Jalen frowned. “Signal, starboard aft. Weak, unregistered. Origin—unknown vessel, signature like old mining probes.”
Mira squinted at the readout. “Send a hailing packet. Standard check.” eaglecraft 12110 upd
They altered course for UPD and found the outpost by the way the sky bent around it: a ring of tethered habitats circling a core of processing towers, haloing a crater rim. The station’s beacons were dimmed and laced with static the way a lantern is when its fuel runs low. Jalen frowned
Her co-pilot, Jalen, tapped the console. “Route looks clean. Cosmic dust low, micro-traffic clear. UPD ETA: forty-one hours.” Origin—unknown vessel, signature like old mining probes
“Bring it aboard,” Mira ordered.
“—this is Dr. Ren Ibarra of UPD field station. If anyone finds this, we’ve had an incident. Core breach. Evac… We’re sending critical data to the buoys. If you’re near—please—retrieve. Tell them—” The feed snapped.
Mira smiled. “Good. Short shift, then a hot meal I don’t have to cook.”