[COU] Last Voyage of the Charon Co-op Fiction

As the HWK-290 light freighter Star Hawk slipped silently through hyperspace the pilot turned in his seat and asked “So why exactly am I here again?” to the only other occupant of the ship’s cockpit.

“Because I needed a pilot and you were the only one on Solyiat at the time.” replied the passenger, his eyes closed in meditation.

“Is that really the only reason?” asked the pilot. “Are you sure it wasn’t my rugged good looks and roguish charm that made you ask for my help and companionship?”

The man, Edgar Drachen, slowly opened his eyes and shot a withering gaze at the ship’s pilot. In a frustrated voice the Aedile said “No.”

With feigned injury the pilot, Seth Danner, said “You wound me sir.”

“If you don’t stop I will.” said Edgar.

Seth’s face split into a wide grin as he said “Promises, promises.” From behind him the console beeped. Spinning in his chair Seth punched a few buttons and said “Thirty seconds to real space.”

The Star Hawk erupted into real space a few hundred kilometers away from the Charon floating silently in space. The former smuggler punched the throttle and maneuvered his ship towards the CR-90 corvette hanging silently in the vacuum of space. As the Star Hawk closed to within fifty kilometers of the Charon Seth slowed his ship and slowly began to circle the larger vessel.

As Edgar leaned over the back of the pilot couch to look at the viewscreen Seth said “She’s still got power.”

“How can you tell?” asked the Jedi.

“Because the lights are still on.” replied Seth. “Engines are silent though. Very weird.”

“Be cautious, I have a very bad feeling about this.” replied Edgar.

Turning to look his superior in the eye Seth said “I think if they were gonna shoot at us they’d have done it by now don’t you?”

“Hmmm.” Edgar replied. “Take us in but be cautious.”

“Roger that.” Seth said. He turned in his seat and shouted “Moe!!!”

From deeper within the vessel came the metallic clanking of a droid stomping toward the cockpit. As the clanking stopped a monotone robotic voice said “Yes sir.”

Seth looked up to see the old ASP series droid designated ASP-MO3 standing in the doorway. “Head back to the docking clamp controls and get ready to engage them and extend the boarding tube.”

“Yes sir.” the droid said before shuffling off to the back of the ship.

Seth slowly maneuvered the ship in place beside the Charon’s port side docking bay and shouted “Ok Moe, hit the switch.”

There was an audible clang as the Star Hawk’s docking claw latched onto the corvettes hull. The console beeped in a steadily increasing rhythm before the tone became one solid beep. Punching a series of buttons on the console Seth put the vessel into a powered down state before he rose and said “We’re connected to the Charon.”

“Excellent,” said Edgar. “Let’s go.”

As they prepared to leave the ship the Aedile turned to the droid “Make sure the engines are kept warmed up and make sure you report any approaching vessels as soon as possible.” he ordered, “I’m not liking how a derelict ship got far into the system without being notice till now. Something’s not right here.”

Moe looked at his captain and was about to question the Aedile’s order when Mr. Danner cut him off ”Moe, do as Edgar says and also I’ll keep a open com link with you so you can report anything directly to us.”

“Yes, sir I will do as the Jedi asks” the droid then heading back to the bridge as Seth moved over to the airlock controls, “Are you ready, Edgar?”

Taking a moment to himself the Savant quickly reaches out with the force and even though he couldn’t clear feel the crew he knew for a fact that there was something alive on the freighter. If it meant them harm or not he again wasn’t sure the feelings were so random and primal that if it was dangerous he couldn’t explain it.

“Edgar!’ Seth spoke more directly finally breaking Drachen of the trance he was in. “I said are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready but there is definitely something over there so be ready for anything.” The Aedile said as he took both of his sabers into his hands as his companion opens the airlock to both ships.

The first surprise was that nothing or no one was waiting for them on the other side of the lock as they boarded the Charon. It was clear something happened here since the hall had weird scratches in the floor and on the walls but besides that the ship was silent.

Examining the scratches on the wall Danner commented “These marks are extremely odd the direction and placement are so random they would be difficult to do if you were just moving cargo through this passageway. What do you think th….”

Seth was cut off by a loud crash and what seemed to sound like a scream that was muffled by the sounds of small explosion coming from the direction the marks seemed to be heading.

Both men jumped with Edgar igniting his sabers and Mr. Danner drew his pistols as the lights now started to flicker.

