Months had passed, or rather what felt like months to Eli. He'd stopped checking his internal clock by the second day and the thirtieth reclaimed piece of debris. After the fifth one he had no longer cared from where the strange, ancient craft came from but only what he could salvage from them, leaving only chunks around the unsettling oily metallic spears skewering them.

During the monotony of this Eli formed a new plan; using the extra time he would gain from reclaiming metal vs refining it, he would make an expendable probe to inform the guilds and government of what had happened. Then he would go after the hostile entity and try to stall it long enough for the Navy of the United Sol to arrive.

Several days later, it was time to leave finally, repairs were finished but not up to the shape he had been in originally, and his bootleg weapons and upgrades were squared away. He'd fabricated eight slug throwing turrets, one magnet-accelerated cannon that now filled his cargo bay, and on his underside was a menagerie of small craft that resembled old twentieth century missiles.

A large swathe of grey metal now filled the rent of his hulk that had been torn open, and two rings of the same plain grey now encircled him.The little probe to earth had been launched, and he had another several ready to pre-empt his arrival to the Glint system. Of those probes he launched one just before he activated his own Alcubierre drive. If he had gotten the timing right, it would arrive with enough time to inform the Glint of his plan, the situation and how to help. Then it would relay their response to him when he arrived.

He launched both the Glint probe and the one back to Sol at the same time. Waited for the appropriate timing then left himself, leaving the graveyard of ships behind him.

-----

*Onboard the hostile Alien ship*

Silghen Morseg inspected the system displayed before him. The second and first planets bore the taint of a Jeweller's touch, their orbital mechanics too smooth and beautiful to be natural. No small flaws to "detract" from perfection, and those periods of darkness were too well timed to be natural. Silghen rolled his neck at the thought of a Jeweller's notion of beauty. They wouldn't think anything beautiful unless they spent three solar orbits altering it, then stamping their name over it as their own work of art. It was why his race and the Jewellers nearly exterminated each other, and why he now commanded his ship alone. The Jeweller demons had found the Thargs to be so repulsive as to try and genetically change them, then when that plan had been discovered and foiled, they attempted to wipe the Tharg "Stain" from the universe through war. The Tharg had responded in kind, and the galaxy had burned. All the other Thargs Silghen knew had died in the war, or in the long, dark time hunting surviving Jewellers. He himself was the only Tharg left in a once bustling Tanequal class ship.

Focussing back onto the system before him, the race corrupted by Jeweller influence was just starting to make a solar economy and their first steps into FTL. A large primitive rocket was making its way to rings of the gas giant, where a ship radiating the effects of an early FTL drive was waiting. He would start by capturing the ship with FTL capabilities, then broadcast a threat to the jewelled ones which would lure out the Jeweller. They did loathe seeing their art destroyed. After this Jeweller was dealt With, he could go and deal with the natural borne AI he'd stranded, and it's origin system.

-----

*Aboard the Mad Dash*

Commander Saule sat on the bridge, overlooking the enormous giant Gri'oux. The crew had all gone to their respective tasks, while Saule stayed on the bridge going over the notes Naytani and Flik had prepared about the effect of travel in the Herzog Bubble on the ship. He didn't need to but he'd found from past experience, those under your command responded better if you had an idea of their interests and passions and could engage them about it in a conversation.

The notes weren't too difficult to understand either. Flik had a penchant for explanations that illuminated Naytani's rather dense technical jargon easily. The Herzog Drive didn't actually make a bubble around the ship but instead formed a wave of Space that the ship rode forward. Flik had likened it to sport popular in POI, where Glintish would carve stiff leaves of the local fauna into an oval board and try to ride large waves to the shore. Just as he started the section about the M:E generator, the power to the ship flickered, then went out.

He stuck his head out into the main hallway and shouted, "Naytani, is the power supposed to be out?"

"No! Something is very wrong, get in a Vac suit!" echoed back up, "I'll see if the M"E is working right."

He rushed through the Mad Dash, the way lit by the dim glow of his eyes, bright with anxiety. Still slowed by the dark unfamiliar layout and microgravity, Saule collided with Stuhkey and Yors as they came out of a side entry way. He reached out to stop himself and just as he touched the cool metal, the interior of the ship itself seemed to pulse with a dark rich purple glow. Arcs of energy leapt from the walls into him, Yors and Stuhkey, their forms contorting in pain. The last Saule saw was two of his crew curling in on themselves moaning, before his own vision faded.