To: Hōjō Clan, GC, Sisters of Light, Order, 141th; Subject: Return of an old enemy!

[Tyroflion]

A man in his mid fourties appears on screen. He is wearing a formal kimono adorned with pictures of birds and flowers. There is a katana at his side. He bows to the camera before starting to speak.

Konnichiwa to all honourable defenders of Kusari and special greetings to our friends from The Order.

My name is Taira Kazuto Shogun of the Taira familly of Blood Dragons. Some of you know me, some don't. Taira clan is an old clan but for a long time we have been keeping to ourselves leaving the younger and more aggressive clans to claim the honor of actively fighting the Kusari Navy while we cultivated ourselves in meditations, focusing on creating works of art and literature and by bettering ourselves we tried to better whole Kusari. But now our seclusion has ended.

Shogun Taira pauses briefly to take a sip of tea that is handed to him by someone off-camera.

The reason why I am calling you all and disturbing your everyday busines is simple. An old enemy of ours has returned. Although we thought them destroyed, the pests known as Aoi Iseijin have returned.

I call upon all of you in hope that this time we can stop the nomad-infested scum for good. I know that the forces of the Order are currently quite busy in Omicrons. Tales of warmonging Zoners and rising tides of nomad sightings, not mentioning tales of crazy AIs have reached us even in our secluded homes. That is why I call Order here mainly as scientists and strategists to provide us with knowledge and information.

And that is, in my personal opinion, our main task now. To gather information. As precise and as numerous as possible and to coordinate our individual inteligence reports into one clear picture of who these infested are, how many they are and what is their goal.

I'd like to set up this channel so that we may share the information and formulate a clear strategy on how to deal with them. Especially since with the recent treaty with Rheinland it seems that infested agents of Wilde will have free reign in Kussari and there is a good chance that the treaty with Rheinland happening at the same time as the reapearance of Iseijin is not purely coincidental.

I patiently await your opinion on these matters.

The man bows again then the image fades in black.

---

[22:52:23] Michał Golański: Not everyday leader of warrior feminists sleeps with one of the most powerful admiral badasses in the universe!
--
If it's not happy it's not the ending! - Shah Rukh Khan
--

[Mercarryn]

<<<Incoming Transmission>>>
<<<ID: Unknown>>>
<<<Location: Unknown>>>
<<<Opening Containing Files>>>
<<<Encryption: Very High>>>

*Just before the screen is turned on you can hear someone
screaming "God, when will these morons ever learn?
Hey, wait, that microphone is already active! #9, next time tell me before!*



Ah, okay.

Well, Blood Dragon, call me #5. Just #5.

First of all. And please, listen carefully. It is "One Four One"! Not 141st, not 141th,
not any other number that is somehow spoken "One hundred fourty one".
Just "One Four One". Capiche? Shouldn't be too hard for 'ya.

So, back to your message.

Now if I got this correct, you want to tell us that the Aoi Iseijin scum show up
in your yard again? Well, in case you haven't noticed...there is some biiiiig,
baaad station. Called the Arch. In our common backyard.



Now, make a guess who controls that thing?

Yeeess, the Aoi Iseijin.

So, don't take it as an insult, but I am not really surprised to see that happen again.
Hell, that's what comes around when no one listens to me. Tough luck.

Though I am a bit surprised about that treaty between Kusari and Rheinland that
you mention. Well, some infected Strudel eaters could indeed use it to start
some trouble between both houses.

I'll forward it to my superious and let them know about this situation.

Oh, and before I forget..."One Four One"! Okay? See you next time!

*Before the transmission ends you can hear #5 shouting
"Allright #9, payback time. Where is my baton again?!*

[Omicron]

Grand Admiral Michal Golanski of The Order here.

As no. 5 have noted, you had their entire base at your direct neighbourhood since beggining of first Nomad war. I assume that dragons who defied importance of this fact opened their eyes as to what is true cancer of Kusari? No offense to Dragons who see and recognize threat, hovewer some of yours neglected situation for long enough.

As for Rheinland forces within Honshu system, there is no doubt some infected, intelligence agency or simply rogue individuals will wreck the neighbourhood knowingly or not. Should they oppose our alliance to degree bigger than random annoyance, we will have to root out the weed from this 'garden'.

Our capital assets range can cover Tohoku and Chugoku for both offensive and defensive operations, including assistance in keeping your homeworld safe. Fighters and bombers however can be dispatched anywhere within Kusari and its direct borders. If there are any specifics you want to discuss, do not hesitate to ask.

Golanski out.

---

[Sakura]

*Transmission starts*
Kon'nichiwa honorable Taira-sama. *bow graceful*
As if Kusari have not enough problems right now... Oh well... Seems things are never getting tired here. Of course you can count on our help. We will send any information we can gather about this threat to our allies the Blood Dragons. Beside that, we are ready to help the Order with those Aoi Iseijin in combat, should it be needed. When you gentlemen have more questions to us about that all, we are ready to listen.
Until we all hear from each other again: May the gods protect you all.
Sayonara. *bow graceful, then the transmission ends*

---

Oh mommy, mommy. Your pillows signature was too big!! Tsk tsk! ~Your daughter

[Eduard]

Bonsoir. Mon name is Forlorn d'Autoine. Captain of Task Force One Four One.

