Oddly enough, most of the work compiled here didn't directly tie to Yuzuno but seemed to focus more on the Apleem instead. There were detailed autopsies and battle reports despite the very limited encounters they had as well as detailed analyses based on the information they had collected. Some of the documents were dated during the last war instead of now which led Emory to assume this was Greg's workstation. After spending ten minutes browsing the reports, she moved everything on the screens to a single screen in the corner and plastered the displays with aerial shots of the landscape within twenty miles of the base.
Since Emory had moved the base from its intended destination, it was much more defensible than originally planned. The foothills they resided in provided security to the south and the west in the form of impassable roads and rocky terrain. Trees and a river to the east provided additional protection, but the forest was only half a mile thick. Everything else, though, was an open savannah, sparsely populated by trees, bushes, or thickets. In a way, this would allow a stable retreat if necessary up to the outpost. However, she wanted to avoid that course of action since it would also box them in as well. With that in mind, Emory devised a layered defense which would allow them to reinforce or withdraw easily depending on the flow of battle.
While she continued pouring over the battle plan, the door swung open behind her. Greg walked in holding a folder that covered his view, so Emory turned to see him first. He continued forward, unaware of his surroundings, until she had to reach out and stop him from running into her. The utter shock jolted the papers out of his hands and into the air, yet instead of them flying haphazardly, he mysteriously reached up and plucked them from the air. Emory was shocked by the display of dexterity from someone she had seen as a typical bookworm until Greg looked up and noticed who had stopped him. Instantly, the papers fell to the floor as if he hadn't caught them, but Emory thought this seemed intentional.
"Excuse me, Miss Reiss," Greg stuttered, "I didn't realize that you had returned."
Emory narrowed her eyes, "No, it's my fault. I should have called out when I first saw you. Let me help you pick these up." Together, it only took them a minute to pick up the files which, as far as Emory could tell, was a number of different records from the last war with the Mantoan including one labeled "Operation Quick Strike". "What are you working on here?" Emory asked, "Some of these files look like data from the first war."
"As I'm sure you are aware, your new information has contradicted many of the details we thought we knew as fact. So, I've been combing over old records and comparing them to the new index we got from the Elandrian. It's enlightening to see how close we were to some ideas and distant we were to others," Greg sheepishly grinned.
"I suppose you're right," Emory nodded, "What have you found so far?"
Greg set down the papers and explained, "Well the first fact I found interesting was a biological one. We knew the Mantoan were unable to reproduce; however, it seems that the Apleem create the Mantoan through vats of liquid and chemical reactions. While we thought they were a warring race, it turns out they are a subservient species genetically modified for war."
"So, if we could eliminate the production facilities, we could stop the Mantoan?" Emory continued his train of thought, "But surely, after a thousand years of war, the Elandrian have already tried that, haven't they?"
"They have. It's called Facility Three. Apparently, they were close to destroying it, but Laxtros joined the field and pushed them back. They left it permanently damaged using a magik seal of some sort," Greg answered.
"Interesting. Could you do me a favor while you're in here?" Emory asked warily, "I've cobbled together a battle strategy should the war reach here. Would you mind looking it over and inputting your feedback?"
Greg saluted, "Yes, miss, I will look it over. Thank you for your assistance." Emory bowed slightly before leaving the room to find an empty area to train. Still, something seemed off about Greg, so she resolved to keep an eye on him while she was on Yuzuno and mention something to Tethys as well.
Since practicing her magik in the ship could have disastrous effects on the ship, she found some open ground a few feet away from the cargo doors. Because she was only training her Chaos sphere, she didn't need as much space as she normally would for Arcane. After she sat cross-legged on the ground, she began channeling her magik, causing a thin, dark disk of magik to spread away from her a few feet. Emory could add magik to make the disk as wide as the ship, but that only made the area of effect larger, not the intensity. With that in mind, she limited the size as to not affect others while she tested a few things.
Emory started by using a self-sustaining shield out past the range of her Chaos circle. Then she would slowly add more magik to try to increase the strength of the aura. At first, it just pushed up against the shield, slowly climbing the inner walls. But when it connected on top, the shield shattered, and the disk expanded as it had done before. So, she withdrew her magik and started the process again. This time she dumped heaps of magik in at once which caused the same result, just quicker. She tried making the shield stronger or adding more layers to it, yet no matter what she tried, the shield always shattered.
