The Luminary dropped out of hyperspace some distance away from what they assumed to be the Chiss homeworld. The planet was as white as Hoth from the viewport. Preliminary scans revealed layers of ice and snow covering the surface of the planet.

On the bridge, the crew had all gotten up and stared out the viewport at the planet. It didn’t matter how long one explored space; it was always exciting to see the unknown.

Cortana expanded the sensor data over the command table. "The Atmosphere is stable for most oxygen breathing species with breathers required in the colder regions. There are population indicators, but their presence is carefully masked."

"Any indications of Cities?" Daimon asked.

"Not on the surface. Subsurface thermal anomalies indicate extensive habitation beneath the ice crust and inside mountain caverns. There are also indications of some type of shields being used where these anomalies are present."

These were strong indicators that the Chiss were living beneath the ice on their planet. And from his memory, the Chiss homeworld was locked into a great ice age somewhere around 5000 BBY which is only two centuries away.

Based off all of this, it is very likely that they found the Chiss homeworld.

Lord Maxim stood beside the command terminal, looking over the world through the viewport. "Any sign they know we’re here?"

Cortana shook her head. "I can’t say for certain since I don’t know their level of technology. However, if we enter their atmosphere, I believe that they will know that we are here. But it will be up to them if they want to make contact with us."

Lord Maxim nodded. There were no indications that they were a spacefaring species so detecting such an advanced ship as the Luminary was impossible for them. Then again, they could have the wrong world, but considering how strong the evidence was, Lord Maxim dismissed that thought.

"We will make contact," Daimon said. "But carefully. A ship of this size appearing in their sky without warning would be interpreted as a threat by any species with reasonable self-preservation instincts."

"Prepare a small transport. I’m going down to the surface." He ordered, turning from the viewport and walking towards the hanger. As they walked Cortana, Lord Maxim, and a few others followed.

"I can begin constructing a preliminary linguistic framework from whatever audio and visual data we collect during first contact," Cortana said. "It will be incomplete initially, but sufficient to establish basic communication within a few days of continuous interaction, assuming they are willing to engage."

"Good, the better we understand their language the more efficient establishing a good relationship will be. For now, it will be myself and the Balance Keepers who communicate with them."

Communicating with new species was easy for Daimon and the Balance Keepers as they could use the Force to understand what another was saying in their language and then communicate back to them. This was taught to every Balance Keeper due to how multicultural the Imperium was.

"How do you want to approach the surface? If their habitation is subsurface, there may not be an obvious entry point." asked Lord Maxim.

"There will be entry points," Daimon said. "Every civilization that lives underground maintains access to the surface for one reason or another. Observation, resource extraction, defense monitoring. We find one of those, and we land nearby. Well, more like far enough to not be perceived as aggressive."

Maxim nodded.

In the hanger, the pilots had already finished prepping the shuttle. So, when Daimon arrived, he just climbed onboard and the shuttle departed for the surface. With him were 4 Empyrean Guards, 5 Balance Keepers, Cortana, and Lord Maxim.

The descent through the atmosphere was turbulent, as the high-altitude winds scraped across the shuttle’s hull. A few seconds later, the surface came into view. The color was more of a bluish grey with vast ice plains and mountainous regions.

Cortana was monitoring everything simultaneously, jotting down anything she could pick up.

Daimon was sitting with his eyes closed, meditating until they landed.

The pilot had adjusted course after receiving the landing coordinates from Cortana. Now they were heading northwest toward a mountain range.

As they descended further, the scale of the landscape became apparent. The mountains were enormous and looked to be rather old. They were shaped like ridges rather than jagged peaks and it was hard to spot them without scanning the surface.

"Setting down approximately a mile out from the nearest subsurface structure," the pilot announced.

The shuttle touched down a few seconds later. The doors opened and the ramp descended as Daimon walked down.

The cold hit him immediately. Luckily, everybody had a thermal coat on so it wasn’t that cold, but he could still feel it. The Balance keepers and Lord Maxim followed, and the Empyrean Guards took up positions around the shuttle’s perimeter.

Daimon stood at the base of the ramp and looked out across the landscape. The mountain range was about half a mile ahead. From this distance it looked entirely uninhabited.

No visible structures, no lights, no movement. But the Force told a different story.

There were people beneath the ice. Many of them in fact. And there were also some above ground, but he sensed conflict from this group of people.

He motioned for everybody to follow him, moving closer to the mountain range.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the mountain range there were two groups of people. The first group were Chiss who lived in the underground city, while other others were the outcasts.

Unlike the Chiss who lived in the underground cities, the outcasts were either those thrown out of the cities or those born in the cold wild. And they were known to slaughter any city dwellers they found.

The two groups had found each other at the base of one of the ridge entrances. What had begun as a confrontation had already turned violent.

Daimon slowed his approach, raising a hand to halt the group behind him. He watched from a distance, close enough to observe, far enough that neither group had yet noticed them.

The outcasts numbered around forty. They were lean, covered in layered furs and salvaged materials, their faces half-hidden behind wrappings of dark cloth.

Their skin, what little was visible, had the deep blue-grey tone that Daimon had expected. Their eyes, even at this distance Daimon could see their red irises.

The city Chiss was fewer. Perhaps twenty, armed with manufactured weapons that were different than the improvised ones that the outcasts had. They were energy-based, from the look of them.

They had formed a tight defensive circle near the entrance, and three of them were already down.

All of a sudden, the outcasts charged forward.

"They’ll be overrun in less than a minute," Lord Maxim said quietly beside him.

"Yes," Daimon agreed.

He had a choice. He could wait, observe, and make contact with whichever group survived. That would tell him something about the nature of Chiss society from the outside, but the outcasts looked more like barbarians and he didn’t really want to deal with their type.

Or he could intervene, which would make a good first impression on whichever group he chose to help.

Obviously, he chose the ones opposite of the barbarians and started walking toward the conflict.

"My lord," one of the Balance Keepers said.

"With me," Daimon replied.

The group fell into step behind him. The Empyrean Guards automatically moved to flank positions.

The outcasts noticed them first. The forward edge of their formation faltered as the figures emerging from the ice plain appeared in their peripheral vision. Forty pairs of red eyes turned toward Daimon and his group, and the attack on the city Chiss stalled as the outcasts tried to process what they were seeing.

Daimon kept walking at the same pace getting closer to the two.

The city Chiss turned as well. One of them, a woman who appeared to be in command based on her positioning and the way the others looked to her, raised her weapon toward Daimon before apparently deciding that whatever he was, he was not the most immediate threat. She lowered it slightly, her eyes moving between the approaching strangers and the outcasts.

Daimon stopped about thirty meters from the nearest outcast. Seeing as the two stopped fighting, he wanted to try some simple diplomacy. "I come in peace," he said.

Though the two didn’t understand him, it was all a ploy to get them to talk so he could then communicate back into them in their language.