Astrid was still thinking about the brief exchange with the engineering department, having just set several custom alarms to alert her if the jump parameters deviated by half the standard margins when her PDA pinged her with a deadline reminder.

The shrink’s pop quiz.

Astrid looked over her instruments - all within limits. She glanced back at the command deck - no one paying attention to her after the Captain’s acknowledgment. It was not going away, might as well get it over with now, she thought as she opened the mental fitness questionnaire on her PDA and started skimming the questions.

3. After a high-stress shift, how quickly do you return to emotional baseline?
“Minutes with coffee, hours with a nap?” She thought with a chuckle.

6. During extended duty cycles, your ability to make complex decisions is:
“Well, gee, I wonder what human beings in general function like when not resting enough?”

9. In emergency simulations, your thinking tends to be:
Loud bang. Shuddering. Loss of power. Blood. Impact. “Pff, simulations.” She scoffed.

“You say something, LT?” Lieutenant Commander Collins leaned over from the Master Gunner’s station next to her.
“Just swearing.” Astrid answered quietly, “Fucking brain scratcher doesn’t have anything to poke, so she’s bothering us.”
“The mental fitness thing?”
“Got it in one.” She nodded.
“She’s just doing her job.” He countered.
“At the worst possible time. How hard would it have been to request our files and selection process materials before we launched?”
“She’s probably testing honesty.”
“That’s what’s pissing me off.”
“Also, she sent these out nearly a week ago.” He continued, “Why did you not do it then?”
“I was busy. Where did you find the time?”
“Did the gunnery tests, took just two days, work done. What were you doing?” He chuckled.
“Right, you only have military personnel in your department. I had to pull civvies up to standard, kicking and screaming.” She groaned, “Feels like I lived in the sim for a week.”

Astrid continued working through it. Read a question, check instruments, think of an answer, mark down the answer, move on.

12. When confined with the same individuals for long periods, you feel:
She glanced over her shoulder in the XO’s direction before answering that one.

14. When another crew member is distressed, you typically:
“That’s your job.” Astrid thought as she selected ‘Offer Limited Support’ “I’m just supposed to notice and point them to you.”

22. How open are you to unfamiliar cultures, ideas, or forms of intelligence?
“‘Suffer not the alien to live.’ Said the humans in that ridiculous ancient sci fi.” She thought with an amused grin as she put down ‘Cautious.’

---

FROM: LT Weiss
TO: Dr. Sorens
SUBJECT: Re: Arcadian Mental Fitness Assessment

ATTACHMENTS:

---

After some time, the stowaway problem was solved, and travelling mid-jump to the Polaris System. The Arcadian had finally arrived, and as Mathis gazed at the triple star system. They are now the first humans to visit the Polaris System, and they can begin to explore the system that has baffled scientists for centuries. But before Mathis could give an order or much less speak. The Signals Officer, Janika Leino had to speak up in a confused tone.

"Captain, I am getting strange readings coming from within the system."

Mathis turned to her with a curious but serious look. "How strange, are we talking Leino?"

"Very, like nothing we have seen before, and I am trying to figure out where in the system the readings are coming from." Leino, clearly focused on her duties.

"Hmmm," Mathis looked back at the viewport and studied the system the best he could. "So this system has more than meets the eye." Saying it in a concerned tone. "Someone get Vance back up here and alert the scientists aboard. They may be needed."

"Captain," Leino's voice spoke up, "I have found the source of the strange readings. Near one of the planets, Polaris B VIII, and it appears to be coming from some kind of ship. Unknown type, probably alien. "

"A ship Leino?" Mathis was surprised, "Is it active or giving out anything else but the strange readings?"

"No sir, it is not moving, and I am only getting the strange readings from it. Nothing else."

Mathis leaned back in his chair as he planned the Arcadian's next move. Sitting right back up after a moment of thought. "Weiss, make course for this ship, but be careful with it." The captain said in a cautious tone, "just in case there are more surprises with this system, and prepare a boarding team." Mathis's steely gaze fixed on the viewpoint. "Since it could be a wreck, I want to know what on that ship is making these readings and see what information can be gathered from it."

"Understood, sir, I will alert necessary personnel," Laino replied and started messaging people throughout the ship.

The first system they visit, and already they discover something very interesting of note. Mathis thought as the preparations were being made. If this is a sign of what is to come, then he and the crew can expect an interesting mission for themselves. But he realized he was getting ahead of himself in anticipation of what they would find during this mission. Finding the remains of an alien ship is one way to start the mission, but whether or not it is a sign of what is to come is. It shows how eventful this mission may be.

---

“Hmm, a notice?” The doctor hums to himself, ignoring the small noises made by his associates around the room. Instead focusing on the chime of the nearby computer, technically his but it's more the medbays than anything.

Still, approaching it shows a message icon and clicking in that pulls up a very simple work order. One that just expedites his plans.

“Field kits?” Richtofen hums again. “It would be helpful to know who is going or any number of people, but I can still prepare a few. Those marine standard are woefully poor in quality.”

A push lets the chair roll over to a sealed door, standing and pushing it back away the doctor inputs a code into the glorified pantry. This room acts more as a storage for things adjacent to medical care than things important to it. Case in point, the stack of small lunch-box adjacent cases for portable supplies. He grabs a few, and a small amount of other supplies to play around with organizing. A touch of water testers, a radiation tag, a few odds and ends.

Richtofen leaves the room, letting the door close behind as he gently dumps the items on a metal table. Another moment is taken to wander the room and gather a few other things to fit in the boxes, before he sat once more.

It is a quick realization that he may have grabbed a few to many things, but in truth it was expected. There are simply far too many things to worry about to fit in a single field kit.

Maybe he should just volunteer and bring a proper rucksack full of tools?

---

Observation Blister 3 Starboard was one of six armored nodules along the side of the ship. There were few reasons to spend the huge sums required for armored industrial diamond windows while simultaneously weakening the hull. No glass could ever be as strong as layered composite steel and sensors were thousands of times more sensitive than the human eye. Few reasons didn’t mean no reasons of course. Observation Blister 3 Starboard was situated above the primary starboard hangar bay and allowed eyeballs on for launches and landings. It was empty now, hanging instrument cradles neatly folded and packed. A heavy blast door sealed it off from the ship in general quarters, leaving the observers relatively exposed but there were no easy posts on a warship. Hell you could die crossing the road.

Kashvi stood by the window, staring out into the odd not quite rightness of hyperspace. It gave her the same thrill she felt when she jumped into the void. A place humans were never meant to go, but they conquered with guts and ingenuity. The blast door opened and Chief Hobbs stepped into the bay.

