The Siren, Part 5
Fade to Black
Nagus turned a corner following his stolen plans of the Solid-Star. The GeePees were early, with his men close behind. He was still in a haze. He had not had a chance to sober up. Damn them! Those cops have no honor!
Nagus knew they had come early in hopes of netting him too. Betrayed. He had to move quickly. The treasure of the Sirens awaited. The old H’jiikian on Frentamol 3 told him there was treasure unmatched hidden in the asteroids of the Siren system and all he needed was the key. With some persuasion, he even gave up the location of the key. Fortunately, the old bug isn’t alive to tell anyone else about the key. The only good H’jiikian is a dead one.
Getting the key was a whole other matter. Uncharted systems in the Bilgra sector were few and far between, but they do exist. You just have to have the right jump coordinates. Some are hidden behind large gravity wells or dark matter clouds that fool jump astrogation systems. This particular system – the H’jiikian bug called it Paw’draya – was a simple system. It contained three dead worlds and a gas giant. The asteroid belt was not worth investigating. It had no useful ores to speak of. It was hidden by a nebula of thick and very electromagnetically active gases that made it difficult to navigate through, but Nagus had the best crew in all the alliance.
It was the fifth object in orbit that interested Nagus. An ancient derelict ship laid silently adrift. No signs of life, no energy signatures, nothing. It looks somewhat Sargininan in design with a little Karian mixed in. It was very unassuming and simple. There was no battle damage to speak off short of minor meteorite damage.
Entering that ship was not all that different than what Nagus and his men were doing at that very moment. The only difference is the sounds. It was dead silent on the alien derelict. The only sound was his EVA suit respirator system and the occasional comment from his companions. But the comments were very few as everyone was in total shock at what they saw.
Down in the inner levels of the Solid-Star, Nagus ran his hands along the smooth metal of the inner core, where Obledon’s men and literally built straight into the exposed walls of the core. Did they not know what they had? What it contained? Apparently not. He would soon find out now that he held the key.
He passed the navigation code in the walls. D section, Level 12. That was where his researchers guessed the opening for the key would be, based on what they found on the derelict. The door into the treasure vault. The lights were flickering and there was a stench of blood and battle in the air. The atmosphere was thing, mixed with other strange gases. Probably should have worn rebreathers.
As they turned a corner, they saw the bulkhead door with a gaping hole in the center of it. It looked like something ripped it open from the inside. Something is wrong!
He heard a low growl from down the hall behind them and his man bringing up the rear – Hollus – scream horribly.
This is no treasure!
Jaeger met Captain Obledon once, during the Karian War. They were both veterans – Jaeger was Marines while Obledon was Navy. He was a mid level officer getting into all kinds of trouble on some backwater planet on leave. He had his hands in all things black market, selling government property to the locals which sometimes ended up in the hands of the insurgents. All kinds of charges mounted up against him. Jaeger was the MP that arrested him.
Unfortunately he got away because of a technicality – a bureaucratic mistake Jaeger himself made and it has bugged him ever since. Obledon was crass, arrogant and dishonorable. He embarrased the military and embarrassed Jaeger.
The breaching ship was on ints final approach, the station outer hull was beckoning in front of the breaching ring on the pinnace. Once in place, the ring will cut through the hull – and hopefully through a few defenders on the other side. These are the moments a Hungry Wolf lives for.
“I HUNT!” He barked.
“THEREFORE I AM!” the rest chanted back at him.
The repelling forces had held the GeePees long enough to get most of the crew to escape ships and off station. Hopefully they can make it one of the stations before they are found and out of the system from there.
The stolen Imperial fighters did not last long against experienced Imperial fighter pilots, despite the modification his engineers made. The station sields failed from the onslaught of battery fire from the capitol ships that closed as the final defending ship erupted in flames and debris.
When the first breaching ship reach Solid Star Prime, his boarding parties acting in the total opposite way they were trained, fought to the last. It was a valiant fight, but the pirates were not as prepared as Krats first thought. His father told one day, he would be a victim of his own arrogance one day.
Krats, still in his armor, stood behind a console as cover, preparing for his final stand against the GeePees. The hunt was over and the hunters have gotten what they wanted. It was a question of whether Krats wanted to be taken alive or dead. They wouldn’t have boarded if they wanted him dead. They would have pounded the asteroids into powder from a distance if they didn’t care.
Was this worth dying for?
The door to the bridge burst open and with incredible accuracy, the GeePee assault and apprehension first team burst through the door taking down half the room as they did. He saw Krylos drop, Hennings, and Graya’l. Then, the last thing Krats saw was a bright flash and then blackness.