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Halo: First Contact

Chapter 4: Diplomacy

"Captain, we've recovered the survivors of the Raven crew and the...aliens, Sir." An ensign informed the aging commander.

Captain Strelkov turned from the holotank in the center of his bridge and looked towards the young woman. Strelkov was clad in a crisp dark grey uniform and had a military cap planted firmly on his head. Rather short for an officer, he stood at about five feet and was close to wrapping up his middle aged years. But that didn't stop him from maintaining a no nonsense and efficient crew, and was one of the more experienced captains in the admiral's fleet. "Excellent, what's the situation?"

"Two of the crew of the Raven were killed, one in the crash and the other by an apparently hostile faction of these aliens. Lieutenant Callahan was critically injured and is currently in the med-ward, but he is suspected to make a full recovery." The ensign replied as she nervously withstood the unhappy captain's gaze.

"That is unfortunate; he was the only one who could speak with our new guests." Strelkov mused as he stroked his chin in thought. He was in the midst of thinking when the naval rating spoke again.

"Actually sir, one of them seems to understand our language and has communicated with our crew quite effectively so far."

"Really...." The captain muttered. "Interesting...where is this alien now?"

"It-she is in the infirmary with her comrades. It would seem that they are rather attached to the Lieutenant and his wellbeing."

'Curiouser and curiouser..." The captain rumbled thoughtfully. "XO Davidson, you have the bridge, take us back to the fleet and get this ship combat ready."

The man saluted briskly and nodded from his position at the head of the bridge. "Yes, Sir..."

With that done, the captain stepped away from the holotank and dismissed the ensign with a wave. "Now, let's go greet our guests shall we?" He muttered to himself. The captain stepped out of the bridge and traveled down the corridors of his ship and after a ride in the lift and a few more generic corridors, he arrived at the infirmary. He spotted a small crowd of crewmembers just outside, the curious onlookers were prevented from entering by a pair of heavily armed marines. But at the sight of the captain they stepped aside, allowing him entrance.

Inside the medical ward in the first of two sections were ship's two doctors. Most UNSC vessels of cruiser weight and above had to have a certain amount of doctors, the bigger the ship, the more doctors that were required. Usually, a marathon cruiser would have three doctors and several nurses and other medical staff. But the Midsummer's Solace had a smaller than standard crew, of a few hundred, most being infantry, pilots, and other planetside service men. In fact, the Solace and the other ships of her class in the fleet were currently undermanned. It had been hard for the admiral to find people willing to go off into uncharted space for an uncertain amount of time and face whatever dangers may wait them. And now, after seeing what they had stumbled into, Strelkov could understand why so many had elected to stay behind.

The captain watched as the two doctors stood by their stations, murmuring quietly to each other as they glanced towards the sealed doors of the main ward. The second section of the ward, where the patients were put was safeguarded by an additional pair of sentries who let the captain through with barely a glance. The second section of the infirmary was filled with rows and rows of beds and legions of medical equipment. That might have been too much for just two medics, but the low number of crewmen made it much more manageable.

In the far back was a small crowd of very interesting eyebrow raising individuals. A group of ten intermixed species of animals sitting on their rears were gathered around a bed where the wounded ODST slept. The captain wondered idly if someone had set the chairs out for them or if they had retrieved them themselves. A few of them were visibly armed and that itched at the back of the captain's mind. But he did his best to look past that. Circumstances would allow them their weapons, just this once. They had a right to their own protection. And he didn't think they would easily disarm at his orders, especially since apparently only one of them could understand him.

As the captain approached the small party of aliens, he studied them in better detail and tried to compose himself as a captain should. The last thing he wanted to do was stumble over his own words. That would be humiliating for a man of his position. He stopped a few feet from the group, who had by this time shifted their attention to him, staring with their alien muzzles. It made him feel uncomfortable, which Strelkov found absurd. It was his ship.

"I understand there is one amongst you who can speak my language?" The captain announced, hoping that he wasn't making a blundering mistake. Thankfully, one of the alien's stood up and stepped closer, a short female fox with an off blue coloration to her fur. The vixen nodded her muzzle daintily before replying. Strelkov was distracted by the long and luxuriant tail that weaved back and forth lazily behind her. His eyes tracked its repetitive motion and almost did not hear her response.

