Into the Chaos Ch. 02

"With 'we', I assume you mean me and a squad of Black Dragons, sir?" came the reply, humour evident in her voice.

"Exactly, Lieutenant, but first let's take a look around the base."

"Yes, sir."

The main cave with the entrance had a lot of side caves and unlike the raw stone of the main cave, many of the side caves had been converted into actual living facilities, using standard building materials. Most of them were used for the various functions a base needed to have, like sleeping quarters, mess, sickbay, storage etc., but there were a few different ones.

One of the large storage areas contained plunder that had yet to be sold and I was surprised by the amount and variety of goods. There were hand weapons, medicine, spices, droids, computers, art, armors and just about everything else that could turn a profit somewhere.

With the firepower this group had, they could take on the biggest civilian freighters and apparently the pirates had done just that, transporting most of the goods here to be stored, until it was time to sell it.

Another contained most of the base's defence force: Ten battle droids and twenty droid micro-starfighters of a design I had never seen before. Then again, the droids used in the Chiss Ascendency were primitive in comparison to the ones I had seen elsewhere in the Chaos.

These were anything but primitive. Four meters long, they were armed with two pairs of laser cannons and where I would have expected a missile launcher, there was an ion cannon, and a closer look told me, that they even had a shield generator and I guessed both that and the ion-cannon made sense for pirates.

The design was most likely something our designers in the navy would like to examine closer and I decided to bring a few of them home.

Crossing a hallway, Yaki and I walked into the base' infirmary, which looked much like any other infirmary I had ever seen, with one exception. For some reason, there was three huge tanks filled with a clear liquid in there and, even more puzzling was that one of them held a person, that floated around in the liquid, a breathing apparatus strapped to his head so he didn't drown.

"What in the world is that?" Yaki asked.

"No clue." I said, looking around, as I contacted Lieutenant Samko and inquired about the liquid-filled tanks.

"Oh, they're Bacta or Kolto tanks, sir." She said, sounding slightly surprised that I even asked.

"Please elaborate, Lieutenant. I have no idea what that is."

"Oh, they're transparisteel tanks filled with a regenerative liquid." She explained. "Both Bacta and Kolto are powerful healing agents and effective against almost every type of injury on almost any species. It's pretty much the best medical treatment you can get."

"Let me guess," said Yaki in dry voice. "It's horribly expensive?"

That got a chuckle from Samko. "Yes, sir. They're normally only found in hospitals, on capital ships or military bases like this one."

"Can they be moved?"

"As far as I know, yes, but they're extremely heavy."

"Want to install one on the Fury, sir?" said Yaki with a chuckle.

"Yes. We're bound to find some slaves that have been mistreated and these tanks could help a lot." I said thoughtfully.

"In that case," said Samko over the comm, "we need the medical droids as well. They're normally the ones that monitor the healing if there's no doctor present."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Remind me to look into it later, when we have seen the condition of the slaves."

"Yes, sir."

Closing the connection, I looked at Yaki. "Let's go find the slaves."

She nodded. "They're in the prison area".

A few minutes later, we walked into the prison area, that consisted of three large caves. Why a military base would need a prison this large was beyond me, but as it was here, the pirates had made use of it.

I sighed inwardly when I looked at the cells in the largest of the three caves. The area was designed to hold up to four hundred people, but the pirates had crammed at least four time that number into the cells, making those placed in there live in extremely cramped quarters.

The pirates must have taken a passenger liner or two at some point or done surface raids like they had done at Alpha Viga, because normal freighters simply didn't carry that many people. The prisoners also looked like they haven't bathed for weeks and it made me thankful that I was wearing a helmet with a nose filter, because the room had to stink. At a glance, it looked like about two thirds were female and while most were human, there were several other species in there as well.

I had expected the prisoners to call out for help, but my Sith disguise and the black-and-red armors of the Black Dragons must had worked better than expected, because the prisoners were silent and looked at us with fear in their eyes.

It was too early to give them any hope, so Yaki and I walked out again, followed by the squad of Black Dragons.

