As they got closer to the floating town, more and more of the water around them became visible as the lights from the settlement peeled back the darkness. The first thing Jason noticed was just how clear the water beneath their boat actually was. More to the point, he was surprised to see fish were present. A small shoal of ugly looking black scaled beasts were floating along just beneath them.

To be honest, he’d never really considered Raknos as having an ecosystem. Perhaps in the massive storm racked oceans that made up most of the planet, but from everything he’d seen, the land was almost entirely barren. As far as plant life was concerned, all he could really recall from up above were little hardy weeds, growing from cracks in the weather worn stone. The less said of animals, the better.

Though looking at the fish below him as they darted into a patch of seaweed, he couldn’t help but wonder if his earlier observations had been deceptive? If the surface was just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, and the actual ‘planet’ was in the expansive cave network below?

It bore thinking on.

Because if the Ufrians have somehow managed to hide all this right beneath our noses, who knows what the Roaches have down here?

He could only hope that the regiment’s commanders were aware of all this, and he simply hadn't needed to be made aware of it. Either way, he’d be making a report the moment he returned to the regiment. Until then, he had a meeting to prepare for.

With that in mind, he looked up at the approaching town, and was utterly unsurprised to see a number of guards lining the nearby dock. Though they weren’t alone. A small crowd of what were clearly civilians were also present, watching with wide eyes as their small boat pushed towards the jetty. Fortunately for his peace of mind, a number of those same guards were positioned to hold the crowd of curious onlookers back.

Though he couldn’t help but note that while those who’d been assigned to ‘crowd duty’ carried the typical swords and spears he’d grown accustomed to seeing in the hands of Ufrians, those standing on the pier itself were armed entirely differently.

They had real weapons.

“That’s a few more guns than expected.” Nora whispered, giving voice to his own concerns as he looked at the motley display of fire-arms.

“Doesn’t change anything,” Jason whispered back as the boat pulled to a stop at their designated berth. “We’re here to talk, not fight.”

Waiting for their guide to properly dock, by tying the boat in place at their designated berth, Jason moved to stand and clamber onto the jetty. Only to stop as one of the guards stepped forward, reaching out an arm to help him.

Surprised at the action, he accepted the young woman’s aid – before noticing to some amusement that no such offers were being extended to Nora or Yaro.

Ah, our hosts are being chivalrous to the male in the group, he thought, as he glanced back at the young brave who had helped him.

She was dressed well. Now that he looked, all those who were present on the dock were, when compared to those keeping the crowd back. Those armed with guns had a full bronze cuirass with chainmail hauberk, full-face helms with plumes, and a backup sword sheathed at their waist. Quite a contrast to what he was now dubbing the ‘city guard’, who were armed with little more than a helmet, cuirass, spear and shield.

So clearly, these guards are special in some manner, he thought. Beyond that obvious fact that they were armed with guns in the first place.

That fact did actually make him feel slightly better about the presence of firearms in the small town. If the weapons were only present in the hands of these special soldiers, it suggested they weren’t quite as ubiquitous as he might have feared.

“This way to the chief.” one of the plumes Ufrians said, gesturing deeper into the settlement.

---------

The journey to the chief’s home was relatively uneventful. A number of the settlement's denizens had come out to witness the ‘outsider’ as he walked down their streets, but their armed escort had little trouble holding the curious onlookers at bay.

Which was why Jason was rather free to look at other things as they wandered through the town. Indeed, he was still pondering the place’s architecture when he was ushered into the chief’s home itself.

Predominantly, he was wondering where all the wood to build this place had come from, because he certainly hadn’t seen any trees worthy of the name in his time on the planet thus far.

He was also wondering why it was so damn warm in here!

To be honest, he’d nearly missed that detail on the trip over. Which was an easy enough thing to do, given that his suit was insulated. It was only the relative lack of coverage present in the populace that eventually had him glancing towards his suit’s external temperature sensor.

