Into the Chaos Ch. 03

All in all, the forces at my disposal now were vastly better than what I left Alpha Viga with, and with that, the hope of rescuing the last Chiss from Sharon the Red had become a lot better than before. Of course, if we were to go up against regular navy ships, we wouldn't stand a chance, but against a few pirate ships, we should be able to win without too much trouble.

Still, no plan ever survives meeting the enemy, so we would just have to do our best.

The door to the bathroom opened again and Shakka came into the room, her round breasts bouncing with each step she took, as she walked over to retrieve her clothes.

"You know, you really should take Resa to bed if you're tense. That'll help a lot." She suddenly said, surprising me.

"What?" I blinked a few times. "But she's a droid!"

"Yes, but she's also in the body of a human replica droid and a pleasure model that wants to be treated as a woman." Shakka said as she dressed. "She even has some updates, that allow her to enjoy sex as much as anybody else."

"Seriously? How can that even be done?"

She shrugged lightly. "I don't know exactly, but she has an organic processor that can do that. At least that's what she told me."

That had to be that 'organic neural sensory processor' Resa had told me about, I decided for myself and suddenly remembered that Resa had said that she would show me how it worked later and that it would take time to show me. With this new information I realised that she most likely had meant for us to have sex.

With the primitive droids I had grown up with in the Chiss Ascendancy that was a strange thought, like having sex with a suit of power armor, but like so many other things the technology out here was different and that took some getting used to.

On the other hand, a week ago I couldn't imagine having sex with a non-Chiss and that had proven to be just as good, if not better, than sex with a Chiss, so perhaps it was worth a try.

"I'll think about it." I promised.

"Do that... and remember to get some sleep." She smiled and walked out the door.

I did as both Shakka and Resa had said and lay down to sleep.

*********************************

Surprise at Epsilon Eta

Epsilon Eta System

"The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon,

which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. Therefore, the good leader,

will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.",

From the Holy Book of War

Astrologically, the asteroid was called Epsilon Eta 2440-M-3 since it was in the Epsilon Eta system. It was also a M-type asteroid, meaning that it consisted of Iron-nickel besides stone. Once the dark asteroid had been mined for the raw materials, but once the easily accessible ore had been exhausted, the miners had moved on.

Later it had been discovered by the Empire who could see other uses for the ten kilometre long and six kilometres wide asteroid. They had transformed the mining tunnels and voids into living areas, a small repair station and a fuel depot, but had abandoned it some three hundred years ago. Of course, as with all other Imperial bases, it was also equipped with sensors, but as those were the originals, they weren't that good.

According to Gunner Kansen and the rest of Sharon the Red's former slaves, the Asteroid Base relied more on remaining hidden than on weaponry defence, so the entrance was only guarded with two well-hidden Quad-Turbolasers towers. Enough to vaporise any nosy explorer if taken by surprise, but not really what you would call a formidable defence. It did have several launchers for capital ship missiles, but the missiles themselves had been sold off after Sharon the Red had taken the base, as she had judged that there was no use for them out here in the Chaos.

All in all, there wasn't any reason for the unease I felt as soon as we entered the system, but I had learned to trust my instinct and ordered all ships into the highest level of readiness, which included launching both the four Aureks and the droid starfighters. As an afterthought, I also ordered the droid starfighters to protect the Aureks, creating four groups consisting of one Aurek and four starfighters.

"Sir," said Keller from behind. "Long range scanners are picking up two large ships heading out of the system as well as an even larger one holding its position. I'll put it on the display now."

A moment later, the tactical hologram shifted and showed what the Engineer had just said.

The two large ships had a course that would take them closer to us than the large ship, but as I watched, the two ships went into hyperspace and disappeared.

"I'll be fizzled!" said Keller suddenly, surprise in his voice. "Those two were Gage-class transports!"

"As in Imperial Gage-class transports?" Asked Samko startled.

"Yes..." Answered Keller. "But what they're doing out here is anyone's guess."

"The asteroid base is a former Imperial refuelling base." I said slowly, thinking as I spoke. "This system might be one of the few in the area they have the coordinates and a tested route for."

