Captain Tillus had barely slept. He'd struggled to fall asleep, his mind torn between money and morals. He'd sat awake most of the night, trying to decide what to do. When he'd accepted Alesha's request, it had only really been because of the sheer sum of money she was offering him. That decision flew in the face of everything Tillus knew. He'd been taught from a young age that his duty to Hiigara and his Kiith came before personal gain, after all, they hadn't gotten this far by looking after themselves. Everything the Hiigaran's did was carefully planned, from the opening of a new trade link with another nation to the construction of a new mining outpost, each move was designed to bring maximum gain to the Hiigaran people at minimum cost and risk. Greed was frowned upon and individual wealth was rare, the richest people in Hiigaran society were often the ones that contributed the most.

Tillus had tried to justify his actions. He'd figured that he could give a large portion of the 'payment' to his Kiith, Kiith Paktu. That way he wouldn't feel so bad about accepting it in the first place.

He could abandon the mission, after all, there was nothing stopping him. His payment had yet to be transferred to his account and he'd signed no contract or agreement. There was one problem though. Raan was adamant about assisting the Naabali woman. Raan had immigrated to the Hiigaran Republic's from the Taiidan Republic when he had just completed his schooling. Because of this, Raan lacked both a Kiith and the morals that ever Hiigaran had been taught since they were but a tiny child and had no qualms about being bribed to do Kiith Nabaal's bidding. To Raan, the money would allow him to buy a nice house for his sick mother to live out the remainder of her days, as well as allowing him to leave the Navy, which he was not particularly fond of. Whilst Raan was, arguably, one of the 14th fleet's best cruiser Captains, he'd expressed his distaste for war several times during the time Tillus had known him.

The whole thing was a dilemma if ever he'd seen one, one that he was still contemplating even as he strode through the armoured double door's that opened up onto the Bridge of his cruiser, causing him to frown for a moment as he barely remembered the shuttle ride that had brought him here.

Usually Tillus would have stopped to chat with the numerous officers and specialists that made up his command crew, most of whom he knew by name. However, today he ignored them and headed straight for his command chair in the centre of the bridge, even as the crewmen called out 'Morning, Captain' or 'Gooday, sir.'

Lieutenaunt Commander Kim Haal stood waiting for him, hovering just to left of his chair. Kim, born into Kiith Paktu like Tillus, was a lanky blonde headed man with barely a shred of muscle on him, and was also Tillus' XO. A couple of years older than Tillus, he was none the less both alert and intelligent, and often picked out thing's others missed. Today, he had picked up on the mood of his Commander.

"Something bothering you, sir?" He inquired as Tillus passed him and sat heavily in chair.

"You could say that." Tillus replied, quickly leaning forward to switch on the bridge's holo projector, which whirred to life, bringing up the familiar, blue globe he was used too, an image of everything that his ships sensor's could see.

"Is it about our mission?" Kim continued, crossing his arms. "You don't need to hide it, that Naabali woman told us about it."

Tillus looked up at his XO, part in annoyance, part in relief. Annoyed that Alesha had went behind his back and told his crew, but also relieved that he didn't need to tell them himself.

"The whole mission bothers me." Tillus muttered. "What we're doing. What we're looking for. Who's making us do it."

Kim nodded his head. "Yeah, we weren't exactly told very much. Just where we were going, that we were looking for some object and that we were escorting a Naabali vessel."

"Trust me, I don't know much more than that." Tillus replied, staring deep into the holographic sensor display, watching the little icon's move back and forth around his ships as freighters and trade ships came and went from Port Yarmshir. One thousand Kilometres to the station's rear sat Tillus' cruiser, as well as the rest of the 14th fleet's remaining warships.

"I just hope you know what you're doing." Kim replied, setting off towards his console closer to viewing gallery that dominated the front of the bridge.

"So do I." Tillus whispered, wondering if he really was making a mistake accepting Alesha's offer. The whole thing felt weird, too many question's unanswered.

A quick glance at his watch revealed it to be 10:50am, ten minutes before he was supposed to be ready.

"Okay, lets get this show on the road." Tillus announced, garnering the attention of his command crew. Those that weren't already at their stations quickly jogged over to them, whilst those that were readied themselves, preparing to bring the cruiser to life.

