The Priestess
“Hey! New guy, you with us?!“
At that moment, Rayman snapped out of his daydream and looked around at his two shipmates, who were watching him questioningly.
“Ray, my name is Ray, you big oaf!” He replied a little dreamily.
Captain Taleea looked sternly at him.
“Al is right, Ray, you haven’t been listening to a word we were saying. So look alive and focus! Don’t make me regret taking you in for this job. I want this one done by the book! Neat. Clean. In and out, basta! There’s a lot of creds involved. We can’t mess that one up!“
She said this with all the authority and severity she could master. She couldn’t lie to herself, this briefing was boring at best.
“Alright,“ she started again, trying to put more energy into this tedious meeting for it to be done as quickly as possible. „The mission is simple, Ray and Al you go in, retrieve this data cube and get out as quick as you can, no time wasted. I pick you up, and we meet up with our contact, he pays us real good, and then we lay low for a while and spend our credits on booze and on whatever you guys are into.“
“Who is this guy anyway?” Demanded Aleskatan irritated. He was a two meters tall, broad-shouldered, dark complexioned man in his thirties. He had served a few years in the Alliance army but had run into trouble because of drinking during duty and some anger issues. After being kicked out, he realized there was a lot of money to be made in taking jobs that nobody wanted because either extremely dangerous or borderline undoable. He was the one leading the briefing before he realized the new team member, Rayman, wasn’t even listening.
“Why pay us so much for an Old data cube in an abandoned ship in the middle of nowhere? This doesn’t make sense“ said Ray stubbornly.
“Doc? Would you please…“ said the captain, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
Out of the centre of the table around which they were all sitting came a small ball of light, rose to everyone’s eye level and then started to quickly grow to the size of a human head, and morphed into what could be interpreted as an ideogram of a smiling face. It proceeded to answered in a computerized voice:
“Hello everyone! Rayman, I am very glad to meet you, my name is D.O.C.C, I am a diplomatic orbital companionship computer on this ship. But here everyone calls me Doc.“
“More like Degenerate Overreacting Calculator” snarled Aleskatan with a smile.
“Like our esteemed Captain said,“ replied the hologram of a face, ignoring the big gunman. “Our assignment is simple, we need to reach the “Priestess” an old stealth warship from the old Bacta-prime wars. Our employer is a very wealthy collector of old relics from that time. We just need to get close enough to the wreckage, so Rayman and Aleskatan can suit-jump onto it and cut your way inside to retrieve the wanted Data cube. In the meantime, the captain and myself will monitor your journey and assist you both if needed.“
While Doc was talking, his features trembled and moved, matching his voice pattern. When he was done, his face returned to normal, and he watched the crew with a genuine smile.
“OK, so we are playing retrieval squad for an old and rich fucker who likes supremacist toys from a hundred years ago,“ replied Ray disdainfully while tugging at his red shoulder plates, unimpressed. “But why do I have to suit-jump onto that old thing? I mean, I could totally get into the mainframe from here and with the help of the AI we would bypass everything and be done even faster, I’m real good at this, this is why I’m here isn’t it?“
“The thing is pal,“ laughed Al derisively in his deep voice. “This old carcass doesn’t allow external access from anyone to anything, we need first row tickets, this is why it is called a stealth ship, genius!”
While Aleskatan was talking, the computer's smiling face transformed into a three-dimensional wireframe skeleton of a Bactan stealth war ship.
“We go in from here,“ he showed the rear flank of the ship on the hologram. “There is a hatch we can cut open. Don’t worry, you got me to watch your skinny pale ass in there,“ continued Al. “Cuz we don’t know what the “New dawn of Bacta” people left us in there. Tal’ I thought he was supposed to be one of the smart ones, is he getting any of this?“ He said, turning to the captain questioningly.
The musclely captain, Julia Taleea, was a former cargo ship captain that worked too hard and for too many years. She had the feeling that she didn’t get enough for what she was doing, and started taking Illegal shipping jobs on the side. On one of those dubious delivery assignments, she met ex military Adrian Aleskatan. Together, they decided they would make way more money by working side by side. Since then, the two-man crew of the Degas II were an unbeatable duo.
