AN- oooooh look it's an update that you don't have to wait nearly a year for and it accidentally got out of control with WORDS. Enjoy.


Lightning had one leg tucked under the other as she read a datapad on the bridge. After all the adventure thus far, the uneventful trip through the Taejin cluster was almost boring. But she knew better than to speak it out loud. There could have been truth in Fang's warnings about tempting the fates, and she definitely didn't want to risk it.

The door slid open with a quiet hiss behind her, and Lightning turned to see the woman they had rescued who had opted to stay with them, along with her son. "Hello," she greeted warmly, placing the datapad down and standing up from the console. "How are you both feeling?"

The older woman nodded with a tired smile, her short blonde bob swaying with her head. "Better, thank you. My husband is still resting but my son here wanted to come and see the bridge. If that's alright of course."

"Yeah, absolutely. Anything you're wanting to see... Hope, right? And you're Nora?" Lightning asked, her eyes shifting between the silver-haired shy boy and his mother. Hope blushed and moved closer to the window, pressing his hands against the reinforced silicate, staring out at the void beyond.

"That's right, Lieutenant," Nora answered, watching her son with a cautious eye. "We aren't… Spacers. Small port town in the Palumpolum Nebula. Never been to space until.."

"We aren't sure where they came from. My family and I were preparing to board a small ship to take us across world for the local fireworks festival. But the ship was intercepted by…" Nora looks towards her son before falling silent. Lightning put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and guided her away from the console, and out of Hope's earshot.

"Nora? You can tell me, its fine."

"It's not that, Lieutenant. It's just… I couldn't tell you how we ended up out here either. The ship wasn't designed to be space faring. There was a storm, a flash of light and these… They looked like ships covered in crystals, it was very odd."

The information caught Lightning's attention and she straightened. "Never been to space? At all? How did you get out here… Were you taken from Palumpolum?" She asked, suddenly very concerned. The sector was right next to Bodhum in the gate network. It was too close to home.

The colour drained from Lightning's face and she had to lean against a bulkhead to stop from falling over. "And the next thing you knew… You were out here?" She concluded, her voice shaky and anxious. "The pirates pick you up?"

"No. Well, yes. We were traded. The pirates back at the facility exchanged materials with the ones who kidnapped us in exchange for our lives. We had thought it was a ransom at first, until… We realised it wasn't." Nora answered quietly. She bowed her head in a silent apology before moving away to join her son, leaving Lightning to her increasingly worried thoughts.

"Etro? What's the likelihood of those Cie'th making it that far?" Lightning murmured quietly, seeing a flicker at the corner of her vision.

The likelihood is high, given your own narrowly avoided capture.

"Shit. They're not just out here in the void. They're in local space. In the atmos." Lightning left the bridge as Vanille entered for her shift, heading straight for her quarters. Sure enough though, like clockwork, the captain rounded the corner, having sensed her distress.

"Hey hey hey, what's wrong? What is it?" Fang asked, holding her shoulders and trying to ignore the surge of panic and conflicted feelings that practically burned her nerve endings from their connection. Lightning took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes, allowing herself to be led to a nearby bench in the corridor. Her eyes opened slowly and she found herself back in the meadow in Oerba, and she stifled a gasp. "What the.."

"You were a little… Intense there, darlin'," Fang explained, flopping over in the grass. "I felt a fair amount of fear going through your system and it… Yeah it hurt a lot. So I figure, let's get you calm, and then we'll talk about it."

"…Thank you. I'm… Grateful."

"Now talk to me. What's happened? Is your sister ok?"

Nodding, Lightning laid down beside the captain and took a deep breath. "She's fine, Fang. Nora, the woman we rescued. They're not void-farers."

Fang arched an eyebrow at her and gestured to the sky. "They're on my ship while we traverse the boring as shit Taejin cluster. They look pretty friggin' void-faring to me." She drawled, earning herself a smack on the arm.

"No I mean… The pirates that we rescued them from? They weren't the ones to kidnap them. The Cie'th were."

