((there being an invasion, and there being Draconians who have yet to be contacted by anyone, and there being an interfering hyperspace entity.))

[color=Sienna][b][h2]The Major Warlord's fleet[/h2][/b][/color]
[color=Peru]
Having checked the system, and taken note of a primitive, though intelligent, species on the richest planet in the water zone, Major Warlord Hele'Streth sighed in frustration. Again, no deposits of the rarest kind, nothing that he can jump ahead with. Angrily, he fingered the sword strapped to his side. Usually, Draconians wouldn't wear swords- or daggers- but the custom of honor duels was increasing again, as they had back when they were still planetside, stuck there.

He clenched his other fist, then forced himself to relax. The next system he will clear, and if he finds nothing, he will return home. He still had multiple ships left, but he didn't feel the need to take this system- it was too far out of his influence, anyways, and it's not yet worth it. He did fire several portable probe/beacon pieces down. For the primitives on the ground, it would be, no doubt, treated as if it were a beacon from the Goddess. For Draconians, though, it would say that the planet has been claimed by Hele'Streth, and to take it is to start an honor war. 

But the Major Warlord wasn't quite finished. "Set course for the next outer system. Launch drives on my mark." He waited a few minutes, as Navigation plotted the course. They returned with an, "Aye, course set, sir." Moments later, communications reported each of the ships in his fleet, that they are ready for the jump. "On my mark... Mark." 

Spatial vortexes appeared in front of the silent, gleaming warship, and it disappeared into it, as other vortexes appeared around it, other ships entering and being swallowed.  Vortexes were two-way things, where the side that faces the drive takes you to the plotted coordinates; entering the opposite side of the vortex will give you a mirror-image of the coordinates, except in the opposite direction. Tricky business- the Draconians have yet to figure out how to make it purely one-sided, and besides, there was much more entertaining research to be done in new explosives. Making things explode is always more interesting than anything. 

He watched calmly as the blackness of the void swirled past him, flashes of purple and blue occasionally taking over from the white of the vortex. Even without anything to really base your speed off of, besides the blackness going to a whiteness incredibly quickly, you had the sense of flying extremely fast. Then the ship shuddered, and groaned. Hele'Streth removed himself from his wonderings and turned his attention to the viewscreens. Slowly, the fleet that he had taken with him appeared, shockingly close by- and in hyperspace. 

All the bridge officers would've paled, had they been human. Each ship creates its own bubble- when two bubbles collide, they might bounce off each other, or pop and toss its contents out into open space over multiple lightyears. But never before had they been sucked into the same bubble before. Still, the multicolored swirls continued to appear, weaving around ships and on the perimeter of the bubble. And then he noticed something- a shuttle bearing the ID of Vala'Keer's personal shuttle, from his lost transport. 

They somehow weaved throughout the hyperspace, and docked with one of his transports. Minutes later, his communications officer reported that Vala'Keer and his closest had been found, after being sucked into and escaping from a strange intra-space dimension. [i]No matter,[/i] thought Hele'Streth, [i]The Hyperspace anomaly is more important at the moment. Vala'Keer will have to wait.[/i] As he finished the thought, his navigations officer called out that they should be exiting hyperspace shortly. 

Half an hour later, they still hadn't exited. Hele'Streth feared the worse- an anomaly pulled them into a shared bubble and forced them to remain inside until they hit something. If they even could, that is. An idea came to him, suddenly- what if the way out was to create another spacial vortex? It might just take them out of it, the opposite of how to get in. 

He issued new orders- to open a spontaneous vortex, and leave as soon as possible. He hoped it would work, and he'd rather not follow this vortex to its end. As Navigation called out his readiness, and Communications reported the ready status for all ships, Hele'Streth gave to go-ahead- "Mark."
[/color]
[color=Sienna][h2]Kibō-hosh High Orbit[/h2][/color]
[color=Peru]
The droneships went first- the moment their vortexes opened, their speed shoved them through in seconds. Following shortly behind were the transports, then his own ship, and then the rest of his true warships. Instead of the usual white swirls as he was expecting, he could see an inky blackness, and a glowing planet sitting in the middle, as his ship hurtled through the portal and into realspace. The ship shuddered again, groaning and creaking, clearly showing strain at the abrupt changes, and his ship hurtled even faster, it seemed, towards the unknown planet. He saw the rest of his fleet appearing, spread out over several hundred kilometers, and he ordered a full stop among all of them, and then to regroup around him. 

Taking count, he noted two droneships had yet to report. Nearby was a suspiciously advanced debris field- it was possible that the ship was torn apart in its exit. The other... appeared to be dust when it followed the hyperspace path, and impacted the planet's atmosphere. The atmosphere worked similar to water- it can soften your landing, but if something moves fast enough and is blunt enough, it's more like a hammer traveling at several hundred kilometers a minute, and smashing into the ocean from directly above. It was clear that there was nothing left of the ship. 

Hele'Streth signed, rubbing his temples, the one spot on a Draconian that a knife could penetrate- and is often the focal point of all headaches brought on by stress. Already, he knew that he was in a foreign system, probably far from his space. [i]How could this get any worse?[/i][/color]