While everyone else took a break, I managed the terraforming effort. There were a lot of people and materials to organize and transport. At 7, we should be ready to start transporting the terraforming team. We are sending all the materials and a number of pre-prepared landing pads and runic circles ahead of the team.

The dragons have created a number of balanced ecosystem building blocks, or flora/ fauna starter packs, and the dwarves have built special crates to load each one in. We were able to store an entire ecosystem of microbes, animals, and plants in each crate. They are all in stasis until the seal on the crate is broken. Then the crates "explode" into a pre-prepared basic ecosystem with enough of each species to avoid population collapse issues.

Not gonna lie, I don't understand half of what they did, but I don't have to. I'm just the coordinator. I made sure each person was able to get the resources and access to the teams they needed to complete the mission. It was a long night, that I spent almost entirely on the phone while moving boxes and making sure everyone's needs were met.

Dwarves eat a lot. Especially when they are forging enchanted tools.

Thank every deity in the universe for Thor's enchanted coffee. I am deep into my eighth cup at the start of our six am meeting. I nearly spit my coffee out when Loki walks into the room and barks "Where are we with the terraforming team?"

Politeness went out the window in the subgroups hours ago, but somehow I was expecting a bit of a preamble to the big meeting. Maybe a 'Hi, how was everyone's break' or at least a 'Do we have everyone?'

Clearly, I was mistaken. Time is more of the essence than I thought.

I barely manage to put my cup down without embarrassing myself in a spit-take, but I move a little too quickly. I know I look like a bit of a fool as I mop up the spilled coffee with a greasy rag I pull from my pocket. "We are on schedule to send the first terraforming team to Mars in," I check my watch, "47 minutes. Team two is still assembling the dragon hoards to make sure we will have balanced ecosystems. They will be ready in about three hours. Team one assures me that the atmosphere will be ready for insect introduction in about two and a half hours, so we plan to start sending team two as they are ready."

"How long until the air is breathable?"

I check my notes, "They have to build the atmosphere, right now it is too thin, so we have to give all the trees and seagrasses time to increase the atmosphere's thickness. My understanding is this could take anywhere from a week to a month depending on how quickly they can get the rainforests productive. Of course, with the temperature stabilized, those who don't need an oxygen-rich environment can come out right away. We may also be able to use the oxygen masks we have on New Eden for short trips outside until the atmosphere is thick enough to support more complex life. Based on the numbers Hestia crunched for me last night, we could be taking short trips outside in three days."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Fantastic," Loki says in a somewhat bored tone which means he is lost in thought while checking things on the list he brought with him. I would be offended by the tone if I didn't know him well enough to know I should take the word at face value and ignore the tone at times like this. "Thor, are you sure about your runic arrays?"

"They will work. We ran some models before our break, and we have three back-ups if the teams find something unexpected. There should be—"

"Before we get too far into this, I have some new information that might change some things." Everyone turns to Isis when she interrupts. I would have expected Thor to look annoyed by her rude interruption, but he just looks intrigued. "Ra contacted Vulcan last night. We spoke for quite a while."

At her declaration, many elders start whispering to each other. Thor turns to a new page in his notebook and pulls out the papers of the arrays they have planned so he can see them all as she talks.

"Quiet!" Remus barks, silencing all the side conversations that popped up. "What did he say?"

"Quite a bit, but the important part is this: if we can prove that we can defend ourselves from both the humans and him, he will stop meddling in human affairs and allow the humans to step peacefully into the intergalactic community. If we can't, he plans to end the human race."

I flip through all the plans and backup plans we have created over the past few days. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel to even make first contact. We don't even have a real ship, and we certainly don't have weapons that will function in space.

Thor is throwing out diagrams and editing others, then scratching it all out and starting over. Many others are doing the same. Those not working on paper are arguing strategies, some louder than others.

I look across the table and lock eyes with Luci. They nod at me, and I nod at them. We only have one option, and the timing on it will have to be perfect if we have any hope of success. It is the worst possible scheme, but we have no other options. I rip a piece of paper out of my notebook and write a note to Loki. I drop it on his computer as I walk to meet Lilith and Luci at the door. Thor sees us leaving and scrambles to gather his things and follow. With his notes a jumbled mass in one arm, he grabs a standing and shouting Oberon from behind by the belt and starts dragging him towards the door. Oberon doesn't stop arguing until Thor closes the door to the meeting in his face.

Oberon turns rounds on us, "What are you doing? We need a plan and everything going on in there is—"

"We are on plan G," Lilith says, "and we have no time to implement it. In the next five hours, everyone must be on Mars except the first contact team."

Oberon looks white as a sheet, "Plan G? Surely there is another way?"

"If there is, we don't have the time to find it," I point out. "This is it. It is the only option we have that fits the time constraints."

"We will work out the magic," Thor motions to everyone but me, "make sure everything is ready to go."

"Corralling dragons, sirens, and elves is my specialty!" I give them a thumbs up and a fake smile as I walk backward away from them towards the working teams. "I'll need your new runic arrays in 30 minutes, and everything else in 3 hours."

"You'll have it," Luci assures me.

I hope so because if they can't make the magic work in time, there is no point in having a first-contact team.