“Keep him off my ship,” Eric said. “I can accept that maybe he had to do it, since apparently Captain Passer was in accordance, but if you aren’t shocked by it . . . just . . . No, he doesn’t set foot on the Odysseus.”

She laughed softly. “Oh, I’m shocked as well, Captain. I just don’t have any trouble believing it. Those are two very separate emotions.”

Eric rubbed his temples reflexively, eyes not leaving the image of the Autolycus on the primary display. Like the Odysseus, the Auto had a very basic long-range FTL transmitter, but due to power and other restrictions, the vessel was only able to broadcast very limited preset coded signals under normal circumstances. The Auto had been here long enough for its crew to painstakingly send out a more detailed report back to Earth, though a lot of the message’s content had been a mystery to Eric until the Odysseus entered the system.

The Autolycus was one of the lead ships in Earth’s search for any remnants of the Drasin menace. The Rogue Class vessel had been assigned to inspecting a series of stellar anomalies that fit the configuration the Drasin were known to construct. What they’d found out there wasn’t the Drasin but could be far, far more important.

“Captain Passer will be coming across shortly with their find,” Miram said, checking her personal pad. “And I have to say, I’m looking very much forward to seeing it.”

Eric nodded, well understanding her enthusiasm.

Passer’s discovery was possibly the trump card they had desperately been needing since Earth had found itself embroiled in this interstellar conflict. Hell, the anomaly itself was certainly going to be absolutely invaluable, enough so that he was going to have to cut off one of his Heroics and a couple Rogues to maintain security on the system while researchers began their jobs here.

WTF487 was a unique sort of stellar construct, smaller than most definitions of the term, barely larger than a planetary megaconstruct, but so much more powerful. The gravity lens heliobeam was a strategic superweapon, but also the single most powerful telescope ever discovered, the latter function being potentially far more valuable.

“That’s the captain’s shuttle, sir.” Miram gestured toward the display.

Eric glanced in the direction indicated and saw the augmented icon break from the Auto and approach.

“Good. I can’t wait to hear this story in person.” Eric chuckled. “Dragons? I thought giant spiders were bad.”

“I was more amused with the title of the mission report.” Miram laughed softly to herself. “A bit on the nose, but funny.”

“King of Thieves.” Eric rolled his eyes. “Captain Passer was a bubblehead in the war. The man reads too much sci-fi and fantasy if you ask me.”

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