Let's get this show on the road

After a few seconds of constant flight, the ship managed to break free from the planet's gravitational force, now traversing way above the massive continents and oceans covering it's wast surface. After another few seconds and trillions of complex calculation the A.I. was finally able to set them on a stable path around the planet. Shutting down the thrusters and setting shield power to maximum Natra called a tactical meeting.

Two minutes later the whole crew - now including Erina - was sitting in the War Council, listening to the latest developments as they were presented by the Captain.

- So this is the situation - concluded Natra - no more sitting around or playing adventurer unless it is really necessary. From now on we have orders. Orders, on which our lives depend, meaning that I want all of you to give everything you got. If you are hesitant to do what must be done - glancing towards Erina - then this is a good time to leave. I can assure everyone that things will go very nasty very quickly. I'm talking about kidnapping. I'm talking about "questionable experiments". And of course murder, or even genocide on a scale you might never imagined could be possible. If you don't have the stomach to do any of these, then you will be sent back to the Empire, no exceptions. I will personally see to it, that nothing will happen to you. Now, who wants to leave?

Silence fell on the room. In the meantime Natra began observing the others. Disregarding everyone, Dr. Ming began swinging back and forth with her chair, using her feet to balance herself. Completely opposing the doctor's behaviour, Helena was the perfect example of elegance, only breaking this perfect posture to occasionally glance to Erina, who was seemingly distressed and deep in thought, before sighing and focusing her eyes on the wall on the opposite side of the room:

-I said it once, that to me this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I remember that no one fed me any illusions about your purpose here. To most adventurers "subjugation" is often a synonym of "extermination". Even if you described it as "peaceful" I know that it won't be possible. It may be at the beginning, but as we spend more time here, our orders are going to be more and more extreme. Personally I made peace with the situation. You have my word and loyalty captain.

-Thank you - said the captain - your loyalty is appreciated. Now to back to the topic at hand. I already received reports from Helena's team. However I still didn't have anything - looking menacingly around- from our good doctor. Please, share your wisdom with us. What did you find?

Quickly composing herself, Dr. Ming stood up from her seat, while simultaneously opening a holo-monitor embedded into the table, and after a few seconds of fiddling around found what she was looking for:

- Let's see. I didn't had much time looking around, but what I managed to find during your leave was interesting enough to warrant a more serious investigation. It seems that the life forms of this world are mostly carbon-based, just like back at home. Also they can be grouped by almost the same standards. But here comes the interesting part. Most animals in this world - or at least planet - have lesser or heavily mutated variants. I know it because I managed to observe some of them. At first I thought it was a one-off encounter, but changed my mind when I found a group of rabbit-like creatures with horns, peacefully coexisting with non - horned ones. Of course there was a chance that they just belonged to different genders of the same species or were specimens with similar looks, but no relation. However both of these were debunked when a series of tests I conducted on the two variants concluded that they were members of the same species, but without the ability to reproduce. I couldn't find anything other than that, however there are a bunch of possilbe theories such as....

The rest of the report was just a bunch of wild speculations ranging from undetectable radiation to deliberate genetic modifications. This would have gone for another hour if not for Erina interrupting the doctor's spiel:

-It was magic, doctor. The horned rabbits you just described are called jackapoles. They are no better than normal rabbits, other than due to absorbing a relatively large amount of mana, they developed thier horn mutation. The phenomenon is widely known among scholars, and is the simplest example of change brought to living things by magic. Actually we just bought a book about the various creatures inhabiting the country, and the list just so happens to include some common magic animals. If I remember correctly the captain purchased it with you in mind. If you want it, you can read it after the meeting.

Hearing this Dr. Ming hastily scrapped about fifty-seven percent of her notes, then began frantically typing everything she heard. Later this phenomenon would be abused by most Selenians, kick-starting what would be later known as the Age of Ascendence. Right now however this was nothing more than an idea in Dr. Ming's head, who still just processed the infinite possibilities magic could provide in the pursuit of the universe's secrets, be it here, or at home.

Right now however they had a job to do. It wasn't a coincidence that the captain decided to hide in outer space. In thier hand was the blueprint of a powerful telecommunication satellite, which once made, would allow them to create a faster and more reliable connection with homeworld. There was also the case of abducting a competent magic user - remembered the captain - however thanks to the generous time limit high command gave them it wasn't thier immediate worry. Oh and they shouldn't forget thier mission at the Adventurer's guild, however even without thier FTL drives, they had plenty of time to make the delivery, especially now that they actually know where the city was.

Feeling power being drained from his entire body, the captain ordered the crew's tactical retreat to thier respective sleeping quarters. Usually a good sleeper Natra couldn't get a refreshing rest since they arrived to thier destination. Maybe it was caused by this foreign star, which while still functioning the same as any other sun Natra saw back home, was still felt different than the one orbiting his home planet.