Chapter Twenty-Eight: Wish Granted

Icarus and Dae's ship approaches a heavily fortified space station in what appears to be a demilitarized zone (DMZ) between wormhole gates. They are intercepted by four sentry ships equipped with tractor beam technology, captured, and held in orbit around an asteroid-based station. Upon investigation, they discover a dead, unpowered automated ship nearby—suggesting a grim fate for intruders.

Icarus's ship and Dae's vessel approach Hub Zero at high speed and are immediately intercepted by four sentry ships capable of near-instantaneous deceleration. When Icarus attempts communication by exchanging identification packets with the sentries, he receives only repeated identical transmissions, suggesting an artificial intelligence with limited programming. A slow retreat toward the wormhole gate is blocked when the sentries deploy tractor beams and haul both ships away. They are placed in a parking orbit around a ten-kilometer asteroid that serves as a complex space station. Two sentries depart for the station, leaving the others holding the captured vessels. Icarus and Dae determine that the system contains only the asteroid station and two wormholes, with no natural celestial bodies—making it a firewall or DMZ protecting a specific destination, likely the hub of a larger civilization. When Icarus launches an exploratory drone at low speed, it is immediately captured by a tractor beam as well. A SUDDAR sweep of the space station reveals multiple docked sentry ships inside, making any violent resistance futile. The most unsettling discovery is a second captured ship near the station—a dead, fusion-reactor-powered automated vessel that appears to have been drained of fuel over years of captivity, suggesting a ominous precedent for what awaits the captured crews.