Chapter II: Return
True to his word, mere hours after Arams assimilation into the Dreadnaughts inhabitants, the fleet had made the jump to hyperspace. Aram volunteered for combat duty, his time spent in the Seritum Defence force giving him this privilege. He wanted to see if he could get some revenge. Sure, he may not have liked Seritum, but it was his home. Someone, or something would pay.
He sat alone in the mess hall, in the far corner. The soup muck that the Navy served up for pilots was…edible. Just. The other pilots laughed and sounded like they where having a generally fun time. The distinction between occupations was quite visible here, in the massive hall. The fighter pilots all sat off to one side of the hall, a jovial sounding bunch. From where Aram was sitting, he could see one pilot – he assumed him to be an interceptor or scout pilot – making slow, sloth like gestures at another group of pilots – bomber crew, he guessed. The bomber crews laughed and then started making crude capital ships out of food trays. They then proceeded to throw small, easily mashed vegetables against the side of it, and pointed at the interceptor pilots, laughing harder.
Sitting distanced from the fighter pilots, was a more sombre group of individuals, they seemed to pair up into groups of three or four people, and would share jokes and tales with other groups. Corvette pilots perhaps.
Crews from ships which where frigate sized or larger generally had their own mess halls aboard them. In the center of them all, a group that consisted of only burly muscle bound men and women joked, drank and had arm wrestling competitions. Aram smiled. Marines are the same in every system.
With a loud crash, the doors to the mess hall slid open, and a whole new bunch of people piled into the hall. Cheers and greetings, nicknames and beckons san out across the mess hall as this new group filed towards the serving area. They got their meals, then went and sat down with their respective groups, and the jokes and laughter got even louder. Aram shook his head, smiling. Seritum Defence force personnel where never like this.
He left what remained of his slop, and headed down to the hangar. His little ship had been transferred into the Dreadnaughts Hiigaran made hangar after it was determined safe from explosives. The Dreadnaught was a big ship, and he got lost a few times while looking for the hangar, but he eventually found it, and settled down in Shining Wish for a quick nap.

The dream again. He was alone, floating through a melange of colours, heading towards something vast and ancient, something incalculably intelligent. He knew, that even from this distance, whatever this thing was, it saw the galaxy, maybe even the whole universe. But there was someone with him, there always was, someone else floating towards this…this thing. However, like all the times before, when he tried to see this other person, they where always out of his perception. So he continued on his spiral to the heart of the galaxy, alone.

An alarm shocked him out of his dream, and he groggily opened his eyes to the familiar site of the Firebrand, the nebula that reached its murky fingers through the Seritum system.
The dock master was urgently trying to contact him. He opened the channel and began the pre-flight warm up. To his surprise, Shining's computer had already run the diagnostics and she was ready to fly.
"Damnit boy! You been sleeping or something?" The dockmaster said, but there wasn't much anger in his voice. Aram assumed that word had gotten round that he was the only survivor from Seritum "It'd be great if you could launch, your holding up a row of Corvette's"
Aram looked at the rear view screen and grimaced. Sure enough, there behind him where six Corvettes.
"Uh…Sorry!" Aram said, as he was nosing out of the hangar. He cleared the magnetic field on the hangar, and was back in his home space. He listened to the comm. Chatter from the various strike craft squadrons already launched and screening the various capital ships of the fleet. One communication in particular caught his attention.

"This is Scout group Gamma-Three, we are currently holding orbit in the above the northern pole of the main planet. The planet is dead, there are major cracks in the outer crust, it looks like they tried to split the planet in half, not a pretty sight. There are ships of unknown configuration riding the terminator, grouped at the equator. Numbers are a bit hazy at this distance, but we assume there to be perhaps eleven or twelve frigates, and two ships which look capital size, one is very large. Unsure on the number of strike craft"
Admiral Ses-Nabaal stood in the middle of Twilights bridge, lights blinking softly in the low lights of battle alert. The murmur of voices in the background a pleasing mask to the thrum of the ships systems.
"Understood, Gamma-Three, maintain position, do not put yourself in danger. We shall be on station shortly" The fighter liaisons officer replied to the scout group.
He was about to request the status of the next group of scouts that had been deployed when Gamma two and six both called in with almost exactly the same message.
Unknown vessels emerging from hyperspace briefly. They realigned their courses and jumped again, towards the fleet.
Seconds later Gamma-Three reported again.
"Unknown ships have jumped! Repeat unknown ships have jumped! Course indicates they are on an interception vector with the body of the fleet. Prepare for hostiles, fleet!"
On the tactical map that took up most of the right hand sidewall of the bridge, purple circles begin to converge on the Hiigaran fleet. The scout group's icons began to wink out, the sensor coverage balloon shrunk back in towards the fleet. The captain of the Twilight, Sheran S'jet shifted in his seat.
'Quantum Wavefront detected! Gateways are appearing! Forty-seven hundred meters from the picket line. Exodus detected! Emerging vessels are of unknown configuration!" On the tactical map, red icons began to appear in a semi sphere ahead of the Hiigaran ships. Acting quickly, Ses-Nabaal sprang into action.
"Battle cruisers Second Death and Shevat, join us at point. Carrier Kharem-Siluk, reduce speed, remain at least five clicks from the nearest enemy vessel, launch bomber squadrons." He looked up at the tactical map again for a second. The amount of red blips was growing by the second, but there was only one place left which had an active hyperspace opening left, which was a good thing. "Frigate groups Grey and Fox, leashes off, you are clear to engage. Try to open the enemies capital ships for bomber attacks." He tapped something into a console, and a window opened on the tactical map, displaying the enemy ship designs. Sophisticated AI programs ran comparisons and examinations of them, trying to determine function and capabilities.
"All fighters engage targets of oppurtunity. Fleet attack pattern Lance"
Ses-Nabaal walked to the front of the bridge, already in the distance, small flashes and streaks of light where beginning to show as fighters and corvettes began to battle with the enemies equivalents.
"Helm, plot in an intercept course with that ship" he tapped his finger on a large ship visible even from the distance they where apart. A box appeared around it, and it magnified the view. It looked like a metal squid; it had a sleek smooth forward section, which curved into a lethal looking beak. Stretching out behind it, it had streamer like tails that undulated slowly.
"Captain, unlock the Phased Cannon Array please. Charge its torsion generators"
The captain tapped away at the console on the side of his seat. When the console beeped loudly, he looked up at the Admiral, and nodded.
Yawing slightly to port, Twilight began to accelerate its massive bulk towards the mass of the enemies forces. With any luck they could disable the large enemy ship with a good shot from the Phased Cannon. A slight orange glow had begun to accumulate around two large domes set at the rear of the flagship.
"Helm. Shortjump. Two thousand meters"
Reality on the bridge of Twilight smeared slightly, and Ses-Nabaal felt nausea try to claim him as the ship momentarily disappeared from reality, only to reappear mere seconds later. The battle cruisers Shevat and Second Death flashed into existence beside them , their ion turrets coming to bear on nearby enemy capital ships.
"Admiral, the Phased Cannon Array will be ready to fire in forty five seconds" The captain announced as he got up and moved to stand with the admiral at the front of the bridge.
The bridge shook slightly as a destroyer sized enemy vessel fired upon Twilight.
Ses-Nabaal smiled.
"Return fire"