[CNS] The Void - Firith and Lilith

Captain’s Quarters
MCHC Retribution
Edge Of The Orion System

Captain Gregorius Videk ran his hand down his face in exasperation before returning his gaze to the figure that loomed before him. Well, loomed perhaps was not the correct word given the figure was minuscule, translucent and hovered some few inches above the holoterminal before the Captain. The figure present, however, was anything but little and as he stared into the face of Simonetti, Videk let out a small sigh. Not so small it wasn’t picked up, however.

“Do you have an issue with my orders, Captain Videk? If so, I can assign someone else to this task, another more capable Captain?” Simonetti’s expression never changed as the words left his mouth. “Whilst I am fully aware this mission may be nothing more than a wild nerf chase, the situation calls for our response. Do you not agree?”

Videk said nothing for a few seconds and turned his eyes to his second in command, Vanel Fremlin, who sat perched on the edge of the desk. She simply shrugged her shoulders, nodding slowly but making no sound. The Shaevalian Captain once more turned his expression to the face of his commanding officer.

“I have no issues with your orders Sir. This just seems a waste of resources that could be better spent elsewhere. The Retribution isn’t entirely suited for this type of mission after all. We’re a combat vessel, not a…” his next words were cut off as Simonetti interjected.

“This is my navy, Captain. I was here long before you arrived. Do not advise me what the ships under my command can do again. Do I make myself clear?” Nothing came back from Videk. “Good. You will be transporting several members of the Warhost Special Forces. You will also be accepting an engineer on board from Sepros plus two members of House Marka Ragnos who will be assisting you in organising this mission. Ensure they are comfortable, you depart as soon as everything is ready. Simonetti out.”

The comm died and the two commanding officers of the Retribution stared at one another. Vanel spoke first, flicking her lekku over her shoulder as she hopped from the desk. As she landed on the floor she took several steps towards the door and hit the release button. Before she exited she simply turned on her heel and stared at her fellow officer.

“No good will come of chasing this ghost ship. I’ll go prepare the ship for receiving guests and heading off. Guess we’ll need to prepare the guest quarters for these ‘Special Forces’ units they are sending us. Wonder if they’re sending us after the Dominion again.” She looked at the ceiling for half a moment, a twinkle in her eye.

With that, she departed leaving Gregorius to his own thoughts. He stood and turned his back before walking towards one of the viewports. Hands clasped behind his back he grimaced as thoughts ran through his head. They can send who they want, as long as they don’t send that thing.

MCHC Retribution
WIld Space

“Captain on deck!” the Junior Lieutenant’s voice rattled around the deck as the doors to the command deck opened and Videk walked in. “All in order, Captain. The ship appears to be drifting. No life signs have been registered but there is a low output of power. The ship isn’t as dead as it seems.”

Videk moved along the deck and took his seat, bringing the read outs up before him on his view screen. His eyebrow raised slowly as a piece of information came to light. “You are quite sure of this?. This information does not entirely sound reliable. If this information is correct, however, it’s suggesting this vessel is…Old Republic era. Sarana, is this information viable?”

The Zelosian scientist looked up from her desk, glasses perched upon the end of her nose and simply nodded. “This…well this isn’t really my area of expertise. But as I understand it, and having cross-referenced with our engineer friend down stairs. This is indeed an Old Republic Hammerhead cruiser.”

The door to the bridge opened once more and heavy footsteps echoed into life. All eyes turned and Videk grimaced as he took in the armoured figure standing before him. Silence filled the bridge and Videk rose, taking an involuntary step backwards. “Miss Delacroix, a pleasure to see you up and about once more. I take it the trip was to your satisfaction. I have not seen you up here since you boarded the craft.” The figure said nothing as he continued. “I do not see the other one that came with you, Hawk was it?”

The voice that escaped the helmet of the Raider sent a shiver down the Captain’s spine. It sounded as if several pitches had been melded together into a scratching, almost silent scream. It made him wince and several of the junior officers averted their eyes and got back to their work. “I am to presume that everything is in order, Captain? I’d hate to have to report anything…untoward to your superiors.” She moved away from the Captain and gazed up at the holographic image that hovered above her. “This is the ship that has our engineer friend so excited? It seems harmless enough. As I understand it the launch operation is currently underway to send our initial forces across to the ship”

Videk moved away from the armoured figure, closer to the Warhost troops that guarded the bridge. “This is correct, ma’am. The landing team should be departing within the next five minutes. We have detected some low power signs which may or may not be emitting from the mercenary vessel that made its way to the derelict vessel some time ago…” He was cut of by a soft growling and looked over at the dread knight in anticipation of one of her outbursts.

“You didn’t stop them, Captain? Whilst I can do nothing of this matter right now Captain, be assured this matter is not over. This mission is simple as you know. Exploration. Any hostiles are secondary nuisances. Standard procedures apply.” She turned her head head to stare at Vanel, before moving her gaze back to its original target. “We wish to know what this ghost ship is, why it keeps appearing in systems and vanishing. As I understand it this vessel has been reported appearing numerous times over the years, it has been registered in our own database on several occasions. However each time we approach it it simply…disappears. ” Ophelia turned her back to the Captain and looked up at the ship that rotated before her. “We need this small victory to boost morale after the conflict on Mygeeto. We need this. Ensure it is done correctly.”

With that silence descended upon the bridge once more. Ophelia raised her own communicator before her and flicked it into life. The small image of Darkhawk appeared before her and she nodded to him. “It’s time. Tell the shuttle pilot to launch when ready. Commence operation.”

Launch Bay
MCHC Retribution
WIld Space

“As you command,” DarkHawk replied to his Aedile as he bowed to her. The Warrior shut his communicator off as he walked the corridor and entered the launch bay. Two eight-man teams stood before the shuttle awaiting their orders. DarkHawk stood in front of the two teams and called for their team leaders to step forward. Command Sergeants Winst and Teal stepped forward and stood at attention.

“You two will take the strike teams over and investigate the ship. Both strike teams will have open comms and video. You will report directly to Raider Delacroix or myself, no exceptions. Are we clear on that aspect?” asked the Sith. DarkHawk’s stare was deep and he gave no expression of leeway on those orders.

“Copy that, sir!” exclaimed Command Sergeant Winst.

