*Aboard the mysterious ship*

A creature turned away from the terminal, to view a cavernous hall stretching out before it. Though it was dwarfed by the room, the creature would have towered over a human. Its head resembled a horse's skull in shape and colour, pallid skin stretched over flesh, dark blue veins stood out in the skin and four jutting fangs. Four eyes, two on each side facing forward, the other facing each side, dominated the features of the head. Each eye was marbled grey, surrounding a crimson pupil. It had no visible ears to see, nor nostrils rather, it had a series of small pits along its snout.

The head was supported by a long, thick, muscular neck, which drooped down to its body. Hidden by thick robes of royal purple and carmine embroidery, the robe moved in a way that suggested far too many limbs lay underneath. On either side of the neck was an appendage, which stretched for nearly two and half metres, interrupted by three joints and terminated in four long digits. Looking near the hem of the robe, a tail could be seen snaking out behind the creature.

As the thing advanced across the chamber, its body moved strangely. As though its supporting limbs weren't at the correct height, creating an almost shambling gait. The hall it shuffled through was vastly different from the exterior of the ship. At a glance it was a dark verdant green, not the oppressive light-engulfing black. Its texture was chitinous and smooth, with huge ribs of material lining the walls. Softly glowing red lights dotted the ceiling, barely visible at all.

The creature eventually came to a small circular opening in the wall, near the height of its head. It reached inwards with both appendages. With a hiss and flurry of robes, the creature hoisted itself into the opening and disappeared.

*In the Torc star system, several weeks later.*

The Mad Dash had been completed, along with UPG's, and the Glint's first ever orbital space port. The port had been given the name First Rung of the Ladder to the Stars or OSP-FRLS/1 as was stenciled boldly on its silver side. The entire station was a glittering silver wheel, slowly turning about a large central beam. Its name was in giant, bold red letters along the beam. Several hangars shaped like large two tined forks connected to the beam, with the Mad Dash dominating the largest and a few others holding rockets that seemed primitive next to the high tech ship and station.

The Mad Dash itself shared design points with the station, it was a long spear with four rings evenly dispersed along its length. The tip of the spear was a wide ovoid with two rows of glass marking the command deck. Along the length of the fuselage a length of windows could be seen with greenery inside, and at the other end of the ship was the engine bay. Five massive engines, each the size of the Daring Leap's entire engine assortment, dominated the rear. The forward and rearmost of the four rings were static, unlike the two rotating center rings, and they housed the new Herzog Effect Drive, named for the Glint that put forward the key formula that lead to its creation. The middle rings held the sleeping, common and mess rooms, as well as a gym. Two lumps could be seen just behind the rear ring, a landing shuttle in each. Overall, the ship's design demonstrated a focus on much longer and self-sustaining missions than were possible before.

"You're certain the new drives and engines will work as you predicted?" Saule queried Naytani, as they both inspected the ship before its maiden voyage to Gri'oux. "We have more people counting on your designs working as intended than the Daring Leap had."

"Yes for the ninth time, the test run to Kalina and back went fine. It only took an hour each way! With this technology Yjantai can finally win the Competition, and we should be able to meet the Humans in our lifetime," she responded, idly opening a panel beside a ship's comm. "After all, I designed it, you and Wensly helped. If anything goes wrong, it will be anything you two had your digits fiddle with."

"We only changed a few things, the air circulation system and the hydroponics bay. It's not as though we changed the entire-" Saule began.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Those 'little' changes had me rewiring and adjusting the layout of the internals for the entire ship! The hydroponics bay added fifteen units to the ship! Fifteen! It's not like I can just extend walls to accommodate that," she responded as she turned to Saule, her eyes glowing with indignation. "I had to re-spec the tolerances for the entire central shaft because of that. I missed an entire week of Gleaming Hearts and Eyes because of that."

Saule backed away from her, his hands up. "It needed to be done Naytani, if we got-"

Naytani continued her tirade. "I know, just let me go over the checks without you checking every branch three times! Now be quiet and don't pull any wires."

