Starlit Moonlight

Chapter One: The ghost station

The abandoned research station Eos-7 drifted in the darkness like a forgotten star.

Its silver hull reflected the distant glow of Earth, silent and cold against the endless black. Half of its exterior lights were dead, leaving sections of the station submerged in shadow. From the observation window of the shuttle, it looked less like a scientific facility and more like a corpse suspended in orbit.

Anastasia Ivanovna Alekseyava pressed her gloved hands against the edge of her seat and stared at it.

For years, she had dreamed of exploring a place like this.

Ancient space stations. Unsolved mysteries. Lost experiments.

The kind of mission that made history.

And of course, the universe had decided to ruin it by putting Leo Clarke on the same team.

“You’re glaring at the station like it insulted your family,” Leo said from across the shuttle.

Anastasia turned her head and narrowed her blue eyes.

“I’m imagining how peaceful this mission would be if you weren’t here.”

Leo smiled lazily, as if her annoyance entertained him.

His black hair fell over his forehead, and the faint freckles scattered across his nose made him look deceptively harmless. Anastasia knew better. Leo Clarke was infuriatingly brilliant, impossibly confident, and far too aware of his own charm.

He had beaten her by two points in orbital navigation last semester.

Two points.

She still had not forgiven him.

“Aw,” he said, placing a hand over his chest. “And here I thought you’d miss me.”

“I’d miss the silence.”

The other students in the shuttle exchanged amused glances. Their instructor, Commander Ruiz, sighed.

“If you two are done,” he said, “we’re docking in sixty seconds.”

Anastasia straightened in her seat, forcing herself to focus.

This was what mattered.

Not Leo.

Not their rivalry.

Not the way his gray-green eyes always seemed to linger on her a second longer than necessary.

The shuttle shuddered as magnetic clamps locked onto Eos-7.

A metallic thud echoed through the cabin.

Then silence.

Commander Ruiz stood. “Standard exploration protocol. We enter, restore power to the main hub, retrieve the station logs, and return to the shuttle. No wandering off.”

Leo raised a brow. “That sounds directed.”

Ruiz gave him a pointed look. “Because it is.”

Anastasia smirked.

Leo leaned toward her as the students unfastened their harnesses.

“Don’t get lost, Alekseyava.”

She lifted her chin. “Try to keep up, Clarke.”

The airlock doors opened with a long hiss.

Cold, stale air swept over them.

Anastasia stepped into the station, her boots clanging softly against the metal floor. Her helmet light cut through the darkness, revealing dust floating in the air like silver snow.

The corridor stretched ahead, lined with sealed doors and flickering emergency lights.

Everything was too quiet.

No hum of machinery.

No voices.

Only the occasional groan of old metal.

“Creepy,” one student whispered.

Anastasia’s heart raced, but excitement burned brighter than fear.

She had spent her entire life reading about places like this. Standing inside one felt unreal.

The team moved toward the central control hub.

Panels sparked weakly along the walls. Torn papers drifted near the ceiling vents. A child’s stuffed rabbit lay abandoned in one corner.

Anastasia paused.

“What was a toy doing here?”

Commander Ruiz glanced at it. “Families lived on research stations sometimes.”

Something about the sight unsettled her.

This station had once been full of people.

Now it felt like they had vanished in an instant.

At the control hub, the crew split into pairs to inspect different systems.

Anastasia knelt at a terminal, fingers moving quickly over the controls.

“Power conduits are unstable,” she said.

Leo stepped beside her.

“I noticed.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

“No, but you’re welcome for the confirmation.”

She glared at him.

The terminal flickered to life, casting pale blue light across their faces.

A warning message appeared.

BIOHAZARD CONTAINMENT FAILURE.

Anastasia’s pulse quickened.

Before she could read further, alarms shrieked through the station.

Red emergency lights flashed.

“What did you do?” Leo demanded.

“What did I do?”

Commander Ruiz’s voice crackled over the comms. “Everyone return to the shuttle immediately!”

The floor trembled.

Bulkhead doors slammed shut between the control hub and the main corridor.

The rest of the team disappeared behind a wall of reinforced steel.

“Commander!” Anastasia shouted.

Static answered.

Her breathing grew faster.

“No, no, no—”

Leo was already at the sealed door, typing commands into the control panel.

“It’s locked from the station’s internal system.”

“Can you open it?”

He tried again.

Nothing.

His jaw tightened. “Not from here.”

Anastasia pressed her hand to the cold metal.

On the other side, muffled voices called their names.

Then the comm cut out completely.

Silence crashed over them.

They were alone.

Anastasia turned to Leo.

“This is your fault.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “My fault?”

“You touched the terminal.”

“You activated it.”

“I was restoring power!”

“And I was helping.”

Their voices echoed through the empty room.

For a moment, all Anastasia could hear was her own heartbeat.

Then a sound drifted through the ventilation shaft overhead.

A wet, scratching noise.

Both of them froze.

Leo looked up.

“What was that?”

Anastasia forced herself to swallow.

“Probably the station settling.”

The sound came again.

Closer this time.

Like something moving through the vents.

Something alive.

Leo stepped in front of her without thinking, placing himself between Anastasia and the dark corridor.

She blinked.

“Did you just—”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” he muttered, eyes scanning the shadows.

Despite the situation, warmth flickered in her chest.

He was still insufferable.

Still arrogant.

Still the boy who had driven her crazy for years.

But at that moment, with the station groaning around them and an unknown sound crawling through the walls, Anastasia was relieved she was not trapped alone.

The emergency lights cast red shadows across Leo’s face.

He looked over his shoulder.

“We need to find another route to the shuttle.”

Anastasia tightened her grip on her flashlight.

“And if there isn’t one?”

Leo met her gaze, his usual teasing expression replaced by something serious.

“Then we go deeper into the station.”

The scratching sound echoed above them once more.

Anastasia drew a shaky breath.

“Together?”

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Try not to slow me down.”