The Black

The low familiar hum soaked through her bulk as the hulking trading freighter hurtled through subspace. She tread through old stomping grounds, hard pressed under FTL. The captain walked her corridors, arriving upon the bridge just in time for the changing of shifts. ‘Such a fine day for sailing, too bad for deadlines.’ grumped Cpt. Miccurious Silu Drilumerum, captain under The Void of the trade ship Lucid Traveler. The ancient vessel had been his since his father had passed it to him, and his father before him, gods rest his soul to the Void. She was a generational ship, as was the custom for most familial trading vessels of the Delmarcian Confederation. He was currently pushing his command harder than he would have liked. The Subspace drives had been flogged to their limits over the last 14 cycles to make it to Bricus 4 with the relief supplies Traveler had been contracted to deliver.

Travelled was a well-known ship, respected for her family heritage and her service record; but she was long in the tooth, woefully lacking in repairs and upgrades she sorely needed. Like all traders, she was designed and built for function over form. 1000Gsu (galactic standard unit) wide by almost a 3000Gsu long, she never did cut a figure. None of that really mattered. Captain Silu, to his friends and shipmates (he never really liked his first name given as a symbol of his taking command of Traveler), had run the numbers. This haul alone would give him the GTC (Galactic Trade Credits) to finally bring his precious command into the 4th age. Depending on if he found a deal, he might even be able to swing an ATRE (atmospheric re-entry) upgrade module. That particular upgrade would begin to help with the ever increasing “Fees” from the orbital transfer companies. ‘Being able to deliver direct would save 1000s in….’

Silu’s thoughts were cut off violently by the master alarm. The Klaxon assaulted his senses as Traveler was viscous torn from subspace. In front of Silu, out of the bridge’s observation viewport, was a sight his many years of void work had never given him. The spiraling pail blue and white streaking distortion seemed to hang there, twisting in on itself until it spat out… well… a ship.

“REPORT”- Cpt Silu Barked.

“Sir, telescopics can barely make it out, but there is nothing, I repeat NOTHING on scanners, active or passive” came the none to calm response from his nephew, Bryton. He sat wide eyed at his station, the newly promoted Sensor/navigation officer, “If it wasn’t painted so brightly, we would have never seen it leave…. Whatever the Void THAT was”

They watched as the strange craft approached…. ‘No.. she’s adrift…” Silu pondered. This would make him late… “life signs?” He asked.

“I can’t tell uncle, uh, sir. our sensors cannot see through the crafts hull.. wait,” Bryton stated quickly swapping settings “I have something on telescopics. That craft has a glass dome of some kind. One, what looks like an ancient void suit there, possibly the pilot... I can’t tell if he is alive.. uh… sir” Bryton rallied through his chagrin.

“Disengage the gravity and depressurize Larboard side hanger number 3, we will have to hope that craft can survive a few bumps. Con, take us in.” He smiled down at his second youngest niece who looked up at him with more than a little trepidation, “nice and easy, let’s not damage what we don’t have to.” Cpt Silu Settled back into his chair. There was no law out here, not really…..but the Code of the Void was engrained in him since birth. The Void Born help their own, and anyone crazy enough to try whatever the fuck that was.. all the way out here… in a ship barely bigger than an escape pod… was Void Born.

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PAIN… everything hurt… Mac’s last memories were of him chuckling to himself as he activated the slipstream test. The jump, then PAIN….

He opened his eyes to scan the cockpit as his senses began to return to him.

“WARNING, WARNING” wailed the computers. “PROXIMITY ALERT! WARNING! MAIN POWER OFFLINE, MAIN DRIVES OFFLINE, SLIP-DRIVE OVERLOAD, AUTO JETTISON COMPLETE EMERGENCY POWER AND SENSORS ONLY, PROXIMITY ALERT….”

The problems kept listing off ‘….wait.. proximity alert?’ Ignoring the Talons of agony mauling his body, Mac’s head snapped up to a visual scan. His efforts were met with a Titanic blue, silver, and orange hulk of a ship bearing down on him. Its roughly rounded rectangular hulk loomed over his vessel. Its prow distinctively reminded him of an early earth era transport airliner. On the side was emblazoned a name… in a language he had never seen.

“Warning, internal bleeding detected, do not move, injection initiated. Please lie still….”

The suits repeating warning faded from existence as the survival nano tech and sedatives took effect. Mac knew he was fucked. Both earth and Mars had developed nano tech, but neither had gotten past the “it will keep you alive, sorta, to get you to the docs” phase. His vision faded as he watched a monstrous cavity open on the flanks of this artificial behemoth.

‘fuck’….. then nothing. Concord, pilot in tow was slowly enveloped by the left side hanger 3 and gently set on the deck. Traveler, unknown cargo secured, swung her head back ‘round to course and began spooling up her subspace drives once more.