Nephenee grimaced, "You're really going to teleport them all? That's insane in your condition. If you're going to do that, at least wait until you can move around freely again." Emory crossed her arms and snorted before she tried to stand again. She was able to stand for a few seconds before she plopped back down grumpily. Then a devilish smile appeared on her face, and a prismatic glow enveloped her body. This time when she got off the bed, her legs didn't shake, only the magik pulsed slightly.
"See? I can stand perfectly fine," Emory grumbled, "If my body still needs time to recover, my magik can fill the gaps for the time being."
"I can't say I agreed with your methods, but I can't fault your determination. Are you sure about this, Emory?" Innes warned.
Emory, with a fire in her eyes, nodded, "There's no other way. I wish there was, but we're out of time."
"At least let me help you," Soren pleaded as he clasped her hand, "I'm not nearly as strong as you are, but I can help."
"With the expanded network, I can radio all the ships and let them know what the plan is, although, I imagine they will be doubtful," Nephenee said with conviction.
"Have them get as close together as they can," Emory ordered as she stretched her arms and legs, "It's already going to be a 'one group per day' type of thing. Nevertheless, it must be done. Innes and Nephenee, get Clarine and prepare for the incoming troops. Soren, meet me at the teleport pad."
Emory left the room and found some spare clothes since hers had been torn during her fight with Selena. After changing she promptly made her way to the teleport pad. Nephenee reported through Jask that all the ships were aware of Emory and Soren's imminent arrival. Soren was sitting on the ground, channeling his magik, when Emory arrived. He thought about asking her if she was truly ready to do this, but when he saw her full cloak covering her body, he gulped and decided against it. She grabbed his hand, and they dissolved into particles of light.
When Emory's eyes opened, she saw a room with only a couple of people huddling in the corner. An alarm was blaring throughout the ship while the sound of approaching boots echoed on a metal floor. A fierce-looking Lloyd stomped into the Command Center, but his countenance changed to a look of fear when he saw Emory and Soren standing patiently in the center of the room.
He cleared his throat, "Lady Reiss. My apologies, I didn't realize you'd be here so soon or with guests."
"Lloyd. This is a commander from our new allies named Soren," Emory introduced the two men, "Soren, this is Lloyd, a high-ranking member of the non-magik group I mentioned."
"Pleased to meet you Lloyd. I hope we can work well together," Soren tilted his head slightly.
"Are all the ships in position?" Emory asked Lloyd, "The closer we can get, the better this will go."
Lloyd nodded, "Yes ma'am. I'm opening a channel for all the ships to hear your orders directly." A ding beeped from Emory's wrist as a holographic screen appeared in front of her.
"All arks, when I finish giving instructions, please cut the power to your engines. Then secure yourselves on the ship as firmly as possible. I will have Jask count down from thirty. You will feel a slight shaking," Emory instructed as Jask began counting down the time. Meanwhile, Emory and Soren locked hands as an iridescent glow blossomed from their bodies. When the countdown reached five seconds, a pervasive vibration rattled through the ten ark ships. As it reached zero, a blinding light encompassed all the ships, and a loud pop thudded against the exterior of the ship.
While the light dimmed, Emory quickly cleaned the blood that trickled from her nose to hide it from the troops. Soren gasped for breath and put his hands on his knees. Out the simulated windows, a beautiful blue planet sat majestically like an analog of Earth. With the glaring light gone, the regular troops in the room rushed to take a peek at the planet. Lloyd slowly approached Emory and Soren like an embarrassed child coming to apologize to their parents.
His voice cracked as he spoke, "Lady Reiss, I apologize for my rudeness before. I will follow the proper chain of command going forward." He gave Emory and Soren a low bow and held it like that for nearly a minute before Emory responded.
"You are forgiven, Lloyd," Emory dryly replied, "Just remember that my people are here to ensure your safety and, due to their proximity to me, they probably have a better understanding of my plans than you do. Please start sending the army to the outpost as soon as possible." With that, Emory put her hand on Soren's shoulder and disappeared. The pair reappeared on the teleport pad with Clarine, Innes, and Nephenee standing around it but staring at the sky with slack jaws.
"Can you believe Lady Reiss? She is indeed a goddess that walks among us," Clarine gasped.
"It's really not that great," Emory smirked, "I used more magik in the fight against Selena." The three jumped and turned around quickly, not realizing she and Soren had returned.
Clarine coughed, "Lady Reiss, you came back so quickly! We were standing here, waiting for you, and then those ships just popped into sight in the sky."
"That's fine," Emory laughed, "Now that they're here, I'd assume they will send supply ships soon. Oh, Nephenee, you should know that Lloyd is onboard. He says he's going to be better now. Just keep an eye on him, if you wouldn't mind."
"Of course, though I doubt he'll make any comments for a long time given this stunt," Nephenee beamed.
