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The sensors on the bridge showed the telltale gravitational blips of mass displacement. Gravitic waves rippling out in false color on the screens… but nothing was there.

“Captain Goolie, cycle EM scanners through all wavelengths!” The Admiral ordered, then yelling into the comms. “Captain Yribia, do you see anything? What are we looking at?”

“We aren’t detecting any foreign presence, Admiral!” Came the reply through the comms. “There’s nothing there!”

The Admiral scanned the field map, taking inventory of her forces. “Attention Fleet, new priority is securing the Rift. No one’s jumping anywhere until we know what, if anything, just came through. Fate’s Hammer and Gleaming Blade, approach Rift and dispatch probes, I want to see what the hell came thro—“

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“—Admiral!” Captain Goolie interrupted. “I am detecting a signal, unknown source is attempting to establish connec—“

And suddenly, bleating through the comms, that unknown source became known.

“—I repeat, this is Lieutenant Colonel Kelby! Hegemony Armada inbound, weapons hot, assume immediate defensive posture! I repeat, this is Lieut—“

“Thirkle!?!” The Admiral yelped. “Where are you?? What is goin—“

“Preyl!” Kel’s voice boomed through the comms. “A Hegemony Armada is inbound! Contact in less than 10 seconds! Prepare to loose all available ordnance towards the Rift! I will explain everything later!”

“Admiral!” Captain Goolie shouted across the bridge. “We are detecting another Gravitational Signature, 5,000 Standard Units behind the first… it’s… it’s massive.”

And then, all at once, 4,000 Hegemony warships dropped into the space infront of us.

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