Seiya simply stared, this was so far beyond his expertise. When Ivy spoke, he nodded. "Vaguely. I saw my pack destroyed, an ancient race awakened from their slumber. The very shapeshifters that we battled on the station. I've hunted them ever since." "So this would be some sort of hub facility then? which would explain why it's so large."

Ivy's eyes remained locked on the Orrey while her white hands flowed over the unknown sigils on the pedestal as though they had a mind of their own. Above the wiry woman, her limbs taut and tensed, the Orrey spun and rotated. She could pilot a starship, she was a better mechanic, but barely a navigator. Her black eyes rove over the constellations of Crucibles looking for something she could barely remember. "I don't know what it was like you guys," Ivy drawled, her voice more normal than uncanny, but there was still a sharpness to her inhalations and exhalations. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but the Black pulsed with a certain eagerness under her pale skin. "Do you all remember when you were first infected - connected to Sorium and became an Esper? I don't, not really. Only have vague images, sensations, but I thought it was somewhere here." She pointed to a spot beyond the Rim of their galaxy. "I somehow made it into the Kushite Rift and ended up on Pel Tavaria." She shivered, recalling the feel of hot blood cooling on her skin, congealing, then cracking. "Yet, it... feels like I had come from... there." Her arm shifted, so instead of pointing to an undistinguished spot in the Outer Second to an oddly dark Crucible that none of them recognized or even had heard of.

The air seemed to grow heavy, as if the very molecules around them were shifting and shaping according to some unseen force. Emi felt her heartbeat echoing in her ears, the ancient power of the Crucible coursing through her veins. It was an incredible feeling, but there was a danger lurking beneath its surface. Sori, clad in her armor and holding her weapon, glanced from the orrery back to Ivy. "I'm not sure what's happening with Ivy, but this appears to be the crucible network—possibly the entire network. When we use a crucible to travel, we can only select from those we've discovered. However, if you examine these, you'll notice the star patterns surrounding the crucible depiction. I can identify the stellar locations we know, and I recognize four or maybe five other star patterns, but these aren't places we visit, so we haven't found any crucibles there. And these out here on the perimeter, note the second row of patterns—I believe they represent galaxies. I think these indicate crucibles that lead to other galaxies."

"I'm telling you," Emi said quietly to Seiya, "if a bar starts filling up over Ivy's head and the music changes...you're on your own." She grinned, her features lent an almost manic look under the undulating light from the Crucible. In truth, while she worked hard to seem as undaunted as ever, this was affecting her as deeply as anyone else. Wild spaceships couldn't drag it out of her though.

Seiya remained silent. This was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, and he did consider himself somewhat well-traveled. Having said that he felt a certain familarity with it that he couldn't easily put into words. " I've never seen such a place, and yet, I feel a familiarity from my core." His voice was a low rumbling whisper. He watched Ivy carefully, knowing Emi was doing the same. Whatever was at work here clearly was affecting Ivy more than anyone else, for good or ill.

"I've been here before, or some place like it," Ivy whispered. Anything louder than the ambient hum would have felt... sacrilegious, almost. The Black was quiescent, a waiting presence inside her. "An echo, a shadow, a dark reflection." With inexorable inevitability, Ivy was drawn towards the pedestal step by step. Her tattoos pulsed in time to the celestial bodies of the grand Orrery revolving overhead. Ivy had always gotten a tattoo to mark a new place, solar system or station she had visited. But now, she was beginning to believe the tattoos were just raising to the surface glyphs that had always been graven upon her. Conceited thoughts for a lowly orphan Atlas Rat, but it didn't feel wrong. Ivy smirked. She'd been wrong before, she would be wrong again, and she cared just as little. She - they - were still alive, that's all that mattered. Well, almost all that mattered. She sure wished she had a drink. Ivy strode upon the pedestal eyes - eyes that were a galactic mix of dark and light grey - up on the whirring, whirling Orrery of the Crucibles. "Home."