“Winst, you have command on this one, and it’s done by the book. Sweep every room, every bulkhead of that ship. Take Science Officer Denning and his escort with you so they can assess the situation from a science standpoint. No more, no less and they remain in your sight at all times. We don’t know what is on that ship so standard rules of engagement applies. I want every inch of that ship covered, we need to know what’s on board and where it’s been. Get your techs to initialize ship’s data banks and life support systems. Full diagnostics and status within fifteen minutes. No stragglers and no one, I mean no one, wanders alone.” instructed DarkHawk.

The tone of his voice made it abundantly clear how important this was. Command Sergeant Teal replied this time, “By the books, sir, seems like a walk in the park.”

The Shaevalian moved his large frame directly in front of the Command Sergeant, DarkHawk towered over the Sergeant and stared into his eyes. “Do not fail me.” the Warrior said. The words had no emotion, but they carried much clout. Sergeant Teal knew exactly what was being intensely instructed and saluted the dark clad figure.

Winst barked “Move out men.” and as instructed the teams boarded the shuttle. Winst saluted the Equite, entered the shuttle and closed the doors. DarkHawk nodded to the shuttle pilot through the cockpit’s viewscreen and the roar of engines consumed the launch bay.

DarkHawk moved into one of the adjacent control rooms and watched the hangar doors open. The blackness of space was a beautiful sight. As the shuttle made its way down the flight deck, the Warrior watched the wreckage of an ancient ship bounce around in front of them. A very nervous Ensign sitting at the control console stared at the scene, he caught the Equite’s eye. DarkHawk quickly looked down at the Ensign. The junior officer’s throat instantly dried up, sweat rolled from his brows. The black-clad figure turned away and left the control room. The ensign released a sigh of relief once he left the room.

Pressing a button on his gauntlet, Ophelia appeared before him, “It is done, my liege,” DarkHawk told her. “You should be able to watch everything on the bridge’s viewing screen and you and I both have direct communications with the strike teams,” he stated.

“Excellent, DarkHawk, make your way to the bridge” Ophelia instructed.

“As you wish” replied the Equite.

Bridge
MCHC Retribution
WIld Space

The doors whisked open and DarkHawk entered the bridge of the Retribution. This was the Warrior’s first time on the ship, a very impressive sight indeed. Crew scurried around and maintained the many stations on board, their target ship was not only visible out the many windows of the bridge, but was on just about every viewing screen as well.

Raider Ophelia was standing right next to the captain’s chair. As he walked toward her, the chair swiveled around and Captain Videk’s grimace was apparent on his face. He stood and extended his hand, DarkHawk ignored the gesture and moved to the side of his Aedile.The captain ignored the snub and sat back down and continued monitoring the mission at hand.

Ophelia whispered to the Equite, “You know, dismissing the captain like that sets a precedent for his crew.”

“He is not my captain, my liege, plus can you not feel the slight nervousness flowing through him?” asked DarkHawk. A small smile came across the Raider’s face. DarkHawk gestured as the shuttle came into view.

At that moment DarkHawk spoke to the communications officer, “Lieutenant, open all strike team channels for the Captain.”

“As you command, sir.” replied the communication officer.

Captain Videk scowled inwardly, unused to having the command removed from him by the impetuous Sith. It would not happen again he thought to himself.

Shuttle Tiburon
Wild Space

As the shuttle made its approach to the old Hammerhead cruiser, the pilot’s voice came over the comm system, “I am gonna make a pass around her just to make sure we have a clear shot at docking.”

“Copy that,” replied Command Sergeant Winst. The shuttle passed around the starboard side of the cruiser.

One of the troopers commented upon the appearance of the old vessel “It’s awfully odd she has that large power array on top of her, sarge.”

“True.” replied Teal, “That could be the cause of her fading in and out. Maybe some sort of old experimental cloaking device, it would need a lot of power to cloak something the size of her.” Teal continued.

The pilot made his pass and found a docking port just adjacent to the engines. “Commencing docking sequence. Maintain harness security.” said the shuttle pilot. The shuttle approached her target and hovered for a moment with a flick of a few toggle switches the docking pillow extend and the pilot moved her in closer.

The shuttle seemed to be caught in some sort of paradox as she was phasing in and out of sight with the cruiser. The bridge of the Retribution watched as the pilot completed his docking sequence. Unknown to those watching on the bridge, once inside the perimeter of the cruiser all seemed normal. The pilot locked the docking pillow on the cruiser and started the pressurizing sequence.

“All clear Sergeant Winst.” the pilot instructed. The cabin lights of the shuttle went dark and the emerald flashing lights began to fill the cabin.
“Troopers on your feet, by the numbers. Team one with me, Team two with Sergeant Teal. Comms/video on….LET’S ROLL!!!” ordered Winst.

Shuttle Tiburon
Hammerhead Cruiser
Wild Space

Teal came to the docking port door, he turned the lever and a loud whisk of wind echoed throughout. Teal opened the door fully, both teams entered the cruiser. Their helmet lights filling the dark dingy vixen. A cloud of dust filled the ship and made it hard to see clearly. Sparks from from broken wires and control panels arched and dimly illuminated the the glass shield of the strike team helmets.

“Teal, take your men and get to the engine room and see if we cannot get some power restored. Science Officer Denning is with you until power is up, then make your way to the bridge. I will take my team to the bridge and start the sequence there.” instructed Winst.

“On it, sir!” replied Teal. Teal barked at his men to move out and within seconds Teal and his team were out of sight.

Strike Team One
Hammerhead Cruiser
Wild Space

Winst maneuvered around the corner and went immediately into a kneeling position, his troops came around the same corner one by one and flanked one another. Their helmet lights pierced through the darkness with almost little aid for their vision. Vision was approximate to about two meters. The cruiser creaked and moaned as they made their way through her.

The strike team made its way down the corridors of the eerily dim ship. Climbing each level, slowly but surely through the maintenance ladders. Just one floor below the bridge
Winst gathered the team in what was the remnants of a briefing room. Winst had his team give a status check and as it stood from that briefing room all was a go.

Winst came over comms “Teal. Status report.” Silence. “Command Sergeant Teal. Status Report!” Winst said with a tone of deep bass in his voice. Again silence. “Teal, answer your freaking comm!!!” he shouted. Nothing but static. Winst switched channels and hailed the Retribution. “Captain, this is Command Sergeant Winst, I have lost all communication with Command Sergeant Teal and Strike Team Two.”

