:: Unknown ::
- Prologue
- Time: 1800 Hours, Kushan
Fleet Time.
- Place: Bride of the
destroyer Harbinger, flagship of the Elite Guards.
Dread Lord sat in his command chair, appearing
to go over some data at his console, and was unusually quiet this
night. D. Stroyer, his First Officer, sat nearby in his own
chair, at his own station, and watched his superior a bit
anxiously. Obviously, something was wrong. Usually, Dread Lord
would be calling out orders, discussing tactics, strategies,
fighting techniques, and important information with D. Stroyer,
or just going over some critical data. Now, he appeared to be
just sitting in his chair, thinking. Though still concerned, D.
Stroyer stopped watching his commander, and now turned his gaze
to the crew, making sure everyone was doing what he or she was
supposed to do. Quiet conversations filled the bridge, as orders
were relayed and
acknowledged, while data and information were analyzed. There,
Miiabe Inceru, the tactical officer, was going over some data
with Apocalyps, the head of security, while Kuji Kiri,
damage-control officer, conferred with the sensor officer,
discussing the minor damage to the sensors caused by a small
hyper-storm. It was a quiet night, as was always. Little things
being done in preparation for the next day. D. Stroyer turned his
eyes to the forward view-screen, which showed the crackling,
blue-white expanse that was hyperspace. Strange, he thought, that
we would use such a understudied technology to get us to Higarra.
But we must, we must use it. There is no other way. He turned to
look at Dread Lord again, who was still sitting in his chair,
thinking. He suddenly clenched his fist, muscles in his arm
bulging, and glanced over at D. Stroyer. His eyes, D. Stroyer
thought, his eyes are not the calm, but stern ones they had
always been. Now they are filled with...Anger. Dread Lord spoke,
"D. Stroyer, when Blue Ghost and the night-shift arrive,
turn the
bridge over to them. I am going to my quarters." He stood up
to his full seven-foot height, and appeared to almost stalk off
the bridge, heading for the transport lift. D. Stroyer watched
him, wondering
what exactly was going on, until the doors to the lift slid shut.
Dread Lord, arriving at the deck where his
quarters were, walked along the corridoor, heading towards them.
Kushans who saw him stopped to salute, before hurrying on to do
whatever it was they were supposed to, but he paid them no heed.
Reaching his quarters, he hit the button that opened the doors,
and entered. Without even pausing to relax or get ready for
sleep, he went over to a computer console at his desk. He spoke,
"Computer." The screen came to life,
a light blue color on the screen. "Record personal
log." Dread Lord paused, as the computer switched to the
appropriate screen, and then continued,
"First Commander Dread Lord's personal log. It has now been
two months since we first started this great voyage. And though
everything has gone almost perfectly so far, I remain...uneasy. I
have always been uneasy since I first learned that our DNA was
not anything like what it would be, had we truly evolved on
Kharak." He seemed to almost spit out that name. "
Because of this, I have come to the conclusion that wherever we
came from, whatever planet we used to live on, we were forcibly
removed from that planet, and taken to Kharak. Though the
Guidestone shows the path, it does not say what happened to us.
What our culture once was. An evil species or race of beings must
have done this terrible deed, and perhaps they are still out
there, hoping to bar our path from reaching our rightful
Homeworld." He paused, gritting his teeth with anger, before
continuing. "But now, the stakes have been raised. The
Mothership carries all that is left of our civilization. Those
that have remained behind are going to die. There will be nothing
left of them, and we cannot go back. We must continue on, we must
persevere in this course of action." Dread Lord gave a grim
smile. "But if these beings are still out there, I would
like to meet them. I would like to meet them very much. So that I
may see the face of my enemy...Before I kill them all. The
Mothership is our last hope for the survival of our entire race,
and nothing, NOTHING will stop us in our voyage
home. I promise....Computer, end personal log entry." The
computer complied, and then Dread Lord turned it off. Walking
over to a
nearby window, through which the expanse of hyperspace could be
seen, as well as other vessels in the great Mothership fleet, he
stood there and watched silently, gazing out of the window.
And he brooded on things to come....
Chapter 1
Place: Sector 144.
Time: 1200 Hours, Kushan Fleet Time.
First Commander Dread Lord grimaced as
the bridge of the destroyer Harbinger shook from yet another
direct hit. It had now been three months after the great journey
home had started. Low on resources, and with the hyperdrive
module running low on energy, the Mothership fleet had jumped
back into normal Space-3. A nearby asteroid and debris field had
been located, and a resource-gathering convoy had been sent to
investigate. The convoy consisted of four resource-controllers,
eight collectors, and four heavy corvettes to provide escort.
While research was being conducted on stronger armor and more
efficient propulsion systems, the main part of the fleet formed
up around the Mothership. Fleet Command sent orders to First
Commander Dread Lord, head of the newly-formed Elite Guards
task-force, on his destroyer Harbinger, assigning the Harbinger
to patrol a set of nav-points, and make sure that the area was
secure. While on patrol, the destroyer had almost bumped into a
small fleet of unknown vessels, about the size of freighters or
small transports, who were using some technique to mask their
engin emissions and immediately opened fire on the destroyer.
Commander Dread Lord had no choice but to order the command to
return fire.
The six turrets that were the main armament of the destroyer
swivelled, tracked, and fired. Two of them had the newly
discovered laser weapons-technology incorporated into them, and
loosed brilliant beams of red light, that slashed outward,
smashing into the destroyer's unknown assailants, melting armor,
and cutting them to pieces. The other four turrets had the
standard magnetic-accelerator cannons, that took dense slugs,
accelerated them to near light-speeds, and then shot them at
their targets. But despite the destroyer's superior weapons
technology, there were at least ten of the medium-sized enemy
ships, each about a quarter the size of the destroyer. Already
much of the Harbinger's armor was pocked and crumpled by the
enemy's cannons.
