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Dark Fracture

Part 4 - Subversion

Forth Commander Mrala Linhethal held a rigid look of military discipline as she stood on the deck of the raised command platform overlooking her subordinates on the bridge. While she didn’t care much for the flamboyant red uniforms with orange trim that she and most of the crew wore, she still felt like some powerful predator ready to stalk some helpless prey. She brushed a fallen strand of jet black hair out of her golden eyes, not that anyone would actually notice a fews stray hairs on her equally black fur. Her fur was a shadowy contrast to the flamboyant uniform colors of the Dominion.

The Forth Commander loved the feeling of being in command and relished every moment she was on the bridge of her ship. Below her, her chosen crew were at their stations, performing their duties as diligently as the well oiled machine that she trained them to be. Due to the nature of what they were doing to complete their mission, everyone was watching the displays at their stations like a hawk. They were all putting their lives in danger on the command of their new overlord, an order that nobody liked. Heck, even she wasn’t thrilled with his order, and she was the one who had given him the idea.

Their orders were to make straight for the Sydion Warp Gate, bypassing the four smaller FTL Gates that they would have normally traveled through. Their current course did cut their travel time by quite a bit, buying them time to complete their mission faster. But there were deadly dangers with traveling in FTL for long periods.

She gave a silent hiss as she thought of how she put herself in her current situation…

---

“Have you heard about our new overlord yet?”

“Not yet, honestly.” The pantress said as she looked at the lizard next to her. “It’s why we are gathered in the war room now. Isn’t it?”

Gathered in the room were Seven of the ten commanders that made up the military leadership of the Dominion of Sydion that served under the overlord, along with either a personal aid or a junior officer for each of the attending officers. Other than the military staffing, there were only a few techs on the outside of the room that rounded the number of people to just above some twenty individuals. Aside from the tech staff, the officers were idling about the room talking among themselves while waiting for the rest of the people to show up for the meeting.

“Hehe. I’ve heard that our new lord has already caused quite a stir and Commander Rumith had the displeasure of crossing him already.” A hyena said as he approached the two commanders.

“Oh?” Mrala’s interest was now piqued. “What is going on as I’ve only recently made planetfall.”

“Some of those in the lower ranks have been talking about what happened.” The hyena chuckled nervously. “He apparently caused quite a scene in the barracks around midday and had asked a recruit to fetch someone in charge. Heh. I saw Commander Rumith after his encounter with our new leader and his heckles were standing straight for over an hour.”

“That seems… Strange.” The lizard said slowly in thought as he scratched the scales under his chin. “I know Rumith and he’s not one to cower easily.”

“Hmm…” Mrala purred. She also knew Rumith and his quirks too and it didn’t sound like the jackal’s normal behavior to the panther. ”Exactly what happened that the Overlord was in the barracks?”

“Heh. From what I heard, the overlord was stopping some of the new recruits from having fun and breaking in a new captured slave that was recently assigned to the barracks. A low level Alliance officer from what I’ve gathered. Hehe… I’ve heard that with the injury that they’ve gotten that they’re going to be out of commission for a long while. One will be lucky to walk without prosthetics.”

“How did he manage to do that?” The lizard asked. “I didn’t hear about any reports of gunfire.”

“The overlord didn’t use any weapons.” The hyena said as he looked at the lizard. “Heh. Our new overlord apparently has some sort of abilities of his own.”

“Fascinating.” The panther said as the door opened and the priest Sachi Prukatu walked in, followed closely by Commander Rumith and his aid. She glared as the smug feline who was not only wearing his obnoxiously gaudy robes, but was holding himself higher than usual. She would love a few minutes with the feline to smack the smugness out of him, but that wouldn’t go over well with the majority of the gathered commanders who would love nothing more than standing her in front of the business end of a firing squad. Another thing that she mentally noticed was how the Third Commander was acting more subdued than usual. It usually took the presence of one of the siblings to rein in Rumith’s arrogant attitude, but usually he wasn’t this subdued.

“Shall we bring this war meeting to order?” Prukatu asked as he took position at the head of the planning table. Several of the commanders began to mutter amongst themselves as they started to take their assigned seats. One of the commanders remained standing and voiced what everyone was thinking.

