The ship appeared in space, invisible to any detection system. Equipped with a powerful stealth system, it let all forms of matter or energy pass through, making it absolutely impossible to perceive. The only flaw was the presence of micro-drones equipped with sensors, which provided the ship with the necessary indications on the outside world, but even these could not be detected without sensors equivalent to those of a powerful battleship. It was also possible for advanced devices to detect the use of a Walker engine when leaving the premises, so stealth approach protocols involved a long movement in normal space before any teleportation.

Sava looked warily at the empty space surrounding her vehicle. Had she been right to investigate like this, without warning anyone? Perhaps it was a trap and would she fall into an ambush by a group that hated administrative agents? There was no shortage of them in the universe.

Here, in the sidereal void separating the systems, the ship's detection devices noticed only one object of interest several light years away. A beacon, crudely camouflaged as a small asteroid in case someone happened to pass by this point, was located near the arrival point indicated by the coordinates written on the piece of paper. Of course, she had teleported herself at a certain distance from it, in case it was a trap.

The Z.I.A. on board confirmed that there was no local risk, not even a self-destruct device, which was quite surprising knowing the Homs' taste for this kind of detail. The beacon seemed set to receive a particular system and all its onboard electronics consisted of a simple answering machine whose software did not even deserve the name of A.I.. She got in touch with it.

“Welcome. If you are not the recipient of this message, please do not worry about it, thank you. If you are the recipient of this message, please follow the coordinates given in the subroutine, thank you.”

The Ham frowned: was Khraz Rêvegloire making fun of her by sending her on a galactic treasure hunt where she would go from clue to clue? It was not impossible that rich and powerful person would have fun like this at the expense of an administrative agent, but certainly not after giving it incriminating evidence that could cause them trouble.

Leaving stealth mode, ensuring that her software had full control of the beacon's data, she analyzed in depth the subroutine mentioned by it. Little protected, this program simply received a signal sent by another beacon, as if to keep track of its possible movements... A tracer allowing the movements of a ship or a mobile space base to be followed... Or even possibly a celestial body, a comet perhaps? Some pirate bases used this type of hiding place.

The Z.I.A. on-board-computer indicated that the coordinates given corresponded to a small system without valuable resources on the galactic edge. There were certainly no other stages of the treasure hunt: it corresponded perfectly to the vague description given by the dictator.

Reactivating the stealth system, she ordered the computer to program a jump to a safe distance from the point, then an approach to it. Immediately, she found herself in the right system, speeding at the full power that her superluminal engines could use while remaining discreet.

Quickly, amplified to appear closer, the image of a space station filled the landscape screens while its data appeared on the control ones, allowing the agent to study it.

It was some kind of old residence for asteroid miners, its many ruined areas indicating a state of near abandonment. A better maintained part had a docking bay on which a dozen or so good-sized civilian ships were docked: probably pirate vehicles full of hidden weapons. Several automatic defense turrets were clearly visible on the structure of the base, in working order, but this was not something rare in the “E” sector, even if the place was occupied by honest people.

The ship landed on an empty platform, floating above the ground in case there were presence sensors. There was an artificial atmosphere and gravity there, although this place was open in the middle of space. If ever a spaceship wanted to dock, the ship would move away, still undetected.

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Sava went to the armory and entered the stealth suit tube. Immediately, a thin film made of a top-secret material was deposited by the machine, enveloping her and her clothes without it being visible. This stealth armor connected to her own computer, giving her control over its special properties. With a simple command, the Ham became invisible.

There were better designs than this armor-cladding, but it was hard to say how that was even possible. Just like her ship, any wave it received was absorbed and spat out the other side… A good thing if she was being shot by an energy weapon, since this suit prevented the use of an energy shield or any long-range attack software.

She could, of course, call the military and have all these people arrested in no time. However, it was better to check what was going on here. Some pirate groups were even legal as long as they didn’t practice their activity, while some civilian groups could easily look like criminals, like a private security company for example.

Descending silently through the airlock of her ship, she floated to the platform and set off towards the interior of the complex.

The artificial gravity had no effect on her thanks to her suit. Nevertheless, she walked, floating slightly above the ground but making all the necessary walking movements: floating in the air without a sense of up and down was too disturbing so many adopted “normal” movements in such cases. Of course, she had been trained in this type of movement, but the use of artificial gravity was widespread everywhere, taking away any reason for her to train and therefore the habit.

She progressed in this way through the base, sometimes floating higher to pass a guard, or faster to go through an open door before it closed.

The occupants of the place were all armed and belonged to various species. Their movements seemed very professional and they were ready to react at any moment to an attack. Some even had very powerful weapons. If they were really pirates, they must have had military training.

Patiently, she explored the corridors, waited to be able to pass… or even lost patience and forced some openings. Her attack software no longer worked remotely, but by touching the doors she could still broadcast some of them. Fortunately, the defense software was less efficient and she was not spotted. She even managed to infiltrate the surveillance system to erase in real time the door opening phases she caused.

It was still a strange adventure. Floating around among armed people, unmolested, walking through empty corridors and opening doors to equally empty rooms… There was a living quarter occupied by the pirates’ belongings and where some of them rested, but other than that… Yes, it might have seemed childish to hope to find a treasure chest or something like that, but still: these people had to be guarding something, right? And if they were pirates, there had to be loot somewhere, right? Why watch over empty corridors that led to nothing?

Perhaps it was to draw attention to empty areas? To distract from the real points of interest?

Once this idea had taken root, Sava began to review her method of exploration. From now on, she would look for places that were not guarded in appearance and secret passages.

She eventually discovered a hidden door in an area near the ruins. Once through it, she entered a network of more heavily guarded corridors, only to be stopped by another door. The problem with this one wasn’t that she couldn’t open it, but that there were guards right in front of it and that despite waiting for almost an hour, no one seemed to want to go inside.

Sava’s instincts were screaming at her that she was getting close to her goal. Her logic expressed the same idea, but with a little more arrogance.

First, she had to get rid of these two guards without attracting attention. If the pirates were organized in a military manner, they probably had to regularly communicate their situation to a superior and their suits may have even contained cameras filming continuously.

“But they are close enough to each other that I can touch both at once...”

With a satisfied smile, the agent stretched out her arms and touched the pirates. Her powerful attack software could still act on contact, they took control of the pirates' suits and installed mind control programs. Even if they had mental barriers powerful enough to prevent direct control of their bodies or real exploration of their memories, the software could draw from their memories the superficial information necessary to copy their attitudes. Prisoners of their armor, the two people could only watch as they answered their leaders the agreed codes to indicate that all was well. The door also undergoes the same treatment.

Sava's heart was pounding: time was running out now. Her attack software wouldn’t hold up against the armor’s antivirus software indefinitely, and in a while, the guards might sound the alarm. She had to find out what was going on here before it was too late.

The door closed silently behind her.

She moved into a new corridor whose walls were lined with small rooms, separated by a glass wall. It was a prison. Only one cell was occupied, and Sava Domeria was stunned by what she saw there.