Aboard Asteroid Breaker Frigate Southsea Castle

The object hurtling through the Kuiper Belt at over two hundred and ninety miles per second could not know the impact it was going to have on the human race, by its very nature it could not know that it heralded the changing of everything. For several years the thousands of unmanned monitoring stations dubbed the Silent Sentinels strung out between where the heliosphere met the Kuiper Belt did not pick up on the massive object or its trajectory as it hurtled through the Oort cloud for its mass was not catalogued.

The monitoring stations and the monumental databanks and processors which they fed were incapable of mapping the entirety of the Kuiper Belt or the Oort cloud so no attempt had ever been made, that was never the silent sentinel's purpose. The sentinels were created to catalogue and track only the largest of asteroids and comets to monitor their movements in case their predicted paths threatened any settled stellar bodies.

It was only when the monitoring stations nearest to the object detected its gravity field displacing dust, ice crystals, rocks and even minor asteroids as it passed through the Kuiper Belt did the sentinels notice something was amiss. When the sentinels attempted to match its mass, dimension and trajectory with known catalogues they concluded that it was an unknown mass likely originating from the interstellar medium. At approximately forty six kilometres long and ten kilometres at its widest point the sentinels logged it as a major cause for concern, even more so as it was projected to head directly into the systems core left unmolested it would head for Earth.

Under standard protocol asteroids or comets under ten kilometres in length the sentinels would alert the handful of manned monitoring posts stationed around the heliosphere so that they could track their progress. The manned stations would then make the decision whether weapons platforms dotted between the sentinels needed to be brought to readiness so that they could destroy the offending body. This objects sheer size necessitated the sentinels to shriek their warning to the nearest naval base.

At this part of the heliosphere the closest naval base was the starport Silent Citadel orbiting Pluto, due to the dwarf planets eccentric orbit being inside the sentinel monitoring ring and in fact inside the orbit of Neptune. Less than an hour after receiving the alert the commander of the starport dispatched the rapid response frigate Southsea Castle commanded by the impetuous Captain Daniel Everson to intercept the object to assess if an asteroid breaker flotilla would need to be dispatched or if the frigate itself could break up or reroute the asteroid.

Sitting in his command throne Captain Everson felt completely unenthused, yes this object was significantly larger than anything that encroached the solar system in decades but asteroids were no longer the threat they used to be. The human race was far too technologically advanced to be snuck up on by rocks that spelled the doom for the dinosaurs.

Captain Everson believed his skills could be better used elsewhere, but the Admiralty had deemed otherwise. The captain wished that he was assigned a vessel capable of taking the fight to pirates and so called freedom fighters at large in the outer and even the inner colonies of the Sol system. The asteroid breaker Southsea Castle wasn't even a combat orientated unit but with a triple fire rail cannon she could kick like a mule. The only way Captain Everson would see some action would be if the threat of freedom fighters became graver but that was not likely to happen as attacks were in decline no matter what the media said, so for now trans-Neptunian objects were his enemy.

Whenever he would bring up his boredom with his second in command Executive Officer Jeanette Peterson. Aside from having a go at him, she also never failed to remind him that their duty was an important one. Considering that humanity was at its height in terms of space exploration and colonisation, every terrestrial planet as well as the major moons of the gas giants were colonised.

Therefore the damage an errant asteroid or comet could cause to humanity would be catastrophic. In the captains opinion humanities expansion into the heavens was down to one thing. The removal of independent nations and the formation of the United Solar Council with humanity under one banner working for the betterment of all humanity had went through the most rapid advancement in technology in human history. It was vessels like the Southsea Castle that bore the fruit of that technology that protected the citizens of the USC from harm, Captain Everson was proud but it was so damned boring.