When they met each other, Al was eyeing a decommissioned diplomatic ship for a while, and he thought it would be perfect for the kind of activity they would do.
You see, those ships were exceptionally armoured and shielded to transport senators safely to important political meetings and whatever else those guys were doing. It had luxurious sleeping quarters, a meeting room, and it came with an installed artificial intelligence assistant, Doc. After installing a few upgrades and weapons on it, the Degas II became the perfect ship for their line of work.
About four hours later the DSS Degas II, the repurposed diplomatic armoured transport ship, arrived in suit-jumping distance of the wreckage of the Priestess.
“Ok boys, we’re here, suit up!” yelled the Captain through the com channel of the changing room.
“Yeah, yeah…“ replied Ray nonchalant while clipping his left gravboot on. “I hate suit jumps.”
“C’mon slick, it ‘ll be fine, you’re with me,“ replied Al, clicking his helmet on and slapping the young hacker on his shoulder.
“Yeah, this also worries me,“ Ray retorted, looking up at the giant. “You’re enjoying yourself way too much.”
After a tedious suiting up, and a last equipment check, the two men were soaring silently through space in the direction of the hundred-year-old wreckage of the Priestess. The dark, cold vastness of this near-vacuum dawned on the young hacker once more. How uninviting, empty and utterly boundless this place was. How dark and unforgiving it could be. Worst of all, how small and unimportant it makes you feel.
Two loud clunks reverberating in his helmet told Rayman that his gravboots were safely clinging to the haul of the wreckage. Looking down at his feet, he saw his orange suited giant of a co-worker already working on the hatch. “Where did they find a suit this big?” He thought, taking in the size of that man crouching before him. He then just realized that Al was carrying a massive proton blaster on his back and a small blaster on the tool belt on his hip. He was starting to get worried that something will go horribly wrong.
“You ok up there?” Asked Al thought their helmet coms, while cutting the haul open.
Before Ray could answer, he heard the voice of the captain crackling in his ears.
“How are things boys? When you’re in, we won’t be able to reach you, the ship will block all communications in or out. So if something happens, you’re on your own. Good luck. Taleea out.“
“Best pep talk eveeeeer” murmured Ray just for himself.
“Booyah!” Exclaimed Al when he finished cutting open the hatch door of the ship.
The big man slipped effortlessly and silently head first through the hole. Ray crouched carefully and clumsily followed his companion.
Inside, the darkness was enveloping, as if they just stepped in a tomb where no one has ever set foot before. Ray was waiting for his eyes to adjust to the obscurity but in vain, everything was pitch black except for the three beams coming from Al’s helmet bathing the opposite wall in white light. Ray punched in a series of buttons on his wrist controls and his lights went on immediately.
Despite the lack of artificial gravity, the ship seemed to be intact. The two men proceeded carefully forward to the front of the ship, guided by their headlamps. They could see a few tools and food rations floating around, loose wires hanging from the ceiling, some clothing and boots coming out of an open container. The silence and lifelessness of the ship was intimidating and oppressing. Ray couldn’t stand the quietness any longer.
“What do you think happened here?” He breathed questioningly. “Everything looks intact, no signs of struggle or anything. Where is everybody?“
“I was asking myself the same thing,“ replied Aleskatan after a few seconds. “Whatever it was, it seems to have happened fast, like it vaporized everybody.”
“Captain, I am picking up another ship signal coming from the other side of the Priestess. From what I gathered, it’s a warship, and it’s pretty big!“ exclaimed the electronic voice of Doc.
“What?! Damn’ it, are you sure?! What would they be doing here?“ Asked Taleea angrily. “Those bastards are here to steal our cargo!” she said, replying to her own questions.
“They haven’t picked us up yet,“ Doc said cheeringly. “Even if I would love to blow them to smithereens, I think it is inadvisable to do so, and stay hidden.”
“I have an idea, patch me through, I want to try something” ordered the captain with a cunning smile, completely ignoring the advice of the AI.
