There was no horizon. Spreading towards infinity, the vast wings of space stretched on to infinity dappled with stars like the crest of a bird. Bits and pieces of discarded metal and scrap floated in the vast deadness, slowly churning in gentle spirals shadowed by the stark light of the distant sun. A large piece of this metal, the size of a partial ship's hull, turned in one slow rotation, convex side spinning to the concave side and revealing five silent passengers, impossible to notice in their matt suits against the slick gray metal.

Like five misshapen space barnacles, they clung to the side of the debris effectively avoiding their enemy's radar. No one spoke, fearing that their radio signals would be intercepted,, but that didn't matter so much as at least three of them had an alternate form of communications.

Admiral Adam Vir turned his head to look at the saint of Anin, who leaned heavily against the metal, her back adhered to the scrap by a series of magnetic grapples that lined the back of her suit. In one hand, she held the shaft of a spear, its cool metal reflecting the distant light of the sun.

"You ready?"

The impression he got was of her humming, a soft sort of noise that Drev liked to make when they were pleased . It was a common sound to hear Drev make when they anticipated a good fight, "The day I am not ready, is the day you push me off the spiral tower." She said, the grimm glee seeping into her thoughts.

ISunny liked to fight, but choosing between a world of glorious battle, and a world where her children would grow up to be happy was a no brainer even for a member of the most warlike race in the universe.

"Get room for you two."

The two of them turned to look reproachfully at Celex, who floated not some distance away. He wore no space suit, and his long, technicolor hair flowed around him in a halo. His face was partially in shadow.

The other two figures remained oblivious.

Adam made a face at Celex, and then raised his hand for the benefit of their silent partners, who perked up at his signal, and readied themselves to move. He kept his hand up as the piece of metal continued to rotate, giving the order only when their rotation brought them into the perfect position.

As one they fired their engines, briefly, shooting off into the blackness on a gentle trajectory forward.

All except for their fifth party member who gently began to drift off course, having timed their momentum poorly. Adam reached down and grabbed their third party member by the massive tank on his back, shoving him back into position.

Seeing the gesture, Sunny turned her head and he could practically hear the raised eyebrow in her voice, "Do you really think bringing him along was a good idea. He has about as much combat experience as a kitchen sponge."

"Probably less,:" Adam admitted, "It was either take him voluntarily or live with the aftermath of letting him follow us by himself because you know that's exactly what he would do."

Good point.

Adam kept one hand clasped tightly around the crash handle on the back of their fifth man's tank as they continued to ease forward . Up ahead something glittered against the backdrop of darkness , icy bluish metal marking it as a Europa hydrostorage vessel. It should have been in orbit around Europa, but sometime in the last week, the little station had found its way out here, into the quietest part of the system where it was unlikely to be disturbed.

The ruse might have worked if they hadn't picked a more obtrusive vessel. The bluish metal, and the big water drop logo on the side was obvious even from this distance, and the outer coating of the station was designed specifically to make the hull more visible in a low level lighting situation. However,, whoever had decided to hijack the vessel had clearly weighed the cons of its visibility with the pros of having access to nearly several years supply of water right at their fingertips, a decision that Adam could admire in a tactical sense.

Plus the Jovian system was so large that, without the right tip, they would never have found this place to begin with.

He lifted a hand in another signal for their silent companions, who all readied their grapples in the moments that it took to float nearer to the station. Adam still kept a hold of their fifth companion as he reached out and allowed the grapple to adhere him to the hull proper.

Adam didn't hear the grapple take, but he could feel the vibration as it passed up through his arm.

This was it.

They waited there for a minute, heads tilted, waiting for any sign that someone inside the ship might have sensed or heard something, but the minutes ticked by and there was no response.

Adam signaled over to their second silent partner who nodded and moved forward attaching a device to the outer edges of the small personnel airlock. A light blinked on, flashed green, and then the door opened, allowing the five of them to pass into the airlock unchallenged.

Inside, the compartment was filled with a sudden hiss as air began rushing in through once sealed vents. Adam's own breathing, which had been the dominant sound up until that point became less and less prominent.

