An Unwanted Visitor

Chapter 39

An Unwanted Visitor

Hours into the Beskar harvesting operation, a new and unfamiliar feeling had settled onto the bridge of the Leviathan: routine.

From their hidden command post in the neighboring system, Zana and Kael monitored the flawless execution of their grand plan. The bridge was calm, the frantic energy of their earlier endeavors replaced by the quiet confidence of a well-oiled machine.

On the main tactical display, a dozen different feeds from the Oculus drones showed a scene of perfect, automated efficiency. On the surface of the moon M-781, the Phalanx droids stood their silent, motionless watch around the canyon perimeter. In the sky above them, the automated Interceptor wing carved silent, precise patrol patterns. Down in the canyon, the second mining vessel, Quarry-2, was methodically carving into the rock face, its tractor beam loading glistening, silvery chunks of Beskar into its hold.

"Quarry-1 offload complete," Kael reported, his voice calm and professional. He had just finished overseeing the transfer of the first haul of Beskar into the Leviathan's own massive cargo bay. "Purity is holding steady at 99.4 percent. The ancient survey data was accurate." He typed a few commands. "I'm sending it back to the Stasis Station via automated jump for processing at the Forge."

"Acknowledged," Zana replied, her eyes never leaving the tactical display. "What's the status of Quarry-2?"

"Cargo hold at eighty-two percent," Kael said. "It will be ready for its return trip in approximately twenty-eight minutes."

Zana leaned back in her command chair, allowing herself a rare, brief moment of satisfaction. It was working. All of it. The desperate planning, the risks, the immense effort—it had all culminated in this. A perfect, unstoppable, and completely secret industrial operation. They had built a machine that was printing them a fortune in the most valuable metal in the galaxy, and no one was the wiser.

For the first time since she'd woken up on that integration plinth weeks ago, she felt truly, unassailably safe.

"Perfect," she murmured, a quiet smile touching her lips. "No surprises."

High in the silent orbit of the Beskar moon, Jax guided the Wraith through its lazy, pre-programmed patrol route. Below, the automated Interceptors moved in a perfect, silent ballet, their patterns flawless. The mining operation continued with its relentless efficiency. The routine was smooth, professional, and Jax was beginning to feel the dull edge of boredom creep in. He felt safe, insulated by layers of secrecy and superior technology.

That was his first mistake.

It started as a faint prickle at the back of his neck, a single, dissonant note in the quiet symphony of the Force. It wasn't the calm presence of the Warden, nor the familiar minds of Zana and Kael, nor the cold thoughtlessness of the droids. This was something new.

He pushed his senses outward, past the mining operation, past the moon, to the edge of the star system. And there he felt it. A small, tight cluster of minds. Their emotions were sharp, a predatory cocktail of greed, impatience, and the sudden, electric thrill of a hunt. They were far away, but they were coming closer.

Jax's calm shattered. He snapped upright in his pilot's seat, his hands tightening on the controls. He opened a priority channel to the Leviathan, his voice sharp and urgent.

"Zana, high alert! We have company!"

On the bridge of the Leviathan, miles away, the relaxed atmosphere vanished in an instant. Zana was on her feet, her eyes locked on the tactical display. "Report, Jax! What do you have?"

"A ship," Jax said, his voice low and intense as he focused on the feeling. "Just dropped out of jump at the extreme edge of the system. They're running on low power, trying to stay quiet, but I can feel them. Multiple life forms on board. Their intent… they're hunters."

"Kael, get me a sensor lock on his coordinates!" Zana commanded. "Full power to the deep-range arrays!"

Kael's hands flew across his console, redirecting the Leviathan's formidable sensor power. After a tense moment, a single, faint icon appeared on the main display.

"I've got a signature," Kael confirmed. "It's a single ship, scavenger-class from the silhouette, but with heavy modifications. Non-standard power core, oversized sensor dish… it's a professional prospecting vessel." He brought up another reading, his face grim. "They're actively pinging the system with a deep-range mineral scan. A very powerful one."

The pieces clicked into place. "They weren't looking for us," Zana said, her voice turning to ice. "They were just prospecting this dead sector, and their expensive scanner just hit the jackpot."

As if to confirm her words, the icon on the tactical map changed its vector. It was no longer drifting. It was now making a direct, high-speed burn for the Beskar moon.

"They see it," Kael said, his voice tight. "They've detected the Beskar deposit. They're coming right for it."

The silence on the bridge was broken. Their secret was out. Zana stared at the approaching hostile icon, her face a mask of cold fury. Their perfect, quiet operation was over.

On the bridge of the Leviathan, Zana watched the hostile icon representing the scavenger ship close in on their secret mining operation. The calm professionalism of her crew was gone, replaced by the sharp, electric tension of impending combat.

"They're entering orbit of M-781," Kael reported, his voice tight. "They're hailing on an open frequency. Standard prospector's challenge: 'Unidentified mining operation, please identify yourselves.'"

Zana's face was like stone. "They've seen our automated Quarries. They've scanned the richest Beskar deposit in the galaxy. They cannot be allowed to report that to anyone." She opened a secure, fleet-wide command channel. Her voice was cold, precise, and absolute.

