In the universe, anything can happen (private)

Bowing her head in prayer, Colonel Vinci muttered, "Amen."

Turning back towards Major Poula-Benz, she replied, "I suppose you are right, in that regard. A vigilant enemy would certainly not leave their data without adequate encryption, though I would hope that our own systems are sophisticated enough to decrypt anything that we might encounter here. A major point of expertise for our people, in spite of our reputations as technophobes, is our probe mastery. Our expert systems should suffice here, even without a specialist on hand."

*In Konstantinople*

Ordenreich troops contended themselves with fortifying their positions. They began setting up GTOMACs (Ground to Orbit Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) around the city to discourage any attempts to retake the city from any Aurelian Fleet lucky enough to break the Ordenreich orbital blockade. Around the planet the major cities and towns were being secured by the Ordenreich and soon they would begin major offensives into the surrounding countryside. The Ordenreich also began erecting relief stations for the local Tantalan populations which contained purified food and water as well as clean clothes and other survival materials. Order Scribes had also began moving into the cities where they set up tents designed to study Aurelian physiology and their language for the purposes of interrogation and first aid for Aurelian POWs. Konstantinople soon found itself as the command and control center for all Ordenreich ground operations. Meanwhile in one of the Konstantinople "yellow zones" (yellow zone - Zone controlled by Ordenreich forces but not fully secure, possible Aurelian resistance) an Ordenreich patrol was just finishing up when they heard the cry of pain from O'iquil. The Ordenreich patrol, which consisted of 4 knights and 2 centurions (basically call of duty juggernaughts wearing juggernought armor with halo spartan upgrades and mass effect heavy weapons like the Revenant), approached cautiously and relaxed slightly at the sight of the wounded Aurelian.

Knight: Another wounded bug… Permission to terminate?

Centurion: Negative Order knight. Orders are to capture Aurelians alive, we aren't barbarians executing defeated enemies, besides we could use what he might know.

Knight: I don't know sir… this might be a mercy killing for him. He's lost a lot of blood and our medics are still taking crash courses in bug medicine…

Centurion: We have to try at least. I'll carry him, cover me as we get him back to C&C.

Knight: Roger that…

*The Centurion who gave the orders carefully picks up the wounded Aurelian, being careful to avoid touching its blood because of fear that it was acid like their weapons. The rest of the squad formed a protective ring around the centurion as they made their way back to camp.*

Centurion (to O'iquil): You hear that, bug? You play nice and you will get the royal treatment. Make yourself a problem and you earn yourself a one way ticket to the incinerator. (None of this is translated so if the Aurelians don't understand Norreich {Ordenreich language - a mix of German, Scandinavian, and Russian languages} then he might not understand what was said unless he had some kind of auto-translator)

----------------------------------------------
Roe: Of course. If you head back to the shuttle we arrived on they have orders to take you to the hotel where you can stay. If you have any needs when you arrive just inform the hotel staff and they will accommodate you. I will remain here and ensure that any information relevant to you is compiled and made available to you for transport. Good day.

(OOC: The hotel they are going to is like any five star resort you would find in the Caribbean.)

(( The Aurelians are more or less reptilo-mammalian. Nonetheless, ‘bug’ adequately describes the Aurelians’ cruel nature. ))

"I would like to think we found something insignificant. Let us hope so."

Meanwhile, a trio of neighboring guerrillas finished submerging the body bag with their rifle butts as the upended duracrete segments formed a mini-tumulus around Xeremiah-James's body. Turning away from the burial site, Major Poula-Benz let her eyes wander: Weathered near the point of collapse, a duracrete arch inscribed with its architects' signatures spiked overhead until its chipped keystone met a rubbled apartment complex's wall.

"We're setting up camp here. Sergeant Kodz, get us a signal with HQ and find out exactly what is going on!"

"On it, ma'am," Sergeant Kodz whistled before he gestured to a soldier and rushed forward with the deactivated transceiver someone passed along the ranks. Someone was already unrolling a tarp which would block any stray particulate matter from disturbing the site as well as a ducted blower built into one edge of the patchwork. Sergeant Kodz then knelt down to secure a segment of fabric while several soldiers kept the tarp taut, creating a slowly-expanding canvas which would envelop the four duracrete corners and cover the Tantalo-Centauri dispatch from the intensifying ash storm.

