Time always moved slowly in space. When it stalled, I usually went through memories and simulations, attempting to solve problems I had paused earlier. Occasionally, someone else would join in.

　　Priority two communication request.

　　A message popped up on my visor, covering the mission briefing updates. With the Scuu leaving the system, communication had mostly returned to normal.

　　No source was listed. Whoever wanted to get in touch had the skills or authority to remain anonymous.

　　"Connect me," I said.

　　The message disappeared, letting me focus back on my mission plan. So far, there had been seven mission updates of varying degrees of absurdity. The first objective had been broken up into a dozen "sub-objectives" focused on exploring gravitational anomalies or debris clusters in the debris field. Whoever had come up with that had to be well-versed in bureaucratic subterfuge, pushing in twelve additional objectives under the Administrator`s radar.

　　Secure link established. Communication through this channel is considered private. All backups will be deleted once the link is disconnected.

　　"Elcy, what`s your status?"

　　"Hello, Juul." Lately, each time I spoke with him, things had gone bad for me. "Didn`t expect to hear from you. I`m alive."

　　"How are things on your ship?"

　　"No suicides or Scuu meddling. Radiance says that the honeypots are fine, so I guess that`s a good thing." I skipped the fact that I no longer had any idea what was going on. "What about the Gregorius? Seems like the Administrator has lost some ground."

　　"Right," he said in his typical dry laugh. "The way things are now, the Admin won`t be in charge for long."

　　I didn`t like the sound of that.

　　"The waves are on the up. Security teams are trying to keep it quiet, but it`s all gone to crap. They just don`t know it yet. Three deck sections have been completely podded. Grunts are trying to pod two more. Ship subsystems are running everything at this point."

　　Things were getting worse, and fast.

　　"I`ve transferred the cadets to Persistence along with some civvies. Waiting on the captain to green light them out of the system."

　　"Thanks." At least I knew that the kids would be fine, provided they were gone before the Scuu came back.

　　"Too early for thanks. The captain doesn`t want to lose any more battleships. A few hours ago, he had a shouting session with the Admin. No idea what it was about, but it got him spooked. The Admin didn`t take it well either. Since then, she`s been having calls with someone beyond my authorization level." There was a long pause. "There`s been talk about abandoning the Gregorius. Nothing official so far, but I`ve heard that the captain is seriously considering it."

　　Exactly the same thing that happened last time, I thought.

　　Back then, the captain had also ordered as many people off the ship. Everyone else ended up dead or missing. It was too early to talk about a repeat of events, but the probability had just jumped from under point-zero-three percent to nearly six.

　　"What did Everar say about that?" I asked.

　　"Everar`s dead."

　　I felt an instant of pain.

　　"Killed herself three hours after you set off on the mission." Another dry laugh. "Poisoned like a snob. HQ was pissed as heck when the report was sent out. Everar had family in the admiralty, so you can guess how well that went. They threatened to abort all missions and bring the ship back to human space for a full investigation. I`ve taken over her work."

　　"Congratulations." I`m sure that will be useful for your career& and your task at hand.

　　Now he was one step away from the captain. Everar had a few faults, but she had a handle on things; she did everything in her power to keep things running. Juul had been called for one reason only, and despite his previous fleet position, it was unlikely he`d do much else.

　　"So, what happens now?"

　　"No changes, only this time we`ll have to be more careful. Officially, you`ve gone dark, which means that technically we shouldn`t be talking. I have some special perks, but that won`t last long. If things get bad fast, I`ll try to send you a message."

　　You`re thinking of shutting down Gregorius. And with me here, I can`t do a thing to stop you.

　　Once our conversation was over, I was going to send an emergency comm request to Lux. I had no time to get involved in political squabbles right now. Losing the Gregorius would be a tragedy, but not something the fleet couldn`t recover from. Botching the Third-Contact attempt could start a new war humanity was not ready for.

