“No,” Lana agreed. “But I checked the sensors’ history as well - I can do that now by the way - and compared their timestamp with the captain's last log. A few hours later, four packs of biomass were ejected into space. I think it’s safe to assume that the two crooked crew members killed the other four. From there it gets a little weird. As far as I can tell, they just stayed put in an orbit around the Earth. There was a long time gap in the data, then, about a month ago, a single escape pod was launched. I’m guessing that after being stuck together for a few months the two bad apples had a fight and one of them escaped.”

Nori shot Bulco a piercing glance. The Engineer ignored her.

Lana continued. “The weirdness continued as, for some reason, the remaining crew member decided to stick around.

“That’s weird,” Bulco said. “Why didn’t he just take off?”

“Maybe he wasn’t a pilot?” Nori said gruffly.

Lana shrugged. “Could be, the logs don’t say. Anyway, the ship remained in low orbit for about a month, then a huge power surge was recorded coming from the null tunnel drive. Several minutes after that, the ship was suddenly hit with an energy pulse that jumbled its systems and it was forced to crash land on Earth.“

“I think I understand what happened,” Bulco said. “I’m betting Nori was right and the surviving member didn’t have the right Path to fly the ship. Sounds to me like he tried to override the engine’s controls and that caused a power surge that fried ‘em up. The energy signature also probably gave away their location.”

“And we know what happened next,” Nori picked up the story. “They were shot down by a Kordlin ship - which fits what the captain knew about his employer - and they took off with the canister containing the remaining piTec.”

“Yes, but I still wonder about the escape pod.” Lana looked at Bulco with a sudden realization. “Hey, maybe that was the alien wreck you mentioned. But you didn’t find a body? One of the mutineers should have been on board.”

Bulco stared directly at Nori as he said. “No. No body.”

“Hmm, I guess the Warped must have gotten to him first then.”

“So now we know what happened,” Nori said. “Good job, Lana.”

The dark-haired woman smirked at her. “Hey, I’m the Expert. It’s what I do.”

“I think it's about time we get going,” Bulco said. “Come on, Captain, let’s take her out for a spin.”

They walked together into the bridge, meeting Cattie. Nori took her place, and the pilot’s seat rose to envelop her snugly.

Cattie shook her head admiringly. “So cool.”