Tarlac had often wondered about the puzzle those containers presented. The Traiti had initiated the body exchanges, and nobody could even guess at the reason. There had been no communication, nothing except the sudden signal that led to cautious recovery of the first container. It had been examined even more cautiously, but had proven as harmless as had all of the later pickups. There weren't many; space battles left few recognizable bodies. Even ground battles left few, since hand-held blasters at full power or molecular disruptors literally vaporized unarmored targets, and if enough of them overloaded an armored target's screen generator, the resulting explosion had the same practical effect. Most of the recovered bodies were victims of accident or of the rare hand-to-hand combat.
The Ranger brought his attention back to the bridge as Olorun reported ten seconds until out-transition. "Five credits says we're within fifteen klicks," the young Helmsman added with a grin.
"You're on," Tarlac laughed. "Optimist!"
"We'll see, sir. Out-transitioning … now."
There was a moment of silence as the ship re-entered normspace and stars appeared on the viewscreen, followed by murmurs of dismay. Captain Willis slapped the General Quarters alarm, swearing briefly but bitterly. "Damn! It was a trap!" The Traiti violation of something which had been sacrosanct was almost as shocking as the overwhelming number of the angular yet graceful Traiti ships.
"When they set up an ambush," Tarlac observed quietly, "it's a good one. There's enough firepower out there to vaporize us three times over."
"Yeah," Willis agreed, equally quiet. "Well, let's see how many of them we can take out with us." She raised her voice, addressing her Weapons Officer. "Lieutenant Dawes, concentrated primary fire on their flagship—"
"Hold it," Tarlac interrupted. "There's something peculiar here. If they'd wanted us dead, they could've opened fire as soon as we out-transitioned. Since they didn't, let's see if we can find out just what they do want."
"Yes, sir," Willis said. "Hold your fire, Lieutenant, but be ready."
"Aye, Captain." Dawes was poised, tense, his fingers hovering almost in contact with his firing studs.