---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I am detecting large amounts of residual energy in the system. All planets seem to be intact but have large debris fields around them."

Entering the bridge together, Srettia and Michael moved to sit in their couches and began surveying the information from the preliminary scans of the system. As the trio started the burden of trying to figure out what had happened in the system, Michael frowned as he recognized nearly identical energy signatures from the other two systems he had been in. "This looks like a smaller battle than the other two but still seems pretty terrible. It looks like the, what are we calling them? They didn't seem to clean up this time."

Srettia looked at the displays in disgust, the happiness from the days earlier activities forgotten. "They are both enemies as far as I'm concerned."

"We should collect some materials for analysis. The more we can bring back for study, the better."

Taking over the controls, Srettia began guiding her ship towards the debris field. "Hopefully, we can find a data slate with their home system on it."

"You should seek answers as to why they warred in your system. Unanswered questions will not help to heal your people."

Michael nodded in agreement as he looked over the charted course, shifting power to the debris shields as they moved towards the inner system. "Right, well, whatever we call them, they were definitely here."

"Active energy signal detected, marking it on the solar map. It looks like it has been recently activated. Most likely, a consequence of the recent blunder."

Shifting the controls, Srettia steered her ship towards the mark on her map. " So that beacon activated it?"

"Unknown. It is sending a signal, not receiving any."

"Can you disable it, Jack?" Michael asked as he brought up the weapons control and targeted the object.

"I am working on it. The system is very old, and I am having problems communicating with it. I have doubts that I will be able to shut it down within the day."

Grinding her teeth as the ship drew closer to the object, Srettia's patience drew thin. "Do we destroy it or not? I'd rather be incarcerated than let this thing tell its people about us."

"Destroy it. It is a locator beacon of some kind. I think it is continuously transmitting the system coordinates."

"Can we destroy the power source and retrieve it?" Michael asked as he kept his finger tight on the trigger.

"I can not designate a singular power source. It is likely the entire outer hull is similar to a solar panel."

Michael pulled the trigger and watched as a lance of compressed antimatter shattered the object in half, silencing the transmission. "Well, they know someone is here now."

"Let them come. I welcome the chance to destroy them." Srettia hissed, watching with fury as her ship drew closer to the destroyed beacon.

"Perhaps they can come when it is more than just us."

Pulling back on her controls to reduce her ship's speed as it entered the massive debris field, Srettia eyed the camera with a sly grin. " Do I hear a lack of confidence in Terran engineering?"

"Hardly. It is the reason I am alive, after all. But I would rather not fight a fleet."

Picking up a stylus and chucking it at Srettia, Michael eyed his enraged partner. "No one is fighting anyone. We're going to run if anything enters the system. We only fight if they get in our way."

Flinching as the stylus clattered off one of her horns, Srettia hissed at the attacker. "Then I hope they get in our way. But I promise I will prioritize running."

"We are in range to start collecting. I have marked the priority targets. Please fly us close. I will handle the tractors and grasping arms."

Moving her ship close to the first target, Srettia picked up the stylus and threw it back at Michael. "We'll collect all we can and return home."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cursing as he chiselled a large chunk of ice off an ancient sign hanging off an even older gate, Hezexhel looked at Finley in annoyance. "You're sure it's in here? This building looks like it was dilapidated before the freeze even happened."

Double-checking his geo-map, Finley sent back an affirmative. "Exactly, yet it still stands. Most likely, it was built that way to confuse or distract people. Nothing important in an old run-down building after all."

Shattering the lock off a gate and pushing it open, Ethuci walked towards the building. "Do not waste time. We continue with the mission." As his team gathered around him, Ethuci continued to stalk towards the beaten and frozen entrance. "If our people can build structures above the ground and in space. It's natural we could build under the ground as well."

Making sure to scan the building in full, Finley noticed the oddity of the building immediately. "This is definitely the place, It has some kind of access shaft that goes below the surface, But my readings are being interrupted by something, an energy shield of some sort."