Captain Everson looked at his watch it was 19:00, if the call hadn't come in he could have made happy hour at his favourite bar in the starport The Duke of York. The captain just hoped that the asteroid was too difficult for them to break up themselves if it wasn't they would be stuck out here until it was safely destroyed or deflected it back into the Oort cloud. Captain Everson couldn't use lack of provisions as an excuse either as Jeanette always planned for the worst they were permanently provisioned for twelve months of isolation away from the nearest starport. Captain Everson looked to his watch again it was 19:05, he groaned with received a look of derision from XO Peterson.

Captain Everson ignored the look, he had been looking forward to happy hour, a drunken stupor then a well-deserved hangover now they might not get back before night fall. Not that there was a true nightfall on a spaceship or a star port. Even though the planets of the solar systems day cycles varied in the extreme from Jupiter taking ten hours to Venus taking five thousand eight hundred and thirty two hours. The people of the sol system still used a the twenty four hour cycle of Earth including naval vessels to keep ship time, during night cycles the lights would dim to give the impression of darkness. Keeping to the Earth day night cycle was only a problem for those who lived on Venus as they had to go to great lengths to simulate night time during such long day periods.

Captain Everson stretched out in his command throne he accepted that he was stuck out here until the job he decided he would day dream to occupy himself as he knew there was nothing he needed to do until they closed with the asteroid. Captain Everson didn't need to supervise his bridge crew they were slick they knew their job well, plus his XO drilled them continuously. Captain Everson thought back to the rumours that were abound last night in the Duke of York of a major push being planned to crush the freedom fighter movement once and for all. Captain believed it to be hyperbole but if it were true then they might actually be reassigned. Captain Everson knew it wouldn't be a combat posting but at the height of the Night of the 13th Revolution asteroid breakers were drafted in to obliterate freedom fighters holed up in asteroids, if the rumours were true then maybe Captain Everson would get his chance to do some good.

Captain Everson decided to distract himself again before he got frustrated, he looked around his bridge ignoring his XO's baleful stare she knew he was bored, he gazed in turn at his two Helmsman, two Communications Offices, two Navigators, two Weapons Officers and the Master at Arms they were dutifully performing their task. Captain Everson always felt a mild sense of claustrophobia when on the bridge with its cramped utilitarian space of tiered work stations facing a giant view screen taking up the entire frontage of the bridge, he had been on a battleship once with its massive flying bridge he hoped to command one someday.

The bridge itself was built into the centre of the Southsea Castle, the images shown were projected from various cameras built into various points of the frigate. Early warship builders suggested placing the bridge at the fore of the vessel with reinforced glass protecting it but this was deemed tactically unsound, Captain Everson vehemently agreed with this.

Captain Everson felt the change of pitch in the frigates fusion reactor, knowing that the helmsman was now steering the Southsea Castle past the silent sentinels and towards the Kuiper Belt, in order to intercept the asteroid. The deck of the frigate began to tremble gently as it neared its maximum velocity of one quarter light speed but it wouldn't be at that speed for long.

It amused Captain Everson a little knowing that as soon as they reached their desired speed they would need to slow down drastically to be able to intercept the errant asteroid and not overshoot it would be funny if they missed but thanks to XO Peterson they never missed. Bored once again Captain Everson decided to pull out the big guns fished out an antiquated toy from a compartment in his command throne, ironically the toy a Rubik's cube had been bought for his son to teach patience. The lesson didn't take and the Captain found himself playing with the 1970's toy when he needed a distraction plus it allowed the captain to play his second most favourite game pissing off XO Peterson and he didn't have to wait long.

'I wish you would stop doing that.' Stated Executive Officer Jeanette Peterson, she was a hard faced woman with greying blonde hair scraped up into a tight pony tail.

'I wish you would stop doing that, Sir.' Corrected Captain Everson, in an amused tone. His XO was top notch they had a great working relationship but she bristled at her Captains random acts of boredom especially in front of the crew.

'We operate by following your example, sir.' Hissed the XO, in hushed tones. 'If you were a menial you would be locked in the brig for dereliction of duty.'

