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Buildings burned all around her, sending up columns of smoke that tinted the sun's light. Through the smoke were bright and slow moving balls of fire, hurtling toward the nearby areas. Smoke filled her nostrils, bringing a mixture of burned flesh and fur with it. The burning bodies lay motionless in the street, the flames on their body slowly filling the silence with a roar.

"Tang!"

Someone was calling her name.

"Tang!"

She knew these buildings. She was back home, on Canidera in her home city. In the corners of her vision, she saw soldiers hurry toward battle. The soldiers she had come to know: Calvin Redding, the young wolves she met in her laboratory, even the Commander, Yelena, and so many others she's seen during her voyage on Drach'n Fury. She watched many of them fall quickly from the enemy, the Creepers.

"Tang!!"

The sounds of the battle flooded her at once; the whine of the falling fireballs, the screams of the dying, the rush of wind, the explosions, the roar of fire. Turning, she saw her younger brother, Jun, standing with her among the ruins.

"What's going on?" she asked, yelling over the battle. Another warm breeze passed through her fur, but instead of comfort it brought the sense of death with it.

"Come on," he demanded, grabbing her paw and pulling her away.

With a glance back toward the battle, she only caught a glimpse of motion rushing toward her. Her instincts told her danger is coming and she tried to run with her brother. A few paces down the pathway, she spotted the young fox, Yukiomaru. Facing the danger, he made no attempt to move. His teeth were bared and clenched the same with his fists, complimenting a glare that stopped Tang as if she hit a wall.

"Yuki--" she muttered. A blast of wind hit her from behind. Before she could turn, she nearly fell to the ground as the ground shook beneath her. She regained her stance in time to turn to face the wind that brought new waves of dust and smoke. One of the buildings collapsed, killing countless more. Through the smoke and fire, near the outreaches of the city, rose a massive green hill. A chunk of it was burned and missing. The marten recognized it as the Klienestov that nearly killed them all not too long ago.

Yukiomaru could be heard growling behind Tang. She knew what he was thinking; they've failed, their home world had been invaded and now it is being destroyed.

Jets screamed overhead, hurtling straight at the Klienestov named Aggressor, but the jets were quickly transformed into puffs of fire and twisted metal. Infested vehicles took control of the sky, and the streets, and they all seemed to focus on the three of them.

A fireball impacted nearby, and from it jumped a large infected creature. With one swift movement, it struck amongst them, impaling her little brother instantly with a vine.

"Jun!!" she screamed. The younger marten fell to the ground. She kneeled next to him. He was gasping and coughing up blood. The Admiral also kneeled next to him, placing his white paws over the wound but he stumbled back when he saw his fur move as if something was underneath it.

The ground shook again, more violently this time causing Tang to turn toward the Klienestov once again. It was now in the city, buildings falling before it and it steadily approached them, focusing on them. Another building fell.

With anger and helplessness, Yukiomaru screamed loud enough to drown out all other noise.

Tang bolted up, surrounded by darkness. Everything had faded away except the scream.

"Tang?" a groggy voice spoke. She felt her brother stir next to her, as he adjusted position to try to go back to sleep.

Panting, she could feel her heart beat three times faster than normal. The scream didn't fade so she placed her head in her paws and rubbed back her fur before stepping out of bed. Wandering in the darkness, she couldn't shake the terrible feeling she had caused by her dream but she was distracted once she stepped out in to the brightly lit corridor.

"Yuki!" He was in the corridor, naked and huddled on the floor.

Was it the Stealth? She hurried over to the fox and knelt next to him. Shivering with soft growls coming from him, Yukiomaru appeared to be fine, physically at least. He's sleeping.

Placing her arms underneath the fox, Tang picked up the fox and stood. His tail drooped to the floor but he stopped shivering and the growls quieted. Taking a step back to her room, Tang stopped, surprised when the fox nuzzled up against her fur. Shocked by the Admiral's behavior, stood stunned for a few seconds with the worrying feeling disappearing before stepping back into her dark room.

Next to her brother, she set the fox down carefully and pulled the sheet over him. She almost felt like a mother. With Yukiomaru sleeping peacefully now, the marten left her own room and wandered the halls, pulling a robe over her fur.

"Fury," she said, once several paces away from her room's doorway. He didn't answer. "Fury?"