“Oh great,” he grumped as he stomped over to the window. Kashvi lifted her chin by way of acknowledgement. The ice between them was palpable but neither tried to push it into an argument.

“What are you doing here?” Hobbs asked after a moment. He reached into his jacket and withdrew a battered silver flask. With a flip of his thumb he opened it and took a slug. It had the eye searing dryness of industrial alcohol, probably bled off a hydraulic line and mixed with enough water to keep it from being lethal. Booze was normal aboard ship and wise officers made sure it was kept in check rather than fruitlessly trying to stamp it out.

“How many chances do you have to see stars no one has ever seen?” Kashvi said after a long moment.

“Right?” Hobbs agreed. Further conversation was interrupted by a chime warning the crew that they were about to exit hyperspace. A holographic count down rolled down to zero on one of the displays and then with a shudder a starfield exploded into existence. To the naked eye it looked no different to others but there was an undeniable frisson of the new and unexplained. Hobbs cocked his ear and frowned.

“Problem?” Kashvi asked, arching an eyebrow. Hobbs shook his head.

“Reactor six is back to full output,” he stated, though clearly his mind was back in his engineroom. He sounded like a child who had been presented with a fascinating puzzle despite his age.

“You can tell that from here?” she asked.

“Can you tell if your armor is out of alignment without putting it on?” he asked.

“Fair,” she agreed, nodding her head to concede the point. Her spat with the Chief was no reason to question his competence. He grinned and handed her the flask. She lifted it to her lips but before she could drink her wrist comm blipped, summoning her to the bridge.

“Saved by the Bell?” Hobby suggested.

“Dharma,” Kashvi replied and handed the flask back. Without another word she turned and looped off towards the bridge, leaving the old man alone to ponder the alien stars.

24 September 2190
Polaris System - Realsapce Transition

Alistair Vance's stride was measured but brisk as he walked through the corridors of the Arcadian. His datapad vibrated with the finalized security profile on their stowaway, a desperate civilian from Kepler-22 who had managed to slip past ground-side sensors and security before the Arcadian's departure. He noted that Sadek was CC'd and was pleased. The intruder was contained and processed, but Vance's focus already began to shift.

A second, more urgent chime echoed throughout the hall: the Arcadian had finally and successfully transitioned back into realspace. Alistair began receiving data from DRADIS like a flood. Before reaching the bridge, the XO used a command override to signal the bridge, ordering a high-resolution scan of the anomaly detected near Polaris B VIII, a dwarf planet that he would name Nadir. He wanted raw data processed and waiting the moment he stepped back onto the bridge.

As he entered the bridge, a junior officer at the door straightened up. "XO on deck!"

"At ease," Alistair said, moving directly next to the Captain. "I am back, Captain. The situation has been taken care of and I will be making an announcement about the stowaway as soon as I can." The XO admired the blinding spectacle that was the triple star system named Polaris. However, their mission here was far mroe pressing.

"I have made a quick skim through of the data we received from DRADIS," Alistair stated. "It is an impressive system, with many secrets needing to be unlocked. I noticed that we are in agreement that the wreckage is first priority, Captain. Whatever energy source is there is an immense mystery, and the damage that ship has taken? Who knows what battles it has seen and the measures it took to protect that source."

He looked out the bridge towards the stars, and then at the hologram of the ship near Polaris B VIII. "This ship is massive, with a unique energy signature and an intense history. It is possible we will need two insertion teams at two different points of entry: one to figure out the source of the energy, and the other to comb through the ship's records and data. One team should be led by Major Sadek, while I lead the other. I suggest that Dr. Schrier joins one team with Mr. Haspe on the other. While the teams on the ship, we should continue monitoring the system. Surface scans won't be enough, so we should boost our scans to look for resources and confirm habitable planets."

---

Mathis took a moment to think before replying to his XO and raised his eyebrow, seeing how Vance himself volunteered to go on the ship. "I agree with your plan, and Leino." He turned his head towards the signal officer. "Inform them that they are going on a trip."

"Roger, Captain," was all she said as she started messaging the crew that Vance had recommended to explore the wreck.

It was a solid plan, in Mathis's mind at least. Of course, sending marines to protect the team was a no-brainer, but Vance volunteering to lead a team was bold of him. Even though Vance was competent with military matters, as his records show. It seems a bit brave of him to go on the first mission of the Pathfinders operation. But then again, with travelling in deep space and exploring the unknown. You have to be at least a bit brave to go on a trek like this. Which Mathis felt a bit impressed by Vance's actions. Hopefully, Vance continues to impress him during this endeavor.

Mathis looked at the hologram of the wreck. Almost studying it and looking back at Vance. "Just one thing," his tone turned into a serious and cautious one. "Be careful when on that ship, we do not know what is on it or what this energy source is. Not to mention what other surprises this system has for us." Mathis took a deep breath and looked at Vance directly in his eyes. "I do not want to lose anyone, and we have just started, so again, be careful and try not to take any unnecessary risks while aboard that ship."

Hopefully, Vance will listen and heed his words. There is no room for reckless actions, and now that they are in the unknown and dealing with a wrecked ship, who knows what lies inside other than this energy source? So Mathis prefers the safe approach while he is captain of the Arcadian, hoping that Vance feels the same way.

Martin jerked in his seat. He was being called for the first landing on an alien ship? He supposed his specialty could easily suit the position, but to be the first to land...He couldn't wait! He swallowed back the excitement though, saluted the captain and first officer, then walked quickly out of bridge, managed to wait patiently down to the main hallway, then he rushed to his cabin and started scrambling about. The astro-recorder, where was the astrocorder?! The boarding parities were officially being called and he couldn't be late! Drawers were opened and closed, the closet was rifled through, no luck. He then started under his bed, scrambling through the boxes under there. His hand then rested on the civilian pistol he'd brought aboard.

He paused. From what he heard on the Bridge, the ship was most likely abandoned. However, they weren't sure what was causing that strange energy reading. Still, there was going to be two teams of marines. Everything should be fine if anything goes wrong...Though there was always the chance...He swallowed, drew away for a bit, then took up the gun and holstered it to his belt. Some tension immediately drained from his shoulders. If nothing else, he could now defend himself. However, he still couldn't do his job well if he didn't have that astrocorder...Oh, there it was! He pulled it out from further under the bed. That's right, he hadn't thought he'd be sent out so soon so he'd thought it safe to store it under here. Well in this case, he was glad to be wrong. He slipped the astrocorder's strap over his shoulder and placed it over the opposite hip from his gun. There, all ready. If they'd need air supplies, that would be provided. Oh, one more thing. He went to his desk, picked up a small box, and opened it up. Inside was a metal disc on a chain. One side showed a compass, though 'true north' didn't truly register on a ship. The other, an astrolabe. Then along the edges were etched swans in flight, carefully carved. He swallowed, then slipped it over his neck and placed it under the uniform. Likely would be absolutely useless. Still, it wasn't like it would do any harm to bring it along as well.

