Turraski pushed opened the big and heavy door to the war room with relative ease on the power of his long, massive arm. Another reptilian with light-green skin and a tall but not nearly as strong followed him inside. A group of eagerly-waiting lizards watched as the two lizards took their seats on opposite ends of the table. Turraksi took a look across the table with a big grin on his face.

"Brothers" Turraski said in his deep and raspy voice. "We are witness to a truly historic day. Today, the Empire of the Reptilia is one step closer to becoming whole again. Joining us here is Strigwire, the acting chief of the long lost Fireflower Clan. They have completed their long journey from the far side of the galaxy to rejoin us after their long exile. "

"We are all ecstatic to finally see the home world of Trygoth we have only heard about in legends passed down from generatons within the Fireflower clan." Strigwire talked noticeably more slowly and softly than Turraski and most reptilia did.

"So how many vessels have you managed to get over here?" Turraski asked.

"We have a few dozen dreadnaughts, thirty or so destroyers, six cruisers, and several hundred bulk transports." Turraski chuckled.

"Is that all?" Turraski sneered." I would think a clan that has taken pride on being equal to the Black Serpent in military might have more than that?"

"Don't be snide, Turraski" Strigwire scolded. "What we are in possession of you can't do without, especially if the elven fleet has grown as strong as you say it has."

"Well then" Turraski groaned, "we're eager to hear about this secret weapon that you have."

"Don't worry" Strigwire said softly. "You will get to be dazzled by it soon enough. In the meantime, I need to know that you are willing and able to provide me with what you promised. I will give you a fair warning, Turraski. Double-crossing us could prove a lot more perilous against us than you probably even know." Turraski let out something between a growl and a grumble, then after a brief moment his facial expression changed to neutral.

"With the threats we face we cannot continue to fight all of the age-old conflicts of the clans" Turraski said. "Zaladore was wise and has recognized the problems of the hominids, but he was too weak to confront the problem before it metastasized. Even now the armada might be too powerful to stop."

"Give us what we want and I will promise you a means to victory" Strigwire said confidently.

"Great. Then we will give you our trust for now. What is it that we can do for you?" Strigwire's iguana-like reptialian eyes narrowed as he momentarily paused.

"We must have Talisman of the Goddess, Turraski. Do you have any idea of where it is? Do the elves have it?" Turraski's face changed immediately to one of an almost amused look.

"You're telling me you have what we need to overpower the Armada of the Elven Kingdom and you want a piece of jewelry?" Turraski scoffed. "If this is some kind of subterfuge I would advise you not go through with it. Or do you really think it has some sort of power to commune with divine beings?" Strigwire cast an acerbic scowl to Turraski.

"Nothing that the grays make is frivolous, and they certainly don't make anything as frivolous as personal adornments. The most powerful devices the grays created are not weapons or energy cells, but artificial brilliance. Call the goddess talisman a line of communication with the divine or call her a machine or whatever you want, but it has the power worth many fleets. I would've thought the emperor of the clans would be wise enough to understand that."

"Watch your mouth, Fireflower!" Turraski spat. "I can have you and all of your henchmen sent right back to your own corner of the galaxy!"

"And we can take our assets and leave you here completely at the mercy of the hominids. Now tell me…do you know where the talisman is, or don't you?" Strigwire was clearly more even-tempered than Turraski, but also had a sharp tongue.

"I don't know where it is" Turraski said curtly unable to conceal his temper. "The Fireflower Chief possessed it when they were once a part of the Empire and I always assumed it left into exile with them."

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"It's here somewhere in the corner of the galaxy. We are sure of it. Can you find it or not?"

Turraski sat staring down at the table right in front of him with a scowl still on his face. "We will do what we can to locate it. Now, are you going to tell us about this secret weapon that you possess that will help us retake control of this part of the galaxy from the Elves?" Strigiwire paused for a moment as if seeming suspicious.

"Very well, I will explain it to you. The batteries that we have on our warships, they aren't like the weapons on any ship you or the hominids have. They're not standard argon plasma. They are xenon plasma cannons. They're much hotter and more potent. Most cold shells won't offer much protection from them. Not only that, but xenon plasma is hot enough to penetrate the atmospheres of most worlds and torch almost anything on the surface. Essentially, you can carry out planetary bombardments with a small number of ships and not need to worry about replenishing your torpedoes."

