N-XS stared with a mixture of horror and fascination at the absence of a three thousand kilogram antimatter core. It was such an unassuming trough, a cylindrical allurium structure with a positive and negative end. Much like the housing for an antique battery but on a much greater scale.

She crawled into the chamber, inspecting it closely, and found no other alterations or defects. No other sabotage.

It was unthinkable. How the crew might even have detached the core safely, let alone removed it from the ship without causing it to rupture.

N-XS began to imagine how she herself would have managed such a task.