Tychus ducked back into the computer room as another barrage of phaser blasts hit the edge of the door. His men had taken up positions inside the computer room and were holding off any attempts of retaking it handily. It was still a concern for him to be in this spot. No way out and more Pirates and mercenaries bearing down on them meant that until they got the defenses down the group was only surviving due to the pirates reluctance to rush them.
"Fire in the hole!" He said pulling a pin from a grenade.
Reaching around the edge of the door he lobbed it down the side corridor where the pirates were gathering for a push. The resulting explosion sent them scrambling away from the blast. The goal wasn't to kill any of them, rather he wanted them pushed back. The concern now was how many grenades he had left.
"It's getting rather inhospitable here guys, can we speed up the arrival of our reinforcements?" He shouted as he ducked back behind the wall.
"We're working on it!" Tyler shouted back as he furiously worked the computer before him.
"Their defenses are formidable." Thaddius said to the starfleet officer, "We should have planned for them to attempt to lock us out of the computer core."
Thaddius currently had his hands underneath the console. It's panel ripped off he was using his hands to break, cut, and tear away anything he could to prevent the other pirates from regaining access to the command consoles. Pulling out a small glass disk from it's housing the computer system glowed brightly in front of them.
"Yes that cut them off. Now let's get those turrets down!" Tyler said.
'Re-routing power now." Thaddius replied as the sound of another grenade went off behind them.
Enterprise
"How are the shields holding?" Darrius said his voice echoing through the bridge.
"Multiple thin points within the shields. They will hold but sustained bombardment will eventually win out." A voice replied.
The ship was currently holding it's position in front of the Pirate base. This meant that while they could prevent any ships from leaving the station they had to bear the force of a large number of the turrets along the crevasse relentlessly bombarding them. Flashes of light and explosions covered the side of the ship as it stood it's ground against the pirate base. The rain of plasma bolts crashing against the bubble around the Enterprise.
"Sir, defense fire is lessening… all turrets have cease firing." One of the bridge crew reported.
"Launch all shuttles and lighters. Bring the ship closer to assist in the landing operation. Begin the assault of the base!" Darrius said over the comms.
Shuttle bay
Lionus smiled as he saw the light turn green for his men. In the next second the shuttle bay was filled with a flurry of activity as the small vessels activated their engines and began to take off from the bay. As much as the commander wanted to fight alongside his men he knew their battle wasn't important enough to warrant his presence. Pulling out a small watch from his pocket he clicked a button on the side and watched as the counter began to tick.
"Let's see how much time it takes for them to wrest control of the station from those idots." He said turning around and heading towards one of the elevators that would lead him to the bridge.
Shuttle
"Hey guys…" Cain said.
"Emperor preserve us." One of the troops muttered under his breath.
"If two mind readers read each others mind… would they just be reading their own mind?" The priest asked.
"God damn it Cain." A trooper said in an exasperated tone.
"Hey keep it down back there, we're coming in for a hot landing!" The pilot said.
Cain sighed from where he sat. His mind was once again muddied with drugs of a various nature. He managed to get a bottle of some blue liqueur back on the pirate ship and he had finished drinking it by the time he got into the shuttle. His vision swam before him and he was enjoying the buzz he got from the drink. In his mind however he was far too used to inebriation to think of the drink as anything special.
He heard the sounds of banging on the side of the shuttle and knew it was time to get to work. Standing up he wobbled back and forth inside as the vehicle came to land in one of the stations many docking bays. His group knew what to do once they got into combat. It wasn't the first time they worked with him and they knew it wasn't going to be the last.
As the shuttle lurched one last time Cain saw the doors begin to slide open. Checking his grip on his chainsword he waited the necessary few seconds for the door to fully open before he moved. Teetering forwards he lurched out of the shuttle in a shambling manner despite the abundance of laser fire around him.
As soon as his foot hit the station ground his entire body felt the surge of combat start to flow within him. Twisting on the spot from where he exited he turned and pushed himself forwards. In a blur of speed and movement he dashed towards the largest concentration of pirates as his fellow troopers began to exit the shuttle.
Shots hit and burned into his body as he charged the pirates defensive line. Stepping on a box he pushed himself into the air in a leap that would take him clear over their barrier. His chainsword revved with his tightened grip as he moved through the air. With the sound of joyous laughter he landed amidst the pirates and began to swing his blade in wide arcs around him.