"Yes?" he finally replied quietly over the speakers.

"Why did you let Yukiomaru wander the halls like that?" she asked, not sure if she was angry or simply curious.

"My apologies, Tang Fa," answered Fury and didn't say anything else.

She walked in silence for a minute before she asked him: "You've been quiet since Yukiomaru woke up. Why?"

"My apologies if you are uncomfortable with my silence, Tang Fa," Fury answered. "My function is to be the artificial intelligence that operates this ship. Nothing more."

"You weren't so direct before," Tang muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

"No, I wasn't. In truth, since the Admiral had woken from his coma, I've been carefully examining my programming. There was an anomaly during his coma and I didn't realize it until after he woke up. I'm still unable to find it."

"Do you want me to look at your programming?" offered Tang.

"If you wish. But I'm confident that you won't find anything because I haven't been able to find anything out of the ordinary either."

"It's worth a try." Another couple minutes passed before Tang walked through the doors entering the bridge.

"Tang?" questioned Yelena. She was sitting behind one of the consoles but Velsh'nark was standing near her too.

"Commander, Velshnark," she greeted them, stepping closer to them. "Have we received anything unusual from home?"

"No," Yelena answered, standing from her seat. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," said Tang, remembering her dream and Yukiomaru's night terror. "Have you seen the Admiral since the switch in shifts?"

"I haven't," she admitted. "I've been looking over your report on your findings on the Stealth's crystal."

"Commander?" Velsh'nark said somewhat hesitantly.

"Sorry," she said turning back toward the taller alien. "I'll find a shuttle for you. The shipyard is still under construction so it'll be a few days before I can grant you permission to fly there."

"Thank you Commander," Velsh'nark said before stepping out.

"Velshnark's fleet has agreed to let him stay onboard as a diplomat," explained Yelena, watching the alien leave. "They'll be transferring some of his gear at a new shipyard we're building beyond the Black Line. Now, you usually work during the first shift. Could you not sleep?"

"No, actually," answered Tang. She took a seat near one of the consoles and Yelena sat in the commanding chair of the bridge. "I suppose I'm getting anxious to get home. Do you know when we're expected to arrive?"

"Not for another twelve hours. We're almost there. Is that all that's bothering you?"

"Yeah," she lied after a brief hesitation. The Commander brought up the crystal reports again, questioning the finer points of the details including what was missing. For a couple hours they talked over various things before Tang went to her laboratory. She studied the videos of the Klienestov attack, and the infestation of the little Velmarian near that strange planet.

It was in her lab where Jun found her several hours later. He walked in without a word and sat down near her. She waited for him to say something but grew annoyed when he remained silent.

"Did you just wake up?" she asked, pushing a replay of one of videos away.

"Not really," he answered, leaning on the edge of his seat. "How long have you been up?"

"Few hours. I couldn't sleep."

"Must have been a restless night all around," commented Jun quietly. "We'll be home in a few hours. Mother is going to be at the docks waiting for us. Hey, do you think we'll be able to come back onboard Drach'n Fury when they set out again?"

"If the Admiral requests it then I'm sure Mother won't object. I'm going to get ready. Don't break anything while I'm gone."

"I was going to the bridge anyway," muttered Jun, standing and leaving the lab.

She stood and followed her brother out of the laboratory but they quickly went separate ways as she headed for her room. When she arrived, she found it vacant with no sign of the Admiral but she headed straight for the showers after picking up a fresh outfit.

Clean and dressed, Tang walked toward the lounge to chow down on some food. She found someone she didn't expect there, the alien Velshnark. With her food, she decided to join him while she ate.

"Your food takes a lot of time to get used to," remarked Velshnark, his words being translated through Tang's PawPad. She didn't respond. "You hacked that crystal, didn't you?"

"That was me," the marten replied, breaking off a smaller piece of some vegetables. "Wasn't easy and most of the data was corrupted anyway."

"You don't have any more information on how the Klienestov made it to the planet by being in a ship a tenth of its size then?"

"It's all in the report," answered Tang. "The Stealths theorize that the core of the creature travelled there, weakened somehow by some previous incident and infected the planet to regrow. The volcanic explosion would have killed it if it wasn't in the magma itself beneath the surface."

