Meeting of the Generals

"I would like to become his Sponsor" General Clofos spoke casually. Like what he said wasn't a big deal. 

The room was silent. General Clofos never sponsored anyone. Unless they were incredibly talented, like Captain Nork.

"General Clofos, you can't be serious. How could a Foundation Realm cultivator slay a Core Formation Tunneler?" A male Danirum spoke.

"I am serious, General Quilax. I would have just sent him off to the recruitment tent if I hadn't seen his power in person." General Clofos turned his attention to a female Danirum in a grey uniform with a black cape. "Agent Astronova, would you please help Mr. Kromwell here registration into the CIA?"

"Yes Sir" Agent Astronova spoke. Lucas then noticed everyone's uniform. Those that had the same combat uniform as General Clofos all had caps. 2 had a red capes, another had a yellow cap, and the last one had an orange cap. While Agent Astronova and the others in the grey uniforms had full black capes. 

"Mr. Kromwell" Agent Astronova spoke. "Please follow me. Non registered members shouldn't be in the command room" she flew a glance directed at General Clofos. He just smiled embarrassingly. 

Agent Astronova lead Lucas out of the room and down the tower. Once they left the generals resumed their topic.

"You know old friend I'm surprised you've picked another apprentice to sponsor." A female Daniruim in the same combat armor and red cape as General Clofos spoke. "You're getting up there in years. How old are you now? 790 or 780? I can't remember."

"General Nebulox. Cheeky as always aren't you? It's actually 779. And you should watch it. You're getting up there in age as well. I remember when you first became my apprentice when you reached the Golden Formation realm when you had just reached 120. Always the late bloomer."

"Don't forget you were too, General Clofos" a male Danirum in a grey uniform and black cape spoke. "If I remember correctly you didn't reach the Nascent realm till you 200 years old. An entire 75 years after myself, Agent Zoglax, General Xandria and even General Zypherious." 

General Clofos just laughed. Agent Vortican was right. He was a late bloomer as well in the cultivation world, but once he did reach the Nascent realm his progression skyrocketed! 

"Enough with the games" the last General spoke. He too wore a red cape like General Clofos. "Agent Vorticon. We have more important things to discus besides Generals Clofos." He spoke sternly. 

"Oh pull the stick out of your a## General Quilax. We were chatting" General Clofos spoke. 

"That maybe true General Clofos, but I am heading this operation and I would like to have no distractions. Once this meeting is over you can go back to doing your job." General Quilax was definitely not in the mood for any jovial antics. 

The other Generals and Agents shut their mouths and took their seats. "Now since Agent Astronova is absent, I would like General Clofos to fill her in. Since he is the reason she is gone." He threw the general a disapproving look. "Please direct your attention to the image of the planet. As you can see this planet is not fully taken over so that limits the Xeomorphs growth. If they manage to push us back they will evolve to be able to send large hives through space. We can not allow them to do that."

"This Space Sector is important to the Morning Star Empire. I need not remind you they are one of the CIA's largest supporters. If we fail here the CIA's can lose a lot of credits."

"Ah so that's why the higher ups have sent this many Generals and Military Intelligence Agents here." General Clofos spoke while scratching his clean shaven chin. "Makes a lot of sense now."

General Quilax held his anger, but spoke out towards General Clofos. "Of course it does you blubbering buffoon. You would have know this if you attended our meetings like the rest of us." He spoke through his gritted teeth. 

"Oh its fine. I found out now anyway" General Clofos spoke nonchalantly and with a wave of his hand. He then put his feet up on the table and leaned back with his hands behind his head. "So what exactly is our game plan then?"

General Quilax's eyebrow twitched in anger. "I was just getting to that, you slacker." He cleared his throat. "As Agent Astronova spoke earlier. In sector 1J we have found reports of Egg Carriers transporting eggs. They are moving them to the front lines around the planet. These eggs are reinforcements to the front. A single egg is able to hatch 100 Xeomorphs at the Core Formation realm. This indicates that the Queen on this planet has just reached Liquefying Realm and progressing. It'll be a few more months till she reaches the nascent realm, but once she does taking over the planet will be much easier."

"It is our job to hunt the queen down before it's too late. If our cadets and soldiers can't slay the Xeomorph Queen before she reaches the Nascent realm I will be ordering all of us to kill it." He raised a hand to quell their objections before they could speak out. "Yes I know it's overkill to send the 8 of use to kill the Queen, but I'd rather not risk their escape off world. Is that clear?"

