[Siirenias]

The minutes ticked by. The Iron Thunder hurtled forward, bound for the unnatural anomaly near the system's core, but space is big. In the hours before the big carrier would reach the fringe of the battle, there was much to be done. First, were meals. No sense in dying on an empty stomach, after all.

The petty officers and crewmen ate in their mess, and the fighter pilots ate in theirs. Supper was served on the bridge as it crackled with the activity paramount to a mission of such gravity and danger.

Thomas knelt by his tactical officer, one Lieutenant Commander John Grapht, as they analyzed data from the distant battle.

"What the blazes are those...anomolies that the bandits are throwing at the worms?" asked an exasperated Grapht.

Thomas frowned and responded, "My first guess would be some sort of stealthed missile, but these little holes in space more blatantly stick out than they do disappear. Maybe it's some sort of...anti-matter we're not familiar with."

He tapped on the commander's auxiliary console.

"See here on the visual we took from 20 minutes ago. That ball of nothing didn't explode like an anti-matter warhead, but punched a hole right through the shields and gashed right into the ship. But if you look at that second one...the worms knocked it out with just a point defense bolt."

John chewed on his bottom lip in thought.

"What we're dealing with is some sort of seeker which can pass through even phased shielding, and inert armor, and gut a starship. But, for some reason, some point defense fire neutralizes it. Looks like all this shiny, expensive armor is all for naught?" the commander jested.

"Well, if you don't mind greeting a subspace rupture up close and unprotected, no," Thomas replied, pulling up some footage they had just archived of a supposed Sithrak firing a beam at an Amonkrie cruiser that exploded outward onto its shields, giving off exotic particles similar to those that come out of a collapsing wormhole.