Near the Western Boarder of the Ethian Empire…

Admiral Ko-tus Vang paced the small confides of his office aboard the Maxem as he pondered the results of the search by Captain-Major Wexlen. Three more days of searching had shown no signs of planet, moon, or astroid, in which the Xelro crew could have fled to after leaving their ship. Furthermore, there had been no reappearance of the mysterious ship, or any other ships for that matter.

The space just beyond the Ethian border was barren of anything other than a scattering of meteoroids and a dense school of ether eels that ended up causing a multitude of short circuits and power surges throughout Wexlen’s armada of search and rescue ships. Vang was starting to think that they would find nothing at all, no Xelro crew, or answers as to where they might have disappeared to, and that disturbed him greatly.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Vang stopped his pacing and settled into the chair behind his desk. He gave himself a moment to center himself, and then barked out a gruff. “Enter!”

The door slid open to reveal Captain Leonid. The man looked almost as agitated as Vang felt. He had only just learned that the Captain of the Maxem had a son on the Xlero. The young man only just started his career in the Legion as a technician, and had been one of the ones to stay behind to bring the Xlero back home. The news only fueled Vang’s desire to find the sixty-three missing crew members.

“Captain, any word from Wexlen?”

The grave faced man strolled up to an abrupt stop in front of Vang’s desk. “Yes, and it’s the same as it has been, nothing new to report.”

Vang let out a heavy sigh. “That’s unfortunate.”

“It is. It is looking more and more like they were taken captive on the ghost ship.”

Vang had heard that was what the mysterious ship was being called now. He wasn’t sure he liked that name. It implied a certain fear toward this ship. Vang was always of the opinion that the only person or thing that the men under him should fear was himself and making sure they did they duty to Emperor and Empire. Those that they came across who presented threats were merely there to be subdued and conquered, never feared.

“Perhaps, but there is still more space to search.”

Captain Leonid nodded, but the look in his eyes said it all. “Yes, of course, Admiral. There was another matter I wanted to bring to your attention. We recently received a distress signal from Bezmore Six. I transferred the call to the Vanguard since it is in their area to patrol, but they say their closest ship is ten hours away. We could make it in a little under four hours. We will still be close enough to respond if Wex-len needs us.”

“What sort of distress is the trading post in?”

“It was just the emergency beacon that was activated. There was no message with it.”

Vang raised an eyebrow at the lapse of more information. “Nothing at all? Not even an attached data stream?”

The Captain shook his head. “We considered that there was a malfunction with the beacon, but when we tried to send a call through to Bezmore, it bounced back to us like the communication array might be down. If the trading post is experiencing trouble with their nanite network, it would explain why we only received the beacon signal. It was probably the only way they could call out for help.”

Vang nodded. If the network was down, then the Zahnian Legion had an obligation to see what the problem was. If it was a technical issue, they could at least provide support and get communications back up temporarily until the Vanguard could take over. And if the problem was from something more serious like a pirate attack, which was common on the outer edges of the Empire, then the Legion definitely needed to take care of that as soon as possible.

“Very well. Set course for Bezmore Six. This might prove a needed distraction for the crew. I know all this waiting has been difficult.”

“Yes, sir.” Captain Leonid gave a sharp fist to heart and turned on his heals to exit the room, but Vang saw the relieved expression on the Captain’s face before he turned away. It seemed that Leonid was eager for a distraction as well.

***

As soon as they came out of hyperlight, Vang’s blood froze in his veins as he took in the wreckage of the space station that had once orbited the planet Bezmore. As far as space stations, it had been a small one. Just large enough to refuel ships and provide a first line of defense against the pirates that loved to attack backwater places just like this one. Now there was a graveyard of scrape metal and other debris scattered in a deteriorating orbit around the planet.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Yavit pirates,” Vang cursed as he took in the destruction on the large view screen across the front of the bridge. He had walked onto the bridge only moments before the Maxem dropped out of hyperlight. He wanted to see first hand what was going on at Bezmore, and truth be told, he was tired of being cooped up in his office.

“I want a full analysis of the wreckage and a scan of the entire area. And give me a list of all ships in this system. Also, see if we can get anyone on the comm from the planet.” Captain Leonid ordered as he stood tall in the center of the bridge with his hands clasped behind his back.

The Captain didn’t have to direct his orders to a specific person. Everyone on the bridge knew their duties and they did them flawlessly. In fact, Vang suspected that the six officers at their particular consoles, which arced in a half moon across the front and the sides of the bridge, had already begun those tasks and was anticipating Leonid’s next orders and doing that as well.