A small icon blinked on the command dashboard, telling her that a communication channel between the ships had been open. The captain instantly started talking into her earpiece:
“This is the commanding officer of the diplomatic ship, Degas II. You are currently in restricted space. Please identify yourselves and state the motives of your presence. Also state your ship number and signal code.“
“We see that you are acting independently, where is your mothership? Who are you and what are you doing here?“ replied a voice after a few seconds of silence.
“This is classified military information. You are currently in restricted space. Please identify yourselves and state the motives of your presence.“ reiterated Taleea.
“You are not supposed to be here, what do you want?” Asked the voice.
Taleea was sure she heard a tiny bit of insecurity in the voice on the other end, or was it fear? Before she could think any further on what to do next, Doc started the ship's engines and said:
“Captain, I am delighted to tell you that they have just launched three high explosive homing plasma warheads in our direction, I calculated the time of impact in 40 seconds, I suggest we do something!”
“No shit Doc! Let me think,“ replied Taleea, planning and calculating feverishly.
“We can’t shoot them for risk of damaging the priestess in the process… we won’t be able to our manoeuvre them.” she continued thinking aloud.
“10 seconds before we find out how being transformed into space junk feels like, I suggest…” Before Doc could finish his sentence, the focused and determined Captain Taleea took control of the ship, pulled the manual steering to her, and pushed the power lever to 100%. The ship responded immediately, and the scene before them was shrinking fast as they flew backwards away from the incoming missiles of doom.
“When I say go, you release our rubbish and bio waste, this should be enough to get rid of those torpedoes!” screamed the captain as she blew sweat and a strand of her braided hair out of her face.
She could see the three lights from the jet shoot of the arriving missiles, flying in a triangle shape and in a straight line, coming ever closer, and the priestess getting smaller and smaller. She knew this wasn’t her last action in this unforgiving money driven universe, this had to succeed, and she had to get her crew members back.
“It will work”, she knew it.
She calculated that at this point the spears of death coming at her and her ship could not evade the junk on their trajectory and that the blast wouldn’t damage either her or her crew.
“Now, Doc!” she screamed.
“Yay!” Replied the AI thrilled.
At that moment she could hear the rubbish hatch under the ship opening and loud clanking noises indicated that all the waste was being dumped into space.
The ensuing explosion was blinding, the shock wave came shortly after and rattled the ship so hard that everything that wasn’t fastened or attached flew in all directions. The captain banged her head hard and destroyed her earpiece in the process.
“That was tooooo close!” said the joyful and electronic voice of Doc.
“Yeah no shit Doc.” Grunted Taleea rubbing the side of her head “Run a diagnostic on the ship and the situation and lower your volume, Mr. Happy, my head hurts like hell!” continued Taleea slowly while holding her head.
She could feel a bit of warm blood running down her cheek and a huge bump rapidly growing to the size of an egg on her temple. A spark issuing from the dashboard made her jump, and in doing so the headache intensified. She slowly unstrapped herself from the control chair and slowly stood up to have a look around.
“What a mess” she murmured, scanning her surroundings.
“Captain, I am glad to report that because of the incredible nature of this ship, no real damage is done except maybe the rubbish hatch that would need some minor repairs. As for the situation, the explosion didn’t affect our friends on the priestess in the slightest. However, it would appear that our unfriendly competitors have launched a small pod at the same time they shot at us. From its size I deduced that it can fit a crew of five people, and that they are on their way to retrieve whatever we came here for. We are now, I hope, out of range, so they can’t pick up our signal, if we manage to leave it that way they could think that we were destroyed in the blast, this could be an advantage for us. Considering that we are up against a war ship here, we should try to stay low. I don’t think they would miss if they fire again.“
A loud boom and clunking noise that reverberated through the haul, informed Rayman and Aleskatan that they weren’t going to be alone on this ship for much longer.
“What the…?” Exclaimed Ray in surprise. “Is someone boarding that old carcass?”
„Yup, and they’re probably here for the same thing we are. The fact that they even reached this ship tells us that the captain was in no position to do something about it. So they probably are big and armed.“ Saying this, the Ex-soldier took the blaster from his back, clicked the safety off, and handed the small gun from his hip to Rayman.
“You know how to use one of those?” He asked.
Ray simply nodded and looked at the gun in awe.
