The Artifact

Benjamin, Mark, and Chloe were all set to graduate college in a few weeks.

Ben had ordered a strange object from eBay to use as cover art for a book he was writing.

It looked really cool, like a slightly charred old military artifact from 70 years ago. It was possibly part of an engine. After cleaning it up (it was found in a cow field), he placed the strange device on his dorm room desk directly over the wireless charging port. That woke it up.

Unknown to him, the disabled starship hiding on the moon could now communicate with the missing part.

The ship needed two things: 1) The missing part. 2) A crew to pass itself off as a manned ship (AIs were not supposed to control ships autonomously).

Now, after finishing college, they need to find a way to get the ship to land somewhere safe, supply it, and return the missing component, the artifact.

They suspect the most challenging part will be getting into space. They soon find that the real problem is what awaits them when they reach the alien trading center.