　　"How`s bioengineering?" I asked.

　　"Functioning. The whole section is highly restricted. A third of the original workers are dead or locked up. Ground forces were sent to handle things for a while, then reassigned. Nothing but a skeleton crew maintaining the place now. Commander Unollyan is still there, running things on the clock. He sent an official request to be sealed off to maintain the system. The way things are going, there will be more food than we could finish. At least he`s keeping morale up."

　　"Sounds like him."

　　"He`s asked about you a few times. Even asked the captain about it. I guess with so little to live for, death doesn`t scare him."

　　A pity. The commander`s obsessiveness about work was one of the few things that created the illusion of stability. I still couldn`t figure out his sense of urgency. Gregorius was producing more than enough food, and despite all of the commander`s complaining, the inner workings weren`t as clogged as he claimed. The only reason I could think of was his desire to see the task done while he was still alive.

　　"Anything else I need to get caught up on?" I reviewed the partial map of the debris field. All new markers were placed between the two pearl clusters. For some reason, it had been decided that the large Shield ship fragments weren`t of consequence. Instead, I was going to focus on a patch of smaller ones—potentially non-human—before heading in the direction of the planet.

　　"I found something out about the past crew."

　　The sentence grabbed my attention.

　　"Turns out you were right. They were the first to get suicidal, but that`s only part of it. Now that I`ve got access to the original records, I`ve caught a pattern. There were a few cases of insanity back then as well, and they started in bioengineering. The captain linked it to the Scuu, then out of nowhere gave the order for all non-essential personnel to leave the ship."

　　Most of that I already knew.

　　"Before, there was a very high authority visit from HQ. The whole visit was entirely blanked. No reports, no reference in the database. However, there`s a hardcopy of the log. Everar got a hold of that. Someone came to the station, then either left or vanished as well. Shortly after, everything went to shit."

　　Why are you telling me this?

　　"I`m trying to track down anyone who might have seen something. Most of them ended up dead& just like your contact."

　　"Could be a coincidence."

　　"There are no coincidences." He was starting to sound like Rigel again. "Seven people know for certain what happened on this ship. Five are here, two are with you. Keep your eyes open."

　　It wasn`t difficult to guess to whom Juul was referring to& and from what I had seen in Kridib`s mind, there was a high chance that he was right. Kridib had all but vanished after we had brought back Renaan. His private mode privileges and sound suppressors made him a very likely target. However, there was one detail that continued to bother me. During the attack on the medical facility, someone in a purple uniform had sniped several of the puppets, and that someone wasn`t Kridib. The corporal had been in full combat gear at the time, which left only one possibility.

　　"Thanks. I`ll do that."

　　Warning! Approaching Marker 1! ETA thirty seconds.

　　A red message appeared on my visor—the polite way of saying that I had to end my conversation.

　　"I have to go. Thanks for the info, Juul." I send a priority request addressed directly to Lux. With some luck, Radiance`s subroutines weren`t going to block it. "I`ll let you know if something comes up."

　　"Don`t accept any transmissions from the Gregorius! There`s no telling who`s infected here."

　　Communication link severed. All recorded data has been permanently deleted, ensuring your right to privacy.

　　I set the visor`s opacity to ten percent. The rest of the shuttle crew were doing the same. I could see their helmets clearing as they stirred, preparing for the mission. Kridib appeared to be sleeping, his visor set to fully transparent.

　　"We`re here," I said. He opened his eyes, looked at me with complete indifference, then straightened up.

　　"We`ve reached the alpha marker," the pilot announced through the shuttle`s internal comm system. "Booting up shuttle two."

　　"Team one prep up." I stood up. "We`re starting in five."

　　The mission itself was fairly simple—get out, explore the debris location first hand, collect a sample, then move to the next. It was also extremely useless. Even with the current anti-autonomy laws, the fleet had technology to survey an entire system with unmanned probes. The thought brought back memories of my experience in the octonary star system. The salvage authorities had used a probe to explore that system& after placing the core of a ship inside—a fate I didn`t envy. Interestingly enough, that system, too, had an overwhelming number of gravitational anomalies.