What he hit didn't matter, he just kept swinging. Blood swirled around him as his sword cut into flesh, bone, and muscle. He felt the devices attached to his back and neck pinch him again before a feeling of euphoria took hold and the combat drugs began to work their way through his system. In seconds the defensive line the pirates had set up crumbled under his slaughter.
Seeing one of the pirates flee in terror towards the interior Cain let loose a sinister laugh before giving chase. His men watched as he rushed off into the facility at full tilt after the one fleeing pirate. They were in charge of following him and cleaning up the stragglers that he always left behind. As the leader shot a beam of energy though the last pirate's head he signaled his men.
"Alright let's keep the VIP safe!" He shouted heading after Cain.
The priest wasn't concerned with the others following him. While he wasn't able to mentally connect the dots he knew they would stay away from him while he was doing his job. The combat drugs flowed through his body and he felt the euphoria that came with them. The world around him blurred and he felt like he was walking on air. Each sound echoed in his mind and everything moved about him as if the universe slowed around him.
He didn't know where he was heading, just that the pirate in front of him was still running in fear. He gave chase not because he wanted to murder him but because that was all his mind could comprehend. Someone ran from him, he must give chase. Anyone or anything that moved in front of him burst into a rain of blood as his sword cut into their bodies.
As he turned a corner after the fleeing pirate he felt several things strike him in the chest. The flashes of light left blurred after images on his eyes. He looked down at his chest and saw several spots that glowed from where the phasers hit. The burning sensation followed but his mind wasn't able to process the fact that they were supposed to hurt.
Looking up he saw the group of pirates that had formed a firing line and now waited for him to fall, "The emperor protects it's faithful…" Cain muttered as he lurched forwards, "And my faith is absolute!" He screamed as more shots hit his body.
The pirates opened fire again but like the first round of fire any that hit Cain got ignored as he charged. Hitting their firing line with all the grace of a charging rhino he brought his sword forward in an arc. The cleave dismembered the few careless enough not to move out the way fast enough. The ones unable to move simply died as their torsos were ripped open by the spinning blades of his sword.
The survivors of Cain's one swing fled deeper into the stations mined tunnels. As he finished off the last one unable to escape he saw them fleeing into the shadows of the mineshaft. His smile, never once wavering even after being shot, grew as he felt his body move towards the darkness of the mine.
The troopers caught up with Cain just as he vanished into the mineshaft before them, "Damn it!" The lead guard cursed, "It's going to be months before we can get him out of there. Well at least the Pirates won't be using those shafts for long..."
An hour later
Darrius walked the halls of the base like an inspector out to find any imperfections. Lionus walked behind him and was more concerned with the reports coming in constantly from all over the station. The last pockets of resistance were being cleared out and now it was a matter of finishing off any who were left.
Next to Darrius walked Tychus who had just handed over his report, "It seems m'lord that this section here is where the base commander is. He's managed to get a bunch of his men and hold up in his office. It's more like a bunker though since it only has one way in and is filled with areas set up for really nasty crossfire sections. We tried to make a push in but it's too defensible of a position. We'd lose at least two squads if we tried to take it by force, and thats an optimistic estimate sir." Tychus said after pointing out the section on the map he gave Darrius.
"That's unlike you Tychus," Lionus said, "Taking and holding areas is your specialty."
"Thank you for your kind words sir, but the area is a deathtrap." He said nervously, "If you want me and my men will storm it without hesitation. I just wanted to let you know the rate of loss."
"I doubt that will be necessary." Darrius said, "If what Tyler and Thaddius told me is true then they're isolated and cut off from anything and anyone. If we can't get them to surrender we just wait a day or two for them to die of thirst. If we even wanted to wait that long. We could just as easily seal them in then cut off life support to the area. Don't keep fretting Tychus, you and your men will not have their lives thrown away for a few days expedience. How are the other areas doing Lionus?"
"Well the first area we took was the shuttle and landing bays to prevent anyone from escaping." He said.
"And to prevent any loss of ships." Darrius added.
"Correct. From there we made heavy pushes towards both the armory and subsystems control center. Getting the guns down was the easy part, getting the rest of the stations systems under our control was the hard part. We lost about twenty to thirty percent of the troops we sent over there. It was worth it however." Lionus said, "With the armory we prevented them from trying to simply blow up the station when it looked like it was going badly for them and with the subsystems we had full control over doors, life support, and even lights which helped us getting the other areas under our control." He said.
