The ship called Vigilance drifted like a wound in space its hull scraped by a thousand collisions and patched by the desperate hands of its last engineer Aiden Cross woke to the sound of static whispering across his console The digits on the screen pulsed irregular like a heartbeat He rubbed his eyes The ship was supposed to be silent nothing came through this sector anymore Yet the pulse continued slow deliberate four beats then a pause

He leaned closer watching the waveform build and fall again The pattern was not random It was coded Federal military class something that hadn’t existed since the collapse He muttered no way but his fingers were already moving running translation protocols half the system still functional despite the decay

Nara’s voice rose soft from the comm her tone precise without emotion You are not on duty Aiden Sleep is recommended He said I’ll sleep when the hull stops leaking She replied Correction the hull is not leaking It is bleeding data

He half smiled You always know how to calm me He played the pulse again and the display flickered to reveal partial coordinates deep within the Eclipse Belt The same cursed region where Erebus Station vanished five years ago

His chest tightened The memories hit like cold vacuum A flash of the explosion the screaming over comms the silence that followed He swallowed hard Nara run confirmation She processed for six seconds and said This code is Federation It matches the Erebus signature 94 percent probability

He stared at the viewport where a dying star smeared orange light through the dark The thought burned in his mind What if the Gate survived If the Gate still exists maybe I can fix what we destroyed

He pushed off the chair floating across the small cabin toward the manual nav console The screens flickered alive Nara’s holographic outline shimmered above the controls her digital eyes watching him She said Setting course for the Eclipse Belt will reduce our survival odds to 9 percent He replied Better than 8 He entered the coordinates The engines coughed then roared as power surged through the ship

Outside the stars stretched into white threads The jump drive screamed through dimensions Aiden gripped the console feeling the vibration crawl through his bones He whispered into the empty cabin If you’re out there show me a reason

The jump ended with a violent jolt The ship spat out into a region of twisted debris metal corpses of old satellites drifting like ghosts Radiation storms painted the void silver The sensors screamed Nara announced We have entered the outer ring of the Eclipse Belt The signal is stronger here

He checked the monitors The waveform grew sharper repeating the same rhythm The Gate calling He felt both dread and hunger rising inside him He looked at the photo locket tied to the console the burned edges framing faces long gone He said quietly You better be worth it

An alarm burst through the silence A proximity alert A ship closing fast Nara displayed the silhouette patched hulls mismatched engines It was the Nomad’s End and Aiden knew that ship Kael Roth scavenger smuggler and occasional friend

He sighed Tell him I’m not in the mood Nara replied He says he brought beer and debt collectors Aiden groaned Open channel

Kael’s voice filled the cabin rough amused Aiden Cross alive and still stubborn Heard you poking around the Belt again Thought you quit chasing ghosts Aiden said Maybe the ghosts didn’t quit me

Kael laughed then turned serious That signal you’re hunting half the pirates in this quadrant picked it up You better have a plan before they find it first Aiden replied Working on it

He looked again at the coordinates glowing on the map The Gate waited somewhere beyond the Belt He whispered This is how it begins again

Outside the viewport the Eclipse shimmered like a storm waiting to swallow them whole