Three.

“Christmas Planet? I thought that was just a legend.”

“So did I, but the transmission is genuine. Krystof, the garbled message we picked up really did come from the Star of Bethlehem. I triple-checked it. It must have travelled through space for months, years maybe, but it's real.”

“If it's been travelling through space for years, don't you think someone else has already picked it up and looted the planet?”

“No. It was encrypted. Even if someone else picked it up, they'd need a pretty sharp programmer on board to figure out what it meant. My algorithm cracked the code, but it was sheer luck I tried to run it on this particular wave of random junk. Unless someone found the actual Star, we should be the only ones with the information.”

A strange sort of glow passed over Krystof's face. His eyes shone up, and he took a step closer to Darren. “Are you serious? We have a shot at the treasure of Christmas Planet? Oh wow, imagine all the stuff we could buy! Computers! Androids! A holodeck! Imagine that: Our own holodeck!”

“Calm down. We need to get there first. And I admit, there is a risk someone else has found the message too, so we'd better hurry.”

“Gotcha. Set the course and give me maximum speed. I'll soup up the engine, if I can.”

Darren sighed. It was so like Krystof to take command in situations like these. Well, it was a sensible course of action, so he wouldn't object. He spun around in his seat, entering the coordinates into the ships' computer, and started the autopilot. The ship turned around, away from the black expanse of nothingness, to face a cluster of bright stars.

A thought struck him.

“Hey Krystof?”

The other didn't respond. He was probably already down in the engine room. Well, it would be foolish to rush towards their goal. Christmas Planet could be dangerous: It probably was, judging from its location in uncharted regions. Neither himself nor Krystof had the equipment they needed for serious combat, and even if they did, there were only two of them.

“I can't believe I'm doing this...” Darren said to himself. “Well, there'll be enough treasure for everyone, I guess.”

He reached the keyboard of the control panel, and fed it the coordinates for the Intergalactic Battle Academy.