'Command has its perks.' Smirked the Captain, admittedly he enjoyed goading his XO more than he enjoyed playing with the toy. 'Besides I have nearly solved it.'

Now it was the XO's turn to smirk. 'You've been trying to solve it for four years, you're never going to do it.'

'Maximum speed reached.' Called out the helmsman. 'Decelerating now, time to intercept is four minutes.'

'Very good.' Stated the XO, breaking from her usual lesson of command etiquette. 'Appraise me when we reach visual range.' She then turned to the frigates Navigation Officers. 'I want a full reading of the asteroids make up as soon as we are within sensor range.'

Captain Everson grumbled to himself in frustration his XO was right he was never going to solve this thing, he was sure that the vid's he had seen of people solving the damn thing in under six seconds were fake, at this rate he would need another six years. The Captain knew that there were tutorials on how to solve it but he would rather drown in ignorance than stoop so low but he was still so frustrated as he had never managed to solve even one side of colours. Now and then his XO threatened to paint the sides to stop him from fiddling with it.

'Sir!' stated his XO in her sternest of tones not too far from a shout.

Captain Everson realised now that she must have been speaking to him for some time. 'Yes?'

'We have the readings from the asteroid.' Stated the XO, with concern written across her features.

'And?'

'It is metal.'

'Asteroids are often made up of metal.' Retorted the Captain, the smirk returning to his face as he still busied himself with the Rubik's cube. 'As well as rock ice and many other things.'

The XO moved so quickly that Captain Everson didn't see the blow coming, she slapped the Rubik's cube out of his hand it struck the deck and smashed into a dozen pieces.

'What did you do that for?' Asked the Captain. 'That was an antique!'

'It's all metal!' screamed the XO.

'No it's not its plastic, well it was you've broken it.'

'Not the damn Rubik's cube you dolt!' exclaimed the XO. 'The asteroid is metal, it is all metal. Not just that the metals registered are processed metals ones which do not occur in nature, do you get it now! We have a major problem here!'

A sudden shiver of fear traced its way down his spine as he realised why his XO was so bent out of shape. 'That can't be possible how can an asteroid have unnatural processed metals in it.'

XP Harrison shrugged. 'I don't know but this one bloody well has.'

Captain Everson took a moment to compose himself he looked to his bridge crew in turn they looked back at him with apprehension written across their faces as they knew what the asteroid could really be. The Captain looked to the smashed Rubik's cube and felt ashamed of his years of neglect, what they must think of him. From now on he would act like a Captain should and shelve his petty thoughts of being abandoned at the systems edge.

Captain Everson stood up from his command throne and kicked away the remains of the toy, he looked to his navigators. 'Could the sensor readings be wrong?'

'Negative, Captain.' Replied the Lead Navigation Officer. 'We have scanned several objects in the vicinity and they read as expected.'

'Very well.' Stated Captain Everson. 'Could the object be a friendly vessel that has not sent the correct handshake protocols with the sentinel's?'

'Unlikely, sir.' Put in the Lead Communications Officer. 'The object does not display any transponder or electrical signals whatsoever, well at least none that we can recognise. I also hasten to add that this object was tracked by the sentinels from the edge of the Oort cloud.

'I am fairly confident that if it is a craft it is not one of ours. I would like to add that we have tried to make contact with no response, we cannot even pick up electronic handshake protocols, the thing isn't even displaying transponder codes whatever it is its either inert or powered down.'

'Understood.' Stated the Captain, he could not believe what he was about to say, it took him several seconds to phrase the words. 'We are to beat to quarters, raise shields and warm up all weapons batteries. We may well be dealing with an unidentified craft of unknown origin.'

'Shall we report it to the Silent Citadel?' asked his XO, in a hushed tone. There were warning claxons sounding as the bridge was bathed in red light. The Master at Arms ordered the vessels standing compliment of a hundred marines to combat readiness they would be spreading themselves between the bridge, the reactor and boarding points.

