The trek to the lake took five hours, with which most of the group rode in silence. They'd made camp, with the three women sharing a tent, and the three men sharing another. The fire was going well and Everyone was nearby.

With Nightfall, Ibis had summoned the Asterion and had it crouching in the trees as she began inspecting each system and all the primary servos of the Shining white and black machine.

Kai watched her for awhile as he cleaned up the campsite and then quietly left to walk along the lake. It was a good thirty minutes before anyone even noticed he was gone.

((OOC everyone post what you like. You have a large 600 acre surface lake that looks like it could be deep, and several rivers pouring into it. The fire is going at the campsite and the horse and cart are quietly resting nearby. The horse is suprisingly completely undisturbed by the appearance of the Asterion. You can go try to find Kai if you wish or converse with any other particular person.))

Val sits by the fire hugging the Cabbit to her chest. "Who is the prettiest Cabbit around? Who is it? Who is it?"

Before the hour was done, Val had already found some fabrics and had dressed up the Cabbit in a sweater. "You look so pretty!" Runing around with the Cabbit, she went over to Saito and Ibis, working on the Asterion. Moving over to Ibis, Valerie looks over her shoulder. "What are you doing Ibis? System check-up? Have you checked that all the mechanical parts work?"

Ibis comes out of the cockpit of the Asterion, her face somewhat dingey to match her outfit. "Yes, and no Valerie. My Deuterra reactor is working fine, but for some reason the break field won't initialize. That's one of My primary defensive and offensive systems offline, the one that renders me impervious to harm. I have full stocks of missile, autocannon, and railgun ammunition, and the Monomolecular cutter is still in the sheathe in the right calf. the thhrusters work, though it's a bit different here in the atmosphere than in space I'm sure."

She jumps down the mech in a series of jumps and walks up next to the fire where Valerie is sitting. "What about you, are all your abilities working well?"

She notices the Cabbit and smiles. "You've certainly taken a liking to that little creature. it reminds me of a pet I once had as a little girl."

Lily watches Valerie play with her ship, feeling a little pang that grows into a sort of growly irritation. She wanted to be the one doing that! Seeing Ratheron purr and squeak and wriggle in her hands, and lick her fingers doesn't help her mood much. Finally, when Valerie starts making the sweater, she stands up and says, "I'm gonna go find Kai...make sure he's okay."

She pauses and adds, "Valerie...just...be careful with him, okay?"

Then she whisks off in a puff of breeze, a little contrail of dust swirling after her as she flies away, towards the lake.

Georgi lay next to the fire on a blanket, his thoughts focused on Amane who was a universe away. He hoped the flower would bring her back, both for his sake and the sake of Earth. Every so ofter he would toss a small pebble or stick in the fire, sending a tiny shower of sparks skywards.

"Yeah...They seem to be working, but I haven't tested the SdZ, system check says they are fine, but I don't want to attract unneeded attention." Valerie streaches with the Cabbit on her head. "But Ibis, what is deuterium reaction?" Valerie has a quizzical look on her face.

"I gather is part of your core energy system feeding your defenses, but now it's not working. Is it chemical? physical? materials lacking or circuits not working?"

Val pulls up the sleeves on her dress and jumps in the air up to the Cabin of the Asterion. "Maybe I could help you? I'm very good with technology!" Valerie, still with the Cabbit on her head, has a huge grin on her face.

Saito speaks softly into his watch and then looks up into the sky. On it's cue, the Meteor Gundam began it's descent mixed in with the shooting stars in the sky. The battle machine landed and kneeled to one knee in order to give itself some cover in this forest.

"Coach, you seem a little restless, would you like to assist me in a diagnostics check of the Meteor's systems? It might get your mind off of the current situation and lets face it, I could use another pair of hands."

Growler sighs, gets up, and walks a few yards away from the fire, but still within the radius of the firelight. He takes his Guan Do off of his back, looks around, strips to the waist, and begins to run through his katas. The firelight glints off of the blade, and the shadows from the flickering add a strobe effect to his movements. After a few minutes, he shifts into man-bear form and begins again, all the while muttering to himself. Once he finishes his armed katas, he begins his unarmed combat katas, shifting between Man-bear form and Human form. While in human form, anyone can see the sweat dripping off of him, even though he is shirtless.

