The Colonel gaped at the laughing Custodian in disbelief, before schooling his expression. Hopefully quickly enough that the unsettling woman did not notice.

He had no idea what had set the possible lunatic off.

Ashwood could admit that it scared him. The tall priestess had a presence about her. The height helped of course, but what really unsettled him were the eyes. She seemed to both see right through him and completely dismiss his entire existence. As if he was a bug.

No, not even a bug. Just background.

The massive horse and the creepy-looking silver eyes that covered her robes only amplified the effect.

Still no matter her presence or height, in the end, she was just a savage. The Renaissance fair at her back served as a helpful reminder of that. A dangerous one, with likely at least a few hidden cards, but still only a primitive.

What gave him the creeps was her reaction. He couldn’t wrap his head around how someone could laugh about the current situation. Someone sane, that is.

As he stared at the still chuckling Custodian, he had to wonder whether that made her more or less dangerous.

He glanced at four of the Soma Aspis that stood tall around him. They could probably kill or subdue the Custodian before she could react, not that giving the order would make sense.

The cyborgs’ presence reassured him in any case. He had been rather surprised when he found out that all of Sterope’s escape pods had been monopolized by the elite force, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Soon, the laughter subsided.

The Custodian’s voice brought his attention back to her before his thoughts could stray back to the information the survivors from Sterope brought.

“I refuse.”

Ashwood’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. Definitely a lunatic.

The Custodian continued before he could try to protest, “The Eternal Laws grant protection even to outsiders, Colonel. Should your former comrades prove to be uncivilised, they will be dealt with.”

The Colonel blinked at that. The Custodian would apparently do exactly what he wanted, except… She didn’t want his help?

He mustered his wits to respond, “We are grateful, Venerable Custodian.”

Ashwood bowed for good measure, sending a prompt to his entourage to do the same.

The Custodian looked down at them from her saddle, before pulling the reins and riding off, back to her savage horde.

He shared a look with his usual two guards, Jameson and Pierce.

“That went well, I suppose,” Ashwood said. His implants had been transmitting subtitles for his soldiers, so they had followed the conversation at least somewhat, despite it being in Sirnesian.

The Soma Aspis, had, of course, their own arrangements.

With that, he started walking back towards the encampment. The Custodian might or might not deal with his current enemies, but he did not feel very eager to bet his life on that. Better to make his own preparations.

At least the scenery was beautiful, he mused while looking around. Verdant grass, blooming flowers, the sun shining overhead and the mountains blocking the horizon all made for a unique experience. Especially since Ashwood had spent most of his life on a habitat, even if it had been one of Athena’s. Hers had considerably more greenery than the usual corporate hellholes, but letting biomass grow uncontrollably in a delicate environment like a space station was not a terribly smart idea. This meant that all the parks were carefully designed and monitored, nothing like the wild growth here, but enough to make him nostalgic.

During the daytime, Eigos did not even really feel alien. If he squinted a bit and ignored the blue gas giant blocking a good chunk of the sky, he could imagine being in one of the parks near his parent’s apartment.

Not a very conducive environment for scheming, in his opinion

Unfortunately, he had too much to consider and plan for him to just relax and bask in the sun.

The Eternal Laws for instance. After discovering that the Custodian wasn’t just some hillbilly cult leader he had learned as much as he could have about Eigos and its ruler.

Admittedly that was not much. Since the printing press didn’t apparently exist on the alien moon, books were rather scarce. The ones he had managed to acquire before his first meeting were often in strange dialects or just completely unknown languages.

In the end, the most useful book was the easiest one to acquire. The holy book of the church, the so called ‘Book of Eternal Laws’. A priest had practically forced one on him along with a small sermon when he had asked some weeks prior.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

As ignorance of the laws was no excuse, the Church ostensibly tried its best to spread them as much as possible. As such, it had been written in clear Sirnesian, a language spread far and wide by the religious organization and the only one of the local languages he could understand.

He had learned a lot of culturally useful things from some of the natives he had talked to, but they were, well, primitives. Any slightly complex question was met with blank looks, or some version of ‘The Goddess provides’.

The laws though, those were rather interesting. A bizarre mix of rather modern-sounding rules and barbaric punishments along with a heavy focus on environmentalism. He felt that they were rather loose though, not that he had much experience with that kind of thing.

Really, the holy book was nothing like he had expected. Most of the laws were both understandable and logical, with a distinct lack of superstition, homophobia, witch-hunting or really any of the usual things you’d expect to find in the holy book of a medieval-ish religion.