Suffice to say, it was significantly warmer in the settlement than it should have been. Sufficiently so that he was starting to wonder if the place was located near some kind of thermal vent?

Of course, he had to dismiss those thoughts on underground thermodynamics as he was finally ushered into a large hall that wouldn’t have looked too out of place in some kind of medieval period drama. The only salient difference between the place and some ancient Viking chief’s beer hall was the fact that the chairs had been replaced by a number of brightly colored blankets and pillows that were recessed into the floor.

Even the chiefess herself, for it was obvious who that was, sat on a brightly colored pillow on the floor, rather than some kind of throne.

It was obvious even from a glance, that the woman in ornately gilded armor was well into her middle years. A fact evidenced by the grey streak that ran through the woman’s raven black hair, and the crow’s eyes that were just beginning to form around her bright red eyes. Still, she wore her years well; her youthful beauty transformed into an understated stately grace by the passage of time.

A stately grace that was utterly absent in the girl sat next to her. Maybel sat cross legged to the chiefess’s right, the young warrior looking all for all the world like a naughty child being brought to task before her elder.

Which probably isn’t too far from the reality of the situation, Jason thought as he glanced at the collection of pilfered Imperial goods arranged before the uncomfortable young Ufrian.

Still, this saved time. Part of him feared he’d be spending the evening searching through the equivalent of Ufrian pawn shops looking for the target designator. Instead it sat clearly on display atop the pile, like some kind of crowning jewel.

Which in many ways, it was, as far as Ufrian sensibilities were concerned. To a pre-industrial society, the small collection of goods in front of him was, in a very real way, priceless.

“So this is what prompted a response?” The chiefess inclined her head towards the target designator.

Jason resisted the urge to wince as the object of his interest was revealed. Clearly it must have shown in his body language despite the helmet he wore covering his expression.

The aged woman continued. “I suspected as much when your people requested this meeting, that one of my girls had taken something of value.” To her side, Maybel flinched. The chief glanced at the girl, before returning her attention back to Jason. “I will return it. Along with all the other goods my wayward daughter took from your camp.”

Jason stiffened in surprise.

That was easy? he thought.

To be honest, he’d been fully prepared to just pay for the item’s return. Which was why Yaro was -grudgingly - carrying a pack full of medical supplies for just that purpose.

Sure, he could fully admit that it wasn’t exactly glorious to pay for the return of goods that had been stolen… but he wasn’t exactly here to cover himself in glory.

And I’d like to think that killing a bunch of ‘primitives’ over what’s essentially a glorified paperweight to be pretty inglorious anyway, he thought. Despite what everyone else on this rock seems to think.

Nor did he care that doing this would just encourage the Ulfrians to keep stealing stuff. He wasn’t a sociologist. Nor was he a quartermaster. That shit wasn’t his problem. He just wanted to get the dumb thing back with a minimum of fuss and go ‘home’.

Which was why he found himself feeling suspicious. This had been too easy. Perhaps it was the cynic in him, but he struggled to believe that his opposite number could really be that reasonable.

“Honorable of you.” he said, trying to keep his doubt from his voice.

Something he clearly failed in, given the way the old woman broke into cackles. “Honorable? No, just good sense.” Absently she reached out to swat her daughter on the ear, drawing a hiss of indignation from the girl. “Now, while you Imperial might tolerate my girls causing trouble every now and then, I’ve no doubt in my mind that you would wipe us all out if we actually caused you any real trouble.”

Well… he couldn’t argue that. Especially given that it was only his intercession that had stopped that from being the regiment’s first response to this particular theft.

Sure, Avilla wouldn’t have been sending in troops to wipe out the Ufrians as much as recover the Target Designator by force, but it would have still ended in a lot of natives being killed.

And this settlement may well have ended up at the bottom of this lake before all was said and done, he thought grimly.

The woman in front of him shouldn’t have known that though…

“Has something like that occurred before, mrs…” he trailed off as he realized that she’d never introduced herself. Or he himself.

