FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Rosemary sat at the head of the table once more, her mind churning over the morning's events. Venomspite was sitting opposite her at the head of the table, carefully making his way through his meal. Seated to his right, was his XO and to his left was Trillian. Sitting next to Trillian was a four armed beast comprised of snow white leather and muscle, with four dark eyes and slanted slits for a nose. His name was Jorst and he was an ex-shock trooper. He also barely fit in his chair. He was a walking tank of meat and fury, and the more she watched him, the more she understood the fear of the Tenglaar race; Jorst had openly admitted that he was one of the smallest shock troopers to ever serve. If anything, it seemed to be a source of pride to him rather than the opposite. He must have enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with his larger brethren or something. Regardless of how much the alien intrigued her, she didn't want to question him further, as his thoughts were coated in blood and fury. She cast a look to Trillian. Just like Jorst, he was busily eating, shamelessly shovelling the honey roasted meats and grilled vegetables into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in weeks.

Well, in reality, the two hadn't. What MREs Trillian had aboard the Deymarii_had only been bought for himself, not the giant Tenglaari nor the twenty Thymions that had shuffled nervously out of the corvette when it had landed in the _Opal's hangar bay. Their confusion had doubled as Rosemary had rushed to meet them, embracing some and using her magic to help others. They relaxed the moment they saw that it was really her and not some alien trickery, her gentle demeanor setting them at ease, making them more cooperative. Some even freely beginning to smile. Being rescued was the first good thing to happen to them in ages and it showed on their haggard faces. Unfortunately, not all the news was good. Their ship, the Regalia of Autumn was being hacked apart as they spoke. It had only been a transport ship, lightly armed and armored. But to the small crew of four it had been their home for forty years. The passengers had been fleeing a science outpost, when they had no choice but to make a blind jump as the Temlesarians had managed to corner them in a thick debris field. They came out near Goust, when their engines failed and left them adrift on emergency power.

Her thoughts returned to the present, to Trillian and Jorst. The two were eating their fill before shoving off again. She couldn't blame them. She and her kin had come to realise just how vast and empty space was, even if it was a busy sector, and things like food, air and water were always sitting right at the top of the priority list. Any spacer that didn't have those priorities in order soon found themselves dead.

Her mind turned back to those twenty Thymions. Trillian had relayed what he had done, laying out the details with honest, un-embellished precision, explaining how he had come into possession of the datacrystal, how he had been arrested and why he had freed everyone in the cell block. His reasons for the latter were purely down to his morals; everyone in there was either headed for execution, slavery or headed for the slaughter house. The very thought of slaughtering people for meat churned Rosemary's stomach, but the fact that Trillian had freed them and led them to safety at the possible cost of his own life filled her with gratitude. He had simply brushed it off as just doing his job. She hadn't had him pegged for being humble, but there it was, in the simple but honest refusal of a reward for saving their lives without being asked to.

''So, Jorst, you never told us what you were imprisoned for.'' Lieutenant Commander Itasha asked, leaning back comfortably in his chair, knitting his fingers over his stomach.

The Tenglaari put his cutlery down, wiped his mouth with the back of a large, two-fingered hand and sucked a strand of green bean from between his fangs, ''Punched one of Station Master Yuto's best Dock Masters through a wall for trying to rip me off on a three hour docking fee. Wanted me to cough up one-hundred thousand Creds on the spot. That's more than ten times more than what the charge for a cutter should have been. Didn't even take on fuel. Robbing bastard. So I punched him through a wall. Broke all of his ribs, fractured his spine and pasted his intestines for good measure.'' Jorst said amiably.

Rosemary stared at him open mouthed, horror writ plainly across her face. She carefully pushed her plate away from her. With that mental imagery - literally as what had happened flashed across the surface of Jorst's mind, she had had her fill of the soft, sweet meat.

''You left him alive? Never met a Tenglaari that was so generous.'' Itasha said with an amused smile.

''A dead man can't live in terror of you.'' Jorst replied simply with a small shrug.

Venomspite cleared his throat politely, ''Mister Spears, I have one last request of you in the name of duty.''

Trillian cast the void elf a suspicious look, ''Okay...''