“Sir, are you ok!?” Moe questioned over the com link. “Yes! We are fine what happened?”

“I have detected an explosion in the cargo bay. It’s seemed to have tripped some circuit breakers in the starboard side of the ship and the fire suppression system as already put out the fire.”

“Do you have any idea what caused it Moe?” Edgar Asked

“No Sir but i am reading lifeforms in the cargo bay and crew quarters on the starboard side of the ship”.

“Of course, right where the power’s out. Well Seth I hope you and your roguish charm can do more than just pilot a ship.”

Danner laughed and said “I was about to say the same for you, being behind a desk so long I just figured I’ll be doing most of the heavy lifting on this trip anyway. So just follow me, Jedi”.

Seth moved passed Edgar with a ly smile of his face and started to make his way down the corridor heading towards the source of the noise.

Edgar disengaged his sabers and stared at the man as he passed. Edgar has been trying to size up this new recruit for a while now and it was part of the reason he selected him to join him on this mission. The young Aedile thought this would be a simple mission in which to get a chance to see who and what this scoundrel was made of.

Of course, now that the situation has gotten more interesting Edgar realized that this wouldn’t be a good test for the new recruit but for himself as well. Seth was right it had been to long since he went on any mission so this will serve as a good test for both of them.

“Well, Mr. Danner, I guess we shall see who will be the one doing the most heavy lifting soon enough.”

The pair edged their way carefully through the quiet hallways of the ship, the only sounds were the barely audible shuffle of boots on metal floor. All this silence had Seth on edge but he didn’t dare drop his mask of confident bravado. The pair checked every nook and cranny of the ship as they passed hoping to find some sign of life or clue as to what had happened but so far they had come up empty.

The two men approached a dimly lit room on their left and peered inside into the gloom. Lying in the centre of the floor was an E-11 blaster rifle, standard issue for the troopers of the Iron Legion. Seth, with guns raised and ready for action, slowly entered the room hoping and praying nothing would leap out of the shadows to claim him. When nothing did he breathed a sigh of relief and slid his guns back into their holsters. Dropping to one knee he picked up the discarded blaster and checked the power pack.

“It’s empty.” he said looking up at Edgar.

The Jedi scanned the hallway left and right before replying. “So where’s its owner and what was he firing at?” Edgar asked.

Seth gave a slight shrug before placing the E-11 back where he found it. Rising to his feet he once again slid his blasters from their holsters and headed deeper into the ship. As he and Edgar approached a t section Seth stopped and looked left and right, a look of confusion on his face. Edgar noticed the puzzled look and asked “What is it?”

Seth lifted a pistol and pointed it at the metal wall in front of him saying “This bulkhead shouldn’t be here.” With his left pistol he pointed down the corridor and said “And this hallway shouldn’t exist either.” With his right hand he pointed to the right and said “This corridor should take us to the bridge but who knows if that’s where it leads now.”

‘Hmm.” Edgar said considering the situation. “Go right, if we find the bridge we might find out what happened here.”

“You’re the boss.” replied Seth as he turned to the right.

The lights began to flicker on and off dropping the corridor into blackness for seconds at a time slowing the pair down on their journey to the bridge. Suddenly the bulkhead became clear as the material used to build it changed from metal to transparisteel. The pair could see what looked to be a lab of sorts in a state of disrepair. Equipment was strewn about the place in a haphazard manner but what caught their attention the most was the blood.

It was smeared and splattered everywhere. The floor, the walls, the roof. That was when Seth noticed it. Pointing to the floor with a pistol he said “Is…is that a hand?”

Edgar peered into the dimly lit room looking for whatever it was that the former smuggler had seen. He was about to say that there was nothing there when he spotted it. Sitting in a pool of congealing blood was a hand, cut or ripped off just above the wrist. Edgar was about to say something when Seth shouted “What the hells was that?”

“What?” asked Edgar.

“There’s something in there.” Seth replied. “There you see it?” he asked.

Edgar looked and indeed there was something moving around. Suddenly whatever it was let out a scream and bolted from the destroyed lab. From deeper in the ship the pair heard more screams and howls. Edgar turned to look at Seth and said “We need to get to the bridge now.”

As the pair took off in a sprint Seth opened the comm to Moe and shouted “Moe, lock the ship down now, nothing gets in there but me and Edgar. You copy?”