Since she couldn't contain it with her shield, she kept the circle small and sat grumpily while she tried to come up with a different plan. Without actively noticing, her frustration caused her to spin the disk faster by circulating her magik faster. Five minutes went by, and finally, Emory noticed the circle spinning so fast that the blades of grass were getting torn to shreds. Then a peculiar event occurred; the disk glowed bright for a moment as Emory felt a wave of magik pulse inside her mana pool. A moment later the grass shriveled up and died within the umbrella of Chaos magik just before the layer disappeared altogether. When Emory released her Chaos magik again, it felt stronger and spun around inside her body faster than before. That's when the trick to elevating an aura sphere clicked in her mind. In order to increase the intensity of the aura, she had to circulate the magik faster.
With this thought in mind, Emory released her disk of Chaos magik again and began circulating it through her body faster than before. However, doing this forcefully instead of allowing it to grow stronger on its own consumed a lot of stamina. After rotating around as fast as she could for ten minutes, she suddenly stopped and took several deep breaths. If her Arcane training had been like a marathon, this training would be more like sprints. On the other hand, she felt like she was solidly in the second level now, which meant the high-power training was effective.
Emory had been sitting for over half an hour, so she decided to stand up at stretch, or at least she tried to. When trying to get up, her legs buckled, causing her to fall face first into the ground. As she turned her head sideways and spat out the dirt, she could hear stifled snickering overhead. She rolled herself over to stare up at Tethys actively giggling and Cath covering her barely hidden toothy grin. Emory snorted, "And just what do you think is so funny?"
"You used up all your stamina, and now you can't even walk," Tethys laughed, "You're ridiculous, you know that, right?"
"Just pushing myself a little bit. War is at our doorstep, remember?" Emory stuck out her tongue before extending a hand to Tethys and Cath.
"What help would you be if they showed up right now?" Tethys teased as they helped Emory to her feet, "You can't fight your way out of a wet noodle right now. Let's get you somewhere you can sit and refuel." With one arm over Cath and one over Tethys, the trio of girls hobbled to the common area. Once there, they sat Emory down and grabbed some rehydrated food and water. Though the food pills they all took daily had all the calories they needed for an average day, vigorous training like Emory's would require extra nutrients in some form.
Emory commented as she chowed down, "Thank you two. You've really got this base under control. I guess I felt comfortable enough to allow myself to push myself to the edge."
"Nonsense, we're just acting on your will," Cath replied, "You designed the training routine. You figured out how to shelter people. We're just happy to help."
"She's right. However, I wouldn't mind a little more action," Tethys joked.
"Don't worry about that," Emory lightly tapped Tethys's shoulder, "When this war really starts, you'll be right there alongside me. Let's just hope we get in some decent training before they get here."
Cath shrugged, "How bad can it be? I heard humans with Meta Form and a total level of five could take on five to ten Mantoan in the first war."
"This war is going to be much different than the last one. Most importantly, the number of enemies we'll be fighting could outnumber us fifty to one," Emory warned, "Secondly, we can't overwhelm them with strength because we can't just kick them out of our star systems this time. Finally, the Uthid will be on the field as well, and they're stronger than we are."
"Didn't you tear the head off an Uthid with one punch? And that was before you beat Lord Zephiel in single combat," Cath casually mentioned.
"That's true, but my magik level was ten," Emory countered, "And there was a ton of magik in that punch. I'm not trying to be pessimistic; I just don't want us to underestimate our enemy."
Tethys sighed, "We'll just have to do our best. When the Elandrian get here tomorrow, we'll be able to train a lot more at one time. That'll help. And it's a smart thing you did bringing the troops here a lot quicker."
After Emory finished eating, she told the girls about putting on the crown and the vision she had of the last king. They were enthralled by the story which sounded like the beginning of a hero's legend even if it was a little unbelievable. To prove her story, she closed her eyes and pressed the center of her forehead, causing the remarkable diamond to surface from her head. Both Cath and Tethys's jaws dropped at the sight of the brilliant gem. As the conversation slowed down, Emory yawned and decided to take their advice to go to bed early.
However, when she got to her quarters, she sat on her bed with a notebook. Even though she didn't mention it to the girls, there was something still bothering her about Greg. Between his strange reaction with the papers, the old records, and his personality, she felt like she was missing a key piece of information. The final nail in the coffin was the full file of Operation: Quick Strike which she hadn't recognized at that moment. Reflecting on it now, she remembered that it was the operation they had found when they were all looking for information about the Commission. She couldn't connect all the dots yet, but the picture she had formed so far only reaffirmed her decision to take full control of the mission. The fact was she couldn't trust the Collective or any of their agents.