[color=#e2e2e2][b]TIIR – CAPITOL STARDOCK[/b]

Commander Muriel skimmed through the collection of documents included in the briefing she was sent. Her eyes darted around her plex, examining file after file. The ship was receiving a new first officer, the mission assignment would take them further afield than any before, multiple retrofits had been requested prior, and there were still follow-ups regarding the last incident the [i]Destiny Ascendant[/i] had put down. It was a lot of stuff to deal with in never enough time.

The new first officer arrived on the bridge amidst a flurry of activity from the resident crew, all preparing stations for deployment. “Commander Dar’Tuura I presume?”
Muriel looked up briefly. The new guy was young, but decently decorated. “I am,” the commander answered before returning to her plex and the work she had to finish.
“Huh, for a ship of her reputation …. I expected a bit more,” he commented.
“Hoping for gold-plated consoles or something?” the commander retorted, “she may have been an Emperor’s ship before but she’s still built for combat first … and not every Emperor is obsessed with gold.”
“Not sure I’d consider the Am’Reth sisters ‘model’ by any measure.” The new officer treaded on heresy, doubly so aboard this ship in particular. Commander Muriel just eyed him with a hint of contempt.
“They’re still loading our ordnance; we need that done sooner rather than later. Head to weapons storage and help the crew there. I’ll call for you when we’re ready to ship out,” Muriel dismissed a bit savagely.

She concluded he would be a fitting replacement after skimming his personnel record. He may have been a bit … [i]brazen[/i] about the history of the royalty that had once commanded this vessel, but he wasn’t wrong unfortunately. The history there was not pretty. Regardless, the people who once flew a ship mattered not so long as its current crew respected it for what it was: the most legendary black ops ship in the Alduur Imperial Navy.

[hr]
[b]UNCHARTED SPACE – GALACTIC CORE PERIPHERY[/b]

The [i]Destiny Ascendant[/i] lurched out of frameshift deep in interstellar space. Even the nebula did not glow this brightly. Navigation was continuing to track an unknown signal. It was nearly screaming now as they closed in on it. It must be powerful to get detected so clearly out in Aria’s Cradle. Muriel took hold of the situation immediately, ensuring they were prepared for any eventuality. “Are we running silent?”

Navigation confirmed the ship was running minimal emissions. They would be very difficult to detect beyond visual range. Within those distances the emissions were detectable, but any telephoto camera could also track them without issue. The ship did have stealth measures for such situations, but running them was taxing, and the frameshift drive had already built up a good amount of quantum heat from such a long jump.

“Sensors, keep an eye out for anything else coming to track this signal. If you see anything resembling an FTL exit, let me know ASAP.”
“Understood Commander.”
“Helm, take us forward towards the signal; thrusters at one quarter impulse.”
“One quarter impulse, copy.”
“Something else will have heard this. Time to go hunting.” The commander seemed unusually pleased at the concept of making contact with a potentially hostile unknown entity. The [i]Destiny Ascendant[/i]’s mission was to scout the core periphery, make contact with any forces of significance within the area, and report back for further instruction. Nobody aboard knew yet whether “make contact” would be through an exchange of communication protocols or cannon shells. Commander Muriel, ever the soldier, was ready for both.[/color]