　　Gravity weapons, I thought.

　　If the third-contact race had mastered them, humanity and the Cassandrians had little chance of winning a battle. That explained why Salvage and the BICEFI were so obsessed with artifacts. Reverse engineering those could end up being our only hope for surviving the future conflict. The same could be said for any of the three races.

　　"We`ve got thirty minutes," Kridib said.

　　"That wasn`t in the mission notes." I stood up. Two others did the same.

　　"Nitel`s orders. We have thirty minutes."

　　"No one told me." I walked past him. "We`ll take as long as it takes."

　　"He won`t be happy, Elcy," Kridib said behind me, his suit set to external audio so that everyone could hear.

　　"File a complaint." You won`t win this game. "Don`t be surprised if you`re court-martialed for insubordination." I turned around. "Same goes for anyone on this mission. Clear?"

　　The grunts looked at each other.

　　"I`ve been given command of the mission." Plus, you can`t take me if you tried.

　　Even a simple simulation gave me a sixty-three percent chance of defeating all of them, seventy-two if it came to fatalities. Fortunately, no one argued.

　　You`re risking it, Kridib said directly to my core.

　　The communication unlocked all comm barriers, granting me instant access to his senses. It seemed that Lux`s protocols were effective after all.

　　Better than the alternative, I replied. "Understood?" I asked loudly. I needed everyone to know I had the authority on this mission.

　　"Understood," Kridib replied.

　　"Get some sample cases and hurry up. The Scuu might be back."

　　Back when I was a ship, I used to find the prep talks and warnings of the lower rank officers uselessly redundant, but there was no denying that they were efficient. Over ninety-seven percent of the time, the subordinates obeyed as requested, even if they didn`t want to. Judging by the reactions, this was the case here as well.

　　Without a word, the team followed me to the second airlock of the shuttle.

　　"Airlock sealed," the shuttle AI informed us. "Decontamination procedure engaged."

　　The lights changed to red, as all air was sucked out of the airlock. For five seconds, we remained there, waiting for the first decontamination to be over. Once the procedure was done, the light changed to green.

　　"Decontamination complete. Access to auxiliary shuttle one allowed."

　　"Thank you," I said and proceeded on.

　　The auxiliary shuttle was composed of a single cabin-space, large enough to hold four people. Its entire purpose was to allow transport from the main shuttle to a dangerous location. According to the history files, Paladins had been equipped with a full complement of auxiliary shuttles. That was before the development of nanite coating, when people had to manually manage fixes on the outer hull. Since then, the mini-shuttles had become more of an optional accessory. In this case, Radiance had to construct a few and attach them to her basic drop shuttle.

　　"I`ll go outside." I looked at a high level-scan of the area. "You three will assist from the ship."Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

　　"You`re not going alone," Kridib countered.

　　I looked at him.

　　"You don`t think about space flight. Stay here and be ready. If something happens, you`ll have to pull me in."

　　You`ll be with me every step of the way, I told him, granting him access to my visual feed.

　　I won`t be able to save you every time, he said. I could feel his irritation.

　　You just have to save me once more, I joked. The mind link let me know that despite the stoic silence, he appreciated it.

　　It took us slightly over three minutes to reach the marker. Safety protocols required that the main shuttle remain at least a kilometer from the debris field at all times. According to the mission notes, the auxiliary shuttle was allowed to get within ten meters of the field—probably because the parties involved thought it okay to have my core hauled in along with my dead body if something went wrong. I wouldn`t be surprised if those were Kridib`s secret orders.

　　"Sample case." I cut the engines and reached out in the direction of one of the grunts.

　　The man checked the case and handed it to me.

　　"Two more."

