'Now send the stand down order and have your people report to the main hangar of this facility,' said Estall.
Kisch k'ta looked at Setaru' lek who normally would have protested at the idea of Vorn surrendering under any circumstances, but he now appeared to be in no hurry to sacrifice his own life. The Governor tapped into the communications display on his desk panel, opening a channel to his ground forces commander. He issued the command in his own language, and then received a puzzled but compliant reply.
'Now what?' asked Setaru' lek.
'Vasad,' said Estall, 'take the governor's aides with you and go to the hangar bay. Have the others meet you there with their captives and wait for these other Vorn to arrive and hold them there in the hangar.'
Vasad motioned with his pulse rifle to Setaru' lek and Kisch k'ta's other aides to come with him. He looked back at the Governor, who offered no alternative, then proceeded out the door with the others and Vasad behind them.
'Estall, I've ordered the sentinels to stand down,' said Ranul, 'but you need to look at this.'
He put his display onto the larger main viewer for the room. A picture of the Vorn's scanner readouts and log entries appeared on the screen.
'It looks like they've been tracking the Saberhawk since it left the atmosphere. They appear to be on approach to enter the Transdimensional Rift. Look-all of this has been sent as a continuous transmission to the fleet on the other side, but there hasn't been any reply, even on this closed channel.'
'Maybe they're maintaining silence to try and surprise our ship when it comes through.'
'It doesn't seem likely; the last transmission from across the rift appears to have been a week ago and nothing at all since. Why haven't your forces been responding, Governor? Your transmission log shows repeated attempts with no reply. Why?'
'If I knew, then we wouldn't be continuing to try and gain a response, would we?'
'There's a reference here in some of their last responses to the Sphere, and no sign of the Sphere. What does that mean, no sign of the Sphere, Governor?'
Ranul could see something foreboding in the Governor's eyes, though he answered not a word.
'Search the database for the term.'
Ranul keyed the reference into the computer and immediately a massive file with numerous subsections appeared on the screen. He began to scan through the data very quickly, trying to make sense of it. The more he read, the more he understood the Governor's odd look of dread. Suddenly he had a disturbing realization come to him.
'You've been running! That's why you came here. To get away from this thing! Isn't it?!'
He was yelling at the Governor, who remained silent as the new images ran on the main display.
'I don't understand,' said Estall, still trying to grasp what all the information was revealing to Ranul.
'A lot more is going on here than we thought.'
THE Saberhawk was beginning to vibrate more and more as it approached the rift. The dark center was ominous, like some terrible beast wanting to swallow the ship whole. Nothing could be seen beyond. Even their sensor scans revealed nothing about what lay on the other side. No one spoke. All eyes were on the approaching void.
Orin continued to watch the instrument readouts, looking for any information about what lay beyond the blackness. He noticed that all light was being repelled by the void along with all sensor scans. Somehow the Vorn had been able to keep communication across the rift, even when it had been in collapse phase, but he wasn't sure what technology they had employed. The ship was shaking significantly, and Millo had to work to keep it on course.
'I think the void is trying to repel the ship just like it repels energy waves,' said Orin.
'I'll increase thrust to try and compensate.'
The Saberhawk lurched forward as they struggled against the forces of the Transdimensional Rift. As they began to enter the void, the turbulence suddenly ceased and all the gauges and dials on the instrument panel suddenly went black.
Only the light from their display was visible as the void engulfed them. The ship seemed to surge forward faster, even though thruster speed remained constant. When the Saberhawk emerged on the other side, the scene looked like they had gone back the way they had come; like they were in Castillian space once again.
A blazing behemoth of a space vessel under attack quickly changed their perception. It was headed right for them as the Saberhawk emerged from the rift. The vessel appeared to be a huge Vorn craft, much larger than those currently stationed at Castai. This one was easily a hundred times the size of the Saberhawk.
Multiple explosions and streams of fast burning oxygen and other gases and chemicals were trailing at different points on the ship's surface. Millo took immediate evasive maneuvers to get away from the vessel as it closed on them at a frightening speed. A burst of main thrusters bore them hard to port, away from the damaged ship as it continued on by without acknowledging them; driving hard for the rift.
Orin began scans of the ship, trying to find out what was going on. Life form readings began to appear along with various discernable statuses on the vessel's current hull integrity and power systems.
'That thing is breaking up!' said Orin. 'It's carrying human life signatures only; approximately ten thousand. Some appear to be variants of the other; probably Horva.'
'Burn, baby, burn,' said Millo under his breath as he continued to direct the Saberhawk away from the vessel. Everyone was tense.
'I'm still not sure what's attacking them,' said Orin.
Tiet and Dorian exchanged concerned glances but remained silent, trying to listen to Orin and Millo as they contemplated this surprising find. As the computer continued to pull data from the vessel, something else appeared on the display.
'I'm not sure what these things are… some sort of spheres… approximately thirty feet in diameter. They're completely mechanical. There's quite a number surrounding the hull of the Vorn vessel and some on the inside.'
Orin continued his scans monitoring the Vorn ship's engine systems. 'Its reactor core has been breeched. It's going to blow!'
The large Vorn ship was running hard for the Transdimensional Rift. The sheering forces from the void were peeling pieces away from the crippled vessel as it began to enter the darkness with its entourage of attackers in tow. Just as the front half of the ship sank into the void, it erupted into a white hot ball of flame, quickly fading as all gases and chemicals combusted away. Multiple shockwaves surged away from the rift, causing the Saberhawk to be tossed like a toy upon the waves of energy.
Dorian shouted, 'What's happening?!'
'I think the explosion of the Vorn ship has triggered a reaction in the rift!' shouted Orin as Millo fought hard to bring the Saberhawk back under control.
'I should do a sensor sweep of the quadrant and see where other Vorn ships are and what those things were that destroyed that ship. Maybe we have an ally on this side.'
'Well, whatever they are they don't like the Vorn,' said Tiet.
The data on Orin's display began to be replaced by other information.
'There is a planet nearby,' said Orin. 'It's habitable. The readings look identical to Castai. I'm showing some other activity in the near vicinity. It looks like more Vorn battle cruisers near the planet and an orbiting station of immense size. This planet could be their home. I'm picking up a large amount of random energy fluctuations; it looks like another large explosion of a vessel similar to the one that almost hit us. Take us toward the planet so we can get a better look at what's happening.'
'It looks like someone is doing all the fighting for us,' said Tiet.
'Weapons and shields are all charged and ready. We're going in,' said Millo as he brought the Saberhawk about on course for the nearby planet. The Saberhawk was a fast ship; the distance at full speed would be about twenty minutes.
As they drew near, Orin worked to get a visual of the battle taking place ahead. A tactical map replaced part of the information on the display. Markers representing various sizes of Vorn space vessels moved about on the screen as faster moving dots representing the mechanical spheres intermingled with them. Another large vessel
