Of Smoke and Stardust [[COMPLETE]]]

CHAPTER 1-ALYA

            Cragsky's face flushed in defeat. Alya could see the amount of restraint it took the Panos official not to throttle her. But everyone in the room knew he'd be dead before he got to the door if he tried anything at all.

            "Of course." With a forced smile, he motioned the girls to follow him. Beside her, Nyx smirked, clutching her Smart Tab in one hand, the other dangling close above her holstered ERG—Electro Ray Gun, the standard issue sidearm for all galactic officers, strapped to her belt, ready to draw if necessary. Alya knew they probably wouldn't need to use force, but Nyx was always ready for some action.

        Mr. Cragsky led them past the rows of clerks hunching over their own desks, to the other end of the data archive. He paused before a small glass cubicle. Inside was a pristine white desk with a SmartScreen embedded on a table top.

        "Nyx, the list," Alya prompted her comrade while Mr. Cragsky punched a password into a projection keyboard. The list contained the names they had of missing teens from Nova-Panos. A thin, holographic screen like a transparent film popped before them. Alya stepped forward, and started entering the names from her list one by one: 'Yorio Nemeah, Qlaree Grongriar...' but every time she entered a name, a black dialog box appeared on the screen showing 'NO OFFICIAL RECORDS FOUND' written in red, as if they never existed, were never even born.

        This can't be.  Alya was so sure. Sure that if she checked those files to cross reference against the year before and after the subjects went missing, she'd find some clue.

        "I was speaking the truth, Lieutenant." Now it was Mr. Cragsky's turn to smile, as though he had just won a star-ship in some stupid race. Alya gritted her teeth. If she could punch that smug look off his face without getting court marshalled, she would. "If you like I can show you the files from the past ten years, and years before that."

        "That won't be necessary, Thanks." Nyx huffed with a muttered curse under her breath. "We'll take our leave, but," she took a step forward before Alya could stop her, "if I find you're messing with us, Mr. Cragsky, you can kiss your job—and most likely your life—goodbye."

        "Nyx," Alya said, whisking her hot headed comrade away, "not now."

        With a grunt, Nyx allowed Alya to pull her away. Once they was out of ear shot from the pale official, she pulled out her tab and started swishing her fingers over the screen, adding in notes of what had happened, and said, to the official investigation file.

        Alya watched Nyx type furiously, as they made their way back to their ship. The file was already larger than any other investigation they'd done, and yet, they weren't any closer to finding the answers than when they started.

        On the docking platform outside the Data Center, a hired flying cab awaited their return. Metal bodied, and modeled after emergency pods, such shuttles, were good for planetary soaring, but not well adapted for travel outside the atmosphere. Before hoping inside, Alya took one last glance at the dome-shaped exterior of the Data Center, made of smart glass, and felt a sense of unease. If they didn't get to the bottom of these disappearances, it would be the first case of theirs left unsolved. It would tarnish their reputation, but that was the least of Alya's worries. She was more concerned about those innocent lives, their fates, and what would happen to them if they failed.

        The journey down to the spaceport was short, it took about six minutes via the flying cab.  The massive terminal was crammed with passengers, both waiting to catch and disembarking from their vessels. Alya noticed a few Panos sentries taking patrol around the concourse, and a huge queue before the check in counter. Class-C cyborgs were moving luggage and hovercarts. No one bothered them as they headed for the bridge connecting pier five, where private starships were moored. One glance at their uniform, and everyone stepped aside to give them space.