Gokhead slipped out of his seat and rushed back to the lift to the main hold. He floated in the hub for just a moment, readjusting to his body before leaping towards the bridge hatch high above. The creaking of the hull around him was the only mark he had of the shuttle’s launching as he sailed past. He had more important matters for now however and bounded off the cargo crane to correct his course, missing Blazer by less than a metra. He didn’t even apologize; fixated on the bridge hatch. He commanded it open with his micomm before he’d even reached it. He flitted through the hatch and bounced off the bridge’s overhead dome before twisting about to land behind Zithe.

  “I’ve told you before Gokhead, knock before entering my bridge.”

  Gokhead stammered for a moment and watched the hatch cycle shut before turning back.

  Zithe swiveled his chair to face Gokhead as all eyes fell on him as well. “Do you mind explaining why you left your post?”

  Gokhead didn’t care for being put on the spot like that and turned to the navigation station. The holosphere changed before their eyes to show the object he’d detected. He read the displeasure on Zithe’s face. So what if I weaved my micomm into the ship’s controls. It makes interfacing so much easier. If Confed would only make micomms standard issue I would insist that the whole crew follow suit. Not everyone can be so lucky. “I spotted this, and I think we should investigate it.”

  Zithe’s lip twitched faster with each passing cent as he stared at the blurry hologram. “You abandoned your post and took control of ship’s systems to show me a bunch of blurred holograms?”

  Gokhead pointed to the data floating alongside the image. “Look at the rest of the data. Whatever that is. I’m detecting armor plating, various metals, ceramics, and silicate and carbon based bio-materials. The image is blurred, yes, and the radiation makes some of the data suspect, but this warrants closer investigation.”

  Zithe scanned the data for a moment; leaned back in his chair, stoic. “You’ll get your closer look.”

  Gokhead felt a rush of excitement and prepared to bolt out the hatch, but Zithe harrumphed, drawing him back.

  “You’ll get your closer look in three hects when it comes into view again,” he continued, smirking.

  “No, we need a close approach scan,” Gokhead blurted.

  “Your own orbital data shows that you’ll get within three hundred kimets. That should do you just fine.”

  “But…”

  “No buts, we have a job to do here and…”

  “Please excuse the interruption Zithe,” Alieha called from her station. “But Gokhead, are you running any image enhancement on this?”

  Gokhead spun back to the hologram, looking for something he’d missed. “Of course, what is it?”

  “Well maybe it’s just me,” she began, and using her light pen, drew a circle around a part of the object as it jutted out. “But that looks like a hand to me.”

  Gokhead’s eyes went wide. The object looked like a hand to him as well, and with each passing breath it became even clearer.

  Zithe cleared his throat and nodded. “Now you have my attention. Gokhead, what’s the mass on that thing?”

  Gokhead stared for a moment and looked at the data. “Best estimate is about nine tonnes, twice that of a Splicer 5000.”

  “You are go for a rendezvous. STC, prep shuttle Char. We’ll need it to haul that thing in if it proves safe. Que Dee, head to medical and tell them to expect a large patient, or a large corpse for examination. Arion, get together a security team, just in case it’s alive and proves uncooperative. Gokhead what are you still doing here?”

  Flashing off a quick arm across the chest Anulian salute, Gokhead bolted for the door.

  Probe Control Bay

  Despite floating deep in the level-five WSO interface Gokhead still thrummed his fingers on the console ahead of him. The data being fed to him through the interface wasn’t promising; it had been ten pulses since they should have reacquired, and there was nothing. “I want every eye on the screens. We have five pulses to get a visual before the star blinds us.”

  “We’re working on it,” one of the cadets commented and running the numbers again. “Some of our initial readings must have been off, that’s the only explanation. I only gave myself a five percent error correction.”

  “Run the numbers for a fifteen percent margin of error. Then feed me the updated search parameters,” Gokhead ordered, and reran the calculations himself.

  “Got it!” a cadet called out.

  “That was quick,” Gokhead commented, only halfway through his computations.

