Gehenna. Some obscure, ancient cult had mistakenly called it Hell. The author of that story must have been an oracle, for that was not to far off the mark in the mind of a Navigator as he sensed the small, obsidian planetoid that was his target.

Its surface was blacker than space itself, with the exception of crisscrossing lava flows. What little atmosphere there was on the planet was lethal to all known forms of life, composed of mainly aerosol mercury mixed with ammonium. In short, this planet was a death trap to all who where foolish enough set foot on it unprotected. Gehenna also had multiple rings of radioactive dust that encircled it along the polar axis.

Gehenna was a worthless rock in the never-ending blackness of space. The only interest the Company had in it was its proximity to Static, the navigator's birthplace. The fact that a probe had picked up a communication burst from what was believed to be a Thresher Battle Cruiser had only increased the interest in the small planet.

Vortice, the Navigator viewing the planet, was a small Necanthrope, just large enough to fit in a Navigator's berth. Size does not matter when you are considered one of the best in the trade. He was only half of the team, however. The other half, the Relentless itself. He could fold her in, drop an entire legion, give them covering fire on the way down, and fold back out before the enemy even knew he had been there.

He reached out and enveloped the planet in his hand. He opened his mind and pulled it to him. The Relentless fired its maneuvering thrusters in a short burst that sent it across the folded space, into the sector that contained Gehenna.

Upon arrival, the ship went black. No one moved, or scarcely breathed. Sensors went to passive mode and nearly all systems were powered down. Outside, the skin of the ship became a charcoal gray to help it blend into the backdrop of space.

Vortice laid his fingers upon the webbing that was spun into the fabric of reality, searching for the tiniest vibration. The small probes and hyperlink satellites appeared in his mind. He marked and dismissed them, looking for whatever else did not belong. From the other side of Gehenna he felt several million tons of alloy. He grasped it, and brought it before his eyes.

It had been an extremely large ship at one time. Now, it was slag. The shark painted next to what had been the main view port let him know the probe had been correct. The question raised in his mind, **What took out something so large?** Either a bigger fish, or a horde of smaller ones.

He turned his head to the left, allowing his senses to shift back to his own perspective. He caught the attention of the Communicator who raised an eyebrow in question. "Inform Control that we are on station and observing. One Thresher Cruiser destroyed by unknown causes. Continuing to monitor and awaiting instructions." The Communicator shut her eyes and slumped back into her chair.

Turning his head to the right, he caught the attention of his first officer. "Stand down the ship." A quick nod was his only reply.

He returned his senses to the area surrounding them, completing the symbiotic union. The coldness of space enveloped him as he became the Relentless. He started moving then. Creeping through the void, hunting for anything that would clue him in on what had destroyed the Thresher ship.

The sleek ship made for the debris. Upon arrival Vortice further examined the remains of the bigger ship. He noticed what appeared to be bite marks on the surviving pieces of the Battle Cruiser. He turned the recorders on and directed the Communicator to open a direct feed to Control.

He reached out, grabbed a piece of the ship and rotated it to record it at all angles. On the bridge, his officers started rolling commentary to keep The-Powers-That-Be appraised of their findings.

It was then that ripples through the Ebb alerted him to the fact that they were no longer alone. Shifting senses again, he reached out to find the source of the disturbance. Two Thresher Corvettes ripped into the system, escorting a massive salvage recovery barge. Luckily, they had come in on the opposite side of Gehenna from the Relentless.

"Battle stations." The hiss escaped his lips as he continued to focus on the interlopers. Inside the Relentless, the tight corridors where filled with a flurry of activity as the remaining crew rushed to their assigned posts. Vortice quickly fled from the scrap field left by the Battle Cruiser's passage to oblivion to take up a watch from within the rings of Gehenna.

Two large Ebb Cannons, foci for Force Ebb Kinetics, swiveled to cover the ship's retreat into the rings as their Brain Waster gunners readied themselves for battle. Vortice also brought the ship's massive Gore Cannon to bear on the small fleet of Thresher ships.

Upon reaching the cover of the rings, the ship came about. Vortice gave the galaxy his impression of a hole in space. There, as the dust masked the Relentless, he watched and waited.

NEXT

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