“As you can see, Admiral, the remaining crew from the Atropos III sent these moments before the ship self-destructed.” said a tall, balding man wearing the signature blue republic navy uniform. “In the emperors’ name, I order you, Captain Leon Pascal, to locate, examine, then destroy that meteor.” 

“Thank you, Sir,” replied Captain Pascal. 

The Atropos V, which had received the distress call, had its orders. They knew the last know location. Captain Pascal has started to prepare for the destruction of the meteor. He called in Corporal Jones, a skinny little man, hair singed short. “You’re the best demolition man on this side of Tio. I’m tasking you with creating a plan to destroy a platinum meteor. I will have all information you require sent to your workshop.” 

“Thank you, Sir.” 

The next few days passed quickly as Corporal Jones devised a plan. After a few days, the little man rushed into the Captains’ chambers. He was holding a large display board that almost crush the man under its weight. “Captain, where can I put this? Sir.” 

“What are you doing, man? If you must, leave it on the floor.”  

Corporal Jones shifted the board off his back on to the floor, losing a handful of components. He then crawled around the room, picking up all the little pieces that had fallen. A pair of shock troopers entered the room with haste. ” You can’t barge in here!” said the taller one on the left. The Captain raised an open palm towards the troopers. “Let him finish.” 

The presentation showed the Atropos V, the meteor; a modified giant drill; 9 escape pods attached with course correctors. The corporal said, “The Atropos V is far too large to land on the meteor, so we’ll have to send these down from a close orbit. Sir.” Captain Pascal sat on the edge of his bed, he had slept in a regular troop room, but he doesn’t share his top bunk. “Start construction; this order came from the Admiral himself. We will be there in 10 days. Why do you need all the course correctors?”  

“The escape pods can’t take off once they’ve landed. Best not leave the boys stranded on a rock that is about to blow, Sir,” replied the corporal. 

“How many men does this plan take?” 

“Twelve and myself. The drill is complicated on a good day, but it will blow up once it reached deep enough. Better safe than sorry, Sir.” replied the corporal. 

“Right, can we send one other man down with you? Also, how long will you be on the meteor?” 

“One extra man can’t hurt. No more than two hours, Sir,” replied the corporal. The corporal saluted and left. The Captain wrote a small letter and had the troopers deliver it to Dr Townsend. The note read, ‘Dr, I will need your expertise on the meteor. Understanding this sickness is a priority. I will have a drone sent to you. Recover the Atropos III’s Captains corpse if possible. Please see Corporal Jones for debriefing.’ 

The construction of the modified giant drill and enhanced escape pods happened over just eight days. The engineers of Atropos V were unmatched in this quadrant of the Republic. The Captain wrote to many correspondents on their mission but did not contact the Admiral directly until the day they saw the meteor. 

The meteor drifted lifelessly through space on course to impact Tio in 178 days. Tio being the planet capital of the quadrant. On the first scan, the meteor was just as described. The Captain brought the communication droid to the hanger where the operation was to launch. He opened a direct line to the Admiral.  

“Good morning Admiral, we have successfully located the meteor. Corporal Jones quickly arranged a plan for demolition on the way here. I believe it will work, Sir,” the Captain said proudly, with six drill technicians, six shock troopers, Corporal Jones and Dr Townsend standing behind him. Dr Townsend was a sickly-looking man, clearly sleep-deprived. He was wearing his lab coat and wire-framed glasses. “Excellent, why is the doctor necessary for demolition?” the Admiral replied. 

“The good doctor is going to make sure the team do not expose them to this ‘sickness’ unnecessarily, Sir.” 

“Okay, I will say this now. I know your relation to the Captain of the Atropos III. You will accept that your brother will not receive a proper funeral. You will wear navy approved protection suits. If you do not and return to the Atropos V. The Closest vessel will be given the same orders you were given for the meteor but for your ship. Do we have an understanding?” All crew present snap into a salute and bark in return, “Yes, sir.” 

Alarm’s flash, blasting warnings all over the ship. A young man holding a laptop runs up to the Captain. He looks up into the communication droid’s camera, then back at the boy. “What is it?” 

“Sir, an old republic mining rig is heading straight for us. They’ve asked for open communication, Sir,” the boy replied while raising the laptop towards the Captain. He calmed himself with a deep breath, then accepted the call. A voice the Captain recognised. “Brother, is that you? My crew betrayed us. The cook rebled with a small group of men stealing the ship. He killed the Lieutenant. We used the course correctors to chase them down, but we used all but a small amount of fuel. I’m so glad to see you. Pull us in. We don’t have any manoeuvrability in this old ship.” The Captain stood mouth open. He looked towards the Admiral’s hologram sitting behind his desk, unfazed. “Sir?” 

“Well, this a welcomed surprise. Pull them in,” the Admiral replied. 

Two smaller ships brought the old republic mining rig into the hanger that the Captain already resided. It came in smoothly. The Captain called into the ship, “Was there a sickness, brother?” 

“Sickness? Those cowards must not have wanted our story to get out. We are all healthy, the door is sealed shut. Give us a hand, won’t you?” 

The Captain gestured to the shook troopers to open the doors. The six men went up to the door, using a large crowbar. They cracked the doors open. Inside, a stream of dead decomposing men came rushing out. They tore at the necks of the shock troopers before they even got their guns up. A small hoard of around thirty dead men filtered out in a mad haze. The men who had gathered here rushed away like ants, but the Captain stood still. The Captain of the Atropos III strolled out of the vessel, very much so dead. His face torn off, only leaving his uniform to recognise him, “Join us, brother.” 

The Atropos V Captain drew his sword and cut down seven dead men before being knocked to the ground by a charging man who didn’t have any hands. The handless man used his teeth the bite into the shoulder of the Captain. The Captain thrust his sword through the man’s head. The Captain tried to stand but couldn’t make it off his knees. “Brother, your fight is over. We can be free now.” The Captain looked back at the communication droid solemnly. Without a word, he stabbed himself through his chest.  

The video feed lasted three more minutes. In this time, every man who had died rose to their feet—equipped any weapon they had previously used to defend themself and ran off. The Admiral could hear the battle in the distance. The Captain of Atropos III waited for Captain Leon Pascal. He stood idle for two minutes and thirty seconds, and then he rose. Leon Pascal got to his feet, pulled the sword out of his chest, and looked over at the communication droid. “Admiral, we will see you soon. “After he speaks, he moves. With a large downward swing of his sword, the communication ends. 

The Admiral left sitting in his office alone, in front of a blank screen. He picks up the phone. “This is Admiral Lorenzo. Please forward my call to the Emperor. It is an emergency.”