My shift for the day ends and I make a beeline for my favorite observation room. I climb the small ladder through the manhole-sized port sit in one of the seats and begin to watch the planet below... or above... I check the ship's orientation and decide above is the correct answer. I sent Phillia to the medic area to either get fitted with a cybernetic or get an earpiece so she can communicate with everyone onboard, even those without translation software or hardware.

Over my shift, my opinion of the Kingdom's navy has changed multiple times. Despite my initial surprise I now understand they are still 100% a threat. Their weapons have a limited range, but that is entirely based on their sensor systems or whatever their "magic" equivalent is. The weapons themselves have near-unlimited range unless they hit something, but they can also be terminated at any time. The end of the beam can be forced to have a set end point somehow which is odd, but fairly cool as it limits collateral. The combat AI on board did a simulation of their weapons potential effect against the Catfish, while glancing blows or a direct hit for a second will hurt, the Catfish would only lose armor that was designed to practically ablate already which is considered okay. But a beam for longer than 2 seconds would most likely begin doing devastating damage. So I'll have to consult the survivability onion for all potential engagements.

I watch the clouds move across the planet's surface for a while getting lost in the beauty of the blue and green world below. I imagine the quaint villages composed of cottages with castles and keep dotting the landscape. I let my mind wander into this strange fairytale reality that sits just beyond the impossibly thick clear composite... and about 3000 miles. It's a nice thought even though my more rational mind fully understands their society is oppressive, stagnant, and probably really backward. I don't know enough about them yet, just off of their first attempts to explain their way of life I can tell so much. I just hope they aren't hyper-theocratic or something...

I am pulled out of my stargazing by the distinct sound of someone clambering up the ladder. In the oppressive silence of the enclosed observation deck the boots and hands on metal sounds as deafening as a gunshot. In a place like this, even a hard breath feels almost heretical as it breaks the sanctity of the quiet. What I'm getting at is I am unhappy to be interrupted, but I am a professional so I don't let it show as I already recognize the soft feminine breathing of Shariah at this point. I hear her slump down into a chair behind me and we sit quietly for a while.

She then asks,

"Commodore? Permission to speak... about something personal?"

I feel my heart drop, hoping its not something really important, or possibly.... could she be confessing her undying love to me? No, I guess it is most likely a marine or other officer who had been rather... aggressive in their flirting. She is a beautiful woman after all, plus there hasn't been any shore leave, the boys and sometimes girls get a little... cooky. I prepare to have to either give someone a dressing down, throw them in the brig, or possibly hold a court marshall. I say,

"Yes. What is on your mind?"

She then asks a question that makes my blood run cold,

"Commodore, what do you know of the Eater of Worlds?"

I frown immediately as a part of my life I really don't like thinking about is brought up. I sigh and ask,

"So Uriel spilled the beans... well probably not directly. Why did you look me up?"

Shariah goes quiet and seems hesitant before stating,

"So... you don't deny it. I was worried about your intentions with the alien woman... and your overall character. I was raised and trained to never trust anyone."

I nod, even though she probably couldn't see my head. I then respond,

"I have no bad intentions for the girl. For one, it's not professional. Second, I'm still not sure about the moral implications of human-alien relations...but yeah.

I am an old man despite my looks Shariah. I am past the point where I give even the slightest shit about lying to make myself look better. I only follow the rules of classification... my record is classified and you do not have access. I cannot explain everything in detail, but I can confirm this,

I am a war criminal. Thus I cannot achieve a higher rank than Commodore, and that was a miracle, to say the least. My intentions are pure, I am a patriot, and most of all... I see my crew as my beloved children. I do not want anyone to come to harm. That is all I can confirm of anything you learned."

I can tell she is frowning without looking, even if I could see her in the darkness. She then asks,

"So... do you regret it?"

I grip the arms of my chair tightly and say flatly,

"Yes and no... I cannot explain further Diplo-Colonel. It is classified information. My entire file is. Even if I wished to tell you I am not at liberty to share that information. Please drop this topic immediately. I will fulfill my mission, no harm will come upon those I am in charge of if I can prevent it, and Phillia the alien girl will not be mistreated in any manner. That is all I will speak on this Diplo-Colonel."

