The shore leave ended all too quickly, and the Vanguard-7 was back in deep space, charting an unexplored sector of the outer rim.
The routine of the ship had returned, but the tension was higher now; they were entering territory where the sensor grids were unreliable, and ancient, automated defense systems from long-dead civilizations were known to drift.
It happened during the alpha shift. A sudden surge of chronometric energy washed over the ship, causing the lights to flicker violen