CHANGES.

Astrid wasn't completely sure she could trust Amara and Kiva on this, for five years she'd been going at it alone because she was the only one who irrefutably believed Nya was still alive, even when the others admonished her for it.

The plan that Amara and Kiva had devised was to make use of hyperspace generators, then, using Astrid's star chart of hyperspace track the possible courses the Red could have taken, once they had that, they'd scan for the ghost signal again and use warp-shift to find its location.

She had her doubts, but she was getting desperate to find her mom and she'd have better luck doing so if she had their help.

She had just come from enjoying a long hot shower, and was on the way back to her cabin when she stopped.

"You're not very good at hiding, y'know?" She sighs as she snaps her finger and suddenly, another person appeared close by, the invisibility he used having been dispelled.

"T-that was a high level magecraft, how did you do that?" he demanded

"Hmph," Astrid huffed, the young man was around her age, maybe a year or two younger, with chocolate skin, dark dreadlocks tied in a ponytail, and deep amber eyes. The insignia on his uniform signified he was part of the support and logistics department of the Spartans.

"I could still sense your presence, and from that I could scatter the flimsy mirage you built to render yourself invisible. Now why are you following me?" Astrid demanded, as her hand glowed, accumulating mana.

"Wow!" he said, his eyes wide with amazement, "I'd heard you were good, but that was just incredible, I've never seen anyone cancel another's spell so easily."

"Uh… th-thanks?" Astrid was unsure how to react

"I am private Calder Hoss, special combat adept." He introduced with a salute, "It is an honor to meet you, lady Astrid Crimson."

"You didn't answer my question," Astrid said

"Oh, right. I was ordered to monitor you while you were on this ship," he replied

"Even when I was in the shower?" Astrid asked with an eyebrow raised,

"Um, apologies for that," Calder said, his cheeks darkening as he blushed

"It's alright," Astrid chuckled, "just don't do it again, or do, I don't really care either way."

As Astrid started to walk off, Calder followed her.

"Uh, what are you doing?" she demanded

"It's still my duty to monitor your every move, even now that I've been exposed." Calder said with all formality

"I'm going to get some sleep, so do you want to watch me while I sleep?" Astrid asked, "Because I sleep in the nude, do you think you can handle that?"

"Umm…" Calder looked very conflicted, Astrid got the impression that he wouldn't mind seeing her naked but wanted to be respectful, and for some reason this made her laugh.

"Just go back to your room," Astrid ordered, "you can come back to monitor me when I wake up tomorrow."

"A-alright," Calder said, bowing, "good night, lady Astrid."

"Drop the formality, just call me Astrid, Calder." Astrid said

He nodded, "Okay la… A-Astrid."

He walked off and Astrid shook her head and laughed, "He was kinda cute, in a goofy way."

That night, Astrid dreamt she was on board the Excalibur, the day her mom disappeared. Everyone looked exactly as they had that day, but Astrid was as she was presently.

"Trace the source of that distress call." Nya ordered, "Amara, assemble a boarding team; we are taking back my complex."

"I want to help," Morgan said stepping forward

Nya's first instinct was to reject her request, but Morgan was now a Spartan, she had earned the right to be there and Nya had to respect that.

"Alright, you and your squad should get ready; they're about to enter a potentially hostile environment." Nya said,

"Mom, don't go!" Astrid cried as Nya was giving orders

"What's wrong sweetie?" Nya asked

"You mustn't go down there," Astrid warned as she embraced her mother, "something very bad is going to happen."

"You're right, something bad is going to happen," Nya said, [And you should've helped us.]

"I tried mom," Astrid cried, closing her eyes, "you said I should stay safe, that you'd be alright."

[Does this look alright to you?] Nya demanded, as she grabbed Astrid by the shoulder and forced her to look at her. Her eyes were yellow, the same as the Maja, and she had yellow circuits glowing underneath her skin, [You couldn't save me then, and you won't save me now. You're a failure as a daughter!]