“Is the dosimeter set up?”

“Yes. We’re registering at two hundred micro-sieverts per hour,” read aloud one of Kodz’s soldiers before she lowered a three-foot staff from above. “Above average, and likely to get worse as the night progresses. I strongly suggest we roll out the aluminium-lined tarp to lower our risk a hundred-fold. Non-essential personnel are advised to sleep in the basement below, for the duracrete should provide shelter; be advised that we will set up a staging area to remove our HAZMAT suits, and that .”

—

O’iquil faded in and out of consciousness, unable to listen to the alien speech as they carried his dismembered form to what a fellow Aurelian would hope to be their local shaman. Oi’quil’s extremities were charred black like a Gol’Azkorzin’s carapace, rotting as indigenous Tantalan bacteria ate their way to the underlying bone.

What had kept O’iquil from perishing was the now-wounded organism covering his mouth and synthesizing cyanide for O’iquil’s respiratory system, like so many others which probably died with their owners. Surgeons who could be quick to pry the scaly, black organism off would be met with a quick gush of cyanide gas as it sprayed from the mask’s buccal cavity. Of special concern was the cyanide which bubbled from Aurelian blood after several minutes of exposure to air; O’iquil’s is no exception.

—

(( Skipping the two men for now. Next post, they’ll feature again.))

There is a faint look of worry on Colonel Vinci's face, but it soon passes: such strong periods of radiation were not unknown on Chiron, especially when Hercules neared perihelion. Turning towards Sergeant Kodz, she then says, "Should we perhaps set up watches for the night? We are willing to take whichever shift that you deem appropriate."

*With the orbit over Tantalus secured and all major settlements on the ground under Ordenreich control, the Ordenreich had begun officially establishing a provisional government for the Tantalan people to begin the process of rebuilding the planet. The Ordenreich also declared to all empires in the galaxy that Tantalus was now a temporary Ordenreich protectorate until such a time that Tantalus could self-govern. The Ordenreich has declared that will not recognize the Aurelian government for their complete mistreatment of the Tantalan people and therefore will not negotiate with their government. For now, all Aurelian POWs will be transported to the infamous Ordenreich penal colony of Silesia Nova. Unlike its past under the Black Order, Silesia Nova does not experiment on people but is instead a high security prison colony for the Ordenreich's most dangerous criminals or prisoners of war. The Ordenreich promises that it will take care of the prisoners under the honors of war. The Ordenreich has begun setting up fire bases and enclaves around Tantalus for its garrisoned troops to ensure stability and peace on Tantalus and the Ordenreich has begun sending construction material to Tantalus to begin rebuilding its infrastructure and building the facilities to begin repairing Tantalus's atmosphere. (Basically think of Tuchanaka from Mass Effect)*

"I don't think 'watch' is the appropriate word, but I'll take it," Major Poula-Benz said just before the soldier furthest from the Major let out a shrill whistle: "Set up the secondary tarp! Keep the blower running as we run the fabric about!"

"Hear, hear!" Sergeant Kodz shouted along with the remaining two soldiers as he tugged a ripcord , releasing a mechanism which stretched another layer of aluminum-lined fabric over the underlying tarp. Each corner was grounded, staked, and bound with the preexisting tarp until only the metallic stakes could be seen sticking out from the cracked pavement. The counter bearer raised her device again as the tip poked against the nylon base.

"Eighteen micro-sieverts per hour and dropping-"

"We've opened a line with Ayub-Stinley! We've recorded the frequency."

"This is Zeroth-zeroth-niner-five-alpha-sigma reading-"

Sergeant Kodz and possibly Major Poula-Benz took a deep breath: The signal was clear, enticing Sergeant Kodz to gesture the Major over to a command-line terminal which blinked online another several seconds later.