"Yes, I can."

"Ah, that's good then." Strelkov harrumphed and cleared his throat officiously, focusing on what was in fact a momentous event. He was in fact speaking to an alien from another world and perhaps system of worlds. Such a thing should be handled with dignity and poise. "My name is Dimitri Strelkov, and I am captain of this ship, the Midsummer's Solace. Welcome aboard."

The female fox inclined her muzzle and bowed graciously, ears radaring atop her furred scalp. "Thank you captain, my name is Krystal. And these are my friends." She proceeded to list of the group with her and the captain had little trouble distinguishing them from one another. It was rather handy that most their names matched their species, at least he would have an easy time of remembering who they were.

"Yes welcome all of you." He spoke up, looking to them all and hoping they understood that much.

The vixen turned back to her friends and spoke in an incomprehensible exchange of low musical barks and growls before returning her attention to the captain. "They are thankful for your help captain. But we can't help but ask. Why did you help us?"

Strelkov clasped his hands behind his uniformed back and stood up straighter. "My original orders were to ensure the safe return of the crew of the Raven, but after the Lieutenant informed me of you and your friend's existence and situation, I felt that it would be important to ensure your safety as well. You see, our admiral desires to weigh in on this conflict we seem to have jumped into, but before he does we would like to know more."

"I can certainly explain everything, and afterwards I am confident you will decide to help us." The vixen answered back with a friendly curve of her muzzle.

"I am sure it will be an enlightening experience, one for the history books." Strelkov ducked his head and replied gravely.

She seemed to pause in thought before looking back to the occupied bed. "But first, I wish to know since I have not talked with any of your doctors, but will the Lieutenant be alright?"

The captain was surprised that the alien was so concerned about the Lieutenant but he supposed it made sense since he had the most contact between them all. "Of course, he will make a full recovery. Why do you ask?" Strelkov was curious for many reasons.

The alien fox exhaled in relief and smiled. "That is good to hear. He is the first human we have seen and talked with, and I can say for all of us, we are invested in his health."

Strelkov hummed and rubbed his chin.

That was interesting indeed, and perhaps the Lieutenant is more important than he had first assumed. "Yes well, if you would follow me please. I will take you to the briefing room where we can discuss the remaining details. The Lieutenant will be fine I assure you. But in the mean time before he awakens, I would like to have some questions answered." The captain turned and motioned for them to follow. The female fox spoke with her compatriots again before they all rose from their seats and followed after him. Strelkov stopped by the pair of doctors before opening the exit. "Inform Lieutenant Callahan that I would like to speak with him once he's conscious. But see first that he grabs a meal."

"Will do captain." The doctor with the glasses assured him.

With that handled, the captain exited the medical ward with his guests. With a grimace he saw that the gawkers were still loitering around the doors, hoping to catch a glimpse of the aliens. Strelkov gave them all a deathly glare. "Back to your stations!" He barked, making them all jump and disperse rapidly. Once they were all gone, he apologized to her and her friends.

"It's quite alright captain, I think that there will be a fair bit more of that before the day is over." The vixen replied with an amused smile.

As they continued to leave, the two marine escorts in front of the infirmary peeled off the door and followed in step behind them. They were surprisingly well disciplined, staring not at the aliens in front of them, but at the corridors as they searched for threats. The aliens understandably took nervous glances at their intimidating escorts.

"I hope you understand the protective measures in place." The captain explained as Krystal and the other aliens looked towards the two soldiers. "But I would like to keep yours and the crew's safety as my utmost concern."

The vixen nodded hesitantly and recycled his words back to her friends, who's expressions settled back to normal.

Finally, after a few minutes, they arrived at a large sectioned off room and entered. Inside was a massive conference table with a legion of chairs around it. Built into the center of the table was a strange boxy device. Strelkov gestured for them to sit near the front and took a seat of his own at the head while the two marines stayed outside.

Once they were all settled as comfortably as they could on the hard backed chairs, the captain leaned forwards and placed his hands on the table. "Now, let's begin..."

