The unknown ship made no further transmission.
Rhoswen's scout followed it until the vessel crossed the outer edge of the observation area, then stopped as Aurelian had ordered.
The ship continued outward for several minutes before changing course toward one of the older routes leading away from Valeris Reach.
Nobody tried to stop it.
Aurelian wanted answers, but chasing an unidentified vessel into open space the night before the conference was exactly the kind of distraction he wanted to avoid.
"Did the scout get anything useful?" he asked.
Eirenne enlarged the sensor record. "Some. The ship is old, but the engine output is better than the hull suggests. Several external weapon mounts appear functional, although none were powered while it was inside the observation area."
"Registration?"
"Nothing reliable."
"Where did it come from?"
"That's harder. It entered through the mining debris field, so we don't have a clean route trace."
Aurelian looked at the message again.