The other Generals and Agents just nodded their heads in agreement. They knew the stakes and wouldn't allow the aliens to get off world. With that General Quilax ended the meeting. The other Generals and Agents could go back to their task. Yet they all remained, including General Quilax. 

"So tell us General Clofos" Agent Vortican spoke inquisitively. "It's been many many years since you last Sponsored someone. Tell us more about this Lucas Kromwell. How could a Foundation Cultivator slay a Core Foundation Tunneler?" Everyone else in the room leaned forward to listen to General Clofos intently. 

______________________________

Elsewhere Lucas was lead by Agent Astronova. She had short dark hair, bright green eyes and same blue skin and slight nose like any other Danirum. Just based off of her uniform Lucas thought she looked like a person in a supportive role in the CIA or someone in High command. Or even a type of officer. He wasn't quiet sure thought. 

As the two walked every time they passed by a group of soldiers, mainly those who were of the same species or wore the uniform of a CIA soldier they saluted her. Agent Astronova noticed this and spoke up.

"Is this your first time being off world or meeting a Danirum?"

"Yes Ma'am' Lucas spoke calmly. "I've visited another planet before, but the main population were Humans or Druids. So my knowledge of other races is limited."

Agent Astronova's eyebrow raised hearing this. Lucas had given some information from where he is from. "Ah yes. The Druids are known to be amazing cultivators regarding planet life. We've even hired some from the COS to tend to our crops to feed the CIA. Would you care for a history lesson about us?"

"Yes Ma'am. I would be honored." Lucas paid attention to what she said and noticed she had spoke of the Druids and the COS. He would have to watch his words more carefully in the future. 

"Very well" she spoke calmly while silently using her mana sense to gauge Luca's emotions. Like she was silently interrogating him. " I shall start with our race. We Danirum's are a space faring race. Our homeworld and many other planets were conquered by the Xeomorphs. We were forced to leave our star system and into the unknowns of space. From there we discovered that the Xeomorphs are a rampant threat in the universe"

"With that discovery we vowed to remain in space till the Xeomorph threat was eliminated. We transformed our colony ships into warships and became galactic mercenaries hired by other galactic civilizations to fend off the Xeomorph tide. Over the centuries our people became nomadic teachers. We accept all types of lifeforms and treat everyone as equals. As long as they follow our rules."

"Thanks to our neutrality we became teachers and scholars that also give practical experience to our students and cadets. When you join you will be a student, but if you wished to join the CIA as an actual member of the organization, regardless how long you've been a student, you will be a cadet. You'd move up the ranks and be given capes showing what your role is and rank."

"I'm sorry Ma'am. I'm a little confused" Lucas spoke. " What's the difference between a student an a cadet? Do other members of your race have an option to decide?"

"Let us first bring up our race. We Danirum dedicate ourselves to cleansing the universe of the Xeomorphs. They are a plague and we are the cure. When are race reaches the age of an adult, 50 years old, we decide if we wish to join the military or become a scholar. Both have their own roles. The military is the tool we use to rid the universe of the Xeomorphs and how we train students and cadets. Students are given the easier jobs so they are less training."

"If they wish to become a Scholar they are the spine of our organization. They train other students sent to us by other galactic nations and even create new cultivation techniques or skills. They are the administration side to simplify their work. They handle the logistics of the CIA and support the military side." 

"So to get this straight. I will be a student and part of the logistical side of the army. Will I preform any operation with the military? And my fee for entry. My Master just teleported me here without a word. And I only have a couple hundred thousand credits" He tried to be as honest as possible. He wanted to sound like he was a country pumpkin in a wide universe.

Thankfully his plan worked as Agent Astronova had a change of heart about him. "Well the planet is under a no-teleportation array. For your master to bypass that then it means he or she is a powerful cultivator." She mentally marked this down to inform the other generals when she came back.

"Seeing as he gave you no information then it means he wishes you to learn first hand and remain unbias. Your master is very wise to do so. Regarding your other issue's. Your entry fee is waved and paid for by General Clofos. He is your sponsor. He is paying for your room and board, along with granting you to start with 1,000 Merits and your uniform will have a blue cloth like Fauld to wear. This will represent yourself as an apprentice of a member of High Command. So you will be a hybrid student and cadet!"