Beta Cluster 3, or BC-3.

  A star system that had been populated with a few decent-sized rocky worlds at some point in the distant past, millions of years ago. But something had changed.

  A stray planetoid? An errant impact? Whatever the case may be, there were once at least four rocky worlds, probably bigger than earth… but as Kyle looked over the display, there were now billions of chunks of rock ranging from millimeters to kilometers in size, forming two enormous belts of rock, one about a light-hour out from the star, and another about 37 light-minutes out.

  The buoy had spent two days cruising through, scanning…. And had spotted something. Or been broken. Whatever the case may be…. They could see it clear as day on the scanners, and as soon as they arrived, Kyle sent it a tightbeam message, and watched for a response…. As they took a closer look themselves.

  “Alright, people. Something here either damaged it, or triggered a response. It could be pirates. It could be miners. It could be just about anything, really. So… for right now, I want everybody looking at the scopes for anything that looks…. Odd.”

  One of the drones was already coasting; one of the stealth hull panels facing the inner system; but it would take hours before it intercepted the buoy; and two hours to get a response to the laser.

  He was operating on the assumption that an Empire ship had captured it, reprogrammed it, and was currently watching to ambush him. Not because he believed that had happened; but because it was possible.

  About fifteen minutes after arrival, Thor blinked… and looked up. “Ladies, we have… something. Let me bring it up.”

  A few moments later, the central display popped up… and showed an image of a pair of asteroids with an odd, indistinct shimmer around them.

  “Its covered with dust to make it less obvious… but thats a magnetic net, and the two asteroids are spinning around each other… slowly. And its oh-so-slightly warmer than the other asteroids in that sector.”

  As the others focused on where he was looking; with Poisseux still studying the rest of the system as the drone moved on its way; Kyle gave a slow nod.

  “Not a very fast spin. There’s a few other asteroids in the belt spinning faster. But just enough that a hidden base in one… or both… of those asteroids could actually have some spin-gravity. Enough to be comfortable and not be in zero-G all the time.”

  Kyle studied it for a moment, and looked around. “Hidden asteroid base. So. Speculation? I’m thinking… pirates.”

  Thor nodded. “Pirates are good. Means we can break in and loot the place!”

  Sherry chuckled. “Or its a BSE base. We never broadcast a communication. They could be perfectly legit.”

  Kyle glanced at her. “Really. A hidden asteroid base that you gotta look real close to spot?”

  “We spotted it in fifteen minutes. How hard could it be?”

  A buzz from Poisseux. “Oh really. Have you noticed how much better the sensors and computers are in this thing? And we were looking for it, expecting something weird, your regulars would’ve missed it. Most surveys are done by little pocket fleets, a frigate and a couple of corvettes doing sweeps around the system, spending days examining things and then leaving. All using crappy independent sensors and computers.”

  Elise shook her head. “No no no. The Sapper is unusually good at this, yes, but. A normal survey would’ve spotted this. It just would’ve taken longer. Probably six hours or so for a good task group, maybe days or weeks for some of the lower-end operators.This sort of stealth technique isn’t good to keep you off the radar permanently. Its like the stealth plating we put on the Sapper… made to extend the timeline of detection, not prevent it entirely.”

  Kyle smiled. “So. Pirates. They hid it just well enough that they could spot a survey before it would find them.”

  Sherry sighed. “Look. If they are pirates, fine, they’re pirates. But they might not be. Technically, any immobile station can claim the orbital path its on until the system itself gets claimed. If they aren’t actually criminals, messing with them might mean we’re trespassers and pirates ourselves.”

  Poisseux interjected. “That’s why standard procedure is to broadcast a comms signal using a smaller, weaker ship, see how they react. Legally, you’ve got half an hour to respond whether its by doing the whole signal light blink or a radio response. You fail to do that, and people are allowed to board to either salvage you or confirm whether you need rescue. If there’s obvious signs of distress, that timeline drops to one minute.”

  A chuckle. “Then if its pirates, they try to ambush the ship, and you have some backup jump in to kill the pirates. If its not, either they tell you to get the hell out, or let you know whats going on. Whether its a mining station looking to trade, whatever.”

  “...Well then. Seems like what we need to do is grab that buoy… and send a drone out to say hi. If they don’t respond… we board them.”

  “Sounds fine by me.”

  ***

  It would be hours later that the Sapper would have recovered the buoy, after a careful inspection; actually disassembling it on retrieval to check for any additional planted bugs; and a single drone would sweep by the unknown station, sending out a comm signal.

  Surprisingly enough, it got an immediate response; one which took about an hour to reach the Sapper.

  Most of the crew were ‘off-duty’ by then, with Kyle staying on the bridge; but everyone wanted to be around to hear it, so most of them were still there, only Thor off in the galley eating, when they finally got a response.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  ~Independent Starship Sapper, this is the BSE relay station Four alpha charlie. This beacon is wholly automated, and is at the center of a minefield which will destroy any attempted looters. Only BSE vessels or known associates with a ‘Trusted’ status will be allowed to dock. The minerals in the region one light-second across centered on this relay station are legally claimed by BSE, and any attempts to claim jump will be dealt with harshly.~

  There was a seemingly random code attached to the end of it; an authentication number… if it was real.

  Kyle blinked… and stared at the display, before looking around. “... Does anybody see any signs of mining? Anything whatsoever?”

  Poisseux immediately buzzed. “Nothing. That message is only vaguely similar to BSE messages, and BSE doesn’t use minefields generally. That’s a government thing.”