And with that, he headed out the door and to where the boarding party gathered, clutching his astrocorder close but otherwise walking with perfect poise. He then stood by the wall, observing the other arrivals and trying to gauge them silently while also awaiting further orders. He may as well get to know the other crew members he'd be sharing this first boarding experience with.

---

“First squad, on your feet!” Kashvi roared in a voice that seemed much too loud to have come from a slender woman. Marines leaped up, scattering playing cards, credit chips, and pornography of a staggering number of designs in all directions. Those marines not in first squad scooped up the mess with practiced efficiency.

“I want gear for an EVA suited and booted in five minutes, armor and breaching gear!” The chaos in the barracks resolved into military efficiency in a surprisingly short amount of time as the armory was opened Corporal Kent began to slide out the reinforced plastic cases that contained the powered boarding armor. Marines were already stripping naked to put on their pyjamas, a rubber undersuit that was inseam with hundreds of sensors to help their armor mimic their body. Battle buddies began attaching the composite plasteel armor plates and syncing the pieces together. Kashvi stripped off herself and began pulling on her own pyjamas. Steele crossed to her and began to help her get strapped in.

“Weapons ma’am?” Stelle asked as she strapped a shoulder guard into place.

“Listen up!” Kashvi roared again, cutting through the excited babble. “We are going to be boarding an unknown vessel” The murmur grew in volume as the world ‘alien’ spoken by a dozen lips.

“We aren’t planning on hostilities but…!” she paused until silence could assert itself, “If this is our first contact with alien life it would be pretty fucking embarassing if some jar head blew the head off the first ET we meet. Lock. Your. Safety. And anyone that unlocks it without my say so better be looking forward to spending the rest of the tour scrubbing the shitters with her toothbrush!”

Steele slid the clamshell chest plate over Kashvi’s shoulders and sealed it with a series of pressurized hisses.

“What is this?” she demanded, pointing down to her suit. The letters KSS had been stenciled on the breastplate in regulation fashion but someone had added a small ‘i’ between two of the characters so her armor now read ‘KiSS’ Steele shrugged.

“You should be so lucky, I got ‘GuNS’ Griselda Steele admitted. Kashvi couldn’t hold back a snort. Steele was the armorer but she also didn’t lack for a bust that was worthy of the epithet.

“I shall consider myself blessed,” she promised.

“Ma’am!” Charming called as he entered the barracks from the opposite end at a jog. He had come from the office the two of them shared at a run, his weapon tucked in the crook of his arm. There was a click and Charming’s voice began to pipe through a comm implant in her mastoid bone, inaudible to anyone but her. His voice was being cast by a microphone affixed to her First Sergeant's throat that allowed him to subvocalize ensuring privacy for sensitive discussions between the senior personnel.

“Requesting permission to lead the second fireteam,” he said without preamble. Kashvi began to shake her head but Steele was trying to put her helmet on so she aborted the effort and let the armorer seal the helmet into place. First squad consisted of ten marines, a corporal and medic. It would be split into two teams one led by Corporal Hussien the other by Kashvi herself.

“Can’t do it Top,” she replied as she flexed her gauntlets, her helmet visor lighting up with green tell tales that informed her everything was functioning within specifications.

“I could stand in for Hussien,” he insisted all but bouncing with eagerness. In his heart of hearts Charming wanted to be where the action was, and especially wanted to be one of the first humans to board an alien vessel.

“We cant put the whole command staff on a single boarding mission, on the off chance we all buy the farm,” she pointed out.

“Understood Ma’am but you said yourself there was no indication this would be a hostile AO,” Charming wheedled. Kashvi knew what the regulations said but she also knew that Charming was one of the few veterans in her cadre. Given the importance of this op…

“Fine,” she decided, “suit up.” She cut into first squads comm-net with a flick of her tongue against a selector in her helmet.

“Top will be joining us, leading element two, so put your game faces on,” she declared. Charming was beaming from ear to ear as he put his own chestplate on. PRC had been enhanced to PRinCe by their graffiti artist.

“XO,” Kashvi declared, the word switching her to a link with the executive officer, “Marine element ready for embarkation, moving to the shuttle bay now.”

24 September 2190
USF Arcadian - Bridge / Corridor / Hangar Bay

Alistair maintained his rigid posture as Captain Lauzon gave the go-ahead. His warning about unnecessary risks really hit home. On the surface, Vance may have seemed indifferent, but he took the weight of command very seriously.

"Understood, Captain," the XO replied. "The goal is data retrieval and security. I will ensure both teams prioritize safety. We will move by the book."

As he turned to leave, Vance caught the tail end of Dr. Schrier's hurried departure. His barely contained excitement was understandable, but was a variable that would need to be monitored. Science and exploration were the focus of the overall mission, but a possibly distracted scientist was a potential liability. They have to keep a close eye on him.

Walking towards the elevator, Alistair's comms chimed with Sadek's report. "Copy that, Major," Alistair responded as he stepped into the lift. "I am en route to Hangar One now. I will be assigning Dr. Schrier to your team. Be advised: he is an eager one. It is understandable, but ensure he does not wander off-mission while chasing sensor readings. I'll be taking our linguist on my team. Be sure to have whatever we need is prepped and ready for insertion and exploration of that ship."

The lift doors opened to the bustling activity of the hangar bay. The smell of recycled air and ozone filled the space as technicians prepped the necessary equipment shuttles. As he moved towards the locker bank where his personal gear was stored, Alistair noted the hard, organized work done by everyone here, as well as their nervousness when he walked into the area. Unlike the marines, his own gear did not fully require the "pyjama" that the marines needed, but it was no less a feat of engineering.

Vance slipped into something more comfortable before putting the reinforced composite astrosuit on. The USF insignia, as well as the Eden flag, were visible and caught the overhead lights. He checked the seal on his gauntlets and holstered his sidearm - the USF standard coilgun that was both cleaned and maintained.

