The statement that the Grrrrelen were always willing to fight was left sufficiently ambiguous that everyone felt the implied threat. That it was mixed with a possible offer of alliance was an odd combination.

Still, it was something. The talks continued for a bit. Despite Grrrrelen's straightforwardness and seeming friendliness, nothing more was accomplished. It wasn't that either denied anything concrete, but rather nothing was offered. The initial exchange set the tone for the rest of the conversation. The two of them enhanced words for an hour more.

They talked about their people and generally just felt each other out. Sevs Diplomacy skill gained two levels from just watching. He figured that there was a good reason for not pushing for anything solid. Maybe it was that they didn't have the authority to agree to anything binding.

After they spoke for quite a while, the humans got on their shuttle to go back to their own ships, leaving an invitation to have the same exchange on the human ship tomorrow.

This time Sevs and his team were not invited to the meeting. Honestly, they complained slightly, but it was a low effort, as who really wanted to spend hours standing around and watching people talk politics. The first few minutes had been interesting as it was a completely new civilization, but beyond that, it was rather mundane.

Sevs had regularly been introduced to completely autonomous civilizations like this as part of his many playthroughs. There were only so many times that it could be interesting.

***

The talks lasted for several more days, and as they continued, the news made public of more than just their presence. The two factions were entering an alliance. It was quite the gesture for the Grrrelen as they were many orders of magnitude larger than the humans' single uncolonized planet.

The humans, though, had one thing that the Grrrrelen respected. An unwavering, unending drive for violence. It was something that had surprised a lot of leaders but not Sevs. All the people in charge had been looking for a safe haven for so long that they forgot that they were leading a bunch of trigger-happy players. After the initial celebrations died down, it only took a few weeks before people started to get bored.

Only the ones who loved to play more noncombat variations were having fun, and that was a minority. Sevs could see this problem coming a mile away, even from his own team. To stave that off, he had them drilling endlessly. Lieutenant Dan and other leaders had their squads, and they were almost constantly running simulations, and even one time, they did live fire engagements. Apparently, the Grrrrrrrrrelen were watching and were quite impressed by their ferocity and willingness to die, which was displayed so evidently through their tactics.

Sevs wouldn't have been surprised if the negotiators had brought attention to the training of the elite troopers. That was some of the other news. Apparently, his squad had been "promoted" and were now among the best troops according to the duties they were assigned.

Still, with all that, it was a surprise that they were set up to do group training with the Grrrelen soldiers. Apparently, even war games were in planning, as well as the integration of their forces. But those would have to wait a while as it just took time to set up. To start with, they did squad versus squad drills.

The Grrrrrrrrrelen were quite the soldiers. They were fearless, accurate, and strategically minded. Naturally, the Sevs team wiped the floor with them constantly. Between their maneuverability and complete disregard for surviving the combat on top of Bexy's and Jason's crazy antics that somehow always worked, they were a true nightmare. Not all of the human teams were nearly as good as Sevs's, but a couple could match them.

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There was a reason that Sevs's team was recognized as one of the best. After they finished wiping the team they were facing, only losing Bexy close to where most of the other team was stationed, they were gathering when Bexy overhead one of the Grrrrelen said something.

She burst out laughing and drew quite a few looks. She just shook her head and trotted back over to her team.

"What did he say?" Jason asked, bouncing up and down on his toes.

Bexy had to hold back a chuckle. "Who would have thought children to be so fierce?"

Sevs looked around. He was 15ish, but he was the oldest by quite a long time. From an outside perspective, it certainly looked like he was leading a bunch of child soldiers to their deaths constantly. "They must think we are monsters."

This drew another round of laughter. Carl was the first to get himself under control. "Do they think that the adults become less scary?"

Dan had been walking over, and Carl had managed to say it right in time for Dan to hear it. Just taking a friendly dig at their competition. That was a fair question; they were by far the youngest team in their category, and Dan's was one of the few that could compete.

"Careful, or you will become slow in your old age, just like me," Dan said good-humoredly. "You are wanted in briefing room one."

This news sobered up the squad quickly. The first briefing room was the one reserved for the really important things.

"When?" Sevs asked, hoping for enough time for a shower.

"Now, come on," Dan said and started walking toward the room. The rest of his team joined them. Apparently, they were not the only ones who were being called. When they all filed into the room and sat down, an equal number of Grrrrrrelen were already there.

A couple of generals walked out. A human and a Grrrrrrelen. Wow, this must be serious, Sevs thought.

"We all gathered you here now because time is of the essence. We expect to be en route in 30 minutes, but the short of it was that the Grrrrrrelen received some intelligence that they needed to act on right away. After training with you all for the past several days, they requested our assistance. Rrrgenenge will explain the details." She explained.

Her computer part stepped forward and started to speak, and the humans had to rely on their translator to understand what he was saying. Apparently, they had found an exchange between two Tarlaki factions, and they wanted to sabotage it so that either side thought they were double-crossed. Apparently, close, quarters small arms combat was not where the Grrrrrrelen excelled. They did better in ship-to-ship engagements or where they could bring their impressive heavy weaponry.

Sevs felt the system at work giving them an ally that so thoroughly complimented them. The Grrrrrelen would get them close and open a hole for them, and then the mixed company would go in and set a few changes and generally cause mayhem. Take a couple of the ships and send them off in a way that looked quite suspicious.

The meeting needed to be interrupted either way. Framing each of the factions to raise tensions was a bit of a secondary goal. Sevs was sure that the division of labor would only increase as trust grew. Though maybe one or two Grrrrrrrelen would join his squad, they could make great heavies. If that got to that point, of course. That was only a possibility. After all, it would depend on how well things like this mission went.

Still, with no time to hit the showers, the room moved out to shuttles. A human cruiser was going with a much larger carrier from the Grrrrrrrelen. It wasn't exactly an optimal compromise, but both sides wanted to send ships, and neither wanted to ride on the other's ship just yet.

The humans didn't move their spawn points from the ships in orbit of their new world. As promising as their alliance was, they still didn't want to tip their hand about respawns just yet. As far as Sevs knew, the whole ship crew was anchored to other ships.

***

The Grrrrelen wasted no time in blowing a huge hole in the defenses and the side of the substation where the meeting was in place. The attack ships launched, and the team was rocketing toward their next mission as fast as they could safely go.

It had been too long.