Catherine stared up at the image of the massive Emperor and tried to think up an excuse that could hold water as she shuffled around nervously. Her eyes darted to and fro across the bridge before she realized she had the perfect answer hiding behind her. She cleared her throat and stepped to the side quickly as she gave a grand flourish of her arms to exaggerate the group of Atteni.

"Why No! Of course, I didn't scare them all away! Right here we have the three gracious Atteni Ambassadors! From the left, there is So'Ran, Valenthi, and Valthan." With her piece said and firmly believing she had dodged the metaphorical bullet she gave Basillius a beaming smile and huffed a sigh of relief.

Basillius stared at the terrified little mouse people through the digital interface he was using and breathed a sigh of relief before he came to a sudden realization. "Wait... What did you just say? You didn't scare them all away?"

Catherine broke out into a cold sweat and froze up as she realized the slip-up she had made. After a few seconds, her rigid body deflated and she let out a defeated sigh. "Sorry, Uncle Bassi... I scared off the one ship that came and these guys left their ship to learn from us..."

Basillius rubbed his temples as he let out a low groan. "Our very first, first contact with another sapient race that's peaceful... Ohhh I'm going to have so much more work to do. How can I rectify this situation? Wait... They're already terrified of a little girl like you... fuck they'll shit themselves when they meet me."

He let out a deep sigh and stood up from his throne. "Alright, Catherine, bring them here so I can 'officially' meet these ambassadors. Once that's done I'll have you all stay on the -Emperors Glory- It's probably the safest place in this whole galaxy for the ambassadors."

Catherine breathed a small sigh of relief, "Alright. I'll get them ready to meet with you Uncle Bassi."

The camera feed returned to the view of the grand fleet and everyone on the bridge finally let go of a breath they didn't even know they were holding. Ashley was the first to gather herself as she jumped up from her seat and ran over to Catherine, "Catherine! What was that?! Uncle Bassi?!?! As in, Emperor Basillius?! The Emperor is your Uncle?!"

Catherine flopped over onto a nearby desk and groaned, "Yeesssss... Uncle Bassi told me not to tell anyone for my safety and I just let that slip too... Ugh... I don't want another lecture."

Ashley stared at her, utterly dumbfounded at the fact that her childish Captain was in any way related to the hero of Humanity that had single-handedly cleared both the Azarian's threat of extinction and Humanity's own corruption.

Her thoughts that were mired in the incredulity of the situation suddenly came to a full stop on an amazing revelation, "W-wait a minute Catherine... Are you telling me that I've been getting minimum wage this entire time while working directly for a princess? Were all those times you said 'Oh we are just poor cargo haulers. These days we can't make much as there's not much need for our work' all a lie?"

Catherine's eyes widened, "Nononoo! I swear! I told Uncle Bassi I didn't want any special treatment! I wanted to live a normal life! We really are just poor!"

Ashley brought her palm to her forehead with astounding speed causing a meaty slap to resound through the deathly silent bridge, "So... we are poor by choice..."

Catherine let out a nervous chuckle as she tried to back away from Ashley. She backed up straight into Jeff tripping into him. He deftly caught her wrist and held her up while giving her a disapproving look. "Now Catherine... Rather than worrying about escaping from the rest of the crew, you should think about how you're going to be presenting the Atteni to Basillius. Right now they are obviously very confused." he said as he pointed toward the trio of alien mice.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She straightened herself up and cleared her throat. She gave him a curt nod as she leaned down to the Atteni. "Alright, you guys! Uncle Bassi looks suuuper mean, but he's actually a big ole softy. He wouldn't ever hurt you, little guys... well, unless you attacked us. But that's beside the point. Point is, he actually would want you to be more comfortable around him. Act with him the same you do with me. If you do that, he will love it."

The three gave her blank nods, still confused at everything going on. She just sighed and ushered them out of the bridge and into the quantum portal with Jeff following along silently behind the four.