Astrid shot up screaming, sending a psionic blast that shook the entire ship. She was breathing hard and sweating, trying to recover from the awful nightmare she had just had.

"I'm so sorry mom," she sobbed as she put her knees to her chest, "I swear, I'll save you this time for sure, even if it costs me my life."

A few moments later, the door slid open and Kiva and Amara came in, both dressed in robes and nightwear, but armed with plasma blasters

"What's wrong?" Kiva asked, looking around for an enemy

"Sorry, I was having a nightmare," Astrid apologized

"It must've been pretty bad," Amara said "You let out a shockwave that the whole ship felt,"

"What if we can't save mom?" Astrid murmured

"Weren't you the one who was confident you could save her?" Kiva said sitting next to her on the bed

"But she's with the Maja, what if there's nothing left of her?" Astrid said starting to sob again

"Hey, don't cry," Amara said, sitting on the opposite side of Kiva, embracing Astrid in the middle. "It's gonna be okay."

As the three of them sat there, locked in an embrace, Kiva began to sing a lullaby she once heard as a child, before she met her mother.

The next morning Astrid woke up to find herself between Kiva and Amara on the bed, the two of them were still asleep and they were both embracing her.

* * *

Morgan was in the terrarium of the Black Excalibur, it was one of her mom's favorite spots, the private grotto that overlooked a small lake.

"Hey," Valla called as she approached, she was dressed in a sleeveless dark biotic suit, which was modified to include the breathing apparatus that all undines wore around their necks.

"Do you think I gave up too quick?" Morgan asked her

"Gave up on what?"

"On my mom?" Morgan said, "Astrid never stopped believing she was still out there, Eli never really gave up hope, but me…?"

"We both saw what the Maja did to people it turned," Valla said, "We knew what her odds were,"

"But she's my mom," Morgan said, "she's survived so much already,"

"You needed to believe she was dead so you could move on and be the big sister your siblings needed," Valla said, "there's nothing wrong with that,"

"There is if she wasn't dead," Morgan said,

"What's brought this on?" Valla asked

Morgan suddenly trembled

"Last night I had a nightmare, we were back on Vulcan that day, my mom was just taken by the Maja and the Red was being blown to oblivion, then she teleported back, but she was one of them… she blamed me for being weak, for letting the Maja use me as a hostage," Morgan said as her eye started to water, "she called me a failure of a daughter."

In response to that, Valla slapped Morgan across the face, "Don't you dare," she spat

"What the hell?" Morgan demanded, rubbing her sore cheek

"Your mother was one of the best people I know," Valla said, "She loved you and your siblings dearly, and she wasn't afraid to show it; remember when she came to boot camp in the middle of the night just so she could see you?"

"Yeah, the whole barrack spent the rest of the night asking for her advice." Morgan said smiling softly

"She was a great mom, and she thought the world of you guys, not every mother is like that," Valla said, speaking from experience, "so don't you dare psyche yourself out over shit your messed-up mind dreamt up."

"My mind is not messed up," Morgan pouted,

Valla smiles at Morgan and slowly hugs her.

"That thing we did here last time was your idea, remember?" Valla said, "And it would qualify as pretty messed up,"

"Well I remember you really seemed to like it, from the way you were screaming." Morgan said back with a smirk

"Feeling better?" Valla asked kissing her forehead while hiding her blushing cheeks

"Much," Morgan replied, as she cuddled with her lover and enjoyed the moment.

"We should probably get back to work," Valla said, breaking the silence

"What work?" Morgan whined,

"Who knows, but I'm sure that if the Admiral finds two majors hiding out in the terrarium on a date, he wouldn't be too happy,"

"Yeah," Morgan sighs, then smirks, "we should probably go somewhere else for our date, somewhere private."

"Your cabin or mine?" Valla winked

"Let's see which one we end up in," Morgan said as she stood up from the bench, lifting Valla with one hand, "C'mon."

