Chapter 1

He surveyed the course of the battle. The Taiidan were losing terribly. He watched as a Hiigaran Destroyer pulsed out four flaming energy rounds from its converted mass drivers into a Sajuuk-Cor class Ion Cannon Frigate. The ship's spinal-mounted Ion Cannon snapped in two, and a large shockwave of flame rippled across space. He pressed several buttons on his holoprojector, and the view of the battlefield zoom out to take in the whole of the battle. He sighed, and, with a clawed hand, he switched it off, and the room was once again in darkness.

He said over the comm., "How long?" Captain Lance'hek replied, "We estimate that, within five hours, the battle will be lost. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to move into the heart of combat, and escort the Destroyers Powerful Flame and Quicksilver out of the system. Chances are you won't be able to change the tide of the battle, but at least you'll be able to save some people."

Klu'Koth was confused. "Captain, you're a Republic officer. Why are you helping out the Imperialists?" The reply sounded weary with age. "Well, the Imperialists are a bloodthirsty people, and they are a bit vengeful in their decisions, but they are still Taiidan, and I feel a bit responsible for them. Do what you can. Lance'hek out."

The Turanic officer sighed again. He called up the bridge, and said, "Ensign Ken'lom, plot a course for the Hiigaran system, maximum speed."

"Yes, Magistrate," the reply came out crackled.

He got up from his desk, and walked out of his quarters. Before he walked out, he looked around, and felt a powerful surge of nostalgia sweep over him. Fifteen years ago, this room housed Magistrate Lorn, and this Carrier was his. Fifteen years ago, he was ordered to head out to the Great Nebula, on a mission that very nearly killed every one of his men…

And, for some reason, Klu'koth felt that this mission was going to be very similar. He brushed the feeling aside, and began walking towards the bridge. The past fifteen years had been anything but uneventful. After the mission to the Nebula, and Klu'koth took control of the greatly reduced fleet of the Swift Death, he had plotted a course to the Galactic Core, near the Hiigaran system and far away from his home. Turan was several thousand light-years away, and he hadn't seen it for over fifteen years.

However, here in the Core, there was much excitement. He was employed on many occasions to make raids on Hiigaran convoys, but he also helped out the Republic and the Exiles in his career. Since he heralded from the Turanic sect Gul'daan, he was unopposed to working on both sides of the war. While it had been slowing to a stop lately, this latest attack on Hiigara may be the spark needed to start up a full-scale conflict.

He ran his fingers along the dulled bulkheads as he walked. The Swift Death was a fine ship, and though it seemed dark and dilapidated like most Turanic vessels, he had done what he could to preserve it. Along the course of the last few years, he had amassed a fleet of five Turanic Ion Cannon Frigates, two squadrons of Turanic Interceptors, and six Standard Corvettes and another six Missile Corvettes. He figured that that would be enough to last for this coming mission, and hopefully if they wouldn't directly attack the Hiigaran forces, they probably wouldn't be confronted.

Or so he hoped…

In any case, it was too late now. With a quick lurching feeling in his stomach, he knew they were in hyperspace. In a half hour, they would be in the middle of a violent firefight.

When he reached the bridge, it was only a few more minutes until they got out of hyperspace. All junior officers stood up straight, and one of them, the comm. officer Kellis, said, "Captain on deck!" He nodded to all of them, and said, "At ease." He remembered being that young, snapping to attention as his Magistrate entered the bridge. Now, he was reaching middle age, he was almost eighty Turanic years old, and in another twenty he could retire. Not that he would take that opportunity. If he could help it, he would continue fighting until he was a hundred and fifty.

