Silence reigned throughout the ship as the Terrans told them to prepare for an exfil. A silence that was shortly filled with an abrupt cackling from Vella. "Heeheeee! The gods have deemed us worthy enough to bask in their presence! We will embark on a journey into their holy warships! Perhaps we will even get to fight and die by their side! By the myriad hells! What a wonderous thing it would be to die alongside a god and be reborn amidst hell to battle with demons for eternity!"

Mizan glanced at Vella with disgust as he trembled with fanatical fervor. "You can go die with your gods if you want, but I personally want no part in whatever fights these people are engaging in. Those big ass Yambi looked like they could massacre an entire GC battlefleet with minimal casualties before scouring a planet clean of life... and those 'Terrans' wiped the floor with them."

Ren and Sven both nodded their heads vigorously. Sven added, "Yeah, that's no joke. It looked like a one-sided massacre from my point of view. That... Thing, that protected us. It alone was enough to force back the attack from those huge golden ones before the ship obliterated them."

Alai who had been sitting in a corner quietly, finally spoke up with a fearful tremble to his voice. "A-are they going to kill me? I... I look like those things... What if the Terrans want to exterminate all of Yambi kind because of those creatures? Would the GC protect us? No... We are already disliked even among the GC... It's over..."

Ren slithered up to the dejected cephalopod and patted his head with her tail. "There there bud. If the Terrans wanna get ya then I'll give em the ole slice'n'dice. Ya ain't gotta worry your squishy self over them. Besides, I'm thinking that they won't dislike ya anyhow. I mean, that one saved us after all. Not like anyone would want to kill someone after going through the trouble to save them."

Alai's expression lightened and he gave her a slow nod, "You... are right. At the very least it is good to know that I'll have you stand by my side."

Before the chat could continue, another notification rang out through the ship's intercom. "Unidentified craft. Hunter-Killer Squadron 4036 is here to escort you back to the -Emperors Glory-. Prepare for an inspection. The scan will last approximately 0.3 seconds."

The entire crew felt a chill run through their whole bodies as the intercom crackled to life again. "...You are earth animals? Shouldn't you be in the resort cluster? What's with this odd shitty ship design too? Techs so outdated that it might as well be from 2100. Anyway, welcome home. 4036 is green for escort."

With that said everyone on board was completely dumbstruck, so many questions flooded their minds all at once. Yet, Mizan was held up on her ship being called shitty. She growled at the intercom and threw up her fist, "This here is premium GC tech, you bastards! Don't insult it by calling it 'shitty' or 'outdated'! We worked damned hard to get our stealth tech up to this bar!"

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After yelling at the air for a moment, she finally looked out the cockpit's window to get a good look at the ships that had come to escort her in the hopes that she could find some ammunition to fire back with. But her eyes were instead met with an odd spectacle.

A dozen ships had encircled hers and emitted some sort of energy around them that formed a bubble. They were the only things plainly visible aside from staggered flashes of light that seemed to have no form. She thought it looked like sailing through a rough river of light. Seconds later the river seemed to crawl to a standstill before the 'bubble' popped.

The entire crew crowded the window as they tried to see the end of the vast steel planet they just materialized beside, but they couldn't see around it from their location. All they could see was grey steel and guns. Guns as far as the eye could see. As they got closer a hole seemed to form out of nowhere. The dark abyss within slowly began to light up as facilities to receive them were created.

The ship was gently guided into a wide hanger that was being created before their very eyes. What looked like sand was shifting around to create the steel runways and bays. As soon as their ship touched down it was shifted towards one of the bays. Once the ship was settled the Terran escorts poured out of their own ships and rushed over to the GC ship eager to meet the wayward Terran creatures and welcome them home.

Mizan tentatively dropped the ramp, revealing the massive Terran soldiers to her crew. They froze up upon seeing the behemoths that were more machine than flesh. Fear ran rampant through their minds as their instincts screamed to run from the movie monsters staring at them like prey caught in a cage.

Mizan gripped her sidearm as she entered a ready stance, waiting for them to make their move. Yet, the first move was Vella. He jumped into the air with a flap of his wings and landed in a perfect bow before the gathered group of now, very confused Humans. "This one is Vella! I would be honored if you would allow me to fight alongside you as battle brothers and sisters! Please take this humble winged one to the myriad hells with you!"

One of the dazed pilots finally broke the silence, "What... are you? A crow? But... No... and myriad hells? Wha-"

Another one cut in with a quick, "Kitty! There's a kitty! It's in a little soldier uniform and everything!" The soldier ran up to Mizan whose nerves were completely shocked from the various happenings. However, shortly after running up to the ramp, Mizan unholstered her sidearm and squeezed off three rounds directly into the unarmored man's chest. He tripped and slammed into the ramp, denting it in and sending tremors through the ship.

The man groaned in pain but quickly sat up. Once up, Mizan noticed the three steel bullets had simply flattened against his shirt. "Fuck that hurt... Kitty's got claws eh? That tiny thing sure packs a punch considering."

Mizan was staring at the crumpled bullets in shock. "Those were full steel penetrator rounds! They can punch through concrete!"

The pilot raised an eyebrow, "Huh. Neat. My shirts tougher than your concrete. Could also be my Basillian steel skeleton and impact gel layer under the skin too I suppose. Well... My desire to pet you was killed at least."

The pilot brushed himself off as he stood and then smiled down at the menagerie of alien animals. "Well, at least the rest of y'all are cute. Especially the octopus in the scuba suit. Shit's hilarious. Ten oughta ten."