The Chiyoda Incident

In the years following the end of the Galactic Entente's war against the Zracon Union, an uneasy stalemate was created between both sworn enemies. Recovering from the fighting and knowing about the threats growing on their Western frontier, the allies did not want to continue a war which would waste valuable resources, while the Union still needed to recover from several setbacks and battles on its border territories.

Unwilling to go to war, but still ready to pounce on their foe the moment they were provoked, the Entente and Zracon Union began a new kind of war, one of espionage and black ops operations where battleships and armies or millions were replaced by spy vessels and small squads of specialists eagerly listening to the conversations and movements of the foe beyond the frontier.

During the first years of this silent war, the Entente had the advantage, gathering plenty of information about Zracon fleet movements and the growing defences around the frontier colonies. The **Chiyoda,**a spying ship built by the combined efforts of Alir , Shalani , Sondrithian, and Fenn'Halor  engineers, gathered most of this information without once being caught by Zracon patrols. Even knowing of its existance, the high pirests of the Union  were unable to gather any proof of the ship's operations, not without risking their own agents and ships in a manner which could give the Entente an excuse to stary a one-sided war the Union would not win.

For nearly eight years, the crew of the Chiyoda (50 strong and made of members of all Entente nations) continued their missions without any interruption or risk of being captured. Nearly one year before the Yaanari attack of 2291 however, the Entente lost contact with their prized ship. For weeks, allied officials waited and even sent a few of their swiftest ships in quick operations to find the ship before the Zracon could. One month had passed since losing contact when finally the Chiyoda arrived to one of the Entente's frontier bases. Of the fifty who had once made the crew, only one remained, a shaking, nearly-catatonic Sondrithian by the name of Capati. When asked what had happened, the crew member had a major breakdown. Before being sedated, between his screams and cries, he gave a name: Kataneera.

## A last survivor's report

Weeks of recovery and treatement by the Entente's finest medical experts allowed Capati to recover enough to give a report of what had happened to the ship and crew of the Chiyoda during their one-month dissapearance. He spoke of how the mission had begun just like many others in the past, with the spying ship keeping away from trade and patrol routes as it plunged deeper and deeper into Zracon space.

Two days into the journey, as they neared a system with no inhabited planets and only a few mining bases, the Chiyoda's systems began to fail. The transmitter went down first, ending communication between them and the Entente. A sudden fire in the storage destroyed many of the emergency repair tools the crew had for incidents like this. In his report, Capati explained of how they did not even find the scorched remains of those objects, something which should have been a sign that they were not alone in their ship.

Knowing they could not carry on with the mission like this, the captain of the Chiyoda ordered her crew to turn back for repairs, only to find out yet another malfunction, this time in the ship's engines. The crew member in charge of them was found sleeping in his post during the "incident" and detained for not performign his duties. Tensions began to rise, the danger of being captured and tortured by Zracon priests slowly eroding the crews confidence in each-other and their captain. Some objects dissapeared and were found in another crew member's locker, nights were filled with nightmares while the captain spent more and more time in her office. Suspicions of sabotage and even treason began to grow, to the point where fights began to break out between crew members.

Then, the first body was found.

In his report, Capati confessed the following days were a blurr in his mind. Factions were made, each one taking one part of the ship and demanding the captain to at least try and make a run for it. Some members of the crew were also trialed, with one being executed after finding dubious proof of his involvement with the first murder. The crew member, a Shalani who insisted of his innocence until the end, had only been dead six hours when another Shalani was found dead. By then, chaos was the only master of the Chiyoda. A firefight ensued, the close brotherhood the crew had once had shattered as they lunged at each other's throats like wild animals. Not as affected as the others by this madness, Capati ran and fled to the captain's office, hiding with her there for nearly 12 hours until the last las shot was heard.To Capati's surprise, the captain remained calm. She assured Capati that he would return safely to the Entente, that no Zracon ship would interrupt his journey home as long as he delivered a message to his higher ups. Confused, Capati asked what that message was.

Silent, the captain placed a hand on Capati's forehead, the gentle touch somehow making the crew member feel as if a thousand needles had sunk at once inside his brain matter. Dizzy, he looked once more at his captain, eyes blurry and unfocused.

   When he looked again, the shape and face of the captain began to change. A strange, young human woman of long, fiery red hair and eyes like ice retreated her hand from Capati's head, her face really familiar to the exhausted crew member. As she began to speak however, his brain finally found a name for her and a new terror filled Capati's heart.

*"My name is Kataneera, agent to the Holy Zracon Union. But I see you are already aware of that. Know now, that what I said before is all true: You will return safely to Entente territory Shadow, along with your ship. The high priests will not go to war with your masters for this, even if they are well within their rights to launch a crusade just for the arrogant and evil nature of you shadows. We Zracon are not blind or deaf, and if you dare to send another ship to spy in our borders, we will show you how our guns are not mute either. This is a lesson I will not repeat, not to you, your masters, or any other Entente crews who taint the sacred territory of the Union"*

Capati, still thinking he was going to die, tried to reach for his gun. He awoke several days after on the ship's pilot seat. Of Kataneera and the bodies of the rest of the crew there was no sign.