"Are you alright?" She asked. "I'm fine" I said that, but I felt like I need a day-long vacation. It feels difficult even to make myself stand up from the bed. "Let me remind you, I can store a greater amount of energy than you can do. Half of your energy is not even half of mine, Karuga. I know you can barely breathe right now" She giggled at my obvious difficulties. "Your warriors still need your supervision on the planet, Karuga. You have to finish what you started" She then tells me to look at her, and she transferred a bit of energy.
"Go. I will take a rest, I'll be standing strong the next day. You no longer need me right now, anyway" She assumes she's no longer needed. Well, I guess she no longer has any role to take into my plans at this stage. She deserves that rest. "I thank you once again, Lurza'Far. You have done so much for me" I laid my appreciation again. She smiled at me. "You're always welcome... Friend" She giggled when she said the word 'friend'. We are both not used to saying the word and always has us laughing whenever we do.
"I shall go now, then. Go rest all you can" We said our parting words and I left the ship with my Siszha. I am once again flying back to the planet. The chaos of the Zakana and the militaries on the sands are starting to get more audible and visible by every moment I get closer to the planet.
"My Lord" Ladrak reached out to me with Siszha. "The Arkulan leader has been trying to contact you earlier, but you were busy with the first Loyalist. She said she wants to be in contact with you as soon as possible, do you want me to transfer this call to her now?" Lonara Hamarya? What does she want from me? It is unusual that I'm contacting the Arkulan leader without the Lord's orders. "Go ahead, I'll have to listen to what she'd say"
With my orders, Ladrak transferred the call to Lonara Hamarya. It took her a few seconds before she was able to talk. "Miss Karuga?" Miss Karuga... Getting called with lowly titles makes me uneasy. "Kirin suggested that you should be on a shared frequency with us. Is that fine with you?" She wanted me to be in open contact with them? "Why would I do that?" I asked her. "Since we are helping each other, it would be wise to be connected together, right? Are you fine with that?" She asked if I'm fine on a shared frequency with her military.
"I don't want your entire base listening to me, Lonara Hamarya. It should only be between us and Kirin Solana" I want to secure my voice as far as possible. "Sure, the frequency is only ours to use" Gladly she agreed. She told me the frequency I needed for my radio to set before terminating the call. I proceeded to fly down the planet while I work on Siszha. After a while, I was able to listen to the frequency. It sounds like Lonara Hamarya was in the middle of speaking.
"-vel to the planet past the designated territory temporarily, limits apply to the number of units you send" Taking hints of what I've heard, she's probably talking about lifting the off-limit on my fleet, allowing my Great Bastion to help secure the sands. "I repeat... Miss Karuga, with the ongoing rampage of the Zakana on the sands and our promise to help the Narukh'za soldiers, I will give you permission to travel to the planet past the designated territory temporarily, limits apply to the number of units you send" She repeated her announcement. My fleet's arrival should clear up this whole mess easily. The sooner I can clean up, the better. I have to give my appreciation to her. "You can only send a few, Miss Karuga" She added.
"I've heard you, Lonara Hamarya. I thank you for allowing my fleet to the planet. With my fleet's aid, not only my soldiers below will be encouraged to put up a fight more, but help clear off the Zakana much quicker" I responded to her. "Understood, Miss Karuga. I will be here when you need to ask something" With that, the radio went silent. Wonderful, this will be the first time a Narukh'za fleet will be able to fly through the skies of Kryok. No other Narukh'za fleet has flown past the off-limit territory. She mentioned that I should limit the number of warriors I send, but I didn't give it any care. I'm sending my whole army for quicker cleanup.
"Ladrak, the Arkulan leader has lifted the prohibition on our fleet, we can now send the entire fleet to Kryok!" I thrillingly said to him. "I-is that true, my Lord? The trust they put in us!" He sounded really surprised. To be honest, there wasn't that much 'trust'. She has limited the amount I can send but I ignored it. "I will lead the fleet personally. I want you to lead a squadron from the Bastion and clear out the Ravens in the skies" I will have my fleet descend to an outpost that I know the Arkulans aren't aware of. Outpost Kor, it's a bit of a distance from the next outpost, which is outpost Rid. It is the closest outpost we can get into.
"Very well, my Lord. I shall assign myself to a squadron and wait for your further orders" Ladrak acknowledged my order. A chill ran through my body as excitement fills my mind. "Ladrak, we will be the first one to ever reach Kryok. Not even the first or the fifth Loyalist has ever done this" I said to him. "Indeed, my Lord. There would be more pleasure if we were there to destroy them" As expected from him, it's probably unfortunate for him that his fleet descending down to the enemy planet was not to invade them, but to aid them instead.
I quickly moved into action. I halted my descent to the planet and contacted my Bastion. "Great Bastion, the Arkulans have allowed us to the planet. Warp the entire fleet to outpost Kor, we are going to the Attractors we planted and finish the aliens' rampage" The fleet quickly acknowledged my command and a disruptive sound came into the radio, indicating that they were in a middle of a warp. I waited for a while for the radio to come clear.
