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With the introductions completed, I was left to my own devices. Silver slid down the ladder to the lower decks to resume his own endless war with the engine's reactors. Samis called me forwards, and I stood directly behind him as we headed towards the Vulpini sun for the planar jump. "Two things come to my mind. Firstly, I would like you to be in uniform whenever we have company, having an openly military and smart fox with me would make us look more intimidating." "I thought you could do that by yourself, Captain." I said innocently, and Samis laughed again.

"I am not going to reveal my true nature to locals on the planets we visit unless I have to. And the second thing." he lowered his voice, "I can tell Celiana doesn't like you at all. She doesn't like military people at all. So for the sake of peace, try not to get in an argument with her." "Yes, sir." I replied. It seemed the easiest thing to say at the time. DAIN interrupted with a polite metallic cough. "Samis, there's an irritated voice on comms. It's saying something about an unprovoked assault on a dockmaster." "Stall them with static for a bit. Lieutenant?" "Yes sir?" "How fast could they scramble interceptors to stop us from getting to the jump point?"

I thought upon this for a brief second. " At present speed, they would catch up with five minutes to spare before jump. Having DAIN broadcast through heavy static will delay them for a few minutes, but if you do not turn around soon, they will scramble two light fighters, and they will engage you if you get too close to the jump point." "Recommended option?" "If you are looking to not engage, I'd suggest punching it.Does this thing have afterburners?" "No, but I'm not maxing the engines right now. You may want to hold on to something."

Samis ordered everyone through the intercom to brace. He counted to ten, while DAIN was deliberately inducing static through his communications back to the Vulpini planet behind us. I took a firm hold of the chair, and noticed that DAIN and Celiana were both holding the consoles they were beside. Then when he got to ten, Samis pushed the throttle lever all the way forwards. I have always enjoyed flying, but I was not yet prepared for the difference in the Dolphin between cruise and supercruise. Everything not firmly nailed down in the bridge, me included, started sliding towards the rear of the compartment. My grip on the pilot's chair became iron as we accelerated rapidly.

"How about now, Lieutenant?" Samis said playfully. As the acceleration slowed, I dragged myself back closer and got a glance at the universal speed indicator. "That should about do it." I said weakly, seeing the considerably larger number on the display. "Now I suggest you return to your cabin for the planar jump. And so you don't hear me arguing with your authorities as to theft of a plaything." Samis teased. I flushed once more in front of the massive anthro dragon, and nodded, leaving the bridge. Instead of going to my bunk, however, I went directly down the corridor to the mess hall.

Both felines had left, and I sighed. One of these days... I turned around and opened the door into the electrics room. Acheron and Belvedere were busy on the railgun I saw earlier. "We're going to be at planar jump a little earlier than expected." I said slightly laconically. Acheron chuckled. "It's quite a fast vessel when Samis wants it to be, eh?" "Indeed. I saw Celiana inputting data from pad paper, so you know where we're going?" "Shrewd and observant fox." Acheron smiled genuinely. " We're going to Terygota."

It was not one of the planets I was familiar with, or at least the name. "I haven't heard of this place, what do you speak of?" "Oh, I speak of the Dromantis home planet. I'm sure Samis will inform you of the whys and wherefores." I shivered inwardly. I had met Dromantis before, and they left creepy crawlies down one's skin. Not literally, but they were an insect race, not unlike the Sectivores. They were green, unlike the Sectivore's black, and wingless, and altogether thin, and yet their body was covered with plates that could deflect phaser fire. The other problem was that the Dromantis HATED strangers.

This somewhat xenophobic approach had persisted even when they were the strangers. The one trader ship that I recall owned by Dromantis landed, unloaded it's cargo, reloaded with Vulpini goods and then left without one of the creatures even stepping out to talk to the dockmasters or check their own ship's condition. Twenty one hours in dock, not one word more than necessary, or one antennae poking beyond the cargo doors of their squat ship. "Planar jump imminent, guys." the draconic voice appeared over the intercom, and immediately both felines gently stopped working on their toys, and braced themselves against the work benches. I opened the door and braced inside it. Acheron spoke clearly.