“Chiefess Maykil.”

Finally taking off his helmet, he nodded. “Chiefess Maykil.”

“And I assume you are Champion Jason?” Maykil continued. “My daughter has had much to say about you.”

“All good I hope?” Jason glanced at Maybel’s leaning form, though the young brave deliberately avoided his gaze.

“Hardly.” Maykil laughed. “But my daughter's desire to possess things she can’t have, isn’t why you are here.” She paused, contemplatively. “Or perhaps it is?”

Jason would agree. Advanced Target Designators definitely fell within the purview of things Maybel couldn’t have. As did he. Still, he had little desire to dwell on the subject or Maybel’s unwanted affections – even if her mother clearly did.

“You mentioned a fear of reprisal?” He prompted. “It’s a reasonable fear, yet I find myself curious as to why? From what I’ve seen, your interactions with the Imperium have been pretty amicable.”

At least, with this particular clan. He’d seen a scattering of reports from the other regiments detailing small scale conflicts with some of the natives they’d encountered, but the Terran 1st had been lucky enough to be mostly amicably received by those Ufrians they’d encountered.

A little too amicably in many cases.

“They have been,” Maykil allowed. “Yet first hand accounts are not the only source of information available to this old woman. The words of others may not have the same solidity as those sights seen with one's own senses, yet only a fool dismisses the drumming of raindrops because they can’t yet feel the moisture.”

Jason frowned as he mentally parsed through that needlessly cryptic bit of dialogue. It didn’t take him long though. To understand the idiom and what it implied.

“You’ve been talking to the Roaches,” he said finally. “Either that, or you have access to more tech than anticipated.”

He knew they had omni-pads. And if they had them, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that they might have tapped into the mining site’s wireless networks. Which in turn would give them access to the local ‘internet’.

Because while the Ufrians were primitive by even Earth’s standards, they weren’t stupid. One didn’t need to know how to build a tv to be able to operate it. Nor did one need to know how access to a massive repository of space age knowledge was achieved to see the value in being able to do so.

The chiefess smiled at how quickly he caught on. “A bit of the former, a bit of the latter.”

Behind him, he felt Yaro and Nora tense at the tacit admittance that the aliens had been – and might still be – in contact with the enemy.

“Are you still talking to this ‘outside source’?” he asked carefully, resisting the urge to finger the pistol at his side.

Suddenly he found himself feeling very aware of the fact that Maykil’s guards were still in the room. Certainly, he was still confident he could shoot his way out – Maykil’s guards were armed, not armored, and that counted for a lot – it would be a lot dicier than he might like. Especially given that they’d then have to fight their way out of the town and back through the caves afterward.

Caves that had shark-gators in them.

Yeah, he’d come down here to avoid a firefight, and the things he’d seen over the last hour had only reinforced his desire not to be involved in a shootout.

“No.” Maykil said, previous joviality replaced with sternness. “Much to their disappointment, I think. It can be hard to tell when dealing with the Ulnus. What with the suits. Still, they were quite passionate in their own way. Waxing on about us joining them in their crusade against the ‘universal oppressors’.”

Jason cocked his head at that. Curious in spite of himself.

Ulnus? he thought.

He didn’t know why that surprised them. Of course the Roaches would have their own names for themselves. It was a strange reminder that the people they were up against were people. Not just pirates… or targets on a map.

Matkil continued. “They seemed to think of us as kindred spirits. Two species who had both had their homeworld occupied by the Shil’vati.”

“And did you see kindred spirits in them?” Jason asked, deliberately ignoring the way those words resonated with him.

After all, the Ufrians and the Ulnus weren’t the only species the Imperium had conquered. Hell, there wasn’t a single person present in the room whose world hadn’t been conquered by the Purps.

…Yet, here he was, a representative of that same government.

“Perhaps.” Maykil allowed. “Yet we are no ally of theirs. One need only look at the Roaches themselves to see where that path leads. No, when stormfronts clash, a wise woman seeks cover.” She cocked her head contemplatively. “Or perhaps, ‘when gods clash, mortals suffer’ might be more apt?”

