Business Before Pleasure

That made sense to everyone present and they didn't have any further issues far as that went. Andaline spoke up first. "We'll make sure we'll have a doctor ready to go once we set off but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Is there anything else you needed to show us before we retire to our rooms?"

Ness shakes his head "While I still have plenty to show y'all, if you're all tired, then you should all rest, as I know this whole experience can be a bit taxing." he says as he motions for some NS-5s to come on over "These NS-5s will escort you all to your rooms." he says.

Skylar was fine with that, she had a lot of things to think about and process after what happened if she was going to be honest. She knew others had things on their mind, but for different reasons. A good shower sounded very good for relaxing her nerves.

Ness nods to them "We shall pick this back up when we reach our destination." he says "Until then, please enjoy yourselves." he says as he starts off as the NS-5s show everyone to their rooms. Ness, for his part, had duties to attend to.

Skylar wandered into her room after the NS-5's led her to her living quarters; she honestly didn't feel as uncomfortable around them anymore after what Ness did. Once she was alone, the young woman headed to the shower to let the water run down her lovely body and round breast. Today had given her a lot to think about and digest.

If Ness was really going to help her, it meant she'd finally be free again without looking over her shoulder. The situation of having to deal with Sebastian and the people in that circle, especially the men on top of the stress of politics had made her a bit of a guarded person then she would of liked. It took this to realize it more.

Still.. She thought as she dried off to get into her nightgown. I probably shouldn't get too attached. This isn't his home and he's just on business. Once its done he'll probably be gone..

As for earth, while she still wasn't sure about them she'd give them the benefit of the doubt as a major company was helping them. It didn't have anything to do with their governments though. Besides they Really weren't much better in their past. Regular wars among each other and fighting, there were even a few races or sub races that weren't around anymore due to genocide and outcompeting.

Maybe..maybe I shall give this earth a visit so I can get a better idea of its people for myself one day.. Those were some of her last thoughts before drifting off to sleep.

What seemed like only a few hours, Ness sends the NS-5's to summon his guests. Informing them that they have arrived at their destination.

Once they were all gathered on the bridge, Ness was standing there with a screen of empty space on it "Well, my esteemed guests, before you is the very edge of your own solar system. The farthest anyone from Noreal has been outside of using portals." he says.

Outside, some smaller ships can be seen flying around "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury. Also know as the Starfury Aurora. Small fighters that are useful for dogfights or recon." he says as a file about them pops up on the data padds he had given them.

The council members were interested in the view, and more importantly the star fighter once it was presented to them and they got the file. They had atmosphere fighters but this of course was something else entirely.

"Are these not in service of earth forces?" Relena asked, speaking up for the first time. She was more curious then anything since they seemed recent but she doubted they were the same exact ones earth was currently using.

Ness shakes his head "No. Earth has no official space fairing military. Just Paragon Corp." he says "And we use different fighters for both space and sky." he points out.

He moves over to tactical "Now then, let's show you some of the firepower that this ship has." he says with a grin "Helm, find me some astroids."

This caught Lucien and the others attention for the demonstration in place but for now all choose to remain quite to let things play out before they asked anything else. This was one of the main things they had wanted to see, besides the travel.

Since the Hyperion only has directed pulse energy weapons and not the beam weapons, it was pretty good at tracking fighters and other directed beam and pulse energy weapons with it's interceptors.

Ness points to a cluster of astroids "That looks good. Target that one and turn it into gravel." he orders.

After the NS-5 targets the astroid, it waits until Ness gives the word. He looks over to his guests "Yall ready?" he asks as he looks to tue NS-5 "Fire." he says.

At once, the forward, large pulse cannons open fire at the astroid and the medium pulse cannons start tracking and taking out the bigger pieces of the astroid that were blown off! Within less then a minuet, the astroid was reduced to a debris cloud.

Ness looks over to his guests, while the Starfuries mop up the remaining rocks "I believe that should cover the weapons capabilities of the Hyperion. Are there any questions that anyone would like to ask?"

