Strange readings have been high in a certain location on the map. It was difficult to decipher, but it seemed to be familiar grounds, on a definitely familiar planet.

Popstar. The yellow atmosphere of said planet was just ahead. They were an interesting case. Never a distress signal from there, though something always seemed to be going on. It was the home of the infamous Sir Meta Knight, so perhaps that explained some of it. This time around, a frequency was similar to the Comet Nova. Such a thing very obviously couldn't be ignored.

At least there would be a place to start asking, if the knight didn't act difficult this time around.

...Nonsurat could only hope for that. With his luck lately...

Shaking his head slightly, his hand reached for the radio. He pressed the button to address the ship's passengers.

"Prepare yourselves, crew. We're readying for entry of the planet Popstar."

It was a few hours after Meta Knight had left with Galacta. Sailor had completed a thorough walk around the Halberd to make sure things were running fine. She had affirmed that soldiers were training, power sources were revving, the Reactor was reacting, among other things. After doing so, the Waddle Dee made her way to the lift with a journal at hand, heading up to the control room. The wheel of the ship currently stood untouched. Autopilot was pretty much the default when in the air and Meta Knight busy or away, and she'd prefer it that way.

Taking a seat at the captain's chair comfortably, she opened her journal and began to list possible modifications she could add to Javelin.

She was able to enjoy this quiet pastime for at least a while.

A few small sketches, doodles and a short list of ideas later, Sailor heard the rumbling of engines. The Halberd wasn't the quietest aircraft, but it was too loud for just one large ship. A shadow passed the across the single long window, falling over her journal. The Waddle Dee stared wide eyed, out the ship. She couldn't see what caused the cast shade, but her heart raced.

A second attack by Susie? And Meta Knight isn't-!

An incoming transmission. Sailor didn't take her eyes off of the notification, and took a few seconds to breathe. A formality. She doesn't think Susie would extend a call to them. Standing, the Waddle Dee closed her book and placed it on the chair. Cautiously, she made her way over to the control panel, straightened out her clothes, hat and hair, took a deep breath, then accepted the call.

The screen changed to a man in armor. A silver mask grabbed her attention, and brought to focus the yellow eyes and turquoise hair. The man reminded her of Meta Knight, if only for the mask.

He looked a bit surprised at the fact that the one who answered the call wasn't Meta Knight, though he didn't let it show in his next sentence.

"Good afternoon. My name is Sir Nonsurat, Commander of the Galaxy Soldier Army. I am reaching out in order to speak with Meta Knight."

Sailor nodded briefly, taking in the Commander's polite and official tone and deeming it as genuine. "My apologies, Sir Nonsurat. I'm Sailor Dee. Second in Command of the Halberd. The Captain's currently away on a mission."

"Do you know when he'll return?" he asked.

"He left just this morning." Sailor broke the news, "He won't be back for at least two days, if things go well."

"..." Nonsurat nodded, "Any idea, of where to find him? It's an important subject."

Sailor paused, and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I don't think a mission should be interrupted, Sir."

"Of course. Can you let him know of us?" Nonsurat started. "Let him know that it is urgent."

"I'll definitely pass along the message to him for you." Sailor assured, "I'll get to it as soon as possible, Sir. I'll contact you as soon as he answers."

"Thank you, Sailor Dee." he said in farewell, and ended the transmission.

The Waddle Dee turned with a soft sigh and went to collect her journal. At least it was a nice couple of hours of peace and normality.

Nonsurat sighed, placing a hand to the side of his helm. Of course they just missed him. How easy would it have been for Meta Knight to have been there?

The doors slid open, announcing a newcomer. "Have you contacted him yet, Sir Nonsurat?"

Of course. Cue more trouble. He turned away from the screen, his professional air back. "Yes, but he was not there." Nonsurat answered him.

"Where is he then? On or off planet?"

"All I know is that he is on a mission." Nonsurat responded, getting an idea. "We will just have to find some things out in other ways until he returns."

The knight began to walk past, but the ponytailed man trailed after him out of the room. "And what's your plan then? Dawdle about until he does? How long will that take?"