My last words are spoken a little harsher than the rest, but in reality, I am not angry at her. I am making it seem that way to dissuade her from continuing down that path. I don't fear for her career or the government silencing her or something. My file sealing was more of something I requested, a reward for accepting a bad deal. Simply, it is more because I figured something out that no one wants to come to the light. Regardless she seems to take my fake hint and gets up to leave before firing off harshly,

"I hope that classification can keep you safe from what you've done."

I cuss under my breath, unhappy to see she took the wrong message. I lean back in my chair and watch a large storm move over one of the oceans of the planet below and I let my mind simply go blank for a while...

I walk onto the bridge and greet my officers for this shift. The general feeling on board is quite positive as everything is going well, plus it's sloppy joe and pudding day at the mess. A very wet meal, but a crew favorite. I get a communication ping from an unknown contact code and I open it. Before I can even introduce myself and request identification the deafening squeal of microphone feedback fills my head. I flinch violently as I can hear some voices slowly come into tune. A stern female voice says,

"You gotta do it this way! You're probably deafening the Commodore!"

I then hear Phillia, who stammers out,

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"Oh no! I'm sorry Commodore!"

As the sound dies out, the ear-mounted communicator and translator's microphone are balanced correctly. She then says,

"Can you hear me, Commodore?"

I respond,

"Yes, and thanks for tickling my brain like that."

She gasps and says,

"This thing is amazing, we can communicate like this... without magic! You humans are so impressive! Plus your voice sounds... more natural. Like you talk more fluently."

I chuckle and respond,

"Yes, that should be the case. I was using one of those machines in your ears to talk to you, instead mine is built into my head. Now that you have your own, the two devices communicate meaning the machines decide to translate our languages much better. "

I vaguely describe the concept of two learning translation AIs working together to more accurately translate. I then patch the doctor into the call and say,

"Doc, keep her down there for the day and help her get used to her new machine. Also please fit her with an optical lens to help her out as well."

The doctor replies,

"Aye Sir!"

I then close the channel and go back to my daily work. Going over reports, checking for anomalies, and making sure our food stores are still good. While we have the technology to scrub the "magic" off of the stuff from here, I don't fully trust it, plus it takes too long. All food stores are pretty good for now, it's really the only resource that we cannot replenish easily in space. Water can be recycled or found in asteroids and ice. Ammo can be replenished by those fabricator ships once they find an asteroid belt, the same thing with basic ship repairs. Food is the only constraint on time for this mission. As of now, we are still good on all non-replinishable supplies.

I mentally take a peek through the ship's cameras to see if anything interesting is going on. This is the only downside of having a really competent crew, nothing requires my attention. It's very easy to get bored while on shift, and the naval code means no one can watch the onboard movies and other stuff while on duty. To my surprise, Shariah is coming to the bridge even though she is no longer supposed to be on this vessel. Leaving me without a first officer. She enters the bridge and sits down next to me in her first officer's seat still looking a little miffed so I ask with a shit-eating grin,

"Done with your tantrum?"

I say it loud enough for the entire bridge to hear. She shakes her head and responds,

"No. And it's not a tantrum I'm just coming to terms with it."

I nod and take a shot,

"I'm guessing that's not all?"

She nods and asks,

"Commodore... I know your opinion on the UNSA, so why were you so reasonable with the Kingdom offering you a slave? You swore an oath to protect freedom."

I shrug and respond,

"It was the fastest way to liberate Phillia. For a diplomatic sort, you really don't know how to be diplomatic with foreigners. They have separate cultures and ideals. You don't get anywhere just calling them evil or shouting at them. It usually makes them angry or double down on their ways. We are here on a diplomatic mission, we are here to create a positive relationship with aliens who have a completely different culture and governing system. We have to play nice for now.

In my eyes, the best way to free the slaves is to prove to them it is an inefficient way of doing things. Our modern tech as I have learned is mindblowing to them. Entertainment, production, and food. That's how we will liberate their people in bondage. "

She nods seemingly understanding what I mean and asks,

"Why the heck aren't you a diplomat? I couldn't conceive of that...I guess I was thinking far to... modern."

I nod and answer,

"I am in my sixties and I've spent my life on navy vessels. I have lots of time to think and learn. "

She nods and before another word can be spoken a sensor officer says,

"Sir! We are getting a massive radiation spike! If it were back home I'd say a huge nuclear device just went off. "

I lean forward and switch my screen to his. The cloud of radiation appears as a bright green blob on the sensors. I notice it isn't moving, it seemingly expands only to turn back in on itself keeping the cloud uniform. He isn't wrong, it looks like the initial radiation cloud from a really dirty nuclear device. I shout,

"Get optics on that location now. I want to see if anything is hiding in there!"

