Mikhail was feeling rather pissed off as a Cambiar fed him something from a MRE that vaguely reminded him of meat. Not because he was getting handfed by an alien, and not because the meal was subpar, albeit desperately needed after the shock of the day. Instead, thumbing the outlines of cybernetics beneath his skin, he was incensed at how blind he was. Having changed his name, face, frame and voice, he felt he was more than ready for anything the void could throw at him and his men on board Starheart.

Undergoing first contact and seeing the other colony ship explode had proven that idea severely wrong. Sighing, he gazed around the room at the other crewmembers he had unfortunately been stuck with, a group of idiotic passengers from the mid-decks, who constantly badgered each other with incessant jokes and crudeness. My god, if he had a little less patience, Mikhail had the mind to be done with his charade and put them down. But no, he was not going to lose his future clan status over them. Just bear it. Hide your face and bear it, Mikhail. All he had to do was hold out until he achieved his Emperor’s goal. Well, as soon as he could figure out what that goal was. Initially, his plan had been to supplant and hijack the colony ships Starheart and Ruby Eye as soon as they found a viable planet and ransom the hell out of the colony and ships until they got all the finances, deals and syraline the Doctrine could ever want.

Seeing a fleet of aliens larger than most clans combined and Ruby Eye splitting in two had put a damper on things. Additionally, the one ship he had not infiltrated, Lighthouse, was MIA. How had things gotten so goddamn confusing? His thoughts were disrupted by an alien prodding him in the side of the mouth with a fork covered in more substitute food. Lazily, he accepted it and mumbled a thanks. Somehow, the group of morons he was stuck with for now had convinced the aliens of Outer Rim Nine that this sort of behaviour was normal for humans. Mikhail smiled to himself, knowing that such behaviour would bite back on them once communications between the separated humans was reestablished. Or at least, he hoped it would be. God knows, perhaps the aliens would enjoy servitude. The thought of such weak compliance disgusted Mikhail. After proper order could be restored amongst the crew, he could move around a bit easier.

Rumour had it that, for now, the command team were in a state of utter chaos. Captain Curtin had no grasp on the situation and was desperately pinging a message back to Titanlock every minute. The human fleet’s survivors had spread themselves across the nearly three hundred Cambiar ships, some little bigger than a Viper-class recon ship and some bigger than the colony vessels themselves. Mikhail intended to move onto one of these Spoke category ships, as their greater size would allow for easier planning.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

So far, reports from his agents had been… messy. Exact details were being slowly transmitted in drips and dregs. Most alien ships had no access to translators yet, and even less were making an effort to get pertinent information, with even the most hardened agents of the Broken Fang being swept up by meeting aliens for the first time. Still, Mikhail couldn’t blame them too badly, as his own mind was currently in a tumble. These Cambiar had showed some strange characteristics that excited and unsettled his mind. The varying shapes and sizes were initially chalked up by him as some form of sub-species or role they were born into. However, when he enquired with a little Uvolo, a pale one, about the enormous red guards, it simply implied that it too one day wished to become one, a ‘Delkar’ as it termed it.

Could these things change their shape so drastically? How did this all work? Another prod to his cheek, and Mikhail bit down on the beef-like mass. He gave thanks and heard the alien’s tail slapping the floor. The other point of interest was Ruby Eye. Had these aliens, who for now seemed rather pleasant and calm, so easily destroy such a powerful craft? If so, for what purpose and how? Or, even worse, were there other Heaven’s Doctrine clans interfering? If the situation were the former, could the Jade Emperor, damn that rotten corpse, been wanting Mikhail to try and ally with them? If the holy empire gained such a powerful partner, Paradise wouldn’t stand a chance. Surely, that seemed the most logical step. For now, he decided he would play along. These creatures enthralled him, despite his initial reluctance to engage with them, and he was making steps towards deciphering this mess. If the galaxy truly belonged to the empire, and the empire belonged to the strong, those who enforced their will, where would the Cambiar stand? Were they waiting to be used as a tool, or would they find themselves already staring down at humanity, and its pitiful attempts at dominance? Closing his eyes in contemplation, he briefly considered what the other survivors were doing. Humorously, he briefly wondered if Salvador was getting riled up by these curious creatures. Swirling a cup of something that may have resembled orange juice at some point prior to its dehydration into powder, Mikhail would wait and see what time would tell.