After his intensive practive, he gathers up his shirt and Guan Do, and moves off in the direction of the lake. When he arrives there, he takes off his woolen pants , to reveal a white undergarment. Growler dumps his pants and shirt in a pile about 2 feet from the water's edge. He gently places his Guan Do upon the top of the pile. Then , he proceeds to the water's edge. Standing in the lake up to his knees, he begins to cool himself down by splashing the chilly water on his chest and head.

Lily finds Kai sitting out on one of the large boulders in the lake, about ten meters from the shorline. there's a cluster of rocks in the intervening space, and it's obvious he simply jumped from one to the other. Senbonzakura is laid across his lap, and the wind carries the soft sounds of his weeping to her ears. The scabbard for Senbonzakura is behind him on the rock, and in the moonlight it almost seems as if the sword is weeping too.

Ibis looks to Valerie, her gaze going glacial in an instant, but melting somewhat within moments.

"It's not a deuterium reaction. That's a form of energy that depletes to fast. No what powers my Asterion is a Deuterra reactor. The mechanics of how the reactor works aren't fully explained to even pilots of my class, but we are told that so long as we do not constantly operate at full power with full break field activation, the power core will last forever."

She smiles. "Deuterra powers almost ever facet of Circinus life, it's our greatest creation, and our curse."

She motions for the younger girl to come in and take a seat on the command chair. The inside of the Asterion's cockpit is one of the most advanced pieces of harware ever seen. There are panels of every size, shape, and color, crystalline memory crystals, seemingly tens of meters of wire hanging from open panels. The chair has a a joystick for each hand and footpedals, in additon to an opening for one large one in the center. There are half a dozen monitors showing status indicators for various systems and the primary one is showing the power feed system to the Break Field Generator as completely inactive. "The break field isn't something really crucial in that I can fly and fight without it, but it is definitely one of the most unique abilities of my Asterion. Not having it is going to be like fighting with one hand behind my back."

Startled, Lily stands still where she is, watching Kai in his private moment; feeling at once guilty for intruding, but compelled to try to help. But how?

On sudden inspiration, she launches skyward, trailing a plume of dust that quickly dissipates in her wake. Seconds later she's zooming over to where Valerie is climbing up Ibis' mecha.

"Hey, I need Ratheros," she says, holding out her arms. "Ratheros! Come over here, sweetie!"

The cabbit nuzzles Valerie's hair, then bounds off the top of her head to land in Lily's arms. Lily gives Valerie an apologetic shrug.

"Don't worry, you can play with her more later."

Then she seems to notice Asterion, and for a long moment looks the machine up and down. Then she gives Ibis a curious look, gives her and Valerie a sort of a salute-like wave, and rockets away towards the lake.

She drifts silently over the water, ignoring the stones he stepped on to get out there, and settles down behind him. She doesn't say anything at first, not wanting to startle him as well as perhaps hoping that he might notice her there on his own.

That is spoiled though when Ratheros, held on her lap, seems to recognize Kai's pain and makes a questioning meowing chirpy noise as she holds out a little paw towards the suffering boy.

The Cabbit's cry brought kai out of his sorrow. He quietly wiped off Senbonzakura on the fabric of his robe and reached around for the scabbard and in one almost casual moment rehomed the blade. He looks back over his shoulder and smiles weakly. "Hey, what can I do for ya Lily?" After a moment he nods and looks at Ratheros. "And of course Ratheros as well."

This was all the prodding the young cabbit needed and jumped from Lily's arms onto his shoulder. She started purring as she started rubbing against Kai's neck.

"You must think me incredibly weak."

Georgi stands up and grabs his weapons. "Sure thing. I'm not much of a mechanic, but I will do what I can." He slings his rifle over his shoulder. "I have been distracted, Saito. Back on Earth, someone I care for needs my help."

Georgi follows Saito to the Meteor.

"So this Deuterra reaction causes a massive amount of energy at a very small loss of mass on the core materials?" Valerie seems deep in tought "and the Break Field, a defensive weapon that helps you evade damage by nullifying the physical force behind attacks is not working, even when it always used to."

"Would it be too much to ask to see the breake circuits for the Break field? Maybe during the dimensional transition something got damaged, if you or Saito have extra parts maybe we could find something to repair it with."

