The Calm Before The Storm. (4)

Once everything was sorted, the Adonian man spoke again.

"Enforcers, we have been forced into quite the predicament. We have two inbound Void Lords, looking to refuel their vessels. If we are favoured by the Goddess Crotoa, they won't arrive together. We still have to be prepared for the eventuality that they arrived in quick succession, or that they arrive having found each other in the Void and started fighting en route. Either way, we need to be prepared for any and every eventuality."

As this man spoke, he exuded the kind of confidence that one who feared nothing and nobody possessed. This however was not infectious, and the other Police Enforcers looked absolutely bereft of confidence. He looked around at the Captains before him, as well as all of their subordinates and after the quick scan was concluded he took a deep breath and grinned from ear to ear, bearing almost all of his incredibly voluminous and sharp teeth.

"It appears that you all are afraid. Let me ask you all a simple question: what is it exactly that we do here? Why are we here?"

The silence was deafening as nobody seemed to want to give the wrong answer. This just prompted the giant man to just point at a random Captain.

"You there! Answer!" He boomed, causing the Captain to visibly recoil as if hit with a jolt of electricity.

"Y-Yes, Chief!" The Captain boomed as he stiffened up. "We are here to… keep the peace!"

"WRONG!" The Chief boomed as he raised his hand, looking as though he was about to crush a bug with the palm of his hand, causing almost everybody to recoil as well. "Usually, you would be punished for answering incorrectly, but we need everybody in here to be healthy."

He then continued to point at people, seeking answers to his questions from each of them. None of the answers they gave seemed to satisfy him however, and before long, the Chief looked as though he was about to lose his temper.

"We are here to enforce the law." A voice towards the back of the assembled force said in a voice that was not all that loud, but still perfectly audible.

"Elaborate." The Chief demanded as he stood looking directly at the one who spoke.

"We are Lawmen – we here to ensure that everybody within the territory of the Coalition adheres to and obeys the law." The person continued without hesitation. "We are the Enforcers of the Law. We are the Custodians of the Path, we caution those that seek to stray from it, and we punish those that actually do. Whether a homeless vagabond who wreaks off urine and feces, or a Void Lord that smells of battle and death, if they contravene our laws, we bring them to justice."

Silence descended upon the auditorium in such a way it suggested that the situation wasn't quite as critical as it was. The silence didn't last all that long, but the wait for the Chief's reaction was almost excruciating for some. Without any warning, the huge man burst out laughing with such volume that the others almost wished he hadn't reacted at all. The grin on his face was massive, and suddenly, two amber eyes glowed from beneath the peak of his hat.

"That's it! That's the kind of answer I was looking for! You, What's your name?! Which precinct do you belong to?!"

Before anybody could answer, somebody started speaking over the P.A System in something of a panicked tone.

"Excuse me Chief, our sensors have detected the presence of two flagship sized ships approaching from the Void. They appear to be no more than ten minutes out!"

"They?!" The Chief boomed. "BOTH of them are ten minutes out?!"

"Y-Yessir." The voice confirmed over.

"No time to dawdle people, we march for the Dock!"

"M-March? As in on foot, Sir?" A Captain asked.

"Do you not see how badly you all parked your cars? We have no time! Maintain formation and march!"

Before anybody could say anything about them all still being inside the auditorium, the Chief thundered his way towards a wall, his footsteps practically ripping the ground beneath his feet to shreds. He walked with his arms tucked beneath his cape, however when he reached the wall, he simply placed his open palm on said wall and with the smallest jerk of his shoulder, pushed against it with enough force to actually separate the wall from the building. The wall, which had been split from the seams just toppled over and smashed into the ground with a loud crash. The wind generated from the impact caused his cape to flap about and expose his body properly, revealing just how ridiculously muscular this man truly was. He pushed a wall over with such ease, it was difficult for most to fathom just how physically strong the Chief really was. Without even looking back at the Policemen and women behind him, he proceeded to move forward.

"Let's go." He commanded as his arm slipped back under the cape and he stepped onto the wall which surprisingly had not shattered on impact.

"YESSIR!!" The Enforcers boomed more out of fear than reverence or anything else, and they began to march.

The march itself was not all that long, however the sight of the rows of Police Enforcers was quite an impressive one. As their capes all fluttered with every step, the stars above coupled with the Fuel Station before and the Police Station behind them made for quite the spectacle. They quickly reached the Dock, which was absolutely massive – with room enough for at least five flagship vehicles to not only dock, but to refuel without bumping into one another. The Chief stopped just in front of the dock and raised his right arm with his fist clenched. This was the signal for the troops to halt and maintain their formation, which they did. As if on cue, two clefts appeared out in the space in front of the Dock. The clefts grew rapidly in size and soon enough, they went from being clefts to gigantic rifts.

"Void Portals." Relovan commented in between his attempts to equip more gear.

Brightly coloured lightning bolts streaked out from one of the Portals, decorating the starry sky with a kaleidoscope of colours. It was as pretty as it was loud, yet harsh, angry looking flames snaked and danced their way out of the other portal. Bright oranges and reds also lit up the other part of the sky, and the colours even clashed for a bit. The light show was truly beautiful, if not a little daunting. A few moments into the show though, the noses of two large flagship Void Walkers emerged from the portals. From the lightning Portal, an incredibly large ship made its way out. Looking similar to an ocean dwelling invertebrate from the planets of the water dwelling Veymor, the Void Walker seemed to swim out from the portal. It had shimmering, rippling skin and made a sort of high-pitched wailing sound. Multiple tentacle-tendril appendages wiggled all over the place.

Meanwhile over at the other portal, the emergence of the other Void Walker was going on at the exact same time. In stark contrast to the gentler, softer looking Void Walker, this one was hard, all edges and spikes. It looked like a giant six-legged Flame Salamander from d'Toom, a harsh, almost uninhabitable planet on the fringes of the Coalition Systems. A massive, heavily armoured body from which geysers of flame spewed out was topped with a Dragon-like head which also spewed flames from its mouth and eyes. It just looked like this thing was at war with something else, however it was the only entity to make its way out from the Portal.

Once completely free from the clutches of the Void, the two Void Walkers made their way down to the docking platforms below, and this caused the Police that had assembled down below to seemingly lose the nerve that they had built up during the march over. A number of the tendrils on the shimmering Walker stiffened, becoming legs or some sort, while the Salamander, which had its 'legs' tucked beneath its body extended those legs. As the two got closer and closer to the platforms, the Chief kept an eye on both vessels, as if trying to see which would touch down first. Both touched down at the exact same time, and it was all the Enforcers could do not to get blown away and flung into the buildings behind them. The Chief, who was still grinning, looked just the slightest bit worried.

"Crotoa, you bitch." He said while looking down at the platform. "You decided to let Goromoa have his way with us, didn't you? What a rotten piece of luck."