The Shellath

Zwei34 · Aug 23, 2016

***
LTT 9810 A 1
Sorayama Forum
0430 hours
***

He woke to the scent of lilac. He thought for a moment he was dreaming, then he opened his eyes and his heart sunk. Through the sideways-glance in the grey-green room he could see the bent slats of an air duct; saw the lopsided fan warbling lazily behind torn wire mesh.

He searched for the aroma and found brunette hair pressed cozily against his cheek and coiled under his chin. He breathed in her lilac scent as she stirred, still nestled deeply in his bulky arms. He raised his calloused hand slowly and gently tucked a thick, curled lock behind her soft, perfect ear. He saw the corner of her full, crimson lips turn upward in a sweet smile, though her eyes remained closed.

He peeled back the frayed blanket and ran his finger down her shoulder, then to the warm flesh of her impossibly smooth arm. She instinctively tucked her arms under her chin from the tickle, exposing the bare skin of her side. He traced a swirl on her rib cage and saw the goose bumps raise in the dim light of the small room.

"You're up early." She spoke barely above a whisper, eyes still closed.

His fingers made it as far as her waist and the outside of her thigh before they made the return trip to her shoulder. She turned her head toward him seductively and opened her shadowy, almond-shaped eyes, revealing deep pools of emerald.

"I've got to go." He spoke matter-of-factly.

Her eyes turned sad and she scrunched her pert nose. "So soon? I thought we were just getting started?"

He reached to the metal side table and looked at his communicator, noting with distain he had over two dozen missed calls. He grunted and dropped it back onto the table with a clang.

She slinked out from underneath him, drawing the frayed blanket from the bed to cover her slender, athletic body. She wrapped it loosely about her shoulders as she turned to smile at him. "Are you sure you don't want me to take care of you? I'm really good, I promise."

He looked up at her from the lumpy pillow. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"Are you sure? I don't mind just being held all night, but I'll do anything you tell me."

He shook his head tiredly and yawned. "I'm fine."

"How about we get some breakfast? Would you like that?"

He sighed and grumbled. "Now you just sound desperate."

She pursed her perfect lips as if in thought and then smiled seductively. "Just tell me what you need…" She spoke huskily as she parted the blanket slightly.

He reached behind his head and yanked his datcard from a display on the wall and her flawless body wavered like a mirage and vanished. The frayed blanket fell to the floor in a heap.

"I need to be alone."

He yawned again and rolled out of the low, sweat stained bed, wearing a wife beater and long boxers. He kicked the empty blanket across the cold, steel floor and made his way to a sink in front of a cracked mirror. The light above the sink flickered to life as he approached to turn on the water.

He stared at himself in the mirror while he allowed the water to get warm. He was handsome, with a shaved head and a few days' worth of stubble on his blunt chin. He had brown eyes below an angular brow and a hawkish nose set crooked from his young days as a fighter, now decades in the past.

He reached for the electric razor, but thought better of it and instead rinsed his face in the near-scalding water before he unenthusiastically shrugged on his uniform that was draped haphazardly over a radiator mounted high on the wall. He slapped on his boots, snatched the communicator angrily from the table, and grabbed a worn, black leather trench coat from a hook before he unlatched the narrow door that slid open with a screech.

The claustrophobic hallway was lined with more narrow doors and choked with low steam pipes overhead. He tucked his head under the hissing pipes and made his way to the end of the dark hall where a crooked sign emblazoned with "Temple of the Dog" flickered annoyingly with buzzing, crimson neon above a shrine to some obscure god of hedonism in this part of the galaxy. He grunted, irritated at the sight of the onyx statue of a beckoning, sensually-posed female form with the head of a slender-snouted dog encircled with gaudy silk roses and LED tea lights. His knees were in no danger of gracing the threadbare kneeling pad at the foot of the short altar.

He turned the corner and passed the worn front desk where a sleazy man sat eating a banana in the blue-white glow of a holographic display. The man saluted the passerby mockingly while muttered under his breath. "That was quick."

"Screw you."

He exited the brothel into an open promenade, thankfully devoid of people, but complete with fake trees and moss surrounding flickering holographic displays of digital forests and a huge sign "Sorayama Forum - Level 64" high above that bathed the empty seating areas in a soft, yellowish glow. He glanced out large glass panels lining the deck to take in the view the surface of the rocky, mineral-rich planet that was just beginning to break dawn a few hundred meters below. He turned away grumpily, but his mood brightened when and spotted a tavern that was still open so early in the morning.

He had finished a third drink of hard liquor when his communicator started buzzing in the pocket of his trench coat. He rolled his eyes and knuckled the tumbler to the bartender, signaling for another drink.

"I think someone's calling you." The bartender mumbled and poured another.

The man sat confused, wondering how the bartender could have heard the buzzing. Then he noticed the bartender flick his finger toward the door and he suddenly realized what he meant.

"Commander, where have you been?"

The commander took a deep breath and finished his new drink, refusing to answer. The man wandered to the bar and waited patiently until the commander finally looked up from his stool at the concerned fellow who was two and a half meters tall and nearly as big around. He had buzzed hair and dark, sunken eyes, but a kind face that was etched with worry lines. He leaned on the bar heavily and scrutinized the commander. "You look like death."

"Thanks, Regil."

"Sir, inspection was due twenty five minutes ago. The new crew is waiting at Kerimov Dock and poor Wenth is trying to keep the Dock Master from charging us for another day's dock fee."

"The Dock Master can suck it." He pushed the tumbler to the bartender, who wore an amused smirk on his face as he poured another glass.

"Nellus, please. Our orders finally came in and we're to head directly to the mines now that the permits have cleared."

Commander Nellus downed the glass and turned it over on the stainless steel bar. He stood and tapped his datcard against a holographic display to pay his tab, then nodded thanks to the bartender who grinned and chuckled in return.

They made their way to the glass-enclosed lift that ran the height of the colony tower leading to the docking area below. Regil entered his security clearance and punched in the bay number while Nellus stared out across the surface of the planet that was now bathed in light of the morning sun. He spotted craggy mountains that cast long shadows across the desolate wasteland, suddenly feeling the urge to jump.

Regil turned to the commander after hitting the recall button. "Sir, can I ask where you wandered off to?"

"Nope."

Regil fidgeted in front of the lift controls a moment before he finally blurted the words on his mind. "You've got to stop doing this, sir. Every time we make it back to civilization, you just can't disappear like that. As first officer, I shouldn't have to tell you it's against company regulations to leave the ship without alerting your subordinates."

Nellus snapped his head angrily to face his first officer who flinched in response. "First, civilization this ain't. Second, if you quote regulations at me ever again like I'm some sort of bunk trainee, I'll boot your into a freight canister and shunt you into space."

Regil sighed. "Sir, you know what I mean."

"How many violations have we had to pay?"

"Sir--"

"How many?"

"None."

"And in how many times have we had to pay extra for overstaying our dock rent?"

"Never."

"Precisely. Now back the hell off and relax. This isn't a military base."

"Sorry. But, you know how it is when we get a new crew. I don't want to start off on the wrong foot."

Nellus chuckled calmly and gestured to the orbital station glinting in the morning sun nineteen thousand kilometers above the surface. "Stop worrying. They aren't going anywhere without us, Regil. We're their meal ticket, remember?"

Regil took a deep breath. "Okay, okay."

The lift finally arrived and the doors opened with a mechanical sigh that seemed to fit the mood. Both men entered the lift in awkward silence as it descended into the docking area.

Zwei34 · Aug 24, 2016

The Adder unclamped from the landing pad and navigated an arcing trajectory over Sorayama Forum's twin towers now bathed in the dawn sunlight before boosting toward Kerimov Dock orbiting above the planet. Commander Nellus was slumped in the copilot chair absently flipping between sensors and coolant levels, staring beyond the glow of the holographic screen into the flight dash.

Regil took notice as he signed off from Sorayama traffic control and throttled up. "Sir, are you alright?"

Nellus blinked and flashed an annoyed glance from the side of his flight helmet and straightened his posture. "Just pay attention to your flying."

The comm system alerted the Adder of an inbound call and the commander answered with a tired swipe of the flashing hologram in front of his visor. "Nellus here," he answered firmly.

Static crackled in the commander's ear as an exasperated man's voice nearly shouted across the channel. "Regil found you, thank god. I suppose he told you about the permits?"

"Yes. We're on our way up now."

"Good good, very good. I need you to drop by my place before you leave. I got back the probe data and it looks promising!"

Nellus sighed, frustrated. "Just send it to the ship, Sabin. Why do I need to come all the way down there?"

Sabin replied in a harsh whisper. "Just come by. It's really important! And you never know who's listening…"

"Fine, dammit. Nellus out."

Regil smirked. "Does this mean we're in for a bonus?"

"The only thing we're likely in for is a goose chase," Nellus replied dryly.

****

The Adder docked at Kerimov and Regil parted ways with the commander, keen on preparing the primary ship and crew for departure the moment Nellus returned. Kerimov was an Orbis Station and a small automated farm on the outer habitation ring was where his friend Sabin was waiting. The method of traversing from the central docks to the habitation ring through several series of lifts and passenger trucks was unpleasant, let alone the higher gravity Nellus was unaccustomed to enduring.

Sabin Ovele was a moderately successful entrepreneur that owned his own salvage and mining company operating in Empire space, funded by capital from a complex web of larger corporate subsidiaries. A man in his late sixties, Sabin was well known for his animated rants and excitement for the "next big thing", whatever that may be, and always dedicated himself body and soul to the endeavor. Unfortunately, Sabin was also an avid gambler that often drained his small company of profits and, accordingly, pilot attrition was a common theme his company constantly battled.

Nellus had known Sabin from many years ago and had enjoyed a very profitable relationship with his older friend, though in recent years Nellus had become increasingly wary of Sabin's dealings and behavior. It was only a decade ago his company was under Federation jurisdiction when Sabin endured a massive falling out and was forced to flee to the Empire to avoid potential prosecution. However, it was the "fringe commerce" Sabin seemed to be focusing more and more that gave Nellus an uneasy feeling.

Arriving at Sabin's farm by alfalfa skiff, Nellus was in an even dourer mood as he brushed chaff from his trench coat. Sabin met him at the front gate and the jubilant old man grasped the commander's hand and slapped him heartily on the back. His wispy white hair, trimmed white beard and frayed bathrobe made Sabin look like a stereotypical old coot, but his bright eyes betrayed a youthful intelligence. Sabin laughed at the commander's sour expression. "You look terrific for only a month's vacation!"

Nellus couldn't help but crack a smile at his old friend. "Why the hell did you dragged me all the way down here?"

"You won't believe it, I swear," Sabin said as he towed Nellus by the arm to the porch of the small farmstead.

The farm was one of Sabin's many side projects that often started as a hobby but then grew far too large and unwieldy to continue or he lost interest in and abandoned abruptly. The farm at Kerimov Dock had held Sabin's attention far longer than usual and Nellus was impressed with the vertical farming towers that lined the walkway to the home at the center of the rhombus of manicured land.

"Are these new?" Nellus asked, gesturing to the rotating gantries and platforms loaded with flourishing produce as the shadow of the station passed quickly over the massive transparent ceiling far above their heads.

Sabin paused, seemingly confused by the question chose simply to ignore it and shoved Nellus into a chair next to a console on the large porch of the house. "Look at it," he whispered excitedly, waving a finger at the display.