''Thanks to your retrieval of that datacrystal, which, may I add, contained far more intact data than any of us anticipated, along with those various shards of datacores, I would ask you to tag along as the task force's sensor corvette.''

''The Deymarii is no way near capable of travelling in the places you go. She'd be torn to shreds in the turbulence and so would I.''

''You can work from within the Opal's auxiliary hangar.'' He replied, ''In total safety. And you'll only be called upon if needed. You are our backup plan. If something goes wrong and we get caught out, I want you to scream in the Tems's faces as we adjust our course of action.''

''Deymarii can scream a Druvenese Q-Ship to deafness.'' Jorst stated mildly. Trillian nodded in agreement. They had passed time in the slipstream on the way back to the _Opal_by Jorst helping him make some fine adjustments to the electronic warfare and countermeasures suites. Jorst's expertise in Tenglaari technology had been invaluable and now the corvette could pass as an active duty warship once more. If Trillian invited Jorst to stay aboard as a partner, then together they could get a hell of a lot done, especially if that 20 tonne war mech of his was still in one piece and viable when they got to it.

Trillian looked to Jorst, who looked back. Rosemary could feel Jorst mulling over the offer. She knew that if Trillian agreed, he would stay to help him out. Trillian however, she still couldn't get a read on. His expression was perfectly neutral and he remained psy-immune. Finally, he looked back to Venomspite and Itasha, and nodded.

''Okay, but only if the Deymarii gets a resupply.'' The tiger said.

''Of course. You shall recieve fresh medical supplies, food, water, air and fuel.'' Venomspite said.

''What do you have planned?'' Trillian asked, all business.

''I have rallied a full Undervilde task force. Four dreadnoughts, four cruisers, eight destroyers, sixteen corvettes and sixteen frigates plus a carrier with a starfighter group. We will enter Thymion space from the best possible angle present at the time. We will use the various anomalies to surface into realspace, tag the Tems's ships and move in for the kill. Once we have the kill, we reenter voidspace again so they can't follow. Then we move on to the next target and repeat.''

''A standard sneak 'n strike, then?'' Trillian mused.

Venomspite nodded, ''They won't be expecting anyone to be using those anomalies in such a way.''

''They're about to learn a harsh lesson.'' Jorst rumbled in good humour.

''What about the gravity sling?'' Rosemary asked.

''That is our priority target. However, if it doesn't present itself immediately, that's okay. Currently, my scouts and probes are managing to keep an eye on it from a distance.''

''We can kill it from a distance, too.'' Itasha said, ''The Tems think they're the only ones who can shoot a target from the otherside of a star system group. They are wrong.''

Rosemary looked between them as they were talking. Venomspite had already laid out his plans to her, but now she could tell they were days away from launching the offensive by the amount of detail the men were going into. They were talking of things she didn't understand. Tactics and weaponry that she had barely heard of. She had had her own ship, yes; a dreadnought by the name of Caliban, a ship Angelica herself had assigned to her years ago. But these people sitting before her were born and bred military men. None of the people before her knew how to be anything but warriors. So most of what they were saying now was going right over her head as they reference past battles, new technology, tried and tested tactics from those that had been employed not only by themselves, but by other races. She understood the gist of it; enter Thymion space and ambush the Temlesarians, picking them off with warp and magic based weaponry.

However, the more they spoke, the more questions came to Rosemary's mind. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, clarifications to what they were discussing, but she contented herself with listening, leaning back in her chair and picking at what was left of her meal as they carried on in an understandable tongue that was speaking an alien language.

What they were plotting was anything beyond any tactics used in Thymion and she was thoroughly intrigued. Every-once-in-awhile, they'd ask her a question and she would answer as honestly as possible, and then they'd go back to their in-depth discussion.

She was bewildered, but excited. One thing she had learned from listening to them was that the _Opal_and her sisters all fielded weapons she had never heard of alongside the more common weapon systems such as gauss cannons and anti-matter payloads.

''So, are we in agreement? That a defeat in detail approach is the best option of offense?'' Venomspite finished, snapping Rosemary's mind back to the present.

She found her mind had been straying somewhat, thinking about her potential return home and the things she would do. The Caliban, for instance, would be the first thing she wanted to invest her time in. She wanted her ship back, but to do that, she had to speak with Venomspite about it, something she had neglected to do since coming aboard. She had been so wrapped up in her misery and her suspicions about these new, elven people, that she had completely spaced on mentioning it.