The sleeping area for the chipped slaved was the next cave and again, there were more slaves than I had expected. They were also separated into males and females and last cave was an area with smaller rooms, holding only good-looking and chipped human or near-human slaves.

It was the pirates' very own brothel and the only remotely positive thing I could say about it, was that it looked like the slaves had been reasonable well treated.

I pondered the situation for a moment, but then made a decision. There were far more female slaves than there were males, and, in their condition, it was better that the first friendly voice they heard was a female. So, I handed the job to Yaki and went to look for Lord Mahaw's quarters, followed by the group of five Black Dragons, that had escorted me from the start.

We were halfway there, when Tavune, still acting as the comm officer, said. "Sir, the Heraklon just called in to report, that they have removed the sabotage and are ready to jump."

I thought about it for a moment. I would like to have them back at Alpha Viga as soon as possible, but on the other hand, we needed people. "Have them pick any Chiss experienced with spaceships, put them in the Imperial transport and bring them here. I'll send one of the Rendaran-class dropships up with more people and to act as an escort. Then they need to jump back to Alpha Viga as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Give me Lieutenant Yaki."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, Yaki said. "Yes, sir?"

"I'm sending the Heraklon back to Alpha Viga shortly. Pick thirty of our people that're not familiar with spaceships and have them board one of the Rendaran-class shuttles. They'll join the others on the Heraklon."

"Yes, sir."

"And have someone do a head-count of the slaves."

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you."

The door to Mahaw's quarters was big, almost like a blast-door, and the lock on it required both fingerprints and a DNA analyser for it to open. That posed a problem, since Lord Mahaw was currently in the freezer on the Phoenix in the Alpha Viga system, four days travel away. There was also the possibility of boobytraps since I doubted Mahaw trusted the pirates or the two other Sith.

Turning towards the Black Dragon, I asked "Can you open the door? Without setting off any boobytraps, I mean."

One of them went over to take a closer look at the lock, but came back a moment later, shaking her head. "Sorry, sir. That lock is tricky and there's no way of telling if there's a trap connected to it."

I nodded and walked over to the side. "Come over here."

The did as ordered and when I drew and lit the lightfoil, they lifted their blasters in unison.

Extending my other hand towards the lock, I focused on the Force and a moment later, a stream of purple lightning left the palm of my hand, hit the lock and both fried and overloaded the electronics.

There was a clanging sound, as the lock disengaged.

"Be ready." I ordered and used the Force again. This time to open the door.

Suddenly a hidden panel in the hallway opened and four huge canines came jumping out. At least that's what they looked like, but the glowing eyes and vibro-fangs clearly marked them as droids.

One of the Black Dragons fired her heavy blaster, hitting one of the droids in the chest area, making it stop. The rest of the droids fired a blaster that was hidden in their chest area.

The lightfoil glowed deep blue in the air as I deflected two of the blaster shots, making them hit the already damaged droid and causing it to break down. The last shot hit a Black Dragon in the shoulder but bounced of the amor plating.

Then they were upon us.

I dodged a bite and took the droids head off with a well-placed swing, while one of the Black Dragons took down another with a shot to the head. The last droid bit down on an arm, but the armor saved the soldier, as a salvo from the other soldiers ripped it apart.

"On the left!"

Looking in that direction, I saw two feline droids charging us from Mahaw's room. This time it was two panthers, but they looked just as deadly as the canines.

Without even thinking, I channelled the Force, causing purple lightning to hit them. They didn't fare better than the lock, as they overloaded and shut down.

Silence filled the hallway.

"Status?" I inquired and got five 'ready' back.

With a slight nod, I walked over to the door and peeked inside, lightfoil at the ready in case I needed to parry shots. Nothing came and I spent a minute wondering if the room looked like this when Mahaw claimed it or if he had sone some decorating himself. In any case, it was gloomy with dark red colours on the furniture and dark grey walls and ceiling.

"Depressing." Remarked one of the Black Dragons on the intercom, causing me to nod slightly. "Agreed, but we still need to search it. With this much protection, I hope there's something useful in there."

A Black Dragon said something I didn't catch, because at the same time the commlink switched on and Tavune, still acting as the comm officer, said. "Sir, we have a problem. A capital ship just came out of hyperspace in the far reaches of the system. I have no details yet, but it's big. Most likely a cruiser of some kind."