“Yes sir.” came the droids monotone voice from the comm units tiny speaker.

As the two men ran further into the ship the screams and howls grew louder as a cacophony of footfalls echoed through the ships corridors. They finally arrived at the door to the bridge only to find it locked. “I can get us in.” Seth shouted before saying “I hope.” quietly under his breath.

Ripping the cover off the door controls he began to pull out a handful of wires, splicing them together, swearing quietly as the sparks sent shocks through his body. Again and again he tried to hotwire the door but nothing was working.

“You’d better hurry up back there.” Edgar said calmly as he ignited his lightsabers.

“I’m working on it.” shouted Seth.

“Well work faster.” shouted Edgar in reply.

Seth grabbed a handful of wires and yanked, the entire bundle coming loose in his hands as the door slid open silently. Seth rose to his feet and turned preparing to to shout in triumph but it died in his throat as he saw the approaching nightmare over the Jedis shoulder. At least a dozen creatures were barreling down the corridor, tripping over one another in an effort to get to the two men.

“Get inside now!” shouted Seth. As they stepped inside the bridge Seth punched the door controls but nothing happened. “We have a problem. The door won’t close.” he said. Pulling his blasters from there holsters he began to fire down the corridor dropping a pair of the creatures with well placed head shots. Acting purely on instinct Edgar called on the Force. With a wave of his hand the door slammed shut moments before the creatures burst through.

“Well that was too close for comfort.” said Seth and he slumped to the floor sucking in a few deep breathes.

“We need to find out what happened here.” said Edgar. “Check that computer while I check this one.”

“Yes sir” said Seth as he threw the Jedi a casual salute.

“Remember we need to find the ships logs and get the information on the weapon systems this ship was carrying. We need to what happened here and what and where those weapons are!”

“Understood, but if this ship was carrying weapons why was….”

SLAM!

Both of the men briefly stopped what they were doing to look at the door realizing that whatever was out there was either big or really strong to make such a noise.

SLAM!

This time the door budged a bit and neither of them had to say a word but started back to work when the smuggler suggested “Look this is taking way to long I have a much better idea.” opening his com link he tried to calm himself enough to instruct MOE to open a connection with the ship’s computer and download everything in it’s memory banks.

“Yes sir but such a transfer will take about 30 mins what will you do in that time?” the droid mindlessly asked

SLAM… the door began to buckle against the weight pushing against it. It was at this time Edgar moved from the terminal and ignited his sabers and move to defend the door.
As the transfer started Seth sarcastically responded “oh I don’t know i think Edgar and I will ask our host to join us for dinner. Look just get the download done as fast as you can and be prepared to open that airlock!”

SLAM the door buckled even more this time and with it came even louder roars and other noises that didn’t seem natural. Seth now also arming himself turned to the Aedile “so how many hosts do you think we have out there?”

“Your guess is as good as mine all i was able to find was that this ship carried a crew of about 20, but I didn’t see what they were carrying …”

SLAM … this time the door broke open enough for a claw to come through and for the men to get a glimpse of what they were up against.

“Rakghouls!!!” Shouted Danner “Are these the weapons that they were carrying?!”

“Not NOW!” Shouted Edgar as his thrusted his lightsaber through the opening stabbing the closest creature to the opening. With a loud screech the rakghoul fell backwards and reveal at least 4 more in the corridor.

The young Aedile sighed to himself “Of course why would i expect that this would be a easy mission at all?” Edgar was about to question his partner when instinctive he ducked out of the way of the creature’s claw as it barely missed his head.

Seth Instinctively fired multiple rounds from his pistols striking the monster in the arm and head killing it. Firing a few more shots through the hole he managed to back the remains rakghouls off for a few moments.

“Are you Ok sir” Danner questioned, with Edgar nodding in the affirmative Seth Continued “We need to get out of here and back to the ship, once there and the download is finished we can decide what to do with this ship and these monsters! Our only option is to fight our way through them and back to the ship”

The Grey jedi stood dusting himself off “I agree but it won’t be a walk in the park, We will have to watch each other backs. If either one of us gets bit it’s over.”

The heavy footsteps, roars and screams from the corridor were getting louder again so it was now or never.

Seth looked the Savant in the eyes “Can you get the door open I’ll cover you and then we make for the ship, deal?”