  “No, not the calculations. I see the object,” he said highlighting a portion of the hologram floating between the computer consoles, the highlight entering Gokhead’s view as well.

  Gokhead pushed his calculations to the back of his brain and focused on the region. A tiny speck appeared and he focused his full array on the object. “Scanning. It’s our object all right. It’s too far out to put a tracer on though. Match its position with the new calculations and plot the orbit and intercept course,” Gokhead ordered, setting back to work on his own calculations as well. As he worked, Gokhead kept an ever-vigilant eye on the object. If he lost it again, they might not be able to reacquire.

  “I have two possible courses,” Matt’s voice crackled over the link.

  “Glad to have you helping us out Matt,” Gokhead replied. “Been watching long?”

  “Just for the return trip. I’m uploading the data now. ETA, twenty pulses.”

  “Copy that,” Gokhead replied. Receiving the data, he shifted his attention back to the object. “Check this against our own data and give me the best course.”

  His staff plotted the intercept as quickly as they could while he zoomed his optical sensors to maximum. The image jumped and he couldn’t keep it in focus, the optical camera already being dazzled by the sunrise.

  A set of course correction figures appeared for Gokhead to review and he began to make the necessary adjustments. He scowled at the number, and angled the probe around for an engine burn. “We overestimated the mass.”

  “It looks that way,” the Drashig cadet commented.

  Checking the mission clock, Gokhead made the final preparations for the engine burn. As the timer reached the ignition mark, Gokhead fired a short burst from the engine and altered the probe’s course just enough for a close approach to the object. Once completed, Gokhead angled the probe to view the object once again, the system’s star silhouetting it.

  No one took their eyes from their screens as the distance to the object decreased. The object resolved itself with each passing cent. None of them had even taken notice of the fighter patrol’s return.

  Gokhead spotted a rift in the object. “We have two definite contacts here.” The separation became more pronounced as they approached and the object tumbled over. “Sensors indicated that most of the metallics are concentrated in the lower object and the biologics in the upper one.” The unmistakable glint of metal shined off the lower contact, illuminating the dark leathery features on the upper. The pair proved to be humanoid in shape, with the biologic having four arms. The metallic was some kind of massive android.

  “Look at all that debris around them,” Matt commented, pointing out the smaller pieces of the two contacts floating around them. “All that floating metal and other garbage must have been what threw off your sensors.”

  “I think we’ve seen enough to make an educated guess as to what they are,” Gokhead stated. His blood ran cold as he focused his cameras on the two contacts. “They appear to be approximately 36 and 32 metra respectively. The lower object is metallic in nature and some form of android, possibly an old-style combat mech suit. The upper object has the appearance of a four armed humanoid with brain tails.” Gokhead kept his tone clinical, highlighting a peculiar shadow on the lower object. “If I had to wager a guess, then we’re looking at a Gorvian and a Combat Mech suit from the Gorvian conflict. They’ve been left out here for over two hundred annura.”

  A cadet gasped at the sight. “What in Drig’s name are they doing out here?”

  “Remnants of a short, bitter war,” Matt replied. “There were tens if not hundreds of thousands of soldiers whose remains were never recovered after the Gorvian disappeared into Tre-Tian space. Looks like these two were having it out when they died; they’ve probably been drifting ever since.”

  A shiver ran down Gokhead’s spine as he considered that. His ancestors had fought the Gorvian before the war with the Galactic Federation. The stories they’d told him as a child still woke him from peaceful slumbers. “Bridge this is probe control. We have confirmed identity of the objects,” Gokhead reported. “We have a combat mech suit and a Gorvian. What are your orders?”

  “This is Zithe. Move the probe in for a more detailed scan. Make sure that there are no hazards, especially radiation considering how long they’ve been out there. Once it’s deemed safe, we’ll send in a shuttle to retrieve them. They died as soldiers. Let us give them a proper send-off.”

