The Final Bounty--Dark Bounty Part 2

The Blood Krayt

Wild Space was what they called it; a wide expanse of uncharted systems outside all of the trade routes. It was the last frontier of the galaxy; and though many explorers sought to master it, most were lost. Reports would come back of brave explorers that would fly so far that they had no fuel reserves for the return trip. Other reports divulged that they had found paradise and did not want to return. Still, other reports recounted that savages killed and ate any that would venture into their territory. Many other rumors circulated as well, none of which prevented glory seekers from throwing their ships, their crews, and their lives into the void, hoping they would be the first to discover something—anything that would turn a profit, a head, or a soul.

There were only four known systems that resided in the Wild Space. They were last resorts for anyone who absconded the known universe. One system was the Teth system, which was loosely governed by the Hutt clan who had desperately tried to populate its perilous jungle planet with many failed attempts. One could survive on Teth for a few weeks before the jungle consumed them; literally, something in the jungle consumed them.

A black, quadrate ship orbited the jungle planet. It hung over its atmosphere like a brick, awkward and unnaturally motionless. Its size was at least ninety meters in length and at least fifty meters in width. It was a large ship, suitable for a crew of fifty and able to haul over seven thousand cubic meters of cargo. It was the pirate Sleenwai's ship, the Blood Krayt; and although it appeared bulky, it was an unusually maneuverable ship in space with its dual Gemon-8 ion engines and Class 1 hyperdrive. Moreover, it normally housed a half dozen snub fighters to incapacitate ships prior to boarding and plundering. For a pirating avocation, it was aptly suited. However, at the moment it slept, cradled by the orbit of the Teth planet.

It seemed not to notice Terrah's ship exit hyperspace to its starboard because Terrah was quick to hit the cloaking device. Raider disappeared before the black starlit expanse. It had taken Terrah a few weeks to decipher the location of the Blood Krayt. If Sleenwai had not been careless to leave an overly talkative shipmate stranded on Indoumodo, Terrah might never have found him.

"What's the scan say, Raider?" Terrah asked.

"Weapon systems are not activated," the ship replied. "Lifeforms. Eight, maybe ten."

"Which is it, eight or ten," Terrah responded.

"It's a big ship, Red," Raider answered. "The scans are fuzzy. Assume ten."

"A skeleton crew like the guy on Indoumodo said," Terrah said in a low tone. "Sleenwai's here unloading inventory for a few days. Usually, he has at least forty crewmen for raids. Lucky for us."

She flew in closer to the open bay on the starboard side. Looking in, she saw no one. Only three ships resided in the loading bay; blue Mandalorian Kom'rk starship, a dilapidated E-Wing, the cousin to the X-Wing with only one set of stabilizers, and a new model Corellian light freighter with a central cockpit and two large engine mandibles.

"I'd say that's not a full deck of snub fighters. Raider, check for incoming and outgoing transmissions," Terrah ordered.

"None, everything's silent," the ship said. "Nothing surface-side or from the ship."

"The lifeforms. Are any in the command bridge?"

"No, no one's there."

"Well, no one flying the thing. Let's get a closer look," Terrah stated as she put on her helmet. "Take us in, Raider." Terrah started to prep munitions, test her helmet lamp, and activate her wrist display.

The cloaked Raider slowly passed through the dock shield, its invisible body emanating vapor lines in the air. "I don't have a good feeling about this, Red."

Terrah did not reply.

Raider set down just inside the dock shield beside the Kom'rk starship and dropped the cloak. Terrah lowered the ramp and stepped down. The bay was eerily silent; no engine hum, no vent exhaust, no footfalls, just devoid emptiness. The overhead lights were on, flickering as if they would expire at any moment.

Terrah walked to the unmanned landing bay console and began to maneuver through the ship records. She needed to check the storage inventory, there being no need for her to investigate if Sleenwai had already unloaded the ship. The console glowed blue with data of incoming and outgoing storage. Only a few crates were removed from the storage bay within the last forty-eight hours. Otherwise, the storage bay was full. "Strange.  They're not unloading. At least not yet."

Terrah tried to pull up an inventory list, but there was no use. Only Sleenwai had access to that information.

"Got to give it to him: more organized than most pirates, but just as cautious," Terrah said to herself. She knew that finding one droid in the cargo hold could be an insurmountable task, and she considered it precarious to remain on this ship for a long period of time. She realized the only way to get the cargo records would be to hack into the system as Sleenwai, and the only place that was possible was the command console on the bridge.

She loaded the schematics of the ship into her wrist display. The ship had three levels, and the command bridge was on the middle level, one level up near the prow. Two elevator transports were by the forward and aft doors of the landing bay. Another smaller elevator lift was in the rear of the ship by the upper and lower engine rooms.

"A slight detour, Raider," she spoke to her console in a whisper. "Heading to the command bridge. Guard yourself."

"Always do, Red" it replied. "And I'd shoot anything that moves if I were you."

"Yeah, you might be right." She reached down to her wrist and activated her personal cloak. Terrah's red figure vanished from view in the flickering strobe of the dying bay lights.