"Anything else worth noting?" Darrius asked.
"Well we have some survivors. I suggest slave collars and putting them to work in the holds. Also it seems like your drug addled friend went into the deeper mineshafts. It's likely he's there preventing any survivors from forming groups and causing us problems but getting him out of there will take some time." Lionus said.
Darrius grimaced at the thought, "And then there's the blood on the walls and floor. We're still cleaning that pirate ship from his efforts."
The station captain was worried. He had managed to get all his men near his section into his office area but now they were trapped. It was unlikely that the soldiers who had invaded would try to take the area, but he knew that their survival was unlikely. Even now his men kept watch outside his main room and the occasional shot could be heard. Just enough to keep the invaders honest.
"Should have listened to Rubi." He muttered as he kept watch on the viewscreen in his office.
The cameras were getting cut one by one as the soldiers made their way through the base. He knew at most he had about an hour left before his area would be completely cut off. While the men he gathered were good at pointing their weapons they weren't as skilled in keeping someone out of the computer system. Neither was he for that matter which frustrated him to no end as he felt more and more helpless with each passing moment.
As the minutes dragged on he was left with one camera outside his office area. It watched the main hallway into his section and was likely not going to get cut anytime soon since it was covered by his men and their guns. As the others got cut he ended up back at that view over and over again.
As he watched the empty hallway he saw movement down at the far end. He leaned forward to get a closer look before realizing he had a zoom on this one. Pressing a few buttons the darkened hallway zoomed past the screen and he was left looking at a robed man as he sat down on the floor. He wasn't able to see any features about him, just that the robe covered his entire body and he wouldn't budge an inch from where he sat.
The sound of gunfire made him jump in the air. From outside his room he heard the sound of phasers and disruptors being discharged repeatedly followed by the sound of shouting. He pulled out his own pistol and checked the camera again. As before the hallway was empty save for that one man. As he moved to the door, his gun drawing a bead on the metal barrier, he was able to make out some of the shouting going on.
"What the hell is wrong with him?" One said.
"Shit shoot him shoot him!" Came another voice.
"OK he's dead…" A voice stated during a lull in the shooting.
"Look out he's gone crazy too!" Another said interrupting him.
The gunfire picked up again and then he heard the conversation happen all over again in a similar manner. Putting his back to the wall he let his hand drift over the open button and waited. Once the gunfire died down yet again he opened the door and swung around to draw a bead on the room outside his office.
Phaser burns, craters in the wall caused by disruptors, and his dozen men all dead. One man stood in the center of it all with his gun pointed down toward his companion at his feet. The body had a smoldering blast in it's chest and the man looked on edge enough to fire more shots into him. His breath was coming out in ragged gasps as he kept his gun pointed at the man.
"What the hell? Corvo what the hell happened here?" The station boss said keeping his gun drawn on the man.
"They… they went crazy! All of them, one after another. They pointed their guns at us and we had to keep shooting them… I'm the only-" His sentence was cut off as his eyes glazed over and he turned to look at the station boss.
"Corvo? Corvo what the hell are you doing?" The boss said.
The pirate never even heard him as his disruptor discharged and hit the station commander square in the chest. The man fell back with wide eyed disbelief that his own man shot him. As his corpse hit the floor the pirate raised his gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The only sound after words was the thud of his body hitting the floor.
Hallen winced as he felt the red hot fire of the man's weapon pierce his head before lifting his control over the weak minded pirate. He felt his temples throb after possessing nearly half of the men in the room. His body ached as the phantom wounds he received still stung all over his body.
"It is clear commander, you may dispense with the bodies now." He said standing himself up.
A guardsman handed him his staff. Hallen took it within his hands then felt the guard rip his own hands away as fast as possible. The other men around him all kept their distance as he walked back towards the shuttle bay. Such attitudes were common towards men of his position. He had learned to deal with it for a long time.
"Truly you are becoming quite adept at handling my orders Hallen." Darrius said walking along side him.
"Your praise is misplaced, I was only able to posses one at a time and even then it took several seconds for me to exert my control over them. The others could do it with far greater efficiency than I." He said.
"Perhaps… but there is value to be found in those that cannot do everything perfectly." Darrius said as they walked down the hall towards the shuttles.
