After our talk we returned on the bridge, but since that moment Indira didn't say a word more than what was necessary to command the Queen Charlotte, challenging commander Yutan at the game of silence. Cassandra was already way too nervous to say anything so a cold, thick quietness reigned on the ship. After a while, I decided to leave the others and go taking some rest in my quarters, because a place where noone talk is a place where a diplomat is very useless.

It was a good choice, because for many hours I was left alone, with a opportunity to sleep that I deeply exploited. An ensign came to wake me up, few hours before the time of our arrival, obviously to bring me bad news.

"Your presence is needed, sir, something came up" He said.

I ran on the bridge, just setting up my hair bare hands. Captain Valtair was standing between his comrades, looking at the main screen.

"What's up?" I asked.

"A distress call, near the point of our destination. I changed the course"

"Something related to our mission?"

"We'll know very soon, we're ending the drift right now"

There's nothing spectacular about a ship ending a drift. The sky outside changes from pale white to black and your stomach is hit by a sort of fist full of iron. After the slightly sensation that your eyes are going to blown up, all return normal, normal and empty, as usual in open space.

"Empty system with a white dwarf. The source of the signal is keeping a very wide orbit around the collapsed star. It's difficult to have more details from here" explained one of the shipmen.

"Set a course to intercept them, nothing too fast, I don't want that they think we're jackals"

Another men from a near console remembered us about our alliance "Teculpa ships out of the drift, after us"

Commander Yutan just nodded, while talking in a terminal attached to his throat, a private line we gave him to communicate with his captains.

"The target is... massive, sir"

I became quite nervous, most of the massive ships in the universe are warships.

"They're calling us"

"Broadcast on the bridge" ordered captain Valtair. What was she ready for? Battle? Rescue? Tricky games? In that moment, in the heart of the action, I just saw a captain, fulfilling his duty.

"I hope you are friends" said a voice through the communication line.

A voice I recognized "Commander Balthor?" I asked.

A loud whisper. "Diplomat Callus, what a shame having you answering our distress call. Still on the Queen Charlotte?"

Indira took the lead of the conversation. "Queen Charlotte here. Are you on the Sot'Quan?"

"Yes, Sot'Quan here. Interferences from the White Dwarf are probably hiding part of our emissions, but if you keep coming in our direction you'll see by yourself"

"So... the Sot'Quan sent the distress call?"

Humiliation and anger were fighting even in the voice of the Rafkin commander. "Yes, on my direct order, we need help"

I moved an hand to stop captain Valtair from talking more. I understood why she was puzzled, but perplexity in her voice, in that situation, could lead to something very bad.

"Sorry for my captain, commander Balthor. It's... not... common to receive a distress call from a Rafkin colony ship"

A Rafkin colony ship is made to float in the space alone and overcome every kind of problem without help. A distress call from it is like a planet asking for help from aliens.

"We has been attacked" explained Balthor "We survived, but the attacker escaped and we don't know if he's going to come back. The distress call was sent because I don't want to be found alone next time"

"Were you damaged?" I asked.

"Please, diplomat, just come near the ship and see by yourself. You should be quite arrived right now"

An ensign said "Sot'Quan on the screen" and then I understood.

The Queen Charlotte was just a mosquito flying around an elephant and for many minutes we didn't see any anomaly, then, arrived around half the ship, we saw the damage: there was... an hole in the Sot'Quan side, a big crater, more than a mile wide, an horrible wound still dripping debris, frozen air and other fluids. It was like a city, smashed by an asteroid, melted metal reshaped in bizarre structures, materials changed and transformed by the contact with high energy, space architectures crumpled to become monuments of death.

There was no word we can say, our silence told Balthor we were seeing the disaster. "That's the damage. And the reason for the distress call"

"What did it, commander?" I asked.

"Something we've never seen before"