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I was back in Pyro, on the moon Vuur. Friedrich Winters’ expedition was continuing its search for minerals that were crucial to solving the regeneration crisis. During my absence, the expedition had suffered another heavy loss. Alaska’s Hercules transport ship had been destroyed. I met the group aboard a Starfarer that Hermieoth had found and was now serving as the expedition headquarters.

There was a strange, almost eerie atmosphere on board. Some systems weren’t working, some corridors were pitch black, and the mess hall was dimly lit. There were glow sticks on the table, giving off a pink light.

“My goodness – it looks like a Rough & Ready bar in here,” I said as I entered the mess hall.

“Makes you feel right at home,” replied Pike snappishly, who had spent six months on Gaslight Station against his will.

Hermieoth, Alaska, and Pike were sitting at the table, Friedrich and Brubacker were standing next to it. And then there was one more person I didn’t know. Standing slightly apart against the wall was a woman in combat gear—white hair, rigid posture, grenades on her chest, rifle on her back. Her gaze: stern and straight ahead. I took a few steps toward her and looked at her.

“And who is this new face?”

“My name is Lyrana Sorell. I have been commissioned by Citizens for Prosperity to ensure that the mission is a success.”

The watchdog, I thought. I had read her file.

“What do you mean, ‘ensure that it is a success’?” I pressed in a serious tone. “A goad, perhaps? It’s like the megacorps.”

Lyrana looked at me, taken aback.

“No, I’m here for your safety.”

She then explained that she was from Orbituary, had skills in reconnaissance, airspace surveillance, and tactical response, and wanted to use them to protect us. Everything she said matched the entries in her file. Nevertheless, I remained skeptical and didn’t mention that I had background information on her.

“Can I trust the Tin Soldier and speak openly?”

“Yes, Lyrana has helped us many times before,” Brubacker replied.

Then I told them about my trip to the Stanton system. About the sale of the minerals mined so far, that Kjeld considered my suspicion that ENOS and the regeneration crisis were related to be highly speculative, the race between the mega-corps in the Second-Live Initiative, and the secret research of ASD in Pyro. I paused my report for a few seconds, furrowed my brow, and took a deep breath.

“And then there’s this. Hurston Dynamics is secretly developing flight blades to make space fighters even more deadly. Some have been sold to pirate groups in Pyro for field testing. In the end, it’s all about profit again.”

“Thanks for the report, Zero,” said Friedrich. “Regardless of all that, I want to stick with the mission. And I found Günter, our mascot, again. We can continue and build on our recent successes.”

Then he placed a live maggot on the table. Irritated, I looked at the thick, slimy creature. It was sprawled out on the tabletop like a cat. A joyful murmur went through the group. Stunned, I looked around.

“Guys, have you been inhaling mushroom spores? You’re completely out of balance.”

Shaking my head, I left the fair. Behind me, the joy over Günter was clearly audible. Shortly thereafter, we took off to search for minerals on Vuur. We didn’t find many, but I did discover a lot of sensor signals from Valakaare. While the others mined the few minerals, I landed to go on the honorable hunt. I had just stepped out of the spaceship when Friedrich warned us that a solar storm would reach the moon in a few minutes. I ignored the warning and started luring the Valakaare out of the ground.

I hopped wildly across the sand. Suddenly, the ground vibrated and a young Valakaar shot up right in front of me. Startled, I backed away, lost my balance, and fell on my back. The sandworm reared up. Three meters above me, its fangs flashed, and it hurled matter at me from its mouth. A painful sting shot through my chest. Then the laser beam from my Ripper SMG hit the worm. At that moment, a second one appeared and spat at me. The first one retreated into the sand. Shooting, I crawled behind a rock and reloaded.

From my cover, I watched the second Valakaar dance back and forth. Without warning, I suddenly heard a scream and felt a violent blow to my back. The first Valakaar had emerged from the sand behind me and attacked me. I spun around and fired. The second Valakaar appeared next to the first. My rifle hummed in continuous fire, the laser darting back and forth between the sandworms. Then my weapon fell silent. Cursing, I took cover behind the rock again. The two sandworms moved their heads back and forth menacingly, trying to reach me while I searched my pockets for ammunition. I had none left. My chances were slim.

I was still weighing my options when suddenly a staccato of shots rang out. Both Valakaars fell to the ground. It was Lyrana who had rushed to my aid. I looked at her in amazement.

“You are a good hunter. Now you must honor the Valakaars.”

“How?” she asked frantically.

“Take a handful of sand and sprinkle it over the Valakaare’s heads. Then remove their fangs and take them as prey.”

Lyrana did as I told her. She was a little frantic and showed little reverence, but at least she respected the tradition of the desert peoples. Then she looked at me with stern eyes.

“Now let’s get out of here! The solar storm will hit us any second.”

