When Julius reached the armory he actually had to ask Stella for information on all the weapons and defensive gear available. Apparently, the Guardian AI's were forbidden from sharing the knowledge that could launch a species through thousands of years of technological advancement until the command authorization had been confirmed. It explained why he didn't have access to anything about the ship until then as well. The armory had everything from standard ballistic pistols to portable rail guns. To a Marine Corps veteran, it was like heaven on, well, a spaceship. As of as it may seem, it turned out the Guardians main weapon was usually a sword with a retractable blade that vibrated at such a high frequency it could essentially cut through anything.

In addition to the sword was the Guardian Armor. The armor reminded Julius of a mix between ancient Greek and Roman armor. The helmet fits over the head and completely covered the face with a black faceplate running in a ‘T’ shape on the front. The sides had wings attached that hugged so close to the helmet frame you'd think the were just detailed on, and the front sported a customized Guardian emblem on a single, raised part of the brow. The helmet was really the only distinctive part of the armor, the rest looking like different armor styles Julius had seen in old sci-fi games and movies except with the Guardian emblem embossed on the left pectoral and shoulder.

Stella had informed Julius that Guardian usually had different emblems and colors based on personal taste, so she had composed a bunch of variations of each and sent the images to his mind on the walk over to the armory. Julius had chosen his emblem to be an old fashioned kite shield with a sun peaking over its top portion and a phoenix in the shield cradling two crossed swords in its wings. The colors he had chosen would have one from each proverbial side taking the color black as the main color and gold as a trim.

The armor, when presented to him, almost made Julius shed a tear. It was stunning. While the ship as a whole had just taken his breath away with all the new and incredible technology, the emblem and coloring of the armor had been something he actually chose for himself and increased its value to him. After donning the armor and sword, Julius walked over to the weapons rack. He picked one if the rifles, about the size of his old AR20, and fired alternating munition that could be switched between a highly condensed bolt of energy and tiny slivers of metal at extremely high rate of speed.

Every weapon Julius had was made to be collapsible to allow for easier movement and extra space on his armor. Everything he had to carry also had the ability to stick onto certain points of his armor because of a weak magnetic field localized to those areas. Collapsing the rifle down he placed it on his back along with the hilt of his sword and a ballistic sidearm on either thigh. Once finished, he grabbed some extra ammo and said kits for anyone he found and walked out of the armory and back to the Bridge.

“Alright Stella, what other info can you give me on this ship we're about to reach?” Asked Julius as he entered the Bridge and made his way to the command chair.

“Eheh, well this is where it gets a little awkward. You see, because of how powerful Guardians are and the work they do people tend to see them as a bit…”

“Oh don't tell me it's what I think it is.”

“Sure is! The vessel is a ship belonging to a religious cult called The Faithful Sword. They sprung up in the last 2,000 years and have been running around the sector claiming to be the Guardians Sword and all should bow to them. Apparently, they know nothing of the Guardians because not they've broken just about every code and law we have.” Replied Stella, sounding a bit too mocking in her response.

“So they'll either see me as their God returned or a pretender. Yeah, this sounds like so much fun. Alright well as long as we can save those people, I'll get over the whole cult thing.” Said Julius as he looked at the ETA counter on his screen which read five minutes.

“I'm going to the rapid deployment bay. We'll do a quantum transfer over after I try and talk these guys down.” Julius told Stella as he stood and made his way several decks down toward a large room that held a containment field for the Quantum Transfer as well as several pods that can be used for a hot drop into a planet's atmosphere.

The Quantum Transfer or QT device was something Julius would never be able to understand, it somehow formed a quantum singularity in the containment field and launched the exit singularity toward the targeted area. Not only was it somehow able to allow safe travel between two points but it also made it so both points were completely stable and caused no destruction even though only one point was in a containment field. Just thinking of the mechanics of it made Julius’ brain feel like mashed potatoes.

