Free The Dying Light by Sean Williams, Shane Dix

delayed giving you this information. Now that I have had time to collate the data and to extrapolate from historical records, I believe I can say with certainty that this is Hintubet, albeit with a wildly altered photosphere.”
    “The star has changed?” asked Haid.“ How? ”
    “The precise method is unknown at the moment; the archives lack specifics in that regard, although the general principles are clear. Until we dispatch probes to study Hintubet in more detail, we are limited to the data we can scavenge from this distance.”
    “Which isn’t enough,” said Roche. She faced Kajic. “Uri, I want high-speed drones launched to the sun and any planetary bodies we can find.” She turned back to the screen. “Speaking of which, any sign of Voloras?”
    The red star shrank and slid out of view. Seconds later, the crescent of a large planet appeared, red-tinged due to the sun’s baleful light. The image of the planet came to rest in the center of the screen, its dense atmosphere swirled with gray bands.
    “I have dispatched a probe,” said Kajic. “The base line is already large enough for us to detect four moons.”
    “Voloras has five,” said Roche.
    “The fifth may be occluded,” said Kajic. “The sizes of the four we can see match COE records.”
    “How long until the probe can get a decent look at the base?”
    “One hour and fifty minutes. Guhr Outpost is on the missing moon.”
    Roche nodded. “Until then, we can’t afford to take anything for granted. Give us a heading that will take us by Voloras, with the option to use it as a gravity-whip if we decide not to stop. Leave a drone behind to relay the data from the probes. I want the ship camouflaged, too, just in case someone saw us arrive and is waiting for us there.”
    Kajic’s image winked out as he went to work.
    Roche slumped back into her chair with a sigh and rubbed at her temples. They appeared to be in Palasian System, just as the Box had promised they would be. But it wasn’t quite what she had expected: no hyperspace transmissions, a profoundly altered primary, and no stars in sight.
    The first and last details suggested that the system had indeed been encapsulated within some sort of barrier. But what? She knew of no process that could hide an entire system from view and account for the warped space outside.
    Or did she? The change in the sun’s appearance did ring a faint bell. A name she had heard back in her days on the moon of Bodh Gaya, when she had been studying for her Armada exams, returned to her...
    “Asha’s Gauntlet,” she said aloud.
    “I’m impressed, Morgan,” said the Box. “I didn’t think you would work it out so—”
    “We’re picking up a transmission!” Haid broke in.
    “Where?” Roche swiveled to face him, automatically linking with the weapons system. If life remained in the system, the chances were good that it belonged to the Sol Wunderkind. And if he was signaling them, then he knew where they were.
    “It’s not directed at us.” Haid was skimming through the various diagnostic tools that enabled him to enhance a weak signal. “It’s a wide-beam microwave from in-system. I’m picking up echoes off several objects near the source; the slight delays should give us a fair triangulation.”
    Roche let herself relax slightly. The signal must have been sent some time ago, given the distance at light-speed to the inner system.
    “What about the content of the transmission?” she said.
    “It’s in some sort of cipher,” Haid told her, then shook his head. “Haven’t broken it yet, which isn’t a good sign. They either crack immediately or take forever.”
    “Box, have a go at it,” she said. Haid’s refinement of the signal’s source proceeded while she watched. The area containing a probable location of the transmitter gradually narrowed on a diagnostic display, until a single point flashed once and turned green.
    “Got it,” Haid said.
    Roche overlaid a navigation chart.