“We have people missing.” He said gruffly. “Where are Fleet Commander Arruk, Force Commander Arruk, and more importantly, where is our new lord? Shouldn’t he be here at least? That is why Fleet Commander Arruk had originally had us gather here.”

“Do not worry my friends.” Prukatu said. “Our new lord is busy at the moment and I will make sure that you will meet him at a later date. As for the two commanders, they have already been sent away.”

“On whose authority?” A new voice commanded.

Everyone turned to see a new figure standing at the now open door. He was tall, taller than all of them in that room and with the light from the room, he was casted in a black shadow with the only illumination coming from two glowing slits where one’s eyes would be. No one said a word as the stranger entered the War room and approached the table, the sounds of boots clicking on the floor was the only sound beyond the electronic beeps of the computers in the room.

“Stop!” An aid said, finally coming out of his stupor and stood in front of the figure. “Who are you? What are you doing here?!?” The figure stopped just in front of the aid, nearly nose to artificial nose of the helmet that the person was wearing.

“And who are you to command me?” The black stranger said again through the speakers of his helmet, making the aid freeze on the spot. “Move now, or else I will have you moved.” The aid quickly glanced at his commander for guidance, The Commander in turn gave a curt nod to which the aid quickly stepped to the side before the new arrival continued to the table, taking the place at the opposite end of Prukatu. “Now,” He spoke again. “Answer my question. On whose authority were Fleet Commander Arruk and Force Commander Arruk sent away and to where were they sent?”

Everyone was silent, no one knew how to address this stranger that was now projecting a sense of authority among everyone in the room. Even Prukatu was so taken aback that his mouth was gapping like some fish out of water, gasping for air. Everyone else was just either staring at the stranger or looking at each other, wondering what to say or do. The pantheress regarded the stranger. From head to toe, he was wearing what could pass as a very plain dress uniform of a near black to dark grey color with a leather trench coat that fell about a foot from the floor. The helmet he wore had wolfish features, a semi square muzzle, two triangular ears that poked up from the side and top of the helmet.

“And who might you be to ask such a question to us?” The Patheress demanded having enough of the uncomfortable silence. She noticed that the wolf helmet of the stranger turned just enough to regard her. They were silent for a moment before answering.

“I am the one who was summoned here last night to become the overlord,” He said as the helmet dissolved away to reveal a scowling human face. “Dar Tavor.” The room broke out into a collection of gasps, scoffs, and murmurs among the commanders and aids gathered at the table.

“M-my lord…” Prukatu stuttered out, obviously shocked by the situation. “W-what are you doing here? And… why are you not in the traditional armor of Sydion?”

“The Fleet Commander was kind enough to inform me of the meeting today though it took a little doing to find out the time and location.” Dar said as the masked reformed over his head, much like a wolf materializing out of nowhere to swallow the human’s head whole. “And as I said last night, I do NOT like that armor so I had one crafted of my own design. Now… Answer my question, where are Fleet Commander Arruk and Force Commander Arruk!”

“They have gone to begin the campaign of conquest in your honor, my lord.”

“On whose authority?”

“Why… On yours, my lord.”

“I gave no such order.”

“It was for your stead that I relayed the…” Prukatu stopped mid sentence and began to gasp for air, grabbing at some unseen force that had coiled around his throat.

“Shut up, Prukatu. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve just majorly overstepped your bounds and tried to circumvent my authority. Not sure about anyone here, but to me... That is treason. A crime that’s punishable by death.”

“P-please… My Lord…” Prukatu gasp, trying desperately to breath.

“You know Prukatu, I am all tired of everything that you’ve been trying to pull since I’ve gotten here and it hasn’t even been a full day!” The room felt like it started to darken as an invisible pressure started to weigh heavily on everyone gathered. “Now you all listen, and listen well as I am only going to say this once…” Dar said, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. “No one, and I mean NO ONE is to give orders out in my name without my express permission. Everything is to go through me and me alone. If that changes, I will personally inform all of you. Am I clear!”

