Now that got Eric’s attention, and he stepped away from his console to approach the signals section of the bridge.

“Show me,” he ordered.

“Yes sir,” Perez said, calling up the data to his main screen. “As you can see, there’s something strange about the signal here.”

“I see it.” Eric nodded, noting that it did look like the ship was breaking up. “How long before we get light-speed signals?”

Perez glanced at the ship’s clock. “A little over an hour, sir.”

Eric shook his head. “That’s not going to cut it. Alright, stand by for tachyon pulse. One ping only.”

“Aye sir, one ping only.”

“What’s our current course?” Eric turned, looking over to where Kinder was working the helm.

“We are warping space for the gas giant, sir. One-third power.”

“Stand by for full military power.”

“Aye sir, standing by.”

“Perez, sound them out.”

“Aye sir, one ping,” Perez answered, sending the command to loose a burst of focused tachyons.

The FTL particles appeared and vanished in the same instant, lighting up the system briefly as the command crew watched.

“We’ve lost sight of Eagle One, sir. I don’t see them anywhere,” Perez said, “but it looks like . . . Sir, I’m showing at least eight additional ships now in that vicinity. Mass looks like . . . pocket destroyers, sir?”

“Where the hell did they come from?” Eric muttered, shaking his head and trying not to think about what had just happened to his friend Steph.

“I don’t know, sir. Light-speed scanners still show only the one ship on target, and we’re over an hour away from scanning the current situation.”

“Not for long,” Eric said firmly. “Helm, full military power. All flank to intercept.”

“Aye sir, all flank to intercept!”

►►►

► The Odysseus was built around two massive gravity sinks, functionally identical to quantum singularities but held right at the edge of stability. A stable singularity would swallow the ship while an unstable one would just blow itself out while probably irradiating the Odysseus and everyone on board.

As the ship began tapping full power from the twin singularities, the systems began winding space-time around the Odysseus. A deep, sharp sink appeared ahead of the ship as a bulge began to build up behind it. As one pushed and the other pulled, the Odysseus began to fall through space toward the gas giant.

►►►

IBC Piar Cohn

► “We have been lit, Captain,” the chief signals officer said.

Aymes nodded absently but didn’t reply to the man for a moment. He’d seen the burst hit their scanners, knew the signature well enough. It was unsurprising, expected even, but the signature itself was curious.

“I don’t recognize that signature, Chief,” Aymes said finally. “Does it match Oather signals?”

“No Captain. Close, but not a precise match.”

“That is what is beginning to worry me,” Aymes said.

“Captain, they’ve begun running their drives. Powerful signals, no course telemetry yet.”