CHAPTER 1

HUNT

40 years after the Azure Dream incident. - U.P.N. Kanto

With a flicker of vertigo and the brief flash of violet at the edge of her vision, Samantha Geer reappeared light years away from where she had been. She stood in the middle of the U.P.N. Kanto's flight centre and watched as her crew began their scans. It was a small but sophisticated ship.

The Kanto was a United Planetary Navy craft designed for surveillance and scouting. It was a sleek black craft that looked like an old earth stealth bomber, with a long-swept wing appearance with a span of thirty meters across and a fifteen long from the bow to the end of the wings. It was compact and only had a crew of five, not counting their fighter pilot, who lived on the ship when not in his fighter, and their Guardian core.

The ship's Advocate, a woman with black skin and dark hair, named Ise Okoh, stood to her right and looked toward the main view screen. Her skin had an unearthly sheen to it, having had it replaced by a flexible and robust alloy when she became an Advocate. Ise looked over at Samantha. Samantha returned her gaze.

'Think we've got it this time?' Samantha asked.

Ise looked back at her display and studied the tiny pinprick of light in the distance, 'If we do, they sure picked a lousy base.'

A man at one station looked up. He was an average build with sharp features and a narrow face. He said, 'Not necessarily, this may well be one of the best places they could have picked. It's a rogue planetoid not in orbit around any star. If it wasn't for the stray transmission, we picked up we might have never found it. If the Lobsters chose here, it's a great spot.'

'A fair point Victor,' Samantha replied.

Victor Hale was their resident spook. He had a way with sensors and stealth systems that gave their ship sharp eyes and kept them expertly hidden from everyone else. Victor was one of the best at what he did though Samantha always found him a bit too tight-laced for her taste. She wouldn't trade him for anyone else though since he was so excellent at his job.

'Let's make sure though. Jing, status report?' Samantha said, looking at another crew member on the bridge.

Their ship's engineer, Jing Fan, a native of one of the original Chinese colonies, looked at her. He was above average in his height and thin. His face almost always had a smile on it. His neat black hair was well trimmed. He kept the ship running even in sticky situations. He was quick to tell jokes and laugh. It made the long mission easier on everyone.

'Everything is coming up golden captain,' Jing reported.

'Good.' Sam said.

Samantha turned to face the fighter pilot, Daniel Higgins, who was standing near the back of the bridge.

He matched her gaze. He had short, trimmed rusty red hair, and jade green eyes. He stood at the ready, his thin but athletic build held tightly upright.

'Best be getting in your bird Lt Higgins. Never know if we'll need you to launch in short order.'

'Aye Captain.'

He turned and left the bridge through a door at the back.

'John, take us towards the rogue planet, keep it easy till Dan is in his fighter.'

'Aye aye skipper.'

Sam smiled at her helmsman's reply. He was always taking thing easy. John Macce was always an odd one to take in. She'd seen other officers baulk at his lazy nature, but when she saw his personnel record and the circumstances in which the Navy noticed him, she decided she couldn't afford to pass him up. The Kanto was a bit smaller than the ships he was used to piloting, but its nimbleness and speed was a welcome present to him.

'Anything on scope Vick?' She asked Victor as he looked his displays.

'No enemy contacts, though I am getting something odd from the planet. It's not natural. Won't know what it is till we're closer.'

***

Victor sat at his station, leaning forward in his seat and scanning the screen, trying to make sense of the lonely planet before them. It was tiny and should have been entirely dead, but there was some unknown energy reading coming from it.

'John, can we move any closer?' Vick asked the helmsmen.

'Sure thing, Vick.' John said.

He looked back at his console and watched as the world drew closer.

'What've we got here, Vick?' Sam asked.

'This should be a dead world, but there's a energy reading coming from below the surface. I've also got a small heat signature that's moving.'

'Could be a ship,' Sam observed.

Victor nodded his agreement, 'We can either try to pin it with active sensors or go dark and see if we can sneak up on it.'

