After getting the ball rolling with his own people, Alexander focused on the mess in front of him. With the hypergates destroyed, the threat of the Shican was not an immediate concern. According to the information Fletcher left behind, the Shican border was just over a hundred light years from the STO's nearest planet. The Asgardian border was closer to the alien's territory, but not that much closer. To reach human space, even assuming the Shican's FTL technology was more advanced than humans', which he had no evidence for or against, it should take them nearly half a year.

The fact that the Shican lived so far away made Alexander wonder why they ever attacked human space to begin with or why they had retreated so far after their first war. It wasn't like the Asgardians had pushed them all the way back to their own border. The strange alien sphere presented a possible solution to that question, but he lacked the information to confirm that hypothesis.

Alexander realized he would have to reach out to the STO again to apprise them of the current situation and ensure they did not intervene. The laws he was relying on to protect them were all well and good, but he couldn't rely on every captain knowing those archaic rulings; he needed assurances. There were a few things he wanted to handle before he reached out to them, though. One of those was securing a few Shican corpses for study.

He would love to get a live Shican for interrogation, but now was neither the time nor the place to do something foolish like that. If an actual war did kick off with the Shican, there would be future opportunities where he wasn't on the back foot… hopefully.

It took little effort to collect a few of the dead Shican floating through space. He even collected some from near the large chunk of wreckage for comparison.

Once Alexander had the samples he wanted, he sighed. He didn't want to contact the STO in case they saw the situation differently. If that happened, he would have to make a choice to leave right away before STO forces could come and claim the alien wreckage, or continue with his efforts to secure and study it before they arrived. Either way, he would be forced to give it up since Grace was not in any condition to fight. Realizing he was out of excuses to delay any longer, he contacted Admiral Dufresne again.

The man was quick to pick up, and he sounded a bit harried. "Mr. Kane, I am rather busy at the moment. Can we reschedule this call for a different time? There have been some recent developments that require my attention."

"The Shican attacks?" Alexander asked. "That's why I'm contacting you."

"You know about those already? Wait… I read a report of a ship attacking civilians in Epsilon Eridani. Was that you?"

Not the best opening, but Alexander couldn't deny it.

"I warned them to leave after declaring the area a safe harbor for BSE, but they ignored my warning." Alexander was surprised that the Admiral had brought up the attack on a civilian vessel instead of the wreckage of the Shican ship. If the man wasn't aware of the prize, Alexander wasn't about to mention it.

"Were there no STO ships in the area?" Dufresne asked in concern.

"There were, but the Shican targeted them first. There is little left of those vessels. Even my ships are heavily damaged after the short engagement, which is why I reached out to you."

"I see. So this wasn't about our agreement, it was to ensure your safety."

"Our contract is still in place, Admiral, but you are more or less correct. I want assurances that the STO will not interfere while I make repairs."

"We will inform our captains of the rules surrounding your declaration, so you shouldn't have to worry about them. My concern is the other report. If true, corporate entities will step in to claim it. We will do our best to keep them away, but there are not that many military vessels near Epsilon Eridani due to the war with Grand Admiral Xin. We will dispatch as many as we can, but I don't know when they will arrive. Even if they do get there before the corporations hear what transpired, there will be little they can do if a corporate fleet appears. All STO fleets will have standing orders not to engage with corporate ships; they will only be tasked with keeping the peace. Depending on who shows up, that may not be possible."

That was less than ideal, but at least he knew that Dufresne knew about the Shican wreckage. That meant that the knowledge likely reached nearby corporate spies as well.

"If the corporations attack me, I will defend my people," Alexander said.

"That is well within your rights, Mr. Kane. I'm just letting you know that there might not be anything we can do to stop them if they do. We can't afford to throw our ships and people away, especially not when we have a war going on with Xin and another that is likely on the horizon."

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"As long as we understand each other, Admiral, I can handle the rest," Alexander stated more firmly than he felt.

Dufresne wished him luck before ending the call.

The Admiral wasn't wrong. Grand Admiral Xin's motives still weren't clear, but his timing seemed even more suspect given recent events. Did the man know that the Shican would attack? The original source is M|V|L5EMPYR.

It seemed unlikely given that Xin space was on the opposite side of STO and Asgardian space, and where the Shican resided. Technically, it wasn't even Asgardian space that was closest to the Shican. It was the no man's land between Asgardian space and the area where Harlow had resided.

If the strange alien ship hadn't destroyed the hypergates, the Shican would probably be spreading through human space like a deadly plague right now. He would have to thank them for that.

