Deep within the cargo transport Alueskan, the ship's engineer Sergei was scrolling through data reports when something caught his eye. His world was usually grease and alloy; keeping a small ship running was a full time job for anyone, and the Alueskan was barely hanging on by a thread, demanding his attention several times a day to avert a crisis. But he always found the time to check the scans. There were no windows so deep in the ship, no viewports to the starlit expanse that they soared through on the invisible winds of the hard-light engine, at speeds that put meteors to shame. He had to do with the next best thing; the digital picture of their surroundings that the ship updated periodically to avoid collisions and ensure they remained on track. Within that raw data was a picture of the world outside of the engine room, and he had long ago figured out how to convert it into a visual scene that was, if not as good as the view from the flight deck, the next best thing. He never missed a chance to load it up to the small holo-projector he owned, and take in the majesty of the stars and the planets that they flew by without a thought.

But this time, there was an anomaly. Far to the side, almost at the edge of the horizon, a notification light blinked, briefly, and went out. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to examine it, pulling up the logs as he went and scrolling through them. There. The previous scan data found something for just a second, and then discarded it. He looked again at the section where the light had been, and saw nothing there at all save for the black of space. "An error in the scanning calibration?" he muttered to himself as he checked and re-checked the data. And then he saw it. "No... something else." He pulled the earlier scan results and froze it before zooming in on an isolated section of the image, bringing a small shadow into relief against the backdrop of a star. He breathed out a low whistle as he examined it "What is... that?"

Up on the main deck an argument was brewing. Captain Hugo stared down at the rebellious scowl on the face of his pilot as he repeated his order for a second time "We can't afford any shore leave time at Masrow Station. You've seen the schedule-" Rodrigo slammed his hand on the navigation console causing a dangerous static to override their flight parameters momentarily "I have seen the schedule. Two weeks! It's two weeks to the next station and we're just supposed to stay cooped up inside for all of it?". Secretly, Hugo sympathized with him more than he knew, but any delays would cost them money, something in short supply for them. "There's nothing even there anyways, it's a mining platform! What?! You want leave to walk around and stare at rocks for a few days?". "Maybe I do. It's my right!". Hugo waited for him to appeal to the most sacred rule that existed out of civilized law and point to the contract, which might actually require that he eat some losses to give them a few days, but before it could get that far they were mercifully interrupted.

"Captain!" Sergei stumbled up the stairs and stood gasping at the top, wiping sweat down the stubble of his shaved skull with a grease-stained rag that might have actually left him dirtier than before. "I have something to report" He managed to get out in between strained breaths, before finally composing himself enough to offer an explanation. "Look at this" he pushed the anomalous scan and his notations into the group feed with a wave, and the captain and Rodrigo both felt pings from their implants as the data loaded. He waited expectantly as they reviewed it before losing patience and pulling it into the main holo-projector. As the light spun up and exploded outwards painting the room in a vivid gold depiction of the surrounding stars, he isolated the same region he had before and pointed to it in triumph. "See, right there...".

But they didn't see. Both Hugo and Rodrigo stared at the scan for several seconds trying to puzzle out what the strange little engineer was trying to tell them. It was unusual for Sergei to come out of his room by the engine, potentially dangerous and irresponsible while they were in hard burn, so whatever it was he saw he must have considered extremely important. "Wait a second, that-" Rodrigo pointed to the shadow against the star "What the hell's that doing there. That's not in the nav data". "An anomaly?" Hugo asked "Not that unusual though, we see undetected asteroids and debris all the time, it's inevitable that the maps don't-" Sergei interrupted him "Ship-system, repeat profile analysis on object tagged EE-01". The automated voice piped out of the speakers almost immediately "Object EE-01, object class 'artificial', object material unknown, object age unknown, projected path unknown, historical data not found, no further information"