"Deuterra wastes less than one ten-trillionth of a gram of matter in the reactor per day. When you consider there are about a thousand kilograms of fuel in the reactor... You can understand why I said practically forever."

She shakes her head. "Unfortunately there's no way to access the primary linking mechanisms and circuitry. Its buried under all the armor and structural hardpoints directly linked to the Deuterra reactor. There's no way short of removing all the Asterions weapons and armor, and both arms to get the torso cowling off the engine. This machine was built to be ultra-fast, and ultra-compact, thus making it something of a pain to do serious maintenence on without a full repair gantry."

She smiles as Valerie gets pretty close to how the break field works. "It stops all incoming damage at full intensity and protects the structure of the Asterion when it makes a physical attack. The Ultimate shield and the undeniable sword."

"Should I?" Lily asks, reaching out to put the cabbit as it nuzzles Kai's neck. "I guess I must think that about me too then, because it hasn't been that long since I was crying all by myself in my room."

She gives Kai an apologetic smile. "If you want to be by yourself, I'll go. I just figured...I had Ratheros with me when I was upset. I figured she might help you too."

"No, don't go." He pats the rock next to him indicating for her to sit. "Your siblings died, thrusting you into the position of being heiress to an Empire, My kin brought about the destruction ofover a billion people. The responisbility of each situation is heavier than anyone could handle alone. I think people would likely view us as inhuman if we did NOT cry."

"I thought I made some semblance of peace with how many died under Circinus guns, aimed as it were by Takashi's machinations, kin and stranger alike. But it goes further you know. I had a mother, a father, and two younger siblings, a brother and a sister, they're gone. I searched through the registry of survivors, but they're not there. It hurts the most that the only blood kin I have left in this world is Takashi, The man who perpetrated this. He nearly killed Amane, which is eating at Georgi. He's got more power than I imagined a person could have, beyond anything I've felt. I start to wonder how we're going to defeat him. I think everyone is. "

"And that's just my own selfish battle. Valerie lost everything she had here when the Demons took over and the Circinus bombarded Japan and Asia. Saito is a circinus pilot who seems to have betrayed his people to stand with us, and what's more another pilot has followed him. Growler is only bound to us for the duration of our stay here. We're here because of honor and to find a means to Heal Amane. And then your father left you here with no support but what you could muster and told you to resolve things here."

"And let's not forget the almost fanatical loyalty and near-worship I get from the Satoshi personel, including the likes of Captain Ishiyama. You had a loyal coalition of CRT's and Then I come in with undeniable proof of being the last of the founding bloodline and am given near total authority over the Satoshi forces with us. I single-handedly managed to upset that applecart simply by being alive and being one of the Skeleton Keys."

Lily watches Kai, then leans back, propping herself up on her elbows and looking up at the sky.

"I'm sorry about your family, Kei," she says softly. "That was exactly the kind of thing the Empire had been trying to prevent, and we failed. I'm really sorry."

Kai nods as he scratches around Ratheros's ears. "Everyone except Takashi wanted to prevent it, but it happened anyway. now the resto fo the planet is facing it at the hands of an even larger Circinus fleet. We can't let that happen."

"We won't," Lily assures him with perhaps a bit more confidence than she feels.

"I'm working on it."

Saito nods.

"As much as I dislike the idea of working for this Archmage person, I will begrudingly do so in order to help Miss Amane heal."

Saito said as he broke open a tool box and began checking the Meteor's leg servo systems.

At hearing Amane's name, Georgi flinches. He wondered what Saito's interest in her was. There is no reason to be jealous, he reminded himself. Saito probably needs her for her combat prowess.

"I wish to help Amane too. Although I think we have different motivations for doing so." He was sure that Saito wanted her for the upcoming battle against the Circinus fleet.

Kai looks at Lily and smiles. "Oh really? What have you got so far?"

He chuckles besides the hope we all have of finding something here to help us protect Earth, that is."

"It's not really a -plan- yet," Lily hedges reluctantly. "More of an idea. But basically, we're pinned between two hostile forces that both completely outgun us. We have Takeshi's faction of Satoshi on one side, and the Federation colony fleet on the other. We're comparatively tiny, protected only by this enforced truce. The only military advantages we have are the three battleships, and our position on Luna...but since Satoshi's close to finishing their own battleships, we may be down to one soon."