He sat down in his captain's chair, and said, "Everyone, when we reach Hiigara, I want us to deploy fighters in the Kelm Sarl maneuver, with four flights of six." The Kelm Sarl maneuver was when the fighters were deployed in small flights to protect the limited Fighter-defenses of the Turanic Ion Array Frigates. Since it was often Bombers who had the punch to destroy a Frigate, the superior engines of the Interceptors made this maneuver, even with few fighters, a very effective one. "For the fifth Ion Frigate, have three of our Thief-class corvettes, and three Missile Corvettes go in Sphere formation around it. After that, have all five of our Frigates go in Sphere formation around the Swift Death. Once we are there, I will launch in my Corvette to rendezvous with the two Destroyers, and I wan the other six Corvettes to defend me in Sphere formation."

The tactical officer acknowledged, and began relaying the information to the flight crews. Klu'koth asked, "How long until we reach the system?" The nav. Officer responded, "In about two minutes, sir."

He said, "I will be in the hangar bay. Now, everyone, this may be a tough battle, and if we try to antagonize the Hiigarans directly, we may surely lose. Our main objective is to escort the Taiidan vessels out with little difficulty. Since there are no secondary objectives, we must keep the whole fleet with each other to maximize survivability. Good luck."

He stood up, and walked out of the bridge towards the hangar. Good luck, indeed.

He entered the large hangar, and walked across the long catwalk to reach the turbolift. He looked down at the three levels of the hangar, the top two able to hold a squadron of fighters each, and the larger bottom section that housed his twelve Corvettes. He looked at the two armed guards flanking the turbolift as he approached, and they both gave a short military bow.

The one on the left approached him, and said, "Welcome, Magistrate. Follow me." He gestured to the other guard, who obligingly activated the turbolift doors. Klu'koth knew his way from here, but it was always nice to be escorted.

When they were in, the guard closed the doors, and the other one entered with him. He stood straight during the whole ride, and Klu'koth was impressed by the image he gave off. Standing only five feet tall, which was considered short by most races in the galaxy, he still gave off an impression of lethal force. His black-chrome battle armor, with Klu'koth's personal insignia blazoned on the breastplate, complemented the alien's earth-colored, thick carapace. Slung across his back was a long, and state-of-the-art pulse rifle; booty from one of their last raids.

Klu'koth smiled. To the rest of the galaxy, they were a bunch of hardened, ragtag mercenaries, with no sense of diplomacy or order. However, they did have a standing council of the fifteen sects of their race, and rank and official orders only added to their military discipline. Unlike that idiot Lorn, Klu'koth wanted every one of his men working at top efficiency and obedience. He never disappointed them in his promises of victory and celebrations, and they had yet to disappoint him in their diligence.

The turbolift shuddered to a halt, and the doors opened onto the Corvette bay. As he exited, the guard saluted, and said, "Good luck, sir." He turned back just as the doors were closing, and saluted back. He continued walking through the floor, and watching all of the large Corvettes begin to hover and take off, and he reached his Corvette, which lay in the center of the bay.

As the technicians backed away from it, having finished touching it up, it was rather awe-inspiring. While certainly not the strongest ship in the fleet, the Taiidan Heavy Corvette was a sight to see, anyway. Definitely not the most spacious ship, (He had heard that the Hiigarans called their version "Coffins,") it only housed seats for two people in the cockpit, and no back rest area like most other Corvettes. The ship gleamed light from its polished surface, and it hummed with its destructive power. As it was Klu'koth's personal Strike Craft, the Penetrator, he had made some powerful modifications to it, like increasing its paltry maneuverability and speed by a good 30%, and enhancing the combat sensors to improve targeting of the most threatening ships in range.

He saw his pilot already climbing into the lower seat in the double-decked cockpit, and when he had strapped himself in, he looked at the Magistrate and said, "Welcome, Magistrate. Feeling lucky about this mission?" Klu'koth replied, "That depends on how well you've been practicing, Esh'lar. All have to do is point and shoot."

Esh'lar grinned, and declared, "Today, I feel that I could take over a planet with only this one ship." Klu'koth chuckled, "Perhaps an uninhabited one, but that's only a maybe." He glared back, and he was the only person who Klu'koth allowed to get that angered with him. Were it not for his superior piloting skills, Klu'koth may have been killed long ago.

