Mitzen was in awe.

Not that that was an entirely difficult thing to do, Mitzen could be struck silent by a particularly beautiful sunrise or the waves of a rolling ocean. He had a great appreciation for aesthetic beauty or even the demonstration of a simple skill, so it was no surprise when the stranger's ship appeared out the window of his shuttle, that he was struck with an overwhelming sense of awe.

She was an incredible, her scale difficult to determine when there was nothing close to compare her to, but still mitzen knew her scale was on another level from even their largest cargo freighters. And not only was she at a scale he was having trouble wrapping his head around, but she was beautiful. From bow to stern she was a beautiful piece of architecture rot in graceful flowing lines that evoked the essence of soemthing that had been grown organically rather than built.

Each line of was deliberate, and each protrusion seemed to serve a purpose.

She had no visible engines that Mitzen could see, but the entire ship seemed to glow with an inner golden light past her radiant white skin.

The ship had not been made for stealth, but perhaps it didn't need to.

As they approached a golden field, encompassing the ship like a large bubble, pulsed once to let them through and then faded away.

Complex shielding.

Mitzen was impressed. Their ships had shielding for sure, but they used advanced computational machines to calibrate their shields. Shields took up a lot of power so instead of finding a power source to keep them running at all times, their machines used a series of radar and other detection equipment to determine the weight and velocity of projectiles. The computer would then generate a shield precisely at the point of impact for the split second it would take the impact to happen.

Saved them a lot of energy

But looking up at this ship, energy did not seem to be something they were lacking in.

As their ship approached, a panel in the side of the ship opened, revealing a crackling field of blue energy the only barrier between him and what lay beyond.

"Friendly aircraft please relinquish control of your ship."

Mitzen didn't like the sound of that but he gave the order to his pilot who cut the engines and pulled away.

Their hull groaned a bit, and then they were moving forward, passing through the blue field and into the waiting cargo hold. It was hard to believe that nothing stood between them and the vacuum of space except for a field of blue energy, but he tried not to think about it as the thought put his teeth on edge.

Stepping out of the ship, he found a waiting entourage.

Humans

Multiple humans

One of them was very tall and rather brightly colored. He had long technicolor fur on his head and matching hair surrounding his mouth almost like some sort of mane. He is the one who translated for the others.

How he could have known mitzen's language was unknown to him, but it was rather convenient.

Beside him, a very tall creature almost three heads higher than the colorful human, with a beaklike face and four full arms. It was a fierce looking beast, and the armor on its body indicated a creature that was not a stranger to war. He could see he nicks in the armor, and knew it wasn't simply for ceremony.

To its other side there was another, unknown alien with light brown yellow fur, and large ears not so dissimilar to Mitezen, though it was much taller, and had a long thick tail which it used to support itself against the ground.

"Auditor Mitzen, right this way please." He followed nervously well aware that he was in a delicate situation, surrounded on all sides by strange creatures, on an alien ship with no backup were thing to go wrong. From what he had seen these creatures were pretty harmless so far.

Scratch that.

Not harmless, they were peaceful.

There was a difference. Those spears they were holding didn't look particularly harmless.

He was led through a series of large hallways watching as strange creatures of all shapes and seizes passed him by, and even creatures that floated. One passed him in the hallway, and it reminded him of a giant sort of larvae, with no limbs on its body and one single large eye.

Stepping out of the hallway, he found himself standing in a massive atrium of some sort, that must have been ten stories high or more, with a series of geometric steps and walkways spanning the room. At the center of it all was a large lift of some sort, which carried people continually from top to bottom in a never ending cycle of strange new faces. They passed through the large room garnering no more interest than a few looks of curiosity until eventually they came to a stop in front of two large double doors which hissed open with a soft swish.

And beyond that.

Was the control room. Almost as tall as the room before it, and clustered on all sides with stations stacked high into the air on either side of him most stations manned by creatures in many different shapes and sizes though, admittedly the predominant creature happened to be human.

Floating at the center of it all was a familiar figure.

