With an air of finality a salvo of four proton torpedoes brought down the rear shields aboard the Nebulon. Eager gunners focused their turbolaser systems toward the exposed engines and triggered the firing studs, sending fire onto and into the delicate machinery.

Metal twisted and warped as it was melted from the incessant laser fire, burn holes formed along the exhaust ports, and one by one the engines shut themselves down.

Moments before, in a desperate attempt to damage one of their pursuers, the Nebulon had vented garbage out of its hangar bay. The particle shields aboard the targeted Vigil had handled the barrage with ease, the craft rotating quickly to turn the damaged side away from the Nebulon so the shields could recuperate. In retaliation, the weapons fire from all four circling Vigil's seemed to intensify.

Hiding behind the two rear Vigil's, the Guild cruiser continued to hold its Interdictor field up. Though the enemy tried their hardest to connect with it, only an occasional turbolaser bolt got past the screening Vigils. With reinforced frontal shields they soaked up the damage.

"No reply to our hail?" asked McCales.

"None, Sir."

"Send it again, then call home and report the capture. We'll need help in towing the prize home."




Elsewhere, success was also imminent. Beta-Flight continued to swarm around the second shuttle, pounding its shields into submission.




"We've received a hail from the craft that were caught in the gravity shadow, Sir," said the com officer aboard McCales' Vigil. "They're demanding that the gravity well be disabled immediately.

McCales turned to examine the message, and then the starmap.

"Signal the Guild to pull out of range of the civilian craft, it's only seven clicks," he ordered curtly.

"Message the civilians that they may leave at any time, and re-send our text statement, incase they did not receive it the first time."


(OOC: Nebulon engine systems disabled. Other shield systems at 20% Shuttle shields down to 50%)

The Captain frowned as the engines were nocked out.

"All hands, this is the Captain. Our engines have been destroyed, and we are helpless. Initiating Operation Safety."

The captain typed a code into a datapad.

"Code accepted. Voice confirmation?"

"Captain Freeman authorisation gamma five two three ten, GC will win."

"Authorisation code accepted. Voice confirmation."

The door to a safe opened. Captain Freeman grabbed the radionics gear inside and then typed in the proper signal. Immediately the thermal detenators started to explode. Within twenty seconds, the Nebulon-B2 Frigate was destroyed, it's parts scattered across the area. The shuttles, seeing the Nebulon-B2 frigate destroyed, immediately self-destructed as well. There was no way to find out who had attempted to buy the stolen Vigil.

"Order the boarding shuttles to disembark and prepare for a forced entry," barked d'Bale.

"Sir!" cried the science officer to d'Bale's left. "I'm reading a radionics transmission... and explosions inside the Nebulon."

d'Bale jerked his head around to gaze at the view-screen in the front of the bridge. The craft they were chasing was coasting on momentum now, her engines dead. A shudder seemed to shake it, and a hole twenty meters wide appeared in the side of the craft, seemingly appearing from no where.

"Thermal," commented his first officer.

"Yes," replied d'Bale. "And a suicidal commander."

Another shudder, and derbies came spewing out the side of the craft.

"Prepare the boarding parties for rescue operations!" said d'Bales first officer, as he rushed to the turbolift. A body of a crewmember aboard the Nebulon was thrust out of the new opening in its side, and he collided with some other derbies.

"Open a channel to our shuttles," ordered d'Bale. "We have men overboard without vacuum suits," he said when the channel was opened. "Fifteen to twenty seconds is the galactic average for survival in vacuum. Get near the holes in the hull, and catch those men!"


Boarding shuttle 1

All seven men had their vacuum boarding suits on, but the standard armament of a blaster was exchanged for a rope.

"Body dead ahead, get read!" called the pilot of the shuttle as he manouvered his craft into a direct collison course with the newly ejected body. The being flew toward the shuttle on his own momentum, and the seconds ticked down. The boarding shuttle had to be far enough away to have time for alignment, yet any furthar and they would be out of range.

"Got him!" called out one of the squad members, as the human mechanic came flying into the gaping hatch on the shuttle. The door to the cockpit was opened momentarily to allow the man to hastily be shoved in, where an armed guard would give him an oxogyn mask, and the life support system would struggle to re-pressurize the room.

"Body at eleven fifty!"


d'Bale's command Vigil

The Nebulon was shaking constantly now, not from the explosions inside, but rather from the results of the explosions. There were three holes in the hull now, created by grenade's too close to the hull. Men, equipment, and other paraphernalia were being forcibly ejected as the pressurized from inside the Nebulon forced its way out into the emptiness that was space.

Six boarding shuttles were outside these holes, desperately trying to 'catch' any of the bodies that were flying through space. So far, only two men had been rescued, while dozens more floated dead.

"The shuttles just self-destructed, sir."

Scrap.


For three days a salvage team had dug through the remains of a Nebulon and two shuttles. Very little of value was left over.

Of course, value was dependent upon who was buying.



"I'll give you six million for salvage rights."

"Worth that much to you?"

"Aye. Most of the weapons systems are intact, the hull can be repaired somewhat. Or just melted down, but it's still pretty big."

"It's yours. Thanks for your help."




#




d'Bale watched as the scavengers move off, heading toward the Nebulon. They would call in a bulk cruiser to take the craft to hyperspace, and then sell or attempt to repair the craft. None of the computers, aside from personal systems and datapads, had survived the suicidal tendencies of the ship captain. The desire to destroy oneself (and ones crew) simply for operating on the black market indicated that this Nebulon was more than it appeared.

Like a book with an uninteresting cover.

"Sir, were ready to make the jump to lightspeed."

"Engage at will," replied d'Bale without turning. They had managed to save seven people, the crewmen of the boarding shuttles would receive hansom rewards for their brave deeds. Seven people from a crew of hundreds upon hundreds.

Loaded with all the surviving computer systems and other data-storage devices that they had retrieved from the Nebulon, d'Bale's task force lept to hyperspace.