A broken response came over the comm, “Radios are trashed, we are losing comms.” Winst exclaimed in exasperation. Just then a flash of light rolled through the aft corridor. The strike team immediately reacted with weapons pointed down the corridor. Each commando poised to attack any approaching target. “Easy fellas, easy…” Winst ordered.

Strike Team Two
Hammerhead Cruiser
Wild Space

Teal was trying to respond to a barrage of broken comm hails. His strike team had made it to the engine rooms and was about to begin the power restoration sequence when the radio calls started coming in. “Winst, do you copy, over?” he hailed his colleague. Nothing but static.

“What the hell is going on here, sir?” asked one of the troopers.

“Not sure as of yet, but we still have a mission. Start the sequence, we need power in this dump!” ordered Teal. “Mr. Science guy, take your assistant and do your thing, but do not leave my sight!” barked the Command Sergeant.

The science officer was a very thin man, his helm was fogged up because of his improper breathing during the trek to the engine room. “It’s Denning, Sergeant, Science Officer Denning.” replied the man.

“Yeah well, its Command Sergeant Teal, and I don’t give a rat’s ass what your name is, just do what you’re supposed to do!” snapped Teal.

The Science Officer stood there in almost in bewilderment as the Sergeant rounded on his fellow team member. “Move your ass, Caldwell or I am going to empty this clip in your backside!” Teal shouted. Caldwell moved like a scolded pet and started in on his assigned duties.

The Command Sergeant continued hailing both his counterpart on Strike Team One as well as the Retribution. Nothing. That old feeling of trepidation came over the sergeant. He watched Denning going through the boot sequence for the engines and generators. His troopers were following suit, making necessary adjustments and checks to the ION coils and power supplies.

In an instant a flash of light blinded the entire team. It was so intense that it set them back on their heels. Teal’s eyes tried to adjust his eyes, but it was like looking into the sun. Teal blinked rapidly to try to clear up his sight. The flash so intense was affecting his equilibrium, he staggered to his feet. As his eyesight slowly returned he saw his men unconscious on the floor. Denning and his assistant were nowhere to be seen. He heard a noise behind him and as he turned, he saw the growing light in the corridor. As he regained his composure, he glanced back down the corridor and before he could blink the light consumed him.

Bridge
MCHC Retribution
WIld Space

Ophelia and DarkHawk stood with no emotion staring at the screens. All screens aboard the flagship bridge were completely black. A long pause took place before DarkHawk turned to his Aedile. “Seems your feelings were true, my liege. We have apparently lost all communication with the expedition.” said the Warrior. The Raider looked up at her adherent and almost smiled. She turned toward the Captain, whose face was completely blank of expression.

She muttered only one word “Captain.” The words resonated to his core. That fiery voice cut right through him. The captain stood from his chair and turned to his First Officer. “Commander Vanel, keep attempting to contact the teams.” Turning his attention to the Ensign manning the communications array, “Ensign, please raise the shuttle.”

He waited, fearing the worst and then the reply came back he didn’t want to hear. “Unable to contact the shuttle, Captain. Just static on the comm.”

Videk’s fist clenched and he rose, rounding on the Sith and Raider. Anger flashed across his eyes as he rose to his full height. “You have potentially cost the Warhost irreplaceable professionals on this ridiculous endeavor, not to mention a shuttle. As commanding officer of this ship, I demand you fix this and get my men back. Now.”

Ophelia said nothing, impressed by the Captain’s moxie and nodded her head. “As you wish, Captain. Keep attempting to raise our forces and the shuttle. Until then, I believe we have some other guests on board who may be able to lend their aid.”

The Captain growled and snapped back. “Fine, get it done. Your objectives have been updated, this is a search and rescue operation. Exploration be damned. Find my men, bring them home. You can have access to one more transport and if you lose this one your head will roll. Now get it done and while you’re at it, get the hell of my bridge!”

Rules of the Run On:

Two posts minimum for participation.
Word count minimum of 250.
Word count maximum 1500.
One person cannot post back to back posts, must be a break between your posts.
This thread is only for Firith and Lilith.

MCHC Retribution
Edge Of The Orion System

The sound of a gauntlet striking the door made Firith look up from the data book he was reading. “Lil, company,” he called out to his wife, “Make yer’sel presentable.” He said getting up from the lounge chair he was in.

Checking the video screen next to the door, he saw that it was his comrade DarkHawk. Triggering the open button, he nodded and waved his fellow Equite into the room.

“How goes it lad?” The grizzled, old, Grey Jedi said, dropping back into the seat he had just vacated. “Come down ta rub elbows with those of us in steerage?” Firith joked.

“Very funny, you old piece of Bantha poo-doo, no I am actually here to discuss a very recent problem. We just lost a shuttle and two elite teams on a 3,000 year old ghost ship we are currently parked by. The Clan wants this ship for their fleet, we have been instructed to retrieve it.” DarkHawk said, seating himself across from the man he fought beside on Mygeeto earlier that year.

Lilith walked in from the sleeping chamber and over to her husband. “Morning love.” She said bending down and kissing him on the cheek. She then walked over to the table and sat down and looked at the man across from her. “Hi DarkHawk. How have you been?”

“I’m well Lilith, good to see you again. I was telling Firith about a slight problem we have, and I have been given orders to have you and Firith assist me and Ophelia with it.” He replied.

Lilith glanced at her husband and looked back at DarkHawk. “Go on, who needs rescued?” She said looking the Warrior in the eye.

Firith snorted in amusement at her comment and leaned back into his chair. “Aye, lad, go on. You said you had a ghost ship and missing troops?”

DarkHawk looked between the two and gave a soft chuckle. Taking out a palm sized holoprojector he pressed a button on the side to activate it. “Right, yes, the mission. There is a Hammerhead cruiser, derelict, operating on minimal power about two hundred eighty meters off our starboard side. We sent a shuttle with two elite Warhost teams and a scientist to the ship and lost contact almost immediately. The captain of the Retribution is having a fit and has ordered us to rescue his men. Ophelia almost ripped his face off at that.” He said.

Lilith glanced at her husband then back to DarkHawk. “Are there pirates already on board?” She asked quietly.

“How did yo–?” DarkHawk sputtered only to be cut off by Firith.
“Dreams laddie, visions, premonitions and whatnot. Lil has them sometimes, it’s like a second sight. Usually it’s about the future, and usually tis’ nae good.” Firith responded and then looked at Lilith. “Is that the case lass? Been havin’ the visions again?”