*****

Air whistled violently around the pod as Liam was jostled roughly and grimly waited for it to make planetfall. They were deploying to Sigmus IV as the vanguard of a grander invasion force. For whatever reason, the local population had decided to turn pro-insurrection and overthrew the colonial militia, taking their arms and armor along with the contents of their motor pool. Battle group Orion was quickly assembled over Reach and tasked with subduing the colonists and restoring order to the planet by whatever means deemed necessary. The colony and its resources were far too important to loose and so they were committing the full fifteenth ODST division and several armored and infantry companies.

The battle in orbit had been little more than a joke, a few ancient and decaying freighters that put up a paltry fight. The easy victory had lulled the UNSC into a fall sense of security, thinking that it would be easy to take back the colony, without having to fire a shot. They believed the colonists would simply fold as soon as they saw the might of the imposing army bearing down on them.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

"AA fire incoming!" A panicked voice cried over the squad com.

"Where the hell did they get Anti-Aircraft weapons?!" A second voice demanded in incredulity.

Liam glanced outside the small window of his HEV and watched as one of the other's falling next to him exploded aggressively into molten slag, a missile shad streaked across the sky to slam into the poor soldier's drop pod. The small one man vehicle was gutted instantly in a fiery explosion, abruptly silencing the unfortunate ODST's horrified and agonizing screams as he helplessly awaited the dooming fiery projectile. 'Damn it...!" He snarled in frustration as he watched the slagged remnants of the HEV crumble and disperse over the approaching city's skyline. He had known Malcolm since boot camp and felt the loss knife deeply into him.

"Squad, deploy thrusters!" Liam barked and keyed in the sequence, throwing his pod to the left. The other four remaining HEVs did as ordered and began to zigzag through the air, dodging a heavy missile screen.

"Lieutenant, what do we do?"

"Stick to the plan, Heinrich, hit the ground and hoof it to the rally point." Liam ordered firmly. "From there we'll regroup with elements of the seventh marine division and march for the capital."

"We lost Malcolm." The soldier responded softly.

Liam sighed. "I know, but we can't worry about that now, we need to stay focused. Keep in radio contact and don't do anything stupid." Liam ordered. Less than a minute later, the ODST's HEV slammed through a building and tore up a courtyard as it blazed a trail across the pavement.

Even as it cooled, he ejected the pod's hatch and jumped out, MA5B in hand. "Squad report in." Liam shouldered the rifle and examined his surroundings with a cautious eye. The courtyard he had slammed into was deserted, papers floated in the wind and cars lay abandoned in the street. The civvies who probably didn't want to take part in the coming battle had cleared out in a rush. Not a soul was in sight and his motion tracker was similarly uninhabited.

"Vasquez, on the ground and moving..."

"Heinrich, hit the dirt. On my way to the rally point..."

"This is Severus, planetside and on the move."

"Hudson, a kilometer off target...but otherwise I'm good to go."

Liam was glad to hear that the rest of his squad had made the drop. There wasn't supposed to be any sort of anti-air weapons. They had been told that the colonists didn't have anything more than a few stolen warthogs and maybe a tank. "Look alive squad, something's not right here. Stick to the shadows and get to the rally point."

Liam scavenged his supplies from the HEV and slipped out of the courtyard and into the city.

_ _

*****

_ _

With a quiet groan, the man opened his sharp blue eyes and sat up with a sigh, examining his surroundings as he recalled the context of his recent reverie. Most of his dreams in the years after were about that fateful day, as if his subconscious was unwilling or unable to let him forget his catastrophic failure as a leader. His recklessness and desire for revenge had killed his squad and in doing so, a small portion of himself. The military shrinks had told him that it he was just suffering from survivor's guilt, but deep down inside he knew the truth. He had killed them. He would have been section eight for sure, but his uncle had called in a few favors and he was released on a year's mandatory leave instead.

Liam looked up from the bed he found himself on and took in the familiar surroundings of the med-ward of a marathon cruiser. It was easy to figure out that he must be aboard the Midsummer's Solace, which meant that extraction had been successful; otherwise he wouldn't have woken up at all. Liam wondered where his alien friends were, he noticed the crowd of chairs around his bed and pieced together that they had been in the ward with him. But where had they gone? Before he would be able to find out, he needed to get moving.