"Say what." Fang sat bolt upright, the terrifying implications sinking in. "They nabbed people in local space?" It shouldn't be possible. None of it should be, in reality. The apparition of Oerba flickered from their collective panic before Fang reached for Light's hands. "Listen. We're on the edge of Sanctum space. No more detours. We'll head straight to Bodhum and get you home to your sister to make sure she's safe, alright?"

There was the ghost of a touch on Fang's shoulder and she blinked, looking around. Her eyes cleared and she found the small boy standing there awkwardly, trying to get their attention. "C-Captain Yun? Lieutenant Farron? S-sorry to bother your… um.. Meditation? But the other lady is asking for your presence back on the bridge." Hope stammered, looking mildly nervous. "Sounded kinda urgent." Sighing, Fang stood and gave the boy a pat on the back.

"Cheers kid. Come on, Light. I've already got a fuckin' bad feeling about this."

The pair walked back onto the bridge, Vanille staring at the looming jump gate in the distance, chewing on her thumbnail. Nora gave them a concerned glance and headed off to check on her son. Lightning approached the window and peered out, her brow furrowing. "What is that?" She asked, seeing the dark shadows around the gate. It was too far to make out what they were, other than the fact they were numerous.

"Preliminary scans show a blockade. Sanctum vessels and a whole bunch of armoured gunners." Vanille replied with a rueful shake of her head. "We've got papers to get through, but there's not usually.. This much commotion."

Fang gave the redhead a pat on the back and nodded towards her station. "Best to put our most professional game faces on then. Lightning, stay back from the camera, we're a Pulsian vessel with a GC officer on board. They'll think you're a hostage and open fire before they even bother to question."

"Surely they wouldn't-"

"Light? Please don't argue with me on this. I'm not willing to take any chances. Especially now that we've got extra guests on board between the family and the merchant." Fang pressed a little firmer, and Lightning gave a nod and sat behind the navigation console.

Fang opened a comms channel and hailed the armada at the gate. "This is Captain Yun of the Behemoth-class vessel Ragnarok. Requesting permission to pass the Jump Gate to the Sunleth cluster."

There was a tense silence before a grated, rough voice crackled back through the channel. "State your business, Ragnarok."

"Just running errands, sir. Returning a merchant with a busted ship back to his depot. My paperwork is in order if you need to see it." Fang replied carefully, keeping her eyes locked on the screen. It concerned her that there was no visual of the person she was talking to. It didn't exactly scream honesty, and gave her no sense of trust. Not that she ever trusted Sanctum authority to begin with.

"Your credentials are out of date, and from the recent theft that is still under investigation from Dagon, you're to submit to a full vessel inspection at the nearby station."

Fang sighed and folded her arms. "You're kidding me right? The merchant has deadlines, and my credentials are flawless. Don't waste my fucking time."

"Your credentials are out of date. You're to submit to a full vessel inspection at the nearby station." The voice repeated. "Or, turn around and go back to where you came from. Any further advance towards the gate will be seen as an act of aggression and we will take secure measures to ensure you don't make it through."

"It doesn't sound like we have much of a choice, Fang." Lightning warned from behind her. Fang clicked her tongue in annoyance and pressed the mute button on her console.

"There's more than one way to get through, Light. I'm not going to submit this ship to a scan or an inventory check. You know what is on this ship."

Lightning stood up and walked over, bringing up the star maps. "And? I can't afford any more delays, Fang. Not with the Cie'th operating in the next system over from my sister. The only other way is to go back through six systems and what, find the exact same problem at the Yaschas Massif nebula? We can hide the cargo you don't want them to find, ask Etro if she can go into some sort of shut down mode, tolerate their bureaucracy and be on our way."

"Fuck sake fine." Fang sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. She unmuted the console and gave whoever was on the end a terse glare. "Give me the coordinates to this station. There'd better be the option for a drink while I wait."

