(Here we are, Dax's last known position…)

Looking at the multiple outgoing system wide scans, Phillipa had a grim expression on her face.

"I am picking up multiple debris fields in this system, it looks like quite a battle took place here some time ago."

[5 years, 6 months, 7 days, 3 hours and 35 seconds ago to be precise. This is our objective and the reason for outfitting this s.h.i.+p in cutting edge sensor equipment, we're looking for a single survivor as well as any opportunities of learning anything about the Emergence.]

"We're on a short schedule! I want the utmost of every one of you, the survival of organic life depends on it!"

Addressing the entire crew the captain had a hardened determination the captain seemed to influence and empower his entire crew with a renewed sense of purpose. This was the reason they had been chosen, this was the reason they had been bestowed advanced technology years ahead of anything officially in service, this was the reason they had been unable to contact their loved ones for so long.

"""""Sir! Yes SIR!"""""

"Good to see all of you are finally motivated! Scramble all fighter wings and torpedo boats, I want this system under complete lockdown! Navigation, work together with observation and pinpoint all debris fields! And bring out the CAS-A9's, Phillipa will personally lead a boarding party to make sure any and all powered Emergence s.h.i.+ps will not alert the main intelligence while securing any intelligence of opportunity! Let's get to it."

---

After a few days, the system had been locked down entirely and debris fields of primary importance had been found. It was finally time for Philipha to justify her reason for being chosen for the mission.

"Okay listen up, I will only say this once so pay attention! This being a full EVA, high risk operation I will go in alone with the Reapers, this is not up for discussion! As for the route of I will s.p.a.cewalk along with the drones and any supporting s.h.i.+ps will absolutely NOT come within 5000 meters of any active or inactive Emergence vessel, they have been known to suddenly and inexplicably come online if any strong power sources come near!"

Having briefed the now extremely nervous pilots, Phillipa's demeanour seemed to change from her usually bright and friendly att.i.tude into that of a veteran h.e.l.lwalker being, intense almost overbearing and utterly frightening.

"ICI hook me in, code black."

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% CODE BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]

"Perfect~ Now for the drones, just give them all at once."

Feeling her vision slightly s.h.i.+ft as time slowed down around her while her brain activity spiked at unsafe levels, Philippa pointed at the frigates drone bay and with her words they came alive.

[ORDER CONFIRMED, 99 REAPERS ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, ALL RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]

"Let's get to it! The 9 drone squads are to check out the low priority sites while I go to what is currently believed to have been an Emergence dreadnought type battlecruiser."

Boarding one of the state of the art transports together with 9 drones Phillipa headed for the largest, somewhat intact vessel of the fleet that had ambushed Dax and his forces in order to learn what had become of him, his crew and his s.h.i.+p.

[We're a go for EVA, keeping up separation distance.]

"Thanks, Warthog. See you in a few hours."

Stepping out off transport into the empty void of s.p.a.ce, Phillipa glanced around to make sure her connection with the drones still held, then she joined hands with the 9 Reaper drones that were accompanying her and activated her EVA thrusters for an acceleration burn.

"Coming up on the s.h.i.+p now, it looks like a cla.s.s 14 s.h.i.+p of the late generation but I'm not completely sure. The rear thruster component and powerplant appear to have been entirely severed and the number of railgun hits all along the hull indicate that this s.h.i.+p was in intense CQC for some time before being disabled."

[Warthog copies your last. We will keep up a state of radio silence unless a priority message comes through, watch your back in there.]

About a kilometre out from the wreckage Phillipa and her drones entered a state of low power operations, as the Emergence had known to become increasingly active near any significant power signatures. What was problematic with Emergence s.h.i.+ps was the extreme degree of variation which bordered straight up random, eliminating any effective first strike capabilities as vital systems could not be identified. As Phillipa described the disabled s.h.i.+p was of the cla.s.s 14 variant, being one of the largest cla.s.ses so far encountered which had a form like a wide and flat boomerang that was about a kilometre from one tip to the other. Landing on the starboard side of the hull, Phillipa set up a breaching charge and quickly made her entry into the dark hull of the s.h.i.+p.

"Logic dictates a central bridge and or command centre… Which would mean that it isn't that way… Then we go this way instead."

Running in low power mode Phillipa couldn't use her magnetic boots to 'walk' in the slim corridors so instead, she simply floated around along with her drones as they investigated the s.h.i.+p. Meanwhile, Ra and Mu had found very little of Dax's Omeg7 cruiser, leading them to suspect 1 of 2 things had happened.

[Either it was completely obliterated or somehow managed to escape… The complete obliteration makes no sense, as there are serval Emergence s.h.i.+ps with extensive CQC damage, as for any attempt at escape…. Navigation, how many Empire thrusters have you located so far?]

"We've found 7 partial matches so far. I would a.s.sume that the hostiles which ambushed our craft tried to disable it immediately."

[Normally that would be a good a.s.sumption, but the Emergence tends to act randomly… Still, we can not rule out that that's exactly what's happened…. In that case, we need to search for a jump signature that would rule out if something did indeed escape from this system. I need a high bandwidth system wide scan.]