"With the army coming, we'll need to tighten our plans," Emory directed the trio, "Clarine, work on setting up training schedules. Most of them should have a solid foundation and be level five or higher. Innes, coordinate with Clarine to have those not training working on building the residences. Nephenee, use the troops that Lloyd brought the first time to scout suitable battlefields away from the outpost. We need good places to engage with the enemy, so set up teleport pads to the new areas once you've decided. Soren and I will move onto Vostea next, then Yuzuno, then Bustrun; please let the other ships know when we'll get them."
The trio bowed and declared, "Yes, ma'am!" Emory grinned before she grabbed Soren's hand again and teleported away.
They appeared on the first floor of the tower, but Emory let go of Soren's hand and fell to one knee almost immediately. She wheezed and coughed loudly, causing Soren to pat her gently on the back. He chuckled, "You remember being in a hospital bed this morning, right? You don't have to push yourself so hard."
"There's work to be done, and if war comes here, they won't be ready," Emory sighed as she slowly stood back up, "It's my job to protect them." Soren rolled his eyes before surveying the room. A young woman had moved from behind a counter and was carefully approaching them.
When she stood about ten feet away, she called, "Miss Emory? Do you need help?"
"I'm fine," Emory managed to let out between her ragged breaths, "Where are the leaders?"
"The Witch leader and the commander are training outside. The subcommander is upstairs, watching the feeds," the woman replied.
Emory nodded, "Thank you." She led Soren up the stairs, though it would be more precise to say they walked together since Emory was still wobbly in her movements. Given the large size of the building and the slow pace they moved at, it took over ten minutes to make their way to the command center. Sam saw them through the glass windows and rushed to greet them.
"Emory! You're here again! It's great to see you!" Sam burst out, "Who is this with you?" Sam checked Soren up, down, and all over as she circled the pair before she noticed how exhausted they looked. She quickly took them to some seats and grabbed them glasses of water. Emory downed the glass in only a few moments, even refilling her own glass a couple times over the next minute. Finally, she exhaled deeply and leaned back on her chair a bit.
"Sam, this is Soren. He's one of the five heads of Elandrian society. Soren, this is Sam. She's my best friend and probably the reason we even met in the first place," Emory introduced the two of them.
"Sam, it's great to meet you," Soren smiled as he sipped his drink, "You'll have to excuse my appearance; I'm usually more put together than this."
Sam grinned, "Likewise, Soren. It's indeed tiring to keep up with Emory. So, you're an Elandrian?"
"Yes, miss," Soren nodded, "I am Soren the Bold, champion for the Legion. All that means is I was elected to join the Five instead of chosen by combat."
"I see, that's interesting. I'm guessing you helped Emory pull off her stunt because I didn't even get the report that she was awake, just that ten ark ships had been teleported light-years," Sam smirked as she gave Emory a certain look.
"Helped? I'd say it was more like I kept Emory from overextending herself so soon after getting out of the infirmary," Soren chuckled, "Your friend is quite stubborn, isn't she?"
Sam laughed, "You can say that again! But she has this presence that you can't help but be around. I'm glad she has someone around to try to keep her in line."
"How have things been here?" Emory glared at Sam, "Has the training been going well?"
"Yep. Elffin has been teaching us individually and even met Myrrh. He and Gatrie are outside right now working on his individual program. Otherwise, it's been rather quiet around here," Sam explained.
"Good. Speaking of Myrrh, how have things been going with her?" Emory asked, "With her level of awareness, she must sense something is going on."
Sam frowned, "She's been quiet and distant. I've tried to persuade her to visit us, but she refuses each attempt. Maybe you could make some time to go talk to her."
"The Apleem once tried to attack her, so I understand why she's a little cagey," Emory pursed her lips, "You're probably right to suggest I talk to her; she seems to listen better to what I say."
"Why don't you go see her now? When you get back, I'll gather Elffin and Gatrie, so we can all talk," Sam suggested. Emory nodded before slowly standing up followed by Soren getting up as well.
As Emory and Soren walked out of the outpost, Soren asked, "What happened so quickly that one of your troops went out on their own already?"
"You mean Myrrh? She wasn't one of our people," Emory giggled, "Myrrh is an intelligent megafauna that covers this planet who can also use the Arcane sphere."
"A plant that is intelligent and can use magik? I wondered why I felt a strong presence since we landed. Besides yours, of course," Soren remarked.
"We don't know her full story, but she's definitely an ally," Emory added, "She's fought the Apleem before and cast Contract on Sam."
Soren rubbed his chin, "How do you speak with her? Telepathy? Or does she have a body of sorts? I'm trying to picture this entity."
"She can form a body out of wood, so her appearance can change," Emory explained, "But make no mistake, her magik is only the tip of the iceberg. Do you notice how this area around the outpost is devoid of life, except what we've planted of course? She did that. In fact, every plant on the planet is part of her which allows her to change the landscape virtually at will."
"That's incredible! In all my studies, I've never heard of a being quite like this," Soren mused as they continued towards the forest line. As they approached it, he could feel the deep magik stored underground beginning to rise.
"I would suggest slow, predictable movements," Emory warned, "She's incredibly powerful and slow to trust in most cases."