The Aurora, being a much larger capital ship, needed a space dock in order to be worked upon, so one of the battle moons had been cleared out and locked down, only the crews working on the ship were to be inside, as they needed an atmosphere to properly ensure the upgrades and changes were sealed correctly and operating at maximum efficiency. Much of the original crew had been working upon it, to learn the new technology being integrated, as Tekla had given her insight and often loaned her time to the technicians there when she had not been working on other projects. Other races were also working upon the Aurora, as the Icean crew needed to learn the tech from other worlds, and many had become friends, despite their racial differences. Graveheart had been the largest supporter of this project, as the Aurora had been the base of operations for the alliance since the beginning, the friendships being formed between members of races that had -just before the war with the Beast- been bitter enemies a welcome and happy bonus.
The group of leaders used Pyrus' ship this time, the hybridized ship more than large enough for himself, and his group of nine passengers. Once all were seated they departed swiftly, Tekla with Vox still looking over a data pad with information they had gathered on their destination.
"So Graveheart, what have you been up to besides escorting Jade around?" Femur asked to break the silence that had crept through the group once more. Graveheart made a face, looking a bit embarrassed and disgusted, Jade scoffing.
"I've been putting him to work, the Mining corps needed a good foreman and the military wing hasn't had the stones to promote a new general. I want him to take the Military position, but he won't have it." Jade explained in her heavy accent with her arms crossed over her chest, Graveheart making motion that he was going to interrupt her a few times, but kept quiet, simply glaring witheringly at her with a slight smirk on his face. Pyrus grinned, briefly glancing to Graveheart who sat next to him at the front of the ship.
"I could always loan you General Blaze, I'm certain that he'd force a decision." Femur and Sternum snickered as Jade nearly fell from her seat and Graveheart simply stared at Pyrus with a dumbfounded expression. Pyrus kept grinning, attention still primarily on flying his ship. "What? I'm certain he'd be happy to break some Quarriors in training, you could always do it so he doesn't have to."
"You are talking about the same General who had you gassed and then ejected off a battle moon?" Jade glowered, eyeing the flaming back of Pyrus' head in front of her.
"Yes, but at least I wasn't hurt, unlike some of those he's trained or fought hand to hand from Rock." Pyrus jabbed with a chuckle, slowing the ship as they approached the blue battle moon. Even it showed signs of external construction, dome scaffolding and construction drones moving around them visible as they approached the portcullis to the inside of the moon. Cryos activated a beacon on the belt at his waist which sent a signal to the technicians on the moon advising that they had access priority. The portcullis opened, Pyrus easily guiding the ship inside, and slowing as he and his passengers took in the view of the more hollowed moon, obvious queues taken from the world engines in the expansion of their space–dock.
At the center of many large heavy arms, which were clamped in position to stabilize and support the ship in dock, sat the Aurora, which seemed almost alien now. It remained disc–shaped, the bridge had been rebuilt, the hull twice as large and sloping up to meet and protect the bridge itself, weapons batteries and viewports changed and reworked to be almost invisible from the outside and even the engines had been removed and replaced entirely, several small exhaust units replaced with larger and more focused ones at the aft of the ship, behind the bridge, many smaller thrusters dotting the exterior and near invisible in their moorings. The hull was polished to a chrome shine, with frost–like detailing along the recessed portions between the sweeping blade–like protrusions at the front of the ship where its dock was hidden. Those sweeping protrusions followed the length of the ship, like arcing sails from the front and stretching to the back of the ship, curving gracefully around the bridge and meeting the bracketing around the engines. Strips of similar fashion followed the curves along the sides of the disc, top and bottom, adding more aerodynamic appearance and disguising the fact that the ship was much larger than previous.
Cryos simply smiled as the others looked over it in awe. Graveheart turned in his seat and looked to his old friend, who nodded happily as Pyrus positioned his own ship near the loading bay, which opened promptly to allow them entry. The inside of the Aurora remained just as stunning, the more blocky appearance having changed to gentle curves and graceful archways, each with similar frost patterns along the walls. Much of the crew had already begun their daily routines, and others, like those greeting the world leaders as they emerged from Pyrus' ship, were excited to begin regular procedure and see how the ship operates once fully in use once more.