Coming to the inevitable conclusion that they could not keep hiding the way that they had been so far while still expecting to ever find Dax, Mu suggested something desperate which the captain immediately opposed.

"There's no way we can do that and still remain hidden!"

[Which is why we'll do that as a last resort, or when it's already clear that we've been spotted.]

-

"s.h.i.+t! How the h.e.l.l are they still active!?"

After having made her way inside the Emergence dreadnought Phillipa was quickly met with the s.h.i.+p's 'immune system' which was somehow still active after so long. Stabilizing herself in a doorframe Phillipa opened fire on some type of drone which looked like a mix between the iron force's outdated hexapod and a more advanced vaguely humanoid type. When describing Emergence s.h.i.+ps the Empire quickly found out it was easier to describe their internal functions by biology terms, like a living being they had something which closely resembled an immune system of countless different drones that specialized in repelling invaders and could also be used to take over hostile s.h.i.+ps. Beyond the simple immune system Emergence s.h.i.+ps also had platelet, memory and neuron type cells, the latter being what Phillipa was looking for inside the malformed labyrinth of steel.

Making steady progress the h.e.l.lwalker had decided that moving towards the path of most resistance was the right call and was soon rewarded for that when she found herself in a large open room.

"This is… A neuron cl.u.s.ter!"

Looking at a large cl.u.s.ter of drones, military grade computers and other processing equipment Phillipa realized she had struck gold. As the drones with her worked to secure her immediate surroundings the h.e.l.lwalker started identifying and removing memory segments for retrieval and eventual decryption.

"What the f.u.c.k!?"

Having dug into the centre of the neuron cl.u.s.ter Phillipa found something she didn't expect to see, hooked up to a crude life support system was a single Iron race child in a vacuum suit, impaled with countless wires all over and secured to the floor with chains.

"An organic processor… This thing needs to be completely erased from existence."

Looking into the open and dead eyes of the child Phillipa felt her rage boil while she vowed that she would wipe the thing that made such a thing of the map, permanently.

(... Wait a second.)

Finally breaking eye contact from the child Phillipa saw something out the corner of her eye that send a chill down her spine. Confirming her suspicion via the use of a drone the h.e.l.lwalker saw how the dead child's eyes kept following her.

(That piece of s.h.i.+t!)

Casually bracing her leg against a wall Phillipa unexpectedly charged the 'child' as her cybernetic arm powered up and split apart.

"Commence direct interface intelligence extraction!"

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PREPARING ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS.]

Gripping the 'child's' head, Phillipa crushed its vacuum suit helmet and made contact with its skin that was currently freezing over.

"NOW!"

[CONFIRMED. NOW EXTRACTING RAW CEREBRAL DATA…. SUCCESS, NOW PROCESSING 19.5 PETABYTES OF RAW DATA...…. ERROR, UNABLE TO PROCESS DATA.]

(That's way more data than normal, I guess my hunch proved correct, the Emergence can infect living beings…)

While reports of such an unholy ability were common from survivors, they were all unconfirmed. Having seen it happen first hand while also glancing over the data her ICI unit extracted, Phillipa had confirmed that at least some part of the Emergence had been present inside the child when she ripped out its memories.

"Now to get all this data back to Ra and Mu…. That's not good!"

While the h.e.l.lwalker was talking to herself she felt a subtle vibration in one of the walls she touched, then a second after that, the lights turned back on by themselves.

"That's really not good!"

[h.e.l.lwalker this is Warthog, the derelict you're inside just spiked in energy reading! It's waking up!]

"I have noticed that! I need a fast extract, send traffic to command as follows: Code red, fire mission on relative grid 03 01 22 91! Send one times EMPKP!"

[Warthog confirms, sending traffic. Rendezvous is point echo, get there fast.]

Even without its primary powerplant or propulsion, the derelict dreadnought still somehow came alive as countless cold gas thrusters all over it lit up in an attempt to kill the intruder that had infiltrated it. Phillipa used this to full her advantage as the generated centrifugal force made her able to run along the walls and ceiling as the dreadnought tired to kill her. Proving she was an elite the h.e.l.lwalker made her way outside the craft in record time and quickly opened up her separation as much as possible because she knew the craft was about to be hit.

[INCOMING ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE DEVICE, SHUTTING DOWN ALL VULNERABLE SYSTEMS.]

Suddenly Phillipa lost all power in her suit, a preventive measure as friendly fire support was incoming. Spinning around in the empty void of s.p.a.ce for a few seconds as she continued to separate from the derelict, Phillipa just managed to catch a glimpse of the incoming sh.e.l.l. Fired from the frigates main railgun, the 640mm kinetic penetrator which carried a small nuclear device priced into the derelict without issue. As the round reached the centre of the craft it detonated the nuclear bomb and generated an electromagnetic pulse which temporarily knocked the craft out of operation, just enough time for Phillipa to and the CAS-A9 to make minimum separation as it was completely obliterated by a swarm of fusion torpedoes from nearby torpedo boats.

[This is main addressing all crafts. Get the f.u.c.k back here now! We're detecting multiple gravitational distortions, we're going to have visitors imminently!]