"His Second In Command informed me that it will take at least another two days, Sir Yamikage. We can scope things around here and when Meta Knight comes, he can fill in the rest for us."

"This involves Galactic Nova. We can't wait a couple of days for this. Did his Second not tell you his exact whereabouts?" The Ninja pressed, walking through the halls of the ships with him.

"...I am just as perplexed as you are, Yamikage. But we are on Popstar, we know where Meta Knight's ship is. He will return here, but until he does we can't interrogate him." Where was the kid? It was near lunchtime. Perhaps the cafeteria. "The best we can do is wait until he responds to the message that will be passed along to him."

Yamikage looked unhappy as Nonsurat seemed to be heading toward the lunchroom. "Are you really going to do nothing but eat when there's pressing matters like this one?"

"I have a mission for someone in mind," Nonsurat admitted, albeit with a trace of annoyance. "Though I should not have to explain myself to you. We have two days until Meta Knight's arrival. What else can be done?"

"Countless things." Yamikage shot back quickly, "But even that list is beside the point. The one who informed you about Meta Knight told you nothing we needed to know, and you accepted that?"

Nonsurat was more than tired of this conversation now. "She has her own system she has to follow. I cannot ask her for whereabouts if I would not tell her the reason why."

They had reached the lunchroom, and both stopped at the entrance. Nonsurat looked over the crowd, looking for a particular face.

"If you think that way, fine." Yamikage finally answered, "I'll let these two days pass."

The commander nodded and finally found who he was looking for. "Very well. Now I have other matters to attend to."

Nonsurat walked into the cafeteria, heading toward a particular table. Sir Yamikage's red eyes narrowed and he turned away to walk off.

The kid was sitting down at a table, talking animatedly and miraculously not choking on the spoonfuls of food he brought to his mouth every other sentence.

"Arthur." He called out with a hand to the side of his mouth, and said knight-in-training instantly reacted, turning to his direction and standing upon realizing who called him. A very audible 'Oh' as he turned back to his group briefly and gave a slightly quieter 'be right back.'

Impressive considering the cafeteria still buzzed constantly with chatter.

Arthur passed several chairs pushed out and made his way through a few people to get past the long table and to the aisle Sir Nonsurat stood in the middle of.

"Good afternoon! Sorry I took so long! Did you call more than once? It's pretty loud. Crowded too," the rookie glanced back to the row he just walked past through, as if afraid that all the obstacles he just went through were magically gone making Nonsurat think he was lying. He turned back, "Well it is lunchtime. And I was just telling the guys at my table that..."

Nonsurat let his ramblings continue for only a few seconds more before deciding to intervene. He could go on forever if not stopped. "Arthur. I have a mission for you."

Arthur saluted, "Sir!"

"As I am sure you saw when we entered the planet, there were trails of a mechanical invasion amidst the mostly natural planet. I want you to travel down to the surface and ask inhabitants details over the event." Nonsurat instructed.

"Interview them?" Arthur summarized in a question to confirm.

"Don't be a bother to them, if they refuse to share, don't insist." the Commander reminded.

"Understood!"

"At the end of the day, report back your findings to me."

"You got it!" The green haired star warrior answered.

Nonsurat stared at him. "Excuse me?"

Arthur cleared his throat, "Yes sir!"

"Dismissed then," Nonsurat nodded. "You can begin the assignment after your meal."

The rookie pushed his way through the crowd again, somehow more eager than before. After he returned to his seat, he began eating his meal twice as fast now.

That's that. Nonsurat turned away, eyeing the lines. He wasn't feeling picky today. He'll take whatever was in the shortest line.

Not too long after Sir Nonsurat gave him the order, Arthur was nearly done with scarfing down his food. He had explained briefly to his lunch group that he was going down to ask around. Extremely briefly. Some probably didn't even understand him.

But that didn't stop him, because as soon as he was done, he stood and quickly began to exit after saying bye to his buddies.

