For the longest of moments nothing happened. Then, eventually, an older Glorpil scuttled toward Eirik. "No one here speaks with authority over others, but I will speak on behalf of those present. What do you mean, "The false prophet?" He said, astounded that he could understand the gigantic creature.

Eirik sent a thankful thought to Signe for installing a small translator module in the closed helmets with the blank faceplates. He had been meaning to change that. The suits were not built for stealth, so he wanted something intimidating. Bright purple eyes for example. Paint the suits black and call any soldier wearing them, an *Enderman* Red eyes were overused anyway.

"ONE AMONGST OUR PEOPLE HAS COME HERE AGAINST OUR COLLECTIVE WILL AND AGREEMENT. INTERFERING WITH A PEOPLE THAT IS NOT READY TO JOIN US AMONG THE STARS, IS THE GREATEST OF CRIMES. WE HAVE COME TO COLLECT ANYONE RESPONSIBLE AND, WITHIN OUR ABILITIES, RETURN ANY PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY! THIS INDIVIDUAL HAS LIED TO YOU ALL! EXPLOITED YOUR TREASURED BELIEFS FOR HIS PERSONAL GAIN AND HIDDEN AGENDAS! WILL YOU HELP US OR NOT? ON MY WORD AND HONOR, NO HARM SHALL COME TO ANY WHO REFUSE."

Eirik had spent many hours in front of the mirror, practicing the speech until Freja was ready to strangle him in frustration, claiming he was driving her nuts with his incessant stumbling over the words. She had been incredibly moody lately, swinging wildly from happy to sad with little warning. She had also gained weight, but Eirik chalked that one up to living with Old Pan's cooking once more. The old man knew how to keep people well-fed.

The elderly Glorpil retreated to mumble back and forth with the other males that had approached as Eirik's voice carried down the streets, almost reaching the city walls. for several minutes, a heated debate broke out between two opposing opinions, one for believing Eirik and one against it. The women had come closer to the men and were quietly influencing their mates. As mothers, they had all either felt or knew someone who had felt the loss of one of their children being taken by the messengers for purposes unknown.

Slowly, the side that believed what Eirik said gained support and momentum and eventually, enough of them had joined the side for Eirik, and the elderly Glorpil scuttled forward again. "There is a small cave outside the city, half a day's travel toward the Silent Peaks mountains," He pointed to 3 lonely mountains in the near distance. Eirik remembered them from the scans. Large iron-rich mountains which also functioned as a natural barrier against anything coming from the northern regions of the planet. Life there seemed harsher and the Glorpil more savage, the further North you moved.

Life, it seemed, was not without a bit of consistency. "But what guarantee do we have that you are speaking the truth?" The elderly Glorpil continued.

"YOUR PEOPLE ARE BEING USED AS ASSASSINS AND SPIES AGAINST THE FALSE PROPHETS' OWN PEOPLE. KILLERS FOR HIRE. USUALLY, THEY ARE KILLED IN RETALIATION BY OVERZEALOUS BODYGUARDS. HOWEVER, ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE WAS SENT TO KILL ME... AND FAILED. INSTEAD OF TAKING HIS LIFE, I SPARED HIM SO HE COULD HELP ME LOCATE YOUR WORLD AND RETURN HIM FROM WHERE HE CAME. IS THERE ANYONE AMONG YOU THAT RECOGNIZE THE NAME OF NARVIK?" Eirik called out and waited for his words to settle.

It didn't take many seconds before a commotion drew his attention and he saw a rather large group of Glorpil making the way toward him as fast as the crowd would allow them to. Which was quite considerable, when taking their determined speed into account. Eirik had seen Narvik play tag with Trasti and Las'Tai and knew approximately how far he could jump. He was ready to raise his shield if he needed to. Physical contact with a forcefield was an uncomfortable experience, to say the least.

He never needed to, as the group of Glorpil stopped short of the leaping distance marker he had set up mentally."perhaps a culture thing." Eirik thought to himself

"We know Narvik. He was taken by the messengers many months ago. Is he still alive?" The oldest male asked rapidly, struggling to form the words in his eagerness to get some answers.

Eirik reached up and pressed a button on the outside of his helmet before speaking in a low voice "Send down the shuttle" and waited for the 2 clicks of confirmation that told him the ship had received and acknowledged his orders. That came through a second later and he spoke out loud again, "ASK HIM YOURSELF WHEN HE ARRIVES. UNTIL THEN, WE REQUIRE A SMALL AREA WHERE WE CAN SET UP TEMPORARY SHELTER."

"Narvik is coming here? When does he arrive?" The male and his family had started scuttling back and forth as soon as Eirik said that Narvik would come and the longing in their voices was unmistakable. Eirik put his shield on the ground, leaning it against himself. He put the axe on the inside of the shield where magnetic locks activated and kept it in place. Reaching up to and placing both hands on his helmet, he twisted it 90 degrees and heard the hiss of air as the suits aligned with the lower atmospheric pressure. Pulling his helmet off, his hair fell out of the bun he had put it in, making it fall to its full length.

"Narvik will be here in less time than it would take to walk to the city walls." He said to the 2 astonished Glorpil in front of him. "Would it be much trouble if we set up a temporary camp here on the square?"