Turraski's facial expression changed to that of befuddlement and disbelief. "How is it that you have been able to create weaponry that the elves have tried for a long time to create?"

"We didn't exactly create it. The xenon plasma cannons are powered by a special class of energy cell created by the grays. It's a little secret the Fire Flower and other Nal'Larak clans took with us on our exile." Turraski stared for a moment at Strigiwre seeming to be in disbelief.

"Impress me with a demonstration, Strigwire, and we will do whatever we can to find your precious talisman."

"We have an understanding then. Now, what is it that you plan to do?" There was a brief silence in the room before one reptilian sitting near Turraski's end of the table spoke up.

"Last we heard, Queen Adella had it" a smaller lizard with a shorter snout interrupted. "There have been rumors that it was given away, though. By now it might be around the neck of some wealthy humaness. I feel like we can track it down."

"Strigwire, this is Gyrod" Turraski said interrupting the lizard. "He is the chief of the Night Lizard Clan. He is in charge of imperial intelligence. If someone can find it his lot can."

"It's settled then" Strigwire said feeling quite satisfied. " Now, fill me in on what the situation is."

"All right, then." Turraski pushed a button and a large screen display was activated on the wall opposite of the window. It was a large map of the corner of the galaxy. The human sector was tinted in green – the farthest from the galactic core - with Earth and the planet Magellan and Katharna marked. In blue the elf sector was marked with the elven homeworld of Quildalar and the artificial biosphere of Adaforbus. The Reptialian sector was shown in red with the planets Trygoth and the twin planets of Durgoff and Droyla. The three sectors formed somewhat of a triangle and in the middle as a large area of space marked "outworld" with Eizen, Xanadu, Zenithala, and Mulgrath marked. On the border of outworld and the reptilian sector was a moon-shaped region labeled "Goddess' Crescent". Gyrod cleared his throat to speak.

"The humans do not have many warships, but they have plenty of missile batteries around the outworld sector to prevent bombardments and blockades. They will be most vulnerable to surface attacks with our hoplites." Turraski grumbled.

"We should just make a direct attack on the central world of Eizen" Turraski said forcefully. "If we take that world out the economy of outworld will be devastated and we can strike a big blow to both the humans and the elves."

"No" Gyrod said firmly. "Eizen is entirely too well-defended. We need to fight a war of attrition. The hominids are hoping that we won't have patience and will go straight for the kill."

"What are you suggesting, then, Gyrod?" Turraski asked sounding as if he was trying to suppress annoyance.

"We should start by clearing out the worlds in the Goddesses' Crescent between outworld and our sector. We will need to move quickly between those worlds and not give the human militias enough time to mobilize. Take out all the military bases in that part of the sector."

"How is that going to help us reduce the human blight on outworld?" Turraski asked impatiently. "You don't think the elves will make a large counterstrike on us?"

"No, Turraski. They do not want to show their hand to protect planets that do not matter as much to them, yet the humans do. These crescent worlds contain military bases and some fringe mining guilds. No major manufacturing here. It's the perfect strategy to drive a wedge between the humans and the elves." Turraski had a sour look on his face.

"I suppose you are right." Turraski said begrudgingly. "We should be able to at least get the humans out of the crescent fairly easy."

"Don't underestimate the humans, Turraski" Strigwire interrupted. "They have neither the cowardice nor the rationality of the elves. That can make them hard to handle."

"You do any fighting of humans over on your little end of the galaxy?" Turraski sneered.

"No" Strigwire said "but I understand history. It took the elves years to defeat them in war in spite of them having vastly superior firepower and resources. They’re dangerous."

"The Fireflower is correct" Gyrod said. "You can't intimidate these human armies easily. We will need to be careful and methodical and use the weakness of each of the two hominid races against them if this campaign is going to succeed." Turraski felt a small surge of anger overcome him. He didn't like to be shown up by chief of an ecology clan. He closed his eyes and let it pass.

"It's settled, then. Strigwire, I am hoping you have as many hoplite warriors as you say you do. We will begin mobilizing to push the humans back against the border. Let's get moving!" Turraski got up from his seat and quickly pulled open the very heavy door to the war room. All of the other lizards got up, not saying a word.