He grabbed hold of the handholds on the hull, and climbed up to the upper section, the gunner's chair. Esh'lar flipped the cockpit switch, and the canopy closed down on them, locking in place with a click and a hissing of pressurised air. He surveyed the hangar from his high vantage point, and saw the remaining six Corvettes being manned and starting up. Klu'koth put on his flight helmet to drown out the loud sounds of the engine exhausts kicking in, and he heard a beeping sound in his helmet comm., which he responded to by clicking his comm. twice.

A crackled voice came through, "Magistrate Klu'koth, this is Bandit 4. Bandits 4-6 are up and go." Indeed, he watched the three standard Corvettes hit their engine boosters and exit the violet-lit hangar. He then heard, "This is Wolf 1. Wolf flight is go for launch. The three Missile Corvettes lifted in the air, waiting for the Penetrator to join them. Esh'lar pulled at the pilot's yoke, and Klu'koth felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. His pilot pushed the joystick forward, and brought the throttle up to seventy-five percent thrust, and they swiftly flew out of the Swift Death.

When they were out, Klu'koth looked around, seeing the battle ensue in the distance. They pulled off a hard U-turn, and they levelled off to fly above the Carrier's top hull. They began to speed up to reach the two Taiidan Destroyers in the distance. He saw three Corvettes move up to flank them on each side, and they began to arrange themselves in a sphere around the Penetrator. However, that meant that one of them blocked the view from the front.

He spoke in his comm., "Bandit Six, can you move out of our line of fire?"

"Sorry, Magistrate," he said, and promptly drifted up and to port.

When he saw that they were twenty kilometers away from the destroyers, he spoke into his comm. on the standard Imperialist frequency, "Attention, Destroyers Powerful Flame and Quicksilver. I am Magistrate Klu'koth of the Turanic Carrier Force Swift Death. I have been assigned to escort you out of the system. Come with us."

The reply sounded irritated, "This is Captain Grekor of the Destroyer Powerful Flame. There is no chance in hell that we're leaving. Don't you see that we're winning? As we speak, I have sent out my Bombers to subdue a whole flight of Firelance-class Ion Frigates. Our other Frigates and Destroyers are currently battling the Hiigarans, and we have been able to down a few of their elite capital ships. Go home, Magistrate. You're not needed."

Klu'koth was annoyed at his arrogance. Curious, he searched the battlefield for Grekor's Bombers. Indeed, there was a whole flight of them harassing some Ion Frigates, but they had fallen under attack by fighters of an unknown origin. Frowning, he searched the Taiidan technical database for that kind of vessel, but it came up blank. Obviously, it was a new type of ship. Targeting one of them, he noticed a seal painted on its hull; a curvy U shape, with a star stamped in the middle. Looking like a kiith seal, he ran that through the database, and it came up with one entry:

HIIGARAN; KIITH SOMMTAWW.

Flipping briefly through it, he learned that the kiith, mainly composed of Mothership Sleepers, were a kiith of miners, only about 25,000 strong. The entry had only been updated several years ago, so he began running the update software through the GalNet. Several more things came up, like their debates on joining Kiith Naabal, and, at the end, there were three names that piqued his curiosity; FAAL-CORUM, CLEE-SAN, and KUUN-LAAN. There was no information on those ships, obviously they were classified or something. He made a mental note to research them back on the Swift Death, but for now, he checked the sensors, to find that the Sommtaww fighters had wiped out all the Bombers, and to finish off they went off chasing an Imperial Heavy Cruiser.

He was impressed. They were supposedly miners, but they weren't too bad as warriors. And this little incident would give him some leverage in his bargaining with the Taiidan.

"Captain Grekor, it seems like your Bombers have been prematurely stricken from service, and your Heavy Cruiser will join them shortly. I think it will be in your best interests if you come with us."

An unfamiliar voice came over communications, "Maybe he's right, Grekor. After all, we have lost a good deal of ships; maybe we should leave while we have the chance."