On their way, they ran into another major, Perkins. She was a lamia, an omen with the lower body of a snake and a humanoid upper torso. Lamias, like harpies, were an all-female race, who could reproduce with males of any other race to have lamia children.

These single gender omen races possessed were threat rank B, for their breeding ability, they were second only to vampires and lykans as the most dangerous kinds of omen, who could propagate by turning fae and override their biology.

Perkins had dark green and brown scales that covered her back, sides, neck and the top of her chest in interesting patterns, her face was humanoid with big emerald eyes, fair complexion and bright green hair, she looked mostly human from the waist up, but from the waist down, she had a long snake's tail. She wore a modified Spartan's uniform; instead of pants, she had a long fitted skirt. She was also a squad leader stationed on the Excalibur, and for some reason, she had a problem with Morgan.

"Going off to fool around while the rest of us actually work for a living?" she sneered

"Actually? Yeah," Morgan said, getting in her face, the two omen women bumped chests in an effort to intimidate the other, both were well endowed and the sight caused Valla to drool a little.

"What's your damage, Perkins?" Valla asked, wiping the drool from her lips "Morgan is just as good a Spartan as the rest of us,"

"No, she's not," Perkins said, "If the rest of us were given special treatment because of our mom, we'd all be high rankers too."

Morgan's eyes glowed red, a sign she was becoming upset, "What did you say?"

"You heard me," Perkins said, "without your mom's backing, I bet you'd have flunked basic."

Morgan had thought she had left this kind of ignorance behind back at boot camp, but clearly, there were some who needed to be educated.

"My mom's been gone for twelve years, since then I've earned my stripes."

"Sure, because the Crimson name doesn't help open some doors?" Perkins sneered, "Face it; you don't deserve to wear this,"

The punch was so swift that Valla didn't perceive it had happened until Perkins' head crashed against the wall.

"Say that again you scaly bitch, and I'll skin you alive and use you for a rug," Morgan hissed, baring her fangs.

"Morgan," Valla chided, going over to tend to the fallen Spartan's injuries. "Don't you think that was a little bit overdramatic?"

"No." Morgan said as she stormed away, stopping when a snake's tail, wrapped around her leg,

"W-where do you think… you're going… brat?" Perkins groaned as she pushed Valla away, lamias are known to be very durable with tough skin and hard scales, and her phantasm allowed her to reinforce her body's natural endurance, defending her from the brunt of Morgan's strength, "I've been waiting for an excuse to do this for a long time."

With her tail, she flung Morgan off her feet, bashing her into the walls and ceiling.

"That the best you got?" Morgan growled as she rose up from the ground, she grabbed the lamia's tail and used it to fling her into the walls.

The two of them continued flinging each other into walls and ceilings, causing serious damage to the corridor they were in. Soon, the hallway looked like a warzone with walls ripped up and debris everywhere

"Had enough?" Morgan demanded as she drew her blasters,

"Just warming up," Perkins said back, as two short swords made from nuform materialized in her hands.

"ENOUGH!" Valla yelled as exposed pipes in the walls burst and the liquids they contained surged forth, subduing both omen. "Look at what you've done!"

"She started it." Morgan defended

"And I'm ending it." Valla said as she let both of them go. The water that previously held them went back into their pipes.

"Perkins, what the fuck is your problem with my girlfriend?" Valla demanded, "as far as I know, she's never even socialized with you."

"It doesn't matter," Morgan said as extended her hand out to Perkins, "I'm willing to let this go and let bygones be bygones,"

Perkins snarled at her and slapped her hand away, "I don't need your charity."

As she slithered away, Morgan scoffed, "what a bitch."

"You're no better," Valla chided her, "look at what you did to your mom's ship,"

She gestured to the damage done to the corridor.

"It's fine," Morgan said, "My mom told me that this ship could repair itself, another function of the bespoke circuits. Leave it for a few hours, it'll be good as new."

"That still doesn't make this okay," Valla said seriously

"I know," Morgan sighed, "She triggered me, and I lost it. If not for you I'd have probably killed her."