The Baal-Tiel, that was his cruiser's name. A 640 metre long warship, that, for all intents and purposes, resembled a battlecruiser hull shrunken down to cruiser size; the same pronged hull, the same sleek, vaguely swordlike shape, it even had a small hanger that could hold a single flight of interceptors. The main difference lay in the armament. The Baal-Tiel, and all Sword-class cruiser's like her, mounted eight double barrelled heavy kinetic mass driver turrets, four turrets in a diamond formation on her deck, and four in a similar formation on her belly. This setup gave Hiigaran cruiser's a fierce barrage in any direction, and allowed them to rip frigates and destroyers apart with ease. Numerous concussion missile tubes, anti-fighter burst guns and pulsar laser's rounded out the cruiser's armament.

"Engines online. Shields online. Weaponry online. Comms. online." Kim rattled off as a readout of the Baal-Tiel's system's was transmitted onto his screen. "All system's green across the board."

"Now we wait." Tillus muttered. "Until we're called for."

And that was what they did. They waited in silence, the only noise being the low hum of the holo-projector and the slight rumble from the ships engines many metres to their rear. The minutes seemed to crawl by, though each one was punctuated by a brief ping as another cargo vessel or bulk freighter crawled into sensor range, each one given an icon to represent it on the holo display as they slowly made their way towards Port Yarmshir. At the speed the freighters moved at, coupled with their virtually non-existent defences, it was little wonder that civilian freighters were the preferred targets of not only pirates, but also Vaygr or Imperial raiding parties, not that the Vaygr or the Imperialist's tolerated each other much these days.

The Imperial Taiidani Remnant, even more than a hundred years since their expulsion from Hiigara, still maintain a strong position within the galaxy. The Imperials were nothing if not persistant, and were still determined to avenge the death of the Emperor by destroying the Hiigaran people and their Leader Karen S'jet. Imperial numbers had been bolstered by an influx of traditionalist's from the Taiidani Republic, people who could not let their hatred for the Hiigarans simmer and die.

In the aftermath of Makaan's defeat at the hands of Karen S'jet, the Imperials had renounced theirselves from their alliance with the Vaygr forces under Makaan's command and returned to their independent status. This move created alot of resentment and tension between the two parties, which had evolved into a number of large scale border clashes between Imperial and Vaygr fleets. That said, both sides still share mutual trading agreements.

Still, even though it looked like the Imperials and Vaygr were slowly heading towards outright war, the Imperials still deployed raiding groups or task forces into Hiigaran territory, testing the Hiigaran defences by seeing how deep they could penetrate into their territory. During Tillus' relatively short military career, he'd fought off more than his fair shair of modernised Qwaar-jet cruisers or the newer Vanaar-jet heavy cruisers and had had a few brushes with their larger vessels.

A second glance at his watch revealed it to be eleven O'clock on the dot. At the exact same moment, the holo-display beeped, encircling a frigate sized civilian vessel, the Paalan. With it's rounded, sleek frame, numerous observation decks and limited armour plating, the Paalan was an obvious refit of a civilian liner or yacht. Like all Naabali vessels, the Paalan's hull had been painted in Naabali colours, light tan with brown highlights, and also sported Kiith Naabal's spidery Insignia on either flank, offering no doubt that it was a Naabali ship and not civilian or Navy. A quick scan of the seemingly defenseless ships hull revealed numerous pulsar arrays and concussion missile launchers, the Paalan had enough weaponry to ward off a frigate or two.

"I want full power to the engines until we reach the Paalan, then slowdown to match their speed."

"Aye, Captain."

Silently, the Baal-Tiel accelerated away from the rest of the 14th fleet, speeding over the top of Port Yarmshir and past lines of bulky trade ships. Within minutes, the Hiigaran cruiser had reached the smaller science vessel, where it quickly slowed to match the Naabali vessels lower speed. Moments later, a second cruiser, the Morning Star, appeared, taking up formation on the left flank of the Paalan.

"Receiving a transmission from the Paalan."

"Ah, Captain. I was afraid you wouldn't join us." Alesha's cool, calculating voice soothed through the Baal-Tiels comm. speakers. "You seemed to be having second thoughts about our arrangement."

"I would be lieing if I told you I hadn't thought about it." Tillus replied hesitantly.

