Blue Star Enterprises

Even with the upgraded sensors, Alexander wasn't really sure what he was looking at thanks to the poor tactical displays aboard Soul. The two blobs on the scanners seemed to grow closer before one left. It was pretty easy to guess that those blobs were fleets of ships, but that's about all he could say with certainty.

Were they running through some sort of training exercise?

Then again, that didn't really explain why the one group left shortly after they should have discovered his fleet's arrival.

It wasn't until Krieger contacted him that he learned what had transpired.

"It seems they were mid-battle when we popped in and interrupted them. I confirmed this by contacting the captains of the Eden ships. There are at least two debris fields from destroyed vessels. I assume by the one side's hasty exit from the system that they assumed we were here to reinforce their opposition. I'm not sure what we just stuck our foot into, Alex, but be careful."

Alexander thanked Krieger for the information and waited for Katalynn Char to respond to the message he had already sent.

It was a slow back and forth without FTL comms, but he did eventually get the woman to agree to the meeting and even swear an oath. He was putting a lot of faith in the fact that they would keep their word, but he needed to move forward with this diplomatic mission, and doing it through radio comms wasn't going to cut it.

The entire conversation had been over open radio so Krieger and the rest of the fleet were probably already aware of his plans, but he still contacted the man to let him know. Krieger had standing orders to cause as much damage as they could without risking the fleet before jumping out if the Asgardians betrayed their trust. He didn't like having to give such a scorched earth order, but if this came to violence, he would do everything in his power to ensure Unokane could win.

If it came down to that, it would mean Alexander had either been captured or his ship destroyed. Neither of which were good options for him, but in that case, he wanted the fleet to return home to defend Eden's End instead of fighting a useless battle here.

Unokane might struggle a bit with his absence, but he had left behind enough infrastructure and technology that he was certain his death wouldn't destabilize what he had built. Eden's End also had some very smart people who could pick up where he left off. They would be okay with time so long as Harlow could be beaten.

It might seem a bit morbid to some to plan for their death, but Alexander had been making contingency plans since he made this decision to meet with Katalynn. There had always been the chance of this meeting going south, but even if it succeeded, it meant going up against Harlow, one of the strongest pirates humanity had ever faced.

That meant any one of them could die, including him.

Alexander would prefer to avoid direct combat. He may be a qualified captain, but he had no experience in warfare and would rather settle things diplomatically, but sometimes that simply wasn't an option. A lot of things would need to happen before he could step aside from the role of captain. He simply didn't have enough military personnel to take a back seat if conflict broke out in the next few months or even years most likely.

That issue would ease up as he modified the new ships to allow for more automation, but converting the ships to meet those specifications was not a fast process. It took two months to refit a frigate. He suspected the destroyers would take twice that long because the bots would be forced to learn the configurations of the new ships before they became optimized to the larger design. The cruisers would likely take even longer.

Alexander could convert multiple ships at once, but he didn't have enough ships to risk having two down at the same time.

He was hoping to offset this issue by manufacturing automated corvettes when he got back to Eden's End, but he wasn't sure how long that process would take.

Alexander had had plenty of time on this trip to finally come up with an initial design for the new automated corvette. The ship wasn't an original design though, it was based on the corvette they took down when they were bringing the Dawn back. The Fury had recovered the vessel after it dropped off its last load of thrusters to Varlen.

Until these ships were put to the test, Alexander wasn't sure how effective they would be, compared to piloted craft, but a few extra lasers should come in handy no matter how badly they performed. Before he started manufacturing them, he was going to run them by Krieger and Matthews. Maybe even a few other people to get their input. He wanted to ensure he had the best ship possible and not the best that he thought possible.

He was getting ahead of himself though, none of these issues mattered right now. He needed to focus on the upcoming meeting with Katalynn Char. To punctuate that point, the Wayward Soul jumped further into the system. He could practically feel the tension in the crew around him, but they were holding up well.

"Shuttle is prepped and ready," Theo stated. "I wish you luck. I'll make sure the ship is here when you return."

Alexander turned to the man. "Oh, you'll be joining me. If you're going to understand how I run my company, you're going to need to be present in meetings like this."

The man turned paled slightly and looked like he wanted to decline the offer, but he eventually sighed in resignation.

Alexander snorted internally. He wanted the man along for a multitude of reasons, the first of which was he didn't trust Theo to be alone aboard the ship. The Hawks would likely subdue him if he tried anything stupid, but that was beyond the point. The other reason he wanted Pembrooke down there with him was to assist. The man was more than familiar with people in positions of power, and he was hoping that experience might grant some insight into this meeting. If not, at least Alexander would know the man wasn't off somewhere trying to cause problems.

By the time they arrived at the shuttle, it was filled with the rescued Asgardians, all fully suited up.
Enjoy new stories from empire

Johan saw him and spoke up. "I honestly thought you were lying. Can't believe we're finally home after so long."

Alexander paused at that. "If you thought I was lying, why did you answer my questions and go along with this?"

The man shrugged. "Didn't have much of a choice, did we?"