"What's been going on with you?" Valla asked, "You've always been a little fierce but you've been taking it overboard lately."

Morgan sighed, she had to admit it now, "The truth is that ever since I lost my mom, I've been feeling different; more primal, more aggressive, especially when I see blood."

"Blood? Does it have something to do with you being a vampire?" Valla asked, she knew very little about vampires, as the most dangerous of omen racs, they mostly kept to themselves. They even had their own out-of-the-way planet where no one bothered them.

"I'd guess so," Morgan said, "but I don't know any other vampires,"

"Have you been feeding?" Valla asked,

"Not in a while," Morgan admits, then, reading the look on her girlfriend's face adds, "I used to get synthetic blood to curb my hunger, but it's not satisfying. It's like if you could only eat a bland, stale nutrient paste, instead of medium-rare steak."

"Maybe you just need something fresher?" Valla suggested

"No," Morgan said, reading her girlfriend's mind and backing away from her, "Absolutely not; I'm not going to bite you."

"The synthetic blend obviously isn't agreeing with you, and not taking any blood is making you very volatile." Valla said, "Plus, it's not like you've never bitten me before."

"T-that was different." Morgan said, blushing, "We don't know what'll happen, I could turn you."

"It's not an absolute that everyone they bite gets turned." Valla said, "And I'd take that risk for you."

The spread of vampirism had long been a topic of discussion among the fae, it had previously been believed that it was spread through exchange of blood with a vampire, but after centuries of study, the truth was determined. Full vampires possessed a mutagenic venom within their bodies, when they bite a victim, their venom is released into the bloodstream of survivors, and if the venom reaches the heart, it will spread throughout the body, gradually restructuring the victim's DNA and physiology until they also become a dhampir. However, it is not an absolute certainty that every bite victim becomes a vampire, and there have been many victims who were able to fight off the mutation through one means or another. It is believed that only between 39% to 46% of all vampire attack survivors actually become vampires themselves.

Without waiting for a response Valla took a combat knife to her arm, drawing a red line in across her exposed skin.

As soon as she caught the sweet scent of blood, Morgan's eye turned red, she looked at Valla hungrily and growled.

"St-stop this…" Morgan pleaded, fighting the growing bloodlust, "Get away!"

"Don't fight it, Morgan," Valla soothed, as she offers her bleeding arm to Morgan's face, "have a taste,"

Morgan took her arm and licked the blood off the wound, savoring the sweet coppery taste. Valla was only the second person who'd ever offered her blood, after her mom, and she could taste the difference from synthetic blood. After licking the wound clean, she backed away, covering her mouth with her hands.

"T-thank you." Morgan panted, her vampiric nature wanted her to keep going but she forced herself to stop, despite how aroused she was.

"We're not stopping here," Valla said, she was also panting and her face was flushed. She pulled Morgan into a kiss, tasting her own blood on her lover's tongue. Morgan wasn't aware of this, but vampire saliva acted as a sedative and/or aphrodisiac, to dull the senses of their victims and allow them to continue feeding without struggle.

Valla led Morgan to the closest room, which was a supply closet, and the two of them proceeded to strip each other naked,

"It's okay," Valla breathed into Morgan's ear, "You can bite me, I don't care. I want all of you, so take all of me."

Whenever they had sex, Morgan always took extra care to hold herself back, not to get lost in the moment and accidently hurt Valla, but hearing her say that, Morgan let herself go. From there on, they had sex in the confined space full of cleaning bots and other maintenance implements. As Morgan bit into her, Valla also bit into Morgan, the two of them tasted each other deeply, leaving their marks on the other.

When she came too, after exhausting each other thoroughly, Morgan was instantly struck with remorse over what had happened.

"Oh god, what have I done?" she panicked, rousing Valla as well. She looked as usual, except her beautiful sea green eyes were now sitting within black sclera instead of white, and her shark-like teeth now had two elongated fangs on her upper and lower jaw. Apparently they'd fucked through the whole transition process, leaving Valla as a newly turned dhampir.