Acting put out, Saule followed her quietly through the rest of the soon-to-be routine systems check. They'd both been promoted as the new ship needed a larger crew. Eight more Glintish would be joining, as most had already been part of the Yjantai space program, but a notable few weren't. Saule thought about the few details he knew while he glided through the new ship.

A lauded biologist, Ozmac Tibor, a short male with white fur and green eyes, would be joining the science portion of the crew. Flik Haybur, an average sized female with light brown fur and grey eyes, had been poached from the ground team by Naytani to join her in engineering.

Stuhkey had requested Yors Juok, a leading researcher in stellar radiation who had emigrated from the UPG, to join them. A soldier named Riyn Eming from Yjantai's small army had also joined.When pressed by the crew, he admitted to "In case there's more unfriendly-like aliens." Riyn had become the tallest member of the crew with his sleek, trim body that was covered in a grey brindled coat, along with his piercing orange eyes. However,Yors had claimed the role of being the most physically imposing of the crew, with his grey, almost blue fur covering a wide heavy set frame, though he admitted to being an old competition lifter in the UPG. The last of the new crew hadn't yet made orbit and would join the crew after the maiden voyage.

The system's check was soon finished, he and Naytani made their way back to the bridge where the crew had assembled. It was time to undock and start the voyage to Gri'oux.

"It still feels like this is going to be a long trip, I can't seem to wrap my head around this new technology." Wensly commented, while he browsed the new terminal in front of him.

"I still remember the years we spent getting to Gri'oux and back. Having a trip time of eight hours just doesn't feel real to me either." Stuhkey replied.

Yors then spoke in a low baritone voice. "I think I speak for the rest of the crew when I say I'm glad of the new drive. I'd never have come to space if I'd lose years of my life to travel like some caravaneer of old."

"I have to agree with the big lump, if I'm going to travel I want it to be fast," added Riyn.

"Then let's get going, everyone get in your seats and buckle up. We're heading out," he commanded, and with that Commander Saule of the Mad Dash started the launch sequence.

From the station, the Mad Dash could be seen pivoting into position. A low white glow in the engines grew to a near blinding glare, it accelerated for a moment before streaking off in a white line across the sky as the Herzog drive engaged. Work on the

OPS-FRLS had paused while workers watched as the ship disappeared from sight, then a great cheer went up. The large rocket that the POI had created entirely on the moon seemed to pause as its load of miners watched as the Mad Dash streaked past, a blur of light and metal.

Meanwhile, everyone watched as lights seemed to smear over a bubble encasing the ship like water drops on a fast moving windshield.

Flik turned to Saule and spoke to him for the first time. "It's beautiful, isn't it Commander? Something to make the Jeweller themselves proud."

"I agree, are those stars going by?" He returned, his eyes bright and focused on the view before him.

"No, I believe it's atom sized particles obliterating into subatomic pieces on the leading edge of the space-time envelope, based on my research," Flik responded, "We're the first Glint to see subatomic particles in person."

"There's been so many new discoveries we have made. I find it easy to believe Yjantai unite Plinth, let's see the UPG and POI top this!" Riyn exclaimed.

Stuhkey and Yors were busily checking instruments and taking readings, Wensly and Ozmac reclined in their seats, chatting with each other and clearly having found a common interest. Naytani motioned for Flik to join her, then they both left their seats to check various systems. Riyn somehow managed a floating sidle over to beside Saule and nudged his shoulder.

"Hey, while the skybrains are busy I have something to talk to you about," he whispered.

"Is it about you being a soldier and a spy? I know already, also I know that you have a cache of weapons in your cabin in case we run into any hostile entities on future missions," Saule curtly stated, locking eyes with Riyn. "Because it's about the only reason I can see you being on this ship, to secure Yjantai interests."

Rebuffed but also affronted, Riyn responded. "Yes, and I'm actually a practiced psychologist, my secondary role here is to ensure the mental health of the crew, namely you. If you'd rather I just be the mindless army Glint I'll play that role."

With that Riyn returned to his seat, his fur on end. Saule sighed and looked at his watch. It was going to be a long eight hours.