The fight for the Korath Raider was thankfully, fairly brief. The enemy was numerous, but mostly contained to the front of the ship, with only a dozen or so in the rear section. This meant that the mercenaries could simply toss their nerve gas grenades(Illegal I know, but these bastards deserved little respect) down the corridors ahead of them. After about an hour of this, the Korath were all dead, their bodies littering the floor. I had immediately wanted to join the raiding party, but Tagon insisted that the employer was not to go there till Kevyn had okayed it. I wanted to object, but decided against it. Tagon and his crew knew their stuff, and I wasn't about to interfere where I didn't have to.
"Hmm, smells like it's rotten," I said at last as I stepped out of the connecting tube almost a day later.
"That's the anti-nerve agents we used to clean the gas up. Mind, I don't think it smelled good even before that," said Kevyn as we went over, Tagon insisting on accompanying me, along with Kevyn, the bald man having his glasses, actually high powered computers, display all the info he'd learned on the vessel for easy access.
"Actually, according to Xeno team, it smelled a lot worse than this before. The Korath are powerful, I'll give them that, but this ship is a real mess. Everything is overclocked to the point of burn out, even the heat reduction systems. The weapons and engines are so hot that in any ship except this one they'd have been an expanding cloud of gas after the first shot," he told me, gesturing towards one of the nearby weapon dimples, where a set of NDRs were going over it with tools, scanning it so STAR could compare the tech to known variants.
"Hmm, so you're saying they're running their ship too hard?" I asked, as we walked towards the engine room.
"They're running it hard enough that I doubt they're getting more than a year of use out of any one part, if even that much, and if even one part fails while they're in flight…" he lets that last statement trail off as we enter the engine room itself, where more of the androids, and even Bandit, were going over things, with the Quarg leaping around with those backwards jointed legs of hers, continually swearing in her own language as she stares at a large purple double helix. During one of her leaps, she notices us, and instantly turns herself around, landing lightly in front of the three of us.
"Commodore, this shouldn't be here. The Korath shouldn't have this!" she shouts the last, and gestures with her single arm towards the purple thing, which I don't recognize at all, but figure, considering her tone, must be the jump drive.
"So you say, but they do. Any theories on how?" I asked, and she begins to swear again, but then takes a deep breath and calms herself.
"I can only guess, but none of those guesses are quite what I'd want to be true. Half the systems on this ship are stolen technology, I recognize most of it, so either they're producing copies, or they're literally stealing from a dozen civilizations that shouldn't be defeatable," she complains.
"That would explain the mess. If these parts weren't originally designed to work together, then they might just be shoving stuff into their ships and seeing what works," commented Tagon, and I nod, walking up to the jump drive. I'm about to touch the thing, when Bandit firmly grabs my hand, squating from her usual three meter height to make the grab easier. Of course, as I turn to her, I notice that Tagon and Kevyn have stayed back a bit, and Kevyn is gesturing rather emphatically around him, saying something under his breath.
I don't need to be a genius to figure out what, either. The ship, he has to be talking about it. Mostly he has to be thinking about that nice, juicy reward that Republic offers for alien tech, with a special shout out to the jump drive, a prize that could probably pay their whole company for a year, or make them the best merc company out there, with the ability to jump around the galaxy at a whim. Tagon is obviously conflicted, the look on his face one of longing as he glances at the drive, only to cut Kevyn off with a gesture when he notices I'm looking at them.
"Captain, this capture has pleased me greatly," I say at last, pulling my wrist so that Bandit releases it.
"Yes, I'm very happy, and I think your crew deserves a reward for good work. I'm tripling our agreed upon price, and will allow you to keep the equipment I bought for you," I offered, and Kevyn's mouth just drooped open. The jump drive was a heady prize, but that sort of payout was more than half again what the Korath vessel and the outfits within it was worth. To so casually throw around that sort of cash said a lot.
"Sage, I have finished my analysis of this ship, and will be uploading an iteration of myself shortly to its systems. We will be able to leave for Stormhold within the hour," said one of the androids nearby as STAR spoke through it, and I nodded at that.
"Bandit, return to your ship, I believe I will ride along with the Raider on our journey back," I told her, and she looked at me once, before pointing towards the drive.
"Don't touch it, don't let STAR touch it," was all she said, before walking off, sprinting her way through the corridors. Kevyn and Tagon were then ordered back to the Serial Peacemaker, while I went up to the bridge. When we were all where we belonged, I gave the order, and felt the odd sensation of pull as blue light seemed to consume the world about me.