Lucien and the other seemed more or less impressed by the display of the firepower portion and didn't have any complaints on that front. There may of been the motivation of able to defend themselves better, but there was no ignoring the exploration and other factors that came into play with this technology.

"I myself have no complaints or questions at the moment." Andaline said after a moment.

"A minor question. Where do the Starfuries dock at?" Skylar asked, geuinely curious.

Ness points to a digital map of the ship "There are cobra bays that can hold six fighters here and here...." he points "And they reload back onto the ship from the sides here..." he points to the side of the main area of the ship "It can take a little time to retrieve all six fighters, so make sure the area is secured before trying." he explains.

He checks some readings "And speaking of, we have just picked up our fighters and are ready to head back to Noreal whenever you are all ready." he informs them. He plans on using the Transwarp beacon to get back to Noreal almost instantly.

"I have no objections to leaving right now. The rest of you?" Lucien's question was directed to the other council members.

"It's fine. I have no reason to hold things up." Relena said, and the other council members seem to be in general agreement.

It was Dreven, the direct ally of Sebastian that was the last to speak. "Neither do I. I am very intrigued by the potential in all this. The less time we waste the better."

Skylar glared at the back of his head with contempt briefly, but if anyone noticed most just assumed it was Skylar being Skylar then anything else. "I am to. But if its not too much trouble maybe it be a good idea for maybe some information of common pitfalls to avoid when first becoming space farring. Earth is new, but they are still more experienced then us at least."

Ness nods "I'll have a course set out of the astroid field at once. It should only take about ten or so minuets." he says, nodding to the NS-5 at the helm "Once we clear the field, I will initialize a transwarp jump, which will take up back to Noreal almost instantly. Now, that's not a feature the normal ship will come with, as the hull stress will likely rip the ship to pieces, but for the purpose of this demonstration, I took the liberty of reinforcing the hull, so we're in no danger." he assures everyone "I just didn't think you all wanted to wait another 23 hours to get home." he chuckles.

He looks over to Skyler "Not to worry, I have all the do's and don'ts listed in the FAQs of the blueprints of each ship." he assures her "Believe me when I say this, but Miss Darkside would really like to open a trade deal with the ruling body of Noreal. She believes that once she shows the governments of Earth how valuable an ally Noreal can be, they'll see about freely opening our boarders to you. Which is something the Hunters have been pushing for since the Trojan invasion ended." he explains.

They were? Skylar hadn't expected that. After the invasion she had been a bit on the salty side since she felt her people's goodwill wasn't apperciated. Skylar had no clue something like this was happening behind the scenes however..

"That is good news. Truth be told though, until you mentioned it we had no clue something like that was happening in the background." Lucien admitted. "But it only makes sense we would be somewhat out of the loop. Either way, we appreciate you considering our time and speeding things along."

Ness nods "The Hunters like to keep things in house, as it were." he says "We only know of this because they want Paragon Corp onboard as an ally to speed things along. Unfortunately two invasions from extraterrestrial forces and one of our open allies abandoning us in our time of need doesn't help Earth trust outside forces." he explains.

He nods to the helm to punch it back to Noreal "There are few countries that are willing to give Noreal a chance. America, Australia, Canada. To name a few. However, Miss Darkside plans on making a presentation with the United Nations assembly to advocate for open borders between Earth and Noreal. We even have a few native to your home onboard as well, but we Could use a few more to help make the case stronger." he says.

It was only a few seconds from when they jumped to transwarp that they ended up back in orbit around Noreal "Alright honored guests. If you would all follow me back to the shuttle, I'll take us back to the surface and we can continue our negotiation." he says with a smile. He didn't need to be a psychic to be able to read the mood of the room. He knew he had them.

Ness would be correct that in general, Noreal leadership definitely were willing to sign the dotted line in exchange for the new things Paragon was offering. Lucien was also thinking perhaps once the negotiations were done it wouldn't hurt to ask if perhaps they knew of a way to save their tree.