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At the same time, Captain Keltar of the Faithful Sword Armada was sitting on his Bridge enjoying a cup of coffee and his most recent acquaintance. Of course, he noticed the dirty looks from his crew but he didn't care, it was perfectly natural to enjoy one's property, right? No one ever said you had to do it in private, after all, why would he want to hide such a beautiful creature.

Keltar was finally getting excited with his new plaything when he noticed the crewman at the sensor station frantically moving his hands over his station.

“What in the Guardians name are you doing over there Ensign Talour?” Asked the Captain.

“Captain, something just popped onto our sensors but it doesn't seem possible!” Replied the frantic Ensign.

“And what in the hells does that mean?” Asked the Captain once again. This time sending the slave back to the pen at the rear of the Bridge and standing to move closer to the Ensign.

“Well Sir, not only did it just appear well within our range but its signature is mass-” the Ensign was cut off by another crew member, this time the communications officer.

“Captain. Incoming Hail, priority...no this can't be right.” The crew member at communications was shaking now and her face was pale.

“Spit it out damn you!” Shouted Keltar, who was starting to get angry at his crew's inability to act during the situation.

“Sir, Captain, it says it's a Priority 1-Alpha Communications request.” The poor crew member was still shaking and her eyes were as wide as saucers. It wasn't all that different from the rest of the crew including Keltar who had dropped his cup of coffee after hearing the Priority.

Keltar rushed back to the captain's chair in the center of the Bridge before straightening his uniform. Taking a deep breath he looked over to his communications officer and gave the signal to connect the call.

Julius was playing around with his helmets H.U.D. when Stella came over his helmet comm.

“It appears they've finally decided to take your call. It must've given them a heart attack when they saw the priority signal I sent them.” Stella started to giggle in what was definitely not a friendly manner.

“Aw don't kill them before I get to see my first alien!” exclaimed Julius.

“I didn't, I wouldn't spoil that moment for you. Patching it through to your H.U.D. now.” Saying so, a small box appeared on the top right corner of Julius’ H.U.D.

The great thing about this type of communication is he could keep it private while maintaining his secrecy regarding his looks. It may seem odd but people knowing what you look like could lead to issues further down the line. Taking a look around the area of what he assumed to be the Bridge, Julius noticed a few things. One such thing was the incredibly odd alien in front of him. It was simultaneously overweight and muscular at the same time. The alien, which his system now identified as the Ribarra, honestly looked a lot like humans. The only real differences were the four arms ending in hands with six digits each, a bat-like nose and an absolutely absurd amount of hair or fur covering its body. Julius assumed this Ribarran was the commander of the ship so he introduced himself.

“I am Guardian Starborne of the Galactic Guardian Corps. G.I.N. Alpha-175991. We're investigating reports of slavery regarding these vessels. Do you have any information on these reports?” Asked Julius, bringing his command voice back to life from his old days.

The Ribarran seemed to fidget a bit before glancing over to his left. Julius noticed the movement and glanced that way just in case the Ribarran was hiding something. Unfortunately, he was. Julius saw what was to the left and behind the Ribarran and when he did, he almost lost control. Three beings were locked in a cage in the back of the Bridge. Julius couldn't see them to well but he was able to make out the fact that they were women and that they weren't in the best of conditions.

Of course, all of this happened within a second and the Captain had no idea that it had. The Captain seemed to have worked up the courage and finally skilled before reply.

“I am Captain Keltar of the Faithful Sword Armada. My Lord Guardian, it is a great honor to be the first among my people to speak with you.” Saying so, he gave a slight bow toward Julius. “In regards to the issue of slavery, I've heard rumors of it but can assure you of no such thing on my ship. I apologize for any inconvenience you must have suffered.” The Captain gave a slight smile after that, thinking that no one had noticed the three women in the back and that he was safe to go. Julius had other plans, however.

“Is that so?” Replied Julius. He gave a mental request to Stella to mark the life signs of the three people behind the Captain and continued on.

“Well since I'm already here, I see no issue in me performing a search on your ship so I can successfully quell these rumors. Heave to and prepare to be boarded.” Saying this, Julius immediately closed the channel, not wanting to hear any of the boundless amounts of excuses the Captain surely had.