"Jax, you have tactical command. All Interceptor wings are slaved to your lead. Your orders are to achieve total battlespace denial. Cripple their engines. Disable their weapons. Burn out their communication systems. Leave them dead in the water. Do not let them jump."

In the cockpit of the Wraith, high above the moon, Jax received the order. A cold knot formed in his stomach, but he pushed it down. Zana was right. Their entire future depended on absolute secrecy. He looked at the ninety-nine other Interceptors holding a silent, perfect formation around him. He took a breath and became one with them.

"All wings," his voice was calm over the comm, "engage on my mark. Execute attack pattern Delta."

Like a school of silent, ghostly sharks, the hundred Interceptors descended from the dark side of the moon, their stealth systems making them invisible to the scavenger ship's sensors.

On the bridge of the scavenger ship, a four-person player crew was likely celebrating the find of a lifetime. One moment, their screens showed a mountain of priceless ore. The next, their ship was rocked by a violent explosion as their primary engine was twisted into scrap metal by a gravitational anomaly they never saw coming.

Alarms blared across their bridge. "What was that?! Where did that come from?!"

Before they could even react, a hundred hostile contacts appeared on their screens, swarming them from all directions.

On the Leviathan, Kael's console lit up. "Zana, I'm picking up their comms chatter. It's open, panicked… they're players. Humans."

Zana's expression didn't change. "It doesn't matter," she said, her voice like ice. "Execute."

The battle was a slaughter. The scavengers' desperate return fire, a volley of standard laser cannon blasts, splashed harmlessly against the shimmering, advanced shields of the Interceptors. In response, Jax's fleet moved with the terrifying, synchronized precision of an AI hive mind.

Gravitational distortions ripped apart the enemy's weapon emplacements. Lances of focused plasma fire from the Interceptors' secondary systems surgically destroyed their comms array. In less than thirty seconds, the fight was over.

The heavily modified scavenger ship was left crippled, powerless, and silent, drifting in the moon's low orbit. Jax's fleet formed a cold, perfect cordon around the disabled vessel.

"Target neutralized," Jax reported, his voice steady despite his pounding heart. "All primary systems disabled. They're dead in the water."

On the bridge of the Leviathan, Zana watched the tactical display showing the victorious outcome. She nodded once, her face a grim mask. They had won. Their secret was safe. But she knew this was only the beginning.

"Good," she said, her voice quiet and final. "The mine is secure." She turned to Kael. "Prep a transport. I want a full squad of Phalanx droids ready to launch in five minutes."

Her gaze was fixed on the helpless ship on her screen.

The bridge of the disabled scavenger ship was a cage of red emergency lights and terrified silence. The four player-scavengers were huddled together, surrounded by the ten silent, imposing Phalanx droids, their red optics glowing with cold indifference.

Zana's modulated voice echoed from the lead droid's speaker. "You are trespassing in a restricted Aegis Foundry operational zone. Identify yourselves and your faction."

The lead player, Grendel, stammered, "The Void Vultures! We're just a small, independent crew! We swear! We just saw a resource spike…"

"I know what you saw," Zana's voice cut him off. She opened a private channel to Kael on the Leviathan. "Kael, their systems are crippled, but their data cores are intact. I want their logs. Flight history, guild contacts, a full copy of their sensor data from this system. Download everything. Now."

While Kael's programs began to silently slice into the scavenger ship's computers, Zana continued her interrogation, her voice a tool to keep the players distracted and compliant. But as Kael's data transfer completed, the players' desperation peaked.

"Please," Grendel begged, his voice cracking. "Just let us go. We'll forget this system exists. We won't tell anyone. It's just a game! You can have the ship!"

On the bridge of the Leviathan, Kael looked at Zana, his face pale. "I have the data," he whispered.

Zana stared at the tactical display showing the four helpless players. She weighed the variables. A promise from a desperate player was worthless. The risk of them talking, of even a rumor leaking, was non-zero. The value of the Beskar mine and the Stasis Station was absolute. The math was simple, brutal, and clear.

She closed her eyes for a single, hard second. The decision was made.

"Jax," she said over the private comm to the Wraith. "Confirm all Interceptors are in position and ready to fire on my mark."

"They're ready," Jax's voice came back, tight and strained. He knew what was coming.

Zana opened the channel to her Phalanx commander on the scavenger bridge one last time. Her order was two words, delivered with the cold finality of an executioner.

"No witnesses."

On the scavenger bridge, the players looked on in confusion, then horror, as the ten Phalanx droids raised their plasma repeaters in perfect, terrifying unison. Their screams were cut short by a blinding fusillade of blue energy.

Simultaneously, Zana gave her final command to Jax. "Erase the asset."

From his cockpit, Jax watched as his entire automated fleet responded to his will. One hundred Interceptors opened fire on the disabled, defenseless scavenger ship. With no shields to protect it, the vessel was instantly torn apart, consumed in a silent, brilliant, and utterly final explosion that left nothing behind but glittering, microscopic dust.

The comm channel was silent.

Jax stared at the empty patch of space where the ship, and the four players, had been. He had just been a willing participant in the permanent deletion of four other people. The weight of it, the cold efficiency of it, settled into his bones. This was what it meant to protect an empire. It was built on secrets, and its walls were mortared with blood.