“We don’t know how many of them there are, do you think we can take them?” Asked Ray, with apprehension and dread rising in him, at the idea of the coming encounter.
“Don’t worry, slick, I got this.” replied his companion with a face-splitting smile.
“You’re way too calm and delighted about this, you need help, dude!” Realized Ray, shaking his head in disbelief.
They could hear muffled voices through the walls, telling them that the newcomers were in another corridor ahead of them. Turning off their headlamps, the two men crept silently forward, guided by faint emergency lights, until they reached an open door. Hiding on either side of the door, they waited and listened.
Suddenly the lights went on, and they could hear cheers coming from a room ahead. From the left side of the corridor ahead, a man floated into view. He was wearing what appeared to be a dark and extremely sophisticated armoured space combat suit. He had a pulse blaster in one hand, and with the other was making his way through the aisle away from the two hidden figures. On his back, they were able to recognize a symbol of three vertically aligned red crosses.
“I have seen this symbol before, but I can’t figure from where,“ murmured Rayman to Al.
“I don’t know who these guys are, but this is some high-end shit they’re wearing, and they are not government, that’s for sure.”
At that moment, two other armed men in the same suit followed their colleague. The one in front was carrying a protected case. Ray pointed at it and Al nodded silently. These men found what they were looking for and were going away with the prize.
“Oh no you don’t!” said Aleskatan pointing his blaster at the men.
He fired two times and the last two soldiers were floating, lifeless, in the corridor. Blaster shots came from two different places as a reply to Al’s ones. While both sides were shooting at each other, Ray took a furtive look at the corridor, when a ricochet spread sparks near his face. He retreated in fright and pointed his guns through the door and shot randomly at their enemies. Their suppressing fire forced Al and Ray to hide and wait for an opening.
When the shooting stopped after a few seconds, they could peek around the corner and realize everyone was gone. Their assailants and the case.
“We’ve gotta hurry,“ exclaimed Al. “These mofos are getting away with our money!”
“You want to follow those maniacs?!” Replied Ray in utter disbelief.
In that instant, a flash came to his mind about where he had seen this symbol before. It was on a historical documentary he used to watch with his old man. This one in particular was about the war on Bacta-prime and the coming to power of supremacists, who claimed to be the rightful descendants of the first colonists and claimed the planet for themselves.
“Damn, these guys are members of the True sons of Bacta!” Exclaimed Rayman. “I didn’t know they were still a thing. What the hell?!“
“They are probably a new formed group and that would explain why they are after our data cube,“ replied Al angrily. “C’mon, let’s get it back, unless you want to go back empty-handed, get your face bashed in by the captain and not get paid.”
He waited, looking and smiling at his companion for a reaction. Ray gathered his courage and nodded silently. As quickly as they could, the two men floated past the two dead bodies. Small blobs of blood were flying here and there. They caught up to the remaining “True sons”, and could see their capsule docking right on the side of the old spaceship, and the three remaining soldiers embarking. Deciding it would be too dangerous to confront them again, they chose to wait until they were all inside, activate their grav-boots at the right moment and stick themselves onto the pod before it left the wreckage. Hoping that they could board the mothership unnoticed and retrieve the data cube unharmed.
Julia Taleea was waiting and looking at her readings, waiting for a sign of their crew, when two loud beeps sounded almost at the same time.
“Doc, what’s this, are they safe?” She asked feverishly.
“Captain, I am so glad to inform you, that it would appear that our friends locked themselves on the enemy’s capsule and are trying to enter the ship incognito. They engaged in what I would call a suicide mission,“ continued the AI gleefully. “If we don’t attempt to distract our enemies, we will lose our data cube and two valued members of this prodigious team!”
“Fuck! What are you suggesting?“ Asked the captain with anger.
“I detect a note of anger in your voice, captain.”
“You detect right, these two idiots probably thought it would be a great idea, and now we have no choice but to get them out of there.”
In a dark and cramped pod hangar, four grav boots detached themselves from one of the round surface of these small survival vessels, and clunked loudly on the metal floor. Rayman and Aleskatan were looking around for an idea what to do next. Their eyes were already adjusted to the darkness. Safety lights were glowing dimly at each corners of the room and above a door in front of them. 3 other pods were parked in here, all marked with “SS Archmage” on the door. The soldier quickly deduced that it is a ship of about 20 men, maybe less, if you put 5 people in each of those spheres.
