" You two, cover the exits on the bow-side; you two, the stern. You two, with me!" Malek's voice was not a low growl but rather a gruff barking of orders, the kind of rough command he had grown into when a Sergeant Major. The ship's security officers around him looked to their corporal for silent assent but he was already gesturing with his arms, doubling the Imperial officer's command. In matters of the security of the Empire, a soldier outranked a private policeman, and the corporal knew it. If his men did not, they obeyed all the same.
" The locking mechanism is jammed!" yelled a low-ranking officer, his rifle slung around his shoulder as he furiously pushed keys on the control panel. The blast doors refused to part and admit them. Malek fumed, his face making every effort - and failing - to match the colour of the shirt on his powerful chest.
Corporal Hramis looked at the Imperial officer and nodded negatively. " If this door has been fused, command protocols have to be re-written. That can only be done from the security station on the bridge."
Malek slammed his fist into a polished durasteel bulkhead, knocking dirt from above down onto him. " There is no time. Blow it. NOW!"
* * *
" Captain on the bridge!"
Several crewmen came to attention as the aged officer entered from a recessed corridor. " Master of the Watch, report?"
The crewmen awake and on duty, few in number, resumed their duties. For such a large ship, only a dozen souls were in the expansive command cabin, sitting at the helm station, a plot table, navigation, and a few other essentials. With the exception of some bright terminals, there was no primary lighting on third watch, contributing to the dead feeling of the place. The young Chief Petty Officer stepped next to the Captain and looked out at the stars. It was a beautiful scene, the
Crown Imperial having dropped from hyperspace to above Meridia V, a resort world of first rate. With the planet on the right and a thin gas cloud on the left, the view could not have been better.
" Scanners clear, Captain. All decks at station keeping. We'll be ready for descent in four hours. Planetary control has cleared us for approach Twelve."
" Excellent. Soon my work here will be done. My last voyage as Captain, you know. Are you ready to serve under
Captain Kulleger?"
The Chief Petty Officer sighed but caught himself. " Well, sir..."
At an empty station, a blip crept onto the scopes, at first only flashing until it neared and was announced by a quiet chirp. An arched eyebrow greeted the never-before used terminal. First Class Hand Vorouth moved closer in his wheeled chair, studying the display intently until he was quite sure he had no idea what it was. " Sir?"
The Master of the Watch approached, leaving the Captain to his view. He looked down at the console and went white. He turned left and looked through the glass at whatever moved. He saw nothing.
" Something wrong, Chief?" the Captain asked, noticing the puzzled look on his crewman's face. The Chief just peered out, until he saw it. Then he saw two, then three, then five shapes moving out of the ion cloud at breakneck speed.
They were on the ship faster that any knew, the bridge officers only able to stare. They were corvettes, possibly Mauarder-class, that swept from the sensor void and made a pass just off the nose of the liner. The Captain only mouthed a command that went unheard as he looked on in horror. The corvettes, more gracefully then he ever imagined possible, turned on a time and looped around the port side at a slight angle to the ship's keel. He watched the tips of their lasers glow, and gasped.
" Alarm!"
Before the klaxons could ever sound, an explsoion rocked the
Crown Imperial.
[size=1]Requiem en Terra Pax[/size]