Lilith swallowed and nodded. “They are choppy, short things,” she explained to DarkHawk, “sometimes a place or a conversation. As of late I have had one repeating dream where men in armor are being attacked by men in combat suits. Lots of white flashes of light and then a lot of blood. All of it in a room where the is old machinery.” She smiled weakly at the Warrior.

“Oookay…well, um, right. A ship of some sort did dock prior to our people going over, we assume they are scavengers or pirates.” DarkHawk answered slowly. “Your job is to take them out or take them prisoner. Salvage the cruiser and if you can get the pirate craft too, well that makes for a nice bonus.”

Firith leaned forward in his chair. “What do we have to work with? Any Warhost?”

“Sadly no, the captain has authorized only a shuttle for the two of you.” The Warrior replied somewhat sheepishly. “I have the technical readout for powering up the cruiser’s engines. With luck you can get those going, find the troops that are there, and use the science officer to get any internal defenses up and running. Once you have the ship secured we’ll lock into it’s auto system and remote pilot it back to Brotherhood space.”

“It’s suicide, you know that right? Going in blind like this.” Firith scoffed.

“Firith, you and Lilith handled yourselves brilliantly on Mygeeto. I have the utmost faith in your abilities. Now, gather your supplies and weapons. And meet me in the shuttle bay. We have to hurry.” DarkHawk said as he stood up and headed for the door. “We’ll have a drink to celebrate returning home when this is done.”

Lilith got up and headed to the storage unit and started to get her medical gear as Firith sat and watched the door close after DarkHawk walked out. “Lil, lass? In your dreams, have, have you seen anything happening to you or me?” he asked quietly.

Lilith stopped for a moment and then started packing her medical gear again. “No, I don’t believe so.” she answered quickly.

Firith got up and went to a locker and started taking out his two vibroknives and then he took out his saber and clipped it to his belt. Sticking one of the knives in his boot and the other into a sheath built into his obi at the small of his back. “That’s good to know lass, that’s good to know.”

Clipping a couple of stim capsules and a small homing beacon to his belt, Firith closed up his weapons locker and turned to look at his wife. He had become more and more worried about her as of late. He feared he might not be there to protect her if need be. Rationally, he knew she was just as much a Jedi and saber-wielder as he was, though her skills lent themselves to healing and spoken diplomacy. In comparison to his more brutal form of “stab first and ask questions later” diplomacy which always seem to cause more harm than good. His fears that he was slowing down in his old age weren’t helping matters.

Lilith finished her packing and went to her weapons locker and unlocked it. Opening it up she took her saber out and clipped it on to her belt. Turning to look at her husband, she smiled. “Ready?”

MCHC Retribution
Edge Of The Orion System

Lilith hated when anyone asked if she had visions about them. No one ever believed her when she told them no. For some reason the visions never happened to people she was closest to. She never saw that her uncle would be killed and she had not seen anything about Firith. Sometimes, hell, all the time, she wished she never had them. If people weren’t trying to learn their future, they wanted to use her like she was a walking crystal ball, or they looked at her like she was a freak. Nobody understood that she had no control over them, they came when they wanted and she was shown whatever they wanted her to see. After this mission, she needed to pull DarkHawk aside and swear him to silence; she really didn’t want the powers to be to know that she had visions. “Oh well, that’s a problem for later.” she thought.

Getting her saber out of the weapons locker and clipping it on to her belt, she turned and smiled at Firith. “Ready?”

Shutting the door to their cabin and heading down to the shuttle bay, husband and wife walked side by side down the corridor. “Ya sure lass that you haven’t had any visions about me?” With a deep sign, Lilith stopped Firith by putting her hand on his arm, facing him she looked him straight in the eye. “Firith, love of my life, I have told you before, I do not have visions of anyone I am close to. I really wish that I hadn’t said anything about the pirates. You know I really didn’t want anyone to know about those. We really need to talk to DarkHawk and hope he doesn’t say anything to anyone before we can ask him not to. What if he tells Ophelia or his Master? I don’t want to be viewed as a freak, or worse as a tool that someone thinks they can use.”

“I know Lil. I’m sorry I brought it up. I know that you have told me before that you don’t see people that you are close to, but I always still wonder if you are holding back so you won’t hurt me. DarkHawk is a friend, I will talk to him, he won’t say anything. I love you and will protect you with all that I am,” Firith stated. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “Let’s do this.”

With that, the couple turned and continued down to the shuttle bay.

Entering the shuttle, Firith took the pilot seat to begin the engine’s start up sequence, while Lilith stowed their gear. She very carefully set down the extra pack that she carried. It contained her still as yet untried, LS-33 that she had made while studying Sith poisons in the Alchemy studies. While it wasn’t a true poison, it was a toxin that rendered everyone unconscious for a period of time. Being a Gray Jedi, she had issues with killing people if she didn’t have to, but knocking them out and taking them prisoner…that was fine. LS-33 had been tested in small trials but never in combat. Hopefully if all worked as it should, they would capture the pirates, rescue the crew, bring home both ships, and she would get an A on her exam.

“Have a seat dear, we are just about ready for take off,” he told his wife, then triggering the radio he said, “DarkHawk, Lilith and I are ready for take off. We will keep in contact as best we can. See you when we return with the prize, brother.”

“Have a care and stay safe both of you. Good luck.” Replied DarkHawk.

With that Firith lifted the shuttle off the pad and flew out of the launching bay. Firith maneuvered the craft towards the derelict ship, while Lilith kept an eye on the instruments, watching for anything out of the ordinary. Being that the shuttle they had lost contact with started fading in and out when they got close to the ship she wanted to see what some of the readings were as they got closer to see if she could figure out what was going on.

“DarkHawk, what was the distance was the shuttle from the ship that you started to notice the fading begin to happen?” Lilith asked over the comm.

“They were within the perimeter of the ship, so within about 50 feet or so.” Came the reply.

“Ok, once we locate a good docking port, I’ll set the proximity alarm for countdown. I’d like you to let me know when you start seeing us fade.”

Lilith was making notes as Firith piloted around the cruiser in search of a docking port. Finding one near the “neck-like hull” of the ship between the bridge and the engines, he plotted his course and prepared to dock. A tinny voice came over head, “70 feet, 65 feet, 60 feet, 55 feet.”

“Shuttle Apollo, you are sta-ing……ade in and out.” A broken communication came from the Retribution.