There was no response from the other end, but the location was sent through regardless. For a brief moment Fang contemplated making a run for it, but her eyes suddenly widened as Etro provided a full list of every weapon schematic that was currently aimed at her ship.

"You make it incredibly hard to be reckless you know." She muttered, earning herself a reproachful look from Lightning.

"Are you talking about me or Etro?" The lieutenant asked with a small smile.

"Pick one." Fang drawled, punching in the coordinates and turning the ship in the direction of the space station; just another detour and delay in their journey.


"I don't like this one bit."

Lightning gave Fang an unamused look as the ship came into dock. "You're a thief with technical contraband on board. Of course you don't like it."

"How can it be contraband when it's my stuff?" Fang argued, adjusting the gun on her belt for what felt like the fifteenth time since the ship docked with the station. "Besides, I'm not suspicious because it's a Sanctum checkpoint in Pulsian sp… Ok maybe some of my suspicions have to do with that but the rest is… Where the fuck is the welcoming committee? Space stations are usually bustling, especially given one on the border of Sanctum space?"

Lightning had to concede the point. Not that she had seen her fair share of Pulsian stations and ports but for every single one she had visited, it was no different to any station in Sanctum space. The place should have been positively bustling with people. This place looked… abandoned. It made her less secure in her push to get Etro to go dormant to avoid the scanners.

"Where is everyone? I mean, we did scans before we shut Etro down, there's life on this station." Lightning observed, checking for anything. Anyone. Any sign that they weren't about to be thrown into chaos yet again.

"You ever get the feeling that we're just walking into traps and shit daily?" Fang wondered aloud, knocking loudly on a corridor. "Any beach resorts or anywhere I can put my feet up and get drunk for a week near your place?"

"I think once I know Serah is safe I'll friggin' join you.." Lightning muttered, movement in her peripherals catching her attention. She yelled out, chasing after the figure moving past in the corridor. "Hey!"

They both took off to chase down what appeared to be a uniformed officer, who was walking briskly down the hall. "Wait up, buddy!" Fang yelled out, the captain getting increasingly tense. The officer stopped mid-stride, and turned.

"Apologies. I was doing my rounds." He replied, looking bored and indifferent to their presence. Lightning narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but the Pulsian beat her to it.

"You wanna explain what the hell is going on and why it's so devoid of people in here?" Fang angrily demanded, brushing her hand subtly past her gun to check it was still there. The officer blinked a few times, and his gaze moved slowly between them.

"There was a hull breach in this area of the ship two weeks ago. We are repairing it. All other traffic to Sanctum space has been diverted to another station."

Lightning narrowed her eyes at the officer, whose facial expression remained impassive. "If all traffic is being diverted, why were we sent here?"

"You shouldn't be here."

The monotone delivery and chronic indifference held a hint of dread for both of them, and Fang found herself standing closer to Lightning on reflex. The lieutenant gave the man a slow nod and saluted him. "Thank you, officer. We will be on our way." Lightning assured him, speaking slowly to keep her own voice even. The officer turned on his heel and walked away without a second thought, and Fang immediately dragged the pinkette into a maintenance alcove.

"Tell me I'm not the only one freaked out by this right now."

"You are certainly not." Lightning whispered, sticking her head out into the corridor to check for anyone else. For the most part the corridor had fallen silent again. "Let's just… go back to the ship. Try that long way after all." While resigning herself for more delays, Lightning was perfectly fine to settle for this, when the atmosphere in the station was unnerving. The two quickly made their way back to the ship, running towards the bridge as soon as it was safe to do so.

"Van? We need to double time it the fuck outta here." Fang ordered, bursting onto the main deck. Vanille nearly flew out of her seat in fright, before gesturing at the docking clamps.

"Well? When are they being released? Have we gotten clearance or what?" Vanille pauses. "What did you both do?" She asked, both Lightning and Fang immediately protesting in outrage.

"We didn't do-"

"Why the fuck you gotta assume we did anything?"