'Negative.' Replied the Captain. 'We shall proceed with extreme caution and recon the object, if we aren't recording make sure we are now we need to catalogue this with picts and vids.'

'Captain under standard naval protocol upon detecting a vessel of unknown origin we are to report it to the nearest naval base as soon as it has been detected.'

'You do not need to quote regulations to me.' Retorted the Captain, the smirk returning to his face. 'I didn't spend all of my time playing with toys, you are right we shall report it in but just as soon as we know what we are dealing with. I am not about to report an unidentified object without seeing the thing first, it might well turn out to be a freak all metal asteroid after all 16 Psyche is still kicking around in the asteroid belt.'

The XO stared at him for several moments, he knew that she was not happy that they were not firing an immediate warning to the Silent Citadel, therefore he compromised. 'Have the Communications Officer prepare Disaster Protocol, in the event that we that we run into hostilities.'

'Very well, Captain.' Replied the XO, looking more satisfied.

The Disaster Protocol consisted of several messages in reinforced missiles being fired from cannons at several points in the frigate. These were manual weapons, using explosive charges therefore not needing electricity to be fired. It meant that aside from complete instant obliteration a ship could send a final message even without power. The missiles were EMP shielded and once they reached a reasonable safe distance the missile would deconstruct itself into a communications beacon and send the message.

'Coming into visual range in thirty seconds!' called out the helmsman.

'Approach the object at an oblique angle.' Stated the Captain, he didn't want to seem too keen. 'Conduct a flyby, keep us slow and steady, we don't want to seem in a hurry or that we have violent intent.'

'Aye, Aye.' Replied the helmsman as he corrected the Southsea Castles trajectory.

There was an eerie silence which settled on the bridge, even the constant thrum of the ships reactor seemed muted. Under standard protocol the helmsman would call out the distance and time to target but he like the rest of the crew were lost for words under the enormity of the situation.

'Bringing up an image of the object.' Stated the helmsman, his voice barely above a whisper.

The view screen of outside space on the colossal screen panned and zoomed for several moments nothing could be seen but the blackness of space and the stars, but then one star grew larger, it was immediately evident that it was not an asteroid. It was a ship that was obvious but the Navigators called out that its build pattern did not match any known USC build pattern.

It was still too far out for clear visibility but even from this distance the bridge crew could make out a vaguely isosceles shape. As Captain Everson stared at the growing shape a wave of recognition swept over him as he was sure he recognised her build profile but he couldn't be sure until they got closer.

'It's a ship.' Said the XO in a frantic hushed voice she looked to her captain. 'Daniel look it's a ship what do we do now?'

'We will proceed with extreme caution and reconnoitre her.' Replied the captain he turned to his weapons officer and operations officer. 'We are to keep at battle readiness If that ship so much as comes about I want to hit it with everything we have.'

'Aye captain.' Replied the helmsman and the weapons officers.

There was a silence in the air every one of the crew not assigned not essential tasks were looking at the growing shape looming on the viewscreen.

'Look at the ship its colossal.' Stated Jeanette, she then looked to her captain with fear in her eyes. 'Do you think they are aliens?'

'I don't know.' replied the captain, even though he had an inkling what it was he couldn't be sure.

'I bloody well hope not.' XO Peterson sighed. 'It looks like it is travelling backwards you would expect it would travel with its vertex angle to the fore, but its base is at the fore surely it would suffer from lack of drive coverage?'

'That as it may be.' Stated the Captain, he was straining his eyes to try and make out all the details of the ship. 'That as it may be.'

The Southsea Castle closed with the errant vessel and now he was sure he knew the identity of the vessel but he couldn't begin to fathom why it was back her, they said they would never come back. Despite evidently having the jump on his bridge crew, he felt nervous the butterflies were replaced by a pit of worry. Why was it back here they swore to never come back?

