Broken Steel - The Pillars of Sovereign

Episode 3 - The working of the Beast

Unease Filled the transport hold of the Vampire interceptor, its interior was as silent as the vacuum of space that surrounded it. The hold itself would have been pitch black if it wasn't for a blinking red light. The vampire's engines were cut; it was drifting but drifting with intent. It was heading for some far off point in the darkness of space that was currently obscured by the planet below. Launched from the pocket battleship "The Red Rose" the vampire and three other ships of the same ilk carried their cargo towards the intended target. The four vampires huddled close together some twenty meters apart as they drifted, they were designated Orca one, two, three and four. Each carried a squad of corsairs' corps marines as their cargo. Some called them privateers given purpose but, they were the best of the best. The elite of the Alliance navy.

Every care had been taken to ensure the four drifting and silent hunters were on course to their prey, every calibration precise and double checked to make sure the ships drifted in orbit and not pulled down to the planet below. With the engines and non-essential systems switched off, the vampires were running silent; this was a mission that required the element of surprise, a mission of stealth and cunning.

Within the cockpit of Orca one the pilot and sergeant of the first marine squad watched as the moon emerged itself from behind the planet, they watched the night below creep across the planet's surface as if the moon chased away the light. Ahead a speck drew into focus as it escaped the shadow of the planet, it was held in a fixed orbit above. As the four vampires advanced this satellite grew larger and larger against the backdrop of the white moon, a black stain that seemed to grow like a cancer. A blemish upon the lunar surface. The Sergeant tapped the pilot upon his shoulder and the two shared a nod as if they had some preordained understanding of what laid ahead, but the fact was no one did.

The sergeant of squad one went by the call sign orca-one as he was the first in squad one, the others of his squad followed the same structure. He moved back from the cockpit to the hold and to his waiting subordinates, he drifted through to the hold without the restraints of gravity. He and every other member of the corsairs corps was well versed in zero G combat movements. There was nine marines waiting in the hold, each was fastened into their harnesses. Each marine wore a tight pressurized suit with several overlapping segments of amour and utility attachments. Each marine was already wearing a curved and featureless polished helmet that attached and sealed onto metal collars around the neck. This was standard practice in case of a hull breach in space. However it made them all faceless creatures in the gloom of the hold.

The Sergeant had his helm on as well and with the help of internal optics and an AI HUD built into his visor he could see each of his team picked out and highlighted by the HUD. Better than these old eyes, he thought. The blinking red light in the hold however irritated him. It was like some sort of ticking clock counting down to an unknown fate he couldn't escape.

"Ready up, not long now." Orca-One said to his team. There were nods of approval as the marines began to make their final checks before the mission start. Marines never saluted each other as confirmation; there was enough respect among the marines without salutes. The sergeant sat down beside his second in command and began strapping himself in.

His second in command was known as Dusty, he and the rest of the marines usually didn't bother official call signs. He looked up from checking his gun "how long sarge?" he asked.

Orca-one shrugged. "Five maybe six minutes before we're in the danger zone... let's hope their napping."

Dusty went back to his gun, "yea... it'll be a short trip otherwise. No more Intel from command?"

Orca-one finished strapping in before answering. "no, we only have the preliminary Intel to go on, the station is apparently a broadcast station... with a cannon attached to it big enough to blow a hole through a capital ship... the brass don't want them broadcasting...that's all we know." Blind, they were going into the vipers nest blind and he hated it.