Though regardless of how things turned out with earth, they were more or less taking a very big step in the right direction.

Once they got out of the shuttles and safely back into the meeting room things continued not to long after with Andaline speaking first on things. "I believe we have reached a accord of what all we have seen. if you could just give us a moment and then let us sign off on any paper work?"

Ness nods with a smile "Outstanding. Let me get the contracts pulled up and I will require each of your thumbprints and the contract will be signed and sealed." he says as he pulls up the contract and holds it out, along with his hand "On behalf of Cedrick Darkside and Paragon Corp, it's a pleasure going into business with all of you."

The council members were more then happy to take the contract to read it over carefully and mull things over before they handed it back to Ness once they finished. They all shook hands to cement the deal into stone, more or less pleased with the results.

"We're happy to have done business with you and yours. I hope this is just the beginning of many others to come." Lucien finished, sounding pleased. "That all said, we have decided it could not hurt to ask of something briefly. We have a giant tree called the Great Tree which is dying that we hope you may be able to help us save. of course, you would be compensated in which ever matter you deem fit within reason. And of course if you have questions. In the end, its just that. A request."

When Ness shakes hands with Dreven, the young man opens his startling sky blue eyes and locks them onto Dreven's for an instant "You work for Skylar Bertram and myself now..." he sends a powerful telepathic suggestion into Dreven's mind "You will help Skylar Bertram gather evidence of wrong doing from Sebastian Sylvian and the people who work with him. You will hand this evidence over to Skyler Bertram or myself and you will act as is nothing is wrong..."

Ness looks over to Lucien "Of course we will see what we can do for our new allies." he says as he walks over "Have you determined the cause of the tree's illness? It is technological, magical, or environmental?" he asks. He could likely fix the technological or environmental with what he normally carries in his backpack, maybe. But magical in nature would be a bit harder.

The suggestion took effect and Dreven was none the wiser as was anyone else as they didn't act out of place or strange. Nor did they know Ness had sent a powerful suggestion in the first place.

"It's magical in nature." Lucien said. "Unfortunately, its a type of magic that we have long since faded away as there aren't active users of it. We're afraid to tamper with it for fear of making it die sooner since we aren't entirely sure what we're doing."

Ness nods slowly "Unfortunately, Paragon Corp is a technology based company, so I seriously doubt they can do anything to help." he tells Lucien "However, I don't work for Paragon Corp, I work With them and I Do know a thing or two about magic." he says.

He pulls out a small U.S.S.R. tab, ready to get his backpack out of storage "Could you have someone take me to this tree? I need to get a good idea of what I'm going to be fixing." he says, like he already knew, without a doubt, that he could help them.

"Of course. Thanks for helping regardless of how it turns out."

That was a relief for those present to hear, however not all of those present needed to be there but Skylar wanted to come along; both to see things in actions and ask if Ness wanted to stay at her place until the undercover thing was over, or at least somewhere close where back and forth was easy.

Lucien lead those present into his own private car with a driver for Ness, while the others took their own transportation. It didn't take too long to get there.

The massive tree was in the front and center which was big enough one couldn't even remotely see the top, just by it looks it appeared to be ancient and slightly worn out bark of some kind. Lucien, his wife and Skylar were there as the only ones present to see what Ness was going to attempt to do.

"Here she is." Lucien started. "We've been keeping a close eye on it just in case we found out anything."

Ness nods to Lucien "Okay thank you. I'm going to see what happened to cause the tree to get sick." he says as he walks over to one of the roots places a hand on it. He was using his touch-know skill to get some insight as to what happened. He Could try and cast a remove magic spell on it, but without knowing what type of magic is was, it wouldn't likely work.

As it seemed to turn out, the tree had some very powerful seal magic on it linked to it which blocked off this world from another realm. Apparently, something had thrown the balance between them out of whack which was throwing things off.