The ship was dead on the outskirts of the Sparkler nebula, a lone, hulking metal wreck. Holes coated the hull, likely the result of a run-in with a Tausian War Bird and its Mass Shifter Cannons.
The G.E.C. Odysseus sidled up next to the derelict. Vale Swansen pushed a sequence of keys on the ship’s control board activating its scanner, searching for signs of life, however remote the action seemed in this corner of the galaxy, so far from her home.
Negative, she thought. No signs of life. Vale sighed and powered up her ship’s Lightdrive engines, preparing to head back home when the ship’s shortwave radio crackled to life.
“Please,” came a quiet voice. “Please…you have…to…help me…”
Shocked, Vale scanned the wrecked ship again, intensifying the scan.
Still negative.
She grabbed the radio and clicked it on.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
She was greeted by silence.
“Anyone?”
Again, the sound of silence returned to Vale. Sighing, she turned the ship around and headed in the direction of home.