Dust and Starlight: Four Space Opera Novels of Salvage and Survival

Echoes of the Void (Book 1): Dust and Rust

The static crackled in my headset, a familiar lullaby against the black velvet of space. “Stardust to cycle three wreckage, do you copy? This is Rostova.”

Nothing. Just the hiss and pop of dead comms. Expected. Most of the wrecks out here were picked clean years ago, or worse, guarded by scavengers who’d happily turn your ship into scrap metal for a handful of credits.

I nudged the Stardust’s throttle, bringing us closer to the debris field. It wasn't much, just a scatter of hull plating and twisted metal, the remains of a freighter caught in a micro-meteor shower, according to the system registry. Probably stripped bare, but I needed the synth-alloy. Lena was running low, and repairs were piling up.

“Anything, Kai?” I asked, glancing at the navigator, who was hunched over his console, fingers flying across the controls.

“Mostly dust and regret, Captain,” he replied, not looking up. Kai always had a quip ready. Annoying, sometimes, but I’d take his humor over silence. “Though I’m picking up a faint energy signature on the largest chunk. Could be a life support system still cycling, or… something else.”

“Something else is usually trouble,” I muttered, adjusting the ship’s magnetic clamps. “Static, run a full scan. Let's see what our little ghost ship is hiding.”

Jax Kael, our engineer, grunted from his station. “Already on it. Signature's weak, erratic. Definitely Precursor tech. Probably fried, but worth a look.”

Precursor tech. Now that was interesting. The Precursors, a vanished civilization, had left behind relics scattered across the Kepler-186f system, technology so advanced it was barely understood. Valuable, dangerous, and always attracting the wrong kind of attention.

“Lena, prep the boarding team. Standard procedure.”

“Acknowledged,” came the crisp reply from the security officer. Lena was all business. Ex-military, she didn’t waste words or movements. A solid rock in a chaotic universe.

The boarding shuttle shuddered as we docked with the derelict. The airlock hissed open, revealing a corridor plunged into darkness. I activated my helmet’s floodlights, cutting through the gloom.

The interior was a mess. Cables hung like severed veins, consoles sparked erratically, and a fine layer of metallic dust coated everything. It smelled like burnt ozone and decay.

“Stay sharp,” I said, my voice tight in my headset. “This place feels wrong.”

We moved cautiously through the ship, Lena leading the way, her pulse rifle raised. Jax followed, tinkering with a scanner. Kai brought up the rear, constantly monitoring our position on his holographic display. I covered the front, my own pistol drawn, scanning for threats.

The energy signature led us deeper into the ship, to what had once been the crew quarters. Most of the cabins were empty, stripped bare. But one door was sealed, its hatch reinforced with emergency bulkheads.

“Well, that’s new,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Looks like someone didn’t want anyone getting in here.”

Jax approached, running a diagnostics scan. “The seal is Precursor-grade. Whatever’s inside, they really wanted to keep it hidden.”

“Breach it,” I ordered.

Jax worked quickly, bypassing the security protocols. The hatch groaned in protest, then finally popped open, revealing a small, cramped compartment.

The room was surprisingly intact. A single console hummed softly, its screen displaying a complex series of glyphs. In the center of the room, suspended in a stasis field, was a figure.

A woman.

Lena was the first to react. “Life signs are minimal, but present. She’s alive.”

I approached cautiously, my pistol still raised. The woman was young, maybe early twenties, with long black hair and pale skin. She was wearing a uniform unlike any I’d ever seen, sleek, black, and adorned with strange symbols.

“Who is she?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“No idea,” Kai replied, studying the console. “The language on that thing is… ancient. Not even a match for known Precursor dialects.”

“Try to access the stasis ...