The screen flickered in the cramped cockpit of the Nworrfa , a salvage vessel drifting on the edge of the KYS-24 sector. Pilot Jax stared at the scrolling text. It wasn't a standard distress signal; it was raw, ancient encryption: . "Computer, translate," Jax muttered, rubbing his eyes.
As the console powered up one last time, a low hum vibrated through Jax’s boots. The nebula outside began to shift. The "stars" weren't stars—they were eyes. Thousands of them, waking up to the signal he had just completed.
The Isnx Nebula was a graveyard of ships, a place where gravity played tricks and the stars looked like bruised fruit. No one went there unless they were looking to disappear. But the number was a legend among scavengers—the hull number of the Ixiyisr , a long-lost treasury ship rumored to be carrying the "Rtbhs Core," a power source that could light a planet for a millennium.
"Dialect unrecognized," the AI chirped. "Pattern suggests a pre-Collapse maritime cipher. Origin point: The Isnx Nebula."
As the ship tore through the fabric of space, the silence of the nebula swallowed them. There, suspended in a web of ionized gas, sat a jagged silhouette. It wasn't a ship anymore; it was a ghost of steel and wire.
Jax checked his fuel. He had enough for one jump. The coordinates followed the string: .
Jax looked at the screen as the final sequence flashed: The hunt was over. The harvest had begun.