A haggard looking Firian stood off to one side, looking over an energy distribution control hub before he looked to the group, smiling at the sight of his Prince and gently nudging the Icean with him. They exchanged glances, before quickly moving away from their work to greet their monarchs.
"Welcome back, King Cryos, I assume you are ready to begin startup procedures?" Announced the Icean, who bowed lightly. Cryos smiled and nodded as they approached.
"Yes Glailen, this must be Singe, our new head engineer?" He asked, holding out a hand, which the Firian gladly shook.
"That is my name, yes. I am thankful for the opportunity to give back to the alliance, for all that has been done for us." Singe beamed, despite his age he was far more open minded towards other races, as many wanted to follow in the example set by their Prince, ignoring the slight chemical reaction from touching the Icean Monarch. Pyrus smiled and nodded to Singe, looking to Glailen who offered a hand in greeting. Pyrus took it gladly, shaking gently and releasing his hand, to avoid any adverse chemical reaction, akin to what happened when he and Zera had touched the first time. The world leaders clustered together, even Zuma seemed in awe of the ship now, the party of leaders looking to Cryos and Pyrus and their two companions.
"Shall we head to the bridge? We have a mission for the Aurora, I assume you received notification from Tekla before we arrived?" Cryos asked, motioning for Glailen and Singe to lead on. Glailen looked to Singe who nodded and grinned before trotting off on his own.
"Singe will be in the engine room, making certain the energy distributors and core run smoothly, we will have an open direct connection to the engine room from the bridge, should we need to speak with him. Follow me, the lifts have been changed a bit, making them large enough to accommodate more warriors, or larger groups, like yourselves." He explained, leading them down a hallway and into a large antechamber, which opened into other hallways and had a single lift situated directly before them as they entered the chamber. The lift opened, the group cautiously stepping into the enclosed circular chamber that matched the rest of the ship with gentle curves and frost markings along its interior. Once all had stepped inside, with a decent amount of space remaining so no one was uncomfortably cramped, the lift rose slowly, or at least that is how it felt to the group.
"The new lifts have self-contained gravitational units, to allow it to move much faster without putting additional strain on occupants. Lady Tekla was very helpful with this, among many other improvements." Glailen explained, as only moments passed and the lift stopped again, doors sliding away to allow them a view of the much larger bridge. Several members of the alliance; two Firians, a Rockian, three Boneans and five Iceans, stood at attention near their control consoles as the alliance leaders stepped out of the lift. Each gave a salute before they were acknowledged and went to sit in their chairs, beginning their routine system checks as Glailen moved to the main control console and then stepping aside, motioning for Graveheart to step forward. Graveheart looked to Cryos who shook his head.
"No my friend, you brought us all together and made this," Cryos paused, motioning to their group, and the ship, "Possible. I ask you to do the honours." He smiled, Graveheart gave an exasperated sigh, smiled back sheepishly and stepped forward, the others spreading out to find comfortable or interesting places to be, Cryos, Tekla and Jade staying with Graveheart and Glailen as he explained the new control systems. They began start up and launch procedure, each of the ship technicians shouting out clear confirmations of systems as they became operational. Even Singe could be heard responding to some inquiries on energy levels and confirmed that the ships core was fully operational and producing excess that was sent through to be stored in backup systems for use in emergency situations.
The ship seemed to feel as though coming to life around them, responding and reacting to unseen stimulus. Zuma watched as lighting came alive around the consoles and walls, moving to one of the walls and gently placing a hand upon it, nodding as though listening to the ship itself. Tekla watched her a moment, smiled and went back to looking over her data pad.
"Brace for dock clamp release!" Exclaimed the Rockian technician and co-pilot, just before he tapped a control on his lit console, and the ship rocked suddenly, as the support clamps holding the Aurora in place within the battle moon turned space–dock opened just enough to release the rebuilt ship, which briefly jerked and then hovered in place as the clamps moved away. The ship easily righted itself, the portcullis above opening to lead into space as the last checks were done and Singe confirmed with Glailen and the pilots that they were cleared for launch. Graveheart looked to the group, nodding as he smiled and motioned to the pilots.