She takes a deep breath. "But I'm thinking our weakness might actually be an advantage right now. Satoshi's not going to want the Federation to bombard Earth any more than we do. Even Takeshi's not that crazy. Right now, the Federation's WAY more of a threat to them than we are. All we have to do is get them to attack the Federation before they get to Luna...and then hunker down and protect ourselves from the fallout as best we can."

"Ideally the Federation and Satoshi will expend most of their strength on each other...leaving what's left more maneageable for us."

"It's a sound plan, but what happens if that doesn't happen? Takashi has already show the acumen needed to get them to attack where he wants. And He did let them annihilate The Asian Seaboard. He may have simply stopped caring Lily."

He shrugs. "It's times like this where I actually wish I knew more about him. Just so I could understand why he's doing this, what he hopes to accomplish."

Back at the Campsite Ibis and Valerie had finished going over the Asterion's systems and they had managed to get the cockpit back to normal. The Main display came online and Suddenly The hatch closed and sealed. Ibis was about to open it and Sanger's face appeared on the viewer.

"Lieutenant Ibis Douglas, if you are viewing this then the worst has happened. Over the last twenty years I have helped raise you and and a sibko of others to see whether or not Earth was a viable place for a Federation colony.

For the last three years I have been ordered to remove all traces of this sibko. As I come back from Ganymede, the order has come down for you and Saito to be elimanated.

I have defied a Direct Order from Fleet Command and allowed you both to return to the world you called home as children. I can no longer protect you Ibis, and I can no longer protect Saito. I have done this as a small measure of penance for what I was tricked into doing to the world my wife loved so much.

You and Saito alone among all the Federation are unique. You do not suffer the negative effects of Deuterra usage, because you are both half-Human. I made a promise when he died that I would always protect you, at the cost of my own honor even.

You have left behind all you knew, but take heart. You're home now. Take Care of Saito, Ibis, he is not fully trained yet, and I'm counting on you to bring out his true potential. You were like a daughter to me, so please honor this final request. I know you love him, so please take care of my Son."

The viewer switched off and Ibis wiped the tears from her eyes. She had promised that she would as a Circinus soldier, but now things were different. The Federation had ordered her death, and Saito's for no reason. Now She was simply Ibis Douglass, a lordless pilot, a warrior who's master betrayed her.

She looked to Valerie, realizing she'd seen that. "I just don't know what to say now Valerie."

There was an odd chill through the ship as it crossed dimensional boundaries. "This one will do nicely, wait where is he going? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

"Lawrence awoke to the sound of shrill arlarms going off all over the cockpit. Something had taken hold of his ship during its hyperfold, and now he found himself strapped into a ship crashing into a serene lake.

The shockwave flattened trees all around the lake and sent up a huge wave soaking everyone nearby, Including Kai, Lily, and Growler.

Kai and Lily recover and find themselves in the water , Kai already starts swimming back to one of the rocks. "What the hell was that and why aren't we even hurt????"

(((OOC Saito, Valerie, Georgi, continue on with conversations/ maintenence checks. You're insided sealed cockpits, and did not hear or even feel the impact since you're far enough away from the lake. Growler and Lily, post as you will.)))

Lily struggles in the water for a second, finding that the nice dress Kai had bought for her gets all waterlogged and hard to move in when it gets wet. She finally gives up and just flies out of the water, swooping down low to offer Kai her hands to lift him out and over to shore.

She doesn't notice right away that the white cloth of the dress clings rather clingily to her when wet too.

"I don't know!" Lily answers, turning back to look at the lake. "A giant concussion like that...it could be something d-shifting in...something really big. That could be what caused the lake to just rise up and swallow us too! If something big fell into the water..."

She squints, scanning for signs of what might have happened.

"Did you see anything?"

Kai takes the hand and notices Lily's clinging clothing, but quickly tries to put it from his mind. "It was strange, it looked like some sort of ship." Standing on the ground, he lays a hand to the pulsing hilt of Senbonzakura. "Whatever it is, it is putting out alot of spiritual power."