  Observation Bubble, UCSBTS-27413

  Every childhood nightmare Gokhead had ever had appeared brought to life in the creature strapped to the hull of the ship ahead of him. Floating in the observation bubble, he couldn’t help but stare; his probe returned to its original course. Medical cadets flitted about the grotesque body, examining it to determine the cause of death, but Gokhead could already tell them. Preserved by the vacuum, a blaster burn marred the base of one of the monster’s brain tails. The other, still clutched in the mech suit’s hand, had been torn free in the heat of battle.

  The mech suit was easier to look at. Damaged beyond belief, it lay with its head smashed in. Its armor had been shredded by the Gorvian’s massive claws, one of which still remained attached after the cadets had cut the two apart. Somehow, the pilot had managed to fight on despite the damage. He shook his head. The Confederation had built the mech suits out of desperation to fight the Gorvian threat when they’d arrived. They were all but retired after the threat had disappeared.

  He looked to the opened chest of the robot. It had taken the cadets half a hect to cut through the caved in armor and retrieve the pilot’s remains. Marda reported that every bone in his body had been crushed by the blow which had caved in his armor, yet he’d fought on. Now, he lay in a coffin in the cargo bay, awaiting return to his homeworld.

  “We’ve just finished talking to the observer corvette,” Zithe announced. Gokhead almost launched himself into the side of the bubble in surprise. “High command is sending a ship to retrieve these two. Our man will be sent home for proper burial and that Gorvian will be taken in for study.”

  Gokhead turned and saw Tadeh Qudas float in, their personnel droid in tow. “With all the recent Gorvian sightings I figured they would want to study it.”

  “That’s correct,” Tadeh Qudas offered.

  “Any idea how they got here? Are we that close to Gorvian space?”

  Tadeh Qudas betrayed no emotion through his helmet, his body language equally silent. “We’re currently within ten light annura of one of the biggest battles of the Gorvian conflict. I can’t be more specific than that.”

  Gokhead nodded. From the limited readings he’d taken before the probe had gone out of range, and the data coming in from the cadets outside, that made sense. “Markings indicate that this mech suit came from the UCSBS Fallshore. Most of the crew was lost when it went nova. That must be what launched them here. I’m just surprised that the force of the explosion didn’t destroy them.”

  “The Fallshore blew while in slipstream, that must have protected them. Good work cadet,” Tadeh Qudas replied.

  Gokhead was never one to believe in omens or fate, but staring at the empty eye sockets of the Gorvian he felt the sudden urge to wet himself. He shook it off, but still couldn’t rationalize it. By Balhet’s ghost, please never make me face one of these monsters.

  UCSB DATE: 1003.123

  Forward Cafeteria, UCSBTS-27413, System: T-18-E-37

  Arion shouted at the holoprojector. “Oh for the love all that’s holy! Open your eyes Ref,” this annura’s professional Slamball final lighting up the center of the room.

  Blazer elbowed Arion and motioned to the projection. “That was the best call he could make from his angle.”

  “Whatever,” Arion replied as the ball changed hands once again and a timeout flag flew onto the field. “Seriously! What now?”

  “Looks like someone’s protesting,” Chris replied as the referees ran to the side of the field. “Bunch of whiny babies.”

  “I hate those review stands,” Blazer commented as the referees examined a holoprojector. “They force the ref to second-guess everything.”

  Arion waved them all to be quiet as the referees retook the field. “Shh, the game’s back on!”

  All eyes turned back to the projection as the lead referee took to the center of the field. Then the scene darkened. The referee looked up, shielding his eyes for a moment before he stumbled back. The camera shifted up to reveal a massive craft hovering above. The craft’s design was alien, yet familiar to Blazer. He just couldn’t place it. Bristling with weapons, it hovered above the stadium, its asymmetric design and red splinter camo causing Blazer’s eyes, and the camera, to lose focus.

  Gokhead gasped; sent a message to everyone’s macomm. The blurry image of a similar ship accompanied it.

  Blazer shook his head. “No fragging way. What’s a Gorvian ship doing that far into Confed space?”

