Sweeping a sector for energy signatures, Kinnit decided, was the most boring work in the Imperium.

Not that she was unhappy about it. Being a good Assistant meant doing the boring jobs just as well as the fun ones. And given the breakneck pace of recent events, boring was kind of nice.

For a little while.

Grimthorn was right, there was a lot of space in space. The fleet was spread out in formation thousands of kilometers across, scanning for any clue about who had destroyed the Krivax homeworld.

"Sir!" Lieutenant Renning called. "We've got a vessel on scan!"

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Grimthorn asked.

"The patrol ship ISS StarWatcher reports what appears to be a Terran commercial light cruiser. It looks like it was probably protection for a merchant fleet."

"Comms, see if you can contact them," Grimthorn said. "And let's do a deep scan on them, make sure it's not a Trojan horse of some kind."

Kinnit peered closely at the scanner data for the cruiser as it came up on the screen. She frowned at it. Something about the data was bothering her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Sir, we're not reading any life forms on board," Lieutenant Renning said. "No response to comms. She looks to have some battle damage. Should we converge?"

"No, just send a boarding party. They could be a victim of circumstance. Looks like they came across whoever was towing the asteroid, so it's probably full of dead people."

"Sir..." Kinnit said slowly.

Admiral Stonefist stopped immediately.

"Yes?"

"Look at that scan. Don't those mass readings seem off to you?"

"Could be they're carrying extra munitions, or maybe cargo. That would increase the density."

"No, I mean... doesn't it seem light for a cruiser?"

Grimthorn frowned.

"Now that you mention it... yes. That seems off. Even dry, they should mass more than that. Renning, tell them to scan that ship again."

"Yes, sir."

A few minutes later, and more data scrolled onto the main screen.

Grimthorn frowned.

"Well, hold on, now that's way too dense. Lieutenant, have StarWatcher function check their scanners. That cruiser didn't suddenly pack on that much mass in five minutes."

A quiet time passed on the bridge as messages were relayed back and forth.

"Function check is clean, sir. They're sending another reading."

The new data came up.

"Well now it's lighter than it was the first time," Kinnit said. "It can't possibly be changing its mass--"

Admiral Stonefist slammed the emergency all-fleet signal.

"All ships, evade! Get away from that cruiser! It's a mass-chain bomb! Evade! Evade!"

The fleet broke away from the cruiser in slow motion. But because of the spread of the formation, the message had to be relayed from ship to ship. Kinnit watched in horror as the ISS StarWatcher continued to approach the cruiser.

"They must have wired the ship's reactor to the mass-chain bomb," Grimthorn said quietly. "They turned the ship's entire mass into reaction matter. If the StarWatcher gets too close..."

It was clear from the video feed when StarWatcher got the message. Everyone on the bridge watched in silence as she applied full reverse thrusters. StarWatcher was light and nimble for a ship, but a ship still takes time to redirect. She turned away from the cruiser, trying desperately to get some distance.

"Pull away," Kinnit said quietly, tears forming in her eyes. "Please p--"

A reaction arc like a bolt of yellow lightning leapt from the cruiser and smashed into StarWatcher's flank. Crackles of energy shot forth from the StarWatcher, seeking more mass.

"No!" Kinnit shouted. But the reaction tore through StarWatcher. Panels shredded away, dissipating into energy. The contents of the ship blew out into space from dozens of breaches. The structure of the ship, now visible, glowed and melted. Within seconds, the entire ship dissipated into the cold vacuum of space. She was gone, with her entire crew.

"Any other losses?" Grimthorn said tightly. "Did it jump to any other ships?"

"None, sir," Lieutenant Renning said. He sounded like he was on the verge of being sick. "Only the ISS StarWatcher was-- was destroyed."

Admiral Stonefist took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He held that for a second, then opened them, leaned forward and pressed the comms button.

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"Ships, return to formation," he said, his voice steady and clear. "We'll have a time of silence to honor the fallen at 1300 hours. Until then, continue scanning."

"Sir," Kinnit said, struggling to keep her tears in check, "permission to leave the bridge?"

Admiral Grimthorn Stonefist looked down at her with a face that matched his name.

"Permission denied, Assistant. We will grieve at 1300 hours. Until then, we have to find the perpetrators of this."

"Understood, sir." She swallowed hard and tried her best to focus.

"This was a trap laid for us," he said. "I want deep scans of all surrounding space. Something has to be--"

"Energy signature, sir," Lieutenant Renning interrupted. "We found particulate exhaust nearby."

"Get those scans to Data Processing. Look for a match to any known classes of vessels."

Grimthorn frowned.

"But I know one species that uses some of the dirtiest reaction drives in existence."

"Data processing reports a match, sir," Kinnit said.

"Oryndrax," he said at the exact same time she did.

Grimthorn frowned.

"This doesn't make any sense. The bugs don't have anywhere near the technology needed to make a mass-chain bomb. And their craft are barely spaceworthy as it is, there's no way they could snag and tow an asteroid. Somebody's helping them. Directing them."

They carried on the scan for a couple more hours, but nothing more of interest was discovered.

----------------------------------------

At 1300 hours, a horn echoed through every ship in the fleet. Every crewman stopped what they were doing and stood at attention. They held a salute as the names of each serviceman that had died aboard the StarWatcher-- all 78 names-- were read out. Then Anthem Imperium was played, followed by the traditional funeral march.

Kinnit and Admiral Stonefist stood on the captain's dais as the dead were honored. Admiral Stonefist stared into the distance with grim stoicism. Kinnit tried to match his strength, but her lower lip trembled, and tears spilled freely over her cheeks.

As the last haunting notes of the funeral march died away, Admiral Stonefist dropped his salute.

"Lieutenant Renning, you have the bridge. Assistant Kinnit, let's get back to the office."

The walk to his office had never seemed so long. The mood on the ship was somber, and the usual bustle was muted. Kinnit refused to look anyone in the eye, for fear of weeping openly in public.

When they finally arrived at his office, and the door closed behind them, she broke. With a loud sob, she threw her arms around his waist, bawling.

"Sir! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I killed them!"

Grimthorn lifted his arms in shock, initially to push her away, but as he watched her soaking his uniform with her tears, he relaxed and put his arms around her. She clung tightly to him and cried loudly. He patted her back and made soothing sounds as best he knew how-- he was not practiced at comforting.

After a long while, her sobs tapered off. She scrubbed at her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath to regain some equanimity. She stepped back from Grimthorn. She sniffed loudly and cleared her throat.

"Sir, I'd like to sing a song for the dead. But it's a Kobold song and a Kobold tradition. Do you think it would be appropriate?"

"Kinnit, this is the Imperium, home to 10,000 species. Our grief is an honor to them, whether it's Kobold, Terran, or anything else."

He stood at attention and saluted.

She nodded. She turned toward the portal, lifted her face, and clasped her hands. Pursing her lips, she began a long, slow, lilting song, hooting and cooing. The strong, pure tones of her voice filled his office, haunting and sweet, evoking emotions of love and pain and lost joy.

As her tribute drew to a close, Grimthorn relaxed his salute, and had to rub at his eyes. She held her singing stance for a bit, staring at the portal. Tears still ran down her cheeks.

"How do you apologize to the dead, Admiral?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"You don't."

She recoiled from his blunt reply and looked up at him. Now he was staring at the portal.

"You do the best you can while everyone's alive, is what you do. But what do you have to apologize to them for?"

"Sir," she whispered, "don't pretend like you don't know. It was my plan. The formation I recommended. The ship-to-ship relay..." She gave a half-sob, half-laugh. "I was so proud of the idea. But it slowed comms down so much. If they'd been in comms range, we could have pulled them back in time. They wouldn't have--" Her mouth stuck open, unable to continue.

"Maybe," Grimthorn said. "But do you know what would have happened if we'd been in a standard formation?"

"Sir?"

Grimthorn sighed.

"It was a trap, Kinnit. Specifically for us. They knew we'd investigate. They knew we'd try to trace the source of the asteroid. And that we'd find the cruiser. Do you know how a mass-chain bomb works?"

She mutely shook her head.

"I've never heard of it."

"Not surprising. The technology's banned in the Imperium. The science folks could give you the details, but a mass-chain bomb creates a, a kind of pocket of negative mass. Now negative mass seeks out mass to attach you. You with me so far?"

She nodded.

"So it's attracted to mass. You give that neg mass enough of a kick of energy, and it'll actually spread further, attach to mass even further away. Attach it to a major power source and you can have it react over dozens of kilometers of hard vacuum."

"A power source like a ship's reactor," she said.

"Exactly. Plus, you can use the reactor to keep your negative mass pocket stable until you're ready to unleash it. That's why the cruiser's mass readings kept changing, it was fluctuating as it struggled to keep the reaction from starting. Then when another mass gets close enough, it overcomes the stabilization and jumps the gap."

"It's like a mine. Get too close, and the reaction starts." She looked at the floor, downcast. "So that's how they destroyed StarWatcher."

He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"That's not all. Once the negative mass destroys regular mass, the energy of that reaction drives another surge of power to reach out for more mass."

She gasped as the realization hit her.

"Kinnit, that trap wasn't designed to destroy an Imperium ship. It was designed to destroy an Imperium fleet."

She trembled.

"If we had been in standard formation," he continued, "we'd have been close enough for the mass-chain reaction to jump from ship to ship. And every ship it consumed would have given it power to jump to more ships. It would have relayed, just like our comms. That's why they let the bugs fly the mission, even with their dirty exhaust. Why bother covering your tracks when everybody searching for you is dead?"

Kinnit drew in a shaky breath.

"Who even thinks of using a weapon like that?" she asked.

"The bugs, apparently," he said. "And whoever's holding their leash. But we'll stop them."

He crossed his arms and glared at the portal.

"And we'll make them sorry they ever thought they to attack the Imperium."

He turned back to her.

"But Kinnit, know this. Any time you walk the halls of this ship, or any ship of the Ninth fleet, I want you to look every person you meet in the eye. It's because of you they're not dead. Every person in the fleet owes you their lives. Including me. Thank you."

Her throat constricted at his words. Far from bringing her comfort, they highlighted the weight of the responsibility she carried.

Was this what it took to bring her people to the stars?

"I can't... can't do it," she said.

"You can. You're stronger than you know."

"I don't want to be the strong one any more," she said too quietly for him to hear.