The Major met me inside the frigate’s shuttle bay, which fit only two transfer craft but was still cramped with a dense system of automated maintenance systems. A firm handshake and a short trip later, we sat down in a small briefing room.

“Good job out there, Reckall. Naval Interdiction put up a fight when I told them you were on temporary loan.”

“What happens now, sir?”

The Major leaned forwards, fixing me with that stare again.

“There’s trouble in the borderlands, Reckall. We’ve lost contact with a major mining and refuel facility. It’s not a strategic position any more, but it is a problem. A problem you’re going to solve.”

“I don’t understand, sir.”

“Normally we’d send a cruiser with two or three platoons to handle the situation. The problem here is that the facility is near the edge of space, and it would take a destroyer far too long to get there – let alone a cruiser.

So we need you to get out there fast, find out what happened, and deal with the threat."