“We’ve locked them down to a minor Priminae system called Por-Que,” Sams said. “It’s a short-burst distress call, so we don’t have any details, but something went hot and bad there.”

“Show me the system,” Eric ordered, waving toward the main display.

The image on the screen flickered, replaced by a top-down view of a solar system with six planets. Eric could tell at a glance from the color coding that only one was inhabited, and the main activity in the system appeared to be mining trace materials from around the planet in question. Interesting to someone, perhaps, but not of any value to him at the moment.

“Back out. Show me the system in relation to our location,” he said.

“The system is four hundred light-years away, Captain . . .”

“Back out, Ensign,” Eric turned, glowering as he repeated himself, “and show me the system in relation to our location.”

“Yes sir.” Sams quailed under the combined glares of Captain Weston and Commander Heath.

The screen shifted again, greatly pulling back, and the two locations appeared on the screen. Eric looked at them and shook his head.

“Coincidences . . . coincidences . . . ,” he murmured.

“Sir?” Miram asked, uncertain.

“The timing bothers me, Commander,” he said, shaking his head, “but I don’t see any connection. Ensign, show me the Priminae worlds.”

“Capitaine,” Milla spoke up hesitantly, “I do not understand. What are you looking for?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. It could be a Drasin attack, perhaps . . . but we’ve had no contact with them since Earth.”

He considered for a moment before finally coming to a decision. “If it’s the Drasin, then we’re too late anyway . . . but . . .”

He walked around his station and approached the main display. “Ensign, show me the systems attacked by the Drasin.”

A set of systems turned red on the display in response.

“There,” Eric said, pointing. “That’s the system we just left, isn’t it? The one we met the bandit in?”

“Aye sir,” Sams responded.

“And Por-Que is the closest intact system,” Eric said. “We’re backtracking the Drasin attack, right?”

“We are, Captain,” Miram said, coming up beside him. “What does that matter?”

“What if someone is doing the same from the other side?” he said. “If you were tracking along the same path, from the other side, and you ran into an unknown ship . . . where would you look for them after contact?”

“Could be anywhere, Captain . . . ,” Miram said.

“No, not anywhere,” Eric corrected. “Not if you don’t know about the transition drive.”

The commander blinked, then nodded slowly. “Of course. A ship with minor damage, limited by space-warp speeds . . . they’d probably go to the closest system for a patch.”

“And if you wanted to find them, then that is where you would go too,” Eric said.

“You think they went looking for us?” Miram asked, skeptical.