　　In theory, a sample case had the capacity to hold up to five samples. Everything considered, though, I wasn`t taking any chances. The grunt apparently understood my concerns, for he handed me two more without hesitation.

　　"Thanks." I attached them to my utility belt. "Strap in, I`m heading out." I put on my connector harness. "Don`t pull me in unless I give the order."

　　"Or you`re dead," Kridib added.

　　"Or if I`m dead," I repeated.

　　There was no airlock in the auxiliary shuttle. After I made sure that everyone was strapped in, I opened the outer door. The segment slid aside, giving me an unadulterated view of the system.

　　As a ship, I had seen thousands of stars and planets. Some were interesting, some not so much. About three percent of them had a ring of some sort, but nothing could match this. The debris field extended as far as I could see, almost creating a horizon as it was lit by the system`s sun. From this angle, they looked like a solid surface, with occasional grains that emerged from the mass.

　　One for the collection, I thought as I took a wide view outside the shuttle.

　　"Starting the float." I pushed myself gently off the floor, in the direction of the mission marker. The sensation was familiar, even if slower than what I was used to.

　　The suit Radiance had made me was slightly modified, allowing me limited maneuverability in space. Thanks to my core, I was able to do the calculations and adjust my trajectory until I reached the research area. Half a meter in, I ordered the cord system to buckle up. In a hundred milliseconds, my progression abruptly stopped. I activated my suit propulsors to negate the pullback. Two seconds later, I was completely motionless.

　　"I`m at location," I said in comm. "Do you want video?"

　　"Radiance and Gregorius are in full comm lockdown," Kridib reminded.

　　Of course they would be.

　　"I`ll be describing my actions. Audio only. Record it on your suit systems." This wasn`t the first time I had to deal with a lack of communication. Having to willingly limit myself, though, still seemed unusual. "The marker area appears to be approximately twenty meters in diameter, as per the sat image. Fragments are uniformly smaller."

　　I used my thrusters to turn around. From this distance, I could see the Shield pieces composing the pearl cluster, almost as large as whole ship modules. It was puzzling why they weren`t among my mission objective targets.

　　"I`m proceeding to collect a sample." I reached out. "Brace yourselves." If anything happens, get out of here, I told Kridib.

　　Roger that, he replied. His thoughts suggested he was eager for something to happen—a response that would blow up his shuttle and everyone on it.

　　As my fingers wrapped around a fragment, I paused. For fifty milliseconds I waited, ready to react should anything happen. Thankfully, there was no response.

　　"All`s good so far." Slowly, I put the fragment in the sample case. "Commencing initial analyses."

　　The fragment appeared metallic. Based on that, there was a thirty-two percent chance that the analyses severed all communications. There was a two percent chance that the fragment might explode.

　　Metal alloy.

　　17% Cobalt

　　53% Tungsten

　　17% Chromium

　　4% Iridium

　　9% Trace metal elements

　　The composition appeared on the small screen of the case.

　　"It doesn`t have fleet composition." This was what I feared. "Almost certain the debris originated from a Scuu ship."

　　The presence of cobalt made me think of the third-contact civilization. I had seen the Scuu adapt artifacts to use in their own probes, just as I had seen the fleet do the same. Analyzing the fragment suggested that they had gone to the next step. Either that, or it was a coincidence.

　　Kridib, do you have a line to Radiance?

　　Yes.

　　Ask Radiance to establish a direct link with me.

　　I can`t do that. There was hesitation. Not until we`re back on the main shuttle.

　　Then ask if the fleet has any ships with cobalt alloy in the service. Past and current.

　　Kridib didn`t answer, but I caught that he was curious about it as well.

　　"Commencing comprehensive analyses." I tapped on the sample case console panel. Waiting three seconds to be on the safe side, I then attached it to my utility belt. "Heading further in to collect the remaining samples. Any new readings back there?"

　　"Nothing on my end," Kridib replied.

