- Quietspyder
- |
- Exalted Member
What? Like a blue spider?
Thanks ajw34307, here's the short:
Mak woke to the scream of hull breach alarms. "Damn the Shar clan!" she muttered while grabbing her gauntlet shield and plasma pistol. Several more plasma rounds impacted the hull as she ran to the bridge of her merchant vessel "Infraction". 2000 feet long and half as wide, the ship had been commissioned by the Militia Council to carry needed equipment and supplies the Asper colony, a large group of valuable asteroids at the edge of the belt. "Report!" she snapped at her first mate, Zhos. His spines bristled, but he instantly replied "Captain; Minor hull breaches aft, mostly storage bays, bulkhead doors sealed, all crewmen accounted for, no major injuries reported". Another blast struck the port engine, a shudder ran through Infraction. "Engine one has taken a direct hit, maneuvering reduced to 60%!" reported Zhos. As the navigations officer, Khaf, tried to correct the drift another plasma bolt took out the starboard engine. "Running on emergency power, only 3 maneuvering thrusters functional". A common frequency hail squawked from the bridge's communication panel: "This is the pirate ship "Revenant"; your engines have been disabled. Heave to and prepare to be boarded. Any further resistance will be met with death". Mak cursed the Shar clan again; she knew running cargo through this sector of the belt was dangerous but her orders had been clear. "Get this cargo to the Asper Colony Council as quickly as possible or your ship and life will be forfeit". She was still unsure what was so important; most of the cargo was normal supplies, tools and mining equipment. There was one crate that was listed as classified, but Mak had been assured it was not dangerous.
The Shar clan had been exiled from Eayn 20 years ago after violating the planetary peace pact. A high ranking member had attacked a family head with the Marak clan for a minor insult. The conflict escalated, and the Shar had glassed an archipelago where the Marak clan heads met; a simple duel between the original two antagonists would have resolved the issue legally. Their exile had sent them to a large asteroid just outside Eayn controlled space. No one had heard from them for 15 years, most thought the colony, cut off from the homeworld, had failed. 5 years ago reports began trickling in of highly organized pirates raiding merchant vessels heading to the asteroid colony of Asper. No one thought of the Shar until a pirate was captured and tortured. Just before he died he revealed the clan had discovered a large supply of precious metals on the asteroid where they had been exiled. Using old contacts on the homeworld the Shar had covertly purchased enough industrial supplies and weapons to begin building a fleet. Subsequent searches revealed the original asteroid had been mined clean and abandoned. The Militia Council's rangers found evidence that the clan had become mobile, using moveable habitats and a large fleet of ships to spread out and hide in the Khem region of the belt. All attempts to locate and destroy the pirate fleet had, so far, failed.
Mak ordered Zhos to activate the intercom, "all hands to battle stations, we're being boarded by pirates." Zhos locked down the bridge, sealing the bulkhead door. Tactical officer, Eios, began diverting power for the portable shields being setup at all the access points. Mak was glad she had accepted the company of rangers the Militia Council had suggested, they were about to be put to good use.
Four pings rang out as the magnetic pitons from the small pirate ship struck the hull. A docking ring extended out to meet the Infraction as the vessel was pulled in close. Mak watched on the display as plasma cutters began carving a door through the hull in a cargo bay on deck two. She called engineering on the comm; "Get my engines back up fast!" The rangers managed to get the portable shields in place before they were even half through. Mak wondered if these pirates had dealt with rangers before. As the newly cut door fell to the floor plasma and carbine rounds lanced out from both directions. The pirates hadn't expected such strong resistance; most merchant vessels weren't armed and had only a small security force. The few pirates who were left standing turned and ran back into the ship. Company Commander Dakx ordered the soldiers into the docking ring to secure the pirate ship. They found the retreating pirates hadn't even had the sense to close the airlock. Once the docking ring was secured on both sides the soldiers began sweeping the ship in teams of three, two point men with plasma pistols and gauntlet shields to cover the third carrying a carbine. Only four more pirates were found. They were bound with chains and jaw locks. Once back in Militia controlled space they would be sent to an interrogation facility. Engineering reported to Mak the engines were functional again, but only 50% capacity. The captain was found locked in his quarters. He killed himself with a crystal knife. Engineered to explode when properly activated it had blown his head clean off, only on spine remained attached to his neck. All the sweep teams reported their areas clear of hostiles. Once on the bridge Dakx called out on the comm: "Mak, send Eios down to dump the logs and retrieve any......wait, all teams get back to the Infraction! The captain must have activated a self destruct; Leave the prisoners!" Dakx deactivated the magnetic pitons and ran for the docking ring. As soon as all the soldiers were out of the cargo bay Zhos sealed the bulkhead door. As the Infraction began to pull away the docking ring stretched to its limit and tore away. The venting air caused the Revenant to begin slowly rotating before the bulkhead door automatically closed. Mak ordered "Move around behind a small asteroid, I have no wish to be caught in the explosion with the damage we have suffered". The explosion disintegrated the revenant just as the Infraction was getting clear. "Too bad" muttered Dakx, back on the bridge. "We could have gotten their comm codes and current fleet locations. Well, let's just hope they didn't get out a distress signal". "As such" said Mak "Zhos, put us back on course to Asper, Maximum possible speed. And tell the engineers to get the engines back up to full power or I'll feed them to the rangers".