Emi exchanged a glance with Seiya, uncertainty flickering in her eyes. They knew Ivy was headstrong, but this reckless determination felt different, almost otherworldly. Still, they trusted her instincts and knew that she wouldn't put the crew in danger without reason. "We should stick together," Seiya said, his tone firm as he followed Ivy towards the airlock. The rest of the crew trailed behind, a mix of fear and curiosity swirling in their minds. As they stepped out onto the surface of the Crucible, a strange energy pulsed through the air, sending shivers down their spines. The ground beneath their feet was metallic and cool, reflecting the distant stars above like a mirror. They came to and opening on the surface with a ramp leading down inside. Ivy led the way, her tattoos glowing softly in response to the ancient power that coursed through the structure. The alien symbols seemed to dance around her, guiding her deeper into the heart of the Crucible. The crew moved cautiously, their senses on high alert as they navigated the labyrinthine corridors of the Crucible. The air was thick with an otherworldly energy, making each step feel both heavy and buoyant at the same time. The walls seemed to pulse with a dim, ethereal light, casting strange shadows that seemed to move on their own. Ivy felt a strange sense of familiarity wash over her as they delved deeper into the structure. It was as if she had been here before, in another life, under a different sky. The symbols on her skin tingled with recognition, resonating with the ancient power that thrummed through the very walls of the Crucible. The walkways appeared to bend and twist almost impossibly, stretching across distances far greater than the number of steps they took. At times, they ascended ramps only to find themselves descending deeper into the labyrinth. No doors or rooms interrupted their path—only endless corridors that seemed haunted by unseen ghosts. As they finally arrived at a vast chamber nestled at the heart of the structure, a low, resonant hum filled the air, sending vibrations through their very bones. In the center of this grand chamber stood a crystalline pedestal, its surface glowing softly with a mysterious inner light. Intricate, enigmatic sigils danced fluidly across the pedestal's facade, calling out to Ivy like the comforting presence of an old friend. Suspended above, an Orrery of Crucibles elegantly revolved, mimicking the celestial dance of stars and galaxies, casting a mesmerizing glow upon the chamber.

"It's saying it wants... us." There was a strange reverb to Ivy's whisper, as though her words were shadowed by deeper voice a half second out of sync. She spun around with languorous grace, her grey eyes darkened to depthless obsidian orbs. She raged at the ephemeral, primeval fear, but the Black was a smothering blanket, seemingly vibrating to a frequency that belonged to something... other. The uncanny Crucible. "Fear is an anchor chain. It shakes and rattles. It constrains us, weighs us down, tethers us in place." Ivy was still speaking in that strange, doubled whisper, yet her voice filled the bridge. "It knows these chains, it knows our fears. And it can show us how to be free of our fears, how to break our chains." Ivy began striding from the bridge almost against her own volition, lured by a chthonic song. The eldritch glyphs seemed to resonant with something inside her, shadows in her mind she couldn't decipher. The dread she felt didn't subside, it swelled, but she'd be damned if she'd turn away from these fretful waves and instead she steered into them, crashed through them. She headed towards the nearest airlock. Each step she took seemed subtly too long. The faint shadows cast by the ambient lighting seemed to stretch and flex unnaturally. "To it, we are the most miniscule of motes in a sea of infinite fathoms. But now, it is aware of us. And if we... join with it, it can show us how to sail these cosmic waters. Not as slaves to circumstance, but as masters...." Her tattoos itched and pulsed, sliding across her alabaster skin in time with the symbols scrolling across the monitors. From the passageway, the rest of the crew heard Ivy make a sound somewhere between a cough and a grunt. "Hypergolic shite!" Ivy shouted, and her voice had lost the weird reverb. "Penumbral hell! It brought us here, let's find out what it wants. I ain't hiding on the ship. Waiting will just feel worse."

