Because the Ildiran stardrive allowed them to travel much faster than the speed of light, General Lanyan had a unique opportunity to leapfrog reality and overtake any desperate transmissions Dr. Serizawa might have sent during the mysterious attack.

Based on the reports of the terraforming survey team, as well as the new readings his experts had compiled, they had determined with a fair amount of accuracy when the disaster had taken place. With a precise time coordinate, Lanyan’s fast recon ship could race ahead of the pulsing band of signals and intercept the message as it swept past.

Back home, using King Frederick as his diplomatic mouthpiece, Chairman Wenceslas had issued an official and flowery request to the Ildirans, as one great sovereign to another, asking for help, or at least information about this mysterious new threat. The Adar of the Solar Navy had carried the King’s message with all diplomatic formality to his Mage-Imperator in Mijistra. But though the alien emperor had expressed surprise and dismay at the terrible attack, he claimed no knowledge about the matter.

Although General Lanyan doubted that even the pompous Ildiran Solar Navy commanded enough firepower to destroy worlds, neither did he believe in the total ignorance of the Mage-Imperator. Not for a minute.

“Arriving at position, sir,” said the navigator-pilot.

“Good. Cut the stardrive and turn about. We’ll park here and wait.”

The starfield shifted back to normal, and Lanyan stared into an empty wasteland of space, far from any systems. If they had simply allowed for routine transmission time from Oncier, it might have been a decade before anyone picked up Serizawa’s last transmission.

“We’ll know soon enough,” he said, mostly to himself.

“Assuming Dr. Serizawa sent a signal at all, General,” said the technical lieutenant.

“He would have sent a signal,” Lanyan said. “Unless they vaporized his station first.”

The reconnaissance outrigger hung motionless as the galaxy rotated around them. The faint wisps of a bright nebula filled the foreground far away.

After fifteen minutes, his jaw sore from clenching his teeth so hard, Lanyan grew impatient. “Ease forward at half-c. Let’s do our best to catch up with it.”

The outrigger moved ahead, wide-band receivers primed and hungry for the electromagnetic burst that had been sent out weeks before.

“How big is the error bar in your calculations?” he asked the lieutenant, anxious now.

“Certainly less than a day, sir. The readings were quite—”

Suddenly a wall of static blossomed on their reception screens. The General stood up, looking at the primary display. The transmission sharpened into a clear image of Dr. Serizawa.

“—under attack. Unidentified spherical craft, an unusual configuration. My God, they’ve already destroyed one of the moons!” Serizawa turned. “Can you believe the firepower?” He snapped at his communications assistant, “Show the images from our external cameras. Give them useful data. They don’t want to see my face.”