“Two down, about eighteen to go then” He thought.
On the left side of the door were equipment racks filled with jumpsuits, grav boots, safety drones, first aid kits, and guns.
“Look over there!” Exclaimed Al when he spotted the guns. “These racist Sons of bitches have better be prepared for some pain, cuz it’s coming to them.” He wore a discomforting smile, the one that a person would make when they just made a bet they were sure they would win.
The thrill of the incoming skirmish was so palpable that Ray could almost hear his colleague’s blood pumping. That gave him the courage he needed, and looking at Al he nodded, smiling as well. Pain was coming, and for once Ray was on the giving end!
In the meantime, in the mess hall of the Archmage, about 20 men in armoured suits with three vertically aligned red crosses on their backs, were drinking, chanting, dancing and having a laugh after a mission well completed. The two comrades they lost were praised as the bravest of them all and will be remembered for the rest of their lives. The “rest of their lives”, was, in fact, a very short amount of time.
The door of their mess hall burst open in an enormous cloud of smoke. Two silhouettes were distinguishable in it. The taller of these two uninvited guests shouted loudly “Alright you junk-yard dogs, time for a real party!”. At these words, bullets and blaster rays started to rain down (not only on the surprised and now quickly dying members of the true sons of Bacta, but in every direction). It was a complete mess, where chaos and confusion were ruling. Tangles of limbs, blood, shouts and other indistinguishable objects were flying everywhere. Cries reverberated in the small mess hall. The clean walls were painted red, black, and other various colours. The ceiling lights were exploding in showers of sparks. Smoke was everywhere, and the amount of living people in that room was dropping at a staggering pace. Only a long time after everyone (except the two newcomers) was dead, did the shooting stop. The smoke from the battle dissipated, the slaughter was done. Smiling at each other, the two men rested their machine guns on their shoulders, turned around and left.
Nothing was moving in the mess hall, everything was silent except a faint whistling that could be heard through the open double doors.
“This looks like it could be the captains' door.” Said Ray slowly to Al, before exhaling from exhaustion. “Damn’ these things are heavy” He continued lowering the machine gun from his shoulder and resting it on the floor.
“Don’t let your guard down now pal, we’re not done yet.” Answered Al reloading his gun with two loud clunks.
“Dude, you gotta stop smiling every time we’re about to use our weapons, it’s really creeping me out!” retorted Ray with a little smile of his own, betraying his excitement.
“Alright, let’s finish this!”
They kicked down the door of the cabin they were standing in front of, and jumped in ready to fire, but to their disappointment there was no resistance of any kind on the other side.
The large cabin the two men, just crashed into, looked like a new renaissance office. Some large holowindows, displaying a luxurious garden, hung on the walls. These screens were framed with ornate tall dark red curtains, and on them could be recognized three vertically aligned red crosses. In the middle of the room floated an enormous magnetic crystal chandelier, under which rested a dark mahogany desk with gold decorated drawer handles and legs. Portraits of stern looking aged men, all wearing the same uniform, hung on the walls, all around the room. Behind the desk stood a cosy looking high chair, and from behind that chair came a faint whimpering and sobbing.
“Oy! Captain douche nozzle!“ screamed Aleskatan.
Instantly the whimpering stopped, and a snivelling voice answered: “Please spare me, take all you want, but please spare me!”
“For a supremacist crew they’re pretty lame eh? They have the uniform, but that’s about it.“ Ray said, grinning at his friend.
“Yeah, I was expecting a bit m-“ Al was cut short by the ringing of a Com-ball on the desk that indicated an incoming conference.
“Answer it!” Exclaimed Aleskatan, pointing his gun at the desk.
A small, round man scrambled up from behind the chair and pressed a button on his desk. A smooth bong could be heard, and the small man started to talk, after two pistols pointing at him urged him to do so.
“Your excellency, how wonderful of you to call”
“Oh, spare me your niceties, Captain Lambert. Do you have the data?“ Demanded an old man’s voice coldly.