Speaking of Shican, Alexander made his way to the back of the ship and a small storage room. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. A mist of chilled air blew condensation past his legs. The cold didn't bother him, but it was necessary for what was contained within the space.

Alexander moved over to one of the black plastic bags that contained the collected corpses and lifted it off the floor. It was heavier than he suspected. He moved it over to a metal table and unzipped the body bag, exposing the Shican corpse.

The dead felinid's eyes were bloodshot and bulging in their sockets, showing that the Shican suffered rather gruesomely after being exposed to the vacuum of space. This body's vac suit and clothing had been deconstructed, along with the ship, leaving only the biological material behind.

There were spots of blood along the corpse. At first, Alexander thought those were wounds caused by the battle.

It wasn't until he started studying a corpse from the severed ship that he learned what those wounds were caused by. The body from the wreck wasn't in great condition, having been sliced in half by the disrupted hypergate, but it did save him time dissecting the corpse. What he found was astounding. The Shican had embraced technology to the extent that they turned themselves into cyborgs. At least that seemed to be the case for some of them. Others looked perfectly normal.

As he inspected the cybernetic body, he saw microscopic wires running to muscles, nerves, and even the strangely familiar-looking brain. That level of augmentation was a terrifying prospect because it meant that the shorter aliens would be stronger and faster than a normal person. They would likely be able to react and think faster as well. The suit, or what remained of it on the bisected body, wasn't all that advanced. It wasn't much different than a standard-issue armored human space suit. He was sure there were some differences, but not enough to warrant a closer look at the moment.

With the discovery of the severed body came another concern. There might be surviving Shican aboard the severed ship. Even without oxygen, a suited human could last nearly four hours without a RASP to extend that duration. He could wait that remaining time out, but if they had air or devices to supplement their oxygen, there was no telling how long the Shican could survive.

Waiting would complicate matters because it gave the corporations time to enter the system or the ones already in the system to gain enough confidence to approach. So far, those were hanging back, probably afraid that the aliens might come back.

Alexander couldn't afford to bring the wreck closer or cut into it if there were possible survivors. They could exit the vessel to attack the smelter, Grace, or cause additional damage, so he needed to make sure there were none aboard the alien wreckage before he cut into it.

He zipped the body back up and went in search of Galloway. He wanted to ask the man if he thought a strike aboard the vessel would be possible, given the situation.

Without shipboard comms, Alexander wasn't able to radio the man, too much interference from the bulkheads and walls. That meant looking for him the old-fashioned way.

Alexander finally located the Sergeant in the medical center. He was assisting the doctors with the wounded.

Galloway spotted him and walked over as soon as he finished bandaging a wound on one of Katalynn's people.

"What's up?" he asked quietly.

Alexander used his avatar to motion for Galloway to follow him. The pair left the medical wing and found a quiet spot in the corridor. "How would you feel about a boarding operation?"

Galloway quirked his head slightly. "Against who?"

Alexander mentally slapped himself. He forgot that not everyone was aware of the entire events surrounding the alien ship and the gate, let alone the wreckage left behind. There had just been so much going on that he hadn't briefed the crew yet.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors?"

"Yeah," the man replied darkly. "The Asgardians say the Shican attacked, but I also heard another alien vaporized them."

"It's essentially true," Alexander said. "There is a section of a Shican vessel that was left behind after the gate was destroyed. I have a feeling there are some Shican left alive on it, and we can't afford for them to start causing trouble once the bots move the large chunk near the smelter. The only problem is that they might be cybernetically augmented."

Galloway raised his eyebrow at that. "That's the first I've heard of Shican using cybernetics. None of the STO training or old combat footage ever mentioned that."

Alexander found that odd, but then again, it had been quite some time since the last Shican attack. The aliens might have made the technological leap during those intervening years.

"Do you think the strike team could handle clearing the wreckage?"

"I don't see why not. With the FE rifles and suits, we should be mostly safe. A few of Char's defenders survived as well, and even have their augment gear. We can bring them along to help stack the odds in our favor."

Before the attack, Alexander never quite understood why the Asgardian boarding teams rotated their people so that a third of them were in suits and ready to go at all times, but now he understood the wisdom in having armed personnel ready to go, even if just to repel boarders. He would speak with Krieger about implementing a similar policy.

"Gather your people, and I'll ask Katalynn if we can borrow hers. Once I get confirmation, you can brief them on the mission. I'll also see what I can do about finding you a pilot."