"There is something I would like to discuss. My ship. The Caliban. A small dreadnought, built for extreme combat. Three times the armor, twice the speed, and more weapons than any other dread in our fleet. She is likely still intact, as she could withstand even a direct impact from a solar flare. I want my ship back please...'' She now mentioned it to Venomspite and explained to him that it was the ship that had opened fire on the hospital ship that they had picked up. He remained impassive as she spoke and a creeping sensation of shame for failing to mention the dreadnought sooner to him padded lightly into her gut. It was dispelled, however when no flicker of annoyance crossed anyone's face and Venomspite simply nodded.

''The Caliban is not our priority. That is the Empress Hand and its modified gravity sling. However, if it is in the territory and hasn't strayed into open space beyond your borders, it will be a target. How do you intend on going about seizing this ship?'' Venomspite asked smoothly. Interest flickered in the luminous pools of his eyes as he watched her.

''Rift jump. All those who are closely attuned to fire can do it. It's a natural talent, and if there's a ship in the area with a rift generator, that power can be tapped into to boost the ability. If I aim for engineering, I can manually override the ship's failsafes and vent the whole thing.'' She explained.

''Think your command codes will still be in place?'' Trillian asked with a slight frown.

She stared at him a moment then realised that he was frowning in thought and not thinking of her as stupid for believing that she could so easily gain access to a captured ships' systems.

''The Tems are zealots, not tactical geniuses. I expect they're too engrossed in their cloning and smiting to have even bothered with attempting to re-write all of our systems. When they were brought under slavery the first time, all of their tech was either stolen, borrowed, or jerry-rigged. Their few inventions of note were crystal based lighting and waste recycling.''

''What would you do if you managed to regain full control? We know that your ships can run heavily automated, but can you control an entire dreadnought on your own?'' Venomspite asked.

She nodded, ''I can. Our automation systems are top-of-the-line. The Caliban more so than most. She can be crewed by her captain alone if need be. From my station, I can form a psychic neural link with my ship and control everything from one console. So long as the Tems haven't futzed those particular circuits or their command interfaces, then the ship will run as if it's fully crewed. After I have control, I would join the fight to clear out the Tems and reclaim what's ours. It is likely they have not reached the medical wing either, as we had to abandon three of our own when we ditched the ship. I had the medical bay sealed behind eighteen inch thick solid Thymion metal walls. It's self sustaining and has its own power generation...''

''Would you be able to navigate the anomalies without being torn to pieces?'' Trillian asked. Concern flickered through his golden gaze and Rosemary's confidence wavered just a little. He had a point.

If she reclaimed the Caliban_in its entirety, then spotting and logging the locations of those anomalies would not be an issue. She could easily navigate around them, but the turbulence would be the major problem. She remembered the _Opal's tactical map that was constantly updating. The gravity wells were the things that were giving her pause. It was at the point now that they were overlapping and in some places, space was thick with the anomalies where they had been caught up in each other's gravity and had clustered together, slowly eating their brethren and becoming larger and far stronger. There were, however, large tracts of space that were open again thanks to the anomaly's listless movements. Very few of them were anchored in a single spot and now that Thymion was clear of its rightful rulers, the Tems seemed to have stopped slinging blackholes around.

''In certain areas I would. If I can reclaim my ship, would it be possible to have an updated copy of your tactical map sent across to its computer?'' She asked.

''I would like to say yes, but Thymion systems aren't equipped to deal with the kind of transmissions we use to bypass the effects that anomalies have on data transfers or comms...'' Itasha said slowly. He had gone thoughtful.

''That datacrystal I picked up was a universal standard. That type's compatible with practically every crystal operated tech.'' Trillian stated. Itasha nodded in agreement.

''Very well, if this is what you wish, then I will have a duplicate etched for you to take with you if your ship is there.'' Venomspite said.