Liam looked down to the medical gown that covered his modesty and lifted it, peering under the collar. His chest had a dermal graft patch covering his wound. So it looked like he was mostly good to go. There was some considerable pain lingering there, but he had fought through worse, so walking around the ship would not pose much of a challenge. The ODST slid his legs off the bed and stood up, taking in that the customary stab of pain in his leg had disappeared so that must have been taken care of as well, although an almost unnoticeable limp persisted.

Liam stepped towards the small container beside his bed and flipped it open. He took out the uniform and switched it out with the patient gown, throwing the frock onto the bed.

He dressed quickly and once he synched his boots he placed the ODST cap on his head and walked out. In the front of the infirmary near the main doors he spied the ship's doctors sitting and chatting with one another. He knew the both of them well, Hardings and Smith. They had patched him up more times than he cared to remember over the years.

"Did you see them? Fur! Can you believe that?" Smith demanded. He was a frail and pale balding guy with a pair of small spectacles balanced on his crooked nose. It was obvious why he didn't serve in a more demanding position. But Liam knew that he could keep pace as well as any other crewman on the ship.

"I saw, and that one had a beak, a beak!" His fellow senior physician replied in equal measures of wonder. Hardings was a middle-aged woman rather on the heavy side with long wavy black hair and piercing brown eyes. She looked more like an ODST than a doctor, but she was a pacifist from what Liam had gleamed off her in their short and infrequent conversations. She wanted to do her part, but she could not and would not fight.

Liam cleared his throat roughly and the two doctors tore their heads away from each other and stared openly at the ODST in surprise. "Hey Hardings...where did they go?" He asked, knowing they would easily understand who he was referring to.

"I thought you would be out for at least a day." Hardings responded with a shake of her head. "But I guess I should have known better. The captain came in a few hours ago and took them, I don't know where though." The doctor replied as she walked over to Liam and slapped him on the back with a knowing grin. "I would tell you to go back and rest, but I know you too well and captain's orders ordain it otherwise. Just try not to come back too soon eh? I'm tired of patching you up."

"No promises there doc..." Liam chuckled and shook his head. "You know how it is."

"No Liam I don't. I became a ship's doctor so I didn't have to." Hardings retorted ruefully. "Now go get something to eat, doctor's orders. And when you're done stuffing your gob, the captain would like a word."

The ODST nodded and made his goodbyes to the two lab coats before stepping out of the ward and entering the welcoming and familiar corridors of the cruiser. Tracing from memory, he ducked through corridors and past crewmembers as he quickly made his way to the mess hall and arrived promptly, sometime during lunch by the looks of it.

The small mess hall was packed to the rafters with off-duty crew, all jammed in together like sardines in a can. Liam weaved through the haphazard organization of tables and determinedly plowed a path across the room towards the mess line. Luckily, most of the crew was already seated and he only had to await a few moments to grab his meal. "How's it going there Gardener...?" He asked conversationally as he slid his tray across the counter towards the grim looking mess sergeant.

Gardner patted down his food stained apron and grimaced in amusement. "Well I'll be...if it ain't the man of the hour. The whole ship's been a'talking about the houseguests you brought back with ya." Gardner grabbed Liam's tray and stacked it with hearty preservative filled mystery meats and pseudo vegetables. "So, care to tell an old grizzled sergeant all the details?"

Liam took his filled tray. "Sorry Gardner, maybe some other time. Right now I just want to eat and find the captain."

"Shame that, I was hoping for a story to regal the crew with." Gardner sighed sadly and stirred a pot of soup dejectedly.

"Your pity game won't work on me Gardner; you've tried it too many times...I've grown wise." Liam chuckled, making the mess sergeant instantly drop his act.

"Bah, can't blame a man for trying can ye? Now scurry off and leave me be." The cook grumbled, motioning for the ODST to leave with a ladle.

Liam walked away from the sergeant and looked for a vacant seat to take. He spied a table with a boisterous pair of soldiers in similar uniforms to the one he was currently wearing and walked over. One of them spotted the approaching man and called out loudly, waving a cup. "Back from the dead again Liam! I swear, you must have an angel over your shoulder!"

"Shut it Tim, or I'll make you an angel!" Liam threatened good naturedly as he slipped into the table and pushed his fellow ODST to the side coarsely.

"Fuck man..." The young red headed kid muttered with a smile. "Can't a soldier welcome his friend without receiving such hostility?" He bemoaned with a dramatic flair and tossed his hands in the air.