"Take us out, slowly, no need to crisp anyone still inside the dock." He stated, the pilots maneuvering the ship to rise and gracefully slip through the open portcullis of the battle moon. As the ship left the controlled atmosphere, there was a slight shudder, the ship itself responding to the sudden shift to the vacuum of space.
"That's unexpected, but understandable, the ship is autonomously redirecting a tiny amount of energy to keep proper insulation for the organic components." Singe announced over the open comm to the engine room. Graveheart noticed the small image of the Firian, and the massive pulsing fiery core of the engine behind him as he worked, in one corner of the large main console before the Rockian. Pyrus looked over the shoulder of one of the Firian and the Rockian pilots, the destination coming up on a map before them, as they set a path as directly as possible, the Aurora joined by a contingent of assorted Alliance ships as they headed away from their worlds to investigate the nearby star.
A few hours into the trip, Tekla frowned, looking over her long-range scans provided by the enhanced equipment on the Aurora, having noticed a discrepancy in the longer-range information. She could not be certain, even using the visual imaging to attempt to figure out what the scanners were picking up, or more-so, were not.
"What's up Tekla, looks like something caught your attention." Pyrus asked, returning after a brief private tour of the rest of the ship with Zera and Femur. Tekla shook her head, Graveheart and Jade turning from the control consoles in the lower level to look up at them with concern. They all had taken time to view the crew quarters, separate sections with larger chambers for each of the visiting Monarchs, the training hall, secondary round-table room and the massive infirmary with technology and medical staff from each of the worlds of the alliance, excluding the Sun people however, as they did not leave their world.
"I'm not certain. It's as though there is an object larger than the beast planet and shaped akin to a massive pyramid. The scanners only barely reach it, but it cannot possibly be as large as it appears." Tekla explained, bringing up the image of a very distant ship, blacker than the space around it, reflecting light from the star they approached, but in patches, almost as though its surface moved and changed shape or reflectivity constantly. They all stared at it, seeing no propulsion system, no activity at all on it visible, as though it were simply an untouched monolith that had no gravitational pull emitting from it, nor orbit around any star. It did not move at all on their scanners, ambient gravity appearing to have no effect on it.
"Geeze, that thing gives me the willies, what is it?" Femur asked, stepping out of the lift and remarking on the silent, massive derelict ship.
"Don't know. Looks like a ship, almost looks like a Beast ship, just a lot bigger." Jade remarked, eyeing the readouts in front of her as she attempted to figure out the massive ship. Cryos scratched his chin, mandibles twitching lightly as he thought it over, noticing one difference between this object and the beast.
"I don't believe this has any connection to the Beast planet, it has no gravitational field at all. The Beast generated one strong enough to begin tearing its intended meal apart. Perhaps we should detour, attempt to communicate?" Cryos looked to Graveheart who had his characteristic thoughtful frown, Jade and the others looking to him as well.
"Exactly how large are the scanners saying this thing is? It almost seems blurry, like we aren't even close enough to see it properly." Graveheart turned, looking up to Tekla who shook her head.
"It's on the very edge of our scanners, given the distance and image…" She paused doing some calculations before her eyes went wide. "If I am correct, it's easily large enough to dwarf the entire alliance fleet." The group made varying exclamations and curses native to their home worlds, only Pyrus remaining fairly silent and closely eyeing the immense ship on the viewscreens. Something about the shapes on the surface and the general design of this strange, gravity-less object nagged at him. As though he had seen it before, or at least heard of it somewhere, perhaps in his father's things? He would have to go check later.
"That's crazy, who could build something that size?" Femur gaped, Sternum shaking his head.
"The Makers. They made our world engines, why not this? Perhaps it's a weapon?" Sternum hazarded, glancing around at the others.
"Perhaps, for now we might do better investigating these planets, as that derelict is quite far from us, given its size." Cryos offered, all eyes turning, as usual, to Graveheart, who seemed to droop, still not feeling an equal amongst the world leaders. He took a long moment to think it over; looking over their group and thinking of the fact they only had a scouting party and the one capital ship. If they encountered beast drones or some other threat, they would be easily overrun.
"I agree with Cryos, let's see if this is a sufficient set of planets and sun before we proceed to investigate anything else." Graveheart breathed, secretly hoping he had not made the wrong choice.