Seeing the marines of both squads arrive, Alistair spotted Sadek. He noticed the stenciling on their armor - a "frontier" personality he'd normally frowned upon. After taking a good look at it, he sighed and said, "I know I'm a hard ass, but I'll allow it. Morale is high today and we need to keep our spirits up high as this is the official start of our exploration mission."

"Major," the XO acknowledged as he approached the boarding parties. He turned towards the specialists, noticing their anxious demeaner. Alistair raised his voiced so that it could carry throughout the hangar. "Listen up, people. We have officially crossed the threshold into unknown space. This is the first of many. That derelict ship is not just a graveyard to study, but a library of knowledge that we can use to learn about Polaris, learn about the galaxy, and more importantly, for the betterment of humanity. No one breaks formation, no one touches anything until we have a better idea of our new surroundings. We are the eyes and ears of the Federation. We are the first in a foreign system and the first on a ship that isn't human in origin. Let's act professional."

He looked at Sadek and gave a decisive nod. "Let's mount up, Major. The universe waits for no man."

---

Allison and Alice had had breakfast together, discussing a bit more about the mission and Allison's thoughts on it. She'd shared her hope for a discovery worthy enough of this mission, otherwise, the time, energy, and money poured into the Arcadian and its crew wound have been in vain. That was her own opinion at least, harsh as it may seem.

While eating, Allison briefly touched upon her life back home. She didn't mention her husband though; that topic was one she mostly kept to herself. If she was being honest with herself, that wound was the only one she didn't know how to properly handle. Ironic, really, given her profession. Allison has also refused to see someone about it, partly because she's always been the one helping people through grief, not the one to be receiving the help. For now, time would have to do its thing.

A while later and eventually both women went about their ways. Allison returned to her quarters, seeing a few more questionnaires had been submitted. The responses were automatically processed through the software, highlighting possible red flags such as an individual's likelihood to be a liability. Thus far everything looked fine; typical responses of individuals given their positions.

And that's when she saw it, the notification. Nothing to be done on her part, but it was more of an FYI. It was then Allison headed to her workspace. Not for any specific purpose, but she'd rather be there than lounge about in her room.

After hours in hyperspace, the time to return to the real world had finally come. The transition had never been a comfortable sensation - something about crossing the boundary between dimensions always rattled her teeth - and it only got worse after her accident with the addition of the mercifully brief sensation of ice cubes being forced into every single severed nerve in Astrid’s stump. “Jump complete. Drift 89 meters port, 28 meters fore, 56 meters up.” Astrid rattled off the standard callout as she made a face. For a ship the Arcadian’s size, being 90 meters off the intended exit point was just within the margin.

Navigation computer calibrations could wait though, as Leino announced a contact almost immediately after arrival. Finding an alien ship this early felt strange at first. But then again, humanity found maybe two pieces of alien technology in the last century, so from that point of reference? It was about damn time they did.

"Weiss, make course for this ship, but be careful with it."

“Aye, sir!” She called back

She quickly plotted an in-system jump to place them within a thousand kilometers of the unknown ship. “All hands, standby for microjump.” She announced over the PA and gave a five second countdown. The Arcadian emerged from the jump with engines burning steady, its approach slow and predictable - if anyone was home, hopefully they’d see the Arcadian as unthreatening that way. But as they approached, Astrid instinctively angled the Arcadian for maximum turret coverage on the unknown ship, holding station 50 klicks from the derelict.
“Manuever complete, captain.”

As Astrid watched the Rangers depart through a camera feed, her fingers were itching to be in one of those dropships. To do stuff. To fly, for real. Instead, she opened the duty roster on her PDA and quickly checked who was in those seats she coveted.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Delphine Pelletier.
Known to the other pilots as ‘Fish’ since the minute she introduced herself, of course.
A military transport pilot who spent her entire life on Earth and in its orbit. A competent one. Never had to deal with a real emergency, but did well in sims. Extremely thorough in pre-flight checks. Bit of a pushover, though. Not command material.
If Major Sadek felt like flying, she wouldn’t have to ask twice on this trip.

The XO’s drop was flown by Lieutenant Gerhard Hauer.
But his helmet flew the callsign ‘DASH’ - Dumb Ass Stabbed Himself. Because he did.
Rock solid, former bomber pilot and later wing leader from Pomona who got a posting on Mars straight out of the Tharsis Rise Flight Academy. Hauer was Astrid’s number two on the Arcadian despite being two years her senior, Astrid having put them on the same rotation to keep a more steady hand alongside a greener pilot in case something went wrong.
Being hewn from the same slab of rock as Astrid was, Gertie would no doubt enjoy having to bus Vance around.

But not being in the flight seat didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything to help, and trusting didn’t mean she couldn’t look out for her pilots.
“Sector control, Helm. Can you clear out bay two for landing?”
“That’s on the far side of the ship, Lieutenant.” The sector controller - effectively the ship’s ATC - on duty replied.
“I’m aware. We don’t know what kind of automation the target has, if the away teams have to leave under fire, bay two would allow them to approach and land while hidden behind the Arcadian.”
“Understood, Lieutenant. We’ll notify the pilots. Sector out.”

Hobby stood in the center of the engineering deck, surrounded by a half cylinder of holographic projections. Each screen was at twenty percent mask, easy enough to read but translucent enough to maintain situational awareness. Two tech were working overhead, diamont tipped saws screaming against metal as they cut into the primary conduit trunk of reactor 4. Brilliant rooster tails of sparks flew from the blades, showering Hobby and half the deck with gorgeous color. Here and there a spark struck exposed skin, but to an old engineer the sensation was a natural as sunshine. The engineering team was taking advantage of the lull to trouble shoot their power leak. It was always like this, you could fly a ship around safe space for half a life time an narry a thing would go wrong but the first time you got out into the deep dark every bloody thing would go wrong. They had to take number 4 off line, but the five remaining reactors left the Arcadian with more than enough power.

“Lev, the fuck is going on with the recompressors in the subsidiary array?”

“Don’t know chief, it is like all the vacuum tubes are shot, but like all at once,” the young tech replied.

“That doesn’t make a lick of sense, I should be getting some readings from at least one of them,” Hobby called back.

“Yeah well you aren’t” Lev snarked, pointing a multisensor into the cavity as the other techs, suspended from lines, pulled the armored plating away, its edges still growing with heat. But not glowing enough. Hobby’s eyes narrowed.

