Unlikely Heros

Where to begin...

The "Accident"

The massive starship lumbered slowly through the quiet battlefield towards the Space Station that hung dark and silent in the void. The battle had been furious and hard fought and the wreckage of over a hundred craft drifted through space.

All around the huge vessel hundreds of cranes and robotic arms sprouted from the surface snatching wreckage and delivering them to the hundreds of salvage bays and loading docks located around the ship. Everything was taken, the area behind the huge ship was clear of all debris. It lumbered towards the space station clearing the way as it went.

Captain Hurlokk walked the bridge. He was a veteran of the Clone Wars and his weathered face carried many visible scars; a testament to his many years of combat experience.

His uniform was impeccable, every button polished, shoes reflecting the lights in their mirror shine. He was aware of everything on his bridge. He checked every station, read over status reports and made sure that he knew the minute to minute updates of their progress. He realized that time was short for this mission and he had to ensure that everything was operating at peak efficiency to make this salvage operation a success.

"Captain," an officer said as he approached giving the tight salute, the old war veteran insisted on. "there are reports that the salvage crew in sector 19 has recovered survivors.

Hurlokk's eyebrows raised and he turned sharply to his deck officer, "Survivors?" he asked?

"Aye sir, 10 of them. Found together in one of the damaged ships being salvaged," the officer responded.

Hurlokk had of course found survivors of battles in random escape pods or ships dead in space in previous operations. However, it was rare and had always been at most two or three.

Something about the number of survivors and that they were all found together concerned him. They had also been rescued in Sector 19. Sector 19 was one of the lowest port side salvage systems. It was also the closest operations systems to where he housed his "expendable work force".

Was this coincidence or something that should concern him. His warrior instincts were telling him that there was more to this.

"Keep them under guard and bring them to the holding cells in Section 4," the Captain ordered curtly. "See to it that they are not armed and provide medical assistance as needed."

"Aye sir." The officer affirmed, saluted and hustled to the closest comm panel to relay the orders.

Hurlokk activated the comm on his wrist and called his personal guard commander, Deck Sargent Musslyn, another Clone War veteran and someone he had served with for decades. "Musslyn, get my squad together and report to the Sector 4 holding cells," Hurlokk calmly ordered. "we have survivors from the battle that I want under tactical surveillance immediately."

"Heard and understood, Captain," the comm crackled in response. "We are on the way."

The old veteran still felt uneasy. His hand dropped reflexively to his side to the place where a blaster would have hung during his combat days. There was nothing there now but a pouch of data cylinders and he felt that pang of unease that he experienced every time he did that. His boss insisted that he not carry weapons as part of his daily duties and he was not one to disobey orders.

Suddenly, alarms blared loudly from several areas of the bridge and the comms came to life. Hurlokk spun to the closest station.

"The rescued humans have attacked their detail; repeat we have armed hostiles in Sector 19!' screamed an officer into his comms. The sound of blaster fire and explosions could be heard in the background.