"Cut the shite Tim, we all know ye had theater in school, there's no need to shove it down our throats." The other ODST beside Liam interrupted the kid's exaggeration before turning to him. "So, how was it down there? What are we dealing with? We've heard through the vine that you encountered the aliens." Martin was one of the more levelheaded men Liam had met, hailing from Scotland surprisingly enough. Most of the soldiers he met from there were anything but level headed. Martin's Scottish accent however, had faded with time. It had been years since he or in fact any of them had a chance to head back to earth or their respective homeworlds.

Liam grinned. Tim and Martin were the only two ODSTs on this boat that he had made friends with. Friends were something he dropped like a bad habit. He was tired of losing them, and that was one of the main reasons he had chosen to become a recon trooper. They worked almost exclusively on their own.

But Tim and Martin were his exceptions. Although, at times he almost felt like clocking Tim across the chin and then maybe stomping on his face a few times, all in the spirit of comradery. "The planet was nothing but an unforgiving desert, but the locals were decidedly strange."

"What did they look like?" Tim asked excitedly as he practically buzzed with excitement, like a kid on Christmas day.

Liam chuckled at his enthusiasm and rolled his eyes as he decided to appease the kid's curiosity. It was easy to sometimes forget that he was a lethal killing machine. "They were like nothing I ever saw before, animals that walked and talked on two legs. But don't underestimate them, they are fierce fighters and their technology is advanced. Their laser weapons tore right through my armor and hurt like a son of a bitch to boot."

Martin nodded grimly and lifted a mug of coffee to his lips. "Sounds like the admiral is really throwing us in to the fire..."

"It's not that bad, I made some allies down there and the ones I fought died like anybody else when I shot them. Their armor doesn't protect much against a good old fashioned piece of lead. I can promise you that."

"Oh, made some friends have we?" Tim grinned broadly and shoveled a spoonful of what looked like mashed potatoes into his waiting mouth.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Liam admitted after a moment of thought, picking absently at his food with a spork. Fox and his friends were pleasant enough, and Arden's squad was not all that bad. And Krystal...Liam wasn't sure what to think about her. She was something else entirely, an alien among aliens.

With that thought rolling around in his head, Liam finished his meal and picked up his tray, standing up from his seat at the table with a long winded sigh. "All right you guys, I have to go report to the captain now. He wants to have a nice long chat I would wager."

"Good luck with that Liam. I don't envy you." Martin grinned.

"Thanks." Liam muttered, rolling his eyes as he departed.

"Hey! Don't forget to introduce us to your friends!" Tim shouted as Liam walked away.

"Sorry, can't hear you." He retorted as he strode away and disappeared past the doors to the mess hall. Liam figured that the captain would be at the bridge so he went their first.

When he arrived, the XO informed him that Captain Strelkov and their guests went to the briefing room on Deck-C. With that new information, he exited the bridge and took the lift down to C-Deck. As he traveled the halls, he wondered what lay in store for him and the rest of the fleet. The admiral was set on tossing them into this alien war and there was no telling what the results may be. It was entirely possible that they could all die. But, he liked to believe that it would have a happier ending then that.

Liam turned a corridor and saw the briefing room. It was easy to distinguish from the other doors, especially with the marine escort standing outside it. The ODST marched towards the guards and stopped a few feet away.

"Lieutenant Callahan, here to see the captain." He announced.

The two lower rank men saluted and the one on the left responded as he opened the door. "The captain is waiting for you."

Liam returned the salute and entered the room through the opened portal. He stopped a few feet in the doorway and examined the environment as the doors closed behind him. The captain was sitting at the head of the table on the opposite side of the room, and Krystal was sitting close to him. The rest of the cornerians were spread out across the conference table looking decidedly bored and uneasy all at the same time. At the sound of the door closing, the deep conversation between the vixen and the captain stopped and all eyes turned to the soldier standing there.

"Captain, Lieutenant Callahan reporting in as ordered." He proclaimed with a salute to the higher ranked naval officer.

Strelkov nodded firmly and motioned for Liam to take the empty seat next to him, across from where the alien vixen sat. "It is good to see you up and about so soon Lieutenant. I would have hated to write a condolence letter to your family, and explain it to the admiral." He said with a small grin.