  “...So what do we do with this?”

  “Use a comm buoy to call BSE. Confirm the story. If BSE confirms it, then this place just has something really, unusually, valuable, or that base itself does. If they don’t? We’d be within our rights to board. It’d mean they’re pirates pretending to be BSE to lull us into a false sense of security until they spot whoever is running that drone.”

  Kyle nodded… and slapped together a few details. It wouldn’t be that hard. BSE always had its own comm buoys in darkspace, thousands of them, and they should have an answer within the hour, at most.

  “Well then. Seems like we should send a message back home.”

  ***

  All the excitement turned out to be for nothing. The authentication number was legitimate; and pointed to this region of space, though, oddly enough, not that particular part of the system; it seemed to have been relocated, possibly due to finding some valuable metals.

  Regardless, the Sapper passed right back into Darkspace, and reviewed the results of the first wave of probe launches. Overall, there were 25 launches of FTL-capable buoys, and BC-15 which they were gonna check out regardless.

  They found sixteen buoys waiting for them; which, combined with the 5 they’d already picked up, and the system they’d already checked….

  Meant that there were 3 systems a buoy had picked up something worth inspecting on its way through, plus the comms traffic from the one in BC-7.

  So. Four systems to check, plus the comms and sensors to review. Kyle looked at the data; BC-7 was the closest one, with BC-22, 24, and 25 being the furthest ones out…. And the fact that they were closer together gave him a bit of hope they were either a grouping of some sort of pirates, dragons, or something else of interest.

  “Alright then. Poisseux, if you could please, take us through collecting all the buoys… and then pick the closest out of those four to head to when you get the last one. I’m gonna go ahead and review the comms logs for 15, see if there’s anything interesting.”

  The usual buzz. “Acknowledged, and on it. Should take a few hours. I’ll keep the board updated, and give you an ETA once we’re on the way to the first stop. Based on the best order to grab the buoys in, I’m gonna have them use their thrusters to move to meet us as we go, and we should be stopping at BC-22 first.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled. She wasn’t just a skilled pilot, but just a generally competent, capable woman in other respects as well. He pulled up the details for BC-7, to review.

  The buoy had sent a simple interrogation ping to the colony ship, and received both an automated response, as well as listening in to communications from the surface.

  ~Automated response: This is the Border Security and Exploration Starship Ornithar-III. We are currently undergoing colonization of the Ornithar star system, and during this process this vessel will be converted into an orbital station.~

  ~Current Status: Prefabricated colony structures have been deployed, and sixteen different forms of aquatic life are being established. Additional structures are being constructed, both for mining and aquaculture operations.~

  ~Projected Status: This colony has been capable of self-sustaining on food supply for three weeks, and will be able to begin exports within eleven months. Overall self-sufficiency is projected to be achieved within two months. Current population is one thousand two hundred and seven.~

  ~The Ornithar system is estimated to be officially registered to BSE in two months seven days. If you are interested in purchasing this star system, please contact either BSE’s nearest corporate office, or the colony administrator.~

  Kyle chuckled. It seemed pretty standard. You either needed to be able to grow your own food and make your own gear, or sustainably produce enough goods of value to pay for such and have a few years stockpiled, as well as having a population over a thousand to make an official claim.

  Usually they would bring several thousand, just in case there were significant casualties getting the world ready for settlement. For their to only be twelve hundred?

  Either they had brought that many, and some had died, or they viewed this as an easy, low-risk colony project.

  There were a few messages back and forth, from the colony ship to the surface. The colony ship was being carefully modified to serve as the collection point for orbital mining and, hopefully, manufacturing someday. People were asking for parts, for seeds. For pre-fabricated structures to be dropped off.

  Just usual comms traffic. There were even a few survey ships reporting back what kind of minerals they were finding, and arguments over where to best setup a mining station.

  Importantly, though? No ships had been harassed by monsters or pirates. There weren’t too many big asteroids there… and there were a few exposed deposits of heavy metals that a dragon would have gone after, if there was one.

  So. Not a concern. They could safely ignore it and move on, though he did change the label ‘BC-15’ to ‘Ornithar’ in the system.

  By the time he finished, there was an ETA on display; They were currently en route to BC-22.

  On their initial stop, it had seemed… fair. Quite a bit of rocky debris, just a couple of worlds. No sign of movement in the few minutes they’d been there.

  Time to see if something which had passed through the system; and had a few days to watch things; got a better picture. He passed out a signal to his friends; they’d be emerging back into realspace in fifteen more minutes.

  ***

  Arrival in BC-22 was…. Different. They’d taken a few basic readings when they’d first arrived, and could pick up thousands of differences over the first few minutes.

  The system had a few rocky worlds, extensive debris fields, one gas-giant…. And either had some sort of major collision event in the recent past… or something was moving.

  And as they surveyed the system, Kyle looked at the region where the buoy was ordered to go, after collecting its readings….

  And it was gone.

  Someone… or something… had either destroyed or stolen the buoy as it passed through the system pretending to be a rock.

  After a few more minutes of scanning, they had a bit more of an answer; they could detect some hot debris on the right trajectory for the buoy to have been moving.

  Destroyed, was the right answer. No collision with an unseen rock. No theft… someone had shot it down.

  “....Well then. Looks like we’ve got ourselves something interesting. Alright, people. We’re gonna be here for a while. Lets launch sensor probes through the system, and stay quiet. We’ll hop around, stay at least a light-hour out… and watch closely. There’s something going on here. One way or another, we’re about to make this whole trip worthwhile.”