View at Full Size The first thing I noticed once we entered the Arete dustcloud's core was the color. What was a soft diffuse pink and yellow on the outside shifted to the color of blood separating from plasma within. And then, the binary stars winked, temporarily blocked out by the massive hulk of a vessel that, even to my untrained eye, was ancient beyond reckoning. I looked at the admiral in surprise as I saw a Powell-class battleship pull up along side. It looked like the ship, one of the largest in our fleet, could land in the behemoth's docking bay. "Welcome to Project Fafnir, Captain," the admiral said, beaming with pride. "We call her that because this ship used to belong to a species we're calling the Jotunn...a giant race, though probably not humanoid. Your eyes aren't fooling you, Fafnir's just under seven kilometers long." To say Fafnir looked old was an understatement. It's age bordered on grotesque. It was obviously a warship. It's lines dripped with menace. Even burned out and floating dead in a stellar remnant, Fafnir looked like it could obliterate half the fleet. "She's impressive, sure, Admiral," I said, haltingly. "But why bring in the Black Angels for guard duty on an archeological site?" The admiral laughed. "This 'Archeological Site' is going to win the war for us. That ship isn't dead. It's in some kind of standby repair mode. Been that way for the last few hundred million years. The eggheads say she's a billion years old. Was too near some star when it went nova and has been floating with this stellar remnant ever since. Hell, her gravity field might be what has kept this cloud from dispersing." "You said 'not dead' as though it were alive," I said, trying to pierce the dust clouds with human eyes where ships' sensors failed. "It is...in a way. Organic technology. It's like a big cyborg, with organic parts grown and genetically created to make the ship perform better. Once we start incorporating that technology in our ships, even the Vorhasi will take notice." "Okay, I understand the need for security, but still, the Black Angels are spec ops. Why..." "Because," the admiral said, stepping up to the viewscreen to get an unobstructed view of the gargantuan vessel, "I want all the bases covered. Just in case. The scientists have guaranteed me it's safe, but that's not good enough. I want the best combat unit available here for when we turn Fafnir back on..." I frowned. "You know admiral, it sounded for a minute there like you said you were going to turn on the giant, alien warship that survived a supernova that happened before the time of the dinosaurs," I chuckled. The admiral looked back at me disapprovingly. "Tertiarty system starts are already underway. What we do here in the next few days will change the course of human history." "That," I said, trying to ignore the cold lump in my stomach, "is something we can both agree on...one way or the other..." The perimeter defense ships cleared us through, and we began our final approach. And Fafnir, shaking off the sleep of a billion years, was waiting... Enjoy, and let me know what you think.