I will assume previous incidents regarding the Aoi Isejin and the Arch as irrelevant now. Whatever course of action was chosen, the dice had been cast, and it now possesses little relevance.

What truly matters is the re-awakening of the Isejin, as considering what you have reported, they now boast a significantly increased presence than before, and how we will react to this menace.

That being said, monsieurs... et madames, my Gaul heritage allows me the liberty of treating such actions with insight and thus, I took the liberty of detaching some fighter squadron in your area, mon Blood Dragons.

However, I do need to add that our influence in the region you present is fairly low, mainly because of our resources spent in other areas for thwarting the nomad threat. Still, like above mentioned, your call cannot be neglected.

But, the effort of fighting this threat in Kusari can increase its efficiency as well as our force pool. I have personally prepared a few ideas et suggestions. With permission, and your desire to hear them as well, I shall share them with no hesitance.

Until then... Au revoir!

---

King Eduard is the greatest

[AlphaWolf215]

This is Shogun Hojo Hirotoki, Head of the Hojo Family.

Konichiwa to my fellow Shogun Taira, and my gratitude for bringing this threat to my attention. All Hojo Dragons, and our supporters, have been raised to full alert, however i cannot help but think this is a job best suited to the Order in current, pressing times. We will aid Order and One Four One forces as much as we can, but this is not a task we are best suited to currently.

Grand Admiral Golanski,

*he nods his head in a curt sign of some respect*

A pleasure to speak once again. It would be much appreciated if you could aid us against the Aoi Isejin, but be warned, our supplies are low, we cannot aid in the repair of your own vessels. That said, i will be contacting you further on more... "Private" channels about a matter i think we would both agree upon.

Lady Red,

Our sister from the Crysanthemums. Your information will prove most invaluable, and for you to aid the order against this threat is much appreciated. Your warriors truly are as fearsome as the rumors say.

In all, our message is clear, The Blood Dragons, as a whole, have little supplys, so we cannot afford a full scale assault on the arch currently, but we will arrange what fighter support we can for Order Forces.

May your honour guide you all,
Shogun Hojo Hirotoki

---

[Tyroflion]

A man in his mid fourties appears on screen. He is wearing a formal kimono adorned with pictures of birds and flowers. There is a katana at his side. He bows to the camera before starting to speak.

Konbanwa honourable parties,

First I would like to adress the Order. I very much apreciate your offer of military assistance. It is very nice to see that the ties between the Order and true heirs of Kusari are still strong. However I would like to point out that the dragons you are talking about Golanski-san, who closed their eyes to the infestation in Kusari are no more. The faction of Rising Sons have reached its peak and faded away. What remains are the clans. Among them only us, the Taira and Hōjō have reacently risen to perform our duties for the well-being of Kusari.

Shogun's face turns very serious and his eyes pierce the camera.

That said I must warn you that if you ever try to blame mistakes, blindness, forgetfulness or any other actions performed by Rising Sons on us again we will take it as an insult and will treat it that way. Mister #5 may have not realized it but we Blood Dragons of Kusari don't take insults easily, so unless he wants to back his accusations with a duel in space I suggest he keeps his tongue inside his mouth.

Shogun leans back again, his face slowly relaxing.

On the other hand even this has a good side. We have never dealt with the Order so it is a fresh new start for all of us.

I noticed that both d'Autoine-san and Golanski-san offered to provide any specific information we may have need for, so I'll use this opportuntiy to ask a few questions:

1.) How may we distinguish infected from the uninfected? Some show it proudly in the names of their ships, but some may hide it and we need to recognize them when we see them.

2.) Also, what are their supernatural capabilities? We all remember the story of Edison Trent and the first nomad war, but since then the story was told many times and much was exagerated. So the information of what can the individuals do from the cokpit of their ship and on the grounf would be much apreciated.

3.) And ofcourse you mentioned the Arch. For quite some time the station was thought to be abandoned. Now it's sprawling with activity again and so we would like all the strategic information about the station, it's defenses and estimated numbers of infected aboard. If you could spare a recon fighter that would asses the current numbers I would much apreciate it.

4.) Last I am curious about the Rheinland infected, I think you call them Wilde. What can we expect from them if they come in our space? What ships do they fly what is their usual behaviour? Do they also hunt in group? Or should we expect them to be traveling solo?

Shogun Taira bows to the camera again.

Harigatou for all informations and men you can provide. I hope we can catch this sudden and unexpected rise in infected activity before it becomes dangerous to Kusari again.