Vanille gave them both a deadpan look and pointed at the docking clamp. "Because it's you and you're very quickly rubbing off on the lieutenant!" She snapped, bringing up the station scans on the screen. "So what are we looking at? You gonna get Etro online?"

"No," Lightning answered, shaking her head. "There's something.. Very wrong here. I don't know what it is, but the few people we have ran into don't seem… Entirely there. Like they're stuck on a loop. It's unsettling."

"Either way, you're going to need to get clearance or steal it if we want to leave- those docking clamps aren't letting go without serious damage to the hull."

"Fuck." Fang groaned, kicking at a pipe attached to the bottom of a bulkhead. "This is shit. We can't risk reactivating Etro in case all hell breaks loose but… What do we do?"

Lightning was silent a moment, looking out at the eerily quiet station. While there were a few people about, it was hardly what you'd call bustling. The longer she watched them, the more she noted they seemed to repeat their tasks over and over in short bursts. "It's like everyone is stuck on a loop." She murmured to herself, her back straightening. "Fang, they're stuck on a loop! Look!"

The captain approached with a furrowed brow, leaning in to see the lone worker tack welding something on some scaffolding. The movement was almost mechanical, slightly stilted and looked… "Rehearsed. It all looks so fucking rehearsed. Which means if they aren't real… We should be able to get to the control room, release the docking clamps and then book it the fuck out of here."

"Agreed. Vanille?" Lightning turned to face the redhead who was already settling into the chair behind the main controls.

"Go. Make it quick. I'll see if I can find anything else out in the meantime."

Fang paused at the weapons locker on the way back out, grabbing an extra pistol and an energy blade and hooking it to her belt. "Like hell am I taking any chances with this shit." She muttered, handing another gun to the lieutenant. Lightning took it, for once feeling unsettled enough to warrant the extra coverage.

Stepping back out onto the main deck of the station hangar, Lightning looked around and felt a shiver of dread down her spine. "Ok. I don't like this one bit either." She muttered to Fang, who was still busy adjusting the weapons on her belt.

"See? Told you. You should listen to me more often."

The pair walked the corridors, coming across people rarely. Any that they did come across seemed engrossed in whatever task they were doing, paying them no mind whatsoever. There was a silence within the station that felt like a vacuum, sucking the very air from the paths they walked.

"Do you think we... should maybe look around?" Lightning asked, getting a derisive look from the captain in response.

"Uh, fuck off? I'd rather be stuffed into an airlock and spaced? This place is utterly haunting, Farron. I don't want to spend another second here more than we have to." Fang clipped, peering carefully around a corner.

"You shouldn't be here."

The voice came from out of nowhere behind them, and both Lightning and Fang spun around with a startled shriek. A station officer stood there, looking blankly at them. Through them, like they weren't really there. Lightning regained her composure and cleared her throat.

"I am Lieutenant Claire Farron of the Guardian Corps, assigned to the Sunleth cluster." She begun, checking for any recognition or response. The GC badge the officer wore should have indicated at the very least a salute but... nothing. "Can you tell us where the docking controls are located?"

"You shouldn't be here." The officer repeated, staring straight through them. Fang was already slowly reaching for her weapon, and Lightning shook her head in an attempt to stop her.

"We are... abundantly aware of this, officer. We will undock our ship and be on our way. Sorry to trouble you." Lightning answered with a small salute that was not returned, dragging Fang away by the collar. "Come on… We'll cover more ground on our own."

Fang groaned and followed, going deeper into the maze of corridors. "If this is a GC operated station, or is meant to be, wouldn't the layout be the same? They build them all to spec, don't they?" She asked, pulling up at an unlit board where the information panel hopefully was. Pressing a few buttons yielded no results, and she growled in frustration. "Come on you useless bucket of bolts. We want out of here, where is the goddamn station control so we can undock?"