"Good point, sir." Said Keller and looked at his station again. "But that leaves me wondering what the last ship is. I hope it's not a cruiser or a dreadnought."

"Did you get their hyperspace vector?"

One of the drawbacks with using hyperspace was that it is just a super-fast way of flying. That meant that a ship could only enter hyperspace in the direction it was flying, called its vector, when the hyperdrive was activated and sometimes it was possible to deduct where a target had gone from reading the vector and extrapolating it from a map.

"Yes, sir, and the best bet for their destination is the Elino system." A star map showed up on the screen. "Unfortunately, the Elino system is barren with only four planets, so I'm guessing that it wasn't their final destination."

I nodded and turned my attention to the sensor display. According to our current readings, the unknown ship was more than seven hundred meters long and to my knowledge, there weren't many ships that size. The exceptions were usually Imperial capital warships like the Harrower-class Dreadnought or the S-Class cruisers, as the Galactic Republic tended to use smaller ships than the Empire.

However, I couldn't see a single reason for any Imperial capital ships to be out here. Especially not without a screening force of smaller ships. Granted, the Gage-class were stronger than most pirate ships, and, according to the specs, carried a wing of fighters, but they were still transports and if they were transporting something really valuable, they would have had a couple of frigates as escorts.

"I agree." I said and then asked. "Any chance that they have detected us yet?"

"There's always a chance, but I doubt it, sir." Came the answer from the Engineer. "The Duchess has top of the line sensors, so that we can see them, doesn't mean that they can see us and we're small targets."

"Thanks. Warn me if we approach what you would call 'detection range'."

"Yes, sir."

On the display, the numbers changed as our own passive scanners got a better image of the remaining ship, determining the length to be about 760 meters.

"Well, if these readings are right, it's another transport of some sort, or perhaps a light cruiser, sir." Said Keller from his station. "It doesn't emit enough energy for a full-scale cruiser."

The image of a ship suddenly appeared on the viewscreen, as Resa said. "This one is the only ship in the database that fits the length then. It's a Lictor-class dungeon ship."

The ships data showed up under the image and I quickly read it.

Originally built by the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars some three hundred years ago, the Lictor-Class Dungeon ship was basically a mobile prison, capable of holding up to 8000 prisoners.

The crew size was about 900 persons, not including the up to 400 security wardens.

It had reasonable shields and armor for a transport and with three Turbolasers, six Laser cannons and two Tractor Beam Projectors, it had enough firepower to scare off most pirates.

The design was so good, that the ship continued to be produced by Rendili StarDrive after the war ended and had been sold to a lot of different factions.

I sighed as I looked up from the screen again. Basically, the ship could belong to everybody with the money to buy it, making it impossible to determine its origin right now.

The question was why it was still in the system. Of course, we were in the Chaos, where calculating a hyperspace jump may take hours, sometimes even days, but astrogators normally started calculating the way out as the first thing on reaching any given star system.

The obvious answer was that they were waiting for someone and that made staying in the system somewhat risky for us. Not that the Lictor-class ship in itself was a serious danger to us, but the ones it was waiting for might be. On the other hand, with the Lictor being a prison ship, there was a good chance that the ships it was waiting for were passenger ships, as those were the ones with the life support systems to transport large amounts of people.

"I think they're waiting for someone." I said loudly. "Let's wait and see of anybody shows up."

As always, waiting was boring and I was going through the stats for the Lictor-class for what felt like the tenth time, when Tavune suddenly called "Mass alert! Two medium-sized ships are coming out of Hyperspace!"

I just had time to look at the screen, as two ships dropped into real space almost on top of us.

They must had come expecting trouble, because almost as soon as they arrived, they fired lasers at the Barracuda, obviously assuming that the Wanderer-class was the most dangerous ship. The shields flared but held.

"Return fire!" I ordered and looked at the tactical hologram. As usual the computer had named the two ships Hostile 1 and Hostile 2. "Aureks 1 and 2, take Hostile 1 and get a photon torpedo in on their shields. Aurek 3 and 4, one torpedo to Hostile 2."