She expressed her gratitude and dinner time meeting was dispersed. Venomspite and Itasha remained seated as a steward cleared the plates away, ready for a full meeting of the ship's officers to go over what was going to happen. Trillian and Jorst made their way back down to the auxiliary hangar to perform some checks on the Deymarii. Rosemary, with nothing to do, made her way down to her assigned quarters. Both Billy and Meko had been transferred off the ship along with the last lot of her people who had come in, so she now had nothing to do but wait on Captain Venomspite to bring his task force together in the final preparation for the assault on the Temlasarians. She lay down on the bed and stared at the dark ceiling, her mind going over what was to come. She eventually slipped into a fitful sleep and groaned when she was woken up by the ship's readiness alert. She cracked open an eye and looked blearily at the chrono on the wall. She had slept for nine hours straight.

A knock at her door prompted her to roll out of bed. She stretched and heaved a yawn, bidding the visitor to enter. For a moment, she thought she was still aboard the old hospital ship until a tall, slim figure with black skin and crimson eyes opened the door and peered in. It was Itasha.

''The task force is formed and we are underway. Captain Venomspite would like you on the bridge now.'' He said.

The void elf had told her from the beginning of the plan's inception, that she was to act as an advisor when necessary. She cleaned herself up in the small bathroom, put on some fresh clothes that had been created in one of the ship's fabricators - a simple deep red tunic and black trousers, the same colours worn by the ship's crew. Venomspite had told her that by wearing the knock-off uniform, that she would be capitulating to his orders and pulling her weight when told to do so. She fastened the buttons, straightened the belt and stepped out of the room, feeling much better now that she had a purpose.

Lieutenant Commander Itasha was still waiting for her, a member of Hunter Squad beside him. The name Darkblade was on a patch sewn to the soldier's armoured tunic and the elf had a stern, uncompromising air about him. Weapons were openly carried; a pair of combat knives attached to his thighs and a heavy, sleek looking pistol holstered at his right hip. His aura was thick with offensive magic and he was watching her every move carefully, waiting for her to... to pull a stunt like Angelica had aboard the Ranger. Rosemary stifled a sigh. How things had managed to spiral so out of control so fast, she didn't understand. Itasha held out his hand, palm up. Sitting in his palm was a black septum ring, typically horseshoe shaped but lacking the clip. It was made of an unrecognisable material and was smooth, gleaming under the dim overheads.

''You were complaining of light-headedness and issues with breathing earlier. Sorry we couldn't produce one sooner, but going from picket duty to SAR and then mustering for a war in the space of three days threw everyone off-guard for a moment there. And with the medibay being so busy all of a sudden, it slipped through the cracks.'' Itasha said.

''What is it?'' She asked, eyeing the nose ring suspiciously. Jewellery was an odd thing to be offering up at such a time, but here he was, presenting her with a nose ring for a piercing she didn't have.

''Clip this to your nose. As you draw in breath, it'll pull more nitrogen from the air. The CMO expects you to return it when you're done with it, however. These things aren't easy to balance for a foreigner's use and they're an integral part of a lot of our medical procedures. This is also our last one as the rest of your kin have the others whilst they're waiting at our holdings.''

''I see. Thank you, Sir.'' She said as she took it. She looked at it curiously then attached it to her nose, wriggled it until it was comfortable and she could barely feel it. She inhaled slowly, deeply, filling her lungs with air and started to feel better as her body started to get the kind of oxygen mix it was used to.

''As for the ship and her crew itself,'' Itasha continued as he walked her down the corridor, ''if an officer gives you an order you follow it through. If someone asks you a question, you will answer with honesty. If you so much as threaten even the steward bot, you are off this ship and the task force will make do without you. Is that clear?''

Rosemary was taken aback by his words. They were cold and uncompromising. Darkblade, walking behind them, merely watched on, his eyes narrow with distrust as she faltered.

''Yes, I understand. I will help to the best of my ability.'' She said.

She felt the crew around her, at the edges of her mind, a well oiled war machine gearing up to fight. It was a feeling she had never felt from a ship's crew before. Of course, Thymion had warships that had seen combat. But those were mostly dealing with intruders who had been easily outgunned or were simply war games against each other, sparring like-for-like. This felt like it was on a whole new level, the ships from beyond the Void seasoned combatants with technology that matched Thymion's. The Opal's armaments hadn't been discussed with her however, and she still had no clue about what the void drive did. She figures it was some kind of FTL, but the way Venomspite had put it still had her confused. ''I must admit, I have no idea what to expect.'' She added softly, her gaze tracking a midshipman as he strode purposefully past them.