Nellus reviewed the flickering screen. It was scan data from an orbital probe Sabin had painstakingly delivered in secret to a small moon in the HIP 78866 system and returned via stealth courier. The area it had scanned was part of a mining claim Sabin had won at the betting tables, some two hundred square kilometers of land including full tax exempt mineral rights. Sabin was flipping through multiple graphs and charts very quickly, but Nellus couldn't follow. "What am I looking at?"

Sabin clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Okay, are you ready for this? The moon was originally surveyed some thirty years ago. They said it contained 1.3% Niobium, but from what I can tell from the scans is most of the deposits are directly beneath this claim. Look at the Pyrochlore levels, off the charts!"

Nellus pressed two fingers into his temple. He wanted to dash the console against the wall, but resisted. "So what?"

"So what?" Sabin snapped, incredulously. "What do you mean so what? This is huge! The Niobium trade is killing it right now and demand is skyrocketing. Not to mention all the Uranium and Thorium we're going to get out of the extraction process, this'll be amazing!"

The commander half-smiled patiently, gritting his teeth. "You really made me come all the way down here for this?"

Sabin nudged Nellus with his forearm, flipping to another screen with glee in his voice. "Of course not. We also spied a few wrecks out there, probably six or seven Type-9's and a pretty massive debris field just underneath the regolith."

Nellus perked up. A salvage of that size could rake in millions of credits. "Is that an Anaconda?" he asked, tracing the telltale outline of a shattered vessel in the shadow of a crater. He tried to curb the surge of excitement that threatened to brighten his mood. "What the hell happened out there? This system is in the middle of nowhere."

"Who knows? Who cares? The point is, this is the jackpot, baby!" Sabin's demeanor suddenly turned serious. "But you've got to promise me, no talk of this until you get on site, okay? I want total comms silence on this; not even a hint. Got it? Tell the crew nothing. This is a full quarter share on your part, so no leaks."

"Why the blackout?" Nellus asked, suspicious.

Sabin shook his head in disbelief. "Really? Do I have to explain to you what would happen if legitimate people got word of it, let alone some damned band of pirates?"

Nellus folded his arms. "You know that's not what I meant. When you're secretive like this, it usually means something shady. And shady don't bode well for me or my crew."

"Come on, that's not fair. I'm straight with you. I'm not screwing you over; the hell's the benefit of screwing over my best pilot?"

The commander laughed. "You said that with a straight face, I'll give you that much."

"Busting my balls here," Sabin grumbled. "Okay, fifty percent share. Is that what you want?"

"I want assurance this isn't some scheme."

Sabin scratched at his beard. "I really don't know what I have to do to prove it to you. You know me."

Nellus stared at Sabin for a long moment before replying. "Fine," the commander finally replied with a nod. "How's the transfer of goods going to work?"

Sabin waved his hand dismissively. "Let me sweat the details. Just get on site as fast as you can and I'll get things situated. The mining operation needs to go off without a hitch, like I said you never know who might be watching."

Nellus furrowed his brow.

"Don't fret, just get there," Sabin smirked, seeing the look of worry on the commander's face. "I've got the derrick already delivered to the coordinates on the mission spec. Offload your gear, set up the crew, and then you can spend all month getting those wrecks field stripped."

Nellus nodded. "Alright, but if something starts going sideways, you'll tell me immediately. Got it? No surprises this time."

Sabin feigned shock at the statement. "Have I ever--"

"Don't even finish that statement."

"Yes, yes, of course. Of course!" Sabin finished with a shrill laugh.

Zwei34 · Aug 27, 2016

***
LTT 9810
Kerimov Dock
1300 hours
***

"How bad is it?!"

Regil had to scream over the wailing sirens and cacophonous jet blast of the emergency venting system that was spewing coolant from beneath the massive vessel overhead. Two brave crew members were working frantically to fix the leak atop a loading platform utilized as a makeshift hoist while the remainder of the crew scrambled to dodge the roiling clouds of cryogenic helium raining down from above that sent gear and cargo skittering across the deck plates.

One of the repair crew popped out from a maintenance hatch to reply incoherently to Regil while the second cranked on a large valve with a man-sized wrench. After a few more onerous turns, the venting slowed to a sputtering hiss and the alarms were silenced. A large portion of the hull and deck were frosted from the coolant discharge and Regil quickly checked with the crew for frostbite and other injuries.

"What in the hell is going on here?"

Regil let out a curse and spun on his heel to find commander Nellus standing at the top of the bay's personnel entrance, wide-eyed with hands over his ears. "The secondary coolant assembly ruptured again," Regil replied trying to sound angry but could only manage a nervous shout over the ringing in his head.

The exasperated commander punted a stray O2 canister on his way to the loading platform to inspect the damage. The two crew sealing the maintenance hatch were suddenly very aware of the eyes on them and redoubled their efforts to complete the job.

Nellus rubbed his scalp and grimaced, trying to keep his temper in check. He let out a sigh before he spat words at Regil through gritted teeth. "Did we not just get that whole damned unit replaced at Volta Orbital?"

"Yes, but sir, we're putting six times the rated pressure through--"

"Can we leave with this crap unit or not?" Nellus interrupted angrily.

Regil scratched his eyebrow and looked at his datapad, flipping through coolant readings. The commander impatiently kicked at the frosted deck, muttering.

"Yes, we should be okay with just the primaries," Regil blurted, relieved.

Nellus rolled his eyes. "Is everything else in order? When can we leave?"

Regil looked around the deck and quickly inspected the crew as they finished cleaning up. "Everyone's accounted for, they're just waiting to receive their orders."

Nellus waved his hand vigorously. "Well get them assembled then. Where's Wenth?"

"Last I saw, he was on the bridge finishing up flight calibrations."

"Fine. Let's get this show on the road." The commander dismissed Regil to his duties and tilted his head to inspect the ship's underhull for any more surprises, walking the entire length and scrutinizing every panel, vent, and joint.

The Shellath was a Federal Corvette the commander had towed from a war zone in Federation space while working a questionably-legal-salvage-mission from Sabin. She had taken severe damage but the hull remained relatively intact, making retrieval exceedingly difficult given the size of the vessel. Nellus ended up having to dismantle and leave many of the military components behind, but managed to retain the lion's share of armor and hull reinforcements.

Sabin originally wanted to scrap her, but Nellus had convinced his friend that a sturdy vessel of her size could prove extremely useful for mining and salvage operations in the future. Over the course of two years, the commander managed to salvage or purchase enough retrofit parts to make the Shellath space-worthy once again and officially moved all his operations to the massive ship after some test runs. It wasn't long before he had fallen in love with her.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the retrofits and numerous patchwork repairs, the Shellath had gained a colorful array of temperamental problems and gremlins that plagued her short resurrected life. Nellus had found difficulty in retaining a steady crew due to the persistent issues and thus resorted to hiring expensive and specialized teams from distant star systems who hadn't heard word of her reputation.

He had high hopes for this batch of crew.

There was ten of them in all, seven men and three women. Each had extensive mining and salvage experience, though were all much younger than the commander. As Nellus finished his inspection, the men gathered in the Shellath's cargo bay that was packed to the ceiling with heavy mining and salvage gear along with several months' worth of supplies. Regil handed out security badges to the crew as they finished signing their contracts on Regil's datapad -- the contents of which gave no system name save to say it was beyond the borders of Empire space. They all signed without question.

"Alright," Nellus shouted over the din of talk and activity as he made his entrance. He climbed atop the wheel armature of an SRV in the middle of the bay as Regil called the crew to attention. "Welcome to the Shellath. I'm commander Anthar Nellus, you've met my first officer Regil Tansam, and I'm sure the best damned salvage pilot in Empire space, Wenth McCormack, is wandering around here somewhere.

"I'll keep this brief. I've only a couple rules aboard this ship: Keep it professional, and keep it to yourselves. The minute I hear anything questionable, objectionable, foolish, or just plain dumb, you're out of here. You have a problem, you work it out. Involving me or my officers in petty crap is the fastest way off my ship, and I've plenty of escape buoys and MREs to go around. We're working in deep space on the frontier and a very long way from home, so don't make me do something you'll regret."

Nellus glanced at Regil, who nodded approvingly. "Last thing before we shove off. We work by the numbers, folks, and mining is dangerous. I've lost crew; I'm not going to lie. So before we leave Kerimov, if you need to call home or send a hologram do it now." He paused to watch their expressions for any flinches, spotting none. "With that, welcome aboard."

The eager crew saluted the commander, who returned the gesture. Regil dismissed them and they dispersed to prepare for departure.

"Nice speech, captain. Best salvage pilot in the Empire, eh?"

Nellus turned to the voice to see his pilot Wenth emerge from an adjacent hallway. He was a lanky young man with a thin goatee and short, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, being the youngest of the three officers by at least ten years, but an extremely talented pilot.

"Well, I had to give some glimmer of hope. I didn't tell 'em about the time you got us hung up on a salvage wreck for fifty seven hours."

Wenth nearly spat out his gum. "That was thirteen years ago! And it was ten hours, not fifty seven. I swear you add like five hours every time you tell it."

Regil chuckled and heaped on. "They also don't know you're the only salvage pilot in this sector."

Wenth flipped Regil the bird with a smirk before turning back to the commander. "When are we heading out? The Dock Master--"

"Stop it with the Dock Master crap," Nellus shot grumpily, turning to Regil. "Are we ready now?"

Regil scanned his datapad quickly and nodded. "We're all set."

"Okay. Let's hit it. Seal her up." Nellus twirled his finger in the air and made his way toward the bridge while Wenth and Regil finished prepping for departure.

Zwei34 · Sep 14, 2016

The deck plates of the Shellath shuttered as the Corvette passed through the slim docking portal of Kerimov Dock. Commander Nellus instinctively clenched his teeth sitting at the command chair while Wenth in the pilot seat deftly increased power to engines and rolled the massive ship several degrees, barely clearing the station wall on the starboard side. Regil audibly gasped from his comms chair, flipping through holographic screens where he monitored power usage and traffic control. A storage compartment popped opened and tossed its contents across the bridge as the ship torqued under the sudden stress, accompanied by several bangs as the thrusters went over-angle.

The reason for the rapid maneuver became clear as another vessel, a Cobra Mk IV with its running lights off, sliced through the entry at double approach speed and nearly struck the Shellath if not for Wenth's quick thinking. Regil shouted obscenities across an open channel to the rogue Cobra pilot while Wenth righted the ship.

"Knock it off, Reg." Nellus ordered, shifting in his chair and unclenched his thigh muscles. "Just another smuggler."

"Well even more reason!" Regil shot, threw his arms up in frustration and turned to Wenth. "Next time, let him plow into our armor plating at speed and actually get taught a lesson."

"We're clear of the struts," Wenth reported coolly, ignoring Regil's bluster.

Nellus smirked. "Alright, lock our heading."

Wenth increased throttle slightly and angled the ship to their plotted course marked on the holographic overlay that stretched across the Shellath's lengthy bridge canopy. "Three oh five, negative twenty seven degrees, aye."

Nellus flicked a display on his left to open a comm channel to the rest of the ship. "Sorry for the bump there, we had a pilot try to fly through us so we had to accommodate. Prep for hyperspace, Nellus out."

Regil composed himself and signed off with Kerimov Dock traffic control who replied in kind. Regil raised his comm visor and turned to Nellus. "How many jumps this time?"

