Black Path Universe

"Well..." Ian Throckmorton Searles stood at the foot of the Empty Box's boarding ramp, watching the spaceport before him. "This could be a minor problem."

As the Horsham native looked detatchedly out over the harbor, leaning heavily against his cane and clenching a pipe in his jaw, high-caliber explosive shells fired from orbit were raining down on the settlement that spread out in front of him. Massive orange fireballs consumed the squat adobe huts that formed the town, throwing debris and corpses high into the air. A shell struck just a few hundred yards from where he stood, a wave of heat and air causing the check-in building in front of him to implode in a swirling nexus of smoke and flame. The debris peppered the hull of the big transport vessel, the interior of the cargo bay echoing with tiny punk-punk-punk sounds.

"I suppose that this has something to do with the package you brought aboard our vessel..." Searles said in his regal tones, only to drop the statement when he realised that the young man who had guided the massive black box in the cargo hold to the Empty Box was now sprinting down the rows of vessels that were hastily making preparations to leave - those that were capable of motion, anyhow. Ian stood and watched a moment longer as several blocky, gunmetal-gray dropships burnt through the skies overhead, moving towards the spaceport. Even as he watched, one of the dropships came to a hover, its bay doors opening to reveal several platoons of heavily armed stormtroopers. Neither the ship nor the vessel bore any external markings, but their intent became obvious as the troopers roped down from the drop bay and opened fire on anyone dumb enough to be caught outside when they landed.

Such as Searles himself.

The cargo pilot grimaced and managed to let out a sharp "oh dear!" as he beat a path up the boarding ramp, taking the time to remove his pistol from his belt and saturate the landing area with fire before he smashed the emergency shut button inside the bay and watched as the craft sealed itself up tight as a drum, the sound of small arms fire plinking uselessly against the sealed bulkhead.

He picked up the intercom connecting to the ship's PA system and thumbed the speaker to an activated position. "Batten down all the loose objects and man your stations, ladies and gentlemen, we are making our exit!" He resumed his limping gait towards the bridge, the sound of his cane echoing up and down the halls of the ship as he entered the lift, threw open the bulkheads to the bridge, and plopped down in the captain's chair, pulling up various displays, unlocking the ship's thrusters and warming the engines up for takeoff from the command station at his chair.

The sounds of machinery erupted from the bowels of the ship as the beast's drive engines roared slowly to life, belching fire to the outside world as the Empty Box began to rise off the ground.

The ground beneath the ship shook from the impacts caused by the rain of shells from orbit. Alensi had been caught reading on her bed when the first explosions rained down, their shock waves sending her sprawled on the ground. Rubbing her now sore butt she caught sight of Captain Searles hightailing it towards the ships bridge. "What the bloody hell was that" Alensi mumbled as more explosions rocked the town.

Alensi could feel a soft rumbling as the engines roared to life and the old Empty Box roared into life. The PA system crackled on a short second later to admit the captains voice into the room. "Batten down all the loose objects and man your stations, ladies and gentlemen, we are making our exit!"

Alensi quickly dashed through the ship and strapped herself into the chair in front of the Empty Box's weapons terminal. She quickly brought the system to life and turned on the visual display.

The entire space port seemed to be burning as more high caliber rounds continued to rain down from orbit. A ship docked several hangers down began to life off, trying to escape from this hell. An incendiary round slammed into the tail end of the ship and ignited the ships engines. Alensi could do nothing but watch as the trader exploded, sending burning hot metal raining down on the space port. The girl shuddered at the death of the ship but didn't spend much thought on it. Alensi connected her com-link to the bridge. "Captain, All weapons are armed and operational, I don't know about you sir but these peons are getting a little to close. Permission to engage sir?

Rosa closed her eyes at the sound of gunfire. Just off in the distance, if you ignored the explosions and whistles of ammunition flying through the air, you could hear the screams; men, women, and children all crying out in terror, fear, and most in pain. It was horrifying to know she had the tools and the knowledge to help these people just mere meters away and yet she might not have been there at all. There was nothing she could do from her seat on the ship. Even if the Captain would allow her to leave she’d hardly make it to someone before she herself would be hurt. But knowing that didn’t help to keep her heart from breaking for the innocents outside her ship.

Rosa was the most soft hearted person on the ship and she often got picked on for it. Though she liked to consider it a good thing seeing as whether her crew mates realized it or not they needed someone to soften things around them. Someone on the big, metal contraption had to care about lives lost and souls damaged.

With a deep breath to steady herself she rose from her bed and quickly made her way to the small medical bay. Usually she had more time to secure equipment and supplies and so she would have to hurry. She systematically checked the room, closing cabinets, sealing drawers, securing needles and pharmaceuticals. Once everything was up to par she ran down the corridors to the main bay. Taking her seat she rubbed at her eyes and strapped in. “In position, Captain; ready for orders.” Rosa understood the basics of navigation and other small ship computer jobs, especially with Alseni’s help, and so she would carry out the small jobs assigned to her.