Liam marched over and took the proffered seat. "I think we both would have hated that, Sir."

The captain chuckled. "Indeed Lieutenant. Now, let's get back to business. Ms. Krystal and I have been discussing these venomians and I must say, they certainly sound like the bad sort."

Liam looked to the vixen, who smiled openly at the sight of him. "Yes, Sir, I can attest to that. They attacked raven-1's survivors without warning or mercy. That alone is deserving of UNSC retaliation."

"You have fought them on the ground and seen what they are capable of. What is your assessment of these venomians, Lieutenant?" Strelkov asked as he focused onto him. "What can we expect from them?"

"They are disciplined, exceedingly organized, and their strategies show that. But, they are slow to react to swift changes in combat. I can only assume that it holds true for their tactics in space. If the admiral deploys our fleet rapidly in a two pronged attack from, opposing laterals and hits them where they are weakest, it would throw them into absolute chaos." Liam answered confidently.

"That is not without its risks. Splitting the fleet would be a perilous maneuver at the least and a complete disaster at the worst."

"Every battle has its risks, captain. And victory goes to those who know when to and not to take them."

The captain nodded and stroked his short beard. "You have a point there, Lieutenant. I will confer with the admiral and inform him of your advice and Ms. Krystal's information on this system. But the ultimate decision lives with him." Strelkov was silent for a few minutes before arose from the head of the table and fixed his uniform. "Lieutenant..."

"Yes, Sir?" Liam asked quickly as he looked up the captain.

"You are the only human who currently understands both their language and our own. As such, your new orders are to take them to the Admiral's carrier. It is the safest place in the fleet and I am sure that you will be far more useful there then you are here. The admiral will also wish to speak with Ms. Krystal for himself. This means that your posting is changing. Once I finish the orders and send them over, you will be stationed on The errant King."

Liam nodded grimly and stood up, shaking the captain's hand. "It has been an honor serving aboard this ship, captain."

Strelkov accepted the shake and smiled wryly. "It looks like I will be finding a new recon trooper."

"I suppose so."

"Now, carry out your orders. I want them on the admiral's carrier before he gets the fleet moving." The captain looked to Krystal and bowed slightly. "It has been a privilege Ms. Krystal."

The vixen dipped her muzzle gracefully. "It has indeed, captain. May the spirits watch over you."

The captain finished bidding farewell and left the room, leaving Liam to take care of everything else. He had many matters to attend to in preparation for the upcoming engagement. The ODST turned to talk to Krystal and any words he planned on saying where cut off when the vixen threw herself against him, holding onto his uniformed body tightly and burrowing her muzzle into his shoulder. "Uh...hey Krystal." The man greeted her simply. He was starting to get used to her strange over-affectionate ways. It was oddly enjoyable. He could feel her warm downy fur and the touch of her body against him sent his heart through a strange dive.

"I was so worried!" She whispered fiercely into his shoulder, squeezing him powerfully.

"That makes one of us." He chuckled and rubbed her back looking over to the grinning myriad of muzzles.

"Glad to see you up and about. We were worried that we'd have to start all over and find a new human." Falco said with a smirk, receiving a prompt elbow to the side.

"What he means to say..." Miyu cut in. "Is that we are all happy to see you back in good health."

"Some more than others..." The avian couldn't help but add with a grumble.

Krystal's ears flicked and she pulled away sharply from the human, blushing profusely. "Shut it Falco!" She growled and glared at the avian dangerously, claws unsheathed.

Immediately his smirking beak went blank and he nodded hastily. "Sure no problem, Krystal..."

Her glare was instantly swapped with a sweet smile as she looked back to Liam. The soldier looked slightly intimidated by the smaller vixen. And when he saw her smile he was quick to copy it.

"We should get moving. The captain wants us to change ships. It looks like you all are going to see the admiral."

*****

In less than an hour, they were aboard a pelican heading towards the colossal carrier. Thankfully, the admiral had been apprised of the situation, because instead of a sea of curious onlookers, the hanger they were dropped off in was empty of all but the most important people. In fact, the admiral himself was there waiting with a six man marine escort. Liam guided his friends down the ramp and towards the opposite party.

