Chromium

12.2

First draft.

Dia followed Reyes when he went back to the bridge. Then she opened her eyes wide, a ragged breath escaping her mouth as the Nostromus rose, leaving the planet's atmosphere. She bit her lips until she tasted blood in her mouth, but without avail. The terrifying spectacle before her was real. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of heavy cruisers placed all around the planet. It was like a ring, a giant snake surrounding Daxum.

A blockade.

Her knees were starting to buckle when Reyes grabbed her arm, forcing her to sit, but Dia didn't even notice it. She kept looking at the Collective's ships. They were getting closer. She leaned against the back of her chair, her panic rising as her nails dug into the leather of the armchair. However, the Collective's cruisers were stationary, and it was their ship, the Nostromus, which was going directly toward them.

"Are you mad?!" She hissed when she finally came back to her senses, "They will see us!"

Reyes just glanced at her before looking at Mitchell, "Status report."

"Stealth mode is active, and the Hyperdrive's silent propulsion is stable, captain." Mitchell replied without looking at him, her fingers moving quickly on the navigation system's keyboard, "According to the data, the enemy's sensors are unable to detect us."

"It's working." Reyes said like he couldn't believe it, "It's really working."

He clenched his fists, his face betraying his excitement. Dia, on the other hand, looked shocked, confused and angry. Very angry.

"Reyes, what the heck is going on? Silent propulsion system?! Chair?"

Reyes knitted his eyebrows, staring dispassionately at her, "It's a cloaking device, Dia."

"Impossible." Dia flatly denied, shaking her head vigorously, "The Syndicate didn't have the resources to develop something like this. Not even the Umbra is..."

"You're right. No Spice Lord could come up with something like this. The Empire, on the other hand..."

"The Empire? But how..." She halted, her lips trembling as she remembered what Reyes had told her, "Don't tell me this ship..."

He nodded, "It happened a few months ago. One of our ships detected an energy signature. It originated from an asteroid field, not far from here. The Umbra suspected it belonged to an enemy Spice Lord and sent a team to investigate."

Dia's breath quickened, "It wasn't another Spice Lord."

Reyes shook his head, "No, it wasn't. It was imperial. It looked like a Corvette-class starship, but it was heavily armed, and its shape was odd. It didn't take us long to figure out it was some kind of prototype. Probably the Empire sent it here to test the cloaking device, but something went wrong."

Dia furrowed her brows, "Wrong?"

"It was the engine containment field. It had collapsed, Dia. The Hyperdrive was still leaking antimatter when we boarded the ship."

"Antimatter?" Dia's blood turned cold, "Then the crew's members..."

"Dead, all of them." He replied grimly, without sugarcoating the truth, "Their bodies showed sign of decay."

Dia winced, "Decay?"

"They had been exposed to a massive dose of radiation." He shook his head, "A bad way to go."

Dia took in a sharp breath. She wasn't a tech, but she knew what that meant. However, there was something about Reyes' explanation that didn't quite add up.