"One hundred and fifty four light years, so about thirty one," Wenth announced proudly with a smile.

Regil frowned. "I thought we were taking the faster route."

"We were until someone spewed half our coolant on deck," Nellus replied dryly.

"Sir, someone? Also, it wasn't really half…," Regil started before meeting Nellus' icy gaze and trailed off, returning to his forward position and continued reviewing power readings.

An audible signal cut the silence, indicating the Shellath was no longer mass locked with Kerimov Dock. Wenth looked out of the corner of his eye, smirking at Regil's discomfort. "We're clear, sir."

Nellus took a final glance at the bright star of LTT 9810 out the starboard window before giving the command.

"Punch it."

****

***
COL 285 SECTOR ZU-F C11-8
1850 hours
***

Nellus watched intently as Wenth sorted through hundreds of flickering fiber cables in the sweltering subdeck beneath the heat exchangers of the Shellath's primary core while another crew member shown a light toward the access panel. Hot sparks shot from another panel where another crew member was working. The zero-g conditions made it difficult to dodge the cinders as they ricocheted the length of the hall, burning tiny holes as they landed on Nellus' t-shirt.

"I think I've got it," Wenth yelled in a muffled voice, a wrench between his teeth.

"Regil, did you hear that?" Nellus shouted as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

A shout of "yes" echoed from above, where a ventilation hatch was open.

The Shellath relied on a large fuel scoop and shallow dives into the heliosphere of stars to replenish the vast amounts of fuel needed to make each hyperspace jump toward their final destination. The jumps were going well until they had reached the outer boundaries of human-occupied space, when they were struck by a rogue solar flare as they made a scooping pass over a small sun. The coolant system failed for a second time, causing the Shellath to drop out of supercruise and spin out of control toward the surface of the star.

The crew now worked feverishly in roasting conditions, trying to purge an emergency heatsink before the ship burned up in the star's corona. Several ship systems had gone offline after their violent exit, and they were forced to run manual bypasses around fused pathways in the Shellath's power plant to bring them back online.

Wenth plugged a final bundle of fiber cables into a flashing port and the emergency lights flickered on to illuminate the hallway. "Got it!"

Nellus smacked his hand on a conduit above his head in exultation. "Awesome Wenth. Okay, head up and get us clear of the star," he pulled his communicator from his shirt pocket and shouted into the mic. "Engine room, we should have auxiliary power now. Shunt the heatsink."

A voice crackled in reply, "Aye sir."

Nellus yelled out. "Regil, are you stuck?"

Regil's sweaty head popped out from the ventilation shaft, his face smudged with soot. "No, but we should have ventral thrusters now."

Nellus muttered and helped extract Regil from the port as he talked into the communicator. "Everyone back to your stations. Tie down what you can for now until we get clear."

Steam shot from several vents along the hall, then reversed flow like a shrill vacuum as the heatsink activated to begin the emergency cooling process. Frost began forming on the deck plates as Regil and Nellus made their way in zero-g out of the subdeck toward the bridge.

The ship lurched to life, indicating Wenth had made it back to the pilot seat and crew members rushed to secure gear that had sprung loose in the incident. A loud bang followed by a rush of cold air through the decks ending in a decompressive blast that shook the halls indicated the launch of the heatsink.

"Heatsink away," a voice shouted across the Shellath's comm channel.

The ship lurched again and the engines roared, shaking deck plates and access panels. Nellus felt the ship enter supercruise, meaning they were soon to be clear of danger. "I want a full diagnostic when we get back up there."

"Yes, sir," Regil replied.

Wenth dropped the Shellath out of supercruise once they had made some significant distance from the roiling atmosphere of the star. Nellus made his way back to the commander chair, strapped himself in and started reviewing damage reports on a holographic panel. He rubbed his temple with his free hand. "How are we looking?"

Wenth tilted his head toward Nellus. "Controls are responsive again, all thruster controls are nominal. The FTL drive is working and we're ready to make another jump. Just say the word."

"Regil?"

"We took a hit, definitely. Shields are offline, but they're recharging. All other systems are back online -- what's that?" Regil paused mid-report, flipping to another display.

Nellus sighed. "What is it?"

Regil cursed under his breath. "A ship followed us out of supercruise…"

The Shellath's hailing system chirped and a voice came over the bridge speakers. "Hello there, mister Corvette. Mind if I ask what you're carrying this far outside of Empire space?" His quiet voice carried a unique accent.

The pilot's ship slowly drifted over the bow of the Shellath. Nellus could see it was an Asp Explorer, but the lack of markings and dark paint job betrayed piracy as the ship's primary purpose.

Wenth looked over his shoulder at the commander, awaiting orders. Nellus held his hand up and nodded in return. "Regil, how's our shields look?"

"Still recharging. We've at least four more minutes."

Nellus flipped a holographic display and opened the comm channel. "I'm sure you've already scanned us, so I'm not sure you really care."

The comm channel popped with static and a chuckle. "True, true. How about you drop some of that gear and you can be on your merry way?"

Nellus opened an internal comm channel. "Crew, brace for battle. Seems we've got a visitor who wants to borrow some of our mining equipment."

Regil cursed and buckled himself into his seat. Wenth smiled and deployed the Shellath's hardpoints and transferred power to engines and weapons. The bridge shuttered as the primary weapon doors at the aft of the Corvette's hull opened to reveal a class four multicannon.

Nellus replied to the pirate. "I think we'll be on our way. If you've got any sense, you'll be on yours too."

The Asp Explorer paused for a moment, then fired boosters and began making a wide arc on an attack run toward the Shellath. Wenth went full throttle toward the Asp, lining the forward plasma accelerator directly in the path of the pirate.

Regil lined up the shot and loosed two volleys of plasma. The first glanced off the Asp's shields, but the second struck center mass, taking the Asp's shields offline. Wenth squeezed the trigger on the multicannon and rained dozens of rounds onto the exposed hull of the pirate vessel, shredding its light armor like paper. The multicannon's firing sent intense vibrations through the bridge and bursts of bright pyrotechnics over the hull of the Corvette as hot debris exploded from the Asp with each successful strike. The Shellath passed beneath the Asp through the cloud of trailing metallic bits and Nellus could see one of the two engines had begun to flameout on the now-severely-damaged ship.

"Hold on!" Wenth shouted through gritted teeth as he disabled the flight assist system and spun the Shellath to line up another shot as the Corvette continued its beeline trajectory. The centripetal force pressed the three into their seats and the ship groaned loudly under the stress of the maneuver. By the time the Asp came into view, it was obvious the pirate had second thoughts of his quarry and boosted away, tail firmly between legs. Moments later he made a jump to hyperspace without saying another word.

Wenth reduced thrust and retracted the weapon hardpoints, a look of glee on his young face. Even Regil smiled in satisfaction.

"Now that's how it's done, gentlemen," Nellus announced over the comm system with a chuckle. "Prep for hyperspace." He rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath as Wenth lined the Shelleth up for the next jump.

"Ready, sir."

"I think we've had our fill of this system. Get us out of here."

Zwei34 · Sep 19, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 1
Laming Depot
0900 hours
***

The Shellath arrived in HIP 78866 without further incident. Commander Nellus had ordered Wenth to make a stop at Laming Depot, a small industrial outpost that served as the only bastion of human civilization for several dozen lightyears in any direction. With a population barely topping eleven hundred souls, it wasn't long before word of a Federal Corvette's arrival in such a locale began to attract onlookers. Soon the flight traffic around the outpost was buzzing with activity.

Nellus tapped into their newfound fame by hiring a couple Sidewinder pilots to ferry repair supplies from the station since the Shellath was far too large to dock at the small outpost. The commander decided it was best to stay in the vicinity for twenty four hours to allow the crew to finish repairs before they embarked to their intended destination -- but before they began their repair duties he felt it necessary to inform the crew on some of the specifics of their mission.

A former war room below the Shellath's main deck served as a comfortable location where the entire crew could take the briefing. Over the years, many of the decks and halls of the salvaged ship were still skeletal at best, with makeshift panels to keep dangerous conduits and mechanisms from scorching or snagging crew appendages. This room, however, the commander spent extra credits decking out with modular combat chairs and consoles, making it possible to run the entire ship from within if the need presented.

The crew lined the noise-insulated walls of the dark room as Nellus brought up a holographic display in the middle of a central circular table of polished titanium, focusing on a gas giant surrounded by five small moons. The commander took a moment to examine the faces of the crew lit up by the orange glow of the display. They all seemed eager and engaged, which gave Nellus solace that he'd made a good choice in hiring.

"This is HIP 78866 A 5, a gas giant orbiting about three thousand light seconds at the edge of this system. The first moon, HIP 78866 A 5 a, is our destination." Nellus tapped the display to zoom to the moon, which looked more like a crumpled piece of paper than a celestial body.

"Our boss, Sabin Ovele, owns a small stake at the top of this six hundred seventy kilometer moon, right here at the center of this six point five kilometer tall mountain range. What's it called again?" Nellus turned to Regil, who was reviewing the official Imperial Mineral Rights documents Sabin had acquired on his datapad.

"Uh, Three Sisters Ridge."

"Really?" Wenth blurted, smirking.

Regil smiled. "Uh, yeah," he leaned in to tap the hologram and zoomed to the ridge, "the southern peak is called Rhea, the central tall one is Shea, and the dilapidated one to the north is called Mesha."

Wenth laughed. "They named the stupid mountains but left the moon a crappy cartography name?"

Regil shrugged, flicking Wenth in the arm. "That's what it says, I'm not making it up…"

Nellus snapped his finger to stop the banter and Wenth and Regil immediately fell silent. "Alright. So Sabin owns this whole sister's ridge, or whatever, along with the plains region on either side up to these impact craters. From the scans attained from the probe, the densest pocket of Pyrochlore is on the eastern steppes here," he tapped on the map to zoom further, "which is where the mining platform and derrick are already emplaced."

The deck boss of the crew, a woman named Liz, drifted closer to the display. She was very serious with intense hazel eyes, always kept her dark hair in a tight bun and dressed sharply. "Are we ripping up the entire grid, or focus-mining?"

Nellus nodded. "For now, focus-mining; direct drilling. Depending on vein concentrations, we might hit it with a charge or two. The derrick can be angled out to sixty degrees if need be, so we should be covered until we get a better idea of the distribution."

"What about security?" Another crew member spoke, Liz's second-in-command named Faruk, a balding older gentleman with a strong German accent.

Regil coughed into his fist before he replied. "Sabin loaned us five skimmers, which are already on site. So far as I'm seeing on these traffic reports, local extraction activities are in the rings of HIP 78866 A 1 and A 2, so I doubt we'll have any visitors."

"Even so," Nellus added, "we've got a magazine full of rifles and we expect every one of you to have one on your person at all times, just in case."

The crew nodded in agreement. Liz spoke next, to her team. "Plan for twelve hour alternating shifts, six days." She turned to Nellus. "How long before the Shellath has to offload?"

Nellus smirked, satisfied with her breakneck schedule. "Sabin'll probably send additional cargo ships for offload, but that really depends on the kind of numbers we're seeing. As you can tell we've plenty of cargo space to fill. Two weeks, maybe more if it's just us."

Liz nodded, running her finger along her jawline as she scrutinized the site map. "Looks like there's a storage house alongside the deck too, so we can probably extend that timeframe in a pinch."