"I can assure you, that what we are doing will benefit our race, if that is what you're worried about." Even through his ships speakers, Tillus could still detect the hint of smugness in her next sentence. "If you feel so bad about it, you could always donate your payment to your Kiith. I'm sure Paktu would appreciate a gift of that size."

Tillus gritted his teeth at the subtle jibe at his Kiith's smaller size. Paktu were mostly focused on agiculture and food production and naturally were much smaller than the larger Kiith's, such as Naabal or Soban.

"May I ask where exactly we are going?" Raan interjected suddenly, preventing Tillus from retorting. "You haven't exactly been the most forthcoming with information."

"Hmm." The Nabaali scientist paused, deciding whether it was a good idea to tell them exactly where the construct was.

"I suppose there is no harm in it. The construct is located right on the border that separates Hiigaran space from the Vaygr Reaches. However, because of the high density of dust clouds in the area, we need not worry about running into any Vaygr patrols."

"I thought it was only a days travel from Yarmshir?" Tillus inquired. "The borders are atleast two days travel."

"It's actually around a day and a half." Alesha remarked.

"So, what's our plan when we reach the object?" Raan inquired, ignoring the fact that Alesha had already lied to them, even if it was only a tiny lie.

"First, we secure the object. Then, me and my team will begin preliminary tests on the construct, though I won't be able to do anything major until our reinforcements arrive in four days time." Alesha paused. "I need you for protection, then to secure the perimeter and to steer away anyone who might be intrested in what we're doing. The last thing we need is for someone to stumble upon us before the rest of my forces arrive."

"I thought you said you couldn't bring a fleet?" Tillus frowned. "Was there anything you said to us that was completely true?"

"I couldn't bring a fleet with me without gaining the attentions of the other Kiithid, and that is something Kiith Naabal doesn't need. Everyone squabbling over who has access to the construct, an arguement Kiith S'jet, with all their support, would probably win... no it's alot easier for me to scout out the wreck on my own, and then for the rest of my forces to arrive in little groups. That way, I can take my time and pick this thing apart without anyone noticing."

"And then Naabal acquires somekind of Alien technology that allows them to get back at S'jet and gain support in the Daiamid?" Tillus added snarkly.

"In a way, yes." Alesha replied calmly. "But we're not trying to take over, merely trying to restore the balance of power."

"Do you really believe Naabal can rob support from S'jet?" Raan asked. "I mean, S'jet have Karen, whom alot of people more or less worship after all she's done, not to mention what she's capable of. That, coupled with their breakthrough in shield technology, is a lot to compete with."

"Maybe you should stick to building ships?" Tillus couldn't stop himself, the chance to get back at the Naabali scientist for the jibe against his Kiith was too much to pass.

"And maybe you should go back to farming." Alesha replied, her tone remaining calm and cool, giving no hint that Tillus' jibe at her Kiith had annoyed her. "I can come up with childish insults as well, Captain. If you have nothing intelligent to say, please keep your mouth shut."

Tillus cursed the woman silently under his breath and withdrew into his chair, refusing to take part in any further conversation as he seriously considering ordering his ship to turn around and head back to Yarmshir.

"And to answer your question, Captain Antal." Alesha continued, either un-aware or ignoring Tillus' annoyance. "I do believe we'll find something. What effect this find will have on our Race, I do not know, but I know we'll find something. Had I been uncertain of finding anything of value, I would have never ventured out her in the first-."

Tillus casually leant over and killed his ships comm. link, unwilling to listen to anymore of the arrogant scientist. Just her general attitude towards the mission and how it would bring Naabal great power and influence was enough to get on Tillus' nerves. Her insults against his Kiith had just added more fuel to the fire. And now he would have to put up with her for another two or three days atleast...

"By Sajuuk, I don't think I can put up with another two days of that." Tillus mumbled, just loud enough for the closest of the command crew to hear, all of whom subtley nodded their heads in agreement.

Tillus shook his head slightly. What had he really gotten them into?

It could have been worse. Much worse come to think of it. Infact, other than a few sensor ghosts they'd picked up upon entering the thick dust clouds surrounding the supposed coordinates of the alien object, they'd managed the whole journey without a single incident. Atleast Alesha's prediction of no Vaygr patrols appeared to be true.

Tillus had managed to avoid talking to her for the whole journey. Infact, the closest he'd came to communications with her was when he'd sent details of those mysterious sensor contacts to the Paalan. Not having to deal with her superiority complex and her devotion to Naabal had suited Tillus just fine.

