Ayden had to admit, he had expected the colony to be bigger. Then again, humans were only just creating their colonies when Earth died, and only so many escaped.
Jax was clearly enjoying herself, taking everything in with wide eyes, again appearing younger than himself.
Ayden, on the other hand, missed the prairie and all the open space it provided. He felt boxed in among the buildings, with nowhere to hide and almost no room to run.
He mentally shook his head. Thinking like that was born of years of struggling to survive. There wasn't anything dangerous here.
At the edge of the city, there was a railing separating the people from the steep drop of the plateau it was built on, with the transparent dome rising from the bottom. Jax leaned over and peered down the mile-high wall of rock and ice.
"Are those lights?" she gasped.
Indeed, there were lights sparkling from every part of the wall.
"The colony must extend into the plateau." Ayden said. While the surface was tolerable, he couldn't imagine living underground. He imagined it to be dark and suffocating.
He looked out through the dome, at the harsh landscape, and watched a volcano of liquid methane erupt. When the spray cleared, he caught sight of an untamed gryphon, rearing on it's hind legs and spreading it's wings to their full length, more than twice the height of a human. He didn't hear the screech, but he imagined it rolling over the mountains and lakes, stirring fear in the little creatures that might exist out there, encouraging them to go deeper into whatever hole they were hiding in.
They were moving away from the edge when a gap opened in the clouds, revealing a part of Saturn's rings. Ayden stared at the view, momentarily breath taken. No night on Earth came close to rivaling the skies of Titan.
Just as he was looking away, a thought struck him. From what he had observed, Titan's clouds were thick with layers and very heavy. Holes didn't just appear in them, unless a very large ship passed through the atmosphere. And he should have been able to see a ship that big.
Unless it was hidden.
Urgently, he grabbed Jax's hand. "We need to find Tyri, quickly!" he said.
"What? Why?" she looked at him, clearly puzzled.
"Because there's a hole in the atmosphere that can only be caused by a huge ship, something everyone should be able to see clearly."
"So?" she asked.
"So where is the ship?" Tyri's voice said softly from behind them.
Ayden jumped around and stared. "How did you do that?!"
"The Azkiar have many abilities." she said with a small smile. Then she locked her eyes on the gap. "You have sharp eyes, to have noticed that so quick. The ship is most certainly cloaked, invisible to eyes and sensors."
"Cloaking technology must have sped ahead in sixteen years." Jax observed. "When my family built starships, cloaked ships could still appear on certain frequencies, and were always visible to any sentient being's eyes."
Tyri nodded, looking grave. "And it hasn't advanced much past that."
Jax looked very confused.
Tyri turned to Ayden. "Do you remember the old enemy I mentioned in our discussion yesterday? They possess ships that are highly superior to any other in the galaxy. Where they get them is unknown, and they can't be detected by any modern technology."
"And if this enemy is as bad as you say..." Jax trailed off.
"Then we are about to be attacked, yes." Tyri said, and started walking in the direction of her apartment.
Ayden and Jax exchanged bewildered glances.
"And to think I thought there was no danger here." he grumbled.
"Look on the bright side." Jax said as she started to follow Tyri. "You're no longer bored."

Jace was on his way to the stables when the first blast hit.
The dome shook, and to his alarm, poisonous clouds began seeping through the cracks created by the explosion. More impacts could be heard from all over Xanadu, and were soon joined with the screams of citizens and a loud two-tone siren. Looking at the sky above, he made out the shapes of five starfighters speeding through he clouds. As he watched, two were blasted into oblivion from an unknown source.
The explosions from the fighters jolted him back onto the ground, where he took off running for the security barracks.

Kajin and Airi reached the apartment at the same time as Ayden, Jax, and Tyri. Tyri pushed open the door just as Soron reached it on the other side.
"What's going on?"Airi cried as more cracks formed in the dome.
Tyri looked completely calm. "Grab any possessions you can't leave behind. It's time to go."
"What about Jace?" Kajin asked.
"He knows where to go" she said.
There was very little to take. A comlink and cheap pistol were the only things he owned at the moment, a far cry from his previous life. He was about to follow everyone else to the door when a thought struck him. He went into Jace's room and found a small compad and what looked like two beads, and a small weapons case. Kajin took both and joined everyone else outside. Ayden had his bow and small quiver of arrows strapped to his leg, and Soron was in the process of hiding a knife in his boot. Tyri waited for a gap in the impacts before speaking.
"I have a ship docked at the spaceport a short distance from here. The dome has been worn down enough for buildings to start breaking, so watch the skies. We'll be meeting Jace at my ship. And put on these gas masks," she added, holding out one for each of them. "Titan's atmosphere is deadly after long enough exposure. It has already entered the dome. Follow me."