"Well, we're approaching the location of the ship that Andromeda's sensors picked up," Beka said over her shoulder as she piloted the Eureka Maru. "But I don't see anything yet."
"It's there," Rommie said from the Maru's sensor station. "My sensors are still reading it." She closed her eyes, as if taking a moment to process the information that her shipboard AI was sending her. "It's on the other side of that asteroid," she said finally, raising an arm to point at a large, slowly rotating mountain of stone that floated straight ahead.
"Any idea yet if it is, in fact, the Valkyrie Hammer?" Dylan asked from where he stood next to Rommie.
"I'm not certain," the android replied. "It's definitely a frigate, and she appears to be a modified Golden Dawn-class, but all of her systems are down; she's not transmitting any sort of identification or even energy emissions that would allow me to make a positive ID."
"We'll know soon enough," Beka added. "We're almost over that asteroid." She gently throttled back on the freighter's engines as they approached the rocky, uneven horizon of the giant boulder.
At first, there was nothing to be seen except more space filled with whirling, careening asteroids. Then, first once, then twice, something flashed brilliantly in the light of the distant brown dwarf star.
"There!" Dylan exclaimed. "What was that?"
Without needing to hear an order, Beka directed the Maru toward the flash. As they approached, whatever it was continued to reflect the light of the sun, twinkling as if it were rotating or spinning.
"I believe that would be the ship," Rommie replied finally. "The Maru's sensors aren't as good as mine, but I should have a composite image in a few seconds." She ignored Beka's pointed glare at the comment as her fingers danced over the display screens in front of her. "Bringing up an image now."
She touched one last button, and an image of a vessel appeared on one of the screens. Dylan crouched next to her to study it. "Well, it's certainly High Guard, or was," he murmured. "I recognize the hull style. But her specific configuration is different from any other Golden Dawn-class that I remember. She's got more missile ports and an entire extra bank of PDLs." He whistled. "Check out those engine modifications. She would have been almost as fast as you, Rommie."
"That's definitely not standard High Guard configuration," Rommie added. "I don't recognize her; she must have been commissioned after our run-in with the black hole at Ephestus. But her specs match the one that Beka's informant supplied. It's the Valkyrie Hammer."
"Is there anything in the vicinity that would prevent us from reaching her safely?" Dylan asked.
"I'm not detecting any sort of hazards, natural or otherwise, in her immediate vicinity. If her hangar is empty, we might be able to land the Maru inside, but it would be a tight fit."
"Hey, I'm up to the challenge," Beka piped. "Just give the word, boss."
Dylan gave a small smile at that. "All right, take us in."
Beka increased the Maru's speed, and gradually, the flashing object grew closer and larger. Soon, it took on the shape of a ship. Even though it had been High Guard, it looked nothing like the Andromeda Ascendant. The Valkyrie Hammer was long and slender, sculpted with fluid curves and flowing, rounded edges. Her length was studded with missile ports and point defense laser systems, along with antennae for enhanced sensor systems. Starting at the lower aft section of the ship were several long protrusions that curved forward, out, and down, ending in sharp points that resembled talons. With four on each side, they looked to be weapons systems of some sort. At the far aft end of the ship were her engines. The hull plating over them was discolored, as if they were of a different material from the rest of the ship, and they looked almost too big in proportion to the rest of the hull.
"She's pretty," Beka commented. "If you can call Death incarnate pretty."
"She was definitely made for killing," Dylan replied, his voice distant as he studied the ship, which was slowly growing larger as they approached. "They've moved her hangar bay. It's not on the upper hull like it should be."
"I'm reading a hangar-sized opening on the lower hull," Rommie supplied. "Between those... blades."
"Let's go take a look," Beka added. Twisting the control sticks in her hands, she put the Maru into a slow, rolling dive. Moments later, the lower portion of the ship came into view, and the hangar of the Valkyrie Hammer was framed by the Maru's cockpit viewport. Beka reached overhead to flip a pair of switches, and powerful white lights streamed out from the Maru to probe the black depths of the hangar. "Looks like it's empty. I'm taking us in."
"Nice and slow," Dylan urged.
"Hey, no backseat piloting," she muttered as she manipulated the controls with careful movements.
Under her expert guidance, the battered freighter slipped slowly forward between the extended blades on either side, until its nose was hovering just in front of the hangar opening. Beka brought the ship to a halt, made another sweep with the lights, then started forward again. The Maru's engines hummed with power that begged to be released, but Beka knew better than to let her ship have its way in this particular situation. Gritting her teeth in concentration, she edged the ship forward a bit more.
"Beka, I'm not sure that –" Rommie began.
"I got it," Beka cut her off softly. "Just sit tight; I got it."
The Maru continued forward, centimeter by perilous centimeter. The rear wall of the hangar loomed out of the darkness, but Beka didn't brake the ship until the cockpit was a mere meter from it. Finally, she hit the thrusters and set the Maru down on the hangar deck with a dull thud. Breathing a soft sight of relief, she unfastened her safety harness, then stood and turned to face Dylan and Rommie.
"See, I told ya," she piped.
Dylan grinned while trying to inconspicuously wipe sweat from his forehead. "Good work, Beka. I knew we could count on you."
Beka saw him and chuckled. "Mmm-hmm, sure you did."
"Rommie, how's the atmosphere outside the Maru?" Dylan asked, changing the subject before Beka could get any more jibes in.
"Nonexistent," the android replied. "The hangar's magnetic field has failed; it's open vacuum out there. I can't be sure of the rest of the ship, but we'll need EV suits for the first part of our field trip, anyway."
"You did have Harper fix the EV suits?" Dylan asked, looking to Beka.
"Yeah, he finally got around to it," she replied. "I think I've got four of them fully functional onboard now."
"Right, let's get suited up."