After a moment a camera is pointed at the location where I see a very strange sight. Rather than being just blank space as it should be, there are long streaks of brilliant blue light coming from the center looking exactly like Cherenkov Radiation which is impossible since that only happens within a medium like water. I have an idea and turn on a spectroscope and look at the cloud. The computers read the information and informed me that within the radiation cloud is also a cloud of gas, largely composed of oxygen. Then before my eyes, there is a brilliant flash, the radiation disperses as expected and in its place is what I could best describe as a two-sided castle.

Initial measurements on the optical sensors describe the vessel as 25 km across and close to 30 tall when accounting for the topmost and bottom-most spires. It looks like a tiered wedding-cake-styled castle, one going up and another going down with the lowest wall or their foundations meeting for a nearly 1KM tall belt. The whole thing is circular in nature and the AI immediately begins cataloging all potential weapons systems on the vessel. As soon as it passes 2000 of the same beam cannons on the Shipmasters vessel I stop paying attention. It also notes that there are multiple much larger beam cannons, easily 200 of them each with a bore of about 20 meters. To say this thing is beyond dangerous is an understatement. Even with the limited range and outdated tactics Phillia described, this ship is well past the planet-killer class of vessel, by at least virtue of the volume of fire. For a moment I thought it was some sort of defensive space station or castle they sent as a deterrent, and then it began moving on a trail of their fancy radiation. Surprisingly fast too, easily breaking hypersonic in only a few minutes, meaning they have some nasty inertial dampeners inside the vessel to keep the crew from passing out from the intense forces.

The castle ship moves into a low orbit of the world below, much lower than the one the Catfish is on, and sits there silently. A 500-meter-long ship pulls out of what can be described as a dock and heads down to the surface. The whole while I am going over every inch of this ship, wanting to know more. It is covered in what looks to be cloth banners, dancing in non-existent wind, most are of the Eternal Kingdoms, but there are ones the AI cannot recognize, but it classifies them as religious in nature. I query why and it brings up a photo from my helmet camera from inside the Alien city and I pass by what is easily described as a church. The symbols match with 80% certainty. I accept this answer and tell the AI to be willing to change as needed.

The non-visible light sensors finally finish their report of the new vessel and it's both jarring and strange. First, there is a huge cloud of their "magic" radiation around it, considering they have admitted to utilizing some sort of shield I assume this cloud represents a very powerful array. Second, after penetrating the shields with specially tuned radiological-based sensors the ship was found to be composed largely of stone, what appeared to be wood, and with a central core composed of unknown, but highly dense metals. The penetrating radar believed the belt of the ship is about 20 meters thick of their "manastone" which seemingly does have strange properties that make it considerably more shatter-proof than the normal stuff. Third and final, the ship has little to no thermal signature. The only heat being detected is the crew who are somehow patrolling the exterior of the vessel without EVA suits. With a sigh, I designate this new ship the highest grade on the threat assessment scale so in the event of open conflict, it will receive multiple megatons of freedom as an opening salvo.

With the new threat spotted and logged, all I can do it wait and put the entire fleet on guard. Basically, no weapons are pointed at the vessel, and there hasn't been a call for everyone to get into Battlestations, just the captains of each vessel keep their hand close to the button. It takes over an hour before something else happens. Uriel sends a message my way stating,

"We have received a hail from the castle thing. It is a mobile headquarters for their religious organization. It has come in peace and those onboard wish to speak with us planetside. According to our contacts in the local government, it is in order to make sure we aren't actually evil demons or something. No clue what that is about but I recommend we listen. Stay in orbit, we will do the diplomatic meetings. We are dealing with religious figures here and I don't think they are the love thy neighbor kind. Be ready to pull us out at a moment's notice."

I send a wordless acknowledgment to her then have a few marine dropships ready and have the sensor drone network missiles loaded into their respective tubes. All main guns are loaded with non-nuclear munitions. I set the fleet on high alert as the fighters on board the carriers are prepped with their drone wingmen. No pilots inside them yet, just setting them down on the catapult and waiting.

Now, all we can do is hold our breath as the diplomatic shuttle silently glides through the void and down onto an alien world that is becoming more and more dangerous by the second.