Twenty-Four

Campar, Ghati, and Danna are sealed into vacuum sheaths by the Sinen aboard a Carryx expedition craft. The mixed-species team readies for extravehicular work while a Carryx soldier oversees and Sinen coordinate. Vaudai assigns Campar and Ghati to accompany it as manipulators and samplers, arming them with a two-pole “scanning sheet” and basic collection tools.

They cross to the tumbling enemy command ship and begin a systematic survey. Using the poles to project planar scans, Vaudai maps where internal shielding held or failed, elated to correlate damage with battle records. Campar collects limited biological samples while Ghati struggles with the suit discomfort and the eerie, humanlike scale of the corridors.

Near the ship’s far end, they find a charred body lashed by a door. The remains appear possibly human but inconclusive. When they attempt to scan past the adjacent heavy door, the imaging blanks to shielding blue—an anomaly that convinces Vaudai the compartment hides the reason the ship failed to self-destruct.

Unable to force the door with available tools, they receive a recall: all teams must evacuate as enemy ships reenter the system. Vaudai protests, but they return to the expedition craft, shed their sheaths, and review their partial map. Ghati argues the design looks human; Campar cautions against assumption.

Driven by discovery and moiety prestige, Vaudai petitions the Carryx and secures permission plus a cutting torch to breach the sealed room. Despite the immediate threat—if they can see the enemy, the battle has essentially begun—Vaudai urges an urgent return, prioritizing the potential secret over safety while Campar and Ghati prepare to re-suit.