Seiya was already recording alien language, while simultaneously trying to run it through the ship's translator program, to little avail. "No idea honestly, it could be a universal greeting, could be a request for a passcode. It doesn't seem to be a threat, though I did take our active targeting systems and weapons offline, just to ensure it doesn't think of us as a threat." "I am concerned, but I definitely think it wants to communicate with us. We are essentially at its mercy, so the only way to go is forward." The large Vara shrugged his shoulders. "I'd say to prepare for an excursion, and have Amari standby on the ship just in case."

"...okay, weird," Emi replied, wide eyed. "But what's it saying?"

Sori's brow furrowed as she analyzed the energy readings coming in. "It's hard to pinpoint the exact source, but they seem to be emanating from a cluster of asteroids not too far from our current position," she reported, her fingers flying over the controls. "I'll try to get a visual confirmation." As the ship approached the cluster of asteroids, the crew held their breath, unsure of what they would find. Ivy's heart raced with excitement at the prospect of discovering a new, untouched Crucible, but a sense of foreboding lingered in the air. The moment the asteroids came into view, they saw it - a massive structure nestled among the space rocks, glowing with an otherworldly light. The crew watched in awe as the ship drifted closer, the Sorium reserves filling up rapidly as they drew near. Sori's voice crackled over the intercom, filled with both excitement and caution. "Confirmed visual on the Crucible. It's unlike anything we've ever seen before. Brace yourselves, team. We're about to make history." Seiya felt a surge of adrenaline as the ship slowly maneuvered closer to the enigmatic structure. This was a moment that could define their journey, their discovery etching their names in the annals of space exploration. But amidst the thrill of the find, a gnawing sense of unease clawed at the back of his mind. The unknown always carried its risks, and they were venturing into uncharted territory. As they neared the Crucible, its immense scale became increasingly evident, towering over any other crucible any of them had encountered. Its vastness was not the only striking feature; its shape was uniquely distinct from any previously discovered. While all known Crucibles were essentially spherical and comparable in size to a moon, this one was spindle-shaped, stretching across the cosmos, and appeared to be four or five times larger. The sheer magnitude of this structure was such that it could easily encompass multiple crucibles within its confines. The surface of the Crucible bore a texture reminiscent of its counterparts, with a familiar metallic sheen that glinted in the dim light of space. The other characteristics, though similar to those of known Crucibles, were more numerous and intricate, adding to the enigmatic allure of this colossal entity. Ivy couldn't tear her eyes away from the spectacle before them. The beauty and mystery of the Crucible captivated her, drawing her in like a moth to a flame. But deep down, a sense of dread lingered, a primal instinct warning her of the dangers that lay ahead. This place felt different, not just in size and shape, but in the very essence that seemed to emanate from it. As they drew closer, Ivy's skin prickled with an inexplicable sense of foreboding. Seiya noticed Ivy's unease and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked softly, his voice filled with genuine concern. Ivy forced a smile, trying to shake off the feeling of dread that clung to her like a shadow. "I'll be fine," she replied, though her words lacked conviction. The unknown always carried risks, but this was different. This was something beyond their understanding, something ancient and powerful. As the ship entered the gravitational field of the Crucible, a sudden jolt reverberated through the hull, causing alarms to blare throughout the vessel. Emi and Sori frantically worked to stabilize the ship as it was pulled towards the massive structure, its magnetic influence too strong to resist. The crew braced themselves as the ship was drawn closer and closer, the metal groaning under the strain. Seiya gripped the console tightly, his knuckles turning white with the effort to maintain control. "We're being pulled in! Brace for impact!" he shouted over the chaos, his voice barely audible over the blaring alarms. Ivy's heart raced as she watched the Crucible loom larger and larger through the viewports. The sense of foreboding grew stronger, a primal fear clawing at her insides. What secrets did this ancient structure hold? And what dangers lurked within its depths? Just when it seemed inevitable that they would smash into the surface of the Crucible, the ship jolted violently, coming to an abrupt stop, hovering mere meters above the immense structure as if gripped by the unseen hands of some colossal force. The crew's eyes widened in disbelief, hearts pounding in their chests, as they desperately tried to comprehend the miraculous intervention that had just saved them from certain doom. . Sori's eyes widened in awe as she studied the readings flooding her screens. "It... it's like the Crucible itself halted our descent," she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper. Emi let out a nervous chuckle, the tension in the air palpable. "Well, well, well," she said, her eyes fixed on the massive structure below. "Seems like this Crucible has a mind of its own." Seiya scanned the controls, his mind racing with possibilities. "Can we communicate with it?" he asked, his voice filled with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Ivy, still reeling from the close call, couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that clung to her like a second skin. She gazed out at the vast expanse of the Crucible, its surface shimmering in the faint light of distant stars. As if in response to Seiya's question, a series of strange symbols and patterns began to flicker across the ship's communication screens, a language unknown yet somehow familiar. The crew watched in awe as the symbols danced before their eyes, forming intricate patterns that seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy. Sori's hands flew over the controls, trying to establish a connection with the enigmatic entity. "I'm picking up some sort of transmission," she reported, her voice tinged with excitement. "It's... it's like nothing I've ever seen before." Emi leaned in closer to the screen, her eyes narrowing as she tried to decipher the alien language. "What do you make of it?" she asked, her voice hushed in reverence. Ivy felt a shiver run down her spine as she studied the symbols on the screen, a strange sense of recognition tugging at her thoughts. "It's... it's speaking to us," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the ship's systems.