'Captain-' Stated the XO in hushed tones as she turned to face him she looked unable to form the words for several seconds. '-we may need to initiate First Contact.'

'It won't come to that.' replied Captain Everson.

The XO looked ashen. 'Sir you can't mean to say that you mean to fire on the vessel think of the implications?'

'No, Jeannette.' Soothed the Captain. 'I mean we won't have to initiate First Contact or fire on the vessel, well perhaps not yet for I know what the vessel is it certainly isn't alien it is of human origin.'

'That can't be right.' Cut in the Lead Navigation Officer. 'We have ran its profile through every known United Solar Council build record since records began we have come up with nothing.'

'That is because this vessel predates the formation of the United Solar Council and such it is missing from the meticulously kept records.' Replied Captain Everson, the feeling of unease growing as he could not theorize why the ship would have come back. 'The vessel was built during the days of the United Earth Council and the colonies ruling themselves as independent governments, even if you did have access to the records of the colonies or the UEC before unification the vessel would still not show up on their records either as it was an entirely private funded venture.'

'Put us out of our misery then.' said the XO. 'What is the name of the vessel?'

'You know of it.' Stated Captain Everson, he looked around the bridge with a barely concealed wry smile. 'You all know it for she is the Purest Intent.'

There were gasps of shock the vessel may have drifted out of the lime light and living memory but like the ill-fated RMS Titanic, the merest mention of its name brought the memory of the Purest Intent flooding back. It was an Arkship a privately funded project mostly by those who sailed upon her, their purpose to sail from their birth system and travel to Proxima Centauri the closest star system to sol there they colonise the system to be a kingdom a law unto themselves.

The journey of the Purest Intent had begun before the advent of more powerful sub-light fusion reactors and drives meaning it was a voyage that would take at least three centuries. It had flung itself free of the Oort Cloud over a hundred and fifty years ago and should have been more than half way to Proxima Centauri by now the captain thought to himself. What the hell was it doing back in the Solar system?

'It left what ninety years ago.' Stated his XO. 'It couldn't be back here could it?'

'It's been one hundred and fifty seven years.' Replied Captain Everson, he stared at the image of the vessel getting larger every second. The Purest Intent should be nowhere near here, he thought of the Titanic once more and felt a strong sense of foreboding. 'No it shouldn't be back here but that is the Purest Intent I am sure of it.'

'Should we ready the hospital deck and mess decks in case we need to bring people aboard?' asked the XO.

'Negative.' Replied the Captain, still staring at the ship. 'We are to stay at combat readiness.'

'Sir surely we cannot advance upon them with cannons at the ready they are our own.'

'Those aboard the Purest Intent when it left Sol.' Said Captain Everson. 'They publicly renounced their citizenship of the Sol system, they did not want to be ruled by the United Earth Council nor the fledgling colonies' they left to forge their own destiny, they would never come back to their cradle willingly. They do not answer our hails and seemed to be drifting dead in space, until we can communicate with them they are to be treated as hostile.'

'Very well Captain.' Replied his XO, several moments of silence hung between them. 'I wonder why they came back?'

Captain Everson shrugged. 'The only reason I could fathom is that their life support systems, hydroponic farms or propulsion units failed or all three. If they aren't ignoring us then their communications are down, plus it looks like they have no power. Like I've said I don't think they would come back willingly if they suffered catastrophic failure they may have turned they ship around and burned the last of their power to build up to a velocity which would bring them to sol via inertia alone.'

'You seem to know a lot about the Arkship.' Replied the XO, Jeanette found it endearing learning more about her superior officer, his eyes were alight with passion for the first time in years.

'Of course I do.' Replied Captain Everson, a smile forming thinking of his childhood memories. 'I loved learning about the Purest Intent when I was a child. I would run around the neighbourhood pretending I was the Captain and that the neighbourhood bullies were aliens, that got me into a fight or two I can tell you. The Purest Intent is what inspired me to join the navy.'