"It should just be a little further. We're almost there."

Ofcourse, good things never lasted long. Their arrival at the borders demanded that he contact the Paalan, as only they truly knew where they were going. The trio of ships had been silently cruising through the dust clouds for hours now, with Alesha periodically announcing that the construct was 'just a little further'.

"Sir, picking up something on the long ranged sensors." One of the command crew called out. "Wait, two objects. Can't get a clear reading on them thanks to the dustclouds though."

"Two?" Tillus frowned. "I thought there was only one?"

"There should only be one." Alesha chimed over the comm. link.

"No, I've got a definite fix on a massive multi-kilometre object and a smaller object coming in at around two kilometres." The crewman interjected.

"We're getting the same reading's here." Raan added. "Multi-kilometre object and a smaller just over two kilometres object."

"I'm only getting a silhouette from the larger one. No thermals or energy readings." The crewman continued, scanning back and forth over his screen. "There's a weak energy signature coming from the smaller one though."

"We're getting mirror results here, Baal-Tiel." Raan added gruffly over the comm. "No energy sig's from the large object. Limited energy signatures from the smaller one."

"Yes, we have the objects in range now." Alesha added as the Paalan's weaker sensors finally located the objects. "Same results as your readings."

"We'll be in visual range in seconds." Kim called from his station near the front of the bridge.

"Copy, visual in fourty seconds." Raan repeated.

Tillus leaned forward in his chair as the Baal-Tiel continued to close with the objects, pushing it's way through dust and gas, which seemed to swirl and part around the cruiser as it passed.

What came looming out of the fog before them took his breath away. An absolutely massive ship, easily tens of kilometres long, filled the bridges observation windows. It had two long arms, set apart from each other, but they ran perfectly parallel. The arms curved at one end to form a vague circle or core, which contained two spinning circles which rotated around a gloriously bright blue ball of light. The object was plated in dulled, silver armour, though numerous white lights could be made out in the grooves that ran along it's hull. If it was a ship, it was easily the largest working ship in the galaxy. If it was a warship...

Tillus shuddered slightly at the thought of the forty or so kilometre long object functioning as a weapon of war. This theory was strengthened by the pressence of the smaller object, an object as alien in design as the monolith mere kilometres from it. A long, black carapaced hull that tapered to a point near it's rear. A collection of articulated tentacle like appendages adorned what Tillus assumed to be the front of the vessel, though why it would need them was beyond Tillus' reasoning. Unlike the massive vessel beside it, the smaller vessel had been torn apart by weapons fire. It's long, sweeping, shell like hull had been split in half around a third of the way up it, just above the 'head' and the tentacles. The rest of the hull had been shot through in numerous places, not to mention that one of it's limbs had been severed.

"By Sajuuk." Tillus finally managed to mutter, as he slowly got his head round the sheer scale of the two objects. The Crustacean like dark hulled vessel, -when it had been in one piece-, would have almost been the same size as a Progenitor Dreadnought.

"Amazing." Alesha cooed over the ship-to-ship comm. "There definately not Progentior constructs."

"Do you think the larger ship took out the smaller one?" Tillus muttered, still recovering from the shook of coming across the two monsters.

"No, the damage to the smaller vessel is consistent with the damage continous ion beam cannons and charged pulse lasers would inflict." Alesha replied. "Both of which are the weapons employed by Progenitor Keeper drones."

Progenitor Keeper's were self-aware AI combat ships roughly the size of a destroyer, and were designed by the Progenitors to agressively guard their assets from salvagers or thieves. With their two vicious sustained fire ion cannons and eight charged pulsar arrays, a Keeper could easily engage and destroy warships more than twice it's size, easily capable of taking on battlecruisers and their escorts single handedly. Their firepower, coupled with their phased shield systems, ability to build advanced fighter sized combat drones in seconds, tactical hyperspace jump capabilites and sophisticated repair systems, allowed a single Keeper drone to go toe-to-toe with an entire fleet and win.

"So, the smaller ship had a run in with a Keeper drone." Raan muttered over the comm. "And Keepers are always guarding something. That means it could still be around."