With light yellow fur and a single burning green eye, Admiral Vir looked more intimidating in person when he had charge of all of his limbs. As they were on alien territory, Mitzen reverted to his usual decorum, immediately taking o the customs of the ones he was visiting. Mechanical limbs were permitted here, and so he would not let it bother him.

"Auditor mitzen. I am glad you could join us." The man said floating down from his spot at the center of the room, skin glowing with a low golden light as he touched down on the central platform.

Now, for the real reason he was here.

To break the news.

***

Adam had not expected his meeting with the auditor to go well, but he certainly hadn't expected it to bring news this poor.

Mitzen stood in front of him on the floor below and shiften from one foot to the other his large ears flopping rom side to side as he moved, and It was with this posture Adam immediately knew soemthing was wrong.

He crossed his arms, "I take it, the theocrat did not take kindly to my words."

Mitzen shifted again looking down at his toes.

"I.... the theocrat has not seen your petition."

Adam frowned, 'And why not."

Behind him, and to the right, Sunny turned in her seat at the weapons command control module to listen in.

Wings folded tightly to his body Metzen shuffled nervously. Mitzen opened his mouth then closed it, then opened it again as if wondering where to begin. It took him a good thirty seconds before he must have settled on a non sugarcoated truth which Adam appreciated, "The theocrat said he would not hear the words of a heretic."

A muttering went up around the room.

Adam raised an eyebrow, "How does he know I'm a heretic if he didn't even listen to what I had to say?

Mitzen shifted nervously, "I..."

"Do you think I am a heretic mitzen."

The fuzzy blue alien looked wildly uncomfortable with the question staring hard down at his own feet , "I believe you do not believe as we do, and as such you are the definition of a heretic.... However-"

Adam waited.

"However I do not think you intend to harm us. I believe you intend to help us even though you do not fully understand from what."

Adam found himself smiling in amusement

That was fair.

"Your theocrat has made a mistake."

Mitzen winced.

Adam couldn't blame him he was basically calling their prophet into question, "He should reconsider."

Mitzen shrugged rather helplessly, "I cannot change the mind of the theocrat."

"Well, than I will simply have to change his mind for him. You may go."

Mitzen opened his mouth again, closed it and then nodded. What else was there to say? Adam felt a little rude for sending the little creature off almost immediately, but he had no intention of allowing Mitzen to overhear what was going to happen next. If he was sure adam was a heratic now, than Adam didn't want to know what mitzen would call him if he heard what his plan was going to be.

As soon as mitzen was gone and Adam was sure he was out of earshot.

In that he had listened to Mitzen's mind to make sure he was out of earshot, before turning to look at Sunny and the others.

Ramirez was sitting in the copilot seat.

Maverick was off to the side. Celex was still with mitzen but he could hear the entire conversation.

"I think we have to pay the theocrat a little visit."

Ramirez snorted, "Like they would let you do that."

Adam crossed his arms, "Which is why I don't plan on asking. Better to ask forgiveness than permission."

Ramirez groaned and slumped down in his seat, "Is that in the Impetus code book of universal truths or some shit."

"Yeah or some shit." Adam said under his breath.

"Okay, and how exactly do you plan on sneaking on to the planet without them noticing."

"Simple you and I-"

Sunny held up a hand, "I am going to stop you right there. I can't go with you."

There was a pause around the room, and more than one pair of eyes turned to look at sunny with incredulity. Adam who tried his very best to keep out of her head most of the time couldn't help the sudden flash of her thoughts that came through his head.

And nearly choked, "What!"

Now everyone had turned to look at him.

Sunny sat stiffly in her chair across from him as he tried his best to control his reaction. It took almost everything he had but he finally managed to do as planned and shove his reaction as far down as possible, "Why not." He managed to squeak.

Off somewhere on the ship celex's thoughts came in loud and clear.

"Well shit."

"I don't know if you have noticed recently, but I am not a great hand at stealth." She was doing a much better job at keeping her cool than he was, an ability he envied her for, "Best if you take celex. I am sure he can make himself useful if needed like cramming him into small holes or kicking him around as a distraction."

She was very good.

Adam was not so great.

In fact he was pretty sure he was going to throw up.

Impetus or not he was not ready for what he saw in her head