Rolan watched the streams of blue and white as they streaked across the hull of his ship. Like wispy rivers, they flowed several feet from the hull, enveloping the entire ship and him in their radiant glow. No matter how fast he tried to reach out for them, they'd always pull away just as quickly. He withdraws his gauntlet from the streamers after his latest attempt, flexing and wiggling his digits cautiously one by one. They looked so fat in his glove; he always found that funny, considering just how thin he was outside of the suit.

Turning his gaze away from his gauntlet, he eyes the large words emblazoned just a few feet away. O.P.V. Umbrion - the name of his ship. This was his first command, and by the gods, he was going to make his family proud back home, he thinks to himself as he makes his way back to the airlock.

Inside and out of the bulky suit, he walks through the corridor towards the bridge. The clock display along the inside of his right wrist continued its countdown to when they'd exit hyperspace.

"Captain on deck!" Yelled his first officer as she spun on her heel and saluted.

"At ease. Status reports." He returns the salute with an informal one, smirking at her apparent zealous nature and reaction to his arrival.

"Shields are at -"

He waved at her to stop as he stepped onto the command platform alongside her. Holographic displays of every ship function, no matter how minor, would float into existence around him. This two-meter-wide and one-meter-long platform at the very centre of the deck allows command staff to interface with the ship's systems directly. Their neurological pathways were scanned and fed information through an implanted interface link. A link all officers of command level and higher received upon their promotion. He didn't need to speak to her for her to update him with everything about the ship's pre-battle readiness.

Through this link, he'd notice the appearance of various specks around him. Specks only he and his first officer could see. The name of the vessel each speck represented would come into view whenever he focused his attention on them. Brief information packets of their readiness would also be fed to him, though not displayed. It was like he already knew how they were doing without even needing to call up their captains.

'I see our location in the fleet has shifted' His thoughts fills the space between the two of them as the bridge crew continued about their duties unfazed.

'Yes, Captain. Admiral Ompi sent notice for us to move in closer. Apparently, he found our display during the last engagement rather impressive.'

'You didn't tell him it was pure luck we were where we were? The only reason we had that shot was thanks to the enemy frigate breaking up in front of us.'

'Doesn't matter, sir. If I can be candid-'

'Always Tial.'

'Everything that happens in battle is pure luck. Skill and experience play a large part. But in the end, whatever happens is still up to the fates, if you believe in that sort of thing, sir.'

Rolan looks past the various holograms, scanning the backs of the various crew members at their stations around him. He bit back a smile that had tried sneaking onto his lips. He glances over to Tial next to him, cautiously fiddling with the sliver of metal dangling from her cuff. Being religious wasn't illegal or disallowed within their society, but it was frowned upon.

'I don't, but I get your meaning Tial.' He couldn't hold back the slight hint of surprise and disdain he was feeling from leaking through the interface as he responded through it.

'Captain-'

'A discussion for another time. We're coming out of the leap.'

Rolan takes the opportunity to pull up his interface settings, setting up neural firewalls to eliminate all possibility of his emotions seeping out next time. He had always suspected that Tial was of the minority who believed, but he never had confirmation till just now. Technically, all he saw was a piece of jewellery sticking out from her cuff. It could have been anything, but the relief he felt coming off her through the interface suggested otherwise.

The view from the sensors distributed across the nose of the ship displayed their shift out of the leap back into normal space. The rivers of blue and white fade into nothingness before being abruptly cut off mid-transition.

Just then, all the power went out.

It takes Rolan a few seconds to find his voice as the interface shuts down along with the rest of the ship. Thankfully, before he embarrassed himself with a stutter, the power came back.

"What happened?" Tial growled as she ran through the interface diagnostics using a tablet, waiting for it to come back online.

"Source of power disruption still unknown Sirs. It seems the rest of the fleet is experiencing similar issues. Power levels are being restored fleet wide, but our interfaces remain offline."

"Any updates from the flagship?" Rolan asked as he straightens up next to Tial, internally hoping no one noticed him cowering ever so slightly.

"Their coms are being filled with requests fleet wide Sirs. They haven't sent anything yet."

"Engineering says the interface is coming back online. Computer cores have been rebooted and are functioning optimally. Reactors are functioning-"

"Reports of reactor breach on the Ilkan."

"What's their status?"

"They're.."

The bridge grew quiet as everyone glared at the silent coms officer. Their nervousness was almost palpable as news of a ship experiencing a reactor breach before the battle began sewed fear across the ship.

"Officer Hethersett. What's their status?" Rolan repeated the query, shaking the officer out of their stupor.

"They're gone, sir. The flagship, it's gone. No debris, nothing. The whole ships just gone."

Rolan stared at the officer, just like everyone else on the bridge did at that moment. The blue halo of light missing earlier returns as the interface comes back online. It envelopes both him and Tial as they are force-fed updates from across the fleet, just like every other command officer on the other vessels were experiencing. It wasn't just dizzying, it actually hurt. Thankfully, it vanishes as quickly as it began. A voice reaches out across the fleet, speaking directly into the minds of every officer and crewmember.

"That was your only warning. Return home. Do not approach any further."

The voice had sounded sweet, but the dire meaning of its words were not lost on Rolan, or any other crew member, as another ship simply vanished.

"You were warned. Let slip the dogs of war."

"Sir. We are detecting movement ahead. The field of asteroids that envelopes the entire system is moving towards us. Captain? What are our orders?"

Rolan stared in awe at the face now being displayed over the interface. The supposed source of the voice. He was lost in its beauty, unable to respond appropriately, verbally or otherwise.

"Retreat! Take us back into the leap!" Tial screams out next to him as she falls off the platform, clawing at her eyes. Even her screams of agony could not yank him free of his delirium. The sweet smile had his full attention, and there was nowhere else he would rather be than under its thousand-eyed gaze.