Dread Lord sat in his command chair, almost barking orders to his
crew, while his first officer, D. Stroyer was dealing with other
situations as they came up. Dread Lord almost shouted to the
communications officer.
"Communications! Open a channel to those ships!"
"Yes, sir!...Channel open!" Dread Lord spoke into his
comm unit at his command station.
"Attention, unidentified ships. This is Commander Dread Lord
of the Kushan destroyer Harbinger. Cease your attack immediately,
or be destroyed. This is your final warning." Suddenly the
destroyer rocked from a powerful explosion, as several slugs
slammed through weakened armor, and almost pulverized the primary
fire-control system and power-grid. The bridge was suddenly
plunged into darkness, while klaxons and sirens went off across
the ship and bridge, red alarm lights blinking on and off. D.
Stroyer spoke, studying his station as best as he could in the
low-light.
"Emergency power coming on-line now, Commander."
"Good." The alarms and klaxons subsided, and an
increasing hum of power was heard before it faded away. In space,
the pirate vessels closed in on their prey, surrounding the
destroyer. "Damage report?"
"Sir," Kuji Kiri, the damage control officer, spoke
from his station, "we have lost all primary power, and our
main systems are off-line. We have no engines or weapons. This
ship is helpless."
The comm officer spoke up,
"Message coming in, Commander."
"Put it through." A deep, harsh voice was heard,
echoing across the bridge.
"This is Captain Krause, of the ship Immoral. You will
surrender your ship and prepare to be boarded. Your ship is being
taken over by the Turanic Raiders."
Dread Lord thought about this for a few
seconds, before giving a very direct, to-the-point reply.
"Got to hell." He gave a sign to the comm officer to
cut the channel.
"Channel closed, sir." Dread Lord nodded, and then
spoke, "D. Stroyer, Miiabe Inceru, Deathfang, what options
do you suggest."
"We fight to the death!" Miiabe said, as he slammed a
fist down on his station.
Deathfang nodded in agreement.
"It would be a grievous stain on
our honor to surrender to this pirate scum," Dread Lord
replied, almost growling.
"How can we fight? Our primary fire-control is destroyed and
our power-grid is fried. And we cannot ram them, because our
engines are disabled," He bashed his command station
furiously with anger and frustration, "To be disabled and
captured by these cowards..."
D. Stroyer spoke next.
"One thing is clear though, Commander: We cannot let them
take this ship."
Dread Lord nodded in agreement, "We
cannot fight, we cannot ram them, we cannot do anything!" He
spoke into the ship intercom, "All personnel, now hear this.
To prevent this ship from falling into enemy hands, I am going to
activate the self-destruct. Prepare for emergency evacuation. All
personnel, evac stations immediately."
He looked at his bridge crew who were
all looking at him in near shock.
"What are you waiting for? Get to
the evac stations." They still didn't move.
Miiabe Inceru, the tactical officer,
spoke,
"Sir, I cannot retreat. My place is at your side. The
dishonor..."
Dread Lord cut him off, "There is
no shame or dishonor in following your commander's orders. Now,
get going."
With great reluctance, they began
heading towards the doors exiting the bridge. As they were doing
so, the sensor officer spoke up, voice filled with excitement,
"Sir! More ships closing on us..." Dread Lord quickly
jerked his head to look at him. "Their friendly, sir!
Reading them as Kushan vessels, from the Mothership fleet!"
The other officers quickly raced to
their stations. On the forward view-screen, the pirate vessels
were breaking off from their encircling positions, and fleeing
the area. Across the screen, laser fire lanced out from unseen
ships, smashing several pirate ships, while others crumpled from
hits by mag-accelerator cannons. Miiabe Inceru switched the
view-screen to center on the Kushan ships approaching, and Dread
Lord felt his chest swell with pride as he beheld the flagship
destroyer of the Black Death Union, another recently formed
task-force, along with four heavy corvettes nearing their
position.
The comm officer spoke up,
"Sir, incoming transmission from the destroyer."
"Patch it through." The dragonish/lizard-like face of a
Kushan appeared on the view-screen.
"Commander Dread Lord. It appears you require our
assisstance. Allow us the honor of assisting you in this grave
encounter."
Dread Lord replied with a small, toothy
grin, "The honor is given, by all means."
The other grinned back.
"Know then that I am Commander Baggins, leader of the Black
Death Union. This is my first officer, SolLazar." At this,
another Kushan stepped forward into view, standing beside
Baggins.
SolLazar spoke,
"Commander Dread Lord, it is an honor to meet you."
Dread Lord nodded, "It is an honor
to meet you as well, SolLazar. Commander Baggins, this is my
first officer, D. Stroyer." D. Stroyer stepped forward to
stand beside Dread Lord.
"It is an honor to meet you, Commander Baggins, and you,
SolLazar."
"Commander Baggins, my ship is heavily damaged, and we are
operating on emergency power. Our engines are inoperable because
of this. Could you tow us back to the fleet?" Dread Lord
asked.
Baggins nodded.
"But of course, Commander. Baggins out."
The BDU destroyer attached a powerful
magnetic grapnel to the Elite Guards destroyer, and began towing
it in the direction of the main Mothership fleet, the four heavy
corvettes providing escort.
As they left the area, something moved.
Two meters in length, and one meter high and wide, it was painted
black, virtually invisible against the backdrop of space. The
small probe began going over the data it had recorded,
particularly the text between Commander Dread Lord, and the
pirates. "This is Commander Dread Lord of the
Kushan..." There, the probe paused in its studies. The
keyword had been located. Thrusters flared to life, and it
accelerated into the depths of space...