Lilith checked all the instruments and everything seemed to be holding steady. Looking back at the Majestic-class heavy cruiser, replied, “We can see you just fine, your communication is a bit broken. “Can you hear me clearly?”

“53 feet……50 feet.”

“Troub- hea-.you.” Came the reply.

“10 feet……5 feet.”

Firith smoothly pulled the shuttle up to the docking port and commenced with the docking sequence. Attaching to the docking port and making sure that the connection was solid, he keyed on the Comm, “Shuttle Apollo to Retribution, we are docked, ready to open and board the cruiser.”

“Still…-avin….trou-…-earin…you.”

“Weird, everything seems fine, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary on the instrument panel and I can see the Retribution just fine. I think that we need to get to large power array on top of the ship to see if that is the problem with communications. "It may be a cloaking device or some sort of jammer,” said Lilith.

“I agree lass, let’s get our gear and get a move on.” Firith started gathering up his gear and put on his environmental suit and helmet.

Opening the airlock, they could see a dimly lit corridor with broken dangling wires emitting sparks from control panels along the wall. Taking point, Firith stepped into the hallway first with Lilith a step behind him. “Stay close lass, don’t know if our comms will keep working or not.”

“Considering I didn’t hear anything through the comm just now, I’d say they are not,” replied Lilith.

The pair slowly made their way through the ship towards the engines at the rear of the ship.

Hammerhead-class Cruiser
Primary Dorsal Corridor

Firith looked at the his wrist comp and saw that there was enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support human life. It was thin, but an environmental breathing mask wasn’t necessary. He cut off the oxygen boost supplier and undid the face mask. Coughing a bit from the dust he motioned to Lilith that it was safe.

The air had a musty and unused taste to it, with the dryness of dust that caused him to cough some. “It’s breathable,” he said coughing a little, “I’m not sure if it would be better to leave the masks on or not.”

After undoing her mask Lilith sniffed and then took a breath. “It smells like ozone and old unwashed clothing.” Lilith answered, sniffling and coughing some.

Shining his light up and down the dimly lit hall, the only thing Firith noticed was that none of the dust on the floor had been disturbed in this corridor. “Well that’s good in one respect, no one has headed towards the bridge using this corridor.” He thought. “Right. Let’s get some power to this old piece of junk.” He said, stowing his mask in its belt pouch.

“According to the sketchy readout I have, the engines are this way.” Lilith pointed down the hall. “We’ll have to take a set of stairs or the lift, if it’s working, down two decks, maybe three. There just aren’t that many records in the Brotherhood’s data library about this kind of ship.”

“Aye lass, I know,” Firith answered, “and it’s a old Republic ship as well. So there is no telling what we might encounter.” With that he headed down the corridor.

The groaning and creaking of the ship’s bulkheads was beginning to get on Firth’s nerves. The faint echo of voices coming through air vents and from further in the ship gave the feel of someplace haunted.

Coming to a cross corridor the Stormwinds could see the disturbed dust on the floor and still smell the smell of blaster fried air. Scorch marks on the walls, ceiling and floor gave testament to the sloppy shooting of the untrained. At one point there appeared to be a large blast of air movement extending down the one corridor like a concussive charge had gone off blasting everything away. Footprints and numerous drag marks showed where a goodly number of people had been taken away in the other direction.

Firith bent down and examined the minute debris from the fight. Whoever had won cleaned up after themselves quite well.

“Honey? What happened?” Lilith asked, knowing her skills at reading a situation were not as good as her husband’s.

Firith sat back on his haunches and tried to see what had happened in his mind. The clean swept area wasn’t neat, and flecks of metal had embedded themselves into the ceiling and walls. “Well lass, Ah ken the shuttle is there.”He said pointing down the clean corridor. “That’s shrapnel in the walls and ceiling, probably from a high impact flash grenade. The blast blew everything down towards the shuttle. Those drag marks,” he said pointing the opposite way, “lead towards th’other craft and our enemies. I’m guessing that straight ahead ais towards th’ upper engineering deck.” He said pointing the direction they had been heading.

Standing up he unhooked his saber from his belt. “Your choice lass. Follow orders an get the engines up an runnin’ or haid ta the enemy shep an’ be seein if we canna rescue our Warhost friends.”

Lilith knew the situation was bad, her husband never dropped into his native accent unless he was under serious stress or really, really, worried. “But what caused the Warhost to be wiped out so easily?” Lilith asked in confusion. “They were elite ships Marines weren’t they?”

Firith snorted in derision, “Elite or no, Marine or no, they be Clan. An we should be savin’ tha daft haggis head idiots.” He shook his head and calmed himself. He would need his wits about him in the upcoming fight. “You decide and I’ll abide by it lass. Orders say we get the ship running.”

“Yes my dear, but think, we could use the extra manpower to take over the engineering deck if we can rescue the war host.” She countered. “I say we see what we can do to save our clansmen and then go to the engineering deck AND the bridge. Kill two Gungans with one blaster so to speak.”

Firith nodded. “Aye lass, sounds good to me. But do me a favor, when I say stay back, Stay back. Not to keep you safe, I know yea can handle yersail’ but so I can work, silent like. I’ll be cloaking and can not be bothered with worryin’ about you. Understand?” He said looking her in the eye.

Lilith gave him a quick peck on the tip of his nose. “Yes dear.”

The two headed towards the docking port on the side where the pirate craft was attached to the cruiser. Firith mentally began clearing his mind and calming himself as they walked. He didn’t feel that Rage would assist him with his initial attack. Coming to the end of the hall he stopped and held up his hand motioning for Lilith to wait.

The docking port was set behind a blast door and pressure door, both of which had been left partially open. Staying in the dim light as much as possible Firith peeked around the door frame and saw…nothing. No one was in sight.

“That’s odd, where are they?” He thought. He looked back at Lilith, then back to the opening of the enemy ship and then back to Lilith. Confusion etched his face as he tried to figure out if there was a trap or if the enemy was just so arrogant that they wouldn’t bother to guard their own ship.

Lilith walked up behind him and looked through the doors. “Where are they?” She whispered.

“I don’t know,” Firith whispered back, “See if you can ‘sense’ something with the Force. I’ll guard you.”

Lilith knelt down and cleared her mind. Reaching out with the Force she felt around for anything that might give her a clue as to what was on the ship. A vague feeling of unease came from it, but nothing serious. Extending her abilities to the limit, she concentrated harder and reached out as far as she could go. She could feel anger and confusion from one section coming from the prisoners. As for anything or anyone else she felt only a cold hatred coming from two or three other individuals on the ship.

