“Incoming transmission! It’s…scrambling!” Zee, the Obsolete’s perpetually-caffeinated communications officer, yelped, her fingers flying across the console. Static crackled, punctuated by bursts of distorted sound.

  Captain Zero, a man whose bravado far outweighed his piloting skills (a fact often overlooked by his equally optimistic, if slightly more grounded, crew), grinned. “Sounds juicy! Patch it through, Zee!”

  The screen flickered to life, displaying a blurry image of a panicked face – Griz Mallory, a notorious space prospector known as much for his luck as his questionable ethics. “Help… Xylos…vanished…massive…reward…” The image dissolved back into static.

  “Xylos?” Flint Maddox, the ship's engineer, grunted, wiping grease from his already smudged overalls. "That's… unusual. I heard whispers. Rumours of instability, but vanished? That's a whole new level of 'unusual'."

  Luna Silva, the Obsolete's navigator, a woman whose quiet competence often belied her sharp wit, raised a skeptical eyebrow. "A 'massive reward,' he said. Sounds too good to be true, even for Griz."

  The SS Obsolete, affectionately nicknamed "The Rusty Bucket" by its crew, creaked in protest. A loose panel rattled somewhere near the bridge. The ship was, to put it mildly, in desperate need of a refit. Several blinking warning lights on the control panel punctuated this fact. Even the ship's AI, Drake Valor, a rather dry and sarcastic program, sounded strained. "Structural integrity at 67%, Captain. I wouldn't recommend any sudden maneuvers."

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  “Sudden maneuvers are my specialty!” Captain Zero declared, striking a dramatic pose that almost sent him tumbling over a stack of half-eaten energy bars. "Besides” he continued, brushing himself off, "a vanishing planet? That’s the kind of adventure that makes a legend!”

  Vee Korr, the Obsolete’s weapons specialist and self-proclaimed expert in all things explosive (a claim that was frequently tested, and sometimes challenged), snorted. “A legend or a very expensive salvage operation? I'm leaning towards the latter. We're barely holding together as it is, Cap. This whole thing screams 'trap'."

  “Nonsense, Vee! Think of the payout! We could fix up the Obsolete, finally upgrade that ancient hyperdrive…” Captain Zero’s eyes gleamed, already picturing a lavish, albeit slightly rusty, spaceship.

  Luna, ever practical, added, "And what about the planet itself? If it's truly vanished, what kind of forces could have caused that?"

  Flint grumbled, examining a particularly stubborn leak in a pipe near the engine room access, "If it's a gravity anomaly, we're risking getting sucked into some black hole. If it's something else, who knows what dangers are out there?"

  Mira Sol, the Obsolete’s medic, peered from her workstation, a concerned expression on her face. "Don't forget the potential for unknown pathogens. A planet simply disappearing isn't a natural phenomenon; something serious is going on."

  “Exactly!” Captain Zero boomed, ignoring the valid concerns of his crew. “An enigma! A mystery! The kind of challenge that screams ‘Captain Zero’! Prepare for warp, Zee! We’re going to find Xylos!”

  Zee, who had a well-honed talent for ignoring Captain Zero's more…enthusiastic pronouncements, quietly muttered, "Prepare for potential disaster, more like. And please, someone get me another energy drink. I might need it."

  As the Obsolete lurched into warp speed, its ancient engines groaning in protest, the crew braced themselves. The adventure, fraught with danger and the distinct possibility of total ship failure, was officially underway. The vanishing of Xylos, a planet seemingly swallowed by the void, was more than a simple mystery—it was a puzzle wrapped in a riddle, inside an extremely rusty spaceship. And Captain Zero and his questionable crew were about to try to solve it.

  The airlock hissed as they passed through it. The void stared back at them, seemingly mocking their aging vessel and its over-optimistic captain. The journey to Xylos' last known location, or perhaps to the great cosmic scrapyard in the sky, had begun.