"Listen, Kellis, I'm not going to go through this argument. We have no idea who they are working for; perhaps they will bring us into the hands of Republic Security Forces. Besides, only a coward runs from the climax of a battle."

"No. A hero is one who knows when he is beaten; a fool is one who stays for too long."

"Traitor! I should have you killed for this!"

"Look, if they were working for our enemies, they could easily have destroyed us by now! Either we die here, or take our chances. I'm going to take the latter option."

"You idiot! Stop right now, or -"

The line abruptly cut. Through the new silence, Klu'koth heard Kellis say, "Quicksilver to Swift Death, you have my agreement to come with you. However, I don't think that Grekor will be so willing."

Klu'koth sighed. "Fair enough; if he wants to die, let him. We're sending you the nav coordinates to make a safe hyperjump. The Ion Frigates are generating a lot of interference with their beams."

"Acknowledged."

The Quicksilver powered its drives, and began hulking forward, and Klu'koth watched as the crazed captain of the other Destroyer turned to have all weapons bear on it. "Esh'lar, move us in close. I want to chew up this bastard's toy." He nodded, and the Penetrator and her escort began to swoop in like wasps to sing this large bear.

He powered on the mass drivers, and switched on his targeting screen. Using the turrets' limited articulation, he managed to get a good shot at the turrets. His bullets pinged off of the hull as the turrets turned to their new threat, the Ion Cannons still gnawing at the Quicksilver. The Powerful Flame fired out an energy torpedo that zipped through the sky, and hit Bandit 5, on the port side of the Heavy Corvette. Esh'lar strained to negotiate the turbulence, and then increased to full throttle to make a strafing run.

When they were mere meters from the hull, Klu'koth punched powerful holes into it with its wepons, and he watched as the powerful missiles from Wolf flight detonate on its surface, vaporising the nearby metal. When they cleared the Destroyer, Klu'koth lifted a safety device from one of the weapon controls, and the ship turned to face the engines. He fired a charged shot, which rammed into the thrusters, and set most of them on fire or offline.

He saw his fleet of Ion Array Frigates rake their red beams across the hull, dissecting it with flames. When they punched through to the hull, the ship separated into countless trillion pieces. He grinned, but he quickly dropped it when he saw a group of six Firelance frigates near his fleet. While the Hiigaran vessels were not as fast as his Frigates, they were far more powerful, and could easily take out his capital ships without problem.

"Swift Death, how long until you reach the hyperspace buoy?"

"Give us about a minute longer, Magistrate."

"Well, hurry up. I spot at least six Ion Frigates coming your way."

"Acknowledged. Should we fire off our Ion Probes?"

Klu'koth was amazed. "We still have some?"

"Affirmative, sir. We used our PDA to build some during hyperspace. Launching now."

Four small spheres launched from one of the Carrier's auxiliary weapons platforms, and the moved towards the incoming ships. The Ion Frigates were too slow to avoid the Turanic treat of Ion Probes, and the four of them detonated in a display of blue plasma that tore apart the ships, leaving only one of the ships surviving, but not by much, and the other two continuing on their lethal course.

Klu'koth said, "All fighters, dock now, repeat, all fighters dock with the Carrier now!" They hit their afterburners, and he saw that, in the distance, his fighters, several of whom had suffered some damage, were filing in nicely into the hangar. He watched the range scope decrease until they were practically inside the ship, and a blue beam shot out into their path. "Whoa!" exclaimed Esh'lar, as he narrowly avoided it, but from the scream over the comm., he guessed that one of his other ships weren't so lucky.

When they were very nearly inside the hangar, the blast doors began closing for the jump. They were in with plenty of spare time, but just before they closed completely, he felt the ship rock with agony when an Ion Beam penetrated to the hangar, and it was all Esh'lar could do to prevent their crash landing from being a lethal one.

And, with a final shudder, they were gone. Klu'koth, Magistrate of the starship Swift Death, slumped into his chair. He really needed some time off. As if he would ever get that.