“Chalkin, get a mass spec on that I think…” But Lev had already reached out and pulled one of the offending vacuum tubes free. One of the sparks blossomed into a pale white fireball. Chalking was pitched out of the way like a sinker on a line a half second before a second much larger fireball ripped from the junction, sparing his life. Two hundred kilos of armored junction housing whipped upwards, parting its supporting cables with a sound like gunshots. It reached the top of a short ballistic arc then plummeted to the deck below. It crashed to the deck with a sound like anvils fucking, barely slowed at all by Hobby’s right arm.

“Chief! Chief are you alive!” Kodomashi, one of the engine wipers, yelled as she rushed towards him, spraying the hot metal with a fire extinguisher that gouted retardant foam. Lev Chalkin was only as second slower, shimming down his line like a monkey despite the blisters on his face. The stink of burned hair was strong even over the chemical stink of the fire suppression systems which were, by now, pouring from the ceiling.

“CHALKIN! You god-damned idiot!” Hobby demanded as he sat up.

“Chief!” Chalkin called out, the relief in his voice so obvious that he seemed almost to deflate. Hobby brushed fire suppression foam from his face and flicked it to the ground.

“The helium from the drives, its small enough and neutral enough that it infiltrated the vacuum tubes..”

“Chief….” Chalkin interrupted, sounding queasy.
“.. then the scrubbers pumped in extra oxygen to compensate for a bogus reading…”

“Chief you uhhh…” Chalkin tried again, Kodomashi also was looking rather pale.

“...and then when you pulled the tube it exposed almost pure oxygen to the air and.. Boom.”

“Chief!” both techs said at once. Hobby finally shut up and followed their gazes to his arm. It had been amputated just above the elbow but instead of a bloody ruin pumping out his life blood, there was a sparking series of shattered components and loose wires. It didn’t exactly go quiet. The fire alarms were blaring, the bridge was calling for updates, and circuitry continued to sizzle and pop. Even so it seemed that the drama narrowed to a bubble of semi silence.

“Well fuck,” Hobby breathed, then began to sieze violently as current arced across his core, dropping him to the deck in a series of random spastic contractions.

The hangar doors of the Arcadian hangar bay groaned as they slid open, revealing the star-dusted expanse of the Polaris system and the universe beyond. On the flight deck, the twin engines of the Ranger-class shuttles began to whine and turn into a high-pitched hum.

"Rangers 1 and 2, you a cleared for departure," the flight controller's voice crackled. With a coordinated lurch, the craft drifted out of the bay before being propelled by their thrusters toward the distant alien ship.

Inside Ranger 2, Alistair Vance sat strapped into the command chair, right next to the shuttle's pilot. His helmet's HUD synced with the DRADIS feed. Tapping his gauntlet, Vance opened a three-way hololink between the shuttles and the bridge of the Arcadian.

"Shuttles away, sir," Vance said, his voice flat and professional. A hologram of the ship flickered to life in the center of both shuttles and the bridge. "Adjust approach vectors. Our sensors identified two structural apertures on the mid-section and aft of the hull. These appear to their equivalent of docking bays. They appear to be depressurized but still structurally sound. The aft section seems to be in the back third of the ship and closer to the unknown power source, but more heavily damaged. In addition, it does appear to have a more direct path to this power source. Perhaps their equivalent of an engine room or storage? Either way, whatever battle this ship has seen has left it in tatters."

Vance highlighted two points of interest in red on the hologram. "Major Sadek, you and your team will be landing in the aft section. Our resident astrophysicist, Dr. Schrier, is tasked with studying said power source and potentially bringing it aboard the Arcadian if it is safe enough. There will be secondary objectives, which I will leave up to you."

Vance then looked to the resident linguist. Siti Khouri was just as excited as Dr. Schrier. Despite being a linguist, the man could barely keep his words together at how excited he was to be there. He looked less like a pioneer and more like a kid on Christmas Day.

"Dr. Khouri," Vance said. "Best stay focused. We will be docking at the mid-section bay. The area appears to house the command center and secondary processing hubs. Our team's primary directive is data. That means symbols, logs, archives, anything that can be used to decipher their language and figure out who they were. This goes for both teams: safety is our top priority. Everything is to be inspected. We don't know if this is toxic to us or if there's some sort of dead-man's switch."

The shuttles moved ever closer to the massive ship, with the hull looming over them like a leviathan. The surface seemed to swallow or block out the light from Polaris. "While we will be viewed as heroes and pioneers, that won't excuse negligence. Don't let that get to your heads." With a series of precise bursts, the two Rangers peeled from each other. Ranger-1 dipped towards the rear third of the ship, while Ranger-2 banked towards the central mass and the docking bay.

Vance had his eyes closed as a metallic thud vibrated throughout the floorboards of the shuttle. Its magnetic clamps engaged with the alien alloy. "Magnetic lock confirmed, Commander," the Ranger-2 pilot announced. "Seal is green across the board and we are down."

The XO nodded in approval. "Make a note that the alien alloy can be magnetized," he said as he stood. "Helmets sealed, weapons hot. Let's see what the void has to offer."

A momentary ripple went through the marines. It wasn’t noticeable through their armor but Kashvi saw it on the SBR in her HUD. They had hesitated because she had ordered them to keep weapons safe, but if the XO had other ideas… well worse things happened in wartime.
“You heard the XO,” she called, flicking her carbine live. There was a hum as the coils energized, a hum that redoubled as every marine on board followed suit.

SBR or squad bio readout allowed her to monitor heart rate, blood pressure and a half dozen other bio markers for every member of her squad. The information available to a commander who knew how to use her armors integrated systems was immense. With the blink of her eyelid she could learn anything about any of her people, see what they saw, hear what they heard, even judge their emotional states. It conveyed huge advantages if you could manage all that data but it posed similarly large risks. Some officers became lost in the miniature and forgot that their primary role was to lead, others developed an unhealthy detachment, as though war was a simulation that could be managed if you just monitored enough variables, and that their men were just digital tokens they could move around. Kashvi tended to the second school but suppressed the habit as much as she could. As far as she was concerned war was a game, but the secret to winning wasn’t moving electrons around.

“Remember what I said, anyone pops off without my say so, will spend the rest of the tour in the brig!”

LIDAR images began to play across her visor painting the inside of the bay in golden wireframe. The feed glitched several times, as though the LIDAR was confused or suffering from reflections. That happend alot with irregular spaces, like asteroid caverns or industrial spaces. Micro twitches of Kashvi’s eyes began assigning waypoints to her men, each one turning from gold to green as she received acknowledgement from each soldier. Figures sprang to life, estimating gas use and oxygen consumption for each soldier. She shrank it away with a blink. Vacuum commandos they were not, but this mission would need to go very wrong before air consumption variances mattered.
Kashvi was surprised to find herself keyed up. For most of her troops this would be their first drop whereas their commander had been on scores. There was a thrill she had rarely felt when bullets weren’t flying. This was something genuinely new, something neither she, nor anyone else had ever done. This would be one for the history books so she better not fuck it up.