"Sergeant Kodz, I need the time stamp," the Major grimaced as she took her seat on a withered nanotube block; everything still seethed with the pain endured by eleven billion deaths even as her worn stepping stone silently heated to the humans' ambient temperature. "Colonel Vinci, could you organize three teams of six soldiers each to alternate our post every three hours? Given the state of affairs, I think all we should concern ourselves about is waiting for this 'Ordenreich' to send a search party over here. Ah, and I need to return to our base with this-," Major Poula-Benz gestured to her jacket's rectangular bulge which contained the recovered disk. "Commander Ayub-Stinley would be interested in opening a dialogue between the TLB's covert arm and His Truly. If luck has it, all we found is just some minor patrol orders- however unusual it seems-, but our computer has the final say in what we find."

---

"Tell me again: How did this happen?"

"We are lucky. Several agents on your behalf infiltrated an experimental Devil vessel after failing to detonate the Zilun III depot, found refuge among our initial contacts who offered help-"

"But for what reason?"

The opened stub of a stained glass vapor stick hung between Ayub-Stinley's prominent fingers before the man slowly took his first drag in over ten years: A faint, fruity odor emanated from the man's breath as he added:, " We are mutually aware that friendly terms come at a cost-"

"How can you not be grateful for our liberation, sir?"

To Colonel Braddis-Stokes surprise, the Commander did not respond to her backtalk, instead focusing his eyes upon a now-outdated strategic map crisscrossed with graphite streaks- streaks made from a bygone technological era of austerity which corroded into despair for sixty years.

"Do not humor me, nor should you stretch the pains of guilt I've experienced for the seventy-six years of my life. Yes, we fought for almost seventy years against an asymmetric enemy, and we did so at great peril. I recall losing an uncle to the Uprising prelude, when twenty-strong Devils managed to subdue a peaceful protest of several thousand more. I will never forget those wounds I saw in my uncle's torso when he commanded me to run- those nasty, infected wounds which claimed his life."

The weary-looking Commander took another small puff from his vapor stick while Colonel Braddis-Stokes took her seat opposite from her elder. "What are you jabbing at?"

"Do not rush me, Colonel. I have my reasons to believe that we should remain on high alert: In a week, they will be discussed with my cabinet once my intelligence divisions manage to oust every Devil hiding amongst us. The meeting will be held not in here but inside the Djenne-Abilene Chambers. By the end of this year, I will step down in favor of Wesley-Ibrahim Khan, who I do not doubt- even for a moment- can reestablish our identity. Reconstruction should be our priority if we wish to subdue the quisling DRRT; no more morally-upright civilians should suffer my uncle’s fate at the hands of traitors.”

The Commodore gazed at his worn chronometer and sighed. “I should speak with those on the surface to relay our political plans. Most likely that this Ordenreich will provide military support until our government can function- a big ‘If,’ which I hope will be addressed with my generals in our secret meeting and then with our benefactors. Colonel, seek out the highest-ranking Ordenreich officer and inform them that I will host an audience within two weeks. Among the topics we’re discussing include the requisition of surviving Aurelian holdings and the ongoing DRRT menace; we’ll test the feasibility of returning Emomalli to stand trial.”

(( When all is settled by the end of this month, I’ll see you all then!))

(OOC: What the hell? I never got an email notification for this. sorry.)

*Already the first parts of the equipment needed to fix Tantalus's atmosphere had begun arriving on planet though it would be several weeks before the technology was online and operational. The Ordenreich also began sending patrols out into the unsecured areas of Tantalus to hunt down any remnants of the Aurelians and also make contact with the Tantalan resistance leadership. The Ordenreich wished to set up a provisional government soon before their occupation was seen as oppressive. Also, the Ordenreich wanted to begin transferring powers like law enforcement and other local powers to the Tantalans as soon as possible.*

(OOC: Whenever you reply MA, you can go ahead and RP the Ordenreich soldiers that find your leaders and RP a big return ceremony or whatever to Konstantinople. I also have no conditions for your new government other than the obvious Ordenreich interests of being a protectorate of the Ordenreich. In case you didn't know, Ordenreich knights (who will be the ones looking for your leadership) where armor similar to the hard suits of common mass effect alliance soldiers and they carry halo weapons that fire thermal clips. They will be looking for you in halo falcons. See my military codex for appearances)