Lawrence nearly fell from his seat when the alarms started sounding. His reflexes caught him and he landed on his hands and knees. The artificial gravity from the ship was being overpowered by the planet he was falling towards causing him to slide slowly forwards. He attempted to dig his claws into the ground but ended frantically flailing as he slid into the control console. He stood up, feeling nauseous. His eyes glanced toward the window, not registering what he was falling towards. His ears angled backwards as he scrambled to gain control of the ship. "No.. no no no !" He yelled.

He felt the impact crumble the front of the ship. His eyes were closed and he was nearly hyperventilating. He did not want to be here, in this lake. His body was frozen as his eyes crept open. There was water leaking in near his feet and he shrieked. He moved suddenly, jumping to the back of the ship, which could now be considered up. The vehicle was beginning its slow descent to the bottom of the lake. He gripped the door handle and was hanging down. The ships power was non-existent and the door seemed to be jammed. Lawrence felt like he was going to cry. He dropped and landed on the windshield. His eyes were watering as he closed them. He could feel the water creeping up, slowly coming towards him. He concentrated his spirit and his energy. There was a crackle and a gleaming red robot seemed to spark into existence.

They were silent for moments. The robot looked down at the cat boy, and the cat boy looked up at him. The robots wings were made of tubes of metal and wires, and golden energy seeped from his torso. Suddenly the robot grabbed Lawrence and punched the glass. It began to crack than caved in. Water was pouring in all around them. If Lawrence were capable of saying anything, it would be a scream. The robot ventured into the darkness of the water to, only seconds later, burst into the air. In no time at all they were on the land. Lawrence only had his wet clothes on his back, the katana strapped to his torso, and the robot that just blinked away from existence. He realized that he was alive and out of the water. He saw two figures, so he shouted to them, none of which was coherent.

Kai watches the spectacle withe the appearance of the robot, then it's vanishing leaving behind a human figure. He looks to Lily and nods. "Sounds like he may need some help. Let's do it."

He reached to Lily with one hand, while the other never left the hilt of Zenbonzakura, just in case.

Lily nods and takes his hand, then starts to lift off...but suddenly stops and looks at Kai in alarm. "Ratheros! Is she..."

She breaks off when a wet, trembling little nose pokes out of Kai's soaked kimono. With a relieved grin, she resumes...easily lifting Kai a few feet off the ground and whisking forward across lake and shore alike towards the calling figure.

She lands in front of him and gasps.

"You're a...Hiroga?!"

Growler has his back to the main body of the lake while the ship crashes down. The wave sent out by the crash splashes into Growler hard. He is thrown forward several feet, near to where his clothes and weapon lay. When his head clears, Growler crawls over to his neat little pile, and takes up the Guan Do. He stands and whirls around, looking for the source of the wave. After a short time of looking around, he spots the new arrival with the Katana on his back. Growler shifts into his man-bear form and jogs over to the cat-boy. His weapon is out and the man-bear is clearly not in a good mood. The fur on his legs is wet and gives off an odor like a wet dog, but muskier. He levels his Guan do at the new arrival, and in a gravely, deep, voice says, "Who are you, and why are you here? Who do you serve? Do you serve the Shards? Speak quickly and wisely."

Lawrence shook, trying to get the excess water off of him. Water creeped him out. The two seemed to respond to his yell and it was downhill from there. They flew over to him and Lawrence stepped back. "I.. uh.. " He laughed nervously and that was before she asked the question. It caught him off guard and he was still recovering from the summoning.

He took a long look at her, realizing who he was looking at and what she was wearing. It was in that moment he also realized he was wearing a white shirt, and the dots through it can be seen perfectly. He was about to respond to Lily when he heard the footsteps approaching. It was a man-bear, and it was lumbering towards him. He nearly shit his pants when it raised a weapon towards him and spoke. "Ahh!" He yelled as he jumped backwards. It was as wise as he could be.

"I.. uh.. Who are the shards? I'm Lawrence Thebes and I'm here on Earth to find.. " He paused for a minute and took a look at Lily. "To find someone."

"Growler, hold!" Lily barks with the unthinking assumption that she'd be obeyed.

She focuses on Thebes. "This isn't Earth, but we did come from there. Who were you sent by, and to find whom?"