No sooner had I taken off than the solar flare broke over us – like a firestorm of particles. Through the crackling radio, I heard Lyrana in her Gladius and the others in the Starfarer having problems with their ship systems. The last thing I heard on the radio were fragments of Friedrich’s words.

“… Pull up … Orbit … Vadra …”

I pulled on the steering wheel. Roaring, the engines pushed the Starlancer steeply upward. The stars completely filled the narrow, slit-like cockpit window. The screens flickered wildly – error messages flashed and disappeared. Then I set my sights on a point in the moon’s orbit. As soon as I left the atmosphere, I activated the quantum drive. The Starlancer jumped. Silence returned. I was in space, surrounded by asteroids, hundreds of kilometers from the moon. The navigation computer had burned out and taken me to the wrong place.

I didn’t know what had become of the others. Friedrich’s last word was still ringing in my ears – ‘Vadra’. That was another moon of the gas giant Pyro V. Presumably, that’s where he wanted to go. Using manual navigation, I set off in the hope of meeting the others there. With more luck than skill, I reached Vadra and found an old scrap yard near a settlement of the Headhunters, a gang that was not to be trifled with. The proximity to the Headhunters was a risk, but I landed anyway. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find computer circuit boards at the junkyard that I could use to repair the navigation computer.

It was bitterly cold. The temperatures on Vadra were below minus 100 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, I had a special suit for extreme temperatures on board. I cautiously approached the junkyard on foot, which turned out to be an old, dilapidated settlement with piles of scrap metal, boxes, and collapsed buildings. Was it abandoned? Maybe. Was I safe? No. To get an overview, I climbed a tower.

From above, I could see the full extent of the old settlement. It was larger than I had initially assumed. Then I noticed a dot on the horizon that was getting bigger. The dot turned out to be a spaceship that was rapidly approaching. I strained my eyes in that direction – it was a fighter. A shiver ran down my spine. Was the settlement not abandoned after all? Or had the Headhunters spotted me? Then there was a crackle on the radio – Lyrana’s voice. I breathed a sigh of relief. She had located my Starlancer and was coming to back me up. A few minutes later, the Starfarer landed with the others on board. Together, we searched the old settlement and found supplies as well as computer circuit boards that I could use to repair the navigation computer.

Alaska and I were looking at a destroyed wall with a symbol consisting of three rings, which we recognized from the ruined settlements of the first Stanton settlers, when Lyrana returned from a reconnaissance flight from the Headhunter settlement.

“Hey guys, that was strange. The Headhunters’ defense towers didn’t fire at me. The friend-or-foe identification system identified me as a friend.”

A shock wave raced through my body. What had Lyrana just said? That couldn’t be true. Was my skepticism toward her justified after all? Just a few minutes ago, Lyrana had told me that she had initially suspected that I was a risk to the expedition because of my sudden departure for Stanton. And now this.

“What the hell do you have to do with the Headhunters? Could it be that YOU are a risk to the expedition?”

“Nothing. I don’t know what happened either. Zero, can you please examine my Gladius and find out why the Headhunters recognize me as a friend? I can’t explain it.”

“But let’s get out of here first,” Alaska warned. “The settlement doesn’t look completely abandoned. We should leave before someone comes back.”

After we changed locations, I took a close look at Lyrana’s Gladius. I wasn’t sure if I was surprised, but I did find something. A specific circuit board had sent the friend signal to the Headhunters. I pulled the chip out of the circuit board socket. Underneath it was written ‘HD Flight Blade Prototype TX0010’. It was one of the Flight Blade prototypes that Hurston Dynamics had sold to pirate groups in Pyro. I carefully put the chip back into the socket and the circuit board back into the slot. Then I reported to the group, but not everything.

“I found the cause. The Gladius has a circuit board installed that sent the friend signal to the Headhunters.”

A heated discussion ensued. Brubacker in particular was furious. Lyrana tried to defend herself.

“Guys, I want to be completely transparent. I found the Gladius in a freighter that had fallen out of the jump tunnel, abandoned and without power. After salvaging it, I took possession of the Gladius. I didn’t install the circuit board.”

That was consistent with what I had read about her. Nevertheless, I continued to keep quiet about the fact that I knew her file and that the circuit board was from Huston Dynamics. Her story seemed familiar to me. I, too, had appropriated spaceships that I had found. You can keep what you find, says the law of the desert. And as for the entry in the file about her poor group dynamics, Brubacker had said that I had that too. Was Lyrana trustworthy after all? At least she had been helpful so far. I decided to end the heated discussion.

“Listen, we’ve just been through a sandstorm and been scratched by the sand. It’s better to sleep now and let everything settle. Then we’ll have a clearer head to find our center again.”

Later, I told Brubacker and Friedrich about the file on Lyrana and that the circuit board came from Hurston Dynamics. We decided to believe her, but still wanted to remain cautious.

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