Belgaroth had been a world much forgotten over the decades, but since the arrival of Stellar Enterprises and TaggeCo, that all had changed. Not since the days of heavy dumping onto the planet had it seen so much activity as it did now. The space above the planet was becoming more and more cluttered with space traffic after each month. It was not all outgoing either, many more goods were starting to make it onto the planet as the economy proceeded to boom rapidly.

Factories and processing planets were starting to grow on the surface, increasing output almost daily. It was going so well that in some parts around the capital, one could now actually see the ground of the planet. Soil that had been poisoned with various metals of course, but it was ground none the less.

Everyday orders were coming in for the cheaper recycled metals that were now "mined" on Belgaroth. Some of these orders were actually from companies that had manufactured the hulls Stellar Enterprises was now reprocessing, it was somewhat ironic.

Expansion and profit, however, also had the habit of attracting the attention of less respected beings in galactic society. Pirates had heard of the new growth of Belgaroth and the increase of freight traffic between it and the core worlds. After a few successful raids on the first of many lightly protected convoys, larger numbers of pirates had moved into the core in order to get their share as well.

While these raids were usually not very successful, they were having an effect on shipping and making the company loose money, as well as enraging buyers that could not receive what they had ordered. Stellar Enterprises Defense Forces were stretched somewhat thin do the fast growth of the company and the every increasing sales of military ships to other planets. Because of all these facts, Rob Stellar had given approval to construct a new shipyard over Belgaroth.

It had been over three long months, but finally the large shipyard was coming to completion. The yard was a massive piece of work, almost ringing Tregan, one of Belgaroth's two moons, and was starting to produce capital escort ships that helped protect the convoys leaving the planet. The ships were put into service almost as fast as they were produced.

Special plants had even been designed on Belgaroth to produce materials for the building of both ships and the construction yards. Each hour groups of ships departed the surface for the moon to drop of their loads before going back to Belgaroth for more. What had once been a useless barren moon was now finally serving a purpose other then fire practice.

However, what the outside world could not seen, was that under the moon's crater covered surface, more construction was going on. The moon itself would be turned into a large military and defense instillation. It would house internal military factories as well as hangers and troop stations. Hard working crews worked around the clock to carve out the moon's interior and transform it into livable space.

It was called a Binder-class Frigate, and it was fresh off the lines from the new Stellar Enterprises shipyard over Belgaroth. One of the first of its kind, it was fast, powerful, and state-of-the-art; and Stellar wanted Jarvis to take it out for a spin.

"Belgaroth Traffic Control, this is the Fallen Sword, requesting priority exit clearance from the Belgaroth System."

"Fallen Sword, this is Belgaroth Traffic Control, priority clearance is confirmed; please proceed on standard exit vector."

The comm cut off, and Jarvis stood from his captain's chair, taking a moment to look to each of the members of his bridge crew. "Do not forget those who have fallen, that you might rise; do not forget our comrades, our friends. . . our brothers. They died, that you might live; they stood between life and death, that the darkness might claim them, and leave you to carry on.

"Our lives are not our own; they have been bought with a price. . . a price that was paid in blood. We have been marked by the seal of that blood, and now we bear the destinies of the fallen; we now live to fulfill the unfinished duties of those who died to sustain our lives. Do not forget what you owe them, but above all, do not forget that they are still depending on you. Take us out; we have lives' works to do."


* * *


They were one against three. . . well, if you wanted to count the freighter with its side ripped open, and the other one spraying fire from its main sublight engine, then they were three against three. It didn't really matter either way, because a