"Kitties and fox braced, Samis." "Five seconds." the response came over the intercom, and then the world with red. A planar jump is a very disconcerting thing, aside from the earlier mention nausea issues. As the ship punches forwards, light takes on different properties. The sheer speed we were punching through the universe with caused the entire spectrum of light inside the craft to be tinged with red. Not seriously, although in some long corridors in line with the travel jump could become very red. The white lights illuminating the place were oh so slightly pink now, and it cast everyone in interesting shadows.

"Pink kitty is pink." Belvedere leaned against a work surface, looking at me with a teasing look. "It suits you." I replied back, still bracing against the door. I could feel the inevitable rise of acid rising up my throat, and felt compulsively sick. But I had had enough practice, and quelled my treacherous body, in time to see Samis leaving the cockpit. He motioned to me, and I unbraced from the door and moved towards him, following him as he descended the ladder to the crew deck.

His usually white scales somewhat nearer to scarlet than Belvedere's fur, he stepped into his room. Inside it was pretty spartan, his wardrobe containing his sword and cloak, his kitbag still done up. But one thing he did have, bolted to the floor, was a chest with an old fashioned lock. He pulled a key from somewhere in the cloak's recesses, and unlocked the trunk. "Now, Facilier. Time to find out what you signed up for. Tell me what you know of Kraven's relationship with his sons?" I stood by the door "As far as the books I have read, Kraven disliked both of them mightily."

"Never a truer word was spoke." the dragon came up carrying an old, leather bound diary in one hand. He opened it up to a bookmark, and quoted. "Ah yes, "Today was the twins eighteenth birthday. Nexa set fire to a tree in the garden, I suspect deliberately, though he claims otherwise.", "he paused, and turned a few pages, "Chaio spent the entire day industriously hammering nails through the welcome mat, why couldn't I have been gifted with daughters?" Samis chuckled. "Those two were pretty much terrors by their own right."

"You were close to Kraven, then? To have his diary?" I asked politely. Samis smiled. "He was my uncle. My father, being his brother, knew things that Kraven wouldn't normally tell anyone. And when Kraven was killed by those same terrors, my brother, rather than confront them about it, quietly rifled most of Kraven's important posessions while the twins were declaring war at one another." "Interesting." I rubbed my muzzle, digesting this information. Samis smiled. "Oh, trust me, it gets better. I was not even born at the time of the murder, my father and mother had me some years after the abandonment of Ia Gelliath, but I shall quote you a passage from twenty one years before his death." the dragon went to another bookmark, this one worn from countless use, the book practically opening at that point for him.

"This is it, those two are going to be the death of me. In the event that this is the case, I have a plan on how to deal with them. In a series of secret locations, I am creating three super vessels, beyond the ability of any seen in current production. With these Swords, as I am calling them, my brother and his lineage will be able to set my mistakes right." He knew, in the end, that his dutiful brother would find the diary and it's secrets first, because he told him where it was." Samis smiled again. "Unfortunately, it's taken a while, because my father was too old and our people too scattered to take on the twins. But me and him have been very patient." I was literally astounded. I was sitting down on the bed, listening to this story with frank incredulity. Kraven had been a master of the art of diplomacy, and apparently of prescience, with this line of plans and preparations for after his demise.

"So where are the locations of these ships?" I asked. "There is the slight rub." Samis replied," Kraven never wrote it down. Instead, he wrote down locations where there were temples. He funded the construction of temples with secret chambers that held the actual locations for the right time." "And Terygota is the first one on the list?" I asked, putting two and two together. "Indeed. Acheron inform you in advance?" "Not of the whole plan, just of our current course. So for the last three hundred years, you and your father have been planning for recovering these super vessels and leading an assault on the twins?"

