To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Ch 77 The Inferno Pt.I

The Inferno Pt.I

Astarte was cackling like a madwoman, and Karega was worried that the last few days of constant action had finally stretched her sanity to a breaking point. The plan had been an audacious one, dumping the Kruhur onto a nearby Union fleet sounded easy at first, and if they didn't plan on getting away with their lives it would have been incredibly easy. Just bring both of their greatest enemies together and let them destroy themselves after the Astaroth had been torn apart in the crossfire. To be honest Karega wasn't sure how Astarte had managed to quickly observe the Union fleet and pick out a problem with their formation that they could exploit to make a quick getaway. He had barely enough time to register her commands before the next one came, and it was only when looking back that he could piece together how they had gotten out alive.

Astarte caught her breath as the rest of the bridge looked at her with shock and horror, "Helmsman Fager, set a course for Pandemonium, and someone tell chief Heizer that he has my permission to begin making the repairs he mentioned. Drop the ship to condition two, and begin cycling the crew through some R&R." with that she stood up and exited the bridge to their private quarters and Karega followed after her.

Her door slid open, and she passed through with all her stately poise though no one was around to see, and the moment it closed she collapsed into a chair. She pressed her head into her hands and started taking several deep breaths. "Holy fuck!" she cursed.

"Yeah, been a rough week." Karega agreed as he also collapsed into a chair. "At least it's over now."

"Don't say that, you'll jinx us" she moaned. "God, I'm too tired to even bother taking my armor off."

"What's next?" He asked, though he also didn't have the mental energy to really think of anything besides his nice warm bed.

"We make our way to Temple Drive Yards for repairs, we can't go back to Mars after what we just pulled, we shouldn't even show our faces at all for the next few months. We'll send a message to the fleet back on Mars once we get to Pandemonium, and then from there we'll have to assess the situation before we make a decision."

Karega nodded "What the hell was that?" that question had been nagging at his mind the entire time.

"I think Ah'ared went around to gather all our enemies together for some sort of unholy alliance. Alwen said some junky sabotaged our new reactor, which implies that the Guthulu were onboard with this. The Kruhur were probably pissed off after we handed them their asses during the Battle for the Confederacy, and were happy to let Ah'ared lead them to us. Now I'm wondering if we need to watch out for any Aunviry, or remnants from Greyson's crew."

He felt cold dread "We've made a lot of enemies along the way, if they all assemble a second time I don't think we'll be able to handle them."

She grunted "Can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs."

"Well at least its over now" he said as his eyes began to close.

Astarte groaned "Don't say that, you'll jinx-" and just as she said the word 'jinx, as if summoned by some deity of misfortune, something activated a grav-spike and forced the ship back into normal space.

Claxons blared as the ship went into condition four, and Karega and Astarte were on their feet. All exhaustion and fatigue faded away as they marched back into the bridge. "What's the situation" Astarte snapped.

Kat looked up from her station and glanced at the captain with a befuddled look "I'm not sure. We were hit with a grav-spike, but the only sensor contact is an object only a few meters long. We've trained the railguns on it, but whatever it seems to currently be evading our attacks."