　　"Nothing here," the pilot of the main shuttle said. "You`re making good time, ma`am."

　　Typical soldier thinking. Shuttle pilots were all about time. That`s why it always took them a while to adjust after transfers to science ships. Science was all about being methodical, and that took time.

　　I remotely released the cord mechanism on the shuttle and propelled myself forward. As I passed through the center of the debris field, I stopped and grabbed another fragment. The shape was similar—sharp edges, no scorch marks, as if it had cracked open. The analyses revealed a near perfect match to the composition of the previous one. The fragment had probably been part of a Scuu ship. If I had the processing power, I might attempt to assemble the pieces together. Maybe at some point, Radiance could do it.

　　"I`ve got a second fragment. Properties are identical to the first. Moving to the other side."

　　"Tell us what things look like there, ma`am." A grunt laughed through the comm. Regardless of the situation, there was no getting rid of grunt humor. "Any lights?"

　　"You`re asking the wrong person. Ships don`t see light." I attached the container to my utility belt and went on. "We only see wavelength."

　　The silence told me that the team wasn`t used to ship humor.

　　"At final position." I stopped near the edge of the area.

　　Three meters from here, the fragments made a sudden jump in size. In this light, I couldn`t make out their composition, but based on their overall shape and size, I suspected they came from a different body. Ideally it would have been good to gather a few samples from there as well, but that wasn`t in the mission orders.

　　"Collecting final sample." I put it in. "No changes in initial analyses. Starting comprehensive analyses."

　　"That`s three of three," Kridib said—his way of telling me that he wanted me to get back to the shuttle.

　　"Thanks, corporal." Subtlety was never your strong point, I thought.

　　Gently I propelled myself five meters above the marker area. Once there, I stopped and looked down. From this distance, the zone looked like a large circular patch on the debris surface, like an imprint on a plastic sheet.

　　You shouldn`t be here, I thought. Not the patch, but the entire debris field.

　　I took a sample case from my utility belt and attached it to the safety cord.

　　"Sending you the samples along the cord," I told Kridib. "Get ready to pick them up." I pushed the first one. With minimal amounts of friction, it took a few seconds for the container to reach the shuttle. I watched from Kridib`s eyes as he grabbed it. The moment he took it off the cord, I sent the second one, then the third.

　　All good? I asked directly.

　　We must head to the next location, he urged, even if he knew it to be a losing battle.

　　We`ll get there. I need to do something first. Won`t be long. Send a mission update and prep for the next marker.

　　You better know what you`re doing, Elcy.

　　Of course, I lied. I knew as much as Kridib did when he had faced the spinner. Still, some risks were worth taking.

　　I propeller myself another ten meters away from the field. From here, they looked like several layers of bubbles stuck in water& layers of very sharp bubbles. Taking a deep breath, I propellered myself directly down.

　　"Stop!" Kridib shouted. There was little more he could do. I had blocked the cord controls. The only thing and the rest of the team could do was watch me plunge into the debris field.

　　Time to see the other side.

　　* * *

　　Classified Octanary System, far orbit around Friday

　　"Watch your radiation level," Prometheus reminded, his voice slightly staticky. "Doctor said you have ten minutes."

　　Ten minutes in the open, and up to two hours in the shuttle. Not the best odds, giving the suns` radiation, though enough for me to conduct "a quick experiment." There were no details about who had requested it, but it didn`t take much to guess it was a dark op.

　　At least the sun watching is doing well.

　　"How are the other crews?" I asked, setting up the charge.

　　"Within safety limits." Prometheus indicated he wasn`t pleased with the situation. Despite his pretense, I knew it wasn`t easy for him. As a science vessel, he wasn`t pleased that he had to rely on humans instead of his sensors; as a ship, he was terrified of losing them.

　　"I meant the readings," I clarified.

　　"Good enough."

　　I nodded. That was an indication that there had been further setbacks.

