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Daniel heard the newcomer’s response and decided to let the matter be. He might actually be telling the truth. “I’m glad you have that settled then,” he replied. “Anyway, you should probably talk to the other Cerans if you want to know how to proceed from here. This is their planet, after all.” The Aeolus’s cockpit closed up again, its pilot assuming Jameson was satisfied with that bit of face-to-face.

Another unwilling offworlder then. It seems to be becoming more of a common occurence here. Daniel wasn’t exactly eager to have more of them appearing out of nowhere. There’s always the chance of actually unsavory company entering to wreak havoc. As for that word, “isekai”, Daniel did remember it as a genre of sorts. Characters trapped in other worlds and having to cope with their circumstances. It struck him as mostly trashy and not worth his time, but the AF pilot couldn’t quite deny that he was in a similar situation as the protagonists in those works. At least he didn’t have a flock of women to deal with. Daniel didn’t need that kind of complication. Jameson’s Gundam then had sparks shooting out of it. Mechanical problems? It seemed to resolve itself and the Gundam then purged some of its equipment for whatever reason. Perhaps as a way to prove he wasn’t hostile or maybe to facilitate whatever repair systems his machine has. Then he asked to see them in person. Daniel was a...

Daniel still looked at everything carefully, not letting a single detail escape his notice if he could help it. There was nothing that demanded combat yet, but he would fight at a moment’s notice if need be. His ingrained instincts as a soldier hadn’t quite faded, despite his fall from grace. As things gradually unfolded, the AF army test pilot would see the mech disembark from the Ceran craft. It appeared to be in a less than optimal condition, its trip here apparently a harsher ordeal than what Daniel’s group had. It was another mobile suit, or at least had the appearance of one. A Gundam, much like what Liam’s mech would be called. It probably wouldn’t share the same kind of technology their mobile suits have though. The pilot of the newly arrived mech blurted out a “who?” and the Custode stated the rather obvious out of nowhere. There were no snide or snappy remarks on Daniel’s end though and proceeded to get to the point. “My name is Daniel Sorenson, another stranger to this...

Daniel waited like the others did, and the ship made itself clear in their sights. It was descending carefully, making sure its atmospheric reentry didn’t end in disaster. At least they can follow procedure as expected. The AF pilot watched vigilantly, readying himself for action if necessary. One can’t be too careful, especially in an alien world.

With the coordinates sent to him, Daniel was ready to go and deal with whatever was randomly sent their way. Or perhaps it wasn’t random, though there was only one way to find out. But before he or his other companions could go ahead, the Custode asked them all a question regarding the Ceran communication. “It was,” Daniel confirmed. “They simply said to leave first contact to them.”

Daniel nodded at the general’s words, and proceeded to go on his way towards the hangar. As he was heading towards the Aeolus, the golden armored man, apparently called a Custode, also offered to join them. He was completely serious about it, despite seemingly lacking a mobile suit or something else of equivalent scale. It was another bit of surprise, but Daniel wasn’t exactly eager to argue against him. The Custode had the bearing of an experienced warrior from a world that by all appearances, suffered from constant strife. If he wanted to enter a potential battlefield, so be it. He should already know the risks. Daniel heard Valrin’s words regarding the Custode. Was he truly that fast? The AF soldier wouldn’t test that claim himself and preferably, their enemies would do so instead. “We’ve all said our piece then, so let’s go deal with whatever this is,” Daniel said.

As Valrin and Liam already answered the golden armored man’s query, there was no need for Daniel to speak and simply observed. On that note, their newly awakened guest no longer spoke in his mentor’s voice, nor did he have that same overpowering presence from before, but he still carried an undeniable air of authority. His superhuman physical stature helped enforce that notion, of course. Daniel saw yet another mysterious newcomer about to come through. Another potential sorry member for their group? There was only one way to find out. The Ceran general offered his own opinion, of course, and it was reasonable. However… “I’m not opposed to that, general. After all, this is your base on your world. But can I suggest that we come along as well? Simply for insurance, in case anything goes wrong.”

Well that answered Daniel’s question. “Fucking idiot!” As Daniel joined the reptilian mercenary’s attempt to stop the general, a most unusual thing happened. There was a sudden light that shone everywhere, intensely bright and radiant. Was this something supernatural, like what happened back in that ship? This was indeed beyond the realm of the mundane, but Daniel felt it was very much different from what happened in that ill-fated vessel. The AF pilot stood frozen, uncomprehending of what he witnessed. The source of that light made itself known, and no one opposed it. The current crisis was halted, trivialized by whatever was happening now. Then the luminous man spoke, his words directed at Valrin, making it clear he was displeased. Yet that voice…it was of his mentor. Daniel then remembered his days of army training at this moment as if they just happened, the fog of time being rendered non-existent. The lessons imparted were harsh, but fair. Yet considering what happened...