"WHUDDAH YE MEAN NO IMMEDIATE CRISIS BOAH?!?!!?? IN CASE YAS HAVEN'T NOTICED WES GORRA SLIGHT PROBLEM ON THE STARBOARD FLANK......ah don't worry lad Im sure yer roight its foine, well be outta here in no time its probably just a small scrape don't worry yer precious lil heart.....OH WUDDYAH KNOW ITS A FRIGGIN HOLE THE SIZEA MAH HEAD!!!!!"

Grabbing the unfortunate hull technician by the collar Otto grimly dragged the poor lad along behind him through the bustle and hubbub of scrambling workers and calmly stood directly beneath the gaping hole hurling the lad aside Otto swiftly grabbed a large hunk of sheet metal and spot welded it to the hull covering up the hole ( duh hur hur...) with a makeshift bandage. Starting up his shipmans hammer he struck eighteen rivets around the diameter of the patch before giving the entire mess a quick spray of liquid alloy sealant.

"Thar yah go lad, next toime don't make me hold yahs hand."

Otto stood back fondly as the younger man rushed off, no doubt to begin menial ship repairs. In truth Otto loved the little bastards, hed been a junior technician himself ten years ago and had endured no end of hell from his own master tech.

"Hah little barstids think IM bad, ole Johnson musta been Satan." Suddenly the piercing shriek of the PA system waking up grated against Otto's ears, as the static dispersed the frantic orders of Captain Searles could be heard.

Batten down all the loose objects and man your stations, ladies and gentlemen, we are making our exit!

"Ah horse piss this otta be grand."

Briskly trotting to the control room Otto's stopped momentarily to assist with heavy objects and the like, not bothering to knock Otto burst into the control room. Heaving his non inconsiderable bulk into the mates chair Otto finished programing various non glamorous things such as emptying the ships lavatories on the combatants as they glided overhead.

Briskly greeting the captian, Otto fancied he heard the man mumble something along the lines of "Must you ALWAYS do that?" Otto chuckled happily and set back to enjoy the ride.

The Empty Box cleared it's landing gate with most of the other space craft who were tyring to escape like themselves. The small city was an absolute chaos and as they drifted up into the atmosphere, Alensi could begin to make out firefights between the mercenaries and the city militia. "Poor buggers they'll get slaughtered". Alensi typed away at her holoscreens adjusting the skips electronics and rerouting some power from currently non essential items into the shields and engines, trying to give the old bird a bit more steam.

Her com link crackled on "No, keep the weapons in for now; no need to draw attention to ourselves. But activate the scanner bafflers; let's not draw attention to ourselves on the way out."
"Yes sir" she replied with a hint of sadness, she rather liked controlling the ships weapons, not for the damage they caused but she liked to do all the equations necessary to aim the things properly. Alensi also got a twisted satisfaction of completing the targeting equations before the computer could. Regardless she had more on her plate to worry about at the moment. The scanner baffles were easy enough to activate but the shields required a bit more time, especially when she had to manually redirect power to them.

Then the small trading fleet broke the atmosphere. The small fleet arrayed before them was impressive, if deadly scary. Alensi even paused for a second, her normally collected self temporarily frozen. All the ships were unmarked but it was very clear who they belonged too. No pirate or mercenary could ever dream of commanding a fleet this big and the lack of markings made it known that this was a sudden attack. Whoever ordered this had been planning it for awhile.

Regaining control of herself she moved her visual scanners zoom in on the ships. They appeared to be launching strike craft to intercept and destroy the escaping merchant fleet. As if on cue her com link to the captain crackled again. "On second thought... Shields at three quarters and charge weapons. We have unwelcome guests on an incoming vector."
Alensi let out a little smirk, Strike craft always presented a little challenge due to their speed, "Thank you very much captain, All weapons are charged and shields will be reaching three quarters in 5 seconds, Strike craft will be in firing range in 15, lets give them a warm welcome."

Alensi looked at the now scattering ships, they were in a panic and going every which way. "Danmit there going to get cut down" Alensi reopened a com link to the captain. "Sir, those traders are scattering, and though I don't really mind if they get cut down, we could use them. Shall I open a channel to them?"

Sebastian awoke suddenly to the rumble of the ship powering up. He rubbed his eyes and rolled out of his bunk, falling to the cold, hard floor. "I'm up..." He mumbled to no one in particular. Rising to his feet, Sebastian stumbled over to his storage cabinet and yanked it open. He grabbed his boots and sidearm and put them on. He yawned and stretched one last time and walked over to the PA console in his room and flicked the switch.

"This is Kane, I'm up and at 'em." He reported, heading for the door. The hallway was dimly lit, probably to save power. He wandered past the medical bay, whistling to himself. Since he didn't really have a job to do when the ship was airborne he found himself with a lot of spare time on his hands. Usually that would involve keeping to himself in his room, generally eating, sleeping, and reading.

