The night is cool and the sky is covered in clouds. This kind of night is the perfect night for scavenging resources in the desolate streets of Rome. Tonight feels different though, TD feels it as he looks up at the massive ship thousands of kilometers above. Its presence is menacing just by being there, a constant reminder of the city being held hostage. As TD is just about to make his tour around his route when he looks up one more time and notices the ship shaking then the sirens come blaring alerting those in and around the ship the danger that the grandiose piece of technology is in. This commotion carries all across the city with many humans and Minerau both taking a moment to look at the ship. For the humans this provides some hope as to what it could mean, has a boarding party been successful and the ship is being taken over at this very moment? They’ll have to wait and see but now they’re increasingly confident on the ground. As for the Minerau on the ground the scene unfolding before them causes them more uneasiness than anything. Many gather and begin to retreat to more established strongholds that had been created in the northern parts of the city and away from the southern and central parts that they had captured following the jailbreak at the colosseum. TD notices from afar as Minerau begin to vacate their posts and run north. TD looks up and sees a ball of light with blue, yellow, and red sparks shooting out of it and seems to be coming from the bridge. The ball is able to light up the night sky and the brightness changes the whole sky from night to day for a brief moment. Then the brightness subdues and the ball of light quickly shrinks, with the night becoming dark as ever. As this happens the ship begins to tilt and lose altitude, rapidly descending towards the mediterranean sea. Escape pods jettison out of the ship and various sized ships exit the frigate from different hangars. The semi panic that was on the ground is in full effect now as many of the humans that were hiding underground for over half a year are now emerging to see the spectacle. The weight of the ship brings it down and as the ship hits the water all the humans scramble to get off the ground. The weight of the ship and the impact causes a rippling effect and sends a massive rogue wave towards the coast of the city. The coast gets hit the hardest as some buildings are taken down completely but the city had adjusted over centuries to accommodate such events and the technology activated itself raising the ground of the city slightly and absorbing the water whilst pushing it back out to sea through underground passageways. Amid all the commotion that’s caused by the fall of the Minerau ship TD rushes back to the entrance of the camp. He pushes his way back past the huge swathes of people celebrating this win in the streets. As he gets to the entrance he descends rapidly down the disabled escalators in the mall entrance. He blows by the guards at the bottom of the escalators who don’t even bother chasing after him. He rushes down the tracks and soon finds himself at the entrance of the bubble into camp. He rushes in ignoring the medics that check the radiation levels for those coming into the bubble camp. As they chase after him he continues sprinting until he’s near the leaders tent. One of the medics yells out when they’re an earshot away from the guards.

  “Stop that many he hasn’t been properly vetted by us yet!”

  The guards snap into it and try to stop TD by grabbing him. The first guard is able to grab TD’s arm, but TD simply yanks his arm down and puts a shoulder to the guard's head. As the first guard goes down he releases TD’s arm but the momentum of the shoulder check causes TD to fall with him. As TD hits the ground he tucks his head in and rolls out of the fall to get back to his feet. The second guard uses this as an opportunity to pounce on TD and try to take him down. The guard ropes his arms around his neck and swings his legs around TD’s. TD almost loses balance from this but is able to keep himself upright. He quickly tries to get out of the piggy back situation by using his hands to remove the guard's grip on him. Once he had the guards arms separated he simply pushed them back while removing his cloak at the top. As the guard fell back he tried to grab at something with the only thing able to get a grip of was the cloak that was no longer on the scout. The guard hit the ground hard with a thud with the cloak falling on top of him. TD doesn't waste another moment and rushes through the tent entrance and sees several leaders around the war table.

  “IT FELL!” - erupts TD while catching his breath.

  Anker and Em exchange a worried look.

  “What do you mean it fell? What fell?” - says Anker posing the questions.

  TD takes a few deep breaths before answering: “The ship, the Minerau ship!”

  Anker looks at him confused: “And you mean to say the Minerau ship fell, like it landed or lowered its altitude?”

  “NO YOU DENSE FAT PIECE OF SHIT IT FELL OUT OF THE SKY AND IT’S LYING IN SEA RIGHT NOW” - yells TD.

  “BOY I WILL SMACK THE ATTITUDE RIGHT OUT OF YOU COME HERE!” - says a red Anker as he lunges forward trying to grab TD.

  Em manages to pull his arm just before he gets to TD and yanks him back to his seat. She doesn’t say a word and looks through all the files and messages that are available between the various communications channels with the other camps. While she does this the two men shoot dirty looks at each other hoping the other will act on them first. Em quickly scans through all the messages dating back to the jail break of the colosseum to find any discussed plans of a boarding party. She doesn’t end up finding even a mention of such a bold plan.

  Em turns back from the screens towards TD: “Can you describe what you saw because there’s no discussion of such an event happening and I can’t see anyone being so stupid as to act on this one their own”.

  TD begins describing what he saw and detailing the painting in as much detail as possible. In his rushed state he misses several key elements that Em asks him to clarify and finally a full image is provided to Em and Anker as to what had occurred.

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  TD ends the statement with: “We need to get all the leaders and come up with a plan to capitalize on this while the Minerau are scrambling!”