The screen flickered to life, but it was quite obvious that it had been smashed. A large crack split the face of the VI in half, diagonally across the centre. The artificial assistant's features kept glitching, shifting and changing before them. "Hello. H-how mm-m-m-may I be-be-be-error two-zero-four-alpha-seve-of assistance?"

Lightning swallowed hard and gave an uneasy glance towards Fang. "Are you able to tell us what happened here?"

The VI flickered again, a loading bar constantly getting stuck and restarting. "Unknown command-dash critical warning station compromised-how may I be of assis-s-s-stance?"

Fang grabbed Lightning by the wrist and glared at her. "Control. Directions to station control." She snapped, narrowing her eyes at the way it shifted on the screen. The colours cycled erratically, the smile on the VI's face feeling more unnerving by the second. Directions flashed up on the screen with a highlighted path and they both quickly memorised it. "Thank you. Was that so hard?"

"Breaches in sectors Alpha through Lima. Maximum casualties, no survivors. Critical assistance required. Communication link sev- is there anything else I can help you with?"

Lightning stared in horror, returning the grip on Fang's wrist. "No… That will be all."

"You shouldn't be h-have a nice day."

The screen dimmed and sparked, the feeling of dread growing tenfold. Fang gently pried the death grip of Lightning's fingers off her wrist and held her hand. "Come on. This just got worse very quickly. We need to get the docking controls unlocked and book it, Light."

"… Fang we need to find out what happened here. Something has obviously gone very wrong."

"It has, I don't doubt that. But it's at this point that I'll remind you that we are two people, currently with no way off this station if we cannot get the clamps off our ship. There are civilians on board, Light. We may survive this if it goes south, they won't." Fang urged gently, reaching up to cup Light's face.

"But Fang-"

"There's nothing we can do for the dead, sweetheart. We can get out of here, find a safe place to fire off a comms to your boss, get them to send a whole armada out here. Okay?"

Lightning fell quiet, clearly formulating risk assessments in her mind. A frown crossed her face as she glared at the dead panel on the wall. "Fine." She sighed, falling into step beside Fang as they followed the path to the control centre.

"You shouldn't be here."

"FUCK." Fang yelled, whirling and almost punching an officer on reflex. "I fucking know alright? We'll be out of your hair in a minute and you can all go back to… being creepy or whatever." The officer turned and walked away, a door sliding shut behind him. "I am so fucking sick of this."

Lightning nodded, punching the door panel to the operations centre open. "Seconded." She muttered, and made her way to the docking console. Tapping the console to bring up their docking bay, a holo-screen of Vanille appeared before them. "Ok, Vanille. What am I looking at here?"

Vanille hummed, her voice sounding static-ridden through the audio. "Should be a release somewhere. I… I'd hit it and get back here immediately. There's no evidence of this base existing in GC records in recent years. According to what I've been able to dig up there was an incident about two years prior that spaced the entire station. Critical environment failure across the board. They had flagged it for rebuild but just thought it'd be easier to monitor the gate from the other side."

Lightning looked at Fang with an expression of horror. "This… Station doesn't exist? Then who…" The captain groaned and smashed her hand on the button to release the docking clamps.

"We can freak out about it later, Light. Let's get the fuck out of here, please." Fang begged, pulling her out of the control room. They moved quickly through the corridors back the way they came, the few people that passed them simply staring at them with expressionless faces. Lightning kept playing the transmission from Vanille over in her mind, the error messages from the VI and slowed in her step.

"Fang?" Lightning called out, coming to a stop in front of a large set of doors near the hangar. There was an odd sound thrumming from behind it, and it pierced the air with its deep pulse. "Fang I think there's… Something behind here."

"No. Lightning, no. We have to leave. We will call the entire Sanctum military down on this place if we have to. It's not our goddamn battle!" Fang yelled, her voice bouncing off the bulkheads of the corridor. The station was silent save for the odd hum behind the door, so her voice boomed all the louder.

"I have to know what happened here, Fang! These people… If Vanille's report was real then so many innocent Guardian Corps officers perished for nothing. Please. Let me see what's behind the door, to gather intel, and we'll leave."