"Exactly. According to Kraven's details, they are are far superior to anything to their time, and given that the galaxy has been starved of decent times recently, I reckon they're still heavyweights." "Well, at any rate, we can check when we find it. Do we have a dock the ship can go to after finding it?" Samis smiled. "I can see why you were promoted. Leave that to me. Your job is to learn how to fly this beast after the planar jump. Controls are fairly standard, even if the power isn't. You are familiar with landing at a space port?" "Not with something quite as big as this, but I'm used to landing fighters in docking bays and what have you."

"Well, I suggest you get comfortable, because we're going to be in planar jump for six hours, and then all hell is going to break loose." "You expecting flak on arrival?" "Not of the physical side, but I presume you know the locals?" "Only when they docked briefly at Vulpini." The dragon smirked. It was not nice. "You may not enjoy this planet fall then. One ship of these guys is not the same as their home planet." "Ok, can I stay in dock?" "Nope. Need you and Celiana to help me with my finding of this temple. And no arguing with her."

"I don't mind Azuri at all, if there's any argument, it'll be her about my military back ground." I replied, a little hurt by this. "Good. Means it's my problem, not yours." I felt like I had passed a test somehow. "But the reason we need to land at the port is because this ship can only make one planar jump before refuelling the drives, I would happily just ask from orbit if I could, but it takes about 6 hours to refuel." Ah.

With this last bit of wisdom, and considerably the wiser about what we were doing, I left the cabin and went back to the engine bay. Silver was sitting on a gigantic bar stool, seemingly making notes about the condition of the reactors, which roared and thrummed loudly. I half wondered why he wasn't deaf, and then saw he was wearing a pair of fluffy red ear muffs that were mostly covered by his feathers. I gave him a wave, and he smiled and nodded back at me before going to his paperwork. I climbed the ladder to Caboose's turret room, and found him playing with a set of cards on a tray, designed normally so people could eat and not leave the turret. Behind him was the window looking out into the planar jump itself.

This was the first time I could see a planar jump on board this ship, and it wasn't all that different from the cruisers I had been on. From the front, it was appear that they were flying through a flashing and distorting red cloud, with black and white glows where one was passing past a particularly large planet or other cosmic intrusion, for even though we were out of phase, we could still see phenomena. From the rear of the ship, you could only see what we had gone past either side for a second, because directly behind at what seemed like 150 metres, was the hole we were punching. Black as space itself.

"Hello Caboose." I said gently. I saw him start slightly regardless, and the bunny's turret swivelled around til he looked at me. "Oh.. hi, si-Ramon." he caught himself in the last second. "Samis has just briefed me on the details of my job." "I still hope it isn't devouring me." the bunny said, giving a little giggle to himself, before realising what he said. "Hey! The bunny has a sense of humour. I never knew." I teased back, and Ben flushed. "See, I'm just like you, eh? Nah, we're off to Terygota, and I'm helping Samis with his mission." "I do not envy you going into town, s-Ramon. I don't like what I've heard about that place." the bunny replied. "I don't envy me either, and I AM me." I sighed deeply. "Also, Samis is getting me to fly the ship upon arrival."

The bunny smiled. "Dolphin is a gem.It flies where the pilot wants. For you it should be a doddle." "True, but I've never landed or docked anything other than fighters. Even when piloting the cruisers of my planet, they never told us how to dock or land them." "Well, just think of it as a fighter with really large wings." "I thought you said you couldn't fly." I said questioningly, and the bunny flushed.

"Well, I'm nearest the engines and most of the thrusters at the back, I can hear them firing in the atmosphere, I can feel them rumble through my chair." I paused, and then nodded. As a gunner well versed in the details of how this ship manouvered, he knew what he was talking about. Suddenly I felt much more keen to fly this bird and land it, even if I was landing it in on a planet full of creatures who did not like me.

"At any rate, you've got six hours to visualise and rehearse, so plenty of time." the bunny smiled. I could feel him warming to me, and it heartened me. "I think I will, actually. Although you should teach me that game some time." I nodded at the cards. "Ok, Ramon. Talk to you later." I departed and left the rabbit to his work, or play in this case.