'It is them who we have to blame then?' asked the XO rhetorically, while nudging him playfully she had not seen this side of him before it was inspiring.

'It is them indeed.' Replied the Captain, enjoying the softening of his Executive Officers demeanour. Captain Everson then spoke to his Lead Navigator then his Helmsman. 'Keep scanning on all known frequencies for any sign of communication take us in slowly Helmsman I want a closer look at her. I want picts and vids taken from here on out we have to record this.'

As the Southsea Castle closed on the Purest Intent Captain Everson felt like a child again, sitting in his bedroom watching documentary vid's of the Arkship's construction and footage of her leaving for the Oort cloud and interstellar space beyond. Captain Everson recalled the final broadcast where her the leader of the civic government Robert Polson where he announced the name of the vessel, up until that point it had been shrouded in secrecy. Forever and always Captain Everson would remember Robert Polson's final words, "…it is with great pride that I announce the name of this vessel as it defines the very underpinning of our endeavour, I give you the Purest Intent."

Closing on the monster vessel it looked exactly as he remembered in those vid's at the time it was the largest vessel humanity had every created. In truth even today it was still one of the largest, it looked like a colossal spear head. It perplexed Captain Everson that it was travelling backwards but that was just one of many mysteries to be answered. The most important one being what the hell was it doing here?

The Southsea Castle closed to within three kilometres it now filled to view screen, it was gunmetal grey and unpainted. The Jovian Shipwrights knew that the Purest Intent needed no embellishment, the vessels sheer size more than stated her majesty. The frigate closed with its colossal flank Captain Everson noticed scorch marks across the vessels hull as well as hundreds of holes blown into her flank, the feeling of unease grew in the pit of the Captains stomach perhaps the Arkship had fell victim to micrometeorites.

Closing within a kilometre Captain Everson knew instantly now what the holes and scorch marks were, they were weapons fire, something had attacked the Purest Intent. Then another thought hit Captain Everson, in the response to this he thought he was going to hyperventilate. The thought was that the Arkship was not the only vessel to leave the Solar system on its illustrious voyage. It left with an escort of frigates, cruisers, battleships and two carriers, as well as several manufactorium vessels. If the Purest Intent was here then where the hell were they? Captain Everson now noticed three massive holes blown into the Arkship around these the metal had warped into ripples like a pebble dropped in a pond frozen in time.

'I want a closer look at those larger holes start with the one closest to the bow.' Ordered Captain Everson.

The helmsman did as he was ordered and the view screen increased in magnification so that it focussed on the hole in the bow. There were no scorch marks here nor explosive rents indicative of modern weapons the edge of the hole be is rippled was smooth unlike anything know human weapons could accomplish. Captain Everson now noticed something he could not appreciate before, through the centre of the hole, the captain could see starlight the Purest Intent had been holed through. Without needing to be ordered the helmsman panned to the two other holes they too holed through the Arkship, although the centre hole was the largest of the three.

'Do you think we should board her?' asked the XO, although she didn't look confident at the prospect.

'Not in this lifetime.' Retorted Captain Everson, suppressing a shiver.

'I can't believe I am hearing that from you.' Replied Jeanette. 'This could be your ticket to the front line if you find out what happened to the Arkship.'

'Look at her.' Replied the Captain, pointing at the gargantuan vessel. 'The Purest Intent was fired upon that is plain to see. The Arkship left with escorts they aren't here there may have been a civil conflict. What is more likely is that the Purest Intent has been attacked by something else.'

'Something else?' asked the XO dumbly, fear bleaching her face white.

'The three massive holes I cannot account for the ordnance used.' Replied the Captain, he couldn't believe he was going to have to speak the words out loud. 'We have to take into consideration that something else attacked the Arkship. We may well be dealing with an attack from an extra-terrestrial race that warping effect is beyond our means to manufacture not let alone when the colonists left.'

'What do we do?' asked his XO, Captain Everson had never seen Jeanette look so worried. It very nearly unmanned him as she was normally so stoic.