Now I would specifically like to thank Red hime-sama for her offer. I know that the situation in Kusari is dire and is becoming worse every day but I also belive that the reappearance of Iseijin and the free permit for Wilde to invade that Kussari Navy has created are the most dire threat we have faced to this day and I intend to act upon it.

And since Shogun Hojo has answered as well I would like to thank you for your swift answer as well as your offer of help.

Shogun Taira gives a swift bow his fellow Shogun.

I am sorry to hear about clan Hojo's lack of resources. If we can, we will gladly help. And although our situation is not as dire as yours I completely agree that we are in no condition to assault the Arch. not only because of the lack of ships bt also the lack of information. And that is what we are trying to get now. Neither to raise the Arch to the ground nor take your limited supplies and ships from where they are needed. We are hear to asses the situation, put together what we know and find a solution, a strategy that would alow us to cooperate without any one side having to commit all its resources to battling the infected.

Taira nods to the camera and takes another sip of tea.

Harrigatou all of you again for your swift responses I look forward to working with you to stop the Iseijin and protect Kusari.

Shogun bows again, then the image fades in black.

---

[22:52:23] Michał Golański: Not everyday leader of warrior feminists sleeps with one of the most powerful admiral badasses in the universe!
--
If it's not happy it's not the ending! - Shah Rukh Khan
--

[Tyroflion]

A man in his mid fourties appears on screen. He is wearing a formal kimono adorned with pictures of birds and flowers. There is a katana at his side. He bows to the camera before starting to speak.

Konnichiwa to honourable allies.

It seems my call came just in time. Today 19th of June 817 a gunboat of the Taira clan encountered a strange ship aproaching the Heaven's Gate, better known as Tekagi's Arch. When our pilot came to investigate he saw a Kusari Navy Gunboat undocking from the Arch.

After aproaching and asking what business the ship had in the abandoned base the pilot exclaimed the base was theirs and the Blood Dragons crossed their line by aproaching it. Our scanner detected a nomad infested presence aboard and our brave pilot engaged the Iseijin.

Sadly our pilot's skill weren't able to match the Navy gunboat's agillity and after a long exhausting fight the Taira gunboat was destroyed and the pilot did not survive. We sincerely hope that he died quickly in his exploding ship and was not captured since the infestation is a fate I do not wish upon anyone.

However his transmissions and gun-camera shots of the enemy ship were recived and we will honor his sacrifice by putting them to good use.

*1 *2 *3 *4

Shogun bows his head and remains in silence for a minute or so. Then he looks up again and slowly draws his tanto sword.

Upon this day I Shogun Kazuto Taira, first of his name, head of the Taira familly formaly declare war upon the Iseijin. It will continue untill one side of the conflict is utterly destroyed. There will be no compromises, no prisoners and no mercy.

Shogun holds the tanto in one hand then cuts a straight line across the palm of the other hand. Blood starts to pour from the wound and drops on the tatami on the floor.

Today the blood of a member of Taira clan was spilled. And by that all of us were wounded. And this wound will not heal untill it is avenged. We live for the clan and we die for the clan.

Shogun bows again, then the image fades in black.

---

[22:52:23] Michał Golański: Not everyday leader of warrior feminists sleeps with one of the most powerful admiral badasses in the universe!
--
If it's not happy it's not the ending! - Shah Rukh Khan
--

[Omicron]

I will give you answers to your questions.

Point 1, Infectees

Infiltrators are always a major risk but their numbers are relatively low as to decrease chances of detection. No faction is entirely safe, not even The Order. Once infected, person you knew is unable to return as his body and identity is assimilated by the parasite.

It is in our capability to detect Nomad infestation however this process is unsuitable for mass scans and is dangerous, considering infectee's enhanced abilities. We will come to that soon enough.

Point 2, Nomad communication

Their "supernatural abilities" have been studied. They do posses species wide network of instantenous communication, so called mindshare. Through this, they can communicate with human beings - resulting in what affected describe as inner voices from outside source.

In more extreme cases, this can be used as a weapon. Indoctrination or outright destroying your mind through powerful mental attack - observed to be in their battleship's class capacity.

Point 3, The Arch

Order have boarded the Arch twice, therefore we have limited knowledge as to what is within the installation. It is vast complex way beyond the arch itself which we were not able to cleanse and explore fully. It is military fortress by all means and static defenses include even Nomad energy blasters added alongside standard kusari turrets.

First attempt happened in 800 A.S. and was met with considerable success.
Second breach was initiated in 819 A.S. but siege was brought to an end by KNF and Wilde ships.

Point 4, Das Wilde or simply The Wild.

Das Wilde, the Rheinland's equivalent of Aoi Iseijin are the same entity. Practical difference are of course origin of infested personnel and hardware they are able to aquire and sustain. You will see them armed mostly with Rheinland Military designs augmented with Nomad technology.

Recent sightings include even Bretonian Armed Forces fighters however scope of this precedence is yet to be seen.

Golanski out.

---