Lilith opened her eyes and felt the fatigue wash over her. “Ugh, I hate concentrating that hard. My skills with the Force don’t lend themselves to this kind of work.” She whispered to Firith.

As she stood up Firith grabbed a stim capsule off his belt and opened it and gave her the the pill that was inside. “Blah, bitter.” She complained as she chewed it up.

Hammerhead-class Cruiser

Lilith finished consuming the stim capsule, making a face the whole time. “You know I really hate those things, Firith.”

“I know lass, but since we don’t know what all we are up against and we both need to be at full strength,” replied Firith. “What did you sense?”

“Just some vague emotions further away, some anger and confusion from several individuals and a couple of instances of pure hatred. The confusion and anger seems to be from a larger group, which I think might be the Warhost as I felt some familiar energy signatures. The hatred I’m feeling seems to be near the group, so maybe guards. Still seems really strange that there is no visible sentries here, they must not know that the Retribution is in the area,” She said.

“Okay, let’s just take it slow and careful. I’ll go in first, stay behind me. Try and keep sensing where they are, touch my shoulder to indicate which way you are feeling the energy from, use the code that we developed before.” With that, Firith stepped into the pirate vessel.

Feeling a little jittery from the stim capsule, Lilith followed. She continued to “sense” the energy signatures of the beings on board the ship. Once inside the ship the corridor went to the left and right, Lilith touched Firith on his left shoulder indicating to him that they needed to go that direction. Moving slowly, Firith cautiously peered around the corner, seeing it was clear moved forward in the direction that Lilith had indicated. After going about 20 feet, they came to a corridor going off to the right; Lilith again touched his shoulder, the right one this time letting him know that they need to turn and go down that way instead of going straight ahead. Again looking to ensure that there were no sentries, he started moving again. While the first corridor was basically empty, this one had several large containers pushed against the wall as though they had run out of room in the hold and were using it as extra storage. As they moved down this corridor, they could hear the faint echo of voices coming from a partially opened door about mid-way down. Lilith put her hand in between his shoulder blades, then tapped his back twice indicating that this was the area where she was sensing both the larger group and what she thought must be the guards. Firith held up his right hand to show her that he understood. Motioning her to stay hidden behind the container closest to the door, he continued to the door, hugging the wall.

Moving closer to the door Firith peeked around the door frame. He could see that there was a holding cell along the back wall filled with several of the Warhost, some were sitting, some standing, and some were laying down, looking like they might be injured or unconscious. He could hear one of them demanding to know what was going on, who they were being held by and another voice telling the speaker to shut up, and if he didn’t they could permanently shut them up. Hoping to get more information on who else was in the room as he could not see anything except the cell Firith got the attention of one of the Warhost in the cell. Placing a finger to his lips to keep him from saying anything to give him and his wife away, signaled to the man that he was there to rescue them. The man nodded and made his way to the one that was asking all the questions. After a short conversation, the questioner started talking once again.

“Look, I’m Command Sergeant Teal and I am just really concerned about some of my men and I have also noticed that a couple of my team are missing.”

“I said, SHUT UP,” yelled a pirate as he got up and moved towards the cell.

“Calm down, Hapner. You know Captain Soren doesn’t want them harmed. Well, at least anymore of them harmed.” Stated the other pirate.

“It’s not fair Taren. They get to explore this ship and are going to be pocketing all the spoils while the two of us are here babysitting prisoners,” whined Hapner.

With that, Firith had the information that he needed. Motioning to the crewmember to keep Hapner moving, hoping to get him in his view, Firith waited patiently.

“Can we at least get some water for the injured” requested Teal.

“Okay, I’ve had it,” stated Hapner as he moved towards Command Sergeant Teal.

Firith pulled his vibroknife from his boot, and as Hapner stepped into view, let it fly. With his normal accuracy, his knife landed in the back of Hapner’s neck, killing him instantly. As he crumpled to the floor, Firith moved in front of the door and used the Force to cloak himself. Positioned with his lightsaber held in his right hand, head high.

Taren saw his friend go down. “What the KRIFF!” Alarmed, he pulled his vibrosword and went to the door. Not seeing anything, he opened the door the rest of the way and after looking down the corridor both ways, stepped out. In that instance, Firith ignited his saber. The saber was at the perfect the level with the emitter about two inches from the head of the pirate. The plasma blade swiftly went in one side and out the other of Taren’s skull, killing him instantly. Deactivating his saber he called out to his wife letting her know that it was safe to come out.

The Sorcerer joined her husband by the door and looking at the body on the ground and the look on Firith’s face knew that he had enjoyed the kill. “You know, I really hate how much you enjoy doing that.”

“What? Oh fine,” he said with a sigh.

Shaking her head at how dark he was becoming, Lilith stepped over the dead pirate and went into the room. Looking around, she saw that besides the cell there was a table and a couple of chairs. On the table was a set of keys. Picking them up she walked over to the cell and opened the door, releasing the prisoners.

“Thank you,” stated Teal as he exited the cell and shook Firith’s and then Lilith’s hands. “We weren’t sure what was going to happen. The pirates really surprised us, it was like they appeared out of nowhere. It all happened so quickly. Even if we hadn’t lost contact with the Retribution, there would have been no time to warn them about any of this. How did you know that we were in trouble?”

“We didn’t. We were on board the Retribution, hitching a ride back to Sepros after the conflict on Mygeeto and DarkHawk came to us and asked us to help out after they lost communication with you. Apparently your Captain isn’t too happy with losing the lot of you and his shuttle” quipped Firith.

“Well, I’m glad you were and glad you did.” Replied Teal. “We are still missing the Science Officer and his assistant though.”

“What happened? How did you get captured?” asked Lilith.

“We made it to the engine room and were trying to get them up and running when there was a flash of white light, several of my men were immediately knocked unconscious. I noticed that Science Officer Denning and assistant was missing, that is the last thing that I remember until I woke up in this cage with team two. Command Sergeant Winst was in charge of team two, unfortunately, he is one of the injured.”

“Is everyone accounted for? Was anyone killed?” inquired Lilith.

“Everyone is here except for the two that I mentioned and no one was killed, although several were badly injured and require more medical attention than we are able to provide here.”

