"Commander James!" Kiv-mel greeted me when I left the shuttle. He was still in his green armor with the gears marking him out as an engineer non-combatant. "Principality Applewood! It's good to see you both!"

"You too, Kiv-mel," Carrie greeted him. "I'm taking control for now. The Commander is going to enter the ship with other squads and they'll work to clear out the Scourge inside."

"Is that wise?" Kiv-mel asked.

"Probably not, but the Commander does things however he wants and lets the rest of us sort it all out," Carrie said. "That's why now we've got a new Principality and another two Queen's Bounties on the table. Plus, he said that he was thinking of having the second-tier Scourge inside act as new bounties. I don't know what he's thinking there."

"I didn't say that the second-tiers would be new bounties," I said. "I was just wondering if we should incentivize our people to fight them."

"That means you're thinking of making them bounties," Carrie said.

"It does sound that way, Commander," Kiv-mel said.

"But this wouldn't be a bounty that would affect just one person," I told them. "This would be something like, being able to choose a mascot for their squad. Something that would affect the entire squad and would reflect the need for them to all act together against the second-tier Scourge. A bounty would make them try to take them out alone. That would get Nephilim killed and would be completely unacceptable."

"This is still something that you should be careful with," Carrie said. "If you start rewarding us for tying our shoes then we're going to have problems with people who won't want to fight and with people that will start to hate their comrades because they didn't get the same rewards."

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed. "I just don't want everyone to be so afraid of the higher tier Scourge that they don't go after them when they show up."

"If it will help Commander," Kiv-mel said, "eventually there will be no more high tier Scourge. It is estimated that for a Queen capable of birthing a second-tier Scourge to be born, the planet it is on will need to have been under Scourge control for close to one thousand years. From there, it is estimated that nearly ten times the amount of time must pass before any third-tier Scourge are born. And a further ten times for a fourth-tier Scourge to be born."

"Oh good, that just means that the worst we'll encounter will be fourth-tier Scourge on the older planets then," Carrie said. "That doesn't sound terrible at all."

"I'm sure it'll be bad," I told her. "Right now though we should focus on what's in front of us."

"Agreed," Kiv-mel said as we looked toward the crashed Ythnw starship.

"It looks intact," I said. "No marks from atmosphere burn or any sort of damage from having been shot at by Warden forces. That's not good."

"Why?" Carrie asked.

"Because it means that someone flew it," I told her. "They flew it and they were able to avoid any Warden forces that they might have encountered. It could also mean that someone escorted or towed them here before sending them down. That's almost worse than someone piloting it out here."

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"It would mean that Commander James' distrust of most Warden of Life member races is justified," Kiv-mel said. "I cannot understand why the Scourge are onboard the ship though."

"It's likely they captured a Queen like we did yesterday and it escaped. Cai, send word to triple the guard on the containment unit the Queen's sitting in."

"A Queen was captured alive?" Kiv-mel asked.

"It's how Principality Yamato got her promotion," Carrie said.

"We can focus on the how and why of this later," I decided. "Carrie, take command. Kiv-mel, I want you to offer support to her and answer any questions she might have. After we've secured the ship, we'll send you onboard with a guard to find out what's happened that sent the Ythnw ship here."

"You'll be going in with a squad," Carrie said. "I don't need to lose you just because you didn't want to ruin whatever dynamic they have or whatever excuse you're trying to come up with. I'm not ready to take total command of the Nephilim."

"Yes, ma'am" I said to her. "Who am I going in with?"

I like to think she was stunned that I'd agreed so easily, but she took a minute before choosing to send me in with Roberts and another Paladin that was near to her squad. Apparently I would have two squads with me instead of one, but I could deal with that. While Carrie moved on, giving out orders to prepare the squads that would be entering the ship, I made my way to Roberts and the Paladin next to her to give them the good news. They were not enthused to hear what Carrie wanted.

"Who's in charge while we're inside sir?" Roberts asked.

"You are," I told her. "I'm just there for extra backup and to get some experience when fighting second-tier Scourge. It's best if I have an idea about how strong they are compared to base Scourge before I send too few people to fight them and get killed."

"Should we treat you any different than normal?" the Paladin who's name was Johnson asked.

"Just treat me like I'm anyone else," I told him. "If I take over, it'll be because we've encountered a second-tier or you've asked me to. Until then, I'm an attached member and have no command power."

"Alright then," Roberts said. "With you added, we'll have a total of ten. Johnson, I want to have everyone move in pairs, my squad will go first inside and you'll follow us. Work for you?"

"Yes, Wing, it does," Johnson agreed. "Will you have the Commander join your squad for this or will he be in mine?"

"I'll take him," Roberts said. "He can pair with Greg or Jane. They're usually the odd one out for my people."

"Sounds like a plan," Johnson said. "I'll have my people restock and get ready. Meet back by the Commander in ten?"

"Works," Roberts said before both of them moved off to get their squads together.

"I don't know if I like being the rendevous point," I muttered to myself as I moved to an empty spot to sit down and wait.

As they'd agreed, Roberts and Johnson were back in ten minutes with their squads and we made our way to the ship that was just starting to be opened for everyone to enter and clear.

"This isn't going to have any differences from the Phoenix is it?" Johnson asked. "I spent the two weeks aboard exploring and trying not to get lost."

"The Phoenix is a bigger class of starship than this one is," I told him. "Ythnw weren't the most populous race and they worked to keep everyone consolidated to the one ship. That's why this is a bigger tradgedy than just what's happened so far. At its worst, an entire race has been wiped out by the Scourge. Again."

"Jeez," one of Roberts' Knights said. "Poor bastards."

"You can say that again," another agreed. "What's the plan Commander?"

"Whatever your Wing and the Paladin tell you," I answered. "I'm not in charge of this trip."

"We're going in pairs," Roberts said. "That means that you stick together like glue and you don't go anywhere without telling someone else. Richard, you're with me. Jane, Mark, you're together. Greg, try not screw up; you're with the Commander."

While Johnson divided his own squad, I approached the Knight I'd been paired with and introduced myself.

"Good to meet you Greg," I told him. "I'm Rickshaw, let's try not to disappoint your Wing, eh?"

He did not answer me for several minutes.