“Yes, my lord, it is here in my possession!” The captain answered, tapping on his desk. “Unfortunately, I am very sorry to t- “
“Did I sound like I want an apology from you, Lambert?” Interrupted the old man slowly. His voice sharp on cold like a sword of ice.
Rayman couldn’t stay silent any more, still pointing his gun at the officer in front of him he shouted proudly:
“Hey fuck face, we took over your ship, and we’re taking the cube!”
“You certainly sound like a brave man.” The voice answered calmly, “I am disappointed at my men for letting this all happen. “. “Your subordinates were a real waste of uniforms.” Said Aleskatan, entering the conversation.
“I apologize for this shameful display of my men. Now let’s come to the matter at hand, I want back what you took from me.“ Said the voice in an impatient tone.
“Now now, I have questions for you old man. Why do you want this data cube so bad? What’s on it that is so important that the Bacta boys would come in a warship to get it ?“ Asked Al in a commanding voice.
“I trust you understand that I will not be revealing this information to space punks like you. This information is strictly classified.“
After a few seconds of silence ensued, where each of them was pondering what to do or say next. “Let me ask you this then. I bet you know the Comlink number to our ship pretty well, don’t you, old man?“ Deduced Al.
There was a long and slow laugh coming from the other end now, and after it had ceased the voice said:
“You appear to be smarter than you sound, young man. I don’t see why I should keep up this charade much longer. Indeed, I am the one behind the company that contracted you, I’ll admit that. I am also the one behind the fact that your two crews collided.“
“What?! But my lord...“ Exclaimed the small man behind the desk.
“Be silent, you miserable fool!” Shouted the mysterious old man. “I did all this as an insurance for me that the cube would be retrieved no matter what, and to serve as a rite of passage for my newest recruits. I needed to know if they had... “the stuff” for our political movement. But as we all have witnessed, it was foolish of me to think so.“ Rayman and the captain were dumbfounded at these words. It came as such a shock that the captain had to sit down on his chair and proceed to take his head in his hand and stare blankly at his desk. Ray exhaled slowly, taking this information in.
“What now?” He asked, recovering slightly. “We were just part of your experiment, then?”
“And you did a splendid job!” replied the unknown contractor. “Captain Lambert played his role and failed miserably. He is useless to me now, but I still want my cube back.“
A loud gasp came from the captain, and he looked as though he was getting ready to say something. He stayed silent however when the two men standing in front of him made a step toward him and pointed their guns at his head.
“We came here for the money because there were a shit ton of creds to be made here, but now that we know that we would be taking the money from such racist assholes who enriched themselves by killing innocents. I don’t think we want it any more!“ Said Ray with fierce rage and hate in his voice. Aleskatan nodded in agreement.
“The cube is useless to you, the data on it is highly encrypted and can only be deciphered with a unique key that is in my possession. So let’s be reasonable here and try to come to an understanding.“
The old man was trying to sound more confident than he was, but his voice betrayed his fear of losing the cube. The captain was traumatized and visibly agonizing at the realization that he has been so expandable this whole time, and that his life had become meaningless. Tears started to roll down his face while he looked down at the barrels of the two riffles pointed at him.
“You better stay hidden old man, because if we find you, you will answer for this shit!” Shouted the tall ex-soldier and shot the Comball to pieces. This made the captain jump in his seat, and horror and distress consumed him even more. He looked like he was going to faint. Ray went to the other side of the desk and shoved the captain aside, who fell to the floor whimpering. Ray proceeded to tap two commands on the desk and a small hidden compartment opened on the desk. A small black cube with purple glowing lines on it came out of it. The hacker grabbed it and threw it against one of the holowindows in the room, shattering the cube and the screen. It turned dark instantly. Then he rounded on the captain, still lying on the floor. He looked at the crying man with such hate and pity and threw his blaster at him. The two men left the cabin and were getting ready to get back to their ship. Walking silently down the corridor they came from. When a loud gunshot could be heard from the captain’s cabin. The two men stopped walking, looked back, then at each other. They shrugged and resumed their way back to their ship. Tired and victorious of their expedition on the Priestess.