Terminatus appeared before them and rumbled out in his usual bassy synthetic voice, "I have been granted authorization to link this quantum portal to the one nearest his majesty, Basillius. Expect him to be waiting outside the door or at least nearby."

As soon as Terminatus finished speaking he activated the portal and sent them to the -Emperors Glory-.

Catherine soon found herself staring nervously at the unadorned depression in the wall she knew was the doorway into the waiting arms of a lecture from Basillius. She soon started ruminating on possible excuses and escape strategies, blunting her focus on the three curious Atteni.

Valenthi slowly inched towards what she assumed to be the door while examining it to see if there was any difference compared to the previous room they were in. Soon her eyes alighted upon what she thought looked like a small button next to the door. She quickly waved the other two over to her positioning So'Ran just underneath the button. "V-Valenthi? What is the meaning of this? We shouldn't meddle with the things here!" he hissed out in a half-whisper.

Valenthi sighed a bit before deftly climbing onto the old man's shoulders and waving Valthan over. "Come on, you get the honors." Valthan gave her a sly grin and grabbed onto her hand. pulling himself up to her shoulders and gently pressing the button. The door immediately fell away in a plume of smoke, revealing the massive form of Basillius.

Catherine broke from her thoughts as the door fell away. Her eyes widened in confusion and shock as she stared at the tilting tower of Atteni next to the backdrop of Basillius. Catherine couldn't help but feel an overpowering love for the adorable little mice as they looked even smaller and more ridiculous stacked up to Basillius' knee. "Ohhhh that's so adorable!"

Her chest felt warm and light as she admired the cute creatures until she heard a loud metallic 'clang' ring out. Her attention caught, she looks up to see Basillius had facepalmed himself and was staring at the disorganized group through his fingers with a look of disbelief. "Cath... You didn't even open the door for them? Or at least tell them how to get the nanites to make a button low enough for them?"

She groaned and made her way out of the portal, "Sorry Uncle Bassi... I forgot."

Basillius dropped his hand from his face and knelt down onto one knee to try and get as close as he could to the Atteni's height. Before he could finish extending his hand towards them Valthan rushed forward and started thoroughly inspecting Basillius.

"Whoa! This looks fairly complicated for armor! It doesn't even look like a material you can get in this galaxy!" he said as he rapped his knuckles across Basillius' shin.

Basillius began roaring in laughter as the tiny alien mouse banged his knuckles across his leg. "Ohhhh, man! You sure are a breath of fresh air! Haha! You are right though! My body isn't made from materials you can find here, not even in this universe actually. No, my body was tempered in the veil."

Valthan's eyes went wide as saucers, "Your... body? Not armor?"

Basillius gave him a knowing smirk, "Quiet a curious little one, aren't you? Yes, I'm a full-conversion cyborg. My entire body aside from my brain is mechanical."

Valthan quickly knelt down and put his fist close to his heart, "Honorable god of engineering, please take this humble one as an apprentice!"

Basillius sighed heavily, "Aaaannnd breath of fresh air gone... I'm not a god. Not a god of engineering, or otherwise. I am but a man, a soldier. In fact, I used to be one of the notorious 'Crayon Eaters'. I'm definitely not a god, and you definitely don't want to become my apprentice for engineering."

Valthan looked at him in confusion for a long moment before shrugging and saying, "You look like a god to me though? Massive armored body made of otherworldly materials, you're literally a giant, and the few of your kind I've met all treated your name with a reverence that is usually reserved for gods."

Basillius sighed heavily and extended his hand to Valthan for a handshake. "My name is Basillius. I am the entirely mortal Emperor of man. My own people unfortunately do consider me a god. Please, don't let the rest of the galaxy start thinking I am too. I have enough religions sprouting in my name among my own people."

With his piece said he extended his hand to the other two as well. "Welcome to the Terran Imperium, Atteni. Let's talk about how I can go make official first contact with your government. Hopefully, we can get this incident all sorted." he said with a somewhat annoyed glare directed toward Catherine.