Daniel couldn’t believe what he was seeing. They were so close to leaving this damn base behind with all sides being mostly content. Valrin’s diplomatic faux pas would of course have left a bad taste, but it didn’t deserve this kind of escalation. This was only going to end terribly. “General, you’ve proven your point, now let us-” Before Daniel could finish his sentence, Valrin spoke up again. That maniac responded with self-destruction! The AF army pilot was stunned into silence. For a brief moment, he considered just punching Valrin. His fist was already clenched at this moment, but the soldier’s rational mind prevailed in the end. Trying to assault someone who threatened nuclear scale annihilation wasn’t likely to go well. So what else could Daniel do? Roll with it. He closed his eyes, inhaled, then exhaled. Eyes opened again, Daniel faced the general with a steely expression. “General, I advise you not to threaten us any further. In our short time here, we confronted and...

“I guess we are, but certainly not by choice,” Daniel said. If the three wanted to survive in worlds far from their own, they’d have to work together, though that might be easier said than done. As they all kept walking, the trio at last met the commander of this base. He was quite understandably irritated with the current events, though the general thankfully didn’t resort to any extreme punitive measures. Instead, he clearly wanted to wash his hands clean of this matter and hand it off to someone else. That was fine in Daniel’s book. If all parties can leave here relatively intact, then that would be ideal. “None at all,” Daniel replied. But then… Valrin, being himself, apparently had to fuck it up. This was beyond bad, the lunatic was cratering relations with the people who were giving them some form of shelter. Well, until they were all transferred to the Sunrider anyway. Daniel resisted the urge to simply throttle him, a testament to his discipline and self-control, though...

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief as the situation was seemingly resolved and followed the guards as they were escorted. Right now there were no issues, but new ones would undoubtedly appear. The three were strangers in a world that was lightyears away from each of their own worlds and whatever dangers were out there, they were woefully ignorant of them. No matter what though, Daniel could not allow himself to die here. He still had enemies back on Earth that he needed to kill. Auxiliary crew, they said. It was a bit of a farce, but the Sunrider was their best bet at the moment. Daniel hoped the crew wouldn’t be too much of a headache to work with, but he prepared himself for the worst.

“I guess we’ll be on our way then,” Daniel replied. The AF army pilot was surprised to see Valrin actually bothering to shake hands with the alien, but any positive impression he may have had of the psychic was thoroughly erased when he wiped his hand on the wall, and then on Daniel himself. “Really?” Daniel said, giving Valrin a completely nonplussed look. Before they could all walk away from this scene, another issue presented itself. Apparently the Ceran base’s staff thought the three needed to be seized and brought under control. Obviously that was absurd, only Valrin deserved that kind of reaction. But it was in Daniel’s best interest to not let this escalate. However, he didn’t feel like dealing with this himself, not when there was someone here better suited for it. He turned to the reptilian alien. “I suggest that you be the one to correct this…misunderstanding. Unless you want to make this worse for everyone,” Daniel told the saurian.

Daniel was somewhat taken aback by the stranger’s appearance. An intelligent reptilian species wasn’t exactly unheard of due to the existence of the Dinosaur Empire back on Earth, but it was still a surprise to see someone so similar to their ilk here. It was a different world, so perhaps a non-human should’ve been expected, but considering most of these Cerans looked human, this came as somewhat of a shock. The reptile’s physical appearance wasn’t the important part, of course. Not to Daniel anyway. It was the topic he brought up. I knew it, I knew that mind control shit was a bad idea. Still, Daniel wouldn’t throw Valrin under the bus, despite his…tendencies. He was still somewhat of an ally despite his questionable methods of dealing with this base’s personnel. The AF pilot sighed, and resolved to speak on Valrin’s behalf. “I think you might be jumping to conclusions,” Daniel replied. “People on a military base trying to relieve tension and boredom this way isn’t exactly...