Out of all the ships in the Legion’s seven fleets, the Maxem was the most well run of them all thanks to Captain Leonid’s efforts. He was a truly remarkable leader, and Vang was already considering him as an eventual successor, not that Vang had any intention of retiring anytime soon. But one must always think of the future.

“Captain, I’ve been broadcasting across all bands since we dropped out of hyperlight. So far, no one is responding to my hails,” a young communications officer to the far left said.

“Keep at it, Himler,” Leonid replied.

“Yes, Sir.”

“I’m not registering any ship signatures in the entire star system,” this came from the navigational officer sitting directly in front of Leonid.

“Not a single one?” the Captain asked.

The navigator shook his head. “No, Sir.”

Leonid looked to Vang. “That is odd. I know we are on the border, but this system is usually more active.”

“Check again, Rostlon.” Vang replied.

“Yes, Admiral.”

It was indeed odd, and even if all the civilian ships had fled, there should have been signs of the pirates. It hadn’t been a little over four hours since the beacon had been activated, not near enough time for the space scavengers to steal everything in sight, destroy the station, and then completely disappear. Unless, they had been after something specific and left the rest.

“Do we have an idea yet of how long it’s been since the station was destroyed?” Vang asked.

An older scientist to the right responded. “I just finished the preliminary scan and it appears the debris field was created at approximately four hours ago when the beacon was activated.”

Leonid and Vang both exchanged looks before Leonid said, “Then it wasn’t pirates.”

“Unless they delayed the beacon activation on purpose,” Vang said, attempting to give some understanding for such an action.

“Why activate the beacon at all? Why not destroy it like they normally do? The last thing they would want is anyone coming to check out what’s going on. Their success at savaging depends on time.”

Leonid had a point there, which of course, Vang had already knew himself, but this new development left a very unsettling question. If pirates hadn’t done this, then who? An idea came to Vang and he motioned to the Captain to come closer. Leonid came to stand right next to the Admiral, and Vang quietly made an enquiry, because the last thing he needed was to start any new rumors. The officers on the bridge were professionals, but even they liked to gossip.

“Has there been any activity in this region from the Fazha Rebellion?”

The Captain solemnly shook his head. “No, Sir. This place is far too remote for their activities. They prefer more populated and public demonstrations.”

Vang exhaled an air of frustration, which of course, he knew that too, but he was running on empty of any other possibilities. “Perhaps, but there’s a first time for everything, and if it’s not pirates, I can’t imagine who else would destroy the station and empty the system of ships, or have that capability. Is there any activity on the planet?”

This last question he raised his voice to make sure everyone on the bridge heard what he said, and trusted that the appropriate person would respond.

Himler the communications officer replied. “I’ve been trying every bandwidth I have, and been monitoring for any signals coming off the planet, it’s like there is no one home.”

“How many people are supposed to be down there?” Vang asked. He been to many trading posts on Ethia’s borders and this had not been one of them. But if it was like those he’d been to before, it would only have a small populace. Not many people liked coming to the edge of the Empire, especially since the pirate activity had been rising significantly over the last decade or so.

Leonid responded. “I’ve been here before. There’s a small town on the northern coast of about two thousand souls and that’s it. The rest of the planet is too hostile for settlement.”

Vang raised an eyebrow. “Then why was this planet settled at all?”

“The astroid belt in the system is ripe for mining.” Leonid explained. “That’s why I’m surprised there aren’t any other ships out there. There’s always at least a handful moving from the belt to the station and planet at all times.”

“What about the mining facility?” Vang asked. “I’m assuming there is one in or near the belt?”

“No contact there either, Admiral,” the navigational officer replied.

“Admiral? Captain?” The scientist from before spoke up.

“What is it, Cinnoh?” Leonid said.

The scientist looked pale as he turned to the two commanding officers. “I’ve analyzed several larger pieces of the debris field and I have a signature of the weapon that destroyed the space stations, and…” he stopped like he didn’t able to continue.

“Well? What is is?” Leonid said impatiently.

“Maybe you and the Admiral should see this for yourself, Captain,” the scientist said as he uplinked his console data to that of the large view screen.

A moment later, the view of the debris field vanished to be replaced by a mirrored image of the scientist’s work station. There was a data graph showing a comparison of two signatures waves laid side by side, making it clear that both of the signatures appeared to be exactly the same.

“What are we looking at?” Leonid asked.

But Vang didn’t need the scientist to explain before he knew exactly what they were seeing, and it chilled him to the bone.

“The first is from the data recorded from the Xlero with their encounter from the Ghost Ship. The second is from what I got off the debris from the space station,” the scientist answered.

The entire bridge grew eerily quiet for a long moment as if everyone was having a difficult time truly believing what the scientist had just told them. As they should, an invasion from beyond the Empire hadn’t happened since the closure of the border several millennium ago.