"And before everyone gets TOO excited," Emi went on over the intercom, "If it's a new Crucible, that either means it's so far from known space that no one's blundered into it before...OR...it means that no one who's ever blundered into it before has lived to make it back. Crucibles can be daaaaangerous you know..." Emi glanced over at Sori. "Any energy readings yet? Crucible's gotta be pretty big, right?" She herself called up the tactical displays for the ship and started preheating the weapons and defenses, taking the ship to 'yellow alert' readiness status.

Ivy shivered, rubbing the gooseflesh from her arms. The others might have Sorium-powered devices and implants, but the Sorium she had access to had seeped beneath her skin, into her blood, though she couldn't remember it happening. It was neither good, nor bad, just a dark passenger with dark whispers she had now had. "Let's find the Crucible, then," Ivy said over the comms at Emi's proclamation, redirecting herself to engineering. If Emi couldn't find it through the main sensors, she might at least get a direction checking the diagnostics on reserves and engines to detect where the Sorium was coming from. Every known Crucible had people around it to exploit, if it wasn't immediately deadly. And even then... Either they'd find people, and hopefully find out where they were. Or it was a pristine Crucible, one untouched. Theirs for the taking. Big rewards with equally big potential dangers. "We've gotten ourselves a ship. Now we might have ourselves riches enough to last us a lifetime if this is a Crucible no one has found before."

Seiya hadn't quite taken to thinking of the rest of the crew as his pack, though he recognized the signs that he was starting to think of them as such. They likely wouldn't know the significance of that, but it was fine for now, they weren't Valna, so he didn't expect them to, or to reciprocate the feeling. As Emi sent out her message, he smiled. A potentially undiscovered Crucible would just be icing on the cake so to say to go with the information they were gathering while here. He made his way back to the bridge and was grinning by the time he got there, taking to his terminal and joining in running through every possible means to locate the Crucible.