"Morgan?" she called out, "did I turn?"

"I'm so, so sorry," Morgan sobbed, she looked horrified with herself, "I don't know what came over me, I shouldn't have forced this on you. I can't—"

She was stopped when Valla kissed her, interrupting her rant

"Morgan, you didn't force anything on me, we did this together." Valla said, "I love you, and now I get to share this part of your life as well."

"But you don't know what this means for you." Morgan said, "I don't know what it means,"

"We'll figure it out together, like always." Valla said, "Besides, I think I look cute with black eyes."

"You do," Morgan admitted quietly, "are you sure you're okay with this?"

Valla kissed Morgan's cheek, "Sure I am, it was bound to happen eventually, I'd already prepared myself for that. Anyway, I'm hungry; I could murder a rare steak right about now."

For some reason, that caused Morgan to laugh.

* * *

Aria found Eli, asleep by a terminal in the control room. When she taps on his shoulder, he jerks awake, drowsily stuttering,

"{Hyperion galactic cluster…}!" he said before he blinked, realizing where he was.

"What was that?" she asked surprised

"A-Aria?" Eli said rubbing his eye, "What time is it?"

"It's 10," she said, "I didn't recognize that language,"

[That's because he was speaking in Praxian,] Merlin said appearing beside them,

"You speak Praxian?" Aria asked turning to Eli

[He's pronunciation needs work, but he has a good grasp of the syntax.] Merlin said, [and with over three hundred characters in the Praxian alphabet, it's quite remarkable; not something just anyone can do in a week.]

"So that's what you've been doing this past week?" Aria asked, impressed. She'd seen the raw Praxian text before and couldn't make heads nor tails of it. The depths of Eli's brilliance both amazed and frightened her.

"Anyway, what's happening?" Eli asks rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn

"You left this in my room," Aria said, holding his secure communications device,

"Oh," Eli said

"Inspired work; a step up from the standard FTL burst transmission, tachyon waves, completely untraceable for a short amount of time. Perfect for speaking with your fugitive sister."

"Look I know you're upset…" Eli starts

"Upset? Why would I be upset?" Aria asks, genuinely confused, "She's your sister, even if she's not on the best of terms with everyone else, she's still family."

"I'm glad you understand." Eli says, relieved.

"Also, this thing is ingenious," Aria said inspecting the simple device, "We should look into improving it, it could be our next big project; a tachyon relay network."

All of a sudden, the device started to ping. Eli snatched it out of Aria's hands and answered, surprised when the image of Kiva and Amara appeared onscreen alongside Astrid

"Well, well, well," Amara said with her hands folded

"This can't be good." Eli said as he handed the device over to Merlin, "Can you secure the room and put that on the big screen?"

[Childs play,] Merlin said, [Do you want your lady friend to be present for this?]

"Yeah," Eli said after giving it some thought

The doors slid to a close and a massive screen projection appeared.

"So, what can we do for you today?" Eli asked,

"We think we have a way of rescuing mom," Astrid says immediately

The shock on Eli's face is only matched by the same expression on Merlin's

[I always knew she was still alive, but how do you intend to rescue her?] Merlin questions, [She's still lost in hyperspace.]

"Well, we'll need Eli's help calculating coordinates," Astrid started

"And we're gonna need a commission from Vulcan," Kiva said, "A big one."

"How big?"

"Our own Excalibur class hyperspace generator," Amara replied

"Are you absolutely positive this is going to work?" Eli asks, "Because if this ends in a failure, Morgan is going to have all our asses."

"She won't be the only one." Amara sighed, "Primark Morag has been looking for a reason to disband the Spartans,"

"What?" Astrid said, surprised, "but aren't the Spartans the personal force of the Grand Marshal, outside the command of the High Order?"

