On August 6, 832 of the Galactic Commonwealth calendar, at 16:27 standard time, the Sir Veda, a Skywatcher-class heavy cruiser belonging to the Second Imperial Guard Fleet of the Holy Galactic Empire, had been loitering in the newly discovered DL33 system for eighty hours.
Now, the communications officer was calling out to an allied ship that had reached the orbit of a gas giant on the outskirts of the system.
"This is the Sir Veda. Bronze Carp 052, please respond! Bronze Carp, please respond!"
Nearly five seconds passed before a reply came through, riddled with static. "This is Bronze Carp 052. We've completed an initial survey patrol of the orbital path of gas giant DL33-06 and are now retrieving signals from our deep-space probes."
"Have you found anything...?"
Nearly five more seconds passed before a dejected voice replied, "Nothing unusual so far. I repeat, nothing unusual so far."
A wave of groans swept across the bridge of the Sir Veda. The exploration fleet's commander, however, remained relatively calm. In a low voice, he said, "Continue the survey. Deploy two new groups of probes. This time, narrow the frequency range to X-45 through 120, with a twelve-hour interval between rounds."
The brigadier general in command of the exploration fleet had a scholarly air about him and seemed more like an academic than a soldier. But right now, he looked angry enough that anyone would believe he was about to grab a machete and challenge someone to a duel.
That meant using the expensive, wide-range, multi-frequency orbital space probes as expendable equipment. Yet neither the crew of the Bronze Carp nor the personnel on the bridge objected.
The commander swept his gaze across the bridge once more, then gritted his teeth. "Contact the Void Ranger 114 and have her return immediately to