Attrition

A seasoned Interstel special agent is sent to investigate a survey starship found intact in orbit above an Earthlike world while its crew is inexplicably missing. Remote probes show the vessel undamaged and secure, but human contact has failed, prompting a cautious, bureaucratic response and a risky on-site inquiry. The narrative follows the agent's procedural investigation and survival efforts as technological anomalies, alien ecology, and human limitations converge. Themes include adaptability under pressure, the moral costs of expendability in exploration, and the tension between institutional procedure and on-the-ground improvisation.