Hezexhel straightened his back instantly and began eyeing Finley with distrust. "My people did not have shield technology until you gave it to us, Terran."

Finley held back an open laugh as he slowly pushed open the door. "Yeah, yeah, save it for when we find out what's in this bunker."

Closely following Finley into the building, Ethuci was surprised at how empty it was. A few chairs, a table in one corner, some sort of distribution machine in another with a scattering of support pillars. However, what struck him immediately, was the locked hatch in the middle of the room. "Well, that's not suspicious at all." He noted, ordering his team to set up hard light supports. Taking in the sight as he walked across the room, Ethuci took a distinct look around before he knelt over the hatch. "How do we get in?"

Finley gave a simple wave and pulled out a square device. Taking a step forward, he held it close to the hatch. Startled, Ethuci watched closely as Finley placed one in each corner before activating the contraption. "We'll cut through. These devices will magnetize to the hatch and deploy hard light anchors. It'll let us drill through without worrying if the hatch will fall down the shaft and collapsing the surrounding areas along the way."

Ethuci pulled out his laser cutter and began cutting the locking mechanism out as Finley took a step back. "What do you think, Finley? I don't know what our people were like at our prime, but this seems off to me."

"Well, it screams secret military or science installation to me. Whether it was for survival, weapons or other kinds of testing. I don't know. But what I do know is that we won't like what we see down there." Finley replied.

Carving through the final fastener, Ethuci holstered his cutter and motioned his team over to assist in hauling the hatch open. After a minor struggle lasting minutes, the group successfully opened the way to the underground. "So what now? I don't see a ladder or lift."

Stepping forward past the team, Finley snuck a peek down the shaft and pulled a rubber ball from his pocket. "let's see if it's safe first." Frowning, he watched the ball fall and relay its data to his hud, and he shook his head. " Two kilometres deep. that's a very long drop for such a small opening."

Hezexhel scowled and looked over the edge. "How do we get down? You can hardly fit four people in at a time."

Ethuci surveyed the room, an attempt to find some sort of answer. Unfortunately for him, only the empty space remained. "There has to be a way down."

After an hour of searching, frustrated, Finley pulled out some sort of laser pick and looked at the group around him as he walked backwards toward the shaft. "I'll be right back."

Jumping feet first down the shaft and allowing himself to fall for several seconds, Finley jammed his pick into the rock and proceeded to activate his armours mag boots. Taking a few seconds to slow, he suddenly came to an abrupt stop when the rock ended and met with some kind of steel. He slammed his boots against the wall, creating a seal, and he used his free hand and pulled out a long, sharp tool from his waist, only to continue to slam it into the rock. "Alright, you're all clear to jump down now."

Activating the device. It proceeded to shoot out two smaller darts that drilled into the wall. The three devices began to hum and emit bright light, creating a safety net to fall upon.

Ethuci nearly died on the spot watching Finley's actions. "ARE YOU INSANE, TERRAN! You must think me stupid if you assume I will jump down."

Shrugging to no one in particular. Finley retrieved his pick and fell backwards, his feet firmly in place. "Alright, you guys stay up there then. I'll walk down and see if I can send up a lift or something." Lifting up one foot, Finley began the backwards walk down the shaft with his tose hanging down as he did so.

Ethuci looked over to Hezexhel, who seemed to be in the middle of psyching himself up. "I am ordering you, do not to be stupid and jump. We are not taking a ridiculous risk like that."

Waving his arms around, Hezexhel jabbed Ethuci with his tail pushing his commander off balance. He then began squatting a few times to gather wits and looked at Ethuci. "I will not lose to a Terran in courage."

Jumping down the shaft, Hezexhel grit his teeth while he screamed in his heart, upon realizing he forgot to pull his pick out. Thankfully, just as Finley intended, he safely landed on the blue humming energy net. "Ha! see, no problem." Activating his mag boots, Hezexhel slammed them on the wall and leaned over the side of the net, walking backwards in an upsidedown L shape down the wall as Finley had done.