Wenth added, "Just keep in mind we're pulling point oh eight G's on the surface, so be prepared for some pretty bouncy conditions."

"We're used to zero-g, shouldn't be a problem," Liz replied with a wink.

Nellus looked around the room. "I'll have Reg upload these schematics and datasheets to your datapads. We head out oh nine hundred tomorrow, so let's get the ship in mining condition before then. Dismissed."

****

Nellus was in his darkened quarters, scrolling through the parts of the probe data he had yet to share with anyone else in the crew. Even Wenth and Regil were in the dark on the derelict spacecraft scattered around the site. He'd been studying the grids intently, mapping out each wreck he was able to spot beneath the dust. Sabin wisely placed the mining platform far away from the debris field so Nellus could work in secret until he needed to bring in the crew.

Nellus hated having to keep such an important piece of data out of the mission specs, but he had given Sabin his word and the commander was quite aware what could happen if things got out of hand in this end of space. The real debriefing would have to wait until they got on site and away from the outpost. He only hoped the salvage operation would go smoothly once he got the crew up-to-speed.

An audible ping and Regil's voice over the intercom interrupted his thought, "Sir, comms incoming from Laming Depot."

The commander sighed and closed the data file before tapping on a display on the wall near a slender window that overlooked the station. "Put it through."

The screen lit up and he was met with the face of a man with a thin goatee and mustache, a skillfully shaven head and piercing blue eyes in sunken sockets. His clothes were quite debonair, definitely out of place for such a tiny extraction establishment and he moved with a grace that betrayed a rich upbringing and sophisticated lifestyle.

Nellus was instantly annoyed.

"May I help you?" The words fell out of the commander's mouth like sand.

"Good evening, commander Nellus I presume? My name is Vice President Bret Shaffer, please call me VP Shaffer, they all do," he chuckled as quickly as he spoke, "I'm the head of HIP 78866 Services, here in the Empress' humble system."

"The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure," Nellus offered in a monotone voice.

VP Shaffer laughed haughtily. "You know how it is, I'm very certain, pleasantries and all. Never mind all that. I know you're a busy man, but I had a few questions seeing as you showed up in such fanfare and stirred such a ruckus."

Nellus smirked. "A ruckus, eh? Sorry, I didn't notice the…uh, fanfare."

"Yes, yes, well. Big ship, small station, people are certainly curious, you can't fault them. No really, I tried once," the VP snickered, "Shiny new things and all that. You know how it is with some people."

"Of course…," Nellus offered unenthusiastically, completely lost.

"Ahem, the business at hand. Anthar, my good man. I saw your mineral rights stake come through on GalNet, so you know I had to be curious about why the need for such a huge vessel for such a small rock with such small mineral deposits."

Nellus held back his finger that threatened to close the comm link with all his might. "Is there something amiss with the documents? The Shellath is a mining vessel. I'm sure you see an Anaconda or two out in the ring systems from time to time, no?"

VP Shaffer nodded rapidly through the commander's entire comment. "Oh yes, of course, my man. But you see we don't oft entertain many Federal Corvettes, to be sure."

"That's too bad. They're mighty useful for mining, I can attest to that." The commander paused a moment before he continued, rubbing his eye. "Can we cut the bull here, Bret?"

The VP chuckled, visibly annoyed as if he'd been struck. He quickly regained his composure, smiling. "VP Shaffer, my good commander. VP Shaffer."

"VP Shaffer, of course. I'm not here to storm your castle, if that's what you're thinking. We're just here for supplies and repairs before we set sail for our stake." Nellus took a deep breath. "Look, VP Shaffer, if you need assurances, feel free to contact Sabin Ovele at LTT 9810, Kerimov Dock with any concerns. We're in quite good standing with the Empire, as I'm sure you've seen."

The VP laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. This was all just a formality for introductions and the like." He put his hand to the side of his mouth, tilting his head toward the display, "I do enjoy sizing up folks from time to time, to be honest," he snorted happily before continuing. "Our services are at your beckon call, of course. You'll certainly alert us of any pressing concerns or issues?"

Nellus nodded slowly, suddenly very tired. "Yeah, I'll throw you a line if I need anything." Before the VP could say his goodbyes, the commander cut the feed. He pressed his forehead against the wall, letting a groan escape the side of his lips.

Zwei34 · Sep 22, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
0930 hours
***

"Entering orbit now."

The commander acknowledged Wenth with a grunt and a sip from his zero-g coffee mug spiked with whiskey. The day had started well enough; the ship was prepped ahead of schedule and the crew enjoyed a hot MRE breakfast of eggs, sausage and potatoes along with some delicate pastries Wenth had smuggled aboard from the Imperial Security Mess at Kerimov Dock. However, Nellus was notoriously cantankerous in the early hours and always seemed to find a way to sour his mood.

This morning it was a farewell cargo scan by a Laming Depot security Viper that buzzed the bridge as the Shellath aligned with her jump vector. Only Nellus knew it was a tap on the shoulder orchestrated by his new friend VP Shaffer, but the commander had a knack of making everyone around him pay for such things, especially a petty display of authority.

"Dammit Wenth, keep us at five hundred kilometers. Hell, Reg hasn't even brought up the charts yet."

Regil cursed under his breath and quickly brought up the moon's survey map. "Forty nine point eight seven degrees by negative one sixty seven point six four." He pushed against his seat restraints as Wenth adjusted the Shellath's angle so they could peer out the canopy window at the moon's surface. It was very gray but heavily pockmarked, with irregular canyons and crevices formed from larger impacts that had crumpled the surface over millions of years. "You see it?"

Wenth snapped his gum and pulled gently on the flight stick. "Not yet…"

"Sometime today, gentlemen," Nellus grumbled, calmly taking another swig from his mug.

"Oh, right there," Regil said, pointing to a towering mountain range on the horizon.

The commander sighed. "If it was a snake it would've bit you. Take us in."

Wenth smirked and snapped his gum again. He made several control adjustments and looked over his shoulder. "Glide path set."

Nellus nodded and flicked his hand against the console to open a comm channel. "Prep for descent. Secure all stations, repeat. We're on approach."

The Shellath shuttered as Wenth adjusted the flight angle toward the prospect location. The ship exited supercruise and began the controlled decelerating glide toward the surface as thrusters and engines went eerily silent. Deck plates rattled and bulkheads groaned as the minor gravity of the moon began to tug on the hull of the Corvette.

About ten kilometers from their target, the Shellath successfully exited her glide path and Wenth throttled up to escape their freefall and pointed the nose at the three peaks looming before them. The engines roared under the sudden boost and the flight deck trembled and creaked in response. "ETA two minutes."

Regil was flipping between his datapad and the flight computer and Nellus took notice. "The hell's the matter now, Regil?"

"Sir, just trying to get a fix on the skimmer transponders," Regil responded quietly.

Nellus snorted angrily. "Do we at least have a beacon?"

"I think so…"

"You-hoo," Wenth muttered in a sing-song voice as he tapped on Regil's adjacent console where a holographic image was flashing.

Regil mouthed a curse toward Wenth. "Yes, we've our beacon. Still no acquisition of signal."

Wenth piloted the ship between mountain peaks and down a rocky slope toward the location of the derrick's beacon where they could see the dark outline of the mining structure against the smooth plain beyond the foothills. As they approached, a set of five skimmers ascended from their idle positions surrounding the derrick and turned toward the ship in a flurry of dust.

The transponder frequency would allow Regil to disarm the skimmers so Wenth could land without fear of being attacked by their own security system, but without acquisition they might have to hold their approach. Regil extended the ship's sensors and began frantically scanning frequencies for the encrypted signal, desperate to avoid another tongue lashing from the commander.

Finally a display of static flickered to life with graphs and readouts, indicating Regil had established communication with the drones and he quickly authenticated and signaled them to disarm. The skimmers paused for a moment before retreating to their original positions and powered down. Regil exhaled sharply. "We're secured, sir. Skimmers are offline."

The commander nodded. "Put us down, Wenth."

"Aye sir, setting down," Wenth acknowledged as he made several control changes and console adjustments.

There was a sharp bang as the gear doors opened and landing legs descended while Wenth gently tweaked the thrust controls as he watched the landing radar closely. Clouds of fine dust were kicked up as the powerful thrusters closed in on the surface of the moon. Moments later the Shellath touched down gently and Wenth powered down the engines, allowing the massive ship to settle onto the surface amidst several loud mechanical groans and vibrations that reverberated throughout the ship. The landing gear automatically adjusted their height to level off the Shellath's keel atop the uneven plateau.

Nellus opened the internal comm channel. "Landing complete. Secure the hold." He paused as he unbuckled his restraints and took a long swig from his mug. "Nice landing, Wenth."

The pilot looked up from unlatching his five-point harness and nodded. "All in a day's work, right Reg?"

Regil stood up from his cramped chair and stretched his back, rolling his eyes at Wenth. He snapped up his datapad and turned toward the commander. "Sir, I've activated the heaters on the derrick. It should be nice and toasty in there by the time we're ready to make the walk."

"Alright, gentlemen. Get the party started." Nellus stood and gingerly walked to the console as he acclimated to the gravity, leaning on Wenth's chair to get a view of the derrick in the distance through the canopy window. The dust was finally beginning to dissipate and he could see the struts that towered two hundred meters above the surface. "Oh, and Reg, power up an SRV. I'm going to take a spin before we get settled."

****

Nellus monitored the crew from the cockpit of one of two six-wheeled SRVs the Shellath had stowed within her hold. The other SRV was piloted by Wenth who was towing gear across the short distance to the mining derrick as Regil oversaw careful unpacking and unloading of the mining equipment.

The commander could spot Liz through the sun shades of the small maintenance facility near the derrick tower, powering up systems and prepping the rest of the mining deck for crew activities. Her second mate Faruk was examining the security system and the remaining crew members were packing and hauling gear. Nellus nodded satisfactorily and opened a comm channel. "I'm going to scout to the north a bit. Keep me informed if anything comes up."

Liz waved from a window. "Yessir."

"Uh, sir. You want me to come with?" Wenth asked as he dropped off another set of gear near the facility airlock.

Nellus grimaced. "Negative. I need you to help get this operation going."

"Understood. Just don't go smashing that thing up." Wenth flashed his search lights toward the commander.

Nellus smirked and turned the SRV northward, burying the throttle and kicking up dust as he passed a large storage building attached to the mining derrick. He was surprised how large an operation Sabin had assembled in such short notice, but he knew the entrepreneur was keen on making the facility large enough to enable both mining and salvage.

As the commander made his way northward, the Three Sister's Ridge rose high on his left. He was surprised how breathtaking they were from this angle, despite the colorlessness of the moon's surface. The gas giant was peeking just above the hill-strewn horizon, its brown roiling atmosphere contrasting sharply against the stark gray of the plateau.

The commander monitored his position as he reviewed the coordinates of the closest wreck. Nellus was still at full throttle, bounding deftly over the small mounds and rocks that peppered the region. He was looking at his console when suddenly the ground fell away from the SRV as it entered an unexpected impact crater, forcing Nellus to take evasive action to retain attitude control.

"Son of a--," Nellus cursed as a large mound seemed to spring up directly in his high-speed arcing path. He gave full power to thrusters, but he knew there was no way he was going to avoid the impact. He gritted his teeth as the SRV slammed into the object before flipping end-over-end, cracking the canopy, smashing into a pile of crumbled bedrock before tumbling further to come to rest in an upright position near the far end of the crater wall.