The two stared each other down yet again, and once more Fang sighed and found herself caving into the lieutenant's earnest pleas. "For fuck's sake fine but be quick about it!"

Lightning pried the door open and it screeched with a terrible hiss, the hydraulics straining and failing under the assault. The door finally gave way and slid open with a groan of metal, giving way to a large room with laboratory equipment lining each of the walls. Fang pushed her out of the way and stepped forward, staring at the room in disbelief.

"The hell is… This is the same laboratory equipment used in Oerba? The one that Kept Van and I in stasis? The one that made…." Fang trailed off as one of the officers turned and stared at them, letting out a shrill wail in their direction. Responding shrieks began to echo throughout the base, as Fang and Lightning began to back towards the door.

The man convulsed, his skin distorting with jagged black crystals bursting from his skin. "They're Cie'th!" Lightning gasped, her feet moving quicker towards the door, back to the hangar. More terrifying apparitions of mutated crystal humanoids began to burst from the floors, kicking in doors and staggering towards them. "The whole station is overrun with Cie'th!"

"Run, Light!" Fang yelled, pawing frantically at buttons on her bracer as they bolted down the corridor. There was a cold shiver down her spine and her vision pulsed blue as Etro flared to life.

How may I assist… Oh.

"Oh is fuckin' right, Etro! Get the ship's engines going and prep the Ragnarok for departure! Now!" Fang yelled, Lightning's head whipping back towards her as her own sight adjusted to the reappearance of the AI. The captain gave her a rueful look and rolled her eyes as she narrowly avoided a swinging crystal arm from an enormous Cie'th. "Cat's out of the bag now, what's the point of keeping her hidden?"

The ramp to the ship was already raising as they hit the docking bay, both the captain and lieutenant using the last of their depleted reserves to sprint onto the ship. Fang fell to her knees in the shuttle bay, her chest heaving, desperately trying to get the sounds of the mutated crew from her mind.

Vanille raced into the bay and helped Fang up, checking both her and Lightning over. "The ship just… started up on its own, Fang… What's happening?" She asked in a panic. Fang patted her arm to give her any kind of reassurance she could while still trying to catch her breath.

"Etro… Switched her… back on… Threat… Cie'th… Station… Whole station…"

Captain, it is advisable that we leave urgently. The Cie'th are attempting to breach the hull by hand.

While her lungs still burned, the situation was still dire. Fang straightened up and gave a look back towards the lieutenant, trying to keep her anger in check. "Next time I ask you not to look at something… think you can fucking listen?"

Lightning looked away, her cheeks burning with shame. They were almost in the clear and her incessant need to pursue justice in all forms landed them in a dire situation. She'd ignored Fang's warnings and her endless stubbornness could very well now cost even more innocent lives than what had already been lost on the station.

Heading silently back to the bridge, Fang passed the family and Sazh in the galley and grabbed the ladder. "I need you all in a seat, strapped in. On the double." She snapped as she climbed, muttering to herself about how she was going to make the lieutenant clean every inch of her ship with a toothbrush when they got out of this sector. If they got out of this sector.

"Fang, the ship can't engage any warp drives past cruising until we're clear of the station." Vanille called out as they all hit the bridge. "They're still warming up. We'll need to buy time."

"Get the weapons online. Lightning, you're taking point. This is your mess, you can help clean it up." Fang barked, in no mood for arguments. Lightning merely nodded, her eyes locked on the weapons console as she moved over to take her position. Vanille grabbed a suit from a nearby locker and started quickly pulling it on. "The hell are you doing, 'Nille?"

"Buying time. Just don't leave without me or I'll be cranky." Vanille answered, putting her helmet on. Fang's eyes widened and she grabbed the redhead by the wrist.

"Like fuck you are, missy!"