''The nature of things. Plans rarely survive contact with reality.'' Itasha said. He then turned off down a long corridor without another word.

Rosemary made to follow him but Darkblade touched her elbow and set her off back down their own route, ''This way. He has work to do.'' He said gruffly.

She snapped her attention back to the main corridor and stepped into the lift at the end, wondering where Itasha was headed to. It took them up a level to another corridor. They passed crewmembers, talking to each other or studying datapads as they moved alone. Darkblade keyed a code into a panel beside a heavy pressure door and it slid open silently to reveal the bridge, six people sitting at their workstations in the command pit, studying their opaque amethyst screens and talking softly to one another. A seventh was sat off to one side of the command island, sitting in a nest of computers and listening intently to his headset. Venomspite was busy working too, relaying orders and information to the ship's Third, Lieutenant Furromoore, a severe looking woman with her dark red hair bound in a tight topknot.

''Welcome to the bridge of the Opal. Please, take a seat. We're almost at our destination.'' Venomspite said, gesturing to the chair to his left. It was vacant, largely unused and was reserved for visiting officers and dignitaries.

Rosemary circled warily around the foot of the command island, ascended the short set of steps and settled into the chair beside him. It was surprisingly comfortable, the seat subtly shifting around her to better suit her frame. A large amethyst screen slid around and positioned itself in front of her. It lit up with basic sensors and tactical information. She didn't understand a word of it; it was all in the runic script of the void elves, but she did recognise the formation of ships as being the task force he had called to arms.

''You will only be getting the absolute basics from our sensors and TacNet. Nothing more. We will be dealing with data and manoeuvres integral to Undervilde's military abilities, so I hope you understand that there are certain aspects to our operations that you will be kept in the dark about.'' Venomspite said. He flicked his screen and the woman at Tactical nodded in confirmation. She said something to Venomspite and he replied with an agreement of his own.

Despite the time she had been aboard, Rosemary couldn't figure out their speech. Even their thoughts as they spoke were wildly different, so she had to fall back to a more empathic standing to get a read on them to try and figure out what was being said. Rosemary looked up from the information listed on her screen and stared at the wrap-around view screens that acted as windows. Space beyond was black, devoid of stars save for one single pinprick of light flickering in the distance. It was Thymion's star, the sun which her home orbited. Between her and her home was a screen of Undervilde's destroyers, frigates and corvettes, and the loitering Temlesarian vessels, stolen from her people. She wondered if Venomspite would leave anything salvageable or if he was bent on outright destroying the ships and their pitiful crews. Assuming his weapons could penetrate the hulls of the Thymions, ships, that is.

She looked back to the tac-monitor, worrying her bottom lip. The carrier was sitting snug in the middle of the formation, surrounded protectively by the dreadnoughts and cruisers. The destroyers were loitering around the task force in a loose sphere, with the corvettes and frigates interspersed between them. A lone corvette pressed ahead of the formation, a forerunner and watchdog. She looked up again, searching the view screens for a visual on the destroyer that was ahead of them. She stared for a good ten minutes before she saw it: the faint blue glow of the ship's sublight drives. The ship wasn't even cloaked and it was hard to spot. She wondered just how difficult they would be to spot when they were cloaked.

With nothing to do, no questions to ask nor any being asked of her, she settled down to wait, a knot of trepidation forming in her gut. The Opal went about its business, Venomspite relaying orders and making check-ins with the other ships, and before she knew it, two and a half hours had slipped by and they were heading into the Thymion Void, the formation tightening up and the leading corvette falling back.

Arriving in the Thymion void, there was something amiss. There a total sensor silence with no active sign of recent battle being detected. The last reports gleaned from this sector showed there had been a major attack here. But there was nothing, not even a scrap of chaff to be detected. As well, the typical gravitational patterns of spatial anomalies didn't match projections. There should have been at least one modest blackhole nearby. But the area was empty. Not even planetary debris was could be found, which was strange considering the Thymion Void was book ended by debris fields, the remnants of planets and their lunar bodies.

