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The ‘Wild child onboard the Choba had played it’s part in inflicting damage and mayhem. The things were chased, stupidly futile, by troopers, across the ship, attacking and destroying vital defence and control mechanisms.
You could say, in simple terms, their systems, were a complete mess! We have as old Human(a) a saying that perfectly illustrates this entire debacle, A ‘train wreck’. Off the rails and would take some time to restore to its former state.
‘The’ they would tell you, worse thing about it, was the images across their screens. still on the screens across the vessel, were appearing the face of this thing.
This Humana child laughing that crazy laugh and, no matter how hard, they tried to shut it down, or to at least silence the dammed thing.. it mercilessly continued, echoing across the ship heard by all, in an ever increasing volume!
Until finally it stopped and silence reigned.
Commander Voge heaved a sigh of relief “ Report to me, tell me what damage that thing has inflicted “ Report after report came back, as the engines ground to a halt, on both vessels and the defences shut down, they were sitting ducks.
Roe knew, he, could only sit and wait, for what was fast becoming, the inevitable.
They would be boarded, the hatches would be breached, at their, whoever they were, mercy.
Slowly the troopers moved into position.
Nathan had the information relayed to him, from ‘Wild Child’. All systems tampered with, rendered inoperative and, he smiled, time to take out the enemy. The four strike craft tried in vain, to fend off the attack. Little or no weapons control didn’t help!
Any resistance, they could summon up wasted! Physical damage, to their vessels, carried out by the Chevan and the Imperial Bexian flagship.
Staying back on Raptor, Nathan declared the boarding parties were to be Bexian forces, Bexes moment of triumph, against the Jogarth!! Besides, he knew, Bexian prisoners, would feel more at ease, with their own race, coming to rescue them!
GlobeCast units would be fully recording and relaying events!
The hatches, were breached and heavy fighting took place, as armed GOK sentients were deployed ahead of the Bexian forces. Requiring no life support and the slave bands against them were useless !
The enemy troopers, were falling like flies, when Roe finally ordered the surrender of the vessels. Quickly claiming his rights, under the neutrality act, that he was entitled to be allowed to leave his ship with his men in a shuttle craft.
Dram was not agreeing to anything, his rage, his fury, blinded him to any reason, as he boarded the first ship. The Commander, warned them, NOT to approach and to surrender or else!
With him being ignored, he decided he had no choice! They needed to be taught a lesson and reminded, that HE, had control, over the hostages! He activated the bands, sending pain down the victims bodies!
They howled in deep distress, as Dram heard them, the ripple through his body, the sense of terror, of fear? Made worse to actually see them writhing in pain.
The Commander repeated his neutrality.
He would stop their pain, release the slave bands, if he, was allowed, to leave with his men. Dram cursed, but knew, he had little choice. Once it had been agreed, for him and his men, to leave, safely leave! The pain stopped. The bands started to fall off the victims.
Nathan nor Noge had ever found out about the technology behind the slave bands, nor were the Jogarth about to give it to them. The reason the bands were falling from them was because the master control units had been destroyed.
The Jogarth had set the detonation sequences, to destroy the control units and, anything, that might be useful, in identifying, even parts of their construction.
There were still at least a hundred of them active. A remote unit that the Commander retained, enabled him limited control. He was not giving that up!
Once on the escape craft and, enroute to the Jogarth Empire, the bands, out of control of his remote device, would fall off, like the others had.
Yet if Commander Roe thought, the Jogarth battle cruisers, sent to their aid, would do just that, then they were labouring under some illusions. Nathan knew they, would ignore the escape craft and engage them in battle!
“Almost certainly the Jogarth main fleet, will be, aware of what has happened!
They WILL send in their battle cruisers, to engage us! Even if this is deemed to be a neutral zone, you know what the Jogarth are like!
He urged Dram to quickly reactivate the systems and get the slave ships into the Psemon Imperial Protectorate.
Dram had recovered, his composure. It, made sense, to rob the Jogarth, of these vessels.
They could be used, adapted ; modified for their own purposes. Or sold for profit, as scrap to compensate the victims.
Aboard the other Jogarth transporter, they were still prisoners. Commander Voge had managed to fall asleep. Not for long! Out in the depths of space, things were awake, if you could call it that ! Coming towards his craft at speed ?
Who they were and what they were after, he would not know and yet, would soon discover all too clearly their intentions !
The strange vessels that appeared in a flash to surround his vessel were ones his crew had never seen the likes of. Almost wire frame in composition, they looked bizarre?
The things that had simply ‘Ghosted’ through the hatches to his vessel, that were now storming the interior of the vessel, were anything but! A battle was in full flow.
Not that the Jogarth troopers, stood a chance! Flung around like rag dolls, dismembered. Dead. Voge, woken by the racket, had stared at the screen, seen the intruders, shuddered and decided on his next course of action? To stay and fight with his crew OR; ESCAPE!
Commander Voge had Trime? He, was dragging her, towards the escape pod.
She lashed out at him, he activated the slave band pulse, the seering pain making her drop to her knees. “Behave, or I WILL cause you more pain ! “
They were just moments into the last corridor, leading to where the escape pod could be found, when the figure appeared, blocking him. Voge froze.
IT, whatever the hell IT was, was huge. A sizeable cross section of IT, blocking his way AND, taking up virtually all of the corridor. NO getting past it?
Behind this monstrosity, a few of his men could be seen, busily opening the hatch, to the pod.
They had arrived there a few moments earlier!
Chased by the demon?
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