"Admiral, Matthias." Liam greeted formally and saluted his superior officer. Starfox and the squad of marines watched in surprise as the admiral embraced the ODST warmly, throwing off any sense of decorum.

"I'm damn glad to see you in one piece my boy!" Matthias exclaimed jovially as he hugged his nephew.

"As blasé with protocol as usual, eh Uncle Matt." Liam chuckled easily and pulled away from the older man with a faint smile. "I would like to catch up as much as you. But I brought some friends with me. I would like you to meet Fox Mccloud, Falco Lombardi, Miyu Lynx, Fay Spaniel, Slippy Toad, and Krystal." Liam gestured to them in order. "And this is Arden and his men, Carter, Jackson, and Gale." He then moved his hand to the four armored cornerians. He had gotten to know them during the ride, and they reminded him of any other soldier he knew, bar their obvious physical dissimilarities.

Matthias inclined his head in greeting towards each and every one of them.

"I am afraid however, that Krystal is the only one who understands English. The others don't have her...gift. So she will be speaking for all of them." Liam explained preemptively.

The admiral nodded at that information and looked towards the Vixen. "Welcome aboard The Errant King, Ms. Krystal. As you no doubt have heard, my name is Matthias. We have much to discuss before I pledge humanity's support in your conflict. I would like to hear more about your enemy in detail. Captain Strelkov sent me a data packet, but I would like to hear it from the source."

Krystal dipped her muzzle gravely. "Of course Admiral, I would be happy to be of service. But I must stress that we do not have much time. The venomians will destroy our fleet if help does not arrive soon."

"I understand we best be quick about this then. I will have your friends escorted to the observation deck below the bridge. They will be fine there until we are done discussing all the facts. If you would please tell them to follow my guards, this will all be handled as quickly as we can."

The vixen explained things to her friends and Matthias ordered his escort to lead them to the observation deck. With a few last looks, they followed the retreating armored figures and Matthias turned his attention to the two remaining individuals. He summoned Liam and Krystal with a wave and took them through the corridors of the mighty vessel.

As they walked, Krystal noticed that this ship was more spacious and had a larger crew onboard. The hallway was almost flooded with many different kinds of humans. It was bizarre; she was surrounded by a sea of furless bodies and strange uniforms as they dutifully marched back and forth. It was quite different then a cornerian vessel. They were more lax and easy going then these humans appeared to be. Most didn't even stare at her, or at least they were quite adept at keeping their glances hidden. Krystal could feel thousands of minds close by all jumbled together and would have been overwhelming if she opened herself to them. Their thoughts were strange, unsurprisingly alien to her. But judging from their volume, the ship had to be enormous. "This is quite a ship admiral."

The man grinned with pride and glanced over his shoulder. "Indeed, The Errant King is over three and a half kilometers from bow to stern and equipped with the most powerful weapons in our arsenal. With a standing crew of a thousand and twice as many military personnel it is the pride of our fleet."

That was colossal! She didn't know cornerian shipbuilding practices by heart, but she did know with certainty that a standard cornerian battleship was only 350 meters. The human carrier was almost the size of ten battleships! The vixen was awed by such a ship. The resources that must have been needed to construct a vessel of that magnitude were beyond her comprehension. If that was how big human vessels would get, then venom would be in for a rude awakening.

Liam followed after the admiral and the alien vixen. He was surprised to see her handling all of this so easily. If their roles had been reversed, he didn't know how he would react to being surrounded by aliens so thoroughly. He had a hard enough time acclimatizing to the few he did meet.

But it seemed that underneath her soft hearted demeanor was a surprising amount of grit. She must have to take on the role as ambassador for her people. He wouldn't wish that job on anyone.

The admiral took them up to the ship's expansive bridge deck in the small conference area At this point; Liam was getting tired of all this mediation. He was a simple soldier with a simple thought process. The venomians attacked without provocation. The cornerians did not. Ergo, the venomians were bad and the cornerians were good. Liam knew there was of course much more to it than that, but ultimately that's what it went down to. Either way he would be ordered to fight them, whether it is soon or far off.

"I think it would be best to start off with a history lesson. Where exactly have we found ourselves?" Matthias inquired as he sat down. Krystal sat down as well but Liam chose to stand.