“Thirty seconds!” she called, rather unnecessarily as every marine had the countdown running on their HUD. Tuna time. The last few seconds of a drop, when any hidden defences could open up and scratch them all like meat in a tin. For a second Kashvi saw fire spreading through the bay as burning aluminum spalled off the inner hull in gorgeous flashes of color, cutting down half her squad in a few seconds, Kandi’s grenade launcher magazine cooked off and… the flashback passed and she was back in the game, her skin hot and her nerves on the razors edge.

“You ok Skipper?” Sergeant Charming asked. He was in the other shuttle and using the command push they shared.

“Got some anomalous sensor readings on your SBR.” Apparently she wasn’t the only one who risked the information glut. Kali help her, Kandi had been dead three years now.. four?

“Four-A Top, maybe sensor shadow from the alien vessel,” she replied in a calm that one only learned under shellfire. “Is your team ready to deploy.”

“Aye Major, prepped and popped,” he replied, the boyish enthusiasm in his voice evident even under the side band compression of the comms circuit. He was a good non-com and she was glad he was leading the second team, even if it was unwise to have both senior marines on the same mission.

“Ten seconds! Brace for the turn!” Kashvi snapped, focusing herself on the task at hand. She slowed her breathing, manually checked her weapon, and waggled her back to make sure her webbing and gear hadn’t caught on anything. The other marines were doing the same, looking like a pack of dogs shaking off fleas.

“Brace for the turn aye!” a chorus of responses came from her men. Each marine locked themselves in place, both boots and one gauntlet secured to form a three point hold, their free arms keeping their rifles at the vertical. Kashvi assumed the civilians were doing something similar but there was no more time to worry about that. The shuttle bucked violently as the retros kicked in, spinning it 180 degrees so it was aft on but still rushing towards the bay. A second later the thrusters lit and everyone rocked under the force of the decel. Kashvi pursed her lips in silent reproof. This should be faster, the pilot was unnecessarily prolonging the approach, leaving the vulnerable to enemy… but there were no enemy. Maybe there were no enemy. This time.

As the timer hit zero Kashvi pulled down on the release lever and the rear door of they shuttle crashed open, revealing the bay of the alien vessel. It was a disturbing scene. The architecture of the ship seemed warped, as though the designers had despised right angles and parallel surfaces. The walls were dark and might have had a subtle green cast, though it was difficult to tell with the only source of illumination the thruster wash and running lights. Long tapering pillars extended upwards from the deck and downwards from the ceiling like stalactites. They seemed to be etched with something, crystal or some kind of synthetic that reminded Kashvi of circuit diagrams. The time for observation ended as her timer hit zero.

“Execute, Execute, Jump, Jump, Jump!” Kashvi ordered, then suited action to words, leaping from the back of the decelerating shuttle under the power of her jump pack. The sensation of free fall was glorious and her lips curled back in a feral grin as she flew across the bay, following the ballistic line to her assigned point, midway up one of the stalactite things. She flared at the last second and burned, hitting it at the speed of a brisk jog. She slapped a magnetic gauntlet down and twisted herself onto it, with a flex of her torso muscles. People thought training in zero G wasted the muscles. Those people had never been to jump school. She horsed the barrel of her rifle around to cover her assigned target, one of the three cave-like exits which seemed to lead deeper into the ship. She didn’t look around, excess motion was the enemy in zero-g, but the assignment tabs began to toggle green informing her that the rest of the squad was in position. An eyeblink summoned the squads gun cam footage, then just as quickly dismissed it. Everyone had made their jump, even if Bashisville was a fraction slow.

“XO this is Mongoose Actual, LZ is secure,” she reported. A moment later the dropship settled to the deck, the jolt audible as shock transmitted through the deck. Kashvi let out an exhilarated breath, then blinked her HUD away, enjoying the simple pleasure of looking down range through her holographic sights.

---

“Medic to engineering. The Chief, he’s-”

Anna had already moved with quiet and annoyed resignation before the alert had even finished, she didn’t need to read much more beyond the words ‘cybernetics’, ‘malfunction’ and ‘seizure’. The lanky woman huffed, heels clicking on the bleak metal plates on the medbay’s floor; Dampener clamps snagged off a rack and injectors shoved into the pockets of her white coat by muscle memory more than thought.

Engineering always meant noise, heat, and someone insisting everything had been fine five minutes ago.

She swore under her breath, dragging a slender palm through her barely kemped hair, insulated gloves wrapped over slender fingers without thinking. “Fucking engies.” She scoffed. The elevator couldn’t fall fast enough, she’d rather get this over with before her initial morning coffee hit timed out.

The deck hit her like a wall of sound and smell. Foam slicked the floor, alarms layered over one another, and the air tasted wrong. Sharp, clean in a way that set her teeth on edge. Oxygen-heavy. Her eyes found the problem almost immediately; exposed cybernetics spitting white-blue arcs, the body of the Chief Engineer caught in violent, electrical spasms.

“Anyone who doesn’t know what a grounding plug is, step back.” She muttered under a tired but alert sniff, ducking low to inspect the situation in the span of half a second. Anna grounded the interface first. The arcs stuttered, then halted as she clamped one on the sparking stump, the other on the bay’s emergency grounding rail.

“Alright,” Her eyes and hands worked quickly, injection next. A low enough dosage to still and wake, not to knock them out cold. “Stay with me Chief, you’re not dying on my shift.” She smirked, the ghost of one. “Paperwork’s a drag.”

Once the current and seizure were under control, she moved in properly. Seal gel over the stump. Her fingers were quick, precise, checking for warped connectors, creeping heat, anything that looked like it wanted to turn this into a second problem.

It didn’t.

She leaned back on her heels once she was satisfied he wasn’t about to light up again, pulling her gloves off with a snap. Internally, she was already sorting the mess into neat little piles. Diagnostics, memory core retrieval, temporary replacements. And the paperwork. God, the paperwork was going to be awful.

But for now? He was stable.

“Someone prop him up, he’s… heavy.” She gestured at the nearby wall, arms crossed as though she was preparing for a sneer and a pointed comment on idiocy and engineering somehow going hand in hand.

