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Captain Ian Brooks accepted the cup of tea from the drone with a nod.
It floated off silently, and he took a sip. The tea was still too hot for his liking, and he blew on it.
“Really, Captain?” Jaya said quietly. “That’s barely tepid.”
“Yes, I know you drink boiling water each day to toughen up,” he replied, amused. “But I’ll take my tea at the temperature I prefer.”
“I imagine you’d be able to even drink it cold,” she commented.
“Why yes, I can,” he retorted. “That’s how everything is in Antarctica. What most people call room temperature we call too hot.”
“Captain,” Shomari Eboh called out. “We are receiving a priority distress signal!”
Brooks sat up, the humor dropping from him. “Who sent it?”
“The long-range cargo carrier Maria’s Cog. Timestamp indicates that it was sent only thirty-two minutes ago, bounced off a repeater, and came to us.”
“Are we the closest vessel with a zerodrive?” Jaya asked.
“Aye,” Eboh confirmed. “Two other vessels have been alerted, the long-range scout Huntington and a deep-space science vessel the Inquisitive Eye.”
“We’re the only real help for them, then,” Brooks said. “Begin charging the zerodrive. Prepare for a dive.”
“Do we know the nature of their emergency?” Jaya asked.
“Not yet,” Eboh replied. “We are still unpacking the detailed data. Give me a moment.”
Jaya and Brooks exchanged glances.
The feed connected to their systems, sending the decrypted data. It was brief.
SHIP TIME HOUR 04 MINUTE 27 SECOND 12 – UNKNOWN IMPACT EVENT
SHIP TIME HOUR 04 MINUTE 27 SECOND 12 – REACTOR 8 CRITICAL FAILURE
SHIP TIME HOUR 04 MINUTE 27 SECOND 12 – REACTOR 3 CRITICAL FAILURE
SHIP TIME HOUR 04 MINUTE 27 SECOND 14 – REACTOR 8 BREACH
SHIP TIME HOUR 04 MINUTE 27 SECOND 14 – REACTOR 3 BREACH
Brooks checked if there was any more on the first point, elaboration upon this impactor.
But there was nothing.
“They were attacked,” Jaya said.
Brooks was quiet a moment longer, going over the data again, as sparse as it was.
The ship took a hit that pierced two fusion reactors. It was unknown, which means it was moving so fast that they didn’t see it coming.
The hit was precise. Surgical.
The Maria’s Cog was not a military vessel. Without good reason they would not be blaring out active sensors and utilizing dense screens of high-quality drones.
Jaya had to be right. As much as he did not want to think that someone had just launched an unprovoked attack against a ship deep in Union space, it was the most likely explanation.
“It may be,” he said. “We’ll be prepared for all eventualities.” He raised his voice. “Awaken all command staff, prepare Response Teams and rescue drones. How soon until we can jump?”
“Capacitors were already near full,” Cutter said. “Enough power for jump in ten minutes.”
“I recommend we also prepare all combat drones, load the missile racks, and charge the coilguns, Captain,” Jaya said.
“Do it,” he ordered. “It’ll take us three hours to reach them. We have until then to prepare.”
Hopefully there would still be someone left alive to save by then.
Captain’s Log:
The Craton is an hour away from the last location of the Maria’s Cog. We do not know what to expect when we surface. Who would want to attack a cargo carrier?
Our records indicate a long service record for the vessel, extending back before zerodrives. Almost thirty kilometers long, she once carried millions of people at sublight speed – dropping off sufficient people and supplies in a system before moving on and letting natural growth replenish her numbers.
Now she operates with a skeleton crew of less than a thousand, serving to bring massive quantities of supplies to distant colonies and outposts.
What could threaten a vessel so large? Even a heavy battleship would have difficulty knocking out such a ship quickly.
The fear of a Leviathan is in many people’s minds, but I remain skeptical, until we arrive and see for ourselves.
Other Terrestrial 
My money is on leviathan.
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