The commander shook the cobwebs out of his head and regained his bearings. The canopy was damaged, but not leaking air and at least one of the search lights was smashed. The rest of the SRV systems were functional, giving Nellus some relief. As the dust settled around the SRV, he could see a dark silhouette in the shadow of the crater, likely the object he had struck.

He tweaked the throttle gently to get a closer look and as the search light spilled over the object, it took a few moments for him to realize what he was seeing.

"Holy hell."

The smashed remains of an Anaconda lay before his SRV, though buried deeply in the ground. The hull was severely buckled and mangled, and classic indications of massive compression damage was evident along the fractured keel as if it had been flung to the surface from great altitude. As he slowly rounded the crash site and inspected the craft, Nellus soon realized the crater was that of the Anaconda's impact, not of an asteroid.

The hull was split open in many locations, and he moved the SRV closer at each opportunity to inspect the interior as well. At each inspection site, he was shocked to find huge piles of sharp slag and pools of metallic materials that had one been molten and flowed throughout the ship's interior, melted and fused from intense heat. The location of the bridge was completely crushed inward and unrecognizable save for a thin gap that once housed a large canopy window, now long gone. There was no sign of crew or emergency egress, indicating whomever piloted it had been immolated along with the rest of the ship.

Nellus scratched his stubble as he parked the SRV on the crumpled nose of the Anaconda wreckage and sat staring in silence for a long moment.

"What the hell happened here?"

Zwei34 · Sep 23, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
Mining Station
1645 hours
***

Nellus entered the SRV airlock at the mining station, unbuckled his harness and gingerly exited the depressurized cockpit as the airlock door closed behind him. His crash and tumble over the derelict Anaconda apparently took more of a toll on his aging frame than he initially thought, and now the commander limped from a sore ankle as he landed on the deck from the ascension ladder.

After the airlock door was sealed and the room pressurized, Nellus removed his helmet and gloves and set them on a dust-covered SRV wheel. He opened an access panel on the side of the SRV and extracted a memory chip from the sensor array that contained his scan data from the excursion. He tucked the chip into his jacket pocket before turning toward the pressure door that led to the mining facility.

"What the hell happened to you?" A concerned Wenth met him at the door, then looked over Nellus' shoulder at the damaged SRV. "Did you fall off the mountain or something?"

"I'm fine." Nellus replied as he shouldered past his pilot.

"Fine? The canopy is smashed!"

The commander kept walking down the hall, leaving an agape Wenth in the hatchway. "It's got a crack, Wenth. I'd hardly call it smashed. But since you aren't doing anything, go ahead and get an auto-fabricator to fix it up."

Nellus took the lift to the command module where Regil was working with Liz on setting up the first core sample retrieval. Regil spotted the commander and immediately flashed a look of concern as Nellus hobbled to the entrance of a small conference room at the back of the module. "Don't even start with me, Reg. Is the comms array deployed and active?"

Regil flinched at the harsh tone, then looked at his datapad. "Uh, yes sir."

The commander nabbed a white mug that was sitting on one of the consoles before turning into the room. "Good. Get me Sabin on the horn immediately." Nellus sealed the hatch behind him, not waiting for a reply.

With a long sigh, the commander plopped onto a chair in the small room and rubbed his scalp as he inspected the empty mug and wiped a smudge of lip gloss from the rim. He dug a small flask from his jacket and poured two fingers of whisky into the mug as he spun the chair to face a small desk in the corner of the room next to a slender window that had a stunning view of the mountains. He activated the console and awaited the comm link with Sabin, plugging in the memory chip and flipped through the sensor data as he stewed.

As he went in for a drink, he glanced at the outside of the mug and noticed faded pink letters that read "Hot Lips." He took a sip, shaking his head.

Moments later, a secondary screen flashed and Regil spoke over the link. "Got him, sir. Patching him through."

A tired Sabin appeared on the monitor, rubbing his eyes. He had been sleeping, as evident from his rumpled hair and disheveled beard. "Anthar? How are you? I wasn't expecting to hear--"

"Cut the crap, Sabin," Nellus interrupted, brooding.

Sabin suddenly had a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Remember when I asked you to give it to me straight about this prospect, and you told me not to worry?"

Sabin laughed nervously. "Yes, what--"

"Why didn't you tell me this place was a frickin' graveyard?"

Sabin's face grew serious. "Slow down. What are you talking about?"

"I went on a tour this morning to spot check some of the derelicts we saw from the probe and I've never seen anything like what I found out there. Take a look for yourself." Nellus sent Sabin the sensor data and took a swig of the liquor.

Sabin skimmed over the data, his face contorting in confusion. "Melted? What the hell is this?"

"You tell me."

Sabin chuckled. "Nellus, I've no idea. Are you kidding me?"

The commander scratched his stubble. "All five of the wrecks I visited were the same. Crushed to hell, melted and fused." Nellus paused to let Sabin catch up in the data file. "I took soil samples from the plateau. That regolith that's covering everything around here is not space dust. It's ash. I don't think I have to remind you this isn't a volcanic moon."

Sabin's face lost some color as he flipped through more of the data. "That doesn't make any sense…"

"And not just any ash, either. Look at the levels of refined titanium and depleted uranium along with hardened steel spherules. The hell's that from? Certainly not natural in this neck of the woods. You notice another signature there? The rest of this crap looks like fallout from some sort of fusion explosion." Nellus let the words hang as he drained the mug.

Sabin sat speechless for a minute as he reviewed the data. "Why didn't the probe sensors pick up on any of this?"

Nellus poured another shot of whiskey from his near-empty flask. "You were running subsurface scans, my guess. Or you coincidentally left it out of the data. Again, you tell me."

Sabin sat back in his chair and tugged at his beard. "I, uh," he began, shaking his head. "I don't know, Anthar. I definitely didn't know anything about that. Let me try to get to the bottom of this. Why don't you get into orbit and away from there while I do some more research?"

The commander shook his head. "Dammit Sabin. I'm already out here and we're all set up, I'm not abandoning the site. I want to know what the hell's going on here."

Sabin smirked, knowing full well the commander wouldn't abandon the post. "Alright, alright. I'm on it." He paused before he continued. "Is any of it salvageable?"

Nellus laughed. "Are you kidding me?"

"Well if you're staying on site, you may as well take advantage, right?"

The commander shook his head and rubbed his eye sockets. "I swear you're relentless. Something crazy went down out here and it sure as hell doesn't seem like anyone knows. You really think I should start melting down coffins? In Empire-controlled space?"

"Anthar, shhh, listen to me. I'll get to the bottom of it, just give me some time. But if you're going to stick around, you may as well reap the benefits." Sabin sighed. "Look, with the scope of the damage here it's not like you're going to find any bodies…"

Nellus chuckled. "You think I'm worried about bodies? I really didn't think you could go any lower."

It was Sabin's turn to become annoyed. "Don't give me that high-and-mighty crap. We've found worse doing salvage before."

"Not like this." Nellus spurted in a harsh whisper, leaning into the monitor. "There's fields of them out there, Sabin, probably ten times what we initially counted. You know I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but I'm worried about someone coming after us if this turns out to be some deep Imperial secret."

Sabin smiled. "I'm sure it's nothing like that." He held his hands up as Nellus began to grumble again. "But I get you. I'm flattered really, looking out for the company like that."

Nellus frowned and rolled his eyes. "I'm looking out for my crew, Sabin. Just find out what's going on and get back to me."

"Fair enough," Sabin said, chuckling, "just take it easy before you burst a blood vessel. Sabin out." The monitor fizzled and then went blank.

The commander drank the rest of his whiskey and sat for a moment before he opened a comm channel to Regil. "Reg, get the crew together. I've got some news."

****

The crew sat around a table in the mining station mess hall next to a large window that overlooked the towering derrick, silently processing the information Nellus had just provided. He'd told them about their true salvage mission and the discoveries he'd made on the plateau as well as the need for secrecy, especially after the commander's findings.

Nellus sat on a reversed folding chair at the head of the table, a smirk played on his face. "Really? No questions at all?"

Liz finally spoke up. "When do we start the salvage op?"

The crew laughed quietly and Nellus joined them. "We'll head out in a couple hours. You've got a science officer, right?"

A young man with blonde hair raised his hand. "Kyle, sir."

"Okay. Kyle, I want you to work with Regil and see if we can get an idea what kind of blast we're talking about here, maybe even pinpoint ground zero. I've lost a bit of faith in Sabin in all this mess, so I want to see if we can find anything before he does." Nellus stood. "The rest of you, I want a core sample and startup of the mining operation ASAP. Even if we don't end up refining anything other than rubble, I want some plausible deniability if the authorities come down on us.

"Wenth and Liz, I need you and one other to come along on the salvage in the Shellath. We'll pick out a small wreck and bring it back here to see what we can yield, if anything. I don't want to waste a bunch of time if these turn out to be big worthless lumps of metal."

"Got it," Liz replied confidently.

Nellus peered out the window, spotting the radar dish attached to the gantry. "I'm locking down all comms in and out of the facility, just in case. Now this isn't a trust issue, it's a matter of security." He turned around and looked at the crew. "Any other questions?" He paused. None came. "You're dismissed."

The rest of the crew stood and saluted the commander before they broke into groups and went about the tasks they'd been given. Regil lingered until everyone had left the mess and approached Nellus who was at the beverage machine pouring coffee into his newly-acquired mug, trying to take the edge off the whiskey.

"Hot Lips, eh sir?"

Nellus chuckled and took a sip of the scalding coffee before turning to his first officer. "What's on your mind, Reg?"

Regil fidgeted with his trusty data pad. "You know me, sir. I'm paranoid as hell. What's with all the secrets?"

"I understand," Nellus replied genuinely. "Sorry I had to keep you in the dark, but you know how it is, Regil. You're on a need-to-know. It's part of the contract."

Regil smiled sadly. "Yeah, I guess I do. I just hope Sabin isn't screwing us."

Nellus slapped Regil on his shoulder. "Stop worrying. Just get your research going so we can really find out what happened out here. I want to trust him, but Sabin's putting us in a crappy position."

"Yes, sir. You can count on it." Regil nodded before heading off to find Kyle.

Nellus watched Regil leave and walked to the window and spotted the distant star of HIP 78866 at the edge of the gas giant, lighting up its outer atmosphere with purples and blues. It would be dark soon.

"I want to trust him…"

Zwei34 · Sep 27, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
Salvage Field
1950 hours
***

Wenth kept the Shellath at a hover over a field pockmarked with impact craters and debris from crashed ships. Nellus was on the lower deck of the ship's port side using binoculars to scan for potential salvage targets while Liz was on the starboard side doing the same. On the surface below, a crew member named Tomas was keeping pace with the Shellath via SRV, carefully dodging his way through the craters as a comm channel remained open between them.

"I've got half a Hauler poking out just a few degrees off starboard," Liz announced over the channel. "Scratch that. Looks like it's fused to the bedrock."

Wenth sighed heavily, snapping his gum. "At this rate, we're going to have to haul the salvage gear and do tear-downs on site."

"Have a little patience, dammit." Nellus grumbled as he zoomed in on a crash only to find it was an unrecognizable glob of metal. "And Wenth, for the love of all that's holy stop chomping your gum."