Rosemary looked at the screens, growing nervous. She did not like the sudden, sheer emptiness of the area. She couldn't sense the homeworld and the few surviving wolves that remained, clinging to life on a near barren rock that had once been lush with life. The whole area was devoid of life in all its forms, the clamour of multiple psyches going through their daily motions unnervingly silent. There was nothing psychic or physical. No exotic particles, no wormholes, no gravitational fluxes except from the task force's movements as they pressed deeper into the Void. There was no trace of anything but an empty pocket of space.

Rosemary reeled her mind back in, a headache threatening after straining so hard to find a sign of life. She bit her bottom lip, pondering if they were just too late. The trip here was just short a period for her. But inside the void, in the temporal rip, it had been almost another two years. Then a faint signal pinged, lighting up a telltale on the sensors board, the flat line in her monitor's sensor window vibrating gently as the Opal detected something small and distant. She reached out with her mind again, homing in on it. It was a beacon, Thymion in make and origin. It was not a distress or signal beacon. It was a final message beacon. The Black Box of a destroyed ship. The device was little more than a half meter orb floating in the black. It was pinging once every ten minutes. Surprisingly, there was no psychic imprint on it. Rosemary figured its message was technologically inscripted instead, a failsafe in case a non-Thymion species discovered it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the comms tech beat her to it, pressing his headset tight to an ear, flicking switches and turning dials with his free hand.

''Captain, I've just picked up the tail-end of a beacon message... It's automated, Sir.''

''What kind of signal, Katlan?'' Venomspite asked.

''A distress call of some sort I believe. The initial signal is audio, but the message is text only. I'm trying to download it right now, but the beacon seems to be damaged in some way. Permission to connect to the Deymarii? I believe her comms suite would be able to clear it up much faster than I can.'' He replied.

They were sailing at half sublight and would soon be within Thymion proper. Venomspite gave Katlan the go-ahead but showed no signs of ordering the task force to slow down or stop for smooth, black orb that was relaying its signal for all to hear. Rosemary reached out with her mind as Katlan got to work and searched for any psychic imprints. She got nothing, not even a telltale of a Thymion survivor. A tight knot of fear dispelled her calm as she reached out to her home world, a once hugely psychically active hub of life going through its daily motions and got nothing. She balled her fists, fighting her anxiety down. Her people were not extinct yet. There were at least a few thousand left, haggard and beaten, but alive and in hiding. She glanced at Venomspite, noting he was reading something, his brow furrowed. He then made another flicking motion and a message appeared on a small section of her screen. It was the comms partition and he had just sent her the message that had been salvaged from the black orb that was the beacon.

''Your written language eludes me. I believe a translation is in order.'' He said simply.

She read through the message, her anger rising. The air around her shimmered with heat and her fur bristled as she ground her teeth together. She started to read it to herself, her words coming slowly and carefully as she dredged through her memories, looking for a certain connection. When she reached the end of the message, something clicked into place at the back of her mind and she clenched her fists.

''It's from the Leaves of Pillar. A captured Thymion ship, she's a Fang Class cruiser. She tried to initiate a core breach and blow a hole in space when the Temlesarians cornered her. She tried to take as many saurians as she could with her, but they had the Empress Hand, the Maelstrom of Torlk, and the Kaleem. That put over 1000 Ion cannons on her. She never got the power built up.'' Rosemary said, her eyes skimming the message again.

Then she read aloud in Basic for all to hear, ''We had to watch from a distance as they robbed the Leaves of Pillar of her power and then let the crew slowly suffocate on their own. A few managed to get to escape pods, but the pods had no power either and without propulsion, they were easy for the Temlesarians to target. We managed to save some, but not many. The crew of the Pillar were ordered by our captain to bring us their data crystals if at all possible. The Pillar crew were wearing EVA suits with no propulsion packs as they launched themselves out of those airlocks they could get to. They had to drift toward us, holding as much breath as they could for an hour. That was when our cloaked destroyer picked them up. We could do very little but watch and wait for them to get within reach of us, lest the Temlesarians discovered us too. Once the Temlesarians were gone, we dropped stealth and started SAR procedures. There weren't many survivors... our efforts were mostly recovering the dead and sneaking away again.