He gave another hand signal switching communications to low sound speakers.

Adam cranked up the voice receptor in his SE suit settings,and the others did the same.

He turned to look at their fifth companion, finally able to see the face behind the opaque faceplate.

Older, tanner, and rimmed by rather goofy looking orange spectacles.

"You stay in the middle, got that. Don't raise your weapon unless it is absolutely necessary and follow every move that we make, just because you're human now doesn't make you invincible."

Krill narrowed human yees, "I seem to recall having said something similar to you on more than one occasion."

"Yes, but I have been human for longer. You are only here to act as our field medic. If anything goes wrong, it is your job to duck and stay out of the way.

Krill nodded, lips pursed tightly, though he did his best not to make any disparaging comments, for which Adam was at least partially grateful . Bantering with Krill was all well and good when their lives weren't at stake, but now was different, and Adam was the one in charge.

Even so, Krill had still managed to get his way in some aspects, bullying his way into the mission. His insistance was stupid, and illogical, a fact that Adam had taken no time in pointing out, though krill insisted that, since he was human now, his job was to be stupid and irrational.

However true or untrue that was, it was clear the little doctor was coming.

Both of him.

After a few tests, some trial and error and at least one accident, they had learned that krill's ability to manifest his Anima self was distance based, and could only be maintained in a certain radius from his comatose Vrul body. This had been even more of a reason for Adam to tell him no to going on the mission, but that had worked out about as well as you might expected.

So here Krill was, decked out in his new suit, and wearing himself inside a reinforced specimen container on his back. Adam might have won the argument if it wasn't for that damned piece of equipment which was basically perfect for this particular mission. In the end Krill had gotten what he wanted and Adam was forced to babysit.

He motioned with a meaningful look to Ramirez to keep an eye on krill and then turned them towards the next room.

Sunny stacked up on his right shoulder as they peered into the deserted hallway.

Tilting his head to the side, Adam couldn't sense anyone moving within their general vicinity, and raised a hand to motion the others forward. He could sense a sort of distant thrumming, but the sound was too far away at this moment, and too low for him to make anything out.

Together they moved quietly into the hallway and up the dark corridor, keeping their footsteps silent.

Ramirez trailed at the back of the group watching their six and keeping krill as safe as he could.

They passed multiple doors, Adam peering in to check in each and every one of them as they passed, but to his relief they were all silent and dark. The humming in the distance grew with every footstep. If their tip was right, this was supposed to be the hub of Void operation in this area, which meant there was always a possibility of running into Kazna.

It had taken several of them to go against her the last time they met, but this time Adam was prepared.

They came upon the first guards almost halfway into the ship, guarding an open hallway with clear boredom plastered on their faces. The hallway was dark, the lights dimmed, and the distant humming had grown into a sort of unnerving eerie chant.

Celex got one and Adam got the other.

Sunny shifted impatient at their backs as Adam stole up the hallway with Celex.

Before they knew what hit them, the first man had been clubbed over the haad, and the Tesraki was choked into silence.

Unlike in the movies, their blows had to be lethal as knocking someone out generally tends to last only a few seconds if not just a few minutes.

Adam motions the others forward as the sound of the chanting solidified.

"Oh great one, oh ruler of the blackness."

Adam motioned Sunny forward and she took point, leading them up the hallway in a rapid but silent sweep. Adam kept at her shoulder and Celex followed. Ramirez shuffled up the hallway sideways keeping one eye on the hallway behind them.

"Oh great one who came before."

A humming rose up into the room.

"Oh lord of the night and all those who dwell within."

Red light tinged in orange bled in a slowly spreading puddle down the hallway, lapping at their boots as Sunny came to a gentle stop, raising her hand to slow them.

Adam pulled up at her back, leaning forward to peer into the room with her.

"Father of darkness comes to us!."

Orange light flared, falling over their faces in a ruby shroud.

Sunny cursed silently in her thoughts and Adam tried to strike down the Nausea that filled his throat.

Everett was here, and he was back to his old tricks.