CHAPTER 1

Lieutenant Kat Talbot, Imperial Military Police, wrestled the massive hydroponics tank through the listing shuttle bay doors. The six-meter-by-two-meter apparatus weighed nothing in zero G, but its bulk and mass were awkward. She couldn’t see around it and kept bumping into bulkheads. Commander Amanda Leonard, captain of this derelict ship, had chosen Kat for this chore because of her bushie height and strength as well as her experience in, and affinity for zero G, more than anyone else among the scattered crew.

Since Jupiter had stopped spinning two months ago, gravity had evaporated aboard. Atmosphere had leaked away before that. Unless Kat could find and replace the stolen crystal array and get the ship operational again, all she could do was salvage as much as possible.

She paused in her struggles. The air in her EVA suit tasted stale. “Nothing for it but to get this thing aboard a lander so I can fire up some atmosphere,” she grunted.
A flicker of movement off to her left made her stop and look around. Nothing.
She shivered. Just her imagination running wild.

Ghost ships were notorious for evoking atavistic fears. Jupiter was very much a ghost ship. Derelict and drifting in space.

Nine months ago, the three outlawed O’Hara brothers had stolen the crystal array from Jupiter. Without the star drive the ship was doomed, her crew stranded in the back of beyond.

For nine months she’d been salvaging essentials for survival and still life dirtside resembled a tribal hunter-gatherer society more than civilization.

“How long, Kat?” Lieutenant Commander Jetang M’Berra called over her helmet comm.

“Ten minutes,” she panted. She’d spent too much time dirtside breathing real air. Getting used to recycled oxygen mixtures again would take time.

The hydroponics tank tilted and jammed in the partially open hatch. No power to open the doors further.

“S’murghit!” she borrowed an epithet from the planetary locals. “You could have made this easier by assigning me an extra crewman.” She didn’t care if M’Berra heard that comment or not. She didn’t care if Commander Amanda Leonard heard it either.
Her superior officers had gotten too used to her initiative as well as her bushie height and muscle mass for doing their dirty work.

“My sensors read you are running low on air, Kat,” M’Berra advised her. “You have less than ten minutes to get that tank aboard a lander and fire up life support.”

“Acknowledged.” No wonder her air tasted stale. Her EVA suit’s monitors hadn’t operated properly in months. But the suit worked. That was more than she could say for most of the high-tech equipment they’d salvaged.

She heaved and levered the tank free of the obstruction. A gentle shove sent it gliding toward the open bay doors of a lander.

She wished for her more maneuverable and sleeker fighter. But she needed the extra cargo space and fuel efficiency in a lander.

“Kat, what did you do in med bay?” M’Berra’s voice contained an edge of worry.

“Didn’t go near the place,” Kat grunted as she shoved the tank into the hold of the lander. It was a small lie. She’d passed the med bay on a private errand to her own quarters, but M’Berra didn’t need to know that. Besides, she hadn’t actually gone into the med bay.

She climbed into the lander after the hydroponics tank and closed the hatch. Still eight minutes to spare on her suit air. She reached the cockpit and keyed in comm system and life support before settling into the pilot’s seat.

“What’s wrong in med bay?” she asked. Good thing she’d set the entire lander’s systems on standby before going after the tank and her own personal memento. She’d have air and heat before her suit emptied.

“Get out now, Kat.” M’Berra didn’t mask the anxiety in his voice.

“Can’t. I need two more minutes to fire up all systems.”

“Don’t wait!”

“What’s wrong?”

M’Berra’s panic was contagious. Kat skipped the usual safety protocol in favor of faster engine ignition. Life support would come on faster that way, too.

“Something sparked in med bay. The volatile chemicals…”

“No air to support a spark,” Kat reassured herself and M’Berra.

That flicker of movement had been in the direction of med bay at the center of the ship.

“Still some air in med bay. It’s sealed better than the rest of the ship. A spark. Kat, the whole ship is going to blow with you in it.”

“Not if I can help it.”

In the background she heard a dull roar. Something flashed on the periphery of her vision…