It wasn't long before it happened again.
Amidst a wave of shock, the Space Agency once more received a transmission—the unmistakable signal that another spacecraft had been destroyed.
The Director's furious roar echoed throughout the control room:
"What the hell is going on?! They haven't even reached Neptune yet—how could sothing go wrong already?!"
In the midst of his outburst, a technician timidly spoke up:
"Sir, the Rafea's monitoring system transmitted one final data package before it was destroyed. It likely contains video footage."
After the previous incidents involving the Horizon and the Lewis and Clark, the Rafea, as part of the second rescue wave, had been equipped with special long-range transmission devices capable of sending back recorded data from deep space.
Though the technology might seem basic, for a civilization just beginning to explore the stars, it was a hard-won breakthrough—achieved through the sacrifice of lives and vast resources.
Many missions had ventured far into space, only to find themselves stranded—too far to return, with no fuel or ans to resupply. Rescue missions couldn't reach them in ti, and crews often died of starvation.
With signals too weak to transmit back, their fates remained unknown. No confirmation of life or death—just silence. Another na on the missing persons list.
Over the decades of space exploration, such tragedies had beco all too familiar…
Upon hearing that a data packet had successfully made it back, the Director clutched at it like a drowning man grabbing a rope.
"When can it be decoded?" he demanded.
The technician, still uncertain, replied cautiously:
"It seems the transmission was partially disrupted… I'll need about an hour to decode it."
"Good! Once it's done, I'll give you a full month of paid leave!"
Motivated by that promise, the technician imdiately straightened up and replied,
"Consider it done, sir!"
---
Forty minutes later.
After finishing the decoding process and watching the footage himself, the technician looked as if he'd just seen a ghost.
He knew instantly—his vacation was gone.
After witnessing this kind of footage, he'd be lucky to avoid getting locked away indefinitely, let alone take ti off.
When the Director viewed the footage that had been handed to him, his expression turned dark. He imdiately turned to his aide and said,
"Inform the Ministry of Defense, the Pri Minister, and Her Majesty… Tell them this is a matter of extre urgency—they need to be here imdiately."
Having seen the video himself, the aide understood the gravity of the situation and didn't dare hesitate.
"Yes, sir!"
---
Dozens of minutes later.
Using military-grade maglev aircraft and similar transportation, the most powerful figures in the United Kingdom gathered at the Space Agency.
Once everyone had taken their seats, the Director didn't waste any ti:
"The rescue mission we sent to find the Horizon and the Lewis and Clark… has also run into trouble."
"What do you an?" soone asked.
"Weren't the rescue crews supposed to reach Neptune in a few more weeks? Could there have been a navigational error?"
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) was the first to voice his frustration.
"You do realize those three ships combined cost us two months of the UK's entire GDP, right?"
He was livid. To him, this was nothing short of gross negligence by the Space Agency.
But the Director said nothing. Instead, he pressed a button in front of him, illuminating the central screen in the conference room.
"At the mont it was destroyed, the Rafea transmitted one last piece of data. Watch this, and you'll understand."
"Destroyed?"
Everyone imdiately seized on that word.
With puzzled expressions, they turned their attention to the screen.
Then they saw it—a grotesque, bio-chanical warship cruising silently through space. In a flash, it unleashed a devastating volley that completely obliterated the Rafea.
The Queen, visibly shaken, spoke in disbelief:
"Aliens? That… was an alien warship? But why would they attack us?"
"We don't know yet," the Director replied grimly. "But our analysis revealed sothing shocking."
"That alien warship… bears roughly 70% structural similarity to the Horizon—the very ship we lost years ago."
"There's a high probability that it's a heavily modified version of the Horizon itself."
"Moreover, if we consider the ti and location of the Lewis and Clark's disappearance, along with the alien vessel's speed and movent patterns, our experts have concluded that it was already in the vicinity of Neptune when the Lewis and Clark vanished."
"And now, after it directly destroyed the Rafea, we have compelling reason to believe this ship is responsible for all three incidents."
At this, the expressions of the gathered officials darkened.
One ship lost could be written off as an accident.
But three?
That pointed to hostility—intentional, calculated hostility.
'What could Earth possibly have done to earn the wrath of an alien species?'
The question lingered in everyone's minds.
And so, the elite mbers of the governnt began to debate the matter fervently.
---
An hour passed.
Still no conclusions.
Several theories had been proposed, but none were convincing.
After all, Earth was a backwater speck in a quiet corner of the galaxy. It didn't seem like the kind of place that could offend an advanced alien civilization.
Suddenly, a researcher burst into the room and whispered sothing urgently into the Director's ear.
His face changed instantly.
He stood up and interrupted the eting.
"Everyone! Sothing critical just ca in from the tech team."
"Based on the alien ship's speed and its appearance near the Rafea, if it truly passed Neptune… then it's been traveling in a straight line."
"And its trajectory is aid directly at Earth."
"If our calculations are correct, we estimate it will arrive… in about fifteen days."
The room erupted.
Those who had been thinking about covering up the incident imdiately gave up on that idea.
"What?!"
Shock swept through the room.
Speculation flew.
"Judging by the design of that warship, I think we're dealing with a brutal faction of interstellar raiders!"
"Could be slavers—they might be coming to Earth to capture people!"
"We need to prepare to fight back!"
"They're capable of interstellar travel. We probably don't stand a chance. Maybe we should surrender early—and offer up other countries instead?"
"Start with France. I bet they'll surrender before we do anyway."
"Not a bad idea!"
"Smart. I like it."
As the conversation began to veer off course, the Queen raised her voice to bring order:
"Enough!"
"Based on their behavior, I doubt they'd leave survivors if they had the chance to take everything."
"So even if it cos to that… surrender must be our last option."
"Agreed. Judging by how they destroyed the Rafea without hesitation, they won't negotiate unless we show so resistance first."
"If we give up too easily, we'll only look weak—and die even more miserably."
"In that case, we should start coordinating with other countries. See if they have any counterasures or preparations."
"...I second that."
"Agreed."
"Count in."
---
That very day, the world's major powers each received a classified intelligence report—along with an invitation to a special global summit.
___
🎉 Shoutout to Kai Märtens! 🎉
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