"Roger wilco," Wenth acknowledged sarcastically after one final snap.

Nellus smirked and took a break from the binoculars to retrieve his newly-acquired coffee mug from the railing. The reinforced window extended the hall's entire length and the only deck of the former warship that allowed for decent viewing from the port side and below. As he took a sip of the coffee, he too was beginning to realize the effort they are in store for given the atrocious conditions they were finding all over the site.

"Sir, I've got one I think," Tomas piped in, followed by static.

Nellus took another sip of coffee before he replied sans enthusiasm. "Go ahead."

The static popped in and out over his voice as Tomas maneuvered the SRV into position. "Looks like…a Viper Mark IV. Took a bad hit to the cockpit and the hull is peeled back like a banana, but it doesn't look too bad."

"How deep is it?" Liz questioned. "We need to make sure it's not encased in rock."

Tomas grunted as he bounced over some debris while he inspected the wreck further. "From what I can tell, it looks like this one hit at a shallow angle. She dug a nasty trench, but no impact crater."

Nellus peered downward with his binoculars, finding the Tomas and the SRV in his scope. The wreck was covered in ash but he could clearly make out the telltale fin of the Viper Mark IV in the SRV's search lights. "Alright, that looks like a keeper. Set your beacon, Tomas. Wenth, circle back and drop to one zero zero meters. Liz, can you prep the tow cables?"

"Already on my way," Liz chirped.

"Okay, I'm off comms for a minute, heading back to the bridge." The commander raised his comm visor and grimaced as his sore ankle continued to hobble his gait while he made his way to the lift. He could feel the Shellath drop altitude as Wenth lined up for the retrieval, a move that nearly knocked Nellus off balance.

A couple minutes later, Nellus gingerly walked into the bridge and plopped into his command chair, careful not to spill the tepid coffee in his near-empty mug. "How are we looking?" He asked as the deck plates rattled and creaked.

Wenth looked over his shoulder. "Nice of you to join us, sir," he saluted mockingly. "Five by five. We've dropped to four zero meters and Liz just opened the cargo doors to lower the cables."

Nellus ignored the sass and stretched his ankle while he flicked his hand against the comm display. "Going well, Liz?"

Liz's voice crackled over the channel, the loud mechanical sound of the cables being lowered in the background gave cause for her to shout. "We're okay. Tomas has EVA'd and securing the mag locks."

"Make sure he's in the SRV and clear before we start tugging," Nellus warned.

Wenth activated the cargo cameras on the front console, showing Liz in her EVA suit peering over the protective railing of the cargo hold as four tow cables were slacked and dangling out of view. With an audible bang they suddenly went taught as she retracted them, causing the ship to shudder under foot. A few moments later, she waved and shouted. "Wreck secured."

"I'm clear," Tomas announced over the comm channel.

Nellus nodded and turned the cargo cameras off. "Alright, take it easy Wenth."

"Lifting…" Wenth replied. The Shellath shuddered again and listed slightly as the Viper wreckage rolled as it was hoisted from the trench it had made during the crash.

Tomas backed away in the SRV, watching closely as a large dust cloud billowed from the destroyed fighter craft and threatened his view. The ship rose silently from the depths of the cloud like a phantasm. "You're clear, ten meters."

Nellus let out a breath, surprised to find himself holding it. "Excellent job everyone. Let's head back."

Liz joined Wenth and the commander in the bridge and took Regil's seat at the comm station. After checking a few panels, she spun in her chair to face Nellus, an uncharacteristic smile on her normally-serious-face. "I've really got to get me one of these Corvettes. That was a breeze."

Wenth glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Let's talk again next time we're barreling into the surface of a star because the engines decided to take the day off."

Nellus smirked dryly. "You know, Liz, I'm always keeping a lookout for decent replacement pilots."

"Har, har," Wenth guffawed as he throttled up.

Liz winked. "Thanks but no thanks. It's that seat I'm after," she replied playfully, pointing at Nellus' chair.

Nellus stretched his arms out wide. "By all means. End my misery. You can even keep him," he shot, thumbing at the back of Wenth's head.

Wenth raised his left hand to Nellus, middle finger firmly extended. "Liz, you couldn't afford me. The only reason I'm here is a charity for old folks. You know, mister Anthar 'Hot Lips' Nellus."

The commander chuckled genuinely for the first time since they left LTT 9810 and raised his white mug with the faded pink lettering. "Hey, when you need a drink, any cup'll do."

Liz laughed and turned to Nellus. "Sir, you better return that to me in one piece. That's my lucky mug."

Nellus grinned and rolled his eyes. "Oh, believe me. It's brought me nothing but luck so far."

****

The Shellath had lowered the wreck they had salvaged into the storage building through the roof that was an airlock comprised of massive mechanical doors and an atmospheric shield. Successful, Wenth set the Corvette down and the four entered the mining facility the crew had affectionately named "Hot Lips Folly". Nellus initially shook his head at the makeshift title spray painted on the outer pressure door in bright pink letters, but managed for a second time in a single day to have a good laugh.

Regil was waiting for them in the command module and he was eager to share the news with the commander. They once again gathered in the mess hall to review their findings, with science officer Kyle taking the lead.

"While you were away, we deployed several drones and utilized the skimmers to get a high definition map of the area. Using this data, we seem to have pinpointed ground zero of the event that spread ash over this region of the moon," Kyle said confidently as he simultaneously zoomed to a region of the map on a holographic display. "The northernmost peak, called Mesha."

"As you can see," Regil said as he highlighted a splotchy red color that covered a large portion of the grid, "this area appears to contain the highest concentration of ash. At the center lies Mesha, which appears to have suffered severe seismic and explosive damage. We still don't know what type of explosion made it, but it was powerful enough to blow the top off of the mountain and create a crater filled with collapsed rubble and molten material."

"So possibly volcanic?" Nellus asked.

"No, sir," Kyle replied, "there's no volcanic activity on the moon and we've found none of the typical signs as such, like lava or pyroclastic flows. Whatever explosion it might have been, it came from within the mountain and was definitely not a natural event."

"The explosion generated intense heat." Regil added. "Even boulders around the vicinity of the station exhibit signs of surface scorching or melting."

Nellus nodded. "Well, that seems to match the evidence we saw in the salvage field. Are we talking about a mining operation gone wrong?"

Kyle shrugged. "We don't have enough data to infer much of anything, not without performing a close examination of the crater itself. All we have to go on is the probe data, which showed no volatiles to a depth of five kilometers. A mining accident isn't out of the question, but it doesn't seem likely."

"What are you proposing?" The commander leaned back in his chair to stretch his ailing ankle.

Kyle nodded. "I'd like to take another crew member and go on a quick expedition to Mesha. We'll execute a search for chemical traces and materials." Kyle looked to Regil. "We might be able to find boreholes or tunnels if mining was going on, or locate signs of human activity."

Nellus glanced at Regil who was nodding in agreement. "What do you need?"

Regil smiled in excitement. "We'll take the SRVs and some mining equipment. There's no place to land in the crater, so taking the ship would be pointless. Once inside, we can EVA and look around and gather some samples."

"Alright," Nellus said, rising to his feet. "I'll give you six hours. In the meantime, let's get that Viper dissected and see if we have anything to salvage. Liz, is your team ready?"

Liz saluted. "All set."

Nellus returned the gesture. "Let's move. Dismissed."

****

The commander was in the laboratory below the command module where the crew were examining the first core sample brought up from a bore hole cut with the massive mining laser attached to the derrick. Nellus carefully sliced a chunk of the rocky strata using a hand laser which he then put to a torch. This caused a bright flare of green flame to erupt from the test material.

"Definitely Pyrochlore." Nellus muttered. "At least Sabin was right about something." He turned to the crew members. "Send it through the refining processor to see what concentrations of Nobium we can expect."

Nellus turned from the crew to see Regil standing at the hatch door, decked out in an EVA suit. He waved awkwardly, knocking over a set of beakers stored on a tray next to the door. "Sorry! Sir, just letting you know we're heading out."

The commander shook his head. "Please get the hell out before you start a fire in here or something." Regil turned, but Nellus stopped him. "One more thing. Be careful. No showboating for the young kid."

Regil laughed. "You know me," he extended his hand to shake. "Yes sir, no showboating. Check."

Nellus and Regil parted ways and the commander retreated to the command module to the small conference room where he would wait word from Sabin on his findings. Nellus slumped in a chair, grimacing from his ankle, and watched though the small window overlooking the mountain range as Regil and Kyle headed toward the foothills in their SRVs, leaving behind a trail in the dusty ash.

Zwei34 · Oct 4, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
Mesha Peak - "The Pit"
1045 hours
***

Regil's SRV trundled along the jagged rim overlooking the massive crater atop the northernmost peak in the Three Sister's Ridge named Mesha. Kyle was several meters below, driving his SRV along a fracture in the crater wall as he descended into the pit. Regil was reviewing the SRV's wavescanner and sensor data, trying to decipher the strange readings he was collecting as they patrolled closer to ground zero.

"It's getting more gravelly down here." Kyle called out as his SRV skittered on the sharp decline. "How am I looking?"

Regil stopped his SRV to observe Kyle's trajectory. "About fifty more meters and there's a shelf. I'll head down once I clear these errors…" Regil trailed off as his holographic display flickered and the mining station beacon disappeared from his radar. "That's odd."

"What's the matter?" Kyle replied as his SRV reached the rocky shelf that jutted from the steep wall, his voice now heavily distorted by the crackling of static.

Regil shook his head and shouted over the comm channel. "I'm getting a lot of interference. I'm heading in behind you." He turned the SRV toward the pit, but the ridge gave way and the SRV began freefalling into the crater, causing a minor rockslide that cast a plume of dust and boulders tumbling downward. Regil ignited the thrusters and moved the SRV away from the collapse, but the angle he had chosen caused his SRV to overshoot the shelf and descend nearly four hundred meters below Kyle's position. He finally managed to angle the six wheels to gain purchase on the crater wall and shudder to a halt as he frantically applied braking.

"Are you okay?" Kyle shouted over the interference. "I can't see anything from here."

Regil took a deep breath as he evaluated his position. He seemed to be perched on a sheer wall that disappeared into the shadows below. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm two hundred meters from the floor. Uh, I think it's too steep from here. It looks like there's a plateau a little further out, I should be able to hit it with the thrusters. You up for a jump?"

"You first," Kyle said with a laugh. "I've got you on a blip on my radar, I'll keep you in my sights."

"Roger. Here goes nothing." Regil slid the SRV forward and hammered the thrusters, catapulting him from the wall toward the plateau that he spotted far below, closer to the center of the bowl.

Silence overcame the cockpit as the SRV drifted downward, with the sound of Regil's breathing and hiss of occasional thruster course corrections could be heard. As he raced closer to the plateau, Regil watched his landing angle and velocity closely. Just meters from touchdown he once again ignited the vertical thrusters, sending up plumes of ash as he set down hard on the surface.

"I see you--" Kyle said before he was cut off by static.

Regil unclenched his hands from the control stick and emergency brake, slowly rolling forward to escape the cloud of fine ash that surrounded his cockpit and obscured his view. He increase the brightness of the search lights and nodded as he inspected the plateau. "It looks good. Tell me when you're ready and I'll watch for your approach."

