The woman sitting behind the shuttle’s controls seemed a consummate professional, reading off the preflight checklists and requesting clearance for departure with efficient, clipped tones.

“Confirmed, Shuttle One. You are cleared for departure on deck two. Good hunting, Samuels.”

The anonymous voice from the control was the signal the crew was waiting for, and a moment later, the shuttle thundered off the deck, slamming Milla sideways into her bolster seat. Seconds later, the nimble little craft roared free of the confines of the Odyssey flight deck and into space.

“Odyssey Command, this is Shuttle One en route to the fourth planet,” Jennifer Samuels said with an easy drawl as she adjusted the course and trimmed down the thruster control.

The shuttle banked and shifted its course toward the planet, its four powerful engines blazing brightly as the little ship accelerated. Behind them, two more shuttles blasted clear of the Odyssey’s flight deck, banking in the opposite direction toward the drifting debris that had once been a Drasin capital ship and the flashing beacons of the fallen Archangels.

The fourth planet came rapidly into view, forcing the shuttle to decelerate and alter its course to orbit the barren world. Samuels brought the shuttle into a polar orbit, trying to evade the debris ring that made the equatorial orbit treacherous. Even so, light shudders swept through the craft as the deflectors shouldered bits of debris away from their path.

“Okay, I’m going to start a fast series of orbits to see if the scanners can pick anything up. Lieutenant Savoy, get that portable tachyon array aligned with the shuttle’s sensor column so we can scan for modulated signals,” Jennifer Samuels called over her shoulder as she maneuvered the shuttle into a fast orbit.

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the lieutenant said as he unsnapped his restraints and floated over to his gear.

It was on the ninth orbit that Savoy succeeded in isolating an encoded signal from the planet’s surface. After a few minutes of puzzling over the code, he was startled by a voice from behind his ear. It was the first and only signal they’d received that looked like life, with the exception of a few of the insect-like things that seemed preoccupied with whatever it was that they did on a conquered planet.

“It is a distress signal. Their equipment must be badly damaged, though, because we should have picked it up before we left your ship.” Milla was looking over his shoulder at the signal form on the sensor display.

“You’re certain?” asked Major Brinks, who had noticed Milla’s interest in the signal and listened for her judgment.

“Yes.”

Brinks looked at her for a moment and nodded. “All right. Jennifer?” Brinks waited until Lieutenant Samuels cocked her head in acknowledgment, never taking her eyes off of her instruments. “Launch the carnivores. Then take us down to the source of this signal. We’ll do a land search for survivors.”

“Aye, sir.”