Vick looked at the crew, he saw Ise close her eyes for a moment and then opened them and look at Sam.

'Based on the parameters of the mission, Lenny considers the chances of it being a Lobster ship are about 79%.' She said.

'So our Guardian votes hostile. Vick, make us dark, Jing, power level 1.' Sam ordered.

From across the bridge, Victor heard Jing give his acknowledgment and then started work on the stealth systems.

The power levels of the ship dropped, and many of the systems went into standby. Victor began to activate stealth systems.

'Kanto is dark captain.' Victor reported.

'John, take us around the planet. Let's try to see this ship.'

'Aye captain. Taking us over.'

'Nice and slow, John.'

Victor watched his display. Dan's fighter had gone dark after he had launched. It no longer showed up on any of Victor's scopes; its small size made it even harder to detect when running dark.

Victor scanned the area around the planet but couldn't get a good reading on the signal he was trying to lock down. Something else drew his eye, and he had a close look at his screen.

'Captain, I'm getting something else from the planet. There's a signal of some kind. Something on the FTL band… now it’s gone.' Victor reported.

'Any sign of our ghost?'

'Not yet ma'am. I think he's gone dark too.' Vick said, 'And if he's gone dark, he probably doesn't have any buddies nearby. Otherwise, he would have just tried to pin us with an active sensor pulse and light us up.'

Sam stood contemplating Victor's observation, and he waited for an order.

'Try to pin down that signal, there has to be an array on the surface we can look at. If we can tap into it, maybe we can find what the Lobsters are broadcasting too.'

'Lenny suggests we be careful,' Ise said, referring to the ships Guardian, 'The Lobsters lack faster than light communication, so if they are broadcasting to something, its close. Whatever is here, it's probably not as alone as we think.'

'Captain, if we wait here for a bit, I can try to figure more out about the signal.' Victor suggested.

Sam nodded, 'We'll stay put. Ise, tell Dan to hold his position and stay dark.'

'Yes, Captain.'

***

They had been sitting in position for half an hour. Victor was quiet while he worked on the signal. The rest of the crew waited in tense silence.

Samantha got up from her chair and began to pace deliberately around the bridge. It was a habit of hers. It helped her burn her tension. She walked over to Jing's station.

'How we holding out, Jing?' She asked.

'Batteries are at 78%. We can keep the generator off for another two hours or so. After that, we must go to power level 2. We can stay out of 3 and 4 so long as we don't get into any fights. But you know, with our resident ghost in the area, we may need to do a little ghost busting.' Jing said with a small smile on his face.

His tall frame always looked uncomfortable in the bridge seats, and Samantha thought Jing would be more comfortable wrapped around a reactor assembly.

'Keep a thumb on the button.' Sam told Jing.

'Hey captain, is now a bad time to mention I'm having a bad feeling about this?' she heard John say from the helm.

'You always have a bad feeling about things, Johnny,' Jing commented.

'Eyes forward you two. We've got a job to do,' Sam reminded them.

Samantha moved back to her seat. Her communicator beeped. She flipped it on, 'Lt Higgins, you’ve got something for me?'

'I think I spotted a flash of something far on the port side. Just above the horizon of the planetoid. Orders?'

'Vick, got anything?' Sam asked.

'No ma'am. Nothing,' Victor said.

'Hmm,' she raised up her communicator again, 'Move to the point between us and where you saw it. We'll swing around and have a closer look.'

'Aye Captain.'

'John, turn us to port, point us just over the planetoid's horizon.'

'Aye aye, Captain.'

The the levity was fading, and in its place a cold focus descended on the crew.

'Captain, I'm getting something now,' Victor said.

'Report.'

'Energy build up from the planet.'

'Is it a weapon?'

'I don't know... hang on, it's changing.'

The bridge was silent.

'It's a sensor pulse! We're detected!' Victor exclaimed.