Her riotous world of dreams ended with a steadily sounding, not quite strident, alarm.<br/><br/>Sephia Terranj, Dohl Sentinel, slowly shed her layers of slumber to reawaken, staring blankly at the shadow swathed ceiling overhead.  Her thoughts were disjointed, as tangled as the sheets bunched around her legs.  But she remembered the nubian man, his infectious grin.  Were they fighting or making love?  Either way, the dream caused her heart to race.<br/><br/>Reflexively, she reached over to stroke the empty place beside her, cold and untouched for many long weeks.  She didn't begrudge the fact, but couldn't quite squelch an inkling of disappointment.  Of course, her husband was one of the few who could traverse the gates at will, and did so to handle their personal affairs both here and abroad, so his presence was infrequent.<br/><br/>Still, gods above, she missed him.<br/><br/>Oh, right...  alarm.<br/><br/>Groaning, the raven-capped woman rolled over.  Lissome arms corded in scars and muscle stretched overhead, and upon downfall one extended outwards, allowing fingers to grace a panel just beside her bed.  Far wall soon lit up, a brief flash of glowing blackness before displaying the urgent message.<br/><br/>...ABNORMAL ANOMALIES IN SOUTHERN QUADRANT... RIFTS OCCURRING WITH GREATER FREQUENCY... RED LEVEL THREAT DETECTED...<br/><br/>...END MSG...<br/><br/>Seph scanned over the message twice before rolling out of bed.  With greater sense of urgency, she plucked a plain black silk robe from dresser's surface and wrapped it around nude form.  The male robe was far too large, but she simply belted it tightly and gathered excess material at her waist to avoid trailing ends, then tapped at the display again to enable an audio connection.<br/><br/>"Good morning, Dohl Terranj.  How might I assist you?"<br/><br/>"Time check, please.  And connect me to Scans manager on duty."<br/><br/>"Certainly.  The time is 0317.  Connecting..."<br/><br/>A peculiar. almost bird-like warbling soon filtered over speakers, following Seph as she departed her bedroom and headed towards the small but serviceable kitchen.<br/><br/>"Yes, I received your message, Penchek.  Are you routing the information to my office?"<br/><br/>"CooOOoo, mnnaah coooOOoo," came the clear reply.<br/><br/>"Good.  Keep monitoring the situation and report to me if there are any changes.  Direct the Guard to stand by until further notice.  Have we identified the danger rift yet?"  She proceeded in the mindless task of retrieving local, caffienated beans to grind and brew, something not unlike coffee but with a nuttier natural flavor.<br/><br/>"MnaaOOOoo, caaahhh."<br/><br/>The woman paused at that, midway through adding ground beans to heated water.  "Oh.  That's not good at all," she mused, then resumed her task.<br/><br/>She was going to need to prepare for a very long day.<br/>