"We call this the Lylat system. Lylat has both habitable and inhabitable planets. Many years ago, the races banded together to form the cornerian coalition in an effort to keep the peace. This arrangement worked for hundreds of years and brought on a golden age. But as all good things, it did not last. There was a cornerian scientist who went by the name of Andross. He had been repeatedly disciplined for his bizarre experiments and questionable practices. But it seemed his ambition eclipsed his loyalty. One day his experiments went too far and an accident leveled a massive section of the capital city and could have destroyed the planet. In response the General at the time, a canine by the name of Pepper, banished him to the polluted world of Venom thinking he would perish in its toxicity. That would prove to be a grave mistake on our part."

"Never leave a resentful asset alive, that only welcomes trouble." Matthias muttered with a grimace.

"You would be right." She agreed with a frown. "When the General detected strange activity on Venom he sent the original Starfox team there to investigate. Only one of them came back alive. A few years later and Andross attacked with his newly created army. Even after his death, Venom continues its war for domination in his name. But thanks to the efforts of the new Starfox team he was defeated. Then there was the arrival of the aparoids, a race of sentient cybernetic organisms that desired the complete and total assimilation of the system and all its people. Yet again Starfox played a key role in defeating them and since their downfall; Venom has been skirmishing with the defense force. We thought that we would have an advantage over them after gaining intelligence that their industrial planet of Eladard would be all but defenseless, but it looked like that information had been a trick. Instead a venomian fleet ambushed us over Papetoon and threw our forces into chaos."

Matthias absorbed all of this information with a ponderous expression. The facts had been laid down for him to analyze. It would seem that these venomians were the wrongful aggressors in this dispute. They unfortunately reminded him of the insurrectionists, a better equipped and organized version of them anyways.

Matthias hated insurrectionists. They had killed his brother-in-law and countless other service men and civilians in equal measure. Their fight for so called freedom from oppression was nothing more than a front for their immoral conducts. If they truly desired independence, bombing civilian centers with terrorist attacks was not the way one should go about it. If there was any enemy, alien or not, that he would gladly fight, it would be of their ilk.

Of course, this could always be a one-sided story. It was possible that the venomians were in fact the ones who were being oppressed. But the admiral doubted that highly. And they didn't seem to concern their selves too much with shooting down one of his ships and subsequently killing two of his people. Either way, the cornerian woman was the one who had spoken with him first, so her people would be the ones he dealt with. Fate was cruel like that.

"So...will you help us?" The vixen asked, looking to the admiral hopefully.

"I have considered what you have told me...and I will pledge my fleet's complete support in this battle. Anything after that is up to discussion." He added.

She smiled gratefully at that. "Thank you admiral, it is a relief to hear it from you. I'm sure my friends will be thrilled to hear that."

"I would hope so." Matthias chuckled and indicated for her to head outside. Speak with the armsmen outside. He will take you to your friends and you can wait with them until I send someone to bring you up to the bridge. I must have a word with the Lieutenant here."

She nodded again and bowed before walking out of the room.

Matthias sighed and sat in silence, staring at the far wall and drumming his callused fingers thoughtfully on the table. It was several minutes later before he spoke. "What do you think about all of this Liam? Am I making the right decision? Risking the lives of everyone in this fleet..." The older man turned to his nephew questioningly.

The ODST folded his arms to his chest and leaned onto the wall, crossing his legs. "The way I see it, is that we are here and there is no taking that back. Whether or not we participate in this fight matters not. They know of us now, no doubt the venomians already are aware of our existence. And from what I've seen of them, they aren't the type to let bygones be bygones. They will oppose us eventually. It is an inevitable fact. All we can do is make it so that we will not be fighting them alone. We are months away from any UNSC support, and I know you have already sent a data packet back to Reach. A week at best is when we can expect a reply, and by then anything could have happened. Our purpose was to discover what lay beyond our sphere of influence and we found it. Now it's up to us to rise to the challenge."

Matthias chuckled wryly and rose from his seat. "I'll never understand why you chose to be a ground pounder. You're wasting that brain, son." He smiled and tapped the other man on the brow.

"You know why Uncle." Liam retorted warmly as he pulled away from the wall.

"Yeah I know. Your father would be proud." The admiral smiled and headed towards the door. "Now then...let's go rise to the challenge."