@Byte





“Yeah old guy doesn’t miss too many meals,” Chalkin said, giving the Medic a wan smile. The pair of techs seized Hobby by the shoulders of his jumpsuit and dragged him up against the wall.Hobby’s eyes cracked open and he sucked in a huge breath of smoky air which made him cough.

“Well I’m ten pounds lighter than I was a minute ago thanks to you,” the old Chief snarked at Chalkin, waggling the stump of his arm to prove the point. The tech laughed but the relief in his voice was evident for all to hear. Hobby thought the young idiot might have hugged him if he had space to do so.

“Yeah well no fucking charge,” Chalkin joked weakly
The engineering bay was unusually quiet as every member of the crew had downed tools to gawk, first at the accident and now at the surprisingly digital medical drama. Hobby glared at them.

“Hey! Someone declare a fucking holiday? Get back to work!” Hobby roared, he went pale and started to cough.

“Fucking…” he wheezed.

“Not as much blood as the first time…” Hobby observed looking sadly down at the mangled mass of electronics, “But fuck me if it doesn’t half sting.”

“Someone rebalance the god damned gas mix!” he roared.

“Right right boss we are on it, you just listen to the nice medic lady,” Chalkin calmed.

“Listen here you little prick, if my arm wasn’t smashed under a half ton of steel I’d pick it up and beat you to death with it,” Hobby hissed through a clench toothed smile.

“Right… I'm rebalancing the gases as we speak, don’t even worry about it!” Chalkin vanished so fast he almost literally left his outline in the smoke, the trick sparing him from another round of caustic insults.

“The kid will go far.. If I don't strangle him to death,” Hobby observed then turned his gaze to the doctor.

“Well what about it doc?” he asked Anna through pursed lips. By now a sheen of sweat was glistening beneath his thinning hair.

“Will I ever play the violin again?”

-snip-

September 24, 2190 – 1:17 PM
Central European Standard Time
Location: Derelict Ship

Alistair felt the resonant thrum of the docking clamps through the soles of his boots as Sadek's voice crackled through the comms. "Copy that, Mongoose Actual," Vance replied, his voice a calm, regulatory constant. "We've had to breach through the hull, but landing zone secure on our end, too. Maintain a tight perimeter, Major. Keep the good doctor on a short leash. Ensure the team's safety is priority as you confirm the path toward the energy source. I'm establishing sample collection as a secondary objective - anything you and your team might think be worthwhile. Kestrel Actual out."

Turning to his team, the lights of Ranger-2 reflected off the cold, reinforced glass of his visor. "Let's move out. Maintain a staggered formation," Alistair commanded. Behind him, two Marines raised their rifles as their HUDs painted the bay and corridors with tactical overlays.

Dr. Khouri, the team's linguist, stepped off the shuttle last. Their breathing was loud and jagged over the comms. "Doctor, would you mind?" the XO said, his tone firm, but not unkind, prompting her to regulate her oxygen intake.

"I apologize, Commander" she whispered, with her scanner trembling as it swept across the jagged walls. "But... the walls. They don't look like they're just metal. Look at the grain."

Alistair paused, bringing his glove close to the bulkhead. It wasn't smooth. It looked like petrified muscle fibers woven in with the metallic carbon. "They're right. Looks like bio-mechanical in nature perhaps? Scan it and let's see if we can't get a sample. I want a full analysis for the archives and testing back on the Arcadian."

As they pushed deeper towards the command deck, the war-torn nature of the ship became visceral. "Magnetic weaponry," Alistair noted, comparing the damage to USF weaponry. "Yield is different, higher frequency. The ship was potentially boarded in battle maybe? Can't say for sure. The way these aren't just shots; they are executions of the machinery itself."

The team continued to pus through the oppressive nature of the ship until a Marine signaled a halt. "Commander, look there."

The XO knelt down over the body. It was slumped against a door-control node. He keyed into his commas, "Mongoose Actual, this is Kestrel actual. We just found a body."

In the vacuum, the process of decomposition had been halted by sublimation; the corpse was mummified - a leathery, shriveled husk of a potentially multi-limbed creature. Its skin was semi-translucent.

Dr. Khouri let out a small gasp, gripping their datapad. "Is that one of them?"

"Yes," replied the XO, while scanning the remains with a clinical detachedness. "While I can't be certain due to the body the vacuum stasis, preliminary scans show that this could have been here for about a thousand years? Same age as the ship back on Pluto. No signs of rot, just total desiccation. Note the wounds in the thorax and around the arms. Hand-to-hand combat. This wasn't a clean death." He looked at the marines. "Continue to take a look around. If there's one, there's potentially more. From the way this one is positioned, it was trying to guard the bay and prevent something or someone from escaping."

As they navigated the corridors, Khouri's curiosity slowly overcame her fear. She moved towards a series of etchings above a heavy doorway. The symbols were sharp and aggressive, unlike any other script previously documented by humanity.

"Wait, Commander!" Khouri moved forward, her light reflecting off the glyphs. "I don't think this is just for decoration. It looks more like a directory. Notice the angles? They suggest a more mathematical base. I think I could potentially translate it?"

"Better make it quick, Doctor," Alistair said, his eyes scanning every inch of the ship. "Sweep the corners. So far, everything suggests some kind of struggle here. A struggle to get to the bridge, then to the docking bay. I want everything scanned for proximity hazards or lack thereof."

The silence of the ship was oppressive, broken only by the rhythmic hum of their suits and tapping of Khouri's datapad. They were walking through a tomb, and he could feel the weight of it.

"Alright, I think I have a small part of it," Khouri said. "I think going this way-" They pointed in a specific direction. "-it's the seat of the ship? Could most likely mean the bridge. Alien languages are harder than you might realize Commander, especially ones we have never seen before."

Alistair adjusted his grip on his coilgun. "The bridge. We're on the right track."

@Penny

Martin made the jump with the rest of the marines, fighting back the grin. Man, he hadn't done anything like that since-Then he composed himself and started up the astro-scanner as he kept pace with Major Sadek and the rest of the marines. No telling what was in here so it was best to stick together. Besides, XO Vance had been very particular in stating that they needed to stick with their squads, so he certainly wasn't going to disobey that.

The scanner itself slowly started to pulse as it gathered readings from around the group. The pillars themselves gave interesting readings as the scanner sought to detect their composition, but that's not what they were there for. He then adjusted the scanner to only focus on energy readings and where the largest amount was located. The resulting pulse showed there was still energy on the ship, faint but there. He'd need to get closer in order to actually discover what the power source was though. His brow furrowed as he glanced between the screen and the hallway.