She looked up at him, or rather, the armor he was clad in. “And while we are aware that you people from the stars are not gods, the disparity in our power is such that you might as well be.”

Jason nodded slowly. “That’s a… reasonable stance to take.”

One that eerily echoed his own thought process when he chose to submit to Imperial rule rather than resist the inevitable.

The woman shrugged, as if to say ‘what can you do?’

Then she leaned forward. “Which is also why I am now returning your stolen items back to you. I can’t speak for all Ufrians, but the Clan of May seeks no conflict with the Imperium.” She gestured, and a number of servants bustled into the room, scooping up the Targeting Device and other miscellaneous bits of equipment. “My people shall load this onto a boat for you, before one of my warriors guides you back to the surface.”

Jason nodded. “Thank you for your cooperation. I will make sure to emphasize it when I make my report to my superiors.”

It felt a little odd to thank someone for returning something they’d stolen in the first place, but given how reasonable the woman was being, it felt even stranger to say nothing. More to the point, hopefully this little show of cooperation would keep any real censure from falling on the heads of the Ufrians.

He was just turning to leave when Maykil spoke again.

“Would you forward a request for me when you make that report?” she asked.

Jason frowned.

Here we go, he thought. I knew this was going too well.

“Perhaps?” he allowed cautiously. “May I know what that request is?”

Maykil nodded. “As I said, compared to us, you outsiders might as well be gods. I would ask to partake of that power. To be made part of the Imperium - as you and the furry woman are.”

“You want the Imperium to take over?” Despite himself, he couldn’t keep his surprise from his voice.

The woman just shook her head. “Have they not already? While my people may still lay claim to this land, we are no longer the true power on this world. Even before the Roaches came, the miners who claimed this planet had the power to do as they pleased. Even if they chose to simply ignore us, there is no denying that there was nothing my people might have done to stop them if they chose to act… poorly.”

Jason would argue that said miners had already acted poorly, given that they were stealing the planet’s natural resources. Then again, it wasn’t like the majority of those resources had any value to Ufrians as they were. So it shouldn’t have been too surprising that the aliens didn’t have any real issue with the… other aliens.

Despite all that…

“It stills seems strange to me that you’d… want them to take over.”

The chiefess shrugged. “Want is a strong term. This will happen regardless, given enough time. And if it is to happen, it may as well be on our terms.” She glanced toward where the last of the stolen goods had just disappeared through the door. “It is not as if we would see nothing in return for the loss of our autonomy. My people would gain access to your wonderful devices. Food ample enough that no Ufrian need fear an empty fishing net. Medicines for young and old alike. And most of all, access to the stars themselves.”

Even Jason could hear the true longing in the woman’s tone at those last words. Nor could he say he didn’t understand it. Even now, nearly a year after he’d first stepped off Earth’s surface, it still amazed him that he really was out in space. On a different world. Speaking with an alien!

The Ufrian’s voice went quiet. “If we must bow to Imperium for those things, we will. In many ways it will be little different from when the miners first arrived. We once dwelled on the land where they made their settlement. We were asked to move, and awed by their power, we did.” She frowned. “Which was smart, because those that did not move were removed. Forcibly.”

Jason sighed. Because of course they were.

Despite the somber nature of her tone, Maykil’s lips twitched slightly upwards at his frustration. “Still it is comforting to see your discomfort at that discovery. It shows that for all that we are different, we are still in many ways the same. That regardless of their shape or home, people are still people. Good and bad.”

Jason smiled at that, trying to emulate the woman’s sudden good cheer.

“I’ll forward your request.” He said. “I doubt it’ll be a problem.”

To be honest, he wasn’t sure why the Imperials weren’t annexing the Ufrians already. It was kind of their modus operandi.

They certainly didn’t hesitate like this when it came to Earth, he thought.