"Yes, sir." They replied and a second later, the four Aureks were off towards their targets along with their sixteen droid fighters.

"Ion cannons as soon as possible!" I ordered, as Resa called up the ships to the view screen as soon as the scanners had done their job. "These are Kiltirin-class dungeon ship, meaning that they're prison ships as well."

"I think they're slavers." Said Resa. "I just caught a signal from the two Kiltirin-class to the Lictor-class and they were warning the Lictor in Zygerrian."

The information would have to wait as at the same time, the shields on the two Kiltirin-class ships flared as the photon torpedoes from the Aureks hit them, followed a moment later by laser fire, causing them to overload. Then the former pirate ships took over, pouring Ion shots into the two ships.

The combat wasn't totally one-sided as the prison ships fired again, causing the shields on the Barracuda to overload and disappear. A salvo of laser fire followed one of the Aureks, who had to do some impressive evasive manoeuvres to avoid being hit. The protective droids weren't as lucky and the lasers caught two of the Droid fighters, blowing them into pieces.

The shields on the two ships suddenly came back to life, meaning that they had some highly skilled engineers onboard, that had somehow managed to reroute the power to the shields.

The Ion barrage from the former pirate ships hit again, making the shields disappear once more and the four Aureks dashed in, blowing up four turbo lasers, before they darted away.

This time the engineers didn't have time to get the shield back up before the next Ion salvo arrived, shutting down one of the ships, while the other lost their drive for just a second. The next salvo shut the second down as well.

Two more salvos hit the ships before I stopped it. There was no longer any chance that they could restart their engine for the next half hour or so.

I looked at Resa. "You're sure they were talking Zygerrian?"

"Yes, sir." She replied.

That changed the situation. Aside from the Hutts, the Zygerrians were the main slave-traders in the galaxy and had built a small empire from the profit of slavery, meaning that almost every Zygerrian was involved in the slave trade somehow.

It also meant, that it was more than likely, that the ships were slave ships and not prison ships.

Looking at the display, I saw that the Lictor-class had started to move. First in the direction of the battle, but as soon as the two Kiltirin-class lost power, they changed course.

"Aureks, Hunter's Gambit, Rising Star and the two transports follow the Duchess, the rest stay here and guard these ships. Captain Meistrin, have Lieutenant Yaki and the marines board those Kiltirin before they can get their power back."

"Yes, sir." Came the answer back in chorus.

"Mister Tavune." I called, "give me a channel with only the Aureks, Hunters Gambit, Rising Star and the Imperial transports."

"Yes, sir." There was a short pause. "Channel four, sir."

Switching channel to channel four, I said. "Alright people. That Lictor-class is a Zygerrian, and I suspect that it's filled with slaves, so try not to hit it too hard with anything else than Ion cannons. Aureks, go in from 30 degrees north. That will keep you out of the cover fire from the Turbolasers. According to the specs, the point defence system on the Lictor isn't that good, so go in as close to the hull as you can and aim at its weapons."

"Yes, sir."

"The rest go in, using evasive flight patterns."

"Yes, sir."

Normally, commanders don't explain the tactics to the rest, but we had the time and many of our crew were former slaves that didn't knew me as a commander.

Closing the connection, I looked at Elise. "Lieutenant Samko, go to evasive flying, but get us within shooting range of that Lictor."

"Yes, sir." She said with a smile.

Satisfied, I leaned back in the seat, reached into the Force, and used it to boost the skills of everybody under my command.

It was about time, because a few moments later, we reached extreme range for both the turbolasers and the extended range lasers, but despite my boost, only two shots hit and was absorbed by the shields.

On the positive side, the return fire was even less successful as it hit nothing at all.

"It's charging the hyperdrive!" called Keller suddenly. "We need to be fast."

"Go to full speed but keep up the evasive flying." I ordered all the ships. "As soon as you can, target the engines." Evasive flying meant that it would take a little longer to get there, but there was no reason to risk our ships more than we already did.