“Deal!” Edgar Exclaimed and he reached for the Force and the door started to be forced open. Seth Started firing at the approached creatures and with a loud crash the right half of the door was pulled out of it’s hinges as Edgar threw the door down the corridor.

Continuing to fire Edgar ignited his sabers and shouted “It’s time to go!” as both men moved through the doorway and down the corridor.

The two men set off in a dead sprint down the hallway leaping over the fallen bodies of the creatures that had attacked them, creatures that had once been men and women. From further down the hall came the sound of metal grinding on metal and as the pair watched a massive rakghoul draped in the tattered remains of what appeared to be a lab coat lifted the buckled metal door off itself, tossed it aside and roared.

Seth fired down the hall, his blasts hitting the beast in the chest and stomach but the creature merely roared again and charged down the corridor, three smaller rakghouls following in its wake. Edgar his lightsabers lit and humming calmly strode forward down the hallway to confront the oncoming beast. From behind him Seth fired again and again, the bolts barely missing the Jedi on their path down the corridor before slamming into the bodies and skulls of the oncoming horrors.

The three smaller rakghouls were felled by the shots but the big one just kept on coming. As it got to within a few feet of the Jedi it leapt, claws extended to rip the young mans face off, but Edgar was prepared. Calling on the Force the Aedile slammed the rakghoul to the deck with a vicious blast of the Force, the deck buckling slightly from the impact. But again the beast merely rose, shook its horrific looking head, roared and charged once more.

As it leapt Edgars blades began to spin and twist in the air, slicing and stabbing into the creatures twisted flesh. First a hand went flying off, hitting the wall with a wet thwack before flopping on the floor like a hooked fish. The rakghoul, unfazed by the missing appendage, leapt again but the Jedi deftly sidestepped out of its path and slashed downward taking one of the beasts legs off just above the knee. Seth, almost forgotten by the pair, merely stood and watched in wonder as the Aedile almost danced around the creature while his blades took it apart piece by piece.

With its leg gone the rakghoul could no longer stand but still it tried to attack, dragging itself along the deck with its one good hand. As it closed in on the Jedi it began to claw at his leg but one quick slash and the hand was gone but still the beast tried to attack. Looking on the creature with a mixture of revulsion and pity the Aedile flipped his blades into a reverse grip and plunged them into the rakghouls skull. As its brains boiled it let out a low howl and shuddered a few times before falling silent and still. Switching off his lightsabers Edgar placed them back on is belt, closed his eyes and took a few deep calming breathes, at least he tried to. The silence of the corridor was broken by the whine of a pair of blaster pistols firing again and again accompanied by the mumbled cursing of one slightly overwhelmed former smuggler.

Opening his eyes Edgar saw Seth firing his blasters repeatedly into what used to be the rakghouls head but was now little more than a pile of bone and burnt flesh. “Seth.” Edgar said. When he didn’t respond Edgar shout “Seth!” even louder. As the pilot seemed to come to his senses Edgar calmly said “I think it’s dead.”

“I was just making sure.” replied Danner. “Now if you don’t mind i’d like to get the hell of this death trap now.”

“Agreed let’s go.” said the Aedile.

As they jogged back through the ship Seth said “You people are crazy, when we get back to Kiast I am done. I’m going back to smuggling, it’s safer.”

The pair retraced their steps back to the Star Hawk, and after a few minutes of arguing with Moe, they entered the ship and prepared it for hyperspace travel. Seth was about to disengage from the Charon when Edgar said “We can’t leave that ship, if the Iron Legion finds it they’ll pick up right where they left off.”

“I can’t exactly blow the damn thing up, this ship has no guns.” replied Seth.

“Damn it.” said Edgar as he slammed a fist onto a console.

“Easy on the ship there chief, I got an idea.” Seth said. He began to punch a variety of buttons on the Star Hawks control board a sly smile crossing his face as he did so.

Looking over his shoulder Edgar tried to make sense of what he was doing but couldn’t. “What exactly are you doing?” asked the Jedi.

“We’re still linked to the Charon so i’m giving its flight computer a new course to follow, straight into this systems star.” said Seth triumphantly.

“Good thinking.” Edgar said.

A few minutes later the Charons engines flared to life sending it on a one way course to destruction. The Star Hawk and its passengers sat silently for several long minutes watching the corvette get smaller until the light from its engines was almost indistinguishable from the twinkling stars. Satisfied that the ship was lost Seth punched the hyperdrive taking them home.