“Yes, I was there.” Hale reached for his chest, and began to fumble with a small medal pinned to his breast. “I was a Lieutenant then... I was respected by my minors. We knew that the battle against the Kavarians would be difficult, but we knew not the full extent of the bloodshed...” Hale pulled the medal from his chest, and held it in his palm. A small, shiny six-sided star. It was a symbol of calm in the heat of battle. “I got this after once we got back to Lupine space, ‘a symbol of bravery’... heh.”
“But that’s behind me now, Skriviks. I hold no animosity against you. I hope you feel the same.”
- - -
The airlock door slowly pressurized as Anden and his companions readied to enter Neo-Tokyo.
Anden turned back to his group. “Okay, I’ve... never been here before, but we should be able to navigate pretty easily... at least I think.”
Then, as if to punctuate his sentence, the doors split and opened. Instantly, the smell of fresh air and good food. Anden took a moment to take in the smells through his nose, and exhaled slowly from between his lips. “So... groceries...”

“I guess we landed in the right sector, looks like...”
On the large neon screen, a message flashed by in Japanese characters, accompanied by the Aurelian Basic words; - OLD TOKYO - Anden raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s not Kyoto... but I haven’t seen anything too disgusting yet, so this is okay.” He shrugged. “That place looks alright.” Anden pointed at the sign for a nearby grocery mart.
- - -
- Above Neo-Tokyo -
- Begin Transmission -
”Admiral Vetas, this is UCF Vasilias, we’ve tracked the energy source to the Nihon Sector, but there appears to be no sign of a vessel... wait, Admiral, it appears we’re having some issues with our commu-“

- Transmission End -
- - -
After a few minutes of grocery madness, Anden, Skriviks and Chellis emerged from the supermart, arms full of groceries.
“... and that’s how I lost my medical licence-” Anden concluded, before stopping in the middle of the street. He began to look around the street. It seemed that everyone else was staring into the sky, “what are they looking at?”
Anden turned his eyes to the sky, just as an explosion lit up the night sky. At first, he thought it was some sort of orbital-firework. But then the wreckage began to fall...
They were being attacked.