As odd as it was the misfit crew fell into shipboard routine easily. Sori and Emi began the tedious task of checking the ship's systems, auditing logs, and cross-referencing data. Ivy was right in her observation that this unknown territory would give them time to mend and prepare for the journey home. Amari, who had been in a state of shock after the encounter with the alien entity, was found splayed out on her bunk, scrubbing through stacks of archaic medical manuals. Seiya approached her quietly, not wanting to startle her from her trance-like state. "Amari," he said softly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We need to know the extent of our supplies before we set out on our journey home." She looked up at him, her eyes glazed over. "I... I'm working on it," she stammered, shutting the book with a suddenness that made a small thud in the otherwise silent ship. Her hands shook as she set the book aside and turned her attention to the medical stores. "I've got to prioritize what we need to restock and what can wait until we get back." As Ivy and Seiya continued their rounds, they couldn't help but feel a growing unease. The unknown territory they found themselves in seemed to hold its secrets close, and they were determined to uncover them before they could safely return home. Emi and Sori were almost finished with their systems check when they noticed an unusual reading from the hyperlance's FTL drive. They exchanged surprised glances, both clearly taken aback. In this galaxy, all forms of advanced technology rely on a rare substance known as Sorium. The only source of this substance is the Crucibles, mysterious constructs that have been around since long before any known civilization in the galaxy. Small amounts of Sorium can be extracted from a Crucible, but its most intriguing quality is that ships in close proximity to a Crucible will automatically refuel without using any additional resources aside from the time needed for recharge. Sori spun her chair and immediately began scanning the surrounding area more closely. Emi sent out an intership communication: "Guys, our Sorium reserves are filling up. We must be near a Crucible."

Seiya internally applauded Sori's initiative, even if he was abit annoyed by the fact it could well have killed them. Still, they were beyond anything any of them knew, and they'd need each other to get back home, so he stifled his annoyance, and nodded. "You can bet the data will have value to someone when we make it home. Same goes for the scans of when that entity approached us." He shrugged. "We need to run a full systems check on everything. There's no alarms sounding right now, but that doesn't mean everything is okay. Someone should check Engineering as well. We haven't heard from Amari either, so I'll go check on her. It's a good idea to know what our medical supply situation is, as well as the galley. Like you said, we need to take stock of everything, because it could be a long trip back."

"We're beyond the Rim," Ivy whispered, staring at cosmos visible through the viewscreen. She suppressed a gasp as she pulled her sweat-soaked tank-top away from her chest, suddenly cold and shivering. She felt like she'd just ran ten miles through a hydroponic module. "But it's no place I've ever been." Ivy had travelled all over the Galaxy, to the Rim, and beyond. Twice, anyways. She had seen Korohm 7. For the other time, she could only recall shifting shadows, a comforting cold, and the tang of blood. Wherever they were now, it was nothing remotely like she had experienced before. Hope we can find a bar... "If you don't know where we are, likely Zephyr don't know either," Ivy commented. "That gives us time to recoup from our flight and escaping... whatever that was." She opened and closed her fingers, than clapped Sori on the shoulder. "Good job getting us outta there in one piece. Might take us a bit longer to find someplace to patch up, though." She sauntered over to the engineering station and flopped down in the chair, plopping her boots on the console. With the back of hand pressed against her forehead, she glanced over at Emi. "Forget 'bout coordinates then, but make sure the ship is recording all the readings. Might be worth something when we make it back. See if you can catch any signs of a habitable planet, or better yet, a space station."