Daniel took in Valrin’s words. He did have a point about the initial reactions to the mention of demons. Perhaps it was best to put it in terms they’d understand, such as “memetics” or whatever if prompted, even if it wasn’t fully accurate. He might even be right that they couldn’t be trusted with such knowledge if they somehow managed to convince them of the threat they faced. But as he stared Valrin down as the conversation progressed, he truly saw the fanaticism looking back at him. He meant every single word. Daniel wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept of performing a lesser evil to prevent a greater one. It did not, of course, change that it was an evil but nonetheless it meant more lives were spared in the end. But to burn an entire world… “I see that you’re insane. But I actually do acknowledge your points. If we’re to fight this sort of evil, we’ll do what’s necessary. Though I’d prefer to fight to keep this world in one piece instead of having to burn it all down. I’m not...

Daniel sighed, once again exasperated. "How much effort it takes you to do all that is beside the point, and the fact you did it to another military base's personnel isn't at all better, but fine, we'll put this matter aside," he said. Well, up until they eat some kind of consequence in the future for this. Daniel didn't quite share Valrin's confidence, but he didn't feel like wasting the energy in trying to sway him. Someone with Valrin's abilities would be an asset, but considering how brazen he was in his displays, Daniel had good reason to be wary. He then shifted topics as they walked down the hall. "Is it really such a risk to actually tell them what sort of threat we faced? If something like that appeared again, keeping their nature a secret strikes me as counterproductive. They should at least know how to fight back."

As they walked out, Daniel saw Valrin do more of his...work. There was absolutely no way he could keep doing this without any consequence, surely. At the end of it all, the AF pilot suddenly felt an extreme urge to just grab Valrin by the shoulders and violently shake him out of frustration. Thankfully, logic and restraint ended up victorious, at least this time. "You just can't keep tampering with the minds of another ship's crew! Putting aside any moral arguments, someone might actually notice eventually and we'd get flak for it. Especially if there's another on this ship similar to you," Daniel said. He breathed out and relaxed himself. He needed to be calmer, being unnecessarily tense would only be a detriment.

As the door thudded on the ground, Daniel wheeled around to see Valrin barging in. Of all the things he expected to happen during this little interview, this was definitely not one of them. Just what did Valrin think he was doing? "Valrin, what the fu-" He began to speak, ignoring Daniel overall. The AF pilot just stared aghast at what was happening, almost transfixed by this audacity in display. It was similar to how one would react to a traincrash in slow motion, with every vivid detail made apparent. Daniel turned to look at the interrogator, as puzzled as he was by what happened. The AF pilot then turned back to Valrin and stood up. "What the hell is this? What did you even do? First you nearly made the situation blow up in the hangar, now whatever this is?!"

The man in front of him began muttering something, but Daniel couldn’t really figure out what he meant by it. He was probably a bit irritated by all this, which was fair. More than once, he heard what must have appeared like fanciful delusions rather than rational explanations, but life has a tendency to become more bizarre than fiction. The man also didn’t appear to like Liam much if that derision in his tone regarding the scientist was any indication, but his hangups weren’t too much of a concern at the moment. Another question was then asked, possibly the last one. Daniel had no real answer for it, but like before, he’ll respond as best he could. “It’s certainly possible,” the AF army pilot replied. “This isn’t exactly my area of expertise, but there might be a faint chance this could’ve been planned. By who or what, I can’t say. Of course, this is all obviously just speculation. Phenomena like this are beyond my scope to properly examine.”

The slight visual cues weren’t lost on Daniel. His interviewer likely expected some kind of sensible answer. Unfortunately, what happened thus far wasn’t all that sensible, especially the events on the ship. “I don’t know how I arrived here, honestly. Whatever phenomena dragged me here still eludes me. The others are as clueless as I am,” Daniel replied. As for the other, “One of that ship’s crew set the reactor off. The ship had to be destroyed to prevent whatever was inside it to spread and endanger this world. The enemy we faced appeared to have the ability to influence the weaker minded, and the ship was apparently…tainted by it, so to speak.” Daniel sighed. It didn’t really sound all that reasonable when he heard himself say it, but he really couldn’t explain it any better. “I understand if you can’t believe me, but that’s what I witnessed there. All I’m doing is telling you how I saw it.” Daniel stared the interviewer straight in the eye, waiting for his response.

Daniel thought about it for a bit, but he never really heard much of an Earth Federation. It could be some very secret fringe group on his world or something from an entirely different world. Regardless, Daniel doubted the two organizations were all that related, despite the similar technology. "I can't say I've heard of this Earth Federation, though our mobile suits have some fairly similar technology to each other."