I sighed. Tavune was a good kid, but he seriously needed military experience. "Mister Tavune, imagine for a moment, that someone was out to kill you and I told you the killer was nearby... What would your first question be?"

"Ehh Where?" He paused for a moment and sounded embarrassed when he continued. "Oh... Sorry, sir. 5 degrees galactic north, 45 degrees upwards, heading directly towards us. Estimated time of arrival is 6 hours, sir. They're moving really slow."

That placed the newcomer in a position almost level with the moons orbit around the gas giant, meaning that in about 3 hours, the moon would be behind the gas giant, and we would lose any sensor readings of the ship.

On the bright side, the opposite was true as well and they couldn't detect what we were doing at that time. Considering that the whole system had no less than four asteroid belts and numerous other space hazards, the slow speed was reasonable. Especially if riding in a large capital ship, with limited manoeuvrability. Then again there was the possibility, that the ships slow speed was due to combat damage, but it wasn't something I was willing to bet our lives on. "Thank you, Mister Tavune. Has the Heraklon-class freighter left yet?"

"Yes, sir. They got out just before the unknown ship was detected and their Imperial Military Transport is landing as we speak, along with the shuttle."

That was one less problem to worry about.

"Good. Get me the squad leaders, captains, and pilots on the comm."

"Yes, sir."

I waited a few seconds until it was done and then said, "We have a capital ship arriving in six hours and a sensor block in three hours. When that sensor block happens, I want everything to be ready to lift off."

"We have a problem, sir." Said Captain Meistrin. "We came here to rescue fifty of our people and while they're on their way home now, there're more than twenty times that many slaves left here. No matter how we slice it, that's way too many for our life support systems."

The was silence for a moment.

"You're right. That is a problem." I slowly said. "Can we fix it?"

"Perhaps." Said Yaki. "I'll ask the liberated techs about the life support. They should know."

"Excellent idea," I said. "Here's what we do: Lieutenants Yaki and Samko, you two find the techs and have them work on the problem. Second Squad, you're going to search the cave with the plunder. Take everything that might help the techs and transport it to the ships, especially combat suits with their own oxygen supply. Captain Meistrin, you make sure that we get some of the droid micro starfighters with us home. Black Dragons, keep an eye on the former slaves. First squad, stay on the prisoners and give them food and water. I'll go have a look at the base's sensors and see if they can tell me anything useful about our visitor."

"Yes, sir!"

Switching off the commlink, I looked at the five Black Dragons. "I need to go. Pick two to go through the rooms. The rest come with me."

The leader picked two and then turned towards me. "Where to, sir?"

"The central control room. We have visitors and I need to look at the sensor readings."

"Very well, sir."

With the control room being located near the main cave, it did take a little while to get there, but as soon as we arrived, I walked over to study the readings.

The unknown ships transponder code said that it was a large freighter named Tigers Dawn, but the Tigers Dawn in the database was somewhat smaller than the one that showed up on the sensors. That it itself could be the result of a missing update, but it was suspicious and only strengthened my resolve to get away from the planet before it arrived.

I got hold of two troopers and had them bring me the newly promoted base commander, to hear if he knew something about the ship.

When they arrived, I used the Force to calm his nerves and as he walked over to me, he seemed almost friendly as he bowed. "Good evening, my Lord. I'm Frances."

I gave a polite nod in return and then pointed at the sensors. "Frances, we have a rather large ship incoming. Do you know anything about it?"

He walked over to the sensors, studied readings for a short while and then compared it with ships in the database. Then he cursed. "I can't be sure, my Lord, but I think that is the Red Widow. At least the drive signature looks like a Foray."

I gestured to him to continue, which he did. "Red Widow is a Foray-class Frigate belonging to Sharron the Red. She acquired it a while ago and had it modified with several ion cannons and tractor beam projectors, to make it better for capturing ships."

I nodded again. Like the Hammerhead Cruiser, the Foray-class frigate was an old design, originally used by the Galactic Republic, but it was still a frigate. Lighter armed and armored than a cruiser, at 155 meters in length, it was bigger, better armored, and armed than anything I had.