“Lilith is a healer and can make sure that your men are stable and ready to be evacuated. I think that we have the numbers to be able to hold this ship and make a move to capture the rest of the pirates as we now have surprise on OUR side. We can leave enough men to keep control of this ship, as unlike the pirates we will post sentries. Pick four of your men to station in the docking area and a couple more to stay with the wounded. The rest of you will go with Lilith and me to find Denning and capture the crew of this vessel,” commanded Firith.

“Yes Sir,” replied Command Sergeant Teal.

Pirate vessel
Attached to the Hammerhead Cruiser
Wild Space

“Right, let’s go then,” Firith said, heading back out into the hall, “Lil, you have 5 minutes to triage, then we move.”

Turning to Teal, he gave a quick order. “I want you to send two or three men to search for the armory and or anything else that may be of use. Move out.

Command Sergeant Teal snapped off a quick salute and then chose different soldiers to head out.

A young Corporal, coming out of the room was stepping over the body of the dead pirate when he noticed how the kill had been done. “I know that kill. It’s a signature kill.” He pointed to cauterized hole burned through the head of the body.

“Problem, corporal?” Teal asked.

“No sir, it’s just that, well, guys talk, you know? A few of us have heard of some psycho Jedi that kills by stabbing his victims through the head.” the young troop said.

“I heard it was so he could eat their hearts,” another one chimed in, “that’s why he stabs them in the head. So he can cut their heart out and eat it.”

Teal glanced over to where Firith was leaning against the bulkhead behind them, trying to get his wrist computer to work out the best attack strategy on the cruiser.

“That’s right, laddie,” Firith said, giving the second trooper a evil look, “and I haven’t eaten all day. Now get yer arse moving before I decide Warhost tastes better than pirate.”

The two troopers scrambled away on their salvage mission.

Lilith came out looking a little tired. “We’re good, the only critical ones are the two with the shattered eardrums and flash blinding. Everyone else has scrapes and sprains from the initial attack. I have left two of the more serious sprains to watch the two unconscious men. Are we ready?”

“Just about, love, Teal has men doing a quick search of this vessel and I’m still trying to get an idea of the best mode of attack.” The assassin answered.

Teal spoke up at this point. “If I may, sir. Our initial attack brought us into the main engineering deck after dropping down two sets of ladders. We are level with the upper deck now. There might be a way to attack from above.”

Firith nodded. “Aye, that’s what I was thinkin’. Lilith has some silly toxin she’s cooked up that puts people to sleep, I think—”

“Yes dear, it puts them to sleep, not kill, you don’t need to kill every enemy you meet.” Lilith interjected in as she was checking over her pack.

Firith and Teal just looked at each other , rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

“I saw that!” She said, her back turned to them.

The men turned and looked at Lilith and the each other. Both shrugged silently, agreeing that she probably somehow HAD actually seen their reactions.

“Right, dear, now let me work or I’ll leave you here for the pirates.” Firith muttered.

“You would do that?” Teal whispered, shocked.

Firith looked up from his wrist computer and gave the sergeant a look. “Are yea daft lad? I DO have to sleep sometime, aye?”

“That’s right,” Lilith chirped walking back into the brig to grab something, ”and I know where you sleep.”

Firith just shook his head. “Finish up, lass, we are heading out,” He ordered, “troops, let’s go.”

The remaining warhost grabbed their gear and fell in behind Teal and Firith, Lilith was surrounded by a group of four men that had made it their business to be her bodyguard.

They headed back towards the airlock and docking collar. The warhost Sergeant was setting a brisk pace.

Firith was just heading back onto the cruiser when the scavenger party caught up with them.

“Command Sergeant Teal, Master Jedi! We have found something I think we can use.” One of the Corporals said.

Lilith leaned close to her husband and whispered,” Master Jedi?” Then walked away giggling.

Firith just sighed and shook his head. “What is it, Sergeant? What did they find?” He asked Teal who was looking at some grenades in an ammo box.

“This will be a plus, these are the flash/concussion grenades they used on us. A couple of these along with a couple doses of your wife’s poison and we should take the engineering deck with little or no problem.” Teal responded, showing Firith the objects in the box.

“Excellent, let’s get going and see if we can destroy some pirates and take this ship.” Firith called out to everyone.

The warhost responded with a resounding cheer and began filing into the Hammerhead.

Hammerhead Cruiser
Wild Space

As they headed back down to the central corridor both Teal and Firith noticed the corridor lights were beginning to get brighter and one of the door motion sensors activated when someone stepped near. The door did not open entirely due to age and neglect.

Firith peered into the dim chamber and could make out a line of what appeared to be some cryogenic sleeping tubes. All with faint red flashing lights on a systems panel above them.

“Teal take the men up to the cross corridor and wait for me, I’m going to check this out. Lil, go with them and show Command Sergeant Teal how to activate your little sleepy toy thing.” Firith said, forcing the door open enough so he could step through.

Teal saluted and the group headed off. Lilith followed in tow, giving her husband a hurt look.

The dusty chamber was beginning to come back to life as Firith examined the four horizontal, glass covered canisters. “They must have gotten the startup generator back online. Unless they kill power to the auxiliary systems though, it will keep shorting out,” he thought.

Looking closer at the tubes he could see each had a body of what appeared to be a human in them. All were shriveled and mummified from the cyro system failing. And all were dressed in ancient Jedi garb.

Walking to the control panel of one of the beds Firith looked at the readouts and saw that it had failed over two thousand years ago. With the power being reactivated, he had no idea what would happen.

Taking his saber out he activated it and jabbed the blade into the controls, making sure the controls stayed dead. He then did the same to the other three and exited the room. Running to catch up to the warhost.

Firith joined the men and his wife and fielded their questions with a quick, “It was nothing,” and changed the topic to the attack. “It looks as though they have possibly gotten the startup generator going and are trying to fire up the mains. Thankfully they haven’t figured out how to shut down all the systems that were still on when the power failed in the past.”

Teal spoke up. “Yes sir, and this will work for us and against us. Opening these doors is a noisy business with no power. However, with power restored the doors will open easily, but we will have to worry about any automated anti toxin detectors/removers the ship might have.”

“I don’t think my sleeping agent will be detectable to anything. It is a perfectly crafted toxin that I spent ages to get just right.” Lilith said with pride.

Firith headed down the dorsal corridor towards the engine room. “Fine, we’ll worry about it later. The grenades should take care of the bulk of them at any rate.”