[Nya built the Spartans as a private armed force, in her absence, they are under the control of Terror and are regarded as a part of Cerberus, but their loyalty is to the Grand Marshal, not the Primark or Avalon,] Merlin informed

"But there hasn't been a Grand Marshal in a dozen years, so we're seen as redundant." Amara said, "I've compromised where I could so we could retain our autonomy, but if this doesn't work, I'll most likely be relieved of command, and Morag will use it to dismantle our entire infrastructure. Then he'll have access to all our secrets."

[I knew you gave them access to the combat armor specs and other low level secrets, but they cannot be allowed control of the network Nya and I have established.] Merlin replies

"What network?" Amara demanded,

"Merlin and mom had an entire web of operatives and assets covertly planted across the galaxy, in key locations." Eli revealed, then everyone stared at him, "What? it's amazing what you can find when you go snooping through mom's servers."

[You promised me you had stopped that,] Merlin accused

"I wanted to see if mom had any fail-safes for if she was ever kidnapped." Eli says innocently.

[So I guess we're accepting your commission.] Merlin said to the screen, [I can draw up specs for a generator based on existing hyper-drive systems, it should take me a week to finish what you're proposing, by which time, the High Order will have been notified and your arrests would've been ordered.]

"Let's hope it doesn't fail then," Kiva states, "For Nya."

"For Nya," the rest repeat before the call is terminated.

"That was so intense I didn't think I should say anything," Aria said to Eli

"I completely understand if you're not okay with this," Eli said

"It's to get your mom back, of course I understand." She said taking his hands and looking into his eyes.

"I love you, Aria," Eli adds, kissing her before he rushes out of the control room

"Wow, that's the first time you've said that," Aria mused to herself, as she caresses her lips, he's kissed her before, but this felt different

[He really likes you, you know,] Merlin says from behind her, scaring the young woman. She had completely forgotten Merlin was still there

"M-miss Merlin, you startled me," Aria said, "And yes, I know he likes me."

[Which is why, if you ever hurt him, I will make sure no one ever finds your corpse.] Merlin threatens, getting really close, [Just a friendly warning from me in his mom's place.]

Aria gulped, nodding slowly.

[Now, let's get to work.]

A week later, the completed hyperspace generator was being loaded onto a frigate Eli commissioned. This new Caliburn-class frigate was based off designs of the Excalibur-class, featuring the same burnt black armored hull and gothic aesthetic. Aside from the superficial similarities, it was completely different from the dreadnaughts designed by Nya Crimson.

As the massive generator was loaded into the cargo bay, Eli and Aria ignored several calls from their colleagues enquiring about what they were working on and where they were. Since use of the constructors was heavily regulated, them designing the hyperspace generators was an irregularity among the R&D Department.

"We are going to get in so much trouble for this," Aria says as she takes the seat next to Eli

"Unless we succeed," Eli said smiling brightly, "then no one can fault us for rescuing the Grand Marshal,"

"Have I told you how much I admire your optimism?" Aria asked, kissing his cheek

[We are ready to go.] Merlin said materializing behind them, [and it looks like security is on its way.]

"Then I think it's time we skedaddle." Eli said

"Ske-what?" Aria asks, "that sounds like something my grandad would say to sound cool."

"I'm bringing back the word." Eli said proudly as he hits the accelerator.

Their prototype frigate untethered itself from the mooring at the docking bay and drifted off into space.

"I realize it's a little late no to ask, but how are we getting to the testing site? Even if this thing was hyperspace capable we don't have a pathfinder."

As if on cue, an Excalibur class ship dropped out of hyperspace before them, written on its side was Excalibur Blue,

[Does that answer your question?] Merlin says as the frigate is remote controlled into the waiting ship, which soon after slips back into hyperspace before patrol ships could meet it.

* * *

When it was discovered that Morgan had infected Valla with her venom and turned her lover into a vampire as well, it instantly became a serious issue. Both women were confined to quarters and quarantined while the rest of the crew underwent a thorough inspection for other infected. There wasn't really a precedence for the sudden spread of vampirism, so their response was panicked and paranoid. Although omens were generally treated with equality in Avalon, it was still a fact that vampires were a high ranked threat for a reason.