He came to a halt in front of a small window looking out of the ship. He took a deep breath and peered through the glass at the destruction occurring below him. He watched for a bit longer as if hypnotized. He wasn't able to look away.

Rosa closed her eyes against the turbulence of takeoff. “God, I hate this part…” She mumbled to herself. Who was she kidding? She hated all of it. Taking off, floating around somewhere that could literally freeze you to death while your blood literally boiled in your veins, and then landing- no especially, landing. If it weren’t for the years of experience under the Captain’s belt and the incredible size of Alseni’s IQ Rose wouldn’t even dare to set foot on the ship. So, again with a deep breath, Rose glanced out of the window and watched the struggle below become smaller and smaller.

She listened carefully to the chaos around her in an attempt to understand the situation and to focus on something other than her nausea. Even after what seemed like an eternity of flight travels Rosa still required Dramamine when going up into the great beyond. Unfortunately, like Sebastian, Rose was more or less useless on board. There really wasn’t much she could do computer wise and Alseni had that entire area covered anyways.

Rosa’s heart skipped a beat as she gazed upon the small fleet before them. How in the world could they maneuver out of this one? She glanced up at the Captain to get an idea of the danger. He seemed pretty worried and that meant things were just about as grim as they appeared.

"Sir, those traders are scattering, and though I don't really mind if they get cut down, we could use them. Shall I open a channel to them?"

Rose sighed as Alseni spoke of the other ships and their crews as if they were mere pawns in a game of chess. As frustrating as that was Rose had long ago learned to just accept her fellow crew member’s opinions but that didn’t stop the small sting of anger. Rose wanted desperately to go back to her little medical bay. She’d be more comfortable there and even though she still wouldn’t be doing much she’d feel more useful. But, now didn’t seem like the time to come up with her own ideas and go wondering about the ship. Once more she sat quietly in her chair and patiently awaited orders.

Space soon coccooned the Empty Box and her unwitting meat-shields and protectors. The interceptor squadron was mere meters away and closing fast, and much to Searles' chagrin and fear a cloud of small, fish-like cylinders had split from them and were now on a crash course. The torpedoes launched by intercept craft like these, the captain recalled from his military days, were designed to rip apart capital ships in a few small volleys. A transport ship like his dear, beloved Box would be little more than a big bull's-eye on the scanners. Luckily, the bafflers were keeping those torpedoes away for the time being, but eventually - when the interceptors were upon them - they would be useless as the on-board cannons would rip them apart in a much more methodical way.

The captain had seen the wreckage of many a ship that had explosively decompressed due to multiple tiny puncture wounds from cannons like the ones those interceptors now trained on the trade fleet. It wasn't a pleasant sight - hull plates buckled and shrivelled like plastic wrap, their interior superstructure puncturing the plates like the ribs of some half-decomposed beast. The lucky ones were uninhabited, but occasionally you could hear distress signals within, or detect life-signs in the few areas that were sealed. Despite what pulp-fiction novels said, rescue operations on board decompressed vessels were vastly complicated affairs, and there was little you could do - if not properly trained - other than pass by and wait for their cries for help to stop.

"Open a channel, Alseni." Ian said over the comms network. The ship rocked as a nearby merchant vessel cut over the dorsal side of the Empty Box, shearing off a non-essential portion of the vessel's armor plating. "Otto," the captain said, turning to his left, "Take Sebastian down to the hold and start checking the locks. Make damned sure that box we took on doesn't go anywhere." Finally, steepling his fingers beneath his chin, he turned to Rosa.

"I need you prepared to take on survivors in case any of these ships around us go." His face turned grim. "We may as well repay them for acting as our means to an escape."

Turning away, he looked back to Alseni's comm channel. "What's the charge on our beam caster? We will probably need it if we can't just dodge through the fleet."

"Charge is at 45% sir, it will be fully charged once were in range of our target ship" Alensi said as A variety of small boxes appeared and then flickered by on the computer screens as she quickly typed out commands to hack into the ships closed channels. She noted with some dismay that the Box was already within the range of the strike crafts missiles.

Finally she saw that her hacking had gotten her connected into a public channel with all the ships, "Ships of the Merchant Fleet, this is Alensi, weapons and computer specialist on board the merchant ship Empty Box. I will say this bluntly, you will die if you don't do exactly as I say."

"Why the hell should we trust you, We'll do what we always do, run." one captain with a murmur of agreement from other captains. Suddenly there was a large explosion from one of the ships as the strike craft missiles impacted and destroyed the ship. A box on her screen went flat and disappeared. "Because you will end up like him if you don't. If you scatter the strike craft and capital ships will simply pick us off one by one. If you follow my orders I can guarantee you a 40% - 45% chance at survival. Which is better then the 2% chance you have in running."

There was silence on all ends of the channel before a single voice pierced through "Fine, what are your orders."

Alensi transferred the schematics and locations of her plan to each of the ships and they slowly began to come into position. As they drifted into the planned sphere formation the strike craft began to hit them. However due to Alensi's formation the strike craft were quickly being brought down.