He just shook his avatar and made his way to the cockpit. The more he learned about Asgardians the more he found them extremely odd.

Alexander sat in the modified space and Theo took the co-pilot seat.

It wasn't long before they were flying toward the planet and following the path they were given for landing.

"That's quite the storm," Theo said with worry.

It certainly was. A thick bank of clouds extended across a full quarter of this side of the planet, and even from here, they could see lightning flickering through the dark roiling mass almost constantly. Considering how fast the clouds were churning, there was likely a whole lot of wind and rain as well.

He flicked on the comm and warned the passengers. "Brace yourself, it looks like there's a large storm over the landing area."

Alexander heard chuckles from the back of the ship and someone yelled, "Good to be back home!"

The ship jerked as they touched the atmosphere, but that was nothing compared to what happened when they descended farther into the storm. Alexander had to fight the controls to keep the ship on course as the winds tried to drag them down or throw them higher into the air. Soon they descended far enough that rain joined the party, pelting the ship so hard it sounded like weapons fire hitting the hull.

A shrill whistling invaded the cockpit, letting him know they had a hull breach. He was going to tell Theo to put on his helmet, but the man had already done so as soon as they entered the atmosphere. He didn't have to bother with the other passengers, they had all donned their helmets as Alexander boarded the ship.

He should have probably taken that as a sign.

The shuttle rocked again as wind and rain battered it, the sound growing louder. Then they were through the thick clouds and the surface quickly rushed up to meet them. The sensors of the ship weren't fooled by the wind and rain, so Alexander had been expecting this. He flared his landing thrusters and was pushed into the floor as the shuttle decelerated. The landing pad was outlined in a bright orange line, making it easy to see in the rain and gloom of the storm. He set the shuttle down right in the center with barely a bump.

His skills had improved tremendously since his first shuttle flight with Captain Krieger.

Alexander shut the ship down, wondering how he would manage to fix the leak before they took off again. He might have asked Theo or the rescued Asgardians but the rain was pounding against the hull so hard he couldn't hear what Theo was shouting to him.

Alexander just shook his avatar and displayed the text that he couldn't hear him. The man just sighed and unbuckled himself from the co-pilot's seat. It was at times like this that Alexander wished he had the ability to internally process radio. He was sure the suits that the others wore muffled the sounds enough to at least speak through their headsets.

When they made their way to the passenger area, they found it empty, and the door open. Well, at least now he knew what Theo had been yelling about. He had assumed the Asgardians would wait for him, but it appears that wasn't the case.

The pair walked out of the ship and into one of the heaviest storms Alexander had ever seen. The rain was coming down in sheets so thick that he couldn't even see the glowing orange lines that marked the outline of the landing pad.

For a moment, something new flickered in his mind space. Before Alexander could wonder what that was all about, his vision changed. Instead of looking at the world through normal sight, it was replaced by a weird greyscale outline. This new vision did allow him to see much further though and he could now see the Asgardians making their way to a doorway that seemed to lead underground.

Alexander motioned for Pembrooke to follow him and the two made the same journey.

Eventually, they came across a glowing line that led to the door. Apparently, he should have parked the shuttle closer.

The door did indeed lead underground. When Alexander stepped off the stairs, he found the Asgardians waiting there, looking annoyed as a single man in black stood in front of a set of doors to a subway train.

"Greetings Alexander Kane," the man said as he threw his arm across his chest and bowed slightly. "I'm Loki. I'm here to guide you to the Lagertha. The air here is safe, so you may remove your helmet, Mr. Pembrooke."

Pembrooke stiffened at this. "You know who I am?"

"I'm Loki, it's my job to know things," the man smiled slightly.

"What's going on?" Alexander asked quietly.

"Loki, or Lokis are the Asgardian version of spies. They all take the same name because Loki is the master of many faces."

"We prefer the term master of change," Loki said, having seemingly overheard their entire whispered conversation. "Change applies to many things instead of just how we appear. Now, shall we?" he gestured to the train.

"What about them?" Alexander motioned toward the Asgardian rescues who were standing off to the side, trying their best not to be noticed by the man in black.

The man didn't even glance their way. "I'm sure they would prefer to head home to their families. Someone from the Lagertha's crew will reach out to them if they are needed."

Whoever these Lokis were, they didn't seem to be well-liked. Alexander saw the group visibly relax when the man said those words.

Alexander supposed there wasn't much to do about that. He stepped onto the train, barely having to even duck as he made his way inside. The train was clean and free of graffiti or garbage which was a surprise. He assumed by the size of the city that there had to be a few million people living there. Normally that meant crime and other issues. He kind of expected at least a little of that considering the nature of the Asgardians, but it seemed he had some preconceived expectations still.

Alexander looked at the train seat, it looked sturdy, but he still chose to stand. It wouldn't help his image if the first thing he did when he arrived was damage their infrastructure. He grabbed onto a standing rail as Theo sat, while Loki sat across from him.

The second the man took his seat, the train zipped off and sped towards his meeting with Katalynn Char, or the Lagertha as Loki had called her. He was curious what the title of Shield Maiden meant in their society, but whatever it was he was certain it was significant.