Taisen and Lyn strapped themselves into a tiny shuttle and slowly manoeuvred across an asteroid cluster towards an abandoned mining station.
They were packed so close together that Taisen could feel her warm breath against his shoulder.
The crew of the UNS Arctic waited six hours before attempting to do a reconnaissance mission on the mining station. A larger craft could not hope to survive within the asteroid cluster and stood the risk of being detected by a hostile patrol.
"The mission may be a bit tedious but it's worth it," Taisen warned as they moved between a minefield of floating rocks, debris and dust. "We'll be using the manoeuvring jets exclusively in order to avoid any thruster extrails that our adversaries might detect. That makes for a slower trip."
Lyn stared at the back of his head from her seat just behind him.
"Why haven't you addressed the crew about Usyk and the Beluga?" Lyn asked. "I'm sure they'll want some comforting words from their leader."
Her words demanded caution. Taisen could sense an angry apprehension radiating from the most senior science officer in the UN Navy.
"The mission at hand requires our utmost focus," Taisen said. "We could die and here and no one would be able to find our bodies."
"The only reason Usyk left his cushy office… The only reason the Beluga was out here in this uncharted region…" Colonel Lyn trailed off. "We all knew the risks but you brought us here. You have some responsibility for what happened."
Taisen was thankful that he couldn't face her because he could barely keep his anger in check. Did she think he hadn't thought about that?
He continued to work the controls of the shuttle as they evaded another asteroid.
"If we achieve nothing, then their sacrifice would've been in vain," Taisen finally said. "The danger is implicit in our line of work but Usyk dying for nothing is the thing I fear the most. These bastards must pay..."
Slowly feeling his self-control begin to slip, Lyn said nothing and instead turned her attention to the control panel in front of her.
Centered in the display was a small heat source coming from an orbital position near the system's only inhabited planet.
A heat source the computer calculated was coming directly toward them.
"They've spotted us," she breathed, her heart suddenly stuck in her throat.
"Perhaps," Taisen said, still sounding thoughtful. "The timing certainly suggests that, as it was only thirty seconds ago that the ship ran its thrusters to this level of power.
"It's coming straight for us," she said, feeling a sudden surge of claustrophobia in the cockpit's tight grasp. She wondered what was going through the minds of the crew of the Beluga in their final moments. They were luckier than she was. At least they were in a Star Destroyer. She on the other hand was in a shuttle, not a combat ship, with no weapons, no defenses, and all the maneuverability of a cargo trawler. "What do we do?"
"That may depend on who they are, and where they're going," Thrawn said.
Lyn frowned at the display. "What do you mean? They're coming toward us, aren't they?"
"They could also be heading toward the Arctic," Taisen said. "Or possibly it's merely a droid that doesn't realize that the station is defunct scheduled to make a supply run and the timing is purely coincidental. At this distance, and at this vector, it's impossible to pinpoint their ultimate destination."
"So what do we do?" Lyn asked. "Can we get back to the Arctic in time?"
"Unlikely," Taisen said. "The more immediate question is whether we even want to."
"Whether we want to?" Lyn repeated, staring at him. "Is this your attempt to delay talking to the crew about Usyk and the Beluga?"
Taisen hid his irritation well.
"We came here to find out if this is the origin point of the Falmeri and entrance to the Chaos region," Taisen reminded her. "My intent was to study the mining station, but a direct conversation would be quicker and more informative."
"Only if they don't shoot us on sight."
"Let them try," Taisen said.
Lyn looked at him with concern. She hadn't realized that people dealt with grief in their own way. Taisen might be itching for a fight to mask his emotions at the loss of Admiral Usyk. She might have boarded a shuttle with a mad man.
***
Despite the fact that the mining station was abandoned, it was still remarkably well equipped with several functional docking ports, grouped together at various points around its surface. The state of the structure hinted at a recent attempt at rehabilitation. Whoever was doing it clearly had not finished and might be back.
One cluster included two of the so-called "universal ports" that many species in the region had adopted over the centuries to accommodate varying sizes of ships. Taisen docked the shuttle with one of them, waited until the bio scan system had run the usual toxin/contamination check on the station's air, then led the way inside.
Colonel Lyn had expected the place to smell old and musty, perhaps with the pungent scent of rotted food or—worse—rotted bodies. But while there was a definite hint of staleness, it was hardly overwhelming. Whenever the new owners of the station had pulled out, they'd apparently done so in an orderly fashion.
"Taisen— I mean Commander," Lyn started to say. "I just wanted you to know that I don't really blame you for the Beluga's fate. You were right that we all knew the risks. I think I just needed someone to blame and you were an easy target.
Taisen couldn't hear her. He was too busy observing the design features of the station superstructure.
"This is the place," Taisen said softly as he made his way down the hall with careful, measured steps. But though his pace was somber and subdued, his mood was one of elated triumph.
Shining his light into alcoves and rooms as they walked down a wide corridor. "This is where they came from."
"The Falmeri?" Lyn asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Taisen confirmed. "The style is unmistakable.