Forty-eight minutes later, Infrix and Karv stumbled off Freighter 511 and into the winding pathways of the Guild Highliner in which it was docked. Highliners are large, tube-shaped space faring vessels. Though they themselves cannot enter a planet's atmosphere and stay in one piece, Highliners are capable of deploying and carrying a vast array of Frigates, Freighters, and other transports used for in-system travel. Highliners are also the only vessels equipped for interstellar travel.
Highliners, being the size they are, are filled with metal walkways and landing platforms within their cargo area, and anyone not familiar with the ship they are on are liable to get lost. Even Guild personnel hired to monitor and protect the cargo holds carry digital maps with them everywhere they go, which shows them the layout of the ship and their current position.
The walkways themselves are simply large, thick metal plates that were welded and linked together. If one were to look over the edge of the walkway, he or she would see a maze of such other walkways beneath them, all on different levels, but all connecting to each other. The same view would be available if one looked upwards, but then one could only see the bottom of the walkways, not what is on top of them.
For gravitational purposes, the whole cargo area rotates constantly. While in normal conditions this might make the passengers sick, the void of space allows such a play on physics allowable. Thus, though the cargo hold is spinning profusely, it is almost impossible to tell when one inside the cargo hold. The only difference is that the gravity inside the hold itself is sustained at a mere half a G, making everything weigh half as much as it really does.
The cargo hold is very dark inside, illuminated only by lights every half a meter on the edges of the walkways, and the spare glowglobes that light the docking areas. This lack of lighting gives the interior of the docking area/cargo hold an almost twilight look.
Infrix and Karv were off their freighter and heading to the walkway leading from their docking area when they spotted a small patrol of Harkonnens. Infrix shoved Karv to the ground behind three barrels while he hid himself behind a stack of crates.
Peering around, Infrix got a good look at the Harkonnens. There were three of them, and they were close enough so that he could hear them well enough to make out their conversation. The enemy soldiers simply stood in a tight group, assault rifles hanging limply in their hands, swords tucked away in their sheaths.
Assault rifles! Those were a rarity in any military. With the invention of shields, projectile weapons had become obsolete, as any object moving more than a preset amount of centimeters per second would simply bounce off the shield. Most armies resorted now to close-range combat. Infrix wondered why Harkonnens would equip themselves with ranged weapons.
But again, Infrix's mentat awareness had been working in the background. Almost as soon as he thought about it, an answer came: the Harkonnens were not expecting anyone to have shields. Only the Great Houses and the personally rich could afford them; most civilians didn't own any. It was obvious that the Harkonnens hadn't been expecting any expert mercenaries or Great House soldiers to be on this freighter. This also hinted at something else: the Harkonnen raiders were used to not having any resistance when they attacked these vessels. This meant that, for all their past raids, they didn't really have a enemy to contend with; they were just slaughtering innocents and stealing valuables.
The thought immediately enraged Infrix, though his mentat calm kept him thinking clearly.
Infrix looked at Karv; he had no personal shield either, but Infix caught sight of something else on the other man's belt. It was a small, square, swamp-green box with a keypad on the top. A personal cloaking device. Karv obviously relied more on stealth than force. Infrix decided to keep the fact that Karv owned one close in mind.
Slowly, Infrix reached down and pulled out his katana. He then stood, activated his shield, and started walking towards the Harkonnens.
They didn't notice him at first, but when he was within twenty paces, one spotted him. Obviously, they didn't notice his personal shield, because they immediately opened fire with their assault rifles. Infrix almost laughed when the bullets bounced and pinged off of his shield.
He was ten paces away now. Three sharp clicks told of three empty clips. As the Harkonnen soldiers reached frantically dropped their weapons and started reaching for their blades, Infrix suddenly dashed forward and stabbed one of them through the stomach. He fell with a loud wail which was muffled by his face mask.