Enterprise
Darrius looked over another report in front of him as he sat at his desk. It was a dark and solid wood design. Think and study it's edges and legs were carved with murals and the wood was polished to gleam against the light. It was also bolted down to the floor on the inside as to avoid tarnishing the outside. The room was decorated from top to bottom making you almost forget that it was on a ship.
A soft carpet draped the floor from corner to corner and met with the wall which had a soft lighter tone to it than the desk. There were multiple cabinets made of some black metal material and a door to the side leading to the rogue trader's bedroom. Darrius sat in a plush chair behind the desk. He felt that it was more akin to a throne then a chair but he didn't mind as the cushions were soft and it's armrests were well placed.
Lionus stood before him hold onto another report, "It seems the end results is that you are running low on manpower." He said, "Not many of the pirates got the chance to surrender and the ones that did often spat at our offer. We'll need to pick up some new blood if we wish to keep this ship running."
"That and food." Darrius lamented, "We have a place where your soldiers can stay now but we'll need food and lots of it to keep ourselves afloat."
"Perhaps the traders?" Lionus said.
"Unlikely, they're far too small scale to get us what we need. We need a planet indebted to us." Darrius said.
"Perhaps you are regretting leaving the Federation in our wake?" Lionus asked.
"Not for a single moment." Darrius replied.
Station
Barclay leaned against the clear glass like substance that the turret was made out of. He could feel the cold of space beyond the window but remained pressed against it as he looked outside. He had to make sure the Tech priest was properly removing the turret's weapon. A delicate procedure only possible thanks in part to the mechanical nature of the priest.
He was outside and his servo arms were attached to both the weapon and a piece of the station itself. While he had many tools built into him to help with work boots that could attach to the station wasn't one of them. As he floated in space near the gun his hands worked the connecting joints and bolts that held the weapon in place.
Barclay pressed his communicator and spoke as he saw the gun start to float away, "Mary, are you ready to cut the power?" He asked as the Tech priest waited for his signal.
A moment later he got a response, "We've just finished shutting down the connecting lines to the guns, you guys are all set." A female voice replied.
With that Barclay gave the priest a thumbs up. Nodding in response to Barclay the priest began work on removing the power lines connecting the gun to the turret. Normally on a federation ship the weapons were built into the ship itself. Pirate bases were far more 'Slap on and be done with it'. As the gun came loose Barclay watched as the Priest used two of his servo arms to climb the length of the wall they were on.
Near the top of the asteroid a large gathering of both tech priest and soldiers in space suits were gathered around a center point where many of the guns had been gathered. All over the wall section the priests worked diligently to remove parts and weapons that could be used to start updating the Enterprise's weapons. While the ship handled itself well against pirates Darrius felt the performance against the Farragut was far from inspiring.
While Darrius would have preferred removing all the weapons Thaddius knew better. The station was well defended as it was but the amount of guns along the ship landing corridor was excessive to the point of uselessness. Not only were a good number of guns never going to get a chance to fire if by some miracle they all could it would have overloaded the station's core.
Thaddius chose to run the numbers on the space at the stations landing bay. Then he worked in both the firing arcs of all the guns and the amount of power they could each pull in. Eventually he found out almost eighty percent of the guns could be removed with limited loss to the stations defensive strength.
Once the rest of the guns were collected he would move the contents over to the Enterprise. Then he would begin refitting many of it's basic lasers with the guns from the station. It was a hefty job but as the ship hadn't any jobs or pressing concerns Darrius allowed him to work as he saw fit.
As Barclay watched the priests move about with mechanical precision he couldn't help but be reminded of ants crawling across a field. They all moved with practiced ease in space and never seemed to get caught up in each others paths. They fit the description even more when the passed by his position with a weapon or other large object in their mechanical claws.
"They're so creepy…" A voice from behind said.
Barclay turned and saw Tyler approaching him, "I… I don't think, well yeah they are." Barclay said, "But I don't think they're bad."
Tyler looked at the starfleet engineer with a bit of concern, "Barclay, they are bad… or at the very least ruthless. Don't forget that." He said.
"I… I know but it's… I just get along with them." He said nervously, "Better than with people."
"I know you do… just keep what I said in mind. They're all dangerous and we're far out of our depth here. We traded safety and stability for the chance at something bigger than us. We have to make sure that trade was a good one."
Barclay didn't say anything as he watched another priest climb past the turret window.
Authors notes: I will be taking a hiatus from this story to represent the passage of time. I will be doing one shot stories to cover the gap in this. For those one shots look to 'Divine Moves' story.
