Someday the Stars. The Lunar Free State, #2

Someday.is now! It's been ten years since the Lunar Free State established itself as an independent nation on Earth's Moon. Since then, other Earth nations have pushed into space, competing with the LFS for the untapped resources of the Solar System, but-thanks to the advantages provided by its gravity-driven spacecraft-the LFS has continued to grow and prosper, and relations with the Earth nations remain.strained, at best. When the research ship LFS Stephen Hawking encounters an alien probe near Saturn, though, the craft leads Hawking on a merry chase before vanishing into.well, for want of a better term, hyperspace.
Now the Lunar Free State must face two undeniable facts: the humans of Earth are not the only intelligent life in the universe and travel to other star systems is possible. The LFS has to figure out how to get to hyperspace, too, and the time they have to do so is limited. Someone else out there now knows humanity exists, and the countdown clock is ticking until whoever sent the alien craft decides to come calling.