Adam had an army.

He also had a baby Celzex in his pocket, but that was beside the point, and secondary only to the army. Had Sunny rolled her eyes at him? Yes, yes she had saying, "Don't you have enough children already." To which he had pointed out that Celzex were significantly lower maintenance than all of his previous children.. If he could have adopted an armful of the little fluffballs he would have, but, while he was relatively sure he could get one past his wife, he wasn't entirely sure he could get an armful.

So today, armed with a rifle, a handgun, two collapsible spears, three knives, and both of his fists, he stood at the head of his army. The Bob shown down from above, ha, he loved saying that, lighting the arcadian morning with cutting rays of blinding, white light. Before him, his waiting army stood on the green, rows and rows of men and women, many of which he recognized.

This was it.

This is where it all began.

He straightened himself, and flexed his shoulders, listening as the SE armor whirred lazily to life.

On the right, the spartans: With their own SE division standing proudly at the front, towering men and women in towering exosuits and bulky armor topped by corinthian style helmets. King James and his Queen Xanthia stood at the forefront. To their left the arcadian army, technically that phrase was sort of a misnomer as almost everyone on arcadia was combat capable.

It would be a safer bet to say that in front of him stood, a fraction of the Arcadian standing army, specifically those who made it their full time job to protect their little planet. The Arcadian SE division also stood out front, though there was a conspicuous hole gaping open in the front ranks, still yet to be filled, despite a few new additions to the fold: previous SE Soldiers Kier Lindsay and Jane, his old MTI Kimball, and the senator's son Pier. A few other faces had since added themselves to the cause, including old friends from the Bramble and Hathor colony, joining not because they were particularly fond of war, but because they were tired of living in fear of the void.

To the left of them stood the Drev, battalions upon battalions of waiting soldiers eager and raring for battle including every member of the Nakt clan, and quite a few members of Sunny's home clan growing up. Dzara led a sizable contingent of her own soldiers, and Even kanan had taken up his spear again. Unfortunately, and to Adam's great dismay Hijan had also taken up her spear. Adam had argued with her for a long time about how she was simply too old to be risking her life, but that argument just proved her point.

She was too old, and if she was going to die, she wanted to do it with a spear in her hand.

It wasn't a request he could deny the old Drev, who had become like a third grandmother to him, and a surrogate mother to Sunny.

Beyond them stood the odds and ends, their borrowed Celex battalion, who were the least intimidating and probably most dangerous soldiers on the field. Standing close to them was Etium heading a squad of soldiers that included everyone that wasn't either human or Drev, simply for organizations sake, this including mostly tesraki, but also had the odd rundi or burg to name a few.

They had some Mikes and Lumin around here somewhere, but the were not' part of the combat portion of things.

This was it, the moment they would finally fill the Empyrean to her full capacity.

Members of the old guard stood with him. Nairobi, Admiral Simon, Glados, Conn, Krill, Riss, Dr. Adric, Katie, Celex, and Ramirez, who stood stoic and silent at the back of the group belying his usually expected cheerful demeanor distantly eyeing that hole in the SE line.

And then, of course, there was Sunny at his side where he always hoped she would be, where she would belong until the day he died.

Their previous mission to find and root out the void had been a bust, but this time, they knew where they were going and what they were doing.

They knew where to look.

Adam turned his head subtly to look at Sunny, resplendent in her shimmering pearlescent armor. Catching his eye, she nodded once, and he needed no other prompting as he stepped forward and held up a hand.

The field around them quieted.

What would he say?

He wasn't entirely sure.

They waited in silence for a moment, but he didn't panic. He let the silence draw out as he lowered his head to contemplate his words. What sort of thing did you say to people who might be offering up their lives to death?

Thank you?

That seemed rather route.

Good luck?

That seemed kind of stupid too, the words too week to really grasp the words he felt needed to be said.

In the end he didn't settle on the words that would adequately express his feelings, but he did come across the right words.

"Are you ready!"

The Spartans chanted, The Drev roared, and the soldiers threw up a shout. All other aliens sort of just looked around in confusion, except of course, for Etium who lost his damn mind.

Their voices died down.

Adam clasped his hands behind his back, feeling as his spine straightened and his chin lifted. A breeze cut pst them tugging playfully at his hair. He set his jaw firmly, "This is it." His voice carried surprisingly well over the crowd, "No more guessing, no more games, no more sitting back on our collective asses while the void plots against our family, homes and children."

More chanting rose up.

"Kazna has repeatedly taken the fight to our front doorstep. She has murdered in our capitals, she has come into our homes, but all that ends today."

Drev spears thundered against the ground.

"Today, we take the fight to her doorstep,"

Shouts.

"We bring chaos to their safehouses."

Boots thundered against the ground.

"And we take back this universe for our children, and our children's children, and whoever the hell comes after that."

More shouting.

But he was almost definitely sure they would have cheered him on no matter what he decided to yell about, good speech or no.

"Today we take the Empyrean to victory, or nothing!"

The cheering rose, raised into the sky. Spears clattered against shields as he stood staring down at his waiting army.

He allowed them to cheer for a few moments allowing a small smile to creep up and onto his face.

"There is one thing I need to go over first."

The roaring of the crowd died away somewhat into confusion.

He paced forward, hands resting gently behind his back as he walked up and down before the waiting soldiers.

In his mind's eye, he could see everything that came before, couldn't help but think about all of the things that had to happen to lead him to this moment. How a boy, from mid Mericanda can go from alien obsessed loser to having his own army. In a little over a decade of life, Adam had experienced the first interstellar mission, the first meeting with aliens, a several wars on several alien planets, the rise and fall of diplomatic relations. He had gained grudging respect for and then fallen in love with an enemy. He had befriended a powerful maniacal alien despot. He had learned about the origins of life, stolen god's spaceship, and involved himself in a cosmic war with his mother in law, all while getting married and having kids.

He was pretty sure it was impossible to have all of that in one life.

Sunny was pretty close.

Krill was close too.

And he was almost positive that there were several things in that list that he had accidentally left out.

It almost made him laugh.

The crowd was still waiting for him, their eyes fixed upon him as he paced back and forth at their front. Never had he thought he would be comfortable in front of a crowd this large, yet, here he was.

He held up a hand, "Listen up, and listen carefully because i will not be repeating myself when we get this started." his lazy smile continued filling him with an ever increasing amount of amusement.

"The first rule of the Empyrean crew...."

For the first time in what might have been weeks, Adam heard the low bark of Ramirez's laugh echoing up from behind him. The marine knew exactly what was coming next.

Adam could sense Krill's Anima rolling its eyes against both the laws of physics and anatomy.

Katie, still a bit somber from events proceeding in the last few weeks, had to cover her mouth with her hand.

Dr.. Adric snorted a sudden huff of air, like an amused bull.

Adam smiled, Life hadn't beaten the joy out of this man

At least not yet.

He lifted his chin and raised his voice to echo out across the field, "First rule of the Empyrean...." He let the statement hang on the air for a long moment before raising his hands, filling the air with a chorus led by his own voice

"Don't Chuck marshmallows at neutron stars!"

Adam grinned, "Damn straight."

And then Adam turned, stiff and straight as he took a step, and wheeled away.

Heelys , just like riding a bike