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Setup — Stanton, Baijini Approach
Setup — Stanton, Baijini Approach
We just arrived in Stanton and were just a mere 312 kilometers from the jump gate, coasting in SCM to bleed heat off the drives from the wormhole.
The Exodus wasn’t in the best shape.
Starboard maneuvering thrusters lagging ~12% response
Cooler cycling outside optimal envelope
Long-range comms array throwing intermittent packet loss
Crew: exhausted, short-rotation discipline breaking down
We’d been out 387 days—planned for 240.
No combat, not officially. Just deep runs, long scans, and too many “unmapped anomalies” for something the UEE calls routine.
The system flagged life support drift while I was still watching the station grow through the canopy.
“Atmospheric recyclers trending below preferred margins… nothing immediately fatal. Yet.”
Yeah. That tracked.
That's when Command cut in.
No ATC routing. No standard queue.
Direct priority ping.
UEE Command Channel — Auth: ZED-Q
That alone told me we weren’t getting shore leave.
We got vector override at 142 km—pulled out of approach corridor and told to hold.
That’s when they called the crew back in.
Half of them had already mentally checked out. One of our survey techs had a bag packed and was halfway to the lift.
Didn’t matter.
Orders were immediate assembly in briefing.
No delay authorized.
Commander ZedQ came through as a live feed—compressed, a little unstable.
Accent thick, clipped delivery. No extra words.
We sat in the Carrack’s briefing module, ship still drifting in a controlled hold.
He didn’t acknowledge our return.
Didn’t ask for status.
He just started issuing orders.
“The UEE Navy is currently overextended across multiple systems. Stanton assets are being reallocated.”
“You are being reassigned effective immediately.”
“Primary deployment vector: Pyro Gateway.”
No gap. No review window.
Our system wasn't reporting anomalies, but I saw the power draw spike—he was already reconfiguring loadouts.
ZedQ pulled up a projection—Pyro perimeter sectors. Large sections uncharted… or classified. Hard to tell which.
“Piracy incidents have increased by unacceptable margins. Established patrol routes are ineffective.”
“Your directive is to chart previously unmonitored regions and identify potential base locations.”
That wasn’t exploration.
That was bait work.
Then he added it.
Casually.
“You are to transmit status reports every fourteen days.”
“Be advised… a civilian exploration vessel has been reported missing within your projected operational corridor.”
No transponder ID.
No recovery order.
Just… missing.
That’s when the room shifted.
Not panic.
Worse.
Recognition.
We never docked.
Didn’t offload data. Didn’t cycle the reactors down.
Didn’t even refuel.
Orders updated mid-brief: Proceed to Crusader Supply Depot immediately.
We scrambled.
Crew pulled from corridors, lifts, half-packed quarters.
Navigation recalculated from hold point
Quantum drive spun up under thermal stress
Fuel reserves below safe margins for sustained ops
I pushed it anyway.
“We prepped the system for immediate quantum. Crusader depot—fastest route.”
“Acknowledged. Warning—fuel reserves are below recommended threshold.”
“Also… the crew’s biological indicators suggest significant fatigue. Which I believe is a polite way of saying this is a poor decision.”
“Noted. Spool it.”
Quantum engaged at 138 km from Baijini outer grid—we cut departure protocol completely.
If ATC complained, I didn’t hear it.
We hit Crusader space hard.
Gas giant filled the viewport inside 0.2 AU—cloud bands turbulent, radiation levels higher than standard.
Depot sat at a stable orbit—approx. 61,000 kilometers from Crusader’s upper atmospheric boundary.
We requested priority resupply.
Denied.
Queue was stacked.
Military traffic mostly.
No surprise.
We drifted in holding pattern.
Systems didn’t like it.
Coolers still cycling hot
Quantum drive misalignment at 3.2% drift
Comms array degraded further under interference
The system flagged something else while we waited.
“Long-range channels are receiving fragmented broadcasts… automated pings, not standard UEE formatting.”
“Origin… indeterminate. Possibly relayed.”
I didn’t respond right away.
Because I already knew where we were headed.
Pyro wasn’t the problem.
It was just where the problem had started.
We finally got confirmation: partial resupply approved.
Not full.
Not enough.
Just enough to get us moving again.
We never got the shore leave we were supposed to have.
Didn’t get repairs.
Didn’t get questions answered.
We got pushed back out.
New mission duration: 365 days
Checkpoint transmissions: Every 14 days
Known risk factors: Piracy escalation… and one possible missing ship
No distress call.
No debris field.
No trace.
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