After a few seconds, the fleet contacted me. "Warp complete, my Lord. Kor is under attack by the aliens. We are going to help them until you have new orders" One of the pilots of the Bastion said. "Don't. Move to Rid immediately, I will join you on your way" I don't want to use any more of my phasing abilities. The technology our suits have to phase ourselves drains some energy from its user. Since I gave half and a bit to Lurza'Far, I had to utilize my remaining energy, or I will be limping like a disabled on the sands.
"Rid and Arkula, my army will arrive at Kor in half an hour, stay put. Once they arrive, they will make it there" I alerted them of my arrival. After I sent that message, I quickly proceeded to descend down to my fleet.
During my silent trip, Kirin Solana's voice broke through the radio out of nowhere. "Are you listening to this, Lonara?! They said Karuga's army is coming! Can you see them?!" Her voice was heard to the frequency we are on. "Y-yes, there is an incredibly large group of Narukh'za far north heading in your direction! Scourge, Virka, Devastator, Demon Eagles..." Lonara replied to her and gasped. It sounds like she was really surprised, that gasp was loud. "The Great Bastion... Kirin, it's the entire army! The Bastion's identity indicates that it belongs to the second Loyalist" Oh, she can see the fleet. The Bastion's appearance still strikes fear in the enemies, it seems. That's great.
"Contact that damned Loyalist! Don't let that carrier proceed any further!" "But how-" "Just the damn carrier! I don't care how many tanks they send here, just not that thing!" I heard Kirin Solana panic a little. It brought such pleasure to my ears. I never thought Kirin Solana would be very afraid of my Bastion. However, if this keeps up she might send the entire fleet away.
"Kirin, I can assure you. My Bastion will only lay waste on the Zakana. We won't touch you and your town you have mentioned" I attempted to reassure her and calm her nervous nerves. "Just... keep your fucking promises, Loyalist! You know, I should be the one threatening you about marking the Narukh'za as the worst backstabbing piece of-!" "You have my words" I had to stop her from there. I think she's overreacting. She was about to explode on me again.
"Like I have told you in Zan, I did not come here fight you" A Loyalist's word is never false. We never go back on our words. This should be one of our known facts to others, even if they're enemies. Apparently, Kirin Solana's mind is clouded by her vexation, she wasn't thinking straight and only hates us. "Zan? Oh, the portal outpost" She sounded really frustrated at the situation. Why won't she just calm down? Right now, I'm trying to get closer to them. Isn't that what she told me? I'm trying to figure out what I've been missing my entire life.
"After we are done here, my army will leave Kryok. We won't see each other in a while" "Why are you leaving?" I was surprised when a child, which was Chirlin, spoke after my words. She was asking why are we leaving? Didn't she pay attention before? I'm sure she was there when we struck a deal. "Because. They promised us. It was the deal. We help them and they leave" "B-but, I thought they settled here?! Maybe they can just go somewhere where there are no civilians around?!"
Chirlin was trying to make us stay here? What is that child thinking? She also mentioned that we are settled here. She was talking about our agreement to the Arkula to build some settlements on their planet to alleviate the hostility between us. I guess that grew old quicker than they thought, now they are afraid we have expanded too far to their sands and become a threat. How amusing.
"Yeah, and leave them for the Zakana out there. That's a great idea" "Nooo!!!" It seems like the child was annoyed by Kirin Solana's persistence. I wonder if her sister thinks the same. I was driven to believe that the Arkulan youth are no longer heavily influenced by their military and do not desire war, but I have not made sure of that yet.
"You... heard the Loyalist, Kirin. I will put my trust in her words" Fortunately for me, Lonara Hamarya was on my side. It seems like she's trying to believe me for once. "Fine, if Lonara believes you, so will I" "Th-" "-But don't get me wrong" I was trying to express my gratitude but Kirin Solana interrupted me right away. How absolutely rude. "I still see you as a threat, and you will not change my opinion about our deal" What?
She still sees me as a threat as she stands in my outpost? If I was planning on being a threat to her, the garrison of that outpost should be enough to slay them all. It's such a ridiculous thought from her. "Alright. If that's how you feel, I won't blame you" I had to stop her anger from escalating or I too will lose control and just kill them right there. It's such a shame that I have more patience than she does, after being called 'mindless killer' my entire life.
I already arrived on the ground and was traveling to my Bastion when Lonara spoke up to me. "Miss Karuga, I was sure I told you to limit the numbers you send down from your fleet? I'm sure whatever Kirin is thinking right now is also the others'" So she says the others are worried too. It's natural for them to fear a great number of enemies. "Kirin Solana is getting upset over nothing, Arkulan leader. I am true to my words and I know you all are aware of that" My response made her unable to speak for a few seconds.
"That I said I believed, Miss Karuga... Maybe next time you should comply with my requests" She said. "You believe there is next time, Lonara Hamarya?" I asked her. She said 'next time' but I didn't have any plans after this. My first thought was it was just a habit, but I can't be sure. She could be hinting that she's willing to cooperate with me peacefully the next time a problem arises. That too, I can't be sure of.
"Sure, Miss Karuga. When was there a day we are not facing each other?" Good answer, there was never a day we were not in contact with the Arkula. It's such a good answer I want to scratch her face. I refused to speak anymore as I arrived at my Bastion.