The Rift Beckons...
It only occurred for a moment, but a flash of blue and green light played through the porthole, in stark contrast to the infinite darkness Daphne Vickers of Clan Wolf (in Exile) had been viewing a moment ago. The swirling colors pierced her vision and drew her attention instantly. Daphne blinked and looked outside the porthole to get a better view. What she saw made her gasp.
It was huge, looking large enough to engulf even a McKenna. Blue and green light pervaded the color of the thing outside the window, which swirled and surged with otherworldly power she did not comprehend. The DropShip's speed was such that it could not stop before it entered the opened maw. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.
Daphne quickly climbed up two ladders and into the bridge of the Wolf's Claw, where chaos had set in. Bridge crew members went over their control panels frantically, trying to find out what was going on. Finally, someone brought up a view of the visible planets on the bridge's holotank. The planet of Arc-Royal, and all of the orbital facilities and ships that had been present in the solar system, were gone. The planets presented were different, arrayed in different orbital paths and locations within the solar system, and the star had changed to one with a more yellowish tint. Daphne stepped down, looking at it with the bridge watch officer. His jaw dropped, and Daphne soon understood when she realized the significance of the size and positioning of the planets of the solar system. Every schoolchild in the Clans could recognize this system, and the jewel within it. The shining jewel that every Clan wanted to take, the jewel that would give them control over the entirety of the other Clans. "This, is this... Terra?", Daphne stuttered to her ship's Captain, a lanky freeborn technician-turned-warrior Star Captain named Renard.
"It appears so, Star Colonel," Renard answered, his own pale blue eyes glittering uncharacteristically from the view they were beholding on the holotank. The grin that was forming on his face told of his internal joy, and indeed, the joy that all of the crew would soon share when they gazed upon Blessed Terra, Cradle of Humanity. The planet of the Great Father Aleksandr Kerensky and his son Nicholas, founder of the Clans and Clan Wolf's greatest hero. The planet of the honored Camerons, leaders of the great Star League.
And it was now within reach.