There was no answer. He repeated his message and looked skyward, glimpsing nothing but shadow along the wall he had descended. Suddenly, he spotted the glimmer of search lights among the stars high above the crater and he poured on the throttle as Kyle's SRV came slamming down directly behind Regil in a billow of ash and debris. Kyle's SRV tumbled out of the cloud, coming to an inverted rest alongside a pile of broken boulders.

"You okay?!" Regil shouted as he rushed to Kyle's SRV.

Kyle laughed, embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, that was a little farther down than I anticipated." He tapped the thrusters to right his SRV. "Nothing damaged too badly. I'm good to go."

The two plotted a careful path through the fractured rock and piles of debris toward the epicenter of the crater, taking careful readings along the way when their wavescanners and sensors were not malfunctioning. After several minutes, there was a strange signal registered on the wavescanner that gave both men a jolt, each stopping their SRV to listen closely. It was a high pitched tapping whine followed by a low growl that repeated loudly.

"The hell is that?" Kyle asked rhetorically.

Regil shook his head. "One four five degrees. I'll take lead."

Kyle followed Regil as they slowly approached the source. As they closed in, a fine dust of glittering particles appeared all around them, growing denser as the wavescanner noise grew louder until it enveloped the entire frequency spread in all directions.

"Uh, whoa." Regil reviewed his sensors. "Some sort of radiation?"

Kyle sounded nervous. "I can't identify it."

"Go ahead and get a sample." Regil ordered as he slowed his advance.

"Affirmative." Kyle replied, extending a sensor arm to gather some of the dust.

A small ridge extended above them and Regil maneuvered his SRV to climb the obstacle, stopping at the edge as he peered into a deep shaft choked with shattered metallic debris and boulders. "Well, I think we confirmed the hypothesis."

"This doesn't look like mining, though." Kyle offered quietly.

Regil aimed his search lights downward, examining the structure. "Is that a pressure door?" Regil pointed to a set of vertical double doors twenty meters into the shaft. They were scorched and the outer layer was melted, but did not appear to be breached.

Kyle nodded. "What do you want to do?"

"Get the hell out of here and back to base," Regil said, his voice quivering.

Kyle laughed nervously. "Alright. Uh, I think I see a way out, three five degrees. I'll take lead."

Both SRVs backed down the ridge and Kyle took point, diverting around the shaft only to be stopped by a massive fracture in the floor of the bowl. Kyle peered into the chasm, realizing it was too deep to risk driving across. "Uh. We'll have to jump across."

"Roger," Regil replied, "I'll back up and give you some room."

Kyle ignited his thrusters and there was a bright flash that enveloped the crater floor.

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
Hot Lips Folly
1130 hours
***

Nellus woke with a start, a ringing in his ear. He turned in his bed aboard the Shellath and grumbled and grappled with the blankets that almost floated off the bed in the light gravity of the moon. The ringing didn't subside and he instantly regretted finishing the bottle of whiskey he'd liberated from a secret compartment beneath his quarter's deck plates.

Sabin hadn't called and Nellus grew weary of sitting and waiting while the rest of the crew worked on refining the dense deposits of ore below the derrick. After Liz gently but firmly convinced him she had things under control he headed to the salvage bay to assist with the teardown of the Viper. After a few choice words and a wrestling match with a cutting torch that toasted Nellus' knuckles, Wenth suggested the tired commander take a breather while the rest of the crew finished the work. Thus he retreated to the Shellath and drank himself asleep.

He had awoken from a strange dream where he was falling down a mineshaft and the lump in his throat from the intense sensation remained. The newer performance enhancers the crew used to keep themselves in peak shape during the long hours always gave Nellus jitters, so he tended to rely on coffee and smaller doses of an older enhancer that was less powerful but inflicted odd side effects when combined with alcohol, such as insomnia and vivid nightmares.

He cracked his eyes open only to close them immediately as he saw a flashing light on the console beside his bed. A few moments passed and he realized the ringing in his ear was actually the comm system and the light flashing was an incoming message.

Nellus sprang from the bed and activated the console and Wenth appeared on the screen. He squinted at first. "Wenth? What the hell's the matter?"

"Sir, I've been trying to get a hold of you for fifteen minutes!"

Nellus rubbed his eye socket until stars burst in his vision. "Yeah, well. What is it?"

Wenth popped his gum, slumping back in his chair. "You wanted me to tell you if Regil was past his curfew. They've not checked in for over an hour."

The commander peeked out the window. The mountains were blanketed in shadow as the sun had finally set on the moon. "Interference?"

"Maybe. You want me to send a skimmer?"

"No. Give it another hour." Nellus blinked slowly and coughed into his fist. "Is that all?"

"Oh, yeah. We got some data out of the Viper."

The commander snapped to attention, now fully awake. "Why didn't you lead with that?"

"Best for last?" Wenth shrugged.

Nellus clenched his teeth. "Just tell me."

Wenth smirked slightly, but the commander's angry stare put a quick stop to his jesting. "You just better come see. Liz is trying to decode it. She's got some of it deciphered and it's…weird."

"Fine. I'll be over in a minute." Nellus cut the feed.

The commander hastily slapped on his boots and headed for the airlock where he quickly donned a pressure suit and helmet before he loped across the expanse to the mining station, nearly falling in the process. He met the crew in the salvage bay, where they were all gathered around Liz who was busy tapping on the holographic display of a central console.

"What've you got?" Nellus asked huskily, breathing heavy from his run. He tossed his helmet to one of the crew members that collectively saluted as he approached.

"It's a security file, I think," Liz offered while she continued working. "This was probably a security patrol vessel."

"Unmarked." Wenth added. "No affiliation or faction, no black box."

"That's peculiar." Nellus scratched at his stubble. "What about the sensors? Anything left in memory?"

Wenth snapped his gum. "She nabbed the last five seconds of data. Most of it was just system failures and damage reports before it shut down. The external sensors were already cooked."

Liz turned in her chair to face Nellus, stretching her fingers. "I keep seeing the phrase 'secure installation' all over this file. Whatever this ship was patrolling was secretive and definitely centered around the mountain range."

"Check out the coordinates she hacked out of the file." Wenth flicked at another holographic display which brought up a grid of the moon. "Dead center of the prospect."

Nellus gritted his teeth. "Dammit, Sabin." He looked over at the disassembled wreckage that was strewn across the floor of the bay. "What about the pilot?"

Faruk, Liz's security officer spoke up. "Nothing left but bits of charred flight suit. No DNA, trace organics."

Wenth chucked a salvaged power cell at the commander who caught it deftly. "Good news is we got a pretty decent haul out of this one. Lots of military-grade parts."

Nellus flipped the cell in his hand, inspecting it. He nodded in agreement. "Good stuff."

Wenth smirked. "I think--"

The entire mining station was abruptly struck by a sharp seismic shock that sent panels flying from the wall and knocked the crew to the ground. Emergency sirens roared as a breach in the outer bay wall began sucking the atmosphere into space, threatening to depressurize the entire room.

Liz pushed debris off herself and sprinted to an emergency station where survival gear was stored and began tearing out pressure visors and handing them to the crew, who were still disoriented from the blast. Nellus donned his helmet and shouted to the crew to get on their feet, making his way to the pressure door leading to the rest of the facility.

They all managed to make it to the hallway before Nellus sealed the door. The commander slumped to the floor and removed the helmet in the fresh atmosphere, gasping. "What in the hell was that? A blowout?"

Liz shook her head, huffing for breath. "The mining op is shut down."

"We've gotta see if the rest of the modules are compromised." Wenth shouted before silencing an alarm on a small wall console.

Tendrils of smoke began filling the hall that smelled heavily of ozone. Nellus got to his feet again with a grunt. "Alright, let's go."

Zwei34 · Oct 19, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
Hot Lips Folly
0230 hours
***

The crew gathered in the mess hall after assessing the damage inflicted by the seismic event that struck Hot Lips Folly. They had completed emergency repairs where needed while Wenth and Nellus checked on the Shellath, which was seemingly untouched save minor misalignment of the landing struts.

As Wenth and Nellus made their trek to the Corvette, they were surprised to find a large amount of fine ash had been thrown into the airless environment of the moon. The low gravity meant the particulates were slow to dissipate, making it seem as if a fog had blanketed the region. The height of the ash fall was at least a kilometer and interfered greatly with ship sensors due to the high amounts of radioactive and metallic content that comprised the material.

Damage to the mining station was localized to a few overloaded generators, severed power conduits, and minor breaches in the air tight structure. The derrick itself was unaffected since it was designed to take shocks, quakes, and blowouts during mining operations.

Nellus entered the mess and plopped into a chair, rubbing his face with both hands. "What do we know?"

Liz took a glance at Wenth before she brought up a map of the prospect on holographics. "Using the seismic sensor data recorded during the event, Wenth and I managed to triangulate the source of the quake." She paused to take a breath. "It looks like it was centered on the crater."

The commander nodded. He and the crew had suspected as much and this affirmed the suspicions. "Comms are still down?"

Wenth snapped his gum. "Yeah. We realigned the array, but the fallout is still causing too much interference."

"Great. We're heading out ASAP with the Shellath for search and rescue. Get what gear we need and let's go find 'em."

****

"…life support system, fifteen percent…"

Regil awoke to the sound of the SRV computer. He opened his eyes, his head still cloudy and aching. From the tug on his restraints and pounding of blood in his ears, Regil knew the SRV was upside down. The console of the SRV was smashed and a small emergency panel flickering on the throttle control was the only source of light. There was no stars visible as he looked around the cockpit and he rattled the controls, but the SRV did not respond to his inputs.

"Terrific," Regil muttered to himself. "Kyle? Do you read?" His comm headset was silent and he blew into the mic in his visor to test it, but to no avail.

After his head cleared of cobwebs, Regil braced himself against the console with his feet and unlatched the seat harness and slid downward onto the canopy, which didn't appear to be breached. He retrieved a survival kit from the chair, turning on a flashlight to gain a better assessment of his situation.

"Dammit."

It was clear he was buried under rubble. The canopy was a web of cracks and he gingerly tested the integrity by pushing against the glass. It gave way slightly, suggesting it was not under a significant amount of strain. After retrieving his precious data pad, Regil unpacked his pressure suit from his gear and put it on, all the while listening to the SRV computer counting down.

"…life support system, five percent…"

Having no other real option, Regil decided to pop the emergency hatch that explosively separated the door from the canopy and violently decompressed the cockpit. A pile of rocks, dirt and grit rained into the cockpit, and for a moment Regil was concerned he would be buried alive. Fortunately the landslide subsided after a few moments and revealed an opening above.

Regil climbed out of the small hole, finding himself surrounded by vast amount of fine ash floating in the airless environment that shrouded him in darkness. He turned his flashlight to inspect SRV, finding extensive damage to the wheels and chassis that was little more than a mangled mess poking out here and there between boulders and piles of stone.

Turning away from the wreckage, his flashlight barely pierced the fog but after a few short steps he realized he was in some sort of manmade chamber as twisted steel beams and paneling was strewn throughout the rubble. He found the structure's wall comprised of warped paneling bursting with bundles of frayed wires and fiber optics that extended upward beyond the reach of his flashlight. Judging from the debris, the roof had apparently given way during the explosion, though he was quickly becoming concerned how far he had fallen.

Regil followed the wall, trying to locate a means of escape. After several minutes, he found a pressure door that was half-buried by rubble. There was no markings of any kind, but the frame was bent and he could see warped floor grates through the small gap between the door and the fractured hinges.