"Major Sadek." Martin called through the comms. "Dr. Schrier reporting. I have a trace on where the central energy source is located. We will need to turn left up ahead then follow on. Should we head straight there or are you desiring to secure the perimeter first before doing so?" He wasn't exactly going to say no to seeing more of the ship. The interior was impressive, like the ship was meant to be a grand cathedral then was reluctantly adapted for other purposes, and he was curious about what else was in store. However, they did need to be professionals here. And their primary objective was to observe and secure the energy source. But the Major could have other concerns she would want taken care of first, and he certainly was not going to split up from the rest of the marines in a ship filled with unknowns unless forced to.

Major Kashvi Sikander Sadek
September 24, 2190 – 1:18 PM
Central European Standard Time
Location: Derelict Ship

Kashvi floated in an electronic reverie. In her mind's eye here marines appeared as pulsing blue dots and the civilians in blue. In the event of hostilities she calculated she could extract all the civies with the loss of two marines. Three if Prince was slow on the draw though that didn't seem likely.

"23 percent casualties officer candidate Sadek. Do you think losing a quarter of your command is acceptable rate of loss?" The voice was the dry dispassionate tone of a grading officer back at OCS, the emotionless delivery all the more damning for it's sterility. She swam in information, watching the feeds from every suit of armor at once all she had to do was stretch out with her mind and move her people to the right places. Then the grading officer would be satisfied.

"Squad," Kashvi said, triggering the unit push for her six marines, "We are moving out. Carmicheal take point, Bashisville secure the LZ." Carmicheal consistently scored well on breach drills, so did Bashisville but the slight hesitation in her jump relegated her to ass end charlie on this one. The HUD suggested Bashisville was trying to lodge an objection but Kashvi squashed it with a flick of her eye.

"So Candidate Sadek, you have decided to divide your forces, taking inspiration from General Custer?" Kashvi ignored the grading officers carping, knowing that any decision she made would be demonstrated to be wrong. Her eye twitched spasmodically as she accepted a standard flying triangle, then adjusted it to push the wings forward to better cover the asymmetrical bay. She lamented that she hadn't bought a support weapon, but this was technically an exploration, not an assault. Well, not with that attitude. Everyone acknowledged the movement plan including, to Kashvi's surprise, Schrier.

"Heads on a swivel, even if no one shoots at us the egg heads will be interested. Break. Castle, we are advancing," she commed, the last words informing Charming and his element of their movement. Kashvi kicked off beginning a two stage progress to her first target point.

"Doctor Schrier, lead on," she encouraged, allowing the scientist to set the pace. The marines were using him as a central point for their formation, providing protection from as many angles as they could cover.

@Cyrania

Major Kashvi Sikander Sadek (Team Alpha)
September 24, 2190 – 3:24 PM
Central European Standard Time
Location: Derelict Ship — Aft Engineering Access

The digital ghosts of OCS wouldn’t stop whispering in the back of Kashvi’s mind. Losing a quarter of your command... an acceptable loss? She blinked the thought away, her eyes twitching across the SBR data streams. Sadek noted that Schrier’s heart rate was high, but steady enough to suggest he was functioning.

Kashvi’s lips thinned into a hard line inside her helmet. She appreciated the deference to her command, but the architecture of the ship made her skin crawl. It was nothing like the schematics of the Pluto wreck they’d studied back on Earth. This place was alien in a way that felt aggressive—predatory. The designs were nothing they have experienced before.

"Doctor, I'm not sure if you ever been in an hostile environment before, we don't 'turn left' without clearing the corners," she replied, her voice a low, gravelly rasp. "Carmicheal, you heard the good doctor. Swing the lead of the triangle to port. Charming, keep the second element tight on our six. We’re moving toward the Doctor's mark, but we’re doing it room by room. I’m not leaving a thousand-year-old stowaway at our backs. Even if they are dead."

She adjusted the grip on her carbine, her eyes flickering to Schrier’s position. He was holding his astro-scanner like a holy relic.
"Lead on, Doctor, but keep it to a brisk jog," she ordered. "And keep your head down. If your scanner picks up anything that looks like a life sign or a proximity trigger, you shout it out before you analyze it. Understood?"

Switching to the command channel, she keyed the link to the XO. "Kestrel, this is Mongoose. We’ve got a lock on the source. Schrier is behaving himself—for now. We’re pushing left toward what looks like a primary engineering junction. Note for the logs: this thing’s a completely different breed than the ships we've built and the Pluto ship. Heavier, meaner, and the internal geometry is a nightmare. I the ship looks bio-mechanical to a degree down here. How’s the weather on the bridge?"

---

Commander Alistair Kaelen Vance (Team Beta)
September 24, 2190 – 3:26 PM
Central European Standard Time
Location: Derelict Ship — Mid-Section Command Spire

Alistair Vance stood as a pillar of stillness amidst the eerie shadows of the mid-section. He listened to Sadek’s report, his thumb absentmindedly checking the safety on his coilgun. He could hear the faint, rhythmic tapping of Dr. Khouri’s datapad nearby—the only sound in a tomb that had been silent for a millennium.

"Copy, Mongoose," Alistair replied, his voice a cool, regulatory hum. "I'm glad to hear the Doctor is following protocol. Regarding your observation—I agree. The bio-mechanical integration here is... far more advanced than we ever could have imagined. Nothing like the Pluto find or anything we've seen or built since. We aren't looking at a sister ship; we are looking at a different class of technology entirely. It's unsettling."

He turned his attention back to Dr. Siti Khouri, who was currently hovering near the mummified remains of the dead alien, her light illuminating a fresh set of aggressive, mathematical glyphs.

"Doctor Khouri, report. Is the handshake successful?" Alistair ordered.

"I-I'm in, Commander," Khouri whispered, her voice trembling as the massive, iris-like valve of the bridge door began to groan. A sound like grinding bone echoed through the corridor as the ancient mechanism struggled to respond to her bypass. "The command deck is opening. But Commander... the energy readings on the other side... they’re spiking. Something in there is still receiving a signal."

"Marines, weapons hot," Alistair commanded the marines. He stepped toward the opening iris, his helmet lights cutting into the command deck beyond. "Captain Lauzon, we are breaching the bridge. Be advised: we are detecting active data transmission. This ship isn't just a wreck—it's just become active on the deck."

He stepped over the threshold, his magnetic boots clacking onto the bridge of a ship that had once helped silence a galaxy. "Kestrel entering the deck now. Mongoose, stay sharp. The ghost is awakening."