We climbed out of the shuttle, spreading out in a defensive line with our weapons ready. We waited a few seconds, but nothing came for us.

  ?Don’t let your guards down,? I sent as I gestured for everyone to move forward.

  This base was smaller than the main base we had been investigating, featuring two large shuttle pads and just one single-story building.

  ?I don’t see a ship or anywhere to store one.?

  Isa shrugged. ?Let’s investigate first.?

  I shared a feeling of assent, and we approached the building, Shields active. I could see weaponry mounted on the roof and hoped they weren’t automated. Fortunately, either they required manual activation or we hadn’t met whatever condition was necessary for them to attack, as we made it to the front door of the building without incident.

  As I expected, the door was locked by a scanner, similar to the secured doors at the other base.

  ?You’re up, Isa. Be extra careful with this one.?

  She nodded before quickly getting to work. Ten minutes later, there was a click as Isa said, ?Got it.?

  I gestured for Jara who opened the door and led us into the building.

  Inside was a small lobby with a desk and two doors on either side heading back, both with scanners next to them. On the ceiling were more mounted weapons, making me nervous, but they didn’t immediately fire, so I motioned Isa to open the left door while I took a look around.

  The room was in good condition, only a bit dusty and with surprisingly little rust or decay. At the desk, there appeared to be some sort of computer setup, but the peripherals were strange. While I had seen other devices like them on this planet, they were significantly different from anything back home, and I couldn’t begin to figure out what they implied about the natives of this planet.

  Soon enough, Isa had the door open, and we continued on into a hallway with a row of doors along the left side but only two on the right. The doors on the left looked to be locked with more scanners, while the doors on the right had no scanners, so I suggested we start there.

  Checking the unlocked rooms, they appeared to be conference rooms of some sort. Both of them had two sets of doors across from each other. When we checked the opposite doors, we found another hallway mirroring the one we came from.

  Returning to the original hallway, I noticed that the other doors had windows in them. Instead of spending the time to unlock each one, I had us look through each door in both hallways before directing Isa to unlock the one to the largest office.

  While she was working, I sensed movement inside the walls, though whatever was moving was too blurry to make out. It seemed to enter the office next to the one we were trying to break into, somehow passing through the wall, but that was all I could tell.

  Soon, Isa unlocked the door, and we could enter. Looking around, I noticed a small door near the ceiling, a bit more than a handspan wide, and I figured that was how it entered the other office.

  ?Ani, see that door?? I said, pointing it out. ?Keep watch on it.?

  Besides the tiny door, there were strange pieces of furniture that resembled some sort of alien chair arrayed around a table, plaques and paintings on the walls, and a large desk.

  ?Isa, try hacking into the computer. Jara, watch the door we entered. Ontari, help me search the room for anything important or hidden.?

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  We dove into our work. My senses helped me with my search, finding a hidden drawer, though it took me more than a few minutes to figure out how to open it. Once I had it open, though, there wasn’t anything inside but some scraps of paper and dust.

  We didn’t find anything else useful, unfortunately. That disappointment was only compounded when Isa finished.

  ?I wasn’t detected, but I also wasn’t able to get anything. The security was too tight.?

  ?All right—we’ll just have to explore blind.?

  I led the others out and to the end of the hallway where it turned into another hallway that met up with the far one. Along the wall, there was what appeared to be some sort of elevator, along with a locked door leading to stairs going down.

  ?I’m not keen on risking my life on the hope that an ancient elevator works. Isa, can you open the stairwell door??

  ?On it, captain.?

  The door opened without much fuss. In the stairwell were more ceiling-mounted weapons, but, again, they didn’t fire. The stairs were a tad strange, having a different enough height from what I was used to that walking down them took a bit of my attention.

  After descending at least three stories in height, we came to another locked door. For whatever reason, this one took Isa a little bit longer than the previous doors, but she managed to get it open without setting off an alarm.

  Past the door was another hallway of doors, but these were spaced much further apart. These locked doors had little plaques with labels on them written in an unfamiliar script.

  ?I can translate for you,? Lumira offered.

  ?You can read that??

  ?Yes. I had a language database included with me, but your language was not present.?

  ?Definitely give me the translations. Thanks.?

  Instantly, above the plaque I was looking at appeared what looked like a holographic label in Draconic stating “Lab 2.”

  ?These are labs,? I sent to the group.

  ?Should we open them?? Ani asked.

  I shook my head. ?Not yet. Let’s see if we can find more information.?

  We continued down the long hallway, passing by more than half a dozen labs, before I stopped us in front of a door labeled “Server Room 1.”

  ?Isa, open this door—it’s a server room.?

  Her eyes lit up, and she nodded excitedly before getting to work. She quickly got the door open, and we stepped inside to a room very similar to the server room we had been in before.

  Without waiting for my prompt, Isa rushed along, scanning the various devices until she found whatever it was she was looking for. She immediately plugged into the device and closed her eyes.

  ?Stay on guard, everyone,? I sent to the others, excluding Isa.

  It took a while but eventually Isa finished.

  ?I got it. There’s an underground hangar down a couple more hallways, the ship should be there. I also got information about the labs—I don’t think we need anything they were working on. Most importantly, though, I was able to add my signature to the authorization database, meaning I can open the doors directly. From what I can see, the ship has its own database, though, so I’ll have to hack that separately.?

  ?Excellent work, Isa. Lead the way.?

  She guided us through the hallways of the underground base until we came upon a set of double doors. She didn’t even use the scanner directly, just looked at the doors and sent a wireless signal from her augment that unlocked them.

  Inside was a massive underground hanger. It easily stretched ten stories deep, and we were on a sort of catwalk near the top. Inside was a strange ship. It sort of resembled a fighter jet painted matte black, the air-only kind with sleek lines designed for high speeds, but it was much larger. It wasn’t as big as one of our scout ships, but it was still quite large.

  ?It’s beautiful,? Isa said, awe tinging her virtual voice.

  I had to agree. Voidships were pretty ugly, but functional. I was concerned, though, that we were wrong and this wasn’t a voidship at all.

  ?Are we sure this can travel the stars??

  ?It was listed that way,? Isa replied.

  ?Only one way to find out,? Ontari added, excited.

  I led the group along the catwalk and down some stairs until we reached another catwalk that led to the side of the ship.

  ?Okay, this looks like a door,? I said. ?Isa, any idea how to get it open??

  She stared at the door, pondering it for a while, the occasional wireless signal flickering out.

  ?I think I know what to do,? she said before wireless data started flowing quickly between her and some part of the ship.

  ?Shit,? she cursed a while later. ?It’s not working.?

  ?What else can we do??

  ?I need some way to trick it into thinking I’m authorized to enter. Once inside, I should be able to register us as the owners.?

  ?Can you, I don’t know, reset it somehow?? Ani suggested.

  ?That wouldn’t—actually, maybe that would be possible. Hmm.?

  She spent the next hour and a half sending signals back and forth with the ship before she finally exclaimed, “Aha!” aloud.

  ?Quiet!? I snapped.

  ?Sorry, Pet. But I figured something out. Just let me do this last thing… done!?

  As she said that, the door slid open, letting us enter the ship.