"And what is she doing here?"

"I guess she finally figured out, or got info about, where the base is and is coming to raid it." Frances said. "She knows that our best defence is the droid fighters, and that frigate can wipe them out in a minute."

"How is she as a person?"

Frances snorted, "She's an arrogant bitch, who think she's the universe's gift to pirates. She wants to be a pirate queen."

"Short tempered?"

"Not more than normal ... She just thinks that almost everybody else is beneath her."

Despite his truthfulness, there was an edge of satisfaction in his voice and being this close to him, I had no trouble feeling his resentment over the situation he was in.

"Frances," I said slowly. "You are aware that she has come to kill you, right?"

Looking up at me he blinked a few times. "What?"

"There's no way a bunch of pirates can take on three renegade Sith in close combat," I said. "And there's no chance, that she can take a cruiser, two other warships along with droid fighters with a frigate. Yet, Sharron the Red is here, willing to take you on. That means that she is perfectly aware that Lord Mahaw, the rest of his traitors and their ships aren't here, making a raid on the base possible." I tilted my head slightly. "However, the only way to ensure that nobody can identify the raiders to the traitors, is to make sure that nobody is alive to tell the tale." I let that sink in for a moment before I continued. "That begs the question, why is this would-be pirate queen willing to anger even renegade Sith by attacking their base?"

He stood in silence for a moment, becoming paler by the second, but finally said, "Four weeks ago, we got word that a rich shipment was on the way. Sharron the Red must have gotten the same info as well and got there before us. Unfortunately for her, it was better defended than the intelligence suggested and not only did Sharron waste most of her ships on knocking out the escorts, but she was also forced to flee." He smiled weakly. "That enabled us to take the shipment easily, there haven't been time to sell the shipment or the slaves yet and she must know that, since she has a good connection with the black market."

"Is that where all the extra slaves come from?"

"Some of them, my Lord. The rest are from various other actions." He shrugged. "The haul was so rich that Lord Mahaw bought the Last Chance to be able to handle all the slaves, but before we had the chance, he changed his mind and took off for Alpha Viga."

I was silent for a moment. There had been at least sixteen hundred people in the cells and even with the Last Chance to ferry people, that number didn't add up with what the life supports on the ships could handle. Not even with a Hammerhead Cruiser as an additional transport. There had to be at least one ship more somewhere, unless the Dark Maiden that Yaki had found in the notes could hold a lot of people.

"Thank you." I said and then added. "By the way, what kind of ship is the Dark Maiden?"

Frances smiled. "It's a modified Phantom-class yacht." He reached out for the controls. "One moment, My Lord. I'll put it on the left screen."

The ship that showed up on the screen was a beautiful slim-lined ship and I could only applaud the designers on this one. Then I read the data and got a surprise, as it was bigger than it looked like on the screen.

At 51 meters in length, 32 meters in width and 20 meters tall, it was about the size of a medium transport vessel, but it was seriously armed and armored with close to military grade hull and shields, three longshot lasers, two double lasers, four point-defence lasers and two missile launchers.

Added to that was state-of-the-art sensors and nav computers, along with a hangar large enough for a small shuttle or four small starfighters, while still having room for twenty passengers and eight hundred tons of cargo. In short, it was an awesome ship.

Looking at Frances, I asked. "You said it was modified?"

He nodded. "Yes. The missiles have been replaced with Ion cannons and both comm- and sensor jammers have been installed." He frowned. "Paul, that's our engineer, also did something with the lasers, but I don't know what."

"And when is it expected back?"

"They should have been yesterday." He stated. "But we're in the Chaos, so who knows?"

I nodded slowly, he had a point, but he was also not telling the whole truth. Even with twenty extra passengers on the Dark Maiden, there were still too many slaves. Looking at him, I asked. "And where is the extra ship? The one you haven't mentioned."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"There's no way you could have transported that many slaves in your ships." I said slowly, watching him becoming pale again. "That why Mahaw brought in the Dynamic-class freighter called Cool Cat. So where is it and what kind of ship is it?"