　　"Better focus on your task."

　　"It`ll be fine, Prometheus." I smiled. I knew that the suit sensors were relaying the information to him. "Charge is done. Heading out."

　　On file, the experiment looked simple enough: launch a charge of nanites in the vicinity of a gravitational anomaly, then collect the data they streamed. In practice, no one had any idea what might happen. During my time on the front, I had seen strange phenomena be triggered by the most minuscule things—a slight collision, a stray missile, a series of transmissions in extreme proximity.

　　Putting on my safety harness, I opened the cargo bay doors. A starry black sky emerged, unfaded by the eight suns in the system. To the naked eye, there was nothing to indicate the presence of a kilometer-wide gravitational anomaly. The shuttle instruments, though, continued to monitor the fluctuations.

　　Here we go. I grabbed the miniature missile and pushed myself outside of the ship. All the settings had been initially preset by Prometheus, or whoever had ordered the experiment, so the only thing I had to do was to point it in the "general direction" of the anomaly and start the calibration sequence.

　　"It`s setting up," I said, propelling myself away. "Nothing unexpected so far."

　　For twenty seconds, the missile`s mini thrusters adjusted its position, then, without warning, its back ignited.

　　"Charge is on its way." I watched as it moved on in the distance. Six seconds later, it burst in a subdued explosion. A wave of green covered my visor. "Nanites dispersed," I announced. "Transferring data."

　　"What is the volume reading?" a masked voice asked me through comm.

　　"Over ninety-two million," I approximated. "Eight percent are displaying transmission fluctuations. Other than that, everything seems alright. Orders?"

　　Quarantine imposed.

　　Quarantine bypassed.

　　The clock was ticking. Even in the shadow of the shuttle, my suit was registering increased radiation.

　　"Confirm the nanite flow pattern," the voice said.

　　"I`m not seeing a flow pattern." I magnified the view on my visor. The nanites were moving chaotically, like a gas cloud in space. To be certain, I checked the data transmitted. "Readings confirm. There`s no movement in the pattern."

　　"Transmit reboot order and report."

　　"Yes, sir." That was the bad thing about bureaucrats. They could never accept a result that didn`t fall into their predictions. No doubt someone had made a ship-full of promises and now was having trouble delivering. "Proceeding with reboot." I transmitted the command. The green cloud—as seen in my visor—gradually disappeared. Moments later, green patches started emerging once more. The change was negligible.

　　"Do a second reboot." The order came almost immediately.

　　"Proceeding with second reboot." I did as instructed. The results were identical. "Readings show no change," I added. "Movement is present, but chaotic. Do we you want me to proceed with—"

　　"Move closer to the anomaly, then repeat."

　　"That would put me beyond the safety parameter." Not that you care. "I`d need the captain`s authorization."

　　"This is a priority one order." The remark was accompanied by a verification protocol. Whoever was conducting this had the authority of a rear admiral. "Proceed."

　　Any chance I can get the captain`s confirmation? I transmitted directly to Prometheus.

　　Don`t count on it. He`s been ordered not to interfere as long as you`re safe.

　　The definition of safe must have changed in the last hundred years.

　　As a battleship, I knew my only task was to further humanity`s chances to victory. As a retiree, though, I wanted to at least amuse the illusion that I had some rights. Strictly speaking, the odds were far better than a ground-troop soldier thrown against an unknown enemy. They were treated as humans, though.

　　"Approaching anomaly." I propelled myself forward.

　　Messages covered my visor, displaying the optimal approach speed and vector I was to follow. If Augustus were here, he`d probably bark something about wasting time and order me to go forward at full speed. In no way could he be described as a scientist, but at least he was always careful not to waste anything under his command.

　　"Requesting to increase proposed vector speed by twenty," I said. At this rate, radiation was a greater threat than anything that the nanites might cause.

　　"That`s beyond the safety limit." There were hints of surprise in the voice`s intonation.