  Before anyone could answer, the turrets of the massive craft twisted about on their mounts. Blazer tensed. Screams erupted from the projection as the first blast tore away half the stadium, immolating the gathered spectators. Blazer swallowed hard as the cannons twisted about and continued to fire before the image flashed and then went dark. The transmitting station’s emergency logo coalesced before them.

  A news announcer appeared a moment later. “Gentlebeings, it appears that a craft of unknown origin has assaulted the Slamball Finals at Verstin Stadium on Coratain Minor. We will keep you apprised as the situation develops. Hold on, we have another feed.”

  The projection shifted to another camera several kilometra away. The corvette continued to hover over the stadium and fire on the colonial capital. Blazer felt his stomach knot up at the scene as numerous fighters raced into view. Their cannons and missiles lit up the giant craft’s shields. “Gokhead. What kind of defense force does Coratain have?”

  “Local militia only; fighters, a few bombers, three corvettes maybe and a cruiser it shares with two other systems.”

  Blazer shook his head before the projection went dark again, this time the Academy’s Infosec Logo replaced it.

  “You have to be kidding me!” Chris roared before the projector extinguished itself.

  Marda raced into the room a moment later. “What in Drig’s name is going on? I got some kind of alert over my micomm about a Gorvian Corvette. Then all the links went dead.”

  Blazer turned to his wife. “A Gorvian ship attacked the slamball finals; no word yet on the extent of the damages.”

  The PA crackled and Tadeh Qudas’ voice rang through. “All cadets are to gather in the fore and aft cafeteria in two hects for an emergency briefing! Close down all experiments and set the ship on automatic guidance and then proceed to your assigned briefing area.”

  Mikle ran into the cafeteria as the announcement ended. “Hey Gok. Are you messing with the links again? I was sending a stitch to my folks and it cut off midstream. And what’s the deal with the emergency briefing?”

  Blazer looked at Mikle dumbfounded. The man seemed to live in his own little world sometimes. From what Gokhead had mentioned before, his stitches home to his parents taxed the transport’s bandwidth. Nothing he sent tripped the Infosec protocols, but the picture resolutions were so high that Marda joked she could use them to perform cellular analysis. Then there was the mountain of text he attached to each one; complete with doodles and obscure fonts. “Mikle. A Gorvian Corvette has just made an unprovoked attack on a civilian colony.”

  “Huh?” was all he could manage in reply.

  ***

  Two hects later, Blazer and half the crew had gathered again in the forward cafeteria with Zithe standing before them. Tadeh Qudas did the same in the aft cafeteria with the rest of the crew. Blazer had no idea what to expect and even Zithe seemed more on edge than usual. That was to be expected. I wonder who’s going to deliver the briefing?

  As if in answer, the projector crackled to life and Admiral Sares appeared before the cadets. The room jumped to attention out of habit. “As you were,” the hologram replied and the cadets sat back down. “As most of you are likely aware at this point, a Gorvian Strike Corvette assaulted the colony of Cortain Minor two hects ago.” A gun camera image of the corvette appeared beside the admiral. “Local militia forces have successfully repelled the corvette, but it did significant damage to the capital of Elise on the way out. This cycle has also seen another dozen corvette craft openly striking Confed held colonies and ships. Reports are filtering in that Federation holdings have seen similar attacks.” A list of the attacked colonies appeared alongside the Admiral.

  Blazer caught several cadets flinch at the news. The Gorvian had been a feared enemy in the past and had disappeared with such mystery that they’d served as fodder for far too many childhood campfire stories. Blazer had always hoped they’d remain just that.

  “As most of you should have heard by now, the Gorvian have been making appearances in Confed space throughout the past annura. For the most part these encounters have been at long range or have been very brief. However, there have been a number of isolated disappearances of military and civilian vessels over the last twenty annura. We now believe they may, in fact, have been destroyed by Gorvian craft.”

  Blazer looked at Marda as she grabbed his hand. One of her aunts had disappeared six annura earlier. The official cause was a reactor malfunction, but this news cast doubt on that.