The other two had their blades out and were preparing to attack Infrix. He dodged the first swing, moving slightly to the right, and then parried the other one. Unsheathing his crysknife, he made to stab the Harkonnen whose blade he had just parried, but the other one slashed again and Infrix had to deflect the blow with his crysknife. He then angled the tip of his katana and, with a flick of the wrist, disarmed the Harkonnen directly in front of him. That soldier jumped back. Though Infrix made a move towards him, the other raider stabbed at him. Infrix leaped back, then threw his crysknife at the standing Harkonnen. The knife lodged itself neatly in his throat, and he fell backwards, gargling up blood. The remaining solider had picked up both his and his fallen comrade's blade, and held one in each hand, battle ready. Infrix had his single katana in front of him, blade tipped slightly forward.
The Harkonnen lunged, a whirlwind of blades. Infrix, standing his ground in a somewhat calm fashion, simply parried each blow, finally stabbing through the blades and into the Harkonnen's chest. The raider fell and did not move again.
Infrix wiped his katana with the cleaning rag he kept in his pocket, retrieved his crysknife, and then sheathed both blades. He was leaning down to inspect the Harkonnen rifle, seeing as how none of them carried shields, when he became area of someone behind him. He started to turn, but he knew it was too late. As he came around, he saw the point of a short sword coming right at his neck. Infrix steeled himself for death, but suddenly the blade was suddenly deflected. Another short sword hung in the air near Infrix, apparently supported by nothing. The hanging blade suddenly launched itself at the Harkonnen, catching him in his throat and causing blood to gush out. The Harkonnen staggered backwards, hand clutching the blade now lodged in his neck. He then tripped backwards on one of his dead friends and fell over the side of the walkway. There was a few seconds of silence, then a wet thud echoed through the docking area.
Infrix laughed. Karv wasn't such a coward after all. Slowly, he materialized in the air about a meter and a half away from Infrix, and was almost immediately searching the Harkonnens for anything of use or value. Infrix himself bent down and picked up a Harkonnen assault rifle and two clips.
When both of them were satisfied with the wares they had pilfered from the corpses, Infrix turned to Karv. "Uh. . . thanks for that one. I didn't expect you to actually risk yourself for . . ."
Karv gave a sly smile. "Those were just rank-and-file troops. It's not as if I couldn't handle them. Besides, I was invisible. Kind of hard to kill a ghost, eh?" Infrix found himself agreeing.
Karv sighed looked around. "Okay… where to now?"
And then Guild Civilian Transport Freighter, designation 511, exploded in a blazing fireball of death.
Flaming pieces of twisted metal rained from above. Karv pulled up the hood on his black cloak as both of them started running away from the docking area. When the flaming chunks of metal doom stopped falling, both of them paused to turn and look back.
The whole docking platform had been blown in half. Pieces of scorched steel hung limply by fused wires and bent pipes off the sides of what was left of the now twisted and scorched landing platform. Other than these signs, though, there was nothing left to tell that Freighter 511 had ever existed.
Infrix stood in shock. All those people . . . Killed, just like that. Incinerated. Their lives all ended here. Family, friends. . . Tens of thousands of people would be mourning this loss.
Infrix included.
As he stood there, a tear brushed down his left cheek. He let it fall to the ground. A thought drifted through his mind without provocation.
I give the dead the gift of my water.
His hand reached down and gripped the handle of his katana. The Harkonnen raiders would pay dearly for this. A bomb on a civilian vessel! The bastards.
Beside Infrix, Karv stared in disbelief. Though he did not share Infrix's strong sense of morals, he was still shocked by this unexpected event. Hundreds… no! Thousands of people had just been killed, with no reason other than the Harkonnen's blind rage, their pitiful "revenge" upon what was left of House Atreides and their empire. The senseless bloodshed…
They stood in silence for a good minute. Suddenly, Infrix tugged on Karv's sleeve. "Come on," he said emotionlessly. "Time to kill." Karv saw the rage in his eyes and knew that the Harkonnens would regret this, and that the vengeance of the dead would come by Infrix's hand.