Inside the shuttle Major Tom, Jetta's hands gripped the armrests of her seat. Wired into the ship's computer, her brain was concentrating on bringing them down to the tiny black hole in the planet's surface which was the entry to Richter Station. Ari had got them to this point, now it was up to her as pilot to make the landing.

Slowly, fighting the winds every metre, Jetta brought the shuttle down through the opening, then carefully descended a long shaft through the planet's outer layer until they reached the bottom. As soon as Major Tom touched the floor, doors slid shut above them, sealing the airlock and enclosing them in a small chamber.

Jetta and Ari stayed seated as the decontamination unit did its job, and then air rushed in to fill the chamber and they were able to disengage from their helmets.

"Good job," murmured Ari approvingly, as he stretched his back.

"That was a rough one," agreed Jetta. She removed her helmet and ran a hand through her short hair. "Should be easier on the way out, though," she added.

A couple of men and a woman wearing dark green singlesuits entered the chamber.

"Attention, Major Tom," called one of the men. "You are clear to disembark."

"Opening hatch now, Richter," replied Jetta. She and Ari climbed out into the chamber and shook hands with the technicians, who introduced themselves as Chang, Myke, and Parish. All five of them then clambered inside the shuttle's hold to unload the eagerly awaited cargo.

"Any news?" asked Chang. Although ships could travel at FTL speeds, there was still no way for information to travel except by ship or radio. While radio was good enough for broadcasts from Alcyon—only a few minutes away—it was hopeless for news from anywhere else in the galaxy.

"Got a box of Tri-D news chips and the latest holo-vids from Earth for you," said Jetta, handing Chang the box, "but nothing's changed much since our last visit. Federated Alliance is still in power on Earth, although I hear Mars has gone Green—politically speaking, of course!"

"How's your work here coming along?" asked Ari, civilly, expecting a generic answer. A lot of what Richter Station did was classified, though not all of it.

"We have a new strain of lichen that we're hopeful about, for outside use on Alcyon," said Parish, her eyes lighting up.

"And I've been working on a modified nanobyte," Myke jumped in, full of eager enthusiasm. "I call it my metal-muncher because it— ow!" He flinched as Chang elbowed him in the ribs, hard. "... looks like a bug..." Myke improvised. "It's just an idea..." he backtracked hastily, looking warily at Chang.

"Sounds interesting," lied Jetta, politely. "Is that the last of them?" she asked, turning, as Parish came out with only one small bio-box in her hands.

"Yep, that's it," said Parish. "Will you come down to the staff quarters for a cup of coffee and a chat? Some of our team haven't seen anyone from outside for months and I know they're looking forward to seeing you."

"Of course," said Jetta after a quick check of her wristcom. There were no urgent messages and there were still a few hours before Alpha Capella was scheduled to depart.

Jetta was just finishing her second coffee and starting to think about departing, when her wristcom sounded an urgent alarm.

Startled, she hadn't even time to read the message before alarms sounded throughout the room. Every single wristcom was signalling an emergency warning.

"What the fuck is happening?" she exclaimed.

"I don't fucking believe it!" cried Chang, staring at the headline on his wrist. "We've been invaded... by aliens!"

Trying to block out the rising hysteria around her, Jetta read through the entire message file sent to her from the Alpha Capella. A courier ship had just arrived in the Pleiades from Earth, bearing news of the destruction of Bellatru. Apparently, every courier ship that could be spared was being sent to Earth's colonies with the same information, alerting people to the danger and warning them to arm themselves as best they could.

All FTL-capability ships were being recalled immediately to Earth to fight the invaders.

"All the ships? Even you and the Alpha Capella?" asked Parish, suddenly realising what that would mean for their small colony. They'd be on their own. Possibly forever, if Earth lost the war.

"You can't just desert us!" someone protested.

Jetta was already on her feet, Ari beside her.

"I'm sorry but we have to go," she told the Richter's technicians. "The Alpha Capella will be getting ready to return to Earth."

Ari was focussed on his wristcom, frowning. I can't reach 'Capella," he told Jetta. "Something must be interfering with the frequency. Can you get through?"