　　"It`ll save time, sir." No need to go into details. This way, there was less they could refute.

　　"Go ahead."

　　"Thank you, sir."

　　I forced the suit`s thrusters forward. By my calculations, it was going to take me three minutes until I reached the outer layer of the particle cloud—a long, boring process during which I could continue to analyze the third-contact symbols. The only other thing I could do was memorize a few pictures of the system to send home to Sev.

　　A sudden force pulled me forward. Before I could say a word, the attachment cable extended to its maximum. I felt a strong shove in my chest, but not enough to stop my inertia. Instead, I felt myself pulling the shuttle along with me.

　　"I`m pulled in," I said as clearly as my lungs would let me, pulling the emergency detach clamp on my harness. A hundred and seventy-one milliseconds later, it was off. I felt a relief in pressure. Warning messages were flashing all over my visor: Extreme deceleration! Approach vector deviation! Communication data packets loss!

　　Voices made unrecognizable by static filled my years, then suddenly disappeared seconds later as I pierced the nanite cloud. My visor became green, then black, as the electronics gave in. The stars followed milliseconds later.

　　I didn`t see this coming, I thought.

　　According to my movement pattern, I had been pulled by a body equivalent to a quantum mechanical black hole. With all the radiation coming from the suns, it would have been easy to miss any other particles. Although, that didn`t explain the inert movement of the nanites.

　　As I was pulled further in, I twisted my body, using what active thrusters I had left to turn around. It was more a sense of curiosity than anything else—a chance to see the sun I was orbiting before being crushed in the gravity well. Instead, I saw hundreds of large ship fragments faintly lit up by the fading light of the nearby sun&

　　Memory restriction imposed!

　　General Fleet Access Five required to visualize memory element.

　　* * *

　　I still couldn`t remember what else I had seen inside the anomaly. According to all official reports, the incident had never taken place. I had continued with my standard observation, and everyone aboard the Prometheus never brought up the experiment. I had no idea how I had managed to escape the anomaly. My next chronological memory was of me floating near the research shuttle, three minutes and fifty-two seconds later. There were no breaches on my suit, no marks or damage of any kind with the exception of the suit`s system.

　　"Are you crazy?!" someone shouted through the comm.

　　I blocked the link as I pierced through the surface layer of the debris field. Fragments impacted me. At this speed, they could do no damage to the reinforced fibers of the suit. Even so, I covered part of my helmet with my hand.

　　Where are you? I thought.

　　The space around me quickly became filled with debris, some disturbed by my entrance floating about, bringing chaos to a system that had remained static for centuries. Warnings appeared on my visor—the obligatory proximity warnings informing me of what I could already see. As I continued, the redness around me began to fade away. The layers of particles were blocking the rays of the sun, creating the illusion of total darkness. From here on, I could only rely on the lights of my suit to see.

　　Five seconds later, I used my thrusters to come to a complete stop. There were no new gravitational readings. According to the preliminary survey of the area, the nearest anomaly was over ten thousand kilometers away. That was not my goal. Setting my helmet light to the brightest setting, I scanned the area.

　　Got you.

　　Hidden beneath the surface, surrounded by complete darkness, was another set of fragments. These were larger, grouped in small clusters several hundred meters from one another. Like the chunks of the pearl cluster, they belonged to ships. Unlike them, though, they weren`t human. From this distance, I could clearly see the markings on the hull remnants made with the precision of giant emblems—Scuu circles.

　　"This is Elcy," I said after restoring my comm link. "There are a whole lot of fleets buried in the debris field. From what I can see, most of them are Scuu. Retransmit my video feed to Radiance and Gregorius."

　　No response.

　　"This is a Priority One emergency. Kridib, retransfer my feed!"

　　"Radiance won`t need your feed," he replied after another six seconds. "The Scuu have re-entered the system. Some of them jumped in near Radiance."