'This is a sensitive situation.' Stated Captain Everson, looking at the view screen, he then looked back at his XO, he looked like a changed man. 'We need to tread carefully.'

There was a silence settle across the bridge with only the whirr of the bridges machinery and the muted tapping of commands into consoles. Captain Everson was enormously proud of his bridge crew in these few moments not one of them looked up from their tasks or swept up in the enormity of the situation. The same could not be said for the captain and his XO their orders being followed they were left to gawp at the ghost ship before them.

The XO closed to stand at her captains' shoulder and whispered. 'Should we send in drones to take a look?'

Captain Everson thought for a long moment sending in drones would significantly reduce the risk of casualties but his counter thought overruled the first he spoke this out loud returning the whisper. 'We have no idea what happened to her or what's still in there. If there is something in there I don't want to be the one to find it, as soon as I report this in military intelligence will be all over it I won't have my ship impounded and my crew arrested by the Security Council.'

'We might be arrested anyway.' Replied his XO, with a daunted look. 'If Director Sagittar wants this to be kept a secret we could be detained indefinitely.'

'I still won't send in drones.' Replied the captain. 'Although I would like to have as much information as I can for when I make my report. Scan her with our high-gain gear see if we can get a picture of what shape she is in. Then take us out to three kilometres and follow her bow. You have the bridge I will be in my state room, apprise me when we are clear. Send the captured picts, vids and scans to my personal terminal.'

Without another word Captain Everson left the bridge he entered the stateroom an anteroom off the bridge, he ignored his desk and trappings of command. Instead he opened a wall safe which was unknown even to his XO, it was a feature of all ships in the Asteroid Breaker Fleet although its existence was known only to their Captains.

In it was a secure line to encrypted relay beacons that fed the Security Council headquarters built deep within the bowels of Olympus Mons on Mars. With the appearance of the Arkship, Captain Everson almost forgot about his duties as Captain. Now he had to tell military intelligence of their contact with the Arkship, more than that he had to tell them about what he suspected had attacked her.

The wall safe on any breaker fleet had never been used for it was only to be used when there was a potential contact with extra-terrestrial life, the wall safes had never been used as no one actually thought that aliens even if they existed would never happen across their system for intergalactic space was just too big. Now it looked as though the Purest Intent had made First Contact and it didn't look to have gone very well, not well at all.

Captain Everson typed a series of commands into the secure line and upon receiving the connection tone he delivered his message. 'This is Captain Daniel Everson, commanding officer of the Southsea Castle a frigate in the Asteroid Breaker flotilla stationed at the starport Silent Citadel in orbit around Pluto. We were sent to reconnoitre an errant asteroid sum twenty six kilometres in diameter.

'We have intercepted the asteroid, I now report that it is not an asteroid, I repeat it is not an asteroid. The mass is a vessel of human design, the vessel is the Purest Intent. I repeat the vessel is the Arkship Purest Intent. It has entered the Solar system, it is travelling with its stern to the fore. I repeat it is travelling backwards, though I fear not under its own power.

'The Purest Intent has entered Sol alone it is not accompanied by any of its escorts and it has been attacked. The damage done to the vessels flanks do not match any known ordinance carried by the Purest Intent or its escorts when they left on their voyage to Proxima Centauri.

'I therefore have to assume that the Arkship Purest Intent has been attacked by extra-terrestrials. I repeat I believe that the Purest Intent has been attacked by extra-terrestrials. I am sending vids and picts of the damage done to the Arkship, we are following the vessel as it heads towards the Silent Sentinels, we are awaiting further orders.'

Captain Everson left the safe open to await further orders he just sat on the deck he felt overwhelmed here he was at the systems edge thinking he had been abandoned. Now he was at the forefront of potentially the greatest discovery ever. Worse still humanity might be embroiled in an interstellar war and had only just found out over a century and a half later.