The door to Carrie's quarters opened and I forgot everything I was going to say to greet her.

"That's pretty flattering," she giggled. "Are we ready to go?"

"I-hu-mm-uh," I struggled to speak. "Y-yes."

"If this is all it takes to make you speechless, then I should do it more often," she laughed stepping out into the hall.

She was beautiful, there was no other way to describe it. I've always thought she was a beautiful woman, but seeing her in that dress seemed to make it even more pronounced. Maybe it was just that I haven't seen her in a dress in forever. The dress she wore, was colored a deep purple and had small designs of electric blue flowers and green leaves at the hem of her knee-length skirt. The contrast was a bit jarring, but those two colors matched well with her hair and the purple seemed to contrast wonderfully with her pale skin. The small shawl that she wore over her bare shoulders was the same purple as her dress though it was see-through and shot through with electric blue and green threads. Without saying anything she gave a small twirl that allowed me to see her from all sides.

"I- uh, sorry for staring," I said. "You look amazing. Everything screams you, in a way."

"I hope I look amazing," she said. "I didn't put on these heels to look the same as I always do."

"No chance of that," I assured her, offering my arm. "Now I think we've got a dinner to get too."

"You think right," she smiled, slipping her arm through mine. "Glad your brain finally caught up enough to make actual words."

I didn't dignify that with a response.

"Carrie!" Kyouka called as she saw us.

"Over here," she waved.

"It's so great to see you two," Carrie said, pulling Kyouka into a hug. "When you said that you'd had another, I was worried that you wouldn't be able to make it."

"And miss eating here?" Kyouka laughed. "Not a chance! Come here, you have to try the wine."

"Demigod," Eriks greeted me.

"No need for ranks," I told him. "Tonight, I'm here to have dinner with some old friends. I left my rank at my quarters."

"Oh good," he smiled. "That makes me feel better. Kyouka's asked me to be the sober one tonight, and Carrie said we could bring the twins and little Ken."

"You've got twins?" I asked. "Lucky man."

"I'm not so sure," he laughed as we approached the table and I could see the two young men that were seated and watching over the baby boy. "They're on good behaviour now, but I'm sure that soon enough they'll be fighting like cats and dogs again."

"Well, we'll just have to do the only thing we can do as their father and his friend," I said. "Take them outside and start taking bets."

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"I wish that kind of thing will work," he laughed. "They'd probably make one of their own and clean us out. Come on, let me introduce you to them."

While I met Kyouka and Matthew's three children, Carrie was excitedly talking with Kyouka about everything that came to mind. From the wine they were drinking to the troubles of motherhood, they bounced from topic to topic without any seeming rhyme or reason for which one came up next.

"Mr. James," one of the twins, Rob, began, "is it true that Mom and Dad helped you capture a Queen that was on Earth?"

"Yeah," the other one, Ed, jumped in. "They're always going on and on about it and saying that it was their biggest achievement before going to the other galaxies. We're not sure they're telling the truth."

"Well, kids," I smiled, "You should believe it. Your dad here was working with Carrie and I to clean out a library of Scourge. While I was jumping around on the rafters trying to snatch at a bunch of Reapers, Carrie was on the ground, holding a Revenant off; and that's when your dad charged in with his squad. Blindsided the Revenant and a bunch of Ghouls and a few Hellhounds. Made clean up a piece of cake. While we were fighting all of those though, the Queen, itty-bitty little thing then, barely a Princess honestly, was making her escape from where we were and straight to where your mom was. Way I heard it from her squad then, she pinned the Queen with a foot and took her spear and cut clean through its legs. First Scourge Queen taken alive. Only one too from what I remember."

"You're kidding," Ed said. "There's no way that Mom was that much of a badass."

"Language," Matt and I both said.

"But it's true," Rob chimed in. "Mom's been handling paperwork and building listening posts since before we were born; there's no way that she's seen combat."

"Don't let her hear you say that," I told him. "Your mom's a nasty piece of work with that spear of hers. Practically Athena herself; uses her shield to put you on your backfoot and then closes in with her spear and takes your throat with one well-timed jab. Your dad here's pretty good with his own spear and shield."

"If they're so good with them, how come we've never seen them?" Rob demanded.

"Protocol," I answered. "I made it protocol that all Nephilim have to turn in their weapons and armor after they get back to base; wherever that is."

"So why doesn't Mom use her rank to keep her weapons and armor?" Ed asked.

"Simple," I told them with a smile. "I outrank her."

As our dinner continued, I kept answering questions from the twins while Carrie began to gush and coo over the baby with Kyouka. The three of us went through several bottles of wine and we all had a wonderful time. Until the alarms sounded.

"Cai, what's going on?" I demanded, trying not to slur my words.

"It appears that several starships have exited FTL speeds in orbit of Rallypoint," he said. "They bear no markers or tags that mark them as friend or foe."

"Get me sober," I said, rising unsteadily. "I need to be at my best for whatever this is."

"It will take some time for the nanites to remove all traces of alcohol in your system," he told me. "Even more without a source of water in you body to dilute it."

In answer to his statement I grabbed the nearest waiter who happened to be carrying a jug of water as he moved to the kitchen, and likely was preparing to leave, and immediately began to drain the still full gallon container.

"More?" I asked my Cyber.

"At least another two gallons," he said.

"You, bring me three, no ten gallons of water. Now!" I demanded, causing the waiter to jump and run back to the kitchen. "Carrie, I need you sober for this."

"The unknown starships are powering weapons," Cai said.

"Everyone!" I yelled out, grabbing the attention of the few people that weren't looking at me already as the waiter and some of his friends approched me with the requested water. "Remain calm! I am Rickshaw James, Demigod of the Nephilim Army. I need you all to calmly move to shelters rated against orbital bombardment!"

As soon as I finished saying that, the ground shook and a muted boom reached our ears.

"For those who are unsure about how to tell that," I continued without skipping a beat, "all shelters on Rallypoint, constructed by the Deva Collective's efforts, are rated for this! Please make your way there, calmly and orderly! We will get through this!"

I raised another container filled with water to my lips and began to drink. Hopefully Cai could sober me up in time for me to take command of the fleet in orbit and send whoever was shooting at us back to hell.