There was a collection of “Yes my lord.” from the gathered commanders and aides in the room.

“As for you…” He said as he fixed the now floating feline with a hard stare. “I am stripping you of any and all authority that you have with the Dominion government. The only say you have is within your temples and with your followers. If I ever catch you stepping out of line and on my toes again, I WILL end you! And I Will make sure that you will be begging for a swift end once I’m done with you. Am I clear!??”

“Very… My lord…” Prukatu then dropped to the floor in a heap, gasping for breath as air started to properly fill his lungs again.

“Now… Get out of my sight.”

Prukatu’s aid quickly came to the feline’s side and helped him up before the priest shoved the aid away. Prukatu looked ready to say something, but a menacing glance from the human was enough to deter him and he left without a word. Everyone else who was left was quiet after the spectacle that they had witnessed, unsure of what to say or do.

“With that taken care of,” The human said calmly, breaking the silence once the feline had disappeared. “Could someone please contact the fleet commander and have her forces return to Sydion?”

One of the techs in the room gave a slight bow before turning to a station and relaying the order to the person there. It was a few moments before the tech spoke up. “My lord…” he said as a nervus expression washed across his face. We are unable to get in contact with the Fleet Commander.” The tech mentally prepared himself as best as he could for the backlash that was coming.

“Do you know why?” Dar asked. His voice held the noticeable irritation that he no doubt felt, but he seemed to be holding his anger back from taking it out on the tech.

“Uhm... “ The tech was a bit taken aback from the lack of reprimands or retaliation for the failure, so it took a moment for his brain to catch up to what was actually going on. He quickly turned and stood over the station’s actual operator and the two quietly but quickly conversed with each other. “My lord,” the tech said as they turned back to Dar. “We’re unable to ascertain why our communications are not reaching the Fleet Commander’s fleet. It could be one of a number of issues. Either there’s a tech failure somewhere in our network or the Fleet Commander has already gone through the Sydion Hyper Gate.”

“I take it that there’s no way to contact them when they leave the system?”

“I’m sorry sir.” The tech’s ears flattened as he turned to face the rest of the room. “We only have communication access through our own relays in the Sydion Star cluster and some of them need to be updated I believe. We will have luminal communication once we have secured and set up another com-rely on the other side of the Hyper Gate.”

“Then we’re going to have to do this the old fashion way…” Dar grunted as he looked at the gathered commanders. “Contact our fastest scout ship that's close to the planet. We need to stop the fleet before they engage with the enemy.” There were a few hushed whispers before finally one of the Commanders spoke up.

“A… Scout ship, my lord?”

“Yes, A scout ship.” Dar said matter of factly, until he noticed that the commanders were looking at each other confused. “We have scout ships do we not?”

“Describe a… Scout Ship, sir.”

“A scout is a small, fast ship that’s normally the size of a corvette or frigate. A type of ship that is sent into a system for advanced exploration and reconnaissance before others arrive to gain intelligence in the area.” Dar looked at the blank expressions around the room. “We do have a ship type that fills that role, correct?”

“Uhm…”

“We have personnel shuttles and troop dropships.” Another commander piped up. “But they’re typically faried by our combat ships.”

Dar was quiet for a long moment, the silence nearly deafening to those gathered. Both his hands raised up to his helmet as his speakers let out a rather loud sigh.

“My lord.” The panthress spoke up. “While all of our capital ship’s are the same, it is still potentially possible to reach the Fleet Commander before they encounter the enemy.”

Dar looked at her. With the helmet it was hard for anyone to gauge his normal reactions. “If I may ask, How?”

“If a ship commander is willing to risk it, it is possible to skip FTL Gates to shave time off our travels. However, as I just mentioned it is a rather risky thing to do.”

“Care to enlighten me Commander…?”

“Forth Commander Mrala Linhethal.” The Panther said as she straightened up. “When our ships travel through the FTL Gates, they generate an electro-static field that gathers upon the outer hull. Often ships travel the Gate network from one gate to the other so when they’re not going at FTL speeds they can dissipate the collected charge caused by traveling at FTL speeds while going through the system.”