''Let it be known, that we, the crew of the stealth destroyer, Sister Shadow, did what we could with what little we had.'' Rosemary looked up, fury glistening in her eyes, her fists clenched, ''That was written by Captain Rachel Wolfen, Angelica's twin sister. A gentler woman never existed... she doesn't say what happened after that. There's no contact codes, no psychic imprint, nothing... it's as if the ship never existed. And after everything the Temlesarians have done, I will avenge myself upon them with the fury of a thousand angry gods with fang and claw until I swim in their innards and bathe in their blood!'' She snarled. She bristled, her fur rising. The air around her shimmered with heat and a wisp of steam coiled from the collar of her tunic as it threatened to catch fire.

Venomspite looked at her, seeing in her face the fury that had built up as she read the message. He cleared his throat and she looked at him, her brow creased, a snarl wrinkling her muzzle. His expression spoke volumes and she settled herself, apologising meekly after realising her outburst. The void elf looked to Katlan, who was still busy at his station.

''Ensign Katlan, is there anything more to be pulled from the beacon?''

''No, Sir. Deymarii confirms it as the only message broadcasting.'' He replied.

Venomspite nodded, looked to his readouts and ordered the task force deeper into the Void. They left the beacon behind, broadcasting its message to the dark as the task force prepared for its first manoeuvres. Rosemary looked at her own, rudimentary readouts. The sensors had started to oscillate wildly before the window blacked out, cutting her off from whatever was going on. She raised the issue with Venomspite.

''The Deymarii at work.'' He replied simply. ''It is blanked for security reasons.''

''Ten minutes until entry!'' Someone called. It was the woman sitting at Navigation.

''Five ship signatures detected; one dreadnought, two cruisers and a carrier. Signatures are twenty-degrees positive of the ecliptic and are matching a plotted Tem picket route. Deymaarii confirms.'' Another said, this time the voice coming from what she assumed was Sensors.

Rosemary was a little shocked. They were still so far out from entering the Empire proper and yet they had all that information. She wondered just how powerful the Opal's sensor suite was. Then the Deymarii butted in. It was a sensors corvette, a warship dedicated to things such as long range, pinpoint accuracy.

''Lieutenant Maya, plot a course for best possible angle of attack.'' Venomspite said.

She got to work immediately, murmuring something to the other female void elf who sat at navigation. The two were discussing and exchanging ideas at breakneck speeds. The whole task force was relying on those two to come good, to get them the best angle of attack that would net them a swift kill. Finally, Venomspite's workstation chimed softly, announcing the transfer of a file. He read over the plotted courses, selected one, sent it to helm and then on to the rest of the task force. He said something in his own tongue and there was a reply from Katlan. Katlan sent out a ship-wide order, a warning chiming loudly throughout the ship, giving five solid bursts that hurt the ears before the ship's lights dimmed and a dark fog manifested above them. Witchlights of violet and gold blossomed in the black mist that crawled across the ceiling like an inverted ground fog and the view screens went blank. The whole feel of the ship shifted, leaving Rosemary feeling wildly out of place as a dark foreboding crept through the cruiser like a thick, woolen blanket.

''What's going on?'' She gasped softly, not liking the feel at all. Panic started to bubble in her chest and she found herself seeking the nearest exit off the ship.

''We are now in voidspace, undetectable to anyone but our own kind and our patron.'' He said smoothly, ''Rest assured, we are still heading towards our targets.''

''How do you know when you're there?'' She asked, glancing frantically at her screens. This all felt wrong. She wondered if she had made a mistake in accepting Undervilde's aid. She wondered if Trillian and Jorst were feeling the same sense of disjointed foreboding that she was currently feeling.

''We'll know.'' He said simply.

The tone of his voice, his relaxed composure, put her at ease somewhat. They moved through voidspace for an indeterminable amount of time, her mind unable to grasp the flow of the time, even when looking at the chrono displayed in the top right corner of her screen. And then a male void elf said something. He was at the Weapons station and Maya nodded in agreement. They turned to Venomspite. He uttered a few words, the tone dangerous and assured. There was another series of loud warning chimes and the Opal's lights came back up, the mist and witchlights dispersing as quickly as they had come. The feeling of foreboding left Rosemary and she was grateful for it. On her tactical display, two destroyers and two cruisers broke from the Undervilde formation, a quartet of corvettes flanking them. A squadron of starfighters from the task force's lone carrier lead the other ships as a defensive screen.