He practically darted off and out of the cafeteria, deciding to head to his room to gather some things and then head down to the planet. Just some items. A bag to hold everything. Water, maybe a journal and pencil to write some things down, something to snack on, money in case he found something to buy, what should he bring to eat? He arrived to his room quickly, and changed into his armor in between packing, as if he couldn't decide which to finish up first.

Soon enough, Arthur had what he needed. He slung his satchel over his shoulder, light armor on.

Now he was prepared.

Onwards to my task!

Though, it wasn't necessary, he ran down the hall quite noisily with his armor, eager to go see what Popstar's inhabitants had to say. Or rather, the planet itself and how it looked like.

Arthur raced through the halls, rounding corners and taking the fastest route to outside. Luckily, there wasn't much people out in the halls at the moment. Once he saw the door he often used, he reached an arm out and it swung open wide to let him through.

He jumped far from the ship, feeling the start of the thrill as he began to head downwards. The air as he free-fell from the ship rushed past him. He stared down at the land below him, letting his eyes scan the scenery from afar.

Green lands stretched down below. The landscape had many hills, plains and even mountains, off in the distance. Aside from the foliage, there did seem to be some kind of change in the environment. Strange mechanized parts of the planet looked out of place, but it wasn't everywhere.

Below the white ship of the GSA, hovered the darker ship of the one they came to visit, Meta Knight. Arthur's focus was on the ground below, and he looked down to look for any inhabitants.

The rookie's wings spread and his descent slowed drastically to focus on the ground below. Yep, there was what seemed to be a town down below, surrounded by the same dark green land everywhere else. It was nearly hidden, but distinct cobblestone and the brightly colored roofs of the buildings gave it away. A bit away from the town, stood a larger building.

Arthur shot ahead, eyes on the town below. Though, as he approached the ground steadily, a reflection of sunlight caught his eye. He looked over curiously and squinted. Was that a ship? That would be a perfect place to start.

Someone was bound to own the vehicle. It was also on the way to the town he had his eyes on, and seemed out of place compared to it. He changed route and circled downwards to land next to the ship.

He landed in the grass and walked over to the ship, looking around and trying to look through. "Tinted windows," Arthur noted with disappointment.

Brushing off the first small failure, he began to walk towards the town. He wondered how many people would actually want to talk about the invasion. Hopefully at least one, or some, if he wasn't able to report back anything to Sir Nonsur-

Arthur's foot kicked upon something. He tried to regain his balance upon stumbling, but got tangled up in- well, he wasn't really sure- either way, he ended up falling forward with a surprised sound.

Landing quite awkwardly, Arthur barely registered that he was sprawled against someone's stomach when what he assumed to be said someone's hand shot out, hit his face and scratched him.

"Ow! What-?" The hand had claws, which explained the sharp scratches.

Arthur turned to see a face with narrowed eyes, sleepily glaring back. Red, long hair fell around his face and dipped around his neck, reaching to the ground. Very familiar, he knows he'd seem him around the ship. It took Arthur a few seconds to place a name to that face.

"Dragato?" he questioned.

"Yeah..?" the sleepy star warrior mumbled back, taking his hand back and rubbing an eye.

Several questions came to mind, Arthur didn't know what to ask first. "You shouldn't be sleeping on the ground." he ended up blurting.

"..." Dragato blinked, "You shouldn't throw yourself on people napping." he threw back.

"I didn't! I tripped!" Arthur defended himself. "Over..." he looked back, and spotted what had tripped him up. A pile of a bag, gloves, a mask along other assorted items. "YOUR things!"

"Well, keep an eye out." Dragato mumbled. "You had everywhere else on the planet to walk and you decide to kick my things and fall on me."

"It wasn't on purpose!" Arthur replied with a frown. He brought a hand to his face. At least it hadn't cut skin.

The red haired napper finally seemed to wake up and more or less realize the situation. "So, is continuing to lay on me done on purpose? If it is..."

