Chapter 8: The Gathering Storm
2409
The Azure Nebula. Oxygen, argon, theta-xenon, fluorine, sirillium, combining to create a beautiful swirling blue cloud in open space; visible from lightyears away. The I.R.W. Irix sits inside.
Something big is coming. K’Haeth knows, but he’s not saying. Four more engineering teams have come aboard in the last two weeks, and our ‘enhancements’ have spread to twenty-two decks. Nearly half the ship. We’ve upgraded the research labs and expanded the surgical units. Given enough staff, we could handle hundreds of ‘subjects’ at a time.
We arrived in the nebula over a week ago, and have been just sitting here ever since. No new pickups, no orders from Command. No work to be done. Just waiting.
Sitting at my window, it wasn’t long before I saw the other ships starting to join us. Two additional D’Deridexes, Ishae and Okhala, each showing signs of the same sort of modifications that Irix has received. Five Mogai Warbirds. Areinnye, Dekkona, Fraire, Koval, Terrinex. A smattering of smaller warbirds and support vessels. An assault fleet.
And it was only the beginning. On our tenth day, a second fleet appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. It wasn’t like any cloaking technology I’d ever seen. And these ships were different; unfamiliar; alien. Dark, angular hulls interspersed with large green glowing sections. No visible windows. This must have been what we were waiting for. Once the aliens fell into formation, the entire fleet was jumping to warp.
The stars blurred past and the hours ran quickly. The alarm sounded, the crew bustled to stations. I didn’t move. Following the familiar jolt of our massive vessel dropping out of warp, I watched the rest of the fleet streak into existence and begin to spread out, standing in stark contrast to the ever-present backdrop of the nebula. Mere moments later, I caught my first glimpse of our destination.
Jouret IV.