Ethuci looked at his team and scowled through his helmet. "None of you are to follow!" No one questioned his order.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grabbing a chunk of debris and placing it in the cargo bay. Jack subtly began his own scans of the alien technology. "Regular steel and titanium composite, no quantum computing. None of this is interesting."

Allowing a piece of metal to bounce off the debris shield, Jack sighed. "How did these aliens even destroy those planets. We've been here for three days and haven't found anything interesting."

Picking up the last piece from his current location, Jack accessed the engines. "Well, that's it for this area. I guess I'll pick up the final pieces so we can get out of here." Moving the ship over to another important piece of debris, Jack focused one tractor on it.

"Uhh, I wanna play games with Michael." Grabbing the assumed computer core with the grasping arms, Jack peeked in on his sleeping organics. Laughing to himself at the sight of Srettia having entangled herself in the sheets as she cuddled tightly to Michael, leaving him with little more than a corner of fabric to hang onto.

Deciding to continue his work, Jack paused as he noticed an odd energy signal. "Well, what do we have here." Turning the active scanners towards the source, Jack panicked and activated the ship's alarm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alarms rang, and instantly Michael rolled out of bed and went to stand on his nanomesh. "Srettia! Get your ass into your mesh before you leave for the bridge!"

Mostly naked and hanging onto the door as she tried to move her legs, Srettia turned around and jumped onto her nanomesh. "Jack, what's happening!?" She asked, watching impatiently as her mesh crawled up her skin and Michael bolted out the door.

"Unknown ship has entered the system. It is very large. approximately one point three kilometres long."

After a few seconds, Srettia's suit finished sealing, and she ran towards the bridge. "What's it doing?"

"It is currently heading on an intercept course with our ship. I can not detect any shields or attempts at communication yet."

Arriving on the bridge, Srettia noticed the shields had already been raised, and the ship was heading out of the system. Nervous, she looked over to Michael, who was currently shunting all power to the engines. "What's going on?"

Frowning, Michael looked over to Srettia. "It's one of the ugly bug ships. It's by itself, but it's pretty big for a simple patrol ship."

"Detecting incoming warp signal, estimate arrival eleven seconds. It's directly in our path. Correction, multiple ships incoming standard net pattern. I suggest we continue on course and breakthrough."

Powering up the weapon controls, Michael looked at his favourite camera and smiled. "Can you handle torpedo's and shields, Jack? I'll handle the lance batteries and rail guns."

"YOU'RE LETTING ME FLY!?" Srettia shrieked as she shakily handled the controls.

Michael calmly looked over and smiled. "You'll be fine. Just fly like you normally do, and we'll make it out of this."

"I am not detecting any transmission of any type. The enemy has not charged shields. I do detect large power buildups from them, however."

"Well, I don't like how they're surrounding us right out the gate. That's not very friendly of them." Michael pointed out as the weapons finished charging. "I'm taking a bit of power from the engines to power the lance batteries."

"We destroy those who threaten our peace."

"And help those in need. Right pal." Michael continued.

Srettia laughed as she held the control sticks tightly. "Is that some sort of Terran motto?"

"Star Navy actually, any who threaten our people or our friends will find themselves on the receiving end of a planet cracker."

"Yeah, the Navy is pretty serious about the whole. 'Only we can kill ourselves' thing. They'll even try to negotiate a surrender from pirates before erasing them from the universe. I heard the pirate lords were surprised when over eleven moon bases showed up on their front lawn demanding surrender in the final days. Too bad they didn't. The Navy ended up destroying two planets and a few moons in that final battle."

Srettia stared blankly as she approached the enemy ship. "You, Terrans, are crazy."

"Incoming fire, Chemical missiles and rail gun slugs."

Srettia looked at the system map and blinked a few times. " Is that supposed to hit us?"

"Only if you let it."

Moving her ship easily out of the line of fire, She looked over to Michael. "Does that mean we can fire back?"

