Gunant Breh didn't stop until his engines were screaming. He broadcasted his findings to every frequency he could reach—Midorian, Terran, Vossk, and even the Nivelian Republic. The response was a universal shrug. To the galaxy, Gunant was a colorful character who had spent a few too many years near engine fumes; the common consensus was that he had simply drunk too much and was hallucinating ghosts of the past.
Only one man didn't immediately laugh. Keith T. Maxwell listened to the frantic transmission with a frown. While his instincts told him Gunant might be losing it, he knew the galaxy too well to ignore a Void sighting. Keith traveled to Thynome, seeking out the one man who understood the fabric of space better than anyone: Professor Khador.
Khador was already restless. His instruments had been picking up strange "reappearing" ripples in the Shroud Nebula, anomalies that didn't fit the known patterns of the Void.
Equipped with a specialized Void Detector, the duo traveled to Naneroh. For two hours, the sector was silent. The only sound was the hum of their own ship as they drifted through the debris of the artificial supernova. Keith was just about to make a joke about Gunant's sobriety when the detector let out a sharp, crystalline chirp.
They moved toward the inner asteroid belt, weaving through the remnants of shattered rock. There, they found the evidence: fresh, jagged cuts on a massive asteroid. These weren't the messy marks of a Terran drill or the heat-pitted scars of a Nivelian beam. These were the traces of Void lasers—precise, molecular-level shearing that still radiated a faint, purple energy signature.
The duo returned to Gunant's location, docking with his station to meet him face-to-face. Keith gripped his friend's shoulder, his expression grim but validating.
******
Deep within his private sanctuary, Michael was a whirlwind of creation. His hobby had moved into a frantic, inspired phase. Using the harvested Novanium, he synthesized exotic chemicals that shimmered with impossible colors and crafted cooking implements that could manipulate molecular heat with absolute precision. However, amidst the artistic clutter of his workshop sat a masterpiece of defensive engineering: the Void Gamma Shield 2.
Unlike his other experiments, this wasn't just a pastime. It was a necessity for deeper dives into high-radiation zones. He installed the shimmering, obsidian-glass plating onto his VoidX and, driven by the need for more materials to fuel his growing "projects," he engaged the Void Drive. He was heading back to Ginoya.
Back in Naneroh, the trio—Keith, Khador, and Gunant—were crowded into the cockpit of the same ship, their eyes glued to the scanners. They had returned to the asteroid belt hoping for a second glimpse, and they didn't have to wait long.
An unmodified VoidX drifted into the sector. It ignored them completely, moving with a grace that made the nearby Midorian freighters look like rusted scrap. Michael engaged his mining lasers, working for hours with an efficiency that left the observers speechless. Even the Gamma Shield 2 created by Deep Science—a pinnacle of human-alien hybrid tech—was a toy compared to the raw power Michael's ship displayed.
When Michael's cargo hold finally reached capacity, the VoidX turned away from the belt. In a sudden pulse of purple light, the ship jumped.
Thanks to his deep ties to Deep Science, Keith's ship was equipped with prototype jump-detection technology. Khador's fingers flew across his console, isolating the specific sub-space wake Michael had left behind.
Keith didn't hesitate.
Keith engaged the Khador Drive. The ship groaned under the strain as the stars stretched into infinite lines, plunging the trio into the jump as they followed the ghost of the VoidX into the unknown.
******
The stars snapped back into focus as the ship exited the jump. Keith's hands were white-knuckled on the controls, expecting to emerge in a war zone. Instead, they found themselves in a quiet, uncharted system.
Gunant leaned over the console, his eyes widening as the navigation data populated.
The "thing" in question hung in the distance, silhouetted against the dim yellow sun. It was the Mothership. Keith recognized the design instantly—it was the exact same model that had terrorized the galaxy during the Void War. Seeing it here, so close to home, felt like a ghost coming back to finish the job.
The sight of the massive vessel was enough to break the trio's curiosity. The sheer scale of the potential threat outweighed the need for closer inspection.
Gunant let out a long, shaky breath of relief.
With the coordinates of the system burned into Keith's star map, he didn't hesitate. He engaged the Khador Drive. In a flash of blue light, the ship vanished from the silent system, jumping back toward the safety of Thynome.