The Calm Before The Storm. (6)

As they approached the Walkers, an alarm started sounding off, accompanied by flashing lights. Immediately after the sound and light show started, the platforms that the Walkers were docked on began to shake rather vigorously as large panels split and began to open. They opened fairly quickly, and once they were completely open, massive tanks began to rise up out from below. The substance inside each tank sounded liquid, but then at the same time, they sounded different. These tanks contained processed Essence, which had been converted into Storm and Flame Essence respectively. The crackle and roar of a storm could be heard coming from within the tank in front of Juxtae's Walker, while the sound of a raging fire, snapping and burning hot could be heard coming from the tank in front of Vox's Walker.

"So." The Chief said without any warning. "Surveillance footage has shown that the Void Walkers touched down at the same time, which means that they shall be refueled at the same time. The Void Lords will make their way down to the First Planet with me to wait for the refueling process to conclude. They will also be taking members of their respective Personal Knights down to the planet with them. This means that some of you will have to come down in a separate ship, while the rest of you stay up here."

"Don't trust us behave ourselves, do you Chief?" Vox practically spat out with a sneer.

"This isn't about trust, it's about us following procedure, Void Lord."

"The Lady says that makes sense."

"She says covering your own backs is the smart thing to do."

"Yes, well following the law is also the smart thing, is it not Void Lord Juxtae?" The Chief said before looking at his subordinates.

"There will be a total of forty Personal Void Knights that will be accompanying us to the First Planet, so I will require eighty of you to come down. I will select Enforcers from each of the strongest precincts to come with us. When I call out your name, come stand over here. So, from the 1st, Xhuthah, Kreyo, Axeon…"

In this vein, the Chief called out the names of the top-ranking Enforcers from the top-ranking precincts. It sounded as though he was reading names from a list as he called them out in a monotone voice, and there weren't any surprises coming from the list. That said however, upon reaching the end of his mental list and calling out the name of the final Enforcer, the Chief bore all his teeth as he grinned about as broadly as he had done since everybody had arrived. He then started looking around, as if trying to find somebody.

"Oi! Oi you! Yeah, you; Lawman!"

Everybody was confused as to just who the Chief was speaking to, until Toto's eyes suddenly grew to be Zardonian golf ball sized. He quickly remembered what Relovan had said whilst they were still in the auditorium, and he slowly turned his neck and looked at Relovan, who had yet to catch on. As more and more people from within Relovan's precinct caught on, as well as those from others, they all stared at him in silence. This caused the Human to look around at the multitude of eyes that were staring at him and finally click on that he was likely the one being singled out. He then looked at the Chief – who by now was looking right at him and still smiling – and pointed to himself.

"Were you referring to me, Chief?"

"Were you the one that answered me back in there?"

"Indeed I was."

"Then I was talking to you."

"What do you need from me, sir?" Relovan asked, still a little confused.

"I want you to come on over here and join us – you'll be travelling down to the First Planet with us all."

"WHAT?!" Captain Biggum boomed.

He wasn't the only one who was unable to control his mouth and boomed the same question, however the Chief ignored all of the others, and just stared directly at Relovan.

"In what capacity, sir? Do you wish for me to observe?"

"Observe?!" The Chief absolutely roared. "No, you're coming down with us to participate! You spouted some pretty interesting shit back there – I want to see if you have the ability to back those words up."

Relovan and the Chief shared an intense, if not brief stare down and Relovan felt the weight not only of his own words, but of the Chief's as well as the stares and disbelief of his fellow Enforcers. The stare down only lasted a few moments, before Relovan nodded and saluted the Chief. His peers had to open a path for him to move through, and their stares of disapproval were almost tangible. As they reluctantly parted, one of the other Captains couldn't hold in her disapproval of this development, and raised her hand.

"Permission to speak, Chief?"

"What do you want?" The Chief asked as he looked at her.

"Forgive me for questioning you, however this Human barely comes across as qualified to even be a part of the precinct he belongs to – which is one of the worst­. How does creating a spot for him in the group of Elites seem fair? In fact, not even fair, logical?!"

"So, you take issue with me seemingly creating a position for him?"

"Yessir."

"Very well. You there, Munk – you're out. Go back to the main group. Lawman, you're in." The Chief said while looking disinterested again, before looking at the Captain who had raised the issue in the first place.

"Wha – CHIEF?!" She asked in shock as she looked at her Enforcer in disbelief. "You can't do that! Munk is—"

"Excuse me?" The Chief asked as a look that they were all too familiar with danced across his face. "Are you questioning me, Captain?"

"N-No!" The Captain stammered. "I would n-never…"

"Didn't I tell you to move, Munk? Don't make me repeat myself."

Munk suddenly sprinted over as though he was on fire, and his Captain had an extinguisher. There was stunned silence from the police as Relovan finally emerged from the Formation and walked up to the Chief, who just nodded at him.

"Go take Munk's place in the group."

"Sir." Relovan said with a nod of his own, before joining the group.

He was standing amongst the Enforcers from Munk's precinct, and the glares he was receiving were intense. The entire show had dragged on entirely too long for the Chief's liking, and he turned to look at the Void Lords.

"Apologies for showing you something shameful, Void Lords." He said with a nod. "If the both of you could summon your Knights, then we can proceed down and wait for your Walkers to get their Essence."

The Void Lords appeared to be completely dismissive over what had just happened, and they both went back to their respective Void Walkers, ascending into them. The next few minutes were silent, but tense. Everybody wanted to discuss what had just happened, but feared incurring the Chief's wrath if they did. They could only exchange glances and hope the other person understood what they were trying to say. Meanwhile, Relovan had gone back to trying to get the larger bits of armour on when the Chief looked at him.

"What are you doing?" The Chief asked as he looked at Relovan.

"Struggling to get this armour on, sir."

"You're unable to wear the tactical armour?"

"It's nothing serious, Chief – it just takes a bit of effort to equip."

"Then just leave it." The Chief said as he reached for and snatched the bag away from Relovan.

His reach was insane, and this just illustrated how large the Adonian was. He then tossed it so far into the air, it actually flew off the Station and presumably down to one of the planets below, leaving Relovan and the rest feeling somewhat dumbfounded.

"There." He said, his grin returning.

The grin wasn't the only thing that returned however, as the openings on both Walkers glowed again, and the Void Lords descended from their vessels once more. Only this time, they had their twenty Personal Knights in tow. Almost all of Juxtae's Knights were sleight of build, tall and masked, whilst Vox's Knights were all heavily muscled, had vast frames and had nasty looking scowls on their faces. The Void Lords, coupled with just twenty of their respective Personal Knights came across as a force that could easily destroy the Blargon Planets several times over. This was something that absolutely everybody was cognisant of, and it already gave the Police a mental handicap. There was no time for them to succumb to their mental funk however, as the attendants signaled their intent to start refueling the two Void Walkers. Juxtae and Vox looked at the attendants and then at their respective Walkers.