A remnant from the original colonists, perhaps. If Eigos really started as a lost colony, at least. Nothing would surprise him at this point.

There were however two issues with the so-called Eternal Laws he had identified.

The first issue was the lacking context in regard to some of the more religious-sounding laws. The Custodian had rebuffed his initial negotiating attempts with one of these. ‘Eigos belongs to Eternity’ she had said. Yet what did that actually mean?

From what he and his people had found out in their initial investigations of the civilizations on Eigos, the people here owned and rented properties, formed countries, et cetera. However, none had been willing to sell land to him. The Colonel had not really pushed the issue, of course, but it still had been strange. Worse, he still had no idea why.

If they were lucky, the missing context might be just some religious hogwash they did not account for in their offers. If they were unlucky, that particular law might just mean whatever the local religious authority wanted it to mean at the moment.

This went double for the second issue. The almost complete lack of any sort of acknowledgement of independent countries. The laws simply had nothing to say about international law or country-subjective crimes like treason.

That was the most pertinent currently. Song, Black and the Captain of the mysterious ship that destroyed Sterope were bound to send soldiers down soon and knowing the Custodian’s reaction would be rather useful. Except that for all that he knew, she might be interpreting some of the laws based on her mood.

He glanced to his right at Lieutenant Jane, the leader of the Soma Aspis contingent that had been aboard Sterope.

She wore the usual Soma Aspis Armoured Suit, or SAAS for short, as did the other three, making them look nearly identical. As protocol dictated, they had not taken their suits off since they joined the impromptu encampment. If his implants did not provide convenient nametags, he’d have no idea who was who.

“Any thoughts, Lieutenant?” he asked.

While he doubted the cyborg would have any useful insight about the Custodian’s words, she did possess much better senses than his own.

Her eyes kept looking forward, scanning for threats, but a response came a few seconds later.

“Unnaturally confident. She is either stupid, insane, or knows something we do not,” a slightly distorted and monotone voice came from the Lieutenant’s helmet.

“You would know better than me which of these is correct, Colonel Ashwood,” she added.

The Colonel suppressed a shiver upon hearing the emotionless voice. To think he had once been angry at failing to enter their organization. He had been quite bitter for years, but now he only felt grateful for the rigorous psychological tests that Athena insisted upon.

It would be a lie to say that he did not feel a little envious of the power they possessed, but he was no longer willing to pay the price.

“Not stupid. Insane, maybe. Fortunately for us, the last option is most likely correct,” Ashwood replied.

Were it just the shield, Ashwood would probably be more doubtful. The Custodian, however, had ocular implants of some sort too. While he could see the shield being an automated remnant of a past age, the same could not be said for the implants. Someone or something had to actually implant them, after all. Not something that could be done with a rusty knife.

Whether whatever the Eigosians were hiding would be enough to fight their mutual enemies was another question entirely. He certainly did not trust the Custodian’s judgement.

At least Lieutenant Jane had told him what happened to Sterope. Knowing that the enemy would likely be over twice their number was useful, if disheartening.

He also found out that the message he had received while coming down to Eigos had not in fact, originated from Sterope, giving him another headache to consider.

Ashwood suddenly stopped in realization, before quickly resuming his march towards the encampment, his two original guards looking over in concern.

He had completely forgotten to ask the Custodian about ‘Phaedra’, whatever or whoever it was supposed to be.

Ashwood turned his head towards the Lieutenant, “Do you know who or what is Phaedra?”

The tall cyborg took a few seconds to answer, though she did not slow, “No idea, Colonel.”

His mood fouled a bit more, he quickened his pace.

With the encampment nearing, the Colonel once more summarized his current situation in his mind.

Three military ships in orbit, one empty of soldiers and damaged, one with some sort of stealth tech, one more or less fine. Plus the two colonist ships, but who knew what they were doing. Perhaps Song and her friends already destroyed them to cover their asses.

In the worst-case scenario, each of the two new ships would be filled to capacity like Alcyone had been, resulting in a little under fifteen hundred soldiers to the Colonel’s two hundred or so.

Not great odds, even with ten or so thousands of sword-wielding meat shields.

Still, the seventeen Soma Aspis gave him options. They weren’t seen as some of Athena’s most potent creations for nothing. Especially since not that many people really knew what they were capable of.

Right as he stepped foot into the camp, his comms crackled to life.

“We have incoming! Over forty shuttles descending from orbit!” A voice he recognized as Yang’s said.

Colonel Ashwood sighed.

The worst-case scenario it is.