_____________________________

Sif was patiently watching the screens in the underground base. She could see the ship in orbit and it did not please her. Whatever ship Dalle was sending her way would be outmatched in an instant by that thing. While not a full-on battleship, it had enough hidden guns and point defense emplacements that it might as well have been a capital ship. They were cleverly hidden, only revealed by deep-scanning the ship with illegal-for-civilian radar technology. While fairly incompetent at... well, almost everything, Dalle did have a knack for getting a hold of good toys.

She was astonished at the lack of action from the said ship. She thought she had detected a small craft leaving it, but it had split up into smaller fragments almost immediately and most likely burned up in the atmosphere, whatever it was. Now, a small standard transportation shuttle dislodged and headed for the trading hub, the center of their operations

Then there was the mysterious shadow ping from the scanners. 4 times it had shown up since Eirik's ship entered a stable orbit, and the last time it had shown up dangerously close to the mountains that held her base. It was probably nothing, but ghost readings like that were unnerving, even more so considering her current situation. She would have to play her cards extremely carefully in the near future if she was to have any chance of escaping this situation with the correct kill under her belt

"If that is indeed the famed Eirik, he is either extremely well informed or extremely lucky." Sif pondered. "I wonder if the loss of an arm has prevented him from considering a new... partnership. Surely, a man of skill and ambition needs a strong woman to lean on in hard times. To console him as he slowly withers away from an unknown disease. Well after the wedding and line of success has been established of course. Unless he can be controlled. A man with his reputation would be a powerful tool to have available to you."

One of the men assigned to her protection approached from behind. She hated them all. Their clumsy moving around, making noise constantly. Their crude jokes, the way their eyes crept over her whenever they spoke to her. She could kill them before they knew to be afraid, but they refused to accept that fact. They would come to regret it in time.

From the sound of his boots, he was still a dozen or so steps away when she spoke "What do you want?"

"Evacuation is ready, the gear is moved and everyone is gathering up to board the ships." The man said in his best attempt at a stiff tone, but Sif could hear the underlying thoughts. He hated being under the command of a woman but accepted his fate...For the moment.

"Change of plans," Sif said, "We stay, offer token resistance, and surrender. If we play this right, we can end this little game before it even starts."

"We don't even know what we are facing!" The man said but was stopped by his own wails as a knife sliced off his ear as it sailed past his head.

"Did I stutter?" Sif's voice had changed, from warm and inviting to icy cold and filled with hostility. This was a completely different woman standing in front of the radar screens. Where she had been petite and non-threatening a second ago, he was now looking at an unhinged killer, inches away from the abyss of madness and lusting for wholesale murder. Her eyes had become pits of insane fury and the fingers on the hand not holding the knife were curled up like the claws of a feral animal

Gone was the beautiful and harmless-looking woman and left in her place was a hateful creature that lived only to watch the world around her burn so she could dance in the ashes while laughing. The soldier ran out of the room, clutching a hand to his ear to stem the flow of blood.

"That's what I thought!" Sif growled as she sat back down and continued plotting.

_________________________

Eirik and his companions were running across the fields outside the city, following the elderly Glorpil, and the other one that turned out to be the father of Narvik. They were both mounted on the strange 6-legged creatures that had been roaming in herds outside the city walls and Eirik had come to learn they were a common transport animal, beast of burden, and cattle, all in one. They were herbivores but still presented a significant danger to the unprepared, as the herd would all trample any aggressors under their strong legs until the ground was soaked in blood and gore.

They had asked Eirik and his group how they would keep up when they had mounted the beasts, and the Terrans had just laughed. The PESSA suits allowed them to move far faster than regular Terrans, the hydraulics and robotics increasing their strength many times. Combine this with the low gravity and they were now engaged in a leaping run that felt more like skipping than running, and they even had to reign themselves in to not outrun their guides.

The mountains grew quickly in their vision and soon they could see the opening in the base of the closest mountain, which was supposed to be the cave where the so-called "messengers" stayed. The 2 Glorpil stopped well away from the caves, wanting to go back and not get involved, but Eirik insisted they came along to witness what was about to happen. He wanted credible witnesses from the local populace to retell this story, not tales from his own people that could be dismissed by the Glorpil as more lies.

Reluctantly, they followed, but this time behind Eirik's group, taking great care to keep some distance from the strange, titanic warriors. They could sense the coming conflict in everything, from the tight grip these newcomers had on their weapons to the overpowering smell of some unknown pheromone coming off of the newcomers. It was heavy. Pungent. Filled with immense power, of both mental and physical superiority. The kind of pheromone you only found in creatures that delighted in the hunt, not the kill. The thrill of the chase, or escape, depending on the situation.

It smelled like pure terror, unbridled rage, and cold, uncaring analytical decision-making. Just a whiff of it was enough to affect them, amplifying their connection to their emotional state. They had never smelled anything like it, but it set off warning bells throughout their entire nervous system. If the Terran's focus had not been directed squarely at the cave that approached all too rapidly, they would have been fleeing in horror from these fear-inducing behemoths.

Eirik spotted movement in front of the cave opening and increased his running speed as much as he could, pulling ahead of the group at an alarming rate for a moment before the rest followed suit. The Glorpil following them could only watch with dread as something that large, moved faster than it had any right to ever be able to,