Emi adjusted her sensor controls and suddenly they could see it and it wasn’t a ship. Imagine the horrific offspring of a jellyfish and a squid, merging into one twisted entity: a mass of tentacles and trailing streamers, its gelatinous body pulsating with sickly colors. As it moves through the swirling currents of the wormhole, its translucent skin emits an otherworldly glow, exposing the rows of sharp, tearing beaks that line its multiple mouths. It is a creature that defies description, repulsive and monstrous in its appearance. “Hahahaha.” the inhuman laugh is in everyone mind, “Close the rift? and why would I allow such a thing to happen? No more trespass, no more traps, no more food.” The sinister laughter echoed through the minds of the crew, sending shivers down their spines. Ivy gritted her teeth, her mind racing for another angle to negotiate with this abominable being. "Food? Surely there are other sources of sustenance in this vast universe," Ivy's voice was calm but laced with determination. "We can help you find alternative nourishment, but we must be allowed to leave unharmed." Seiya glanced at Ivy, silently acknowledging her attempt at reasoning with the creature. He knew their chances were slim, but they had to try everything before resorting to drastic measures. As the monstrous entity drew closer, its presence casting a malevolent aura over the bridge, Sori's hands trembled on the controls. She could feel the immense power radiating from the being, and she knew that their only hope lay in convincing it to let them go. She was afraid that wasn’t going to happen. “Screw this.” Sori activated the Hyperlance’s FTL drive. Traveling through the rifts is achieved at standard drive speeds, as the wormhole currents are in constant motion exceeding the speed of light. In simpler terms, a ship using a standard drive will still travel faster than light due to the speed of the currents. This enables ships to cover immense distances in significantly less time. Ships in a rift never use their FTL drive. Never. The FTL drive roared to life, its hum drowning out the cacophony of the approaching entity. The Hyperlance surged forward, hurtling through the chaotic currents of the wormhole at an unprecedented speed. Ivy gripped the railing tightly as the ship rattled and shook around them, pushing its limits to escape the clutches of the monstrous being. The crew held their breath, hoping that Sori's risky move would pay off. As they raced through the writhing energies of the rift, the alien entity let out a deafening screech that reverberated through their minds. It attempted to give chase, tendrils of energy reaching out in a desperate attempt to ensnare the fleeing ship. But the Hyperlance was too fast, dodging and weaving through the turbulent currents with expert precision. As they approached the edge of the rift, a blinding light enveloped them, and for a moment, everything seemed to stand still. When the blinding light faded, the crew of the Hyperlance found themselves in uncharted territory. They were no longer within the confines of the wormhole, but floating in the vast expanse of space, surrounded by unfamiliar stars and celestial bodies. Sori let out a shaky breath as she stabilized the ship, her hands still trembling from the adrenaline rush of their escape. "Where... where are we?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Emi hurriedly checked the navigation systems, her brow furrowed in confusion. "I-I don't know. Our coordinates are completely off the charts. It's as if we've been transported to a region of space that doesn't even exist in our database." Seiya stepped forward, his eyes scanning the viewscreen in front of them. The swirling colors of the cosmic backdrop painted a mesmerizing scene unlike anything they had ever seen before. "It seems we've stumbled upon something truly extraordinary," he murmured, a sense of awe in his voice. "Perhaps fate wanted us here after all."

The Black was a susurrus in Ivy's head, trying to smother the alien whispers, but she still heard it. Tendons sticking out in her forearms with the force she was gripping the console, she growled through gritted teeth as she filled her head with vague dark and violent memories she couldn't quite remember. "When you can't outrun or outgun, you cut a deal, even if it's just scraps on your end." Ivy sidled over to Sori and casually dropped a hand on one of her displays, middle finger tapping twice towards the roiling side of the abstraction of the wormhole, her voice dropping to a barely audible whisper. "Ease us over. Come's down to it, take us overboard and hope we come out someplace we can survive." Then Ivy straightened to her modest height, shoulders squared and fists balled up and pressed against the small of her back as she stalked into the middle of the bridge - 'coincidentally' close to a railing she could grasp in an emergency - grey eyes nearly black hole black as she glared at the main monitor. "Fleshbags - like most sentients - are a curious and ornery sort," Ivy called out in both voice and mind, forcing the Black to add its urgency to hers. "Price too high, and others will come looking, and you'll end with more trespassers and just end up here again. How 'bout we leave and you tell us how to close the Rift behind us? No more trespassers at all, then." Ivy had no idea of that was possible and if this entity knew how or was inclined. If possible, it would severely disrupt galactic travel. Leastwise, we have a fast ship... She didn't really think it would work. It just a delay tactic to give Sori a few extra seconds to get into position so they could go off-road and take the gamble on where they wormhole would punt them. She'd heard lots of stories in her travels, from being ejected into a planet or sun, to the space between galaxies and beyond, and stranger tales still. She even had one of her own - going the other way, to be sure, and she only had brief and indistinct recollections of it. The Black writhed beneath her skin in triumph, pale skin going even paler as her tattoos seemed to darken, while the secrets in her head in she didn't know recoiled.