"Oh!" Arthur scrambled back suddenly, accidentally placing some weight on the other's stomach with his hands as he stood, making Dragato wince. "Sorry!" he grinned with traces of embarrassment visible. Dragato didn't say anything, merely sitting up and stretching. Arthur held out a hand to help him up. Dragato accepted it and brushed himself off.

"So what was the rush anyway? Am I needed back up there?"

"No, you aren't. I didn't even know anyone was down here. I was sent on a mission by Sir Nonsurat! So I'm down here to start on that." He pointed to the town's direction, "I was about to go there right away but then I saw a ship back there," Arthur pointed behind himself to demonstrate, "And landed there to check it out, but I couldn't see inside. Now that I think about it, is that ship yours?"

"You don't know what a GSA ship looks like?"

"There wasn't," Arthur thought back to circling the ship, "Any logo on it."

"That's because it's a stealth ship." Dragato responded with a light, amused smile. "It wouldn't have the letters 'GSA' plastered on it."

"Then how was I supposed to know it was yours?!"

"It has my name on it." Dragato replied. "You can't miss it."

"No it doesn't! I would have seen it!" Arthur denied, "I looked everywhere!"

"Hmm, well, you tripped on my stuff out in the open. I don't think I can really trust your eyesight."

I KNOW I'm right! Arthur thought, trying not to look back at the ship to recheck. "I have perfect eyesight! You shouldn't leave your things lying around or nap on the ground anyway!" was his actual retort. "How were you even here already sleeping? We didn't land that long ago!"

"I like grass," Dragato shrugged, "Being cooped up on a ship in space gets boring. Actual sun feels nice."

Arthur smiled. "It does! Flying is the best," he stated warmly, before suddenly remembering. "Oh, I have a mission to get to."

"What's your mission for?" Dragato asked.

"Asking around the town for details about the recent invasion." Arthur explained, "The reason we came!"

Dragato paused. "So. Information Retrieval. My department?"

Arthur hummed. "Well... you snooze, you lose!" he joked.

"So now you have jokes." Dragato said. "I have to be asleep sometimes, I guess. That's when you swoop in and steal my tasks."

Arthur laughed emptily, "Right. It's what I aim for. I wouldn't get any missions otherwise."

"Well, if this task is too hard for you, you know where to find me," Dragato nodded, sitting back down.

"Fast asleep and slacking off! Got it!" Arthur winked at him.

"Just fall on me again. It's the most efficient way to wake me up." The redhead laid down, arms behind his head. The sun's rays hit his face nicely.

Arthur's genuine smile has long since faded. "Bye then."

"Later, Arthur." His eyes were already closed.

The winged rookie's steps gradually grew softer as he walked toward the town. Dragato's eyes opened a crack and he rolled to his side, letting a hand pluck at blades of grass while staying propped up by his other arm. Slacking off. As if.

His gaze settled on his stuff that was placed a bit away from him. At least he was coordinated enough to walk from his ship to here with no problems.

Speaking of...

Dragato rolled to a kneeling position and scooted over to his stuff. He better not have broken anything. His mask and and everything was fine. He opened his bag, and took out his laptop, and opened it.

...

"Of course." he muttered, looking distastefully at the single crack running along from one side to the other. He couldn't take his eyes away from that line. It'd be even more apparent when he turned it on. He traced it with a claw glumly.

...

He'll have to fix it later, he decided...and get back at Arthur somehow.

"Sir Meta Knight. This is Sailor Waddle Dee."

...

"This is Sailor Dee. Do you read?" She tried again. The Second in Command paused. Was their radio off? Or perhaps in a bad area? Nevertheless, she relayed the message.

"A group called the galaxy Soldier Army have come and requested an audience with you. Sir Nonsurat was the one who sent the message. Does that name sound familiar? ..Anyway, I told him that you were away on a task. They await a response, but they insist on its urgency. It's up to you to decide on whether to return now or finish the mission first, of course. Just let me know soon as you have the chance so I can let them know, Sir."

...

Sailor gave a short 'hm,' and idled for a few seconds before leaning back. She did her part. She'd just have to play the waiting game and wait for Sir Meta Knight's response.