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Before them hovered the three-dimensional image of the Maria’s Cog and its millions of pieces of debris.

Once all escape pods from the doomed ship had been accounted for, Cenz had joined with Cutter.  The Bicet had been putting together the 3D model using the ship’s primary sensors as well as small scout probes.

Cenz had been shocked by Cutter’s use of them; he sent them on near suicide-runs deep into the debris fields.  Dozens had been lost, but the sacrifices had been worth it.

“Look at the pattern of the burning,” Cenz said, zooming in on a piece of the hull.

It had once been one of the outer plates of the Maria’s Cog, but now it was half-slag.

“Yes.  Melt patterning shows heat source came from inside vessel,” Cutter said.

“And the pulverization fraction indicates heavy boiling which suggests extreme temperatures,” Cenz continued.  “That is consistent with a fast release from the fusion reactor – the temperature would have dropped much lower if the release had not been traumatic.”

Cutter was silent a moment as he studied the image.  “I concur,” he said softly.  “Though, the release of a fusion reactor plasma ring in any circumstances . . . is nothing if not traumatic.”

Cenz turned to study his co-conspirator and friend more carefully.

Cutter did not seem to notice.  “Notice atomic marks – cross-hatching of burn pattern at this point.  It indicates that there was not one but two plasma releases striking at almost the same moment.  With certainty we can say both damaged reactors fully ruptured.”

“Two at the same time . . .  The log suggested within the same second, but this is even more precise than that.  Such marks would have been melted away by a second ring if it had come more than a fraction of a second later,” Cenz noted.

“Yes . . . two rings would also explain formation of primary ship pieces,” Cutter added.

“So we can state with certainty that the impactor hit both within a small fraction of a second.” Cenz concluded.

“Indeed.  A single object, travelling at extremely high velocities, high enough to penetrate whipple shield, outer hull, and continue deep into vessel.”

Cenz knew that Cutter had to be right.  But few things in space moved that fast . . . save for weapon projectiles.

“An enemy attack, then?” he asked.

“No,” Cutter said.  “Simple misfortune.”

Cenz paused, taking that idea in.  “Can you prove it, though?” he finally asked.  “I certainly hope you can, but the evidence suggests this was a surgical strike, not an accident.  Wouldn’t any such natural impactor have been detected by their drone network and scanners?  It would have had to be travelling at incredibly high speeds to not be caught in time and to have the energy for this kind of penetration.  And simply – what are the odds of a random object causing such a perfectly disastrous hit, Cutter?”

Cutter was silent a long moment.  “Odds are small.  But they do exist.”

“I must concur that it’s possible, but we need good evidence.”

“We have it,” Cutter said.  “Debris piece #21827 – observe.”

It was a piece of the whipple shield – a standard piece of stand-off armor that all ships carried.  Multi-layered, they were not designed or able to stop objects, not even small ones.  Instead, they broke them up, absorbing much of the energy so that the heavy armor underneath could better resist being holed by every tiny meteor.

Their layered nature also meant, though, that they could sometimes catch the smallest pieces of debris.

It was what Cenz knew he was seeing now.  The tiny black flecks had torn through the shielding, broken up on the hull and bounced off.  They had penetrated a few of the layers on the way back out, but not all the way.

“Do you believe these are pieces of the original impactor?” Cenz asked.

“Yes,” Cutter replied.

“How did you even find this?” Cenz asked in awe.  This was perhaps the most important find among the wreck that they could have located, and yet should also be one of the most difficult.

“At great cost,” Cutter said.  “Primary evidence was key.  Primary evidence would be at most dangerous area, epicenter of disaster.  Thus sacrifice of drones was necessary.”

“Incredible.  You sent the probes straight in, didn’t you?” Cenz asked.

“Yes.  But drone losses unimportant now.  Pieces of rock retain signs of recent shock and heat damage – showing that impact falls within time frame of Maria’s Cog destruction.  Spectographic analysis shows a common composition of nickel-iron,” Cutter said.  “Have not yet found point of origin of potential debris, however.”

“I may be able to help there,” Cenz said, bringing up a digital panel and flipping through screens.  “If this is their spectographic data . . .  I may be able to match it to a specific system we have studied.”

He looked to Cutter.  “How was the ship oriented?  If you have found this piece, I take it you know where the initial hit was?  This would narrow the field.”

Cutter brought back up the image of the Maria’s Cog, now reconstructed to its original state.  An area on her front cone was highlighted.

“Exact spot difficult.  But object struck frontal shield, penetrating it.  Vessel was oriented coreward.”

“Downtown,” Cenz noted.

Nearly all ships carried a frontal cone of heavy armor to block micro-meteors in their primary direction of travel.  The Craton‘s was enormous, due to her shape, but since most ships were long and narrow tubes, the cone could be smaller on them.

If a vessel was not actively travelling, it was common to point the shield towards the galactic core – or downtown, as many called it.

A cute little colloquialism, Cenz thought, and apt.  The core of the galaxy was incredibly crowded with stars, black holes, and other celestial objects, but the practice was largely just a habit rather than practical.

Taking the ship’s orientation into account, Cenz traced the route the impactor seemed to have taken through the ship – for it to have hit reactors eight and three meant he could plot a very specific course for it.

Following that line out, he peered into the cosmos of data.

“I have it,” he said.  “Cutter, you are correct.  I can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“We must speak with Captain,” Cutter said.

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