Vanille gave Fang a hug, trying to convey as much love and care as she could. "I'll make sure we're safe. I won't stay out there long, just enough to get the stragglers off our tail. Then I'll re-dock and we can get out of here, ok?" She assured Fang, but the look she was given spoke of far too much doubt. Vanille disappeared down a hatch before Fang could protest any further, taking a shortcut to her small craft in the shuttle bay.

Fang watched the hatch close and she took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm herself. "Etro, do whatever you can to get this ship online and the fuck out of here in a hurry. I don't want Vanille staying out there any longer than she has to."

Understood, captain.

Lightning looked beside herself with anxious worry. This was her worst nightmare- putting innocents in danger as a result of her own hubris. "Fang… I-"

"Save it, Lightning." Fang snapped, her fingers gripping the controls in the captain's chair. She was beyond furious that the lieutenant didn't listen to her.

Fang began to guide the ship out of the station, using an electrical pulse along the hull to try and shake off any of the Cie'th that were crawling on it. Vanille was in her much smaller craft, taking careful pot shots to stun them into falling off so as not to damage their ship.

"Ew. They're like that time we went through that nebula with all those space… barnacle… thingies. Gross. Get off our ship!"

Lightning arched an eyebrow at that, before returning her focus to the display in front of her. She paled at the radar and whirled around to the captain. "Fang! The armada that was blocking the gate…"

Fang looked up and her eyes widened. "Vanille! Get back here now!" She yelled down the comms piece. The small fleet of what they now realised was a Cie'th trap was advancing towards them at speed, with obvious intent. The crystallised ship immediately opened fire, the redhead's startled yelp crackling through the speakers.

"Where'd they come from? Evasive manoeuvres! Shit!"

Lightning returned a volley of blistering plasma, shattering the crystal hull on one of the ships. Her heart was in her throat, adrenaline making it hard to focus from her panic. Etro gently took over the controls, her consciousness bleeding into the weapons system to make precise, deadly shots.

Warp engine at 70% Capacity. I can boost it with an… untested implementation, but it could have… adverse effects to the rest of the ship functions and integrity.

"I don't give a shit, Etro! Do it! Van, back in the hanger now, that's a goddamn order!" Fang bellowed, her eyes tracking the small sparrow class vessel shooting past the screen.

"Aye aye, capt-" There was a crackle of electricity down the comms before the small craft ripped apart in front of them in a massive explosion.

"VANILLE!" Fang screamed, running to the front of the bridge and pressing her hands against the glass. Lightning's hand shot to her mouth and she looked on in horror as Fang's chest heaved. The bridge fell silent and for a moment, the attacking Cie'th were all but forgotten in the wake of instant, crushing grief.

"I'm ok.." Vanille's shaky voice rattled through the speakers. "Etro's got a quicker eject button than I do… She's pulling me into the hangar now."

Fang bit back a sob and immediately sprinted from the bridge, Lightning following silently on her heels. It was close. Too close. Vanille was kicking out the door of the escape pod as they approached, the redhead getting pulled into a crushing hug by Fang. "I'm ok. I'm ok. Etro saved me. She was hooked into the consoles. I'm ok." Vanille tried to reassure Fang, but the captain only buried her head in the crook of her neck and cried.

Lightning felt tears prick at her eyes and she straightened, realising they weren't out of danger. "Etro," She rasped, her throat raw and voice strained. "Whatever experimental thing you're going to do, do it now. Get us out of here."

Lieutenant…

"Just get us out of here and don't kill us in the process. I've made enough of a mess to last a lifetime."

. Understood.

There was a sudden lurch in the ships momentum, a high pitched whirring sound rattling dangerously from the engine room. Lightning suddenly felt drained of all energy and slumped to her knees, Fang going limp in Vanille's arms. "Etro..?" Lightning whispered, falling forward onto her hands.

Please hold. Initiating Jump Gate…

Lightning looked up in fear, colour draining from her face. They weren't close enough to the gate to make any jump. If anything they were going to overload their drives and destroy their ship. "From this dist-"

The ship suddenly shot forward in a flash of blinding light, disappearing into nothingness.