Kiro gingerly approached the smouldering wreck, his Type 193 assault rifle held ready. The crash appeared to have been relatively low speed and controlled until the final flip which tore the vehicle apart; the volatile fuel had been jettisoned and there was no fire to warm the frigid air, only thin plumes of smoke from tiny electrical fires.

“Received and confirmed, Patrol-27,” came the voice in his ear. “Support group is inbound.”

“How long before support arrival?” Kiro said.

“ETA is twenty sidereal minutes plus or minus ten, Patrol-27,” said Dispatch. “Orders are as follows: secure site if practical, eliminate any hostiles if practical, claim any valuables if practicable. Keep channel open and relay any observations.”

“Received and confirmed, Dispatch,” said Kiro. He began moving gingerly into the wreckage–he knew as well as anybody that when Dispatch relayed orders from Command ‘if practical,’ it was one’s duty to attempt them or die an honorable death in trying to do so. Promotion or death–those were the twin horns of Kiro’s dilemma, and beneath his practiced military exterior his heart glowed like a firelit jade at the prospect.

“Craft appears to be a Matsuhita Type 201,” he said, moving toward it. The Type 201 transport ship was long out of service with the Imperial Armed Forces in favor of the Type 210, but it was still used by the seperatists and their disloyal allies.

The hull was fractured in several places, allowing easy ingress, and Kiro soon saw that the craft had split in two, spilling much of its cargo onto the tundra. “Craft has catastrophic hull breach, no immediate danger. Cargo appears to be chiefly foodstuffs and non-reactive supplies.” That part was surprising, considering how starved the insurgents were for weapons. Almost every other Mastuhita Type 201 knocked out by Imperial batteries exploded violently as its munitions detonated.

“Hang, on, Dispatch. Have observed unusual item in intact section of cargo bay.” Kiro was drawn to an eerie light of uncertain and varicolor hue; approaching, he saw that a heavy-duty transport container had been smashed open by the crash, but that it had been padded by surrounding crates which had clearly been meant to conceal it. Bodies of a small but well-armed guards contingent surrounded it, in poses that suggested they had given their lives to protect the cargo.

The item itself defied desciption.

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