He followed the wall around the entire perimeter, finding no other way out of the room. He returned to the door and examined it closely before deciding his next move.

"This has got to be the most stupid idea…"

Regil rooted around the debris and found a titanium rod, which he jammed into the gap and used as a lever to widen the opening. After several minutes of forcefully bending, he managed to make the crack wide enough and slid feet-first into the void, finding himself in a long hallway that was lined with pipes, cables and ductwork.

The environment was clear of the fine ash in the other room, but frost covered every surface and glittered like diamonds in the beam of his flashlight. Data pad in hand, cautiously strode down the remarkably undamaged hallway where he was eventually presented with a T-junction -- to the right another hatch blocked his way forward, while to his left a long hallway ended in a pile of rubble from an apparent cave-in.

Regil examined the hatch and found a manual release, which he pulled to break the seal on the door. He gritted his teeth and tightly closed his eyes, half-expected the door to slam open from decompression. To his relief, it swung open gently on well-oiled hinges.

He continued down a long stairwell, through two more hatches and explored several more sets of hallways. He began mapping his movements on his data pad as he made his way, seeing how he could quickly become lost in the maze of halls. He found it odd there were no rooms, maintenance hatches, nor any markings or consoles throughout.

At the end of a particularly long hallway, he was confronted with a pressure door that was far larger than the other hatches he had encountered previously. Unlike the others, this door had a console embedded in the frame with a flashing green light that glowed lazily under low power, casting sickly shadows across the walls.

Regil tapped on the display and a holographic panel appeared, filled with emergency errors and a number of power failure warnings. He paused a moment, hoping not to accidentally kill himself by overloading the system. "Here goes." He cautiously cleared the warnings and activated an air lock sequence.

He felt the door shudder and he quickly backed away as the floor grates carried the vibration though his boots. The massive door opened slowly and halted a few centimeters from the floor. Regil inspected the interior, which was a small room with another door on the far end, and gingerly stepped over the opening before continuing the sequence by tapping on another display inside.

The door slammed home, sealing him in. There was no further noise for a moment and the horror of being locked in a small room for the rest of his life quickly passed through his mind before the air vents kicked on to pressurize the air lock.

"Oh thank God."

The inner door flashed green and opened with a hiss. Regil checked his data pad, noting the atmosphere was stable and breathable and stepped into the doorway. A set of emergency lights activated by his presence, blinding him temporarily as they sputtered to life, revealing a maintenance room filled with untouched equipment and environmental suits.

"This is more like it." He whispered to himself, trying to boost his confidence. "Anyone here?" He called out only slightly louder.

Receiving no answer, Regil walked to a small console and activated it. The firmware appeared older, but was standard issue at most docking stations, though extremely generic and carried no values to signify the name of the structure he had entered nor any significant logs. He noted the system was running on a nuclear battery that had extremely limited power and was nearly drained.

"Terrific," he muttered as he unlatched his helmet and breathed in the atmosphere. The air was stale but clean. The big man shrugged after taking a few deep breaths. "Well, time to get to work."

Regil began disassembling the console in the hopes he could boost the comm signal of his suit to the outside. Unbeknownst to Regil, in the corner of the room a small security camera jittered to life and turned to monitor the intruder.

Zwei34 · Nov 9, 2016

***
HIP 78866 A 5 a
Mesha Peak - "The Pit"
0600 hours
***

The Shellath hovered above the crater atop Mesha Peak. Over the past few hours, the powdery dust in the region had settled back down to the surface so visibility had been restored. Nellus was on the lower deck, peering out of a window overlooking the search area below now shrouded in darkness, save for a solitary search light that slowly scanned the fractured boulders.

The crater was heavily damaged. Evidence of rock falls, collapses, and ejecta was everywhere. Despite the settled fallout, radioactivity was still very high and forced the crew to don their heaviest environment suits before trekking into the crater.

Nellus had demanded to lead the search party, but Liz and Wenth convinced the Commander to remain aboard while the rest of the crew descended from the cargo platform on foot. It wasn't long before they discovered Kyle's body amidst the crumpled remains of his SRV, beneath a substantial rubble pile. The crew worked solemnly and diligently to free the wreckage, the effort of which was made easier under the light gravity of the moon.

"We've got him aboard."

Nellus half-turned to the hallway entrance and nodded to Wenth, who was still in his environment suit sans helmet. His armor was still glistening from the decontamination shower. "Any other signs?"

"No sir," Wenth replied in a low voice. "We plan on heading out as soon as the SRV is secured."

Nellus nodded again, firmly. "How's the crew?"

Wenth examined his gloves, then peered out the window. "They're okay. I think a couple are taking it pretty hard, but they're keeping it professional."

"Good. Keep an eye on them. I don't want this to turn into anything worse than it is." Nellus took a sip from his spiked coffee and returned to his view at the window. He was speaking forcefully to make a show of confidence, but his throat was raw from the strong whiskey. "Anyone gets too upset, take them off duty ASAP."

Wenth saluted. "Aye sir."

Nellus waited for Wenth to leave the hallway before he left the window and leaned against the bulkhead. He rubbed his face with a calloused hand and took a deep breath, morbidly wondering what Kyle's last moments had been.

The Shellath had lost crew before. Though he always hid it well, death was never easy for the commander. Mining and salvage were dangerous operations, if not for environmental reasons but also pirates and other deep space hazards. The commander made it a habit of not getting attached to his crews and always kept them at arm's length, letting Wenth and Regil lead the social charge. However, this time his first officer was among the presumed casualties and the thoughts of losing a close friend had fractured Nellus' emotional wall.

He gulped the rest of his coffee and resumed his position at the window, picking up a pair of night vision binoculars from the sill and peering through the optics. "You better be out there, dammit."

****

Regil moved along the hallway, pulling apart electrical panels and power relays as he tried to scrap together a signal amplifier for his comms. He'd managed to locate a source of energy in the nuclear batteries, but he had to find a suitable capacitor and power regulator to keep from vaporizing himself upon activation.

As he moved onto another panel, a nearby door opened with a screech that nearly sent Regil's heart exploding from his chest. He sat for a moment to calm his nerves before flashing his light into the corridor that was filled with fog. As he approached, he felt an extreme drop in temperature that quickly shot needles of pain across his face. Quickly, he donned his helmet and sealed the visor.

"Hello?" he croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Anyone there?"

There was dim flashing light visible at the far end of the narrow hall that was choked with cables and conduits that hung low from the tapered ceiling. He bit the inside of his cheek, then took a few steps toward the light.

His visor quickly frosted and he scraped at the glass with a gloved hand as he shuffled along the floor grates. The walls of the corridor were lined with what appeared to be empty stasis pods, their doors gaping, revealing restraints and medical devices needed for keeping humans in refrigerated sleep. As he made his way toward the light, it soon became apparent the light was being emitted from an occupied pod.

"What the hell…?"

Regil stood before the pod and flashed his light into the viewing window, which was covered in large ice crystals, which he scraped away and peered inside to spot a figure within. The person appeared to be entirely encased in ice, so he was unable to clearly make out the facial features. He touched a display where the light was flashing that flickered to life and showed the person was still very much alive.

Regil retreated from the corridor, now more determined than ever to get the hell out of there. He ripped a power panel off the wall and tore at the guts, removing the last few components he needed to complete his amplifier.

He assembled the device and spliced a power conduit into the backpack of his environment suit. Using his datapad, he increased the output signal of his comm antenna.

"This is Regil, anyone out there? Repeat, this is Regil. I'm alive, but buried in some sort of complex under the mountain. Does anyone read?"

He continued repeating the mayday call, tweaking the frequencies and channels as he went. The battery pack on his environment suit began smoking from the increase in voltage and so he dialed down the throughput. He suddenly heard a sputtering on the comm channel that sounded like someone was on the frequency.

"Hello? Can you hear me? This is Regil, come in," he nearly shouted into the visor.

"Hello."

The voice was crystal clear and sounded very near, but it was not one he recognized. It was a male voice, gentle and calm. Regil held his breath, conflicted on the thought if he should reply.

"Are you there, Regil?"

Regil fought off a shiver that traveled the length of his spine. He took a deep breath and opened the channel. "I'm here. Where are you?"

"I'm close. Come down the hall, Regil."

Regil spun on his heel and looked down both sides of the hall, half-expecting to find someone standing there. He took the supercharged backpack and detached it from the power conduit and walked to the end of the hall past the freezer corridor. It was a dead end.

"Okay, I-I'm here," Regil replied, stammering.

"There's a panel on the wall. Open it and pull the emergency release."

The voice was extremely soothing, but had an icy edge that raised the hairs on the back of Regil's neck. He paused for a moment before opening the panel, which was hidden in a recess in the wall. Just as the voice predicted, a yellow release handle was found within.

"Who are you?" Regil asked.

The voice replied. "I'm your way out."

"That's pretty vague."

"It's quite simple," the voice responded. "You need help. I can get you out. We can talk, or you can escape. The choice is yours."

He pulled on the handle and the wall shuddered and retracted, revealing a set of thick blast doors that opened as well. Regil flashed his light into the hidden cubical room that was at least two hundred meters in size. Massive power conduits were visible beneath the floor panels, running to a sphere in the center of the room that was fifty meters in diameter.

"Come in."

Regil walked cautiously down a gantry toward the sphere, examining his surroundings with his lamp. It was extremely cold in the room -- near absolute zero. His suit began sounding alarms as the temperature began to exceed the suit's protection ratings.

Part of the far wall had collapsed and there was significant crush damage evident on the other walls under the weight of the mountain above and several of the conduits beneath the gantry were ruptured. The air of the room glittered in the beam of his light with the same reflective particles he and Kyle had seen just before the explosion topside.

"Uh, is it safe?" Regil asked over the comm channel, halting his progress. "I've seen this material…it didn't end well."

"Yes, it is safe. There's a coolant leak in the reactor. It is highly reactive to plasma, but I detect no ignition source on your person."

Regil gritted his teeth as he continued toward the sphere. "Oh, thank goodness," he muttered.

He stood before a massive vault door embedded in the surface of the sphere, surrounded by cabling and cooling conduits that vented the mysterious cryogenic gasses into the room. He looked around for any controls or displays, but found none save a small black panel in the center of the door.

"Place your hand on the panel."

Regil reluctantly placed his gloved hand on the panel. The room trembled and frozen debris crumbled from the edges of the meter-thick door as it released the cables and conduits, split into four equal sections, and retracted into the sphere's wall. Regil entered the featureless spherical room that was bathed in bluish energy, the door closing seamlessly behind him.

The surface of the vault was polished to a dark, mirror finish and in the center of the room, two slender, tapered crystalline rods stretched from either hemisphere of the room met in the radial center where a bright, azure cube was suspended motionless between. A large gap between the needle-like tips of each rod and the surface of the cube was vacant, save a pulsating, reddish glow.

Using his datapad, Regil attempted to analyze the cube with the sensors and detectors at his disposal, but each became overloaded as he tried to ascertain the substance of which the cube was comprised and the energy surrounding the object. The cube measured a perfect cubic centimeter in volume, though he could not determine the density or consistency. The bluish color was intense, but staring into its semi-translucence provided a sense of tranquility that was hard to describe.

"What is this?" Regil asked, barely above a whisper.

"Welcome." The cube's light flared as the voice spoke. "You may call me Astor."