Foundation

[Eppy]

In the orbit of Mallorca, worlds away, Willow looked up from his book.

Severe worry.

"..what is it, sweetie...?" a blue-haired head poked up from under the covers, groggily moaning as she lazily brushed hair away from her eyes.

"It's father. Something just went very wrong."

"Oh no!" She sat up, suddenly much more alert. "What's happened to Jacob!?"

"No idea, but he's concerned, and that's a very rare thing." Willow bounced out of bed, sliding over to the wardrobe and yanking out a blue uniform, trimmed gold and caped.

"Admiral Willow?" Mia Bonello, 22, slid onto the floor, going for the same wardrobe and pulling out a Commander's uniform.

"If this involves the Foundation, Outcast Special Forces authority won't apply. I'll have to strong-arm my way in and remind who sends them their Cardamine Concentrate. Gedrix is a nice guy, but the rest of the Speakers aren't always so nice, and he can't always keep pulling emergency powers."

"Oh, lovely." Mia zipped the side of the jumpsuit and slid on the boots. "Arkady was supposed to leave port yesterday, wasn't she?"

"I wonder if that damn destroyer just lost life support." Willow half-ran to the door (which automatically slid open for him) and sped onwards, Mia close behind. "Damn their useless Kusari engineering!"

"Who knows? We'll have to find out later." They slid out into Ibiza's docking bay, vaulting into the nearest shuttle and popping out of said docking bay, into full view of Mallorca, Fantasia parked in the drydock, superimposed upon the beautiful purple gas ball.

Several minutes later, they found themselves in Vacuum suits, watching Fantasia's new weaponry attach to the great battleship.

"So these are the new Nomad Compounds?"

"Fresh off the boat from Omicron Delta, obtained on a very, very big budget." the crew chief's laughing crackled in their helmets. "They're nasty little snots; the biological parts are fighting the constraints with everything they have, but they can't get past the containment without a brain."

"Lovely." Willow's suit slowly turned back towards Ibiza. "Is Clair up yet?"

"She left for Malta yesterday. She'll never make it back in time."

"Damn. Tell her shore leave has been extended three weeks. How soon can you be done?"

"If we skimp on Inferno maintenance, four hours."

"Ready her for departure." We'll fix this, whatever it is.

"Word just came in!" crackled the comm. "First Speaker Gedrix is dead!"

"Oh, bloody hell."

---

Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.