Currently Morgan and Valla were in the medical ward, undergoing a full check-up, under close guard.

"I didn't think it'd be such a big deal," Valla commented, as a sensor node was placed on her temple

"I knew this was a bad idea." Morgan sighed as she was also fitted with sensor nodes.

"I still think it's pretty cool," Valla said, as she looks at Morgan, "If I concentrate really well, I can sense the path of your blood vessels, I can hear your blood flow with every heartbeat."

"Yeah, you're still getting used to your new vampiric senses." Morgan informed her, "you learn to ignore that soon,"

"What kind of phantasm do you think I'll get?"

"I don't know; you have to figure it out." Morgan said with a shrug. As far as she knew phantasms manifested randomly.

As they were conversing, Marshal Dax walked in,

"Ladies, I trust you are doing well," he greets

"How much longer do we have to undergo testing?" Morgan demanded, she wasn't a fan of being probed and prodded.

"Until we have determined that you aren't a threat to the safety of the crew." Dax said,

"What's that supposed to mean?" Valla asked, "We're not a threat, we're a part of the fucking crew,"

"Oww," Morgan yelped as one of the medics hit her with an extractor to the back of the neck. "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Extracting spinal fluid." The medic informed, "we need to compare your results to hers. we will also need to compare your bloodwork with what we have on file, and some venom for study."

"We're not lab rats," Valla sneered, baring her new fangs.

"It's that kind of behavior that makes these tests necessary." Dax stated, "we need to see what vampirism has done to your mannerism and your physiology, and we also need samples from the source of infection."

Valla glared at him, and for a second, everyone could see their breath.

Before any more could be said, an officer rushes into the ward, "Marshal Dax, urgent message!"

"What is it?" Dax asks, turning to the officer

"The Primark has issued a capture order for the Excalibur Blue and her captain, Admiral Amara Varaxi for aiding and abetting a fugitive,"

"What?" Dax and Morgan say at the same time

"It is in relation to the arrest warrant just issued for Eli Crimson and Aria Raddix for desertion of their post, misuse of Division resources and theft."

The restraints that currently held Morgan instantly blew off as she stood up, "WHAT?"

The officer called up a screen that showed the frigate Eli and Aria stole being taken in by the Excalibur Blue before it fled.

"What did they take?" Morgan demanded

"I don't think you are in any position to—" Dax stops when he sees the intimidating look in her eyes, a look quite similar to her mother's

"What. Did. They. Take?" she asks again, slowly

"Y-you heard the major," Dax relays, trembling, to the officer,

"Um, ac-according to the constructor memory, they made a hyperspace generator." The officer says, afraid to look Morgan in the eye

"Dammit Eli," she swore as she looked at Valla, "she got to him,"

"Sounds like she got to them all," Valla states, undoing her own restraints and getting up

"They're gonna attempt to find my mom again," Morgan tells the Marshal

"They have all been disavowed from Avalon by order of the Primark," Dax informs them, reading a message that just appeared on his band, "We are to hunt them down."

"We're coming with you." Morgan states, freeing Valla

"You're still under quarantine."

"No one hunts down my family but me." Morgan says as she snaps her fingers and her and Valla are teleported away.

The reappear on the bridge, with Morgan on the captain's chair. She whistles loudly, attracting the attention of all the officers.

"New orders; we are to hunt down the Blue and apprehend its crew." Morgan states, "I will be assuming command of this assignment, personally. Any objections?"

"No ma'am!" was the unanimous response from the Spartan officers, though the Cerberus officers looked uncertain.

"Very well," Morgan said taking her seat, "Track the Blue's last known location. And somebody get in contact with Commander General Terror Quinn"

Valla was off to the side watching all this, and she couldn't help but chuckle. Morgan was so much like her mother.