“Wouldn’t such fields be harmful to the planets or inhabitants of the system?” Dar asked, stroking the chin of his helmet.

“Surprisingly no my lord. The fields are only truly dangerous when traveling at FTL speeds. Otherwise, the built up static field that gathers on the ship's hull dissipates and an EVA personnel can safely walk on the hull after about an hour at sub light.”

“I see…” He muttered to himself in thought. “Commander Linthethal, contact the fleet. I want a ship ready to depart within the hour.”

“My fleet will be ready to depart soon my lord.”

“No.” Dar’s sudden reaction surprised everyone in the room. They stared at him in confusion as he continued. “One ship with only a skeleton crew of essential personnel and those are of volunteers only. No reason to risk any more manpower than necessary.”

There was a brief silence before Mrala responded. “Understood M’lord. I will personally take command and will depart as soon as I’m on board.”

“The ship will depart as soon as we board it.” The comment made everyone turn and look at the new overlord in confusion. “I shall be joining the mission.”

“My Lord?”

“After the multitude of stunts Prukatu has pulled since my arrival, I would not put it past him to have a kind of failsafe of some sort that will require my presence to straighten out.”

“I understand my lord.”

---

The logic at the time made sense. It seemed like this Dar Tavor would be quite interesting to serve under. Though she began to question her line of thinking when he ordered them to head directly to the Hyper Gate. It was a half day’s journey normally and the direct course would save them at least four hours, but they were still traveling eight hours of nonstop FTL travel and they were only at hour three. There was no telling what problems would arise in the next five hours.

The door whooshed open and she turned to find Dar entering, still wearing the wolf helmet and black uniform outfit from earlier. He stopped long enough to observe the crew before approaching her on the raised podium. Somehow, his appearance had started to cause her heckles to rise.

“Commander Linhethal,” He greeted almost distantly. “What is the ship's status so far? Is everything alright?” It seemed to the patheress that Dar was distracted. By what she wasn’t sure, but his demeanor was putting her on alert.

“So far, everything has been operating in the green and we are getting ready to pass the second jump gate sector in the next hour.”

“So we are proceeding according to schedule?”

“Yes. However, I still would advise that we drop out of FTL for routine checks on the ship”

“Noted.” He said curtly. “Stay the course Commander.”

“My lord, are you sure that you wish to continue straight to the Hyper gate? The longest any ship has been in an FTL field has only been about three to four hours, and others that had tried to go past the three hour mark had disappeared. there’s no telling what problems will arise between here and the Hyper gate if we don’t return to sub-light.”

“I wonder how much is fact and how much is propaganda.” Dar muttered quite seriously. “But what I do know is that we are racing against time and need every advantage we got.” He sighed, but kept his composure as he faced the forward view ports. “I do not want things to spiral out of control due to some overzealous idiot that gives stupid orders blindly before things can be properly assessed.” Mrala grinned a little. There was a reason why she liked this new overlord. Now hopefully their luck holds out.

"Fourth Commander Linhethal!" An operator called out in a panic.

Damn it…

“Report.” Mrala barked as she stepped off the command podum and approached the operator that had called her attention.

“Ma’m.” The operator said, turning to face the commander. “There’s a variation built up in the static field. At the rate of build up, the field will tear the ship apart in less than forty minutes.”

“Show me.”

Mrala’s mind raced as she looked over the data with the operator. Everything was looking like normal operations to her as her eyes scanned the walls of text and numbers on the deplays before her. Confused, Mrala started to direct the crew into action. The crew followed her orders as she commanded them to run diagnostics and enact emergency protocols in an attempt to safeguard her ship and limit the potential problems. So far, nothing was coming up that could cause the variation in the field that they could find. The only theory that kept coming up was the fact that it was a natural phenomenon of the FTL static field and they were starting to run out of time.

Seemingly to emphasize the danger, the ship started to vibrate under their feet.

“Commander.” At least four heads turned to the source of the voice much to the annoyance of the speaker. Dar let out a soft growl before he continued. “Commander Linhethal, a moment of your time please.” The pantheress huffed as she pulled away from the station she was at. Her eyes fixed on the human overlord as he looked at a holographic display that was being projected by the *CIC (Command Information Communication) podium.