"Hardly." Alesha retorted. "We just ran a quick scan of the smaller vessel. It's hundreds of thousands of years old. That means the wreck predates the current dating system we use. It is entirely possible that the two ships fought each other whilst the Progenitors were still around."

"Like a war?" Tillus inquired, causing the Naabali scientist to audibly huff in annoyance. The Progenitor race, despite their obvious power and capabilites, suddenly vanished off the face of the galaxy tens of thousands of years ago, leaving behind vast graveyards filled with some of their most impressive achievements, both working and destroyed. Theories on their dissappearance varied from a massive civil war, to the Progenitors simply deciding to leave the galaxy. The discovery of the two alien objects however would perhaps shed some light on what happened. Maybe the Progenitors had been at war with whoever had built the massive constructs?

"I doubt that." Alesha snapped in reply, though she still maintained her calm, almost monotone voice. "If there had been a war, I'm sure we would have discovered more than one of these ships, and not one hidden in an unexplored dustcloud either."

"However, if I were to take an educated guess..." Alesha paused for a moment whilst she thought over what she was going to say, working out what was the most probable theory, the most believable concept. "I'd say the smaller ship is not from our galaxy, and infact, got here via the larger construct."

"Like the hyperspace gates the Vaygr use to move around strikecraft groups without using carriers?" Tillus asked, hoping he'd grasped the concept.

"Most likely. Though massively scaled up in both size, power and range. It wouldn't surpise me if this gate, if we assume it works like a Hyperspace gate and taking into account it's size and most likely it's reactor output, could jump a ship across an entire galaxy or more."

"Thats assuming it is a Hyperspace gate of somekind." Raan replied. "I'm quite convinced it's a massive mass driver or railgun."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"Well, look at it. There's a gap between the two arms. You could load a projectile at one end, pass a magnetic current between the arms; possibly a current powered by the glowing core, and bang, you've got the God of all railguns."

"And what would they be shooting?"

"Well, I'd use a gun that size against planets. One shot would most likely crack a planet into little pieces" Raan continued, studying the object carefully, unperturbed by Alesha's sarcastic tone. "Considering the size the slug would have to be, maybe the smaller ship was operating it or loading it. Would explain the need for the tentacles on the bottom of it."

"It seems like a lot of trouble to build a gun this size just to kill a planet when nukes or LOADW warheads will do the same job." Tillus added. Looking at the shape and design, he could see where Raan was coming from, but from a logistical point of view, it was a massive waste.

"We're talking about aliens, Tillus." Raan replied. "Their actions don't need to make sense. Maybe they don't have access to Atmospheric deprivation warheads or nukes."

"I think." Alesha interupted, preventing Tillus from replying with how everyone that had fusion power would have nuclear weaponry in some form. "We're missing alot of answers here. So lets not jump to conclusions. The first of my ships should be here in a day, two days max, lets wait till they get here before we start investigating further."

"I thought you were in a hurry to start pulling this thing apart?" Tillus remarked.

"That was before I realised the sheer scale of the task at hand." Alesha replied. "The first of my ships should have one of our carriers with them. Once it gets here, we can use it's resources to start investigating the objects."

"So, until then we just sit around, doing nothing?" Tillus added. He had to admit, he was beginning to take glee in annoying the daughter of Naabals Kiith-sa.

"Until then I suggest we setup a perimeter." Alesha replied, yet again, either unaware of or ignoring Tillus' sarcasm. "The Paalan has a number of proximity activated sensor drones, I'll distribute them between your two ships and you can go set them up. Whilst you're away, I can conduct some scans and small tests using our drones."

"And after that?" Tillus inquired. Setting up a perimeter would take no more than an hour at the most.

"After that, we wait." Alesha replied with an almost silent sigh, before adding softly.

"If their is something I have learned in my relatively short life, it is that we should not meddle with things we are not prepared to deal with. Who knows what gifts or secrets these constructs might hold. For all we know, this discovery could be the best thing to happen to our race since we recovered Hiigara, or it could unleash a horror upon us that is beyond the darkest depths of our imagination."

A/N :Thanks to everyone that reviewed, Faved or Alerted! :D (Especially Andrey, that was really quite helpful)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a bit shorter than the last one. Anyway, please Review, Reviews are awesome, even if it's just to say you liked it. :) Also, don't be afraid to tell me about any mistakes or problems in it, after all, I'll never improve if you don't tell me about any mistakes ^^