“Reversion to real space will occur in five minutes,” came the comm officer’s voice over the ship’s PA system.

“Very good lieutenant,” replied Commander Laykus Lutra, captain of the K.F.S. Phasmatis, through his own private comm unit.

The Phasmatis was a Nexus-class Battlecruiser. At three point two kilometers long, with a crew count 2,000, along with 3,000 vehicle pilots, and 5,000 KFA personnel, in addition to its twelve heavy turbolasers, and numerous lighter weaponry, it was one of the most powerful starships in this region of space.

Lutra turned to the ship’s executive officer, Captain Thellus, “I am going down to brief the Surveyor team. You are in command until I return. Understood?”

“Yes sir!” responded Thellus, who walked over to the command console and stood in front of the chair. Commander Lutra left the bridge, and headed for the teleported chamber, where the Surveyor team should already be assembled.

“Reversion to real space in three minutes,” came the PA system again, as the Commander reached the chamber door. He keyed in his command code, and the door slid open. Inside the massive room, near one of the significantly smaller secondary teleporters, stood ten Kalarii all clad in blue and orange Legionnaire armour, as well as sixteen yellow-clad technicians. Commander Lutra approached the Kalarii with the white Captain’s emblem painted on his armour.

“Captain, you are aware of your orders?” asked Lutra.

“Yes, Commander,” replied the Captain. “after the bombardment, we are to go planetside and search for any of the following: surviving citizens or military personnel, military vehicles, and government information databases.”

“Excellent. Prepare for release within the hour.” Commander Lutra headed back towards the bridge. He was walking through one of the outer hallways, with viewports showing the blue/green mess of warp space.

Halfway down the hall, a tone sounded over the ship-wide comm system, and the blue and green outside faded into a starfield. Lutra activated his comm clip. “Captain Thellus, bring us to heading 44.3, reactor at 100%, all power to engines.”

“As ordered sir,” came the Captains reply, over the clip.

Laykus could feel the ship shudder as it began to move. A large red sun appeared through the viewports, causing them to tint. Laykus continued walking.

He arrived on the bridge and dismissed Captain Thellus, who returned to overseeing duties.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In twenty minutes, the Phasmatis was in orbit around a planet. This was the Class IX temperate planet Foithon III, an Avii border world. In several more minutes, the Phasmatis was in geosynchronous orbit directly above the capital city of Candlesna.

The ship rolled until all port turbolaser batteries had clear shots at the city, and the ship opened fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The squad has been planetside for almost two hours now, thought Commander Lutra, they should be returning to the pickup point very soon.

A cry rose from the sensor station. “Commander! Avii defence ships have just faded in from warp space five thousand kilometers aft of our current position. ETA at eight minutes…”

~KS~