The Gory Gauntlet

The air within the *Stardust Drifter* had always been sterile, a controlled environment designed for the rigors of deep space. Now, it tasted like copper and fear. Captain Eva Rostova gripped the edge of her command chair, her knuckles white against the cool synth-leather. Outside the viewport, the derelict orbital station hung like a broken tooth in the blackness, a monument to forgotten purpose. Silence, heavy and absolute, pressed in on them.

“Anything, ZO?” Eva’s voice was a low rumble, carefully modulated to project an authority she no longer felt.

ZO, perched at his comms console, shook his head, his dark eyes wide with a dawning dread. “Nothing, Captain. Static. And… a faint signal, but it’s corrupted. Like it’s being actively jammed, or… worse.” He hesitated, his fingers hovering over the controls. “The station’s internal sensors are offline. All of them.”