that, but we don't live in normal times. The next time you talk to them, could you please see if he has information on the types of Vehciles and troops we might encounter? What they look like, their weapons or behavior. Everything. If he has it."

"Will do ma'am." Lennix promised. "In hindsight I should have asked, but given it wasn't brought I assume they would bring it up sooner or later. Caleb is filling in the King and Queen about things. Once we're done we'll be back to go from there."

After about a couple of hours, Ness contacted Linnex and Caleb, letting them know he was ready for them and to let him know when they were ready for transport.

At that, both men were ready for transport whenever Ness was. They had gotten all they needed to do done and now was for the next part.

After Ness transports them back to his ship. there was a crab-bot waiting for them. It starts off as soon as they arrive, leading them to a turbolift and taking them down one level to the armory.

Ness was waiting there, holding a Hightech Rifle. He smiles at them "Ah! Gentlemen! Welcome back!" he says as he motions for them to follow "This is a standard Type-3B phaser rifle. It's pretty strong and can punch through just about most types of alloys and disintegrate others completely..." he says as he points the rifle at a chunk of metal the size of a car and shoots at it with a beam of amber energy and the chunk of metal is completely Vaporized in seconds!

Ness looks at the two of them "But as powerful as these weapons are, they are little match for Trojan armor and no match for their shields." he says as he points at a piece of Trojan technology and fires, the Trojan tech effortlessly blocks the phaser beam.

Ness sets the phaser rifle down and picks up another Hightech Rifle and shows it off to the two men "And This beauty, is the Type-4 Anti-Proton Rifle." he tells them "Anto-Protons have a ten percent chance of bleeding through most types of shielding, even Trojan shields." he says as he fires at the Trojan tech, which shows a few anti-protons bleeding through the shields, burning at the Trojan armor "And as you can see, Trojan armor is weak against anti-protons, but they can't get through the Trojan shields enough to do any Real damage, right?" he asks.

He attaches something to the power supply of the rifle, turns it on and fires once more. The red anti-proton beam hits the shields for only a second, then passes completely through and within a few seconds, totally disintegrates the Trojan tech completely!

Ness looked pleased with himself as he turns the rifle off and tosses it to Lennix. "A little Techexplanation about shields. Most shields out there have certain frequencies that allows things to harmlessly pass through them, like shuttles if they have the right ones set. Otherwise, they would slam into the shields. That's why weapons can't get through shields, because they don't have the right frequencies. That small device you seen me attach is a frequency scanner that quickly cycles through Every shield frequency and applies it to the weapon it's attached to. There are Very few shield emitters that can withstand that device and the Trojan don't have any." he tells them "And we're gonna outfit all of Noreal's weapons with these little toys, taking the Trojan shields out of the equation." he says with a grin.

The two were impressed by what they had seen, especially Lennix being more on the miltary side of things. While he was still new to many of things their capabilities and the implications of everything was pretty obvious.

"How long would that take realistically?" Lennix asked. "Same with outfitting armor."

Ness frowns "That's the problem. Working around the clock to get Everything ready: The bunkers, the weapons, the armor, the provisions for the bunkers, the NS-5s to protect the bunkers... it'll take almost three weeks." he says "And that's working my ship 24 hours straight." he explains "So, if we're to make it in time, I'm going to need to get started right away." he points out.

Lennix was thinking. There was the brief idea he had shot instantly down on thinking about it, and that was asking about maybe having the bunkers underwater with the help of the Kian's. It was probably a safe bet the Trojan had encountered underwater, or most aquatic-faring life forms before so it wouldn't be a instant bet. Not to mention if things went wrong, people die that much faster.

"Is this including with help of these Cybertronians assuming they get here fast enough to actually cordinate?" Caleb asked after a bit. "Either way, would they all be done roughly at the same time or would some be done much faster then others? Because if that is the case gives some leeway. For example if the bunkers are done in one or two weeks."

Ness shakes his "No. They'll only get in my way and slow me down. If we're gonna do this, I need my ship and it's resources so I can get everything ready." he says "I don't want to belittle or downplay the Cybertronians, but my technology is Way more advanced than theirs, which us why I can set up all of this as quickly as I can." he tells them "I'll see about getting started tonight. The sooner the better, right?" he asks.

"Agreed. Then if there's nothing else, we can leave you to your work and you can contact us when you get something." Caleb paused briefly. "Also, maybe you could send us something to study in the mean time about the Trojan? Like their common vehciles, troops and weapons we run into. Its best not to learn everything last minute."