There was a brief silence as they processed that. Hugo looked between the two crewmen and knew from their sudden focus that this was something serious, but regardless of what it was it could only distract them from their true purpose; meeting their deadlines and completing their deliveries. "What's the fuss, it's just a shadow on a scan" He waved his hand "You should both get back to work and stop wasting time with this." Rodrigo shook his head "No way boss, don't you get it?" Sergei joined in "It's artificial, the profile-" He searched for the right words "It's not an asteroid or something, somebody made that. And there's no record of it at all, do you know how rare that is?". "So what? So it's artificial. Probably just some forgotten junk floating out there. And space junk doesn't pay ship repairs, doesn't pay for database updates, and doesn't pay for your salaries." He glowered at them and opened his mouth to order them back to work when Rodrigo interrupted him again "Actually, it might." Hugo's confusion was obvious so he continued "You still don't get it, it's salvage" He emphasized the last word, and although Hugo knew it was an attempt to manipulate him, he couldn't deny the allure of the word. The free trading rights charter allowed full salvage claim to the discoverer in isolated regions like this, which could be incredibly lucrative. As well as a welcome break from their mind-numbing routine. Maybe it would even shut Rodrigo up about leave for a while.

He stroked his beard and concentrated on the shadow, really paying attention to it for the first time. "Could it be pirates?". Rodrigo slumped back and looked at him skeptically "That's pretty far away from the shipping lanes, and there's no settlements or anything out there. It looks like just empty space, why would they be out that far? Nobody to pirate from." "They could be using it as a base to launch attacks on the lane" Rodrigo shook his head "Too far away, and no good cover. If there was an asteroid field or a moon out there maybe... But there's just nothing." Sergei piped in "Ship-system, query recent pirate attacks in the current shipping lane, time span two years. Send results to general feed" The men heard a prompt notification in the feed as the information was pushed through. "Hmmm, nothing much, certainly nothing to suggest anything as large as a base." Hugo was coming around to the idea more and more, but something still bothered him about it. "What about a bait ship, a lure to get us out there and isolated from help. Pirates have been known to do that."

Rodrigo piped in "Strike two. If it was a bait ship why make it so hard to find? We only found it because Sergei is a degenerate scan watcher, and even then it only shows up on a few frames. I bet for most of its orbit it's floating dark out there. The odds of someone else seeing it and noticing?" He counted down on his fingers in a mockery of calculation "I think... piss poor!". Sergei nodded in agreement "Even most ship-systems would write it off as debris and forget about it."

"Agreed" An imposing figure stepped out of the shadows where she'd been listening. Hugo couldn't help but jump at the sudden entrance, her silent footsteps a reminder of her function on the team. Security. "Jesus Mira, would it kill you to stomp a little bit? One of these times you're going to give me a heart attack. She grinned in response, a wolfish expression with no remorse in it at all "Have to stay sharp somehow, I can't even remember the last time we got attacked." She paced forward to join them "I can't say I understand exactly what it is, but I say we go for it. And if there are pirates out there... Well I wouldn't mind the chance to shake the rust off my armor." Sergei looked on in fear "You don't really think it's pirates... do you?"

Rodrigo looked up at Hugo "In the end it's your call. It's out of the way, and we'll miss the deadline by a few days, but we can just tell them we had engine trouble or something. It's not like they can refuse the cargo way out there, their next delivery won't be for another month." Hugo grumbled "But we can say goodbye to the bonus". "Imagine the bonus on that thing" Rodrigo said "Full salvage rights? Could be life changing. Your decision boss, but I think you've got three yes-votes here." He looked around to confirming nods from Sergei and Mira. Hugo sighed "How far out is it?" "22 hours, maybe less if we push it" Rodrigo said. Hugo relented. "Somehow I feel like I'm going to regret this, but plot a course. Let's at least take a look at it. Stay quiet though, and keep scan on max range and high alert. I don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

Rodrigo pumped a fist in the air and started rapidly entering figures into the nav console "Yes! Thank you Lord for a distraction! Finally!". Mira looked eager, and Hugo could feel himself starting to feel that way as well. It was only Sergei who wore a worried look on his face as he retreated back down the darkness of the stairs to the engine room.