“M’lord?” She stated, announcing her presence.

“Commander Linheral,” He said, not turning his head towards her. “There’s a few questions that I need to ask of you…”

“Lord Tavor,” She interrupted with a slight growl in her voice. “We are currently in a dangerous situation and we don’t have much time before there’s a catastrophe.” She didn’t realize it until later, but she was speaking in a scolding voice. Much like someone would use to scold a child. “We need to return to sub-light speeds before the field collapses and shreds the ship!”

“And what?” He snapped back. “Fly to the closest FTLGate? I don’t know how long that would take if we waited for the last possible moment, but I’m guessing that we would still come up short no matter how long we wait. Then I would guess that it would still take several weeks if not years at sub-light to reach that gate. Am I right?” Mrala didn’t speak, knowing that he was right despite him only being exposed to everything for less than a day. However, Dar didn’t seem to be deterred by the non-answer. “So figuring that. By the time we return to Sydion, there’s a very good chance that any attempt to stop the coming conflict from escalating further due to people’s warmongering would be rendered moot!”

‘Damn him.’ Mrala thought to herself. He had basically cowled her with that statement and all he really did was tell her the truth.

“Now,” He spoke up to regain her attention. “As I said, I have a few questions that I’d like to ask. Is it standard procedure for the sub-light engines to be active while in FTL?”

Mrala looked at Dar confused. What did the sub-light drives have to do with their current situation?

“The sub-light drives are automatically put into idle standby as soon as the ship is accelerated to FTL speed.”

“Then commander, what do you make of this?” He said as he pointed to the holographic image that floated between them.

It was the first time that she had actually paid attention to the display above the CIC podium. Above the surface was a holographic image of their ship, which she would later hear the human describe as a cross between an insect and a sixteen bit video game UFO. However, what got her attention was the bubble that was surrounding the ship and her mind had quickly realized that the bubble represented the static field that surrounded the ship during FTL flight. Normally the bubble was smooth at the front of the ship and had minor waves at the rear of the vessel, however, the bubble image had vibrations throughout the image, looking more like a two dimensional image of a water’s surface after someone threw a stone in. Her eyes followed the rippling pattern towards the back of the ship where the patterns were completely wild and chaotic. There shouldn’t be that level of abnormalities in the field… Unless…

“SHUT DOWN THE SUB-LIGHT DRIVES NOW!” Mrala roared as she spun around on her heels. Everyone on the bridge stopped what they were doing to look at the pantheress as she marched over to the railing closest to the ship’s helm.

“Ma’am?” The operator asked confusedly as he turned to look up at her from his seat.

“You heard me!” Came the curt reply as Mrala stormed over to the operator. “Shut the drives down NOW!”

“But… Ma’am…” The operator stuttered in response. “Even you can see that the sub-light drives are currently set to idle ready…”

“Are you arguing with me?!?” She sneered at the operator, making him shrink back in his seat.

“N-n-no ma’am… It's just that…”

“You’re Relieved!” Everyone turned to face the raised command platform to see Dar standing there looking directly at the operator. The overlord stood there unflinching as all eyes were on him.

“B-b-b-but…”

“Security!” Two armored troopers came around the platform. “Remove this… person from the bridge. Place him in the brig while I think of a suitable punishment for him.” The two troopers wordlessly nodded before they approached the operator who was now visibly shaking in fear.

“B-but I didn’t do anything wrong…” He begged as he was unceremoniously dragged off the bridge. “Please!… I’m begging you! Believe me! I didn’t do…” The doors sliding shut cut off any more pleads from the operator. The bridge was quiet as they watched as the operator was dragged off the bridge. Everyone’s attention returned to Dar who seemed to be unphased by what just happened.

“I am only going to say this once…” He said, loud and clear for everyone on the bridge to hear him. “You are here to do a job and I expect everyone of you to do it. We are in a crisis situation and there are things below the surface that not all of us can currently see. I expect every one of you to do your jobs that you’ve been assigned to do and follow the orders that you’ve been given. While I don’t expect you to follow every order given blindly, I do expect you to use your head and do your duty to yourself and to the Dominion. Am I clear?” There was a choir of “Yes M’lord.” from those that were on the bridge. Dar then nodded to the pantheress. “Third Commander.”