"Definitely not intentionally." Seiya said aloud. In his head he added If you'd clear the lane we'd be gone, and erase the navlogs. He didn't know what this was, but he knew it was way more than they were equipped to deal with. "No crazy superdrive or anything on this ship that maybe we haven't tried yet?" he asked, half in jest. There weren't alot of options left for them.

“It is coming up stream, we would have to go back!” Sori yelled as she maneuvered away from the derelict. The ship shuddered as the entity drew closer, its immense presence casting a shadow over the Hyperlance. Ivy clenched her fists, her mind racing with possibilities on how to combat such a colossal foe. Emi's eyes widened as she analyzed the data streaming in. "Guys, I'm picking up psionic signatures from that thing. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's... sentient." Seiya's brow furrowed in concentration as he contemplated their next move. "We can't outrun it and we can't outgun it. We need a plan." Just then, a faint whisper echoed through the ship, a voice that seemed to resonate within their very minds. "You have trespassed upon our domain, intruders from the void. You will pay the price for your insolence."

"Sori, can you plot a safe course away from here?" He was manning the tactical console, having trained the ships' weapons on the ejected core as a safety measure, though now he had yet to turn them on whatever entity was approaching, not wanting to tip their hands just yet. "I don't think the weapons we have aboard will do much more than annoy something that big, if they even do that."

Emi had made it back to the ship by way of the interior of the derelict, she had actually beaten the other two by almost a full minute. Emi looked up from her console “I don’t know but you remember that thing in there screaming? It wasn’t screaming at us it was sending a signal, and Sori’s right something big is responding, and I don’t think it’s a ship. As Ivy and Seiya joined Emi on the bridge, a sense of urgency filled the air. The trio exchanged looks of concern as they braced themselves for whatever was hurtling towards them from the rift. Emi’s fingers flew across the console, trying to gather as much data as possible about the incoming threat. The readings were erratic, the sensors struggling to lock onto a clear image of what was approaching. But one thing was certain - it was massive, unlike anything they had encountered before. The ship trembled under the force of whatever was nearing them, warning lights flashing as the Hyperlance struggled to maintain stability in the chaotic space currents. Sori still at her place at the helm, her hands gripping the controls tightly as she tried to navigate through the turbulent conditions. Seiya stood ready by her side, his gaze focused on the viewscreen that displayed the approaching entity. It was a swirling mass of energy, dark tendrils reaching out in all directions as it closed in on them with alarming speed!

Ivy soared through the hole in the hull as though propelled by unseen solar sails. Seiya was disoriented for an instant when he found her inverted in relation to himself before she spun around and grasped his extended hand. She jerked her head, white hair drifting about her head like a sun's corona, and Seiya realized she wanted him to disengage his magboots. He did so, and Ivy pulled him close, her legs wrapped around his torso as she propelled them towards the Hyperlance. It was unlike anything he was familiar with. Ivy was eerily cool to the touch, even through his EVA suit, and the way they flew, it was silent, still, nothing like using jet thrusters, but they were moving faster than he could run. They made it through the airlock of their ship and Ivy took a gasp of air she didn't need before she started running for the bridge, heavy boots clomping on the deck plating. "What in the solar shit is happening now?" Ivy snarled into her comm-unit, frustrated their sojourn on the derelict ship hadn't yielded any dividends.

After the warning, and with the sealed bulkhead blocking them from getting out that way, Seiya knew that their only way out was the same way the Core had gone. The abomination they'd been fighting wasn't really an issue any more, Not with Sori's warning. He motioned to where the emergency doors had failed to shut following the core's ejection, and gathered his feet beneath him. With an agility few could match he sent himself towards the hole, making careful adjustments so he didn't just go into space, and avoided wrenching his arms as he held them out, taking hold of the edge of the hatch, and flipping himself out and onto the hull of the derelict. The magnets engaged as his feet made contact, and he turned around, in case Ivy needed help getting out, ready with one hand holding on to the hatch, and the other extended.