"Our fleet fought Aggressor a few generations ago," stated Velsh'nark, pushing around the food on his own dish. "We burned it but before we could fully exterminate it another Klienestov appeared, allowing Aggressor to escape. We had hoped it died from its injuries because we never found it after that battle, until now."

"Your fleets are mobilizing to combat it though, right?"

"Yes."

"Won't they need every soldier and pilot they can get then? Why are you staying with us?" The question caused Velsh'nark to hesitate.

"One more pilot won't make that big of a difference," answered Velsh'nark, his black eyes looking directly into hers. "An armada can though. I've seen some texts on your history and liked nearly every other race we've come across, your history is plagued with war. Even now you still have pirates lurking and threatening your security, and the Stealths have declared war on you so it is my hope to convince your leaders to focus on the 'Creepers', and not wasting resources and lives on each other."

"Yukiomaru has taken a more diplomatic approach with the Stealth that tried to kill him," said Tang, forgetting about her food. "We may be able to salvage that situation and our pirate problem is of minimal concern. Our primary focus is the parasite."

"I've heard that before and seen that leaders of those races can often have different opinions," mumbled Velsh'nark. "You'll be home soon; your brother was with the Admiral on the bridge last I saw. You should go there with them."

With a paw full of vegetables and dried meat, she stood from her seat and exited the lounge. She was excited to get home but she wasn't ignorant to the fact that others were not so excited, Velsh'nark and Fury among them.

When she arrived on the bridge, she found the two commanding officers and her brother there. Large looming windows were exposed, revealing a thousand stars beyond them, one of them brighter than the rest while they drew closer. The large blast panes of the bridge were pulled back, something Tang hasn't yet seen even though she's been on the ship for nearly a year.

"Tang," exclaimed her brother who was standing near the Admiral before he ran up next to his sister. "That's home. We're almost there." He pointed at the bright star in the distance.

"Keep slowing down until at in-system cruising speed," said Yukiomaru, focused on commanding the ship. Yelena was sitting behind one of the forward consoles, piloting the ship herself instead of Fury.

"Hey Jun," she returned the greeting. Her gaze remained on the star outside the window, and watched as one of the many gas giants in the system slowly eclipses it.

"Once we slingshot around the planet, we'll be able to see Canidera," Yelena informed from behind her console.

On the dark side of the planet, the star disappeared and they were shrouded in darkness. They waited in silence but soon began to pick up radio chatter.

"-bank right! Good job, now do it again.-"

"-too fast, I can't catch up.-"

"-another ship? Should we go back?-"

"-away from the shipyard!-"

Rounding the planet, they finally were able to see their home planets and everything that surrounded them. Furthest away from the planets were dozens of capital ships in formation and running some sort of drill while their squadrons of Immunities were closer to the planets. They were also flying drills, through and around obstacles such as asteroids. Orbiting Canidera itself was a new shipyard with half a dozen of skeletal structures docked while they were being constructed. A long with the new shipyard were also new defense platforms orbiting the planet.

"Shipyard Master Benson Halls," said Yukiomaru after establishing a link. "This is Admiral Alexander. We have arrived."

"Welcome home," replied an older male voice. "I'm sending you coordinates to my shipyard. I hope to see your ship within the hour."

"How many new ships are being built?" Yukiomaru asked, staring through the window that zoomed in on the shipyard. Like carrion bugs, the workers swarmed around the skeletal ships working tirelessly to finish them.

"All shipyards are at full production," answered Yelena, reading from her console. "Eighteen new ships have been started, fully armed with their own shuttles and squadrons of Immunities. They took our reports more serious than I thought they would."

That's an understatement, thought Tang. There aren't that many resources to go around and this must be costing us a fortune. The marten worried about the civilian programs that would be neglected, but after a second thought back to what the Creepers are capable of, maybe this isn't a bad idea.

"Take us home, Commander," ordered the arctic fox. Standing from his seat, the Admiral gazed out at the fleets training and being built. His expression as hard to read, but he almost looked worried. Jun noticed it too.

Glancing back through the windows, Tang forced herself to blink when she thought she saw the planet and fleets burning in a smoldering ruin. With a stare she saw that nothing was damaged and the mobilization of the fleets was still unhindered.

The uneasy dream crept back into her mind. Will it be enough?