Smiling as he acquired a lock, Michael nodded. "Sure does."

"Firing torpedo."

Michael watched, holding back his fire to see what happened when the torpedo connected. Much to his amusement, the torpedo hit the centre mass of the ship, destroying the entire front portion and sending it crashing into the ship directly to his port side. "Well, If they can't handle a torpedo from this ship, They're pretty fucked."

"More ships incoming. Throwing them up on the map."

Srettia watched as the ships list in an odd direction, their lights blinking on and off. "FEEL THE WRATH AND HATRED OF MY PEOPLE!" She screamed at the broken ships, weaving around the debris and bodies discharging from the broken vessel.

The ship shook violently as a large slug bounced off the shields causing the inhabitants to curse as another three ships slowly moved to cut them off. "Oh no, you don't!" Pulling the trigger as they drew closer, Michael fired a concentrated burst of antimatter lances at the left of the three ships as Srettia guided the ship through the net, tearing them in half as the lances passed through the vessels as if its armour wasn't there.

"Shields at ninety-nine percent, firing torpedoes."

Seeing an opening, Srettia flew through the hole left as the other two were disabled by torpedo's, missing entire sections of their ships.

Continuing to unleash weapons fire onto the chasing ships with both rail gun and lance fire, quickly tearing them to pieces. Michael noticed an odd sight. "Hey, those thingys are coming out again."

"Detecting primitive radio signatures from the lightships. We'll be clear for warp in twenty seconds, enemy ships are still in pursuit, and more are incoming."

Taking in the situation, Michael fought with himself. "Shit! Srettia, turn us around. Can you communicate with them, Jack?"

"Attempting to. What shall I tell them?"

"Drop them in empty space, away from here if they can warp out." Firing a few shots at the oncoming ships, discouraging them from approaching. Michael Looked over at Srettia, who had a wide smile on. "We're covering their escape, not fighting."

Quickly darting between large chunks of enemy ships, Srettia grinned as one of Jack's torpedoes annihilated another ship, tearing the entire back end off. "Of course. As soon as the lightships are gone, I'll leave as well."

Michael watched as a group of lightships began to assemble together and fire those beams of light at the weird bug ships. "Well, I guess that confirms that they really aren't friends."

"More ships incoming. I am sending coordinates to the friendly ships. I am unsure if they understand me."

Firing another burst at a particularly brave ship, Michael frowned. "Well, keep trying. The moment they begin to leave is the moment we're outta here."

Srettia looked at the map and began to panic. "We have nowhere to run to. They're all around us!"

"One of the larger lightships has started beeping numbers at me, I will continue to send coordinates, but communication is slow. It's much harder than Aaster basic."

"Keep sending them the coordinates. Send the Star Navy an S.O.S with the coordinates on them as well." Holding down the trigger, Michael tore a hole through another two ships and hulled a third. "These things are like paper."

Nearly crushing her controls, Srettia flew through a newly made hole in an enemy ship and skimmed across the hull of another as the net grew tighter around her small ship. "It's getting really hard to dodge all this fire, you two."

"Friendlies are moving to leave. I believe they are heading in the correct direction."

Srettia quickly manoeuvred her ship to cover their escape and allow Jack and Michael to help in creating an avenue of escape for the friendlies. "These guys have lots of guns, but it looks like they are relying on the volume of fire rather than accuracy."

"Agreed, lots of weak weapons are still a threat to unshielded ships, however. Unfortunately, the lightships don't seem to have any shields."

Recoiling as a particularly nasty hit bounced off her shields, Srettia eyed her enemy in anger. "This trash deserves not but death!" Flying into a large group of enemy ships, her smile returned as four more were shredded by lance, torpedo, and rail gun fire.

Holding the down trigger in an attempt to clear a larger path, Michael watched as the last of the supposed allied ships began to leave the system. "Let's get the fuck out of here!"

Hitting the warp controls, Srettia pouted. "A shame we couldn't kill more of them."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------