We continued to exchange salvos as we flew closer and by the third time, there was a small explosion as one of the Lictors turbolasers blew up. A moment later, the Duchess' turbolasers slammed into the engine section, overloading the shield there and blowing even more parts off.

"Nice shooting, people." I said over the commlink. "Keep it up but take care not to hit the fighters."

It was more than just an idle warning because a moment later, the four Aureks came swooping in along with their droids, strafing the slave ship with their heavy lasers and Ion cannons.

Individually, the Aureks and the droid-fighters weren't a threat to a ship as large and well protected as the Lictor, but together they were an entirely other matter, as they had eight heavy lasers, twelve ion cannons and twenty-four lasers between them.

Their attack might not shut the Lictor down, but it could cause a lot of damage, and where they flew cannon towers blew up and armor plating flew into space in their wake.

Then, without warning and with parts falling off, the Lictor-class suddenly went into hyperspace, disappearing from our sensors in a split second.

There was silence on the bridge for a second and with a sigh, I let go of the Force. "Now, that was disappointing."

"That's putting it mildly." Samko said. "I thought we had it."

I nodded and looked at Keller. "Do you have the vector they left on?"

"One moment, sir." He said and checked the scanner reading. "Yes. It should be on your screen now."

A star map appeared on my viewscreen with the Lictors last known vector on it and to my amazement, the Lictor's vector didn't lead to one of the nearby systems, but past the Centauri 21 system and into an area that was unknown to the computer, making it an extremely long jump. Something everybody in the Chaos tried to avoid, since the risk of miscalculating a jump grew rapidly as the jumps got longer.

"Well," said Lieutenant Samko. "They made sure that nobody would follow them."

"I agree. It might be a secure route, but only if you have the exact coordinates... Keller, do an active scan and see if we have missed anything. If not, we're on our way back to the rest."

"Yes, sir."

While he was occupied with that, I called up the Kiltirin-class on the screen. At 150 meters in length, it was a smaller version of the Lictor-class, but it could still hold 1250 prisoners or slaves.

As a slightly newer and smaller model, it had a Rank 2 hyperdrive and was armed with three turbolasers and six laser cannons, that doubled as point-defence, making it well armed for a freighter-type ship of its size.

The scans didn't find anything that shouldn't be there, and we were almost back at the rest of the 'fleet', when Lieutenant Yaki reported that despite heavy resistance from the crews, one of the ships had been taken by boarders, at the cost of two killed and five wounded marines.

The crew of the other ship was still holding out, having blocked the corridor a few turns from the breached airlock the marines had used to gain entrance into the ship. Basically, the marines were caught in a small, but secure, area, being unable to move forward due to the heavy fire they encountered.

Boarding actions were notoriously bloody business, as it was a lot of close-range fighting and most of the time, the defending crew held most of the advantages, as they knew the ship's layout and could block the passageways leading to the vital parts of the ships.

Not that it would help them in the long run, as we could just keep firing the Ion weapons into the ship, keeping the engine offline, but in this case where there were prisoners that we wanted to free, which prevented us from outright destroying the ship, it could take a long time.

That some systems and civilizations considered slave trading a form of piracy didn't help either. As an attack on the economy, piracy was severely punished, frequently with long prison sentences or death, which meant that most pirates or slave traders would resist capture with a ferocity born from desperation.

It was one of the many cases, where a force-user could make a huge difference and boarding actions was a scenario I had trained numerous times and even executed twice against pirates in Chiss space.

Looking at Elise, I said. "Lieutenant Samko, get us up to them, I'm going in to help."

"Yes, sir."

"Mister Tavune, tell the Lieutenant that I'm on my way."

"Yes, Sir."

------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later, I was standing in my armor inside the ship. Fortunately, Lieutenant Yaki had chosen to use one of the pirate's universal airlocks, which made entrance to the ship much easier than it otherwise would have been. Originally made for search and rescue, an universal airlock was basically an external airlock that could be attached to a ship, so that an airlock could be forced open without exposing the interior of the ship to vacuum. It was also commonly used by pirates, and we had more than a few of them from the pirates at Centauri 21.