  “Okay Anker you go get Jefe, and I’ll go get Kronos” - says Em.

  TD asks quickly: “What about Kaner and Izabela?”

  Em shakes her head: “We haven’t seen them since the jailbreak…”

  TD nods his head as the two leaders quickly leave the tent. He sits at the table looking at all the various messages that are displayed on the screen trying to figure out what the leaders are talking about with the other sectors of the Tardigrade Resistance. TD doesn’t get too far into it before the leaders show back up with Jefe and Kronos. As they pile in he quickly takes his attention off of the confidential documents to other parts of the tent.

  Kronos is the first to speak: “Good job getting back here so quick with the report TD. Some of my scouts reports are beginning to trickle in with the similar information that you provided”.

  Jefe nods his head in agreement: “Did you happen to get any idea of who might’ve done it?”

  TD shakes his head: “I just remember seeing a massive ball of light right before the ship went down”.

  “A ball of light you say? Did you happen to see any sparks or lightning within or around it by any chance?” - Jefe asks out of curiosity.

  TD thinks for a moment trying to recall the moment: “As a matter of fact I did. I think there were yellow, red, and blue sparks around the ball of light!”

  The four leaders take a moment to look at one another as if to read each other's mind. Before they’re able to say anything else or to ask more questions from TD they see a message pop up on one of the screens. Then another and another, all alerting them of an incoming ship.

  Em declares: “We can figure out what all of this means later we need to get to the entrance to be ready for whatever that ship brings!”

  Jefe adds: “Send the alarm, make sure all our abled soldiers and guards are ready to fight right now!”

  Kronos presses several buttons on the war table in the middle of the room soon the lamp posts that previously provided light are now also ringing alarms. As the alarms ring out those that are able to fight rush out of their tents or pop up houses and gather at the entrance of the camp where the dome begins. They’re already suited up in their armor and either have a weapon or a bracelet activated and ready for combat. Before they exit the leaders address the group.

  Em begins: “Listen up everyone we have been gifted a new day to fight! We haven’t had an opportunity like this since this war on our world has started! We can’t be sure as to what we’ll face when we get up outside but what we can be sure of is that we fight to give ourselves and others a chance in the future. We may die today but our species will live tomorrow!”

  The crowd cheers as they listen to her speech and all of them put their helmets on ready to exit the dome. They move together as a collective through the tunnels in the subway system. Even with their numbers everyone tries to step as silently as possible in an effort to hide their numbers from potential sonar systems. They quickly make their way through the tunnels and find themselves at the bottom of a mall entrance. The guards quickly move aside and let them pass through. As they ascend the stairs they hear the sound of a ship flying over. Then it flies over again, and a third time. Finally the ship stops right above them.

  Em says over the microphone to all the helmets: “Wait for my signal to do anything…”

  The ship finally lands awkwardly in the middle of the mall floor, with one side of the ship a lot more tilted than the other due to the rubble around. The ship takes up nearly all the space in the mall. Em signals to the leaders to grab groups and encircle the ship. The soldiers slowly surround the ship and ready their weapons to strike. Em continues to speak through the microphone informing them to wait. Several minutes pass before the ship extends its ramp and the main hangar doors open up. Em squints her eyes slightly trying to make out if anyone is exiting the ship. It’s not too long before she sees a familiar figure emerge from the main hangar entrance with arms raised.

  “DON’T SHOOT OR THROW I COME IN PEACE!” - exclaims Dre as it walks down the ramp.

  Em speaks over the microphone: “It’s Dre, be ready just in case but apply safeties to weapons”.

  Em steps forward and walks up to the ramp ending where Dres walks off to meet with the Automaton. As they approach one another Dre is unsure of what to expect, as they get within arms distance of one another Em moves quickly towards the robot and Dre freezes up expecting the worst. Instead Em simply gives the robot a hug.

  Dre sighs: “I was not expecting that!”

  Em chuckles: “I had to make sure it was really you! Last time I saw you, you only had one arm! What happened to you guys?”

  “I’ll tell you everything but right now we need your help” - urges Dre.

  At this point Kronos, Jefe, and Anker split from their formations to join Em in figuring out what’s going on with the ship. Upon seeing Dre most of their moods shift from stressful to relaxed.

  “Well well well look who knows how to make an entrance!” - Anker smiles under his helmet.

  Kronos and Jefe both offer respectful nods to the Automaton.

  Em catches up the others: “Dre was just telling me that our help is required!”

  Dre nods its head: “Yes right right!”

  The Automaton turns its head back to the ship entrance: “Ostikous come out now!”

  Ostikous emerges with his back towards everyone as he exits the central cabin of the ship. As he turns around to face everyone he reveals a figure that he’s carefully holding in his arms. The leaders can’t quite make out who it is until Ostikous gets further down the ramp and closer to them. Em has goosebumps run down her back, Jefe begins to get cold sweats, Anker’s breathing becomes irregular, and Kronos is left frozen where he stands as they all make out the figure at the same time. There in Ostikous’ hands lay Razzo with a sword impaled in him.