Corridor of Hammerhead Cruiser
Wild Space

Lilith followed her husband, hurt by the fact that he didn’t have any faith in her creation. One would think that after all these years, he would know better. Oh well, she thought, after this works he can apologize in an appropriate manner later.

Stopping near the door to Engineering, Firith called to Lilith. “Okay Lass, let’s see what this potion of yours can do. How do you go about dispersing it? How many will it take out at once?”

“The best way will be to drop it down to the floor around the pirates. The tubes will break on contact and the fumes will be released and it will depend on how spread out they are. The effect of LS-33 should be immediate,” she replied.

“Hmmm. Okay, here’s what we’ll do: once the doors open, we’ll go in low and get a lay of the land, see where everyone is and where the best drop points are. Then we will drop Lil’s science project and a few grenades, just in case. Teal and I will go in first and then Lil will follow,” Firith said. “I want two of the host to stay here at the cross corridor just in case there are any stragglers wandering around. The rest of you will split off on each side of the door. Those of you on the far side make sure to hug the wall when crossing to the other side so as not to trigger it to open, just in case there are any sentries on this level inside. I doubt that there are since their own ship wasn’t guarded, but you never know. Teal, choose one other to come with us so that if need be we can drop from four different directions depending on how spread out the Engineering room is and where the pirates are within it.”

Teal looked over the Warhost and picked a veteran trooper by the name of MacAdam. “MacAdam, you will enter with Lilith”

“Aye, Sir.”

“Everyone will need to don their full face masks. The fumes from LS-33 spread extremely fast and you don’t want to breathe any of it in,” stated the Consular.

“You do realize that we are about three stories up, right?” Asked Command Sergeant Teal.

Giving him a look, she replied, “yes, I do.”

“Okay, just wanted to make sure Ma’am.”

As everyone dispersed as directed, Teal whispered to Firith, “Now I know what they mean by looks can kill. She may not be an assassin, but damn, that look she gave me when I said how high up we were could have cowed a Grand Master.”

Firith chuckled. “She is a great lass and I love her to death, but I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side. I know I have been giving her a hard time about her potion, but truthfully if she says it will work, it will. I just like giving her a hard time and then making up, if you know what I mean.” He ended that statement with a wink.

“You are a brave man,” Teal retorted, shaking his head.

Once everyone was position and had their masks on, Firith and Teal got low and proceeded to the door. As they neared the door it silently opened. After ascertaining that no guard was posted , they proceeded to enter the room followed by Lilith and MacAdam, all four of them in possession of a couple of grenades and a vial of LS-33.

Looking down through the grated walkway, they could see the crew down below working at the controls. It appeared that most of the pirates were in two clusters. Firith motioned to Lilith, holding up a vial. She held up two fingers, indicating that two vials should be sufficient. Nodding his head he then motioned for her and her partner to go to the left while he and Teal would to the right. Once in position, he raised his hand, holding up three fingers and proceeded to start the countdown. Three, Two, One, both teams dropped one of the grenades and a vial of Lilith’s potion. All four closed their eyes as the projectiles hit the floor, the vials exploding in shards of glass and the grenades exploding in blinding light. Once the glass shattered, the liquid inside turned to a gas as it was exposed to air. The fumes spread quickly through the pirates. After waiting a few seconds for the light to go back to normal so that they were not blinded by the flash/bangs, the four on the catwalk opened their eyes to see that everyone down below was laying on the floor. Waiting just a bit longer to make sure that all was quiet down below, they stood and Teal went back to the door to motion the rest of the Warhost to come with them.

“Two more of you stand guard at this set of doors,” he commanded. “The rest will come with us.”

The company went down the stairs to the main area of Engineering. Looking at all the bodies laying around, Lilith looked at her husband and said, “Ha, told you it would work.”

“Yes, you did. Good job dear. Let’s get all the prisoners tied up and see what we can do about transporting them back to the holding cells on the other ship.”

Several troopers jumped into action securing the now captured pirates. “Um, Ma’am, this one is not breathing,” stammered one of the Warhost. “Neither is this one,” stated another. “One more over here,” came one more voice.

Lilith sucked in a breathe. “Check all the others, quickly. I have an antidote if needed to wake them up.”

After checking the rest of them and finding no more dead, Lilith went over and to see what species the deceased were.

“They were Ryn. I thought those had been wiped out years ago,” stated the Command Sergeant.

Lilith took out her datapad, not happy about needless deaths - especially of a species that was thought to be extinct - but knowing she couldn’t do anything about it, made a note in her files. “Make sure that these bodies are wrapped and preserved. We need to take them back to the Empiricalum for study.”

Once all was secured, the captives taken back to the ship and locked in the cell and the bodies were readied for transport, Firith found members of the Warhost who had electrical training and set them to finish bringing up the power for the ship. The rest of the group headed for the Bridge.

The contingent was able to get to the corridor of the Bridge without running into any opposition. They decided to do the same as they had done in Engineering, but with Firith and Teal lobbing the grenades followed by Lilith throwing in the philter, as the Bridge was smaller one vial should do the trick. Everyone nodded their understanding. Splitting into two groups, they stood on each side of the door. Stepping in front of the door, the assassin triggered it to open. Immediately, he and the Command Sergeant tossed in a grenade, Lilith throwing the vial right after. Ducking back to the side of the door so as not to be blinded, they waited for everything to take effect. Entering the Bridge, they checked each of the unconscious smugglers and found all sound asleep. Once they had secured the new set of prisoners, Lilith, Firith and Teal set about trying to get the computers up with the limited power. All of a sudden the lights flickered and the power was fully restored and the computers started booting up.

“Well, that’s a good sign,” stated Lilith. “Maybe now we can look in the database to find out how to turn off the cloaking device and hail the Retribution.”

A voice came over the intercom system, “Welcome to the Exploration. Please state a command.”

Looking at her husband and shrugging her shoulders she said, “well, it’s worth a try. Computer, turn off cloaking.”

The voice answered, “cloaking is now off.”

“Computer, turn on viewer,” was the next command.

“Viewer on.”

With that the screen came on and front and center was the Retribution.

“Hail Retribution,” said Lilith. “Retribution, can you hear me?”

“This is the Retribution, identify yourself,” came the reply.

“Retribution, this is Mystic Lilith Stormwind, we are in command of the cruiser and the Pirate ship.” Tell Darkhawk that Naga Sadow has two new toys and several prisoners to interrogate.”

A resounding cheer went up from the bridge of the Retribution.