I walked through the ship’s airlock, blinking away the fog from a fault in the pressure systems. I looked around, and the slightly flickering lights, poorly secured cables, and worn deck plating spoke of a very old ship. A hand came down on my shoulder, and I spun around to face its source.

He was tall, and bulky enough I should’ve heard him coming from the other end of the pier. He grinned as he met my gaze. “Welcome aboard, sprout. You’re our new comms officer, right?” He chuckled as he gave me a once-over, reading me like a two-bit flimsy. “Fresh-pressed academy uniform too. Straight outta Academy, I bet.”

I nodded, then hoisted my pack up to my shoulder and started following as he turned and walked down the corridor.

⁂⁂⁂

My eyes opened as the deck shook, power lines sparking and sirens wailing like an army of mothers with beds too small, in rooms too empty. I rose, and everything went white for a moment. It felt like an icepick had lodged itself into my spine.

Smoke billowed through the decks like a party good enough to call the cops was just around the corner, and I looked at the flickering and cracked screen at the front of Operations. It glowed crimson for a moment, and the deck shook again.

⁂⁂⁂

The captain glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was keeping up, then spoke again, the deep rumble of his voice reverberating off the bulkheads. “So, kid. What do they teach you about the forbidden band at the Academy?”

I blinked. There wasn’t any reason to think this was a trick question, but asking that has about as much point as asking why someone eats. “That they’re not to be used as com frequencies, on pain of death.”

“So they still don’t teach you anything about it.” The captain turned around long enough to wink at me, before taking the next turn. “That’s good to know.”

“But th-”

The captain held up his hand, and I stopped. “No, no. It’s true.” A few turns and an elevator passed as silently as an old ship can’t make them, and then we were in Operations. “So, I’ve got something you need to learn. You see that switch right there, on your com console?”

I looked, and there certainly was an odd switch. Aftermarket and poorly hacked in, with a bright blue light harder to miss than the side of a megafreighter you’re about to plow into. “Yeah?”

⁂⁂⁂

I stared at the screen as the ships approached, their guns blazing and shields uncaring about whatever we used as a rebuttal. As smoke continued to fill the room, a blue glow from one of the consoles drew my attention for a moment, and I dragged myself toward it, inch by endless inch.

The ship shook again, the enemies’ shots finding their way more often than not. Elegant birds of prey crossed the screen in front of me, cats playing with the little mouse they’ve managed to pin to the ground.

⁂⁂⁂

“That makeshift patch, or one like it, should be on every com station you ever work.” He tapped the station, then gestured vaguely towards the supplies along the rear bulkhead. “If it isn’t, you’ll need to know how to add one. It switches you over to the forbidden band.”

“Why wo-”

He started speaking again mid-sentence, his words short and clipped. “Because they didn’t teach you anything about it.” His eyes softened as he looked at me, a worn smile crossing his face like a dancer who should have retired long before. “And if you ever have occasion to broadcast on the forbidden band, you broadcast this file, and nothing else.” His eyes hardened again at those last words, a wall that said there was nothing to see behind it. ”Nothing. Else.”

“What’s on th-”

He held up his hand again, and wagged a finger at me as he continued speaking. “I’m gettin’ there, I’m getting there. It isn’t much.” He shrugged, his shoulders moving like they had a world to bear. ”Just a few sounds, set to broadcast on loop. And no, I don’t know what they mean.” Looking away for a moment, he glanced at the forward viewscreen, and the endless distance between here and everywhere else. “Nobody this side of the starburst does, in fact.”

⁂⁂⁂

Crackling and flickering light filled the room as the power failed and backups came online. Shadows danced along the walls like revelers with too much to drink, and cracks spiderwebbed across part of the viewscreen, trapping what was there for a few moments longer than the rest.

The shaking had stopped, the ships outside no longer firing. There’s no point in gutting a fresh kill with a gun, after all. It ruins the flavor.

⁂⁂⁂

“But kid, that forbidden band is important. If life is good to you, you’ll never have cause to use it.” He turned to face away, his gaze locked on crew stations and the people who weren’t manning them. “But if it isn’t, well. If things’ve gone sideways, so wrong they can’t be fixed.” His voice lowered, and the walls spoke his words as much as the captain himself did. “If you’re looking death in the eyes, and those eyes look more friendly than what’s left this side. That’s when you use the forbidden band.”

⁂⁂⁂

I reached the console, and flipped that bright blue switch hard enough to snap the end off. A few moments later, and I had that old file queued up and ready to send. As the ships turned and approached our airlocks, I dragged myself up to the console and leaned on the broadcast button, holding it down more with weight than will.

⁂⁂⁂

The captain turned to face me, his grimace hard enough to forge a good knife from red-hot steel. “You don’t use it before, and you certainly won’t be able to use it after.” As he continued to look at me, his eyes softened, and the smile returned. “But lemme tell you. There are three truths in this galaxy.”

⁂⁂⁂

New ships appeared on screen, their guns firing dull blue and their shields at full glow. Some of the pirates died with that first salvo, but others turned, their scarlet shots ripping off at the new arrivals.

Shot after shot, yet their aim was never true. Not once did they hit these unwelcome strangers, and not once did these new ships miss.

⁂⁂⁂

“First, death comes for everyone at some point.”

⁂⁂⁂

The viewscreen glowed bright as ships began to die, bursting like the rotten fruit they were. Flecks and sparkles of plasma glittered against the dark deeps behind them, more beautiful than they ever were as ships and crew.

⁂⁂⁂

“Second, taxes get paid, no matter what it takes to pay them.”

⁂⁂⁂

The ships moved closer, desperate for a hit. And their aim was true, but the hits were not. As their crimson bolts of plasma splashed across the white shields of the interlopers, they faded and splashed on through, decks, bulkheads, and crew vanishing before and reforming behind the deadly blasts.

Nothing could hit them, for there was nothing there to hit. And that nothing bore a grudge older than empires, one that burned brighter than the stars that no longer filled the sky around us.

⁂⁂⁂

“And third. Nothing can touch the ghosts of Terra.”