Mrala gave a curt nod before she spoke up at another bridge operator that was standing. “Take his place.” The operator nodded and quickly made her way to the now vacant station. As soon as she was seated, Mrala wasted no time in giving her the order. “Shut down the Sub-Light Drives now.” The operator didn’t argue, both of them could see that the readout display showed that the engines were at idle but the operator still complied with the order. Her fingers flew across the console as she typed the commands. The more she typed, the more a sour look spread across her face.

“Ma’am, I…” She started as she frantically did everything in her power to work her console. “I have no control over anything.”

“What!?!”

“I… I’m sorry ma’am.” The operator swallowed hard before she continued. “Console command has been locked out. The only thing I can do is to drop the ship out of FTL.”

“How…” Mrala said out loud, trying to think of what could have happened. “You,” She barked as she turned to another station. “See if you can access the engine and navigation controls.” The operator tried to bring up the necessary interface but all the operator was able to do was get the denial beeps as the station refused to access the desired software programs.

“I’m sorry Ma’am… I can’t access it either.”

Other bridge crew members started to take the initiative and try to access the desired networks, but each one had to report the same results.

Access Denied…

Mrala’s mind raced with the possibilities as to how and why something like this might happen. Network failure? An error in the main computer? Something quite plausible did come to mind but that would mean that someone in the crew that she had trusted for years had…

“Sabotage?” One operator asked no one in particular.

“Can't be…” Another muttered in disbelief.

“There’s no other explanation.” Dar spoke up, gaining everyone’s attention again.. “Someone is trying to derail our mission and is probably trying to force the Dominion into a state of war.”

“Who would do something like that?” An operator asked, not realizing that they had voiced their thoughts. “I thought that the Overlord was the final authority of the Dominion.”

“I have a few ideas.” Dar muttered. “Commander Linhethal, How well do you know your crew?”

“Quite well My Lord.” Mrala said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice as she straightened her back in attention. She hated the fact that he’s even suggesting that someone on her ship might have betrayed her. “I would trust each one with my life.” She was quite proud to say that, and gave a toothy smile in pride.

“Do you know anyone who might be a part of the Occult of the Dominion?”

“None of them has any allegiance to the Occult.” Mrala said proudly. “My crew was hand picked by me and most of us have served together many years before joining the Dominion.”

“And that operator just now?” Dar countered quickly. “The one who started arguing with you?”

Mrala started to open her mouth, but quickly closed it. That operator was relatively new, assigned to her just after they had joined the Dominion. Now that she thought about it, there’s been a few that had joined her crew since they came under the banner of the Dominion. There was no time to start interviewing the new crew members to find out their allegiance…

“What about the Tech Psyions?” Another commander nearby put forth.

“Tech Psyions?” Dar asked, confused. “Who are they?”

“They are the ones who maintain the engines and other mechanical parts around the ship.”

“So, they are basically the ship’s engineers?” Not understanding what Dar meant by the word engineers, Mrala shrugged in response. “What connection would the engineers have with the Occult?”

“While the commander has the pick over the crew, the Tech Psyions are assigned to a given ship. They are trained in special monasteries and once they reach a ‘level of awareness’ and are given over to the Dominion to do their duty on the ship.”

“And who runs these monasteries?” Dar said with a slight mocking tone. The commander was about to speak but was interrupted when Dar held up a hand. “No, no… Let me guess. The Occult right?” Realization dawned on the crew, Dar was indeed correct.

Mrala raised her hand as her M.I.T.T. activated. Prukatu was going to rue the day when she gets her hands on the fenatical leader. She was about to activate the coms when another hand stopped her.

“No…” Dar said as he looked at the pantheress through the electronic blue eyes of his helmet. “Not over an open channel. We don’t want to tip our hand.”

“Then…” Mrala said with a huff as she relented. “What do you propose?”

“We will personally go to the barracks and get a troop detachment and take Engineering ourselves.”