It was peaceful, it was dark, with only the stars for company. It fitted her mood well. In a few hours, they’d reach Ovkan, and then what? The wait would start again. The endless, nerve-racking wait.

Alarms blared, red lights flashed.

Val cursed as she straightened in her chair and ran her fingers across the board.

“Nim!” The sound faded. “What the hell is going on?”

“I’m not sure, Val...”

“Don’t tell me it’s that dormant AI acting up again!”

“No, no, it was me, but...”

“What? I don’t see anything on the sensors.”

“Let me show you.”

A display bleeped and two red dots appeared. One of them was bigger, the other distorted.

“What is this?”

“A nearby battle. But it’s nothing like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“How do you mean?”

“There is no echion discharge.”

“From neither ship?”

“Only one is firing. I must assume the other to be some sort of freighter, possibly a merchant vessel.”

She swore. “Alright. Can you get an image for me?”

“We are too far. And, Val...”

“Yes?”

“I’m now picking up a distress signal from the smaller craft.”

She looked back at the display and saw the larger red dot moving away.

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“Take us in quick. I’d like to have a peek at that thing before it vanishes.”

Starrider picked up speed, rushing through space, until it finally slowed down. The red dot had grown on the sensor, and now an image formed on the screen.

It was a freighter alright. Or, rather, what was left of it. Whatever had hit it had splintered the vessel into five large chunks that slowly drifted apart, with thousands of debris floating around them.

Some of the debris were human bodies. Dead humans.

Val turned the sensors in the direction the attacker was headed even as she spoke.

“Any signs of survivors?”

“A few. Five that I can make out... Well, only four now. One just went dark.”

“Damn.”

The comment was as much directed at what Nim had said then at what she was now seeing on the screen.

It was a battlecruiser, at least ten times bigger than the freighter—which itself had been twice the size of Starrider. She was a bug compared to that monster.

But the main thing she noticed was the lack of a flag. This obviously had once been an Imperial ship, but it had been stripped of its colors and name.

“Should I hail it?”

“No! For all that’s holy, please do not let them know we even exist.”

“Sorry.”

She sighed. “No, you’re good. I’m just shocked by what happened here...” She turned the sensors back toward the wreck. “And you say they didn’t use echion beams?”

“Nor any other technology known within the Imperium.”

“Huh. Well, let’s see if we can save any of those poor fellows.”

They only rescued three of them. The fourth, though still showing as alive, was too far deep into one of the large chunks, in a part so damaged it would have been impossible to reach him without killing him in the process.

“Thank you so much for saving us!” said the oldest of the group. “My name is Vinder. I was part of the crew of that ship.” He motioned to the wreck on the screen.

“What happened?”

“We were carrying supplies for the Imperial fleet when that thing came out of nowhere and shot red beams at us. I’d never seen anything like it. Nor any of my men—and some of them were former soldiers.”

“Red beams?”

The man nodded. “I swear it! They did more damage than any echion beam ever could. And quicker, too. It was unbelievable!”

“And they didn’t board your ship?”

“No. They shot at us, multiple times, then just left. Makes you wonder why they even bothered.”

Val wondered as well. Pirates would attack to steal goods. These were clearly not that. It almost felt like they had killed for the pleasure of killing. Which was a terrifying prospect—especially when they had such firepower at their disposal.

“Nim, were you able to trace where that monster was headed?”

The disembodied voice made some of the rescued people jump.

“I locked on her before she warped out. I have coordinates.”

“Great! Let’s follow the beast—from a distance.”

“Is that wise?” asked Vinder, his voice filled with concern.

“You’re right. Nim, put on the invisibility cloak. Might as well make use of it.”

Starrider jumped through a wormhole, hot on the tail of the giant attacking ship.