Tensions were high on the bridge with all fifty fighter crafts escorting Mortifera. The Dominus and its fleet were in view and still in the same formation as when Ro and I did a flyby in the recon ship Verox.

Henderson was still enraged at the thought that a civilian, privately owned ship somehow had the technology to undermine Miltech. I had gotten the feeling that there was more to the story though, as if there were history between them and that Henderson was ready to finish it.

“Dominus this is SecMajor Lori Henderson of the Mortifera. I want to warn you - we are Miltech warship and will not hesitate to destroy you at the slightest provocation.”

“This is Captain Fletcher of the Dominus. Mortifera I’m sorry to say but we are not obliged to—“

My jaw dropped as Captain fletcher was cut short by two seperate bright rapid flashes, followed by a soft shake to the Mortifera. The space surrounding the Dominus was covered in bright speckles of light, moving outward.

It took me a moment to realise what had happened. The light speckles were actually scattered pieces of debris that were reflecting light. Realisation dawned on me just as support called out that we had successfully destroyed two fighter crafts belonging to Dominus. It was an unbelievably aggressive message that was hard to agree with and made me wonder still, what had Henderson so eager to start a fight.

“You’re not obliged to what Captain?…” Silence lingered after the rhetoric until fletcher finally responded.

“You shouldn’t of done that.” Said Fletcher over the comms, his tone shifting down a few octaves like a man who was disappointed.

None of the Dominus fleet moved in the slightest, even after being fired upon by us. There was a look of confusion between Jeremy and Henderson before several bright flashes occurred again.

With no debris and no alarms Henderson looked around the bridge “well what the hell was that. Anybody!?”

“They just lost two more of their fleet” Said the support crewman again.

“How! We didn’t fire on them and there’s no sign of debris—“

“Captain Fletcher what the hell is going on? Are there other ships? Why did you request a rendezvous with Salvation?” probed Henderson further with urgency.

With no response Henderson ordered the fighters to surround the Dominus fleet and recon crafts to patrol while the Mortifera was to move in and dock. The Dominus remained still.

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“Carter come with me” Jeremy said as he turned and made his way out of the bridge.

We walked back down to the cargo hold where breach teams were on standby waiting for Jeremy’s orders. I was on the same team as Kai, and unfortunately, he was in command of my squad as Sergeant Ro was in her fighter leading another squad.

We were geared up and waiting to see if the Dominus captain or crew would respond to our calls telling them of our intention to open the airlock and begin discussions. After a painful ten minutes and still no response Jeremy made the order to enter and clear the Dominus. There was no lethal force allowed unless the situation called for it and It was uncertain what waited on the other side of the airlock, It could have been a well crafted trick for all we knew.

There was only one point of entry which we were all to go through, splitting off separately and working our way through the ship until either finding Captain Fletcher or locating the bridge. Each team was to communicate their location and outcome before moving deeper into the Dominus.

It was go time and the airlock was forced open, we made our way in and I was following Kai’s lead. None of the Dominus crew were waiting by the airlock and it wasn’t long before squads started calling in their locations along with ‘all clears’ and ‘no sign of crew” calls.

I followed Kai deeper into the Dominus as he pushed his way down the main thoroughfare of the ship. The hallways all lit up and each door opened on our way past, triggered by our proximity. It seemed the ship was entirely operational but without a person in sight.

We had finally made it up to the main bridge door, weapons at the ready. The hiss of the door gave us the go ahead and we stormed in.

“The bridge is clear and…and empty. No sign of Captain Fletcher or any crew” called in Kai over the voice-link. It was odd hearing a hint of fear in Kai’s voice, he was confident bordering egotistical majority of the time.

“Roger that. Finish up and make your way back to the Mortifera asap. Sergeant Ro confirmed that the fighters are unmanned too,” responded Jeremy.

Confusion rattled us all. Captain Fletcher had only just been communicating with our ship, then had vanished without a trace, along with the crew.

“What do you think happened…where did they go? Asked Kai in disbelief.

“No idea but I don’t really feel like sticking around let’s hurry up head back”.

A sense of fear and unease draped over us on the bridge of the Dominus, like we were being watched and all I wanted to do was get back home to Salvation. We searched through everything including ship logs where I managed to find the craft tracker and surprise, surprise. The Dominus looked as if it hit the same anomaly that we did, only with one major difference. They remained stationary for months after the jump, with no reference to ship trouble or distress.

Back on Mortifera there wasn’t a single person that didn’t feel like somehow we lost. If a whole crew disappeared does that mean we lost the battle? I asked myself as Jeremy spouted orders for everyone to prepare to undock to make our way back to the Transporter Salvation. I was happy to get out of there, as were the rest.

After about a week Salvation was ready to continue its journey. Teams of engineers had successfully completed the first missions, deploying a satellite and the constructed the frame for the new space station sitting on the edge of our solar system which would be finished by the other transporters as they travelled by.

The curiosity of what happened to the Dominus lingered and I anxiously watched the tracker waiting for when we would pass by the coordinates. As we approached I made my way out to the large viewing platforms located on my deck for one last look.

‘The Dominus… it isn’t there!’ I shouted at the window, it was such a shock it wasn’t just merely a thought. I must have it wrong. I frantically cross-checked the coordinates against Salvation but it was indeed correct.

It can’t be. I pressed my hand against the window. Staring out into the now empty space where the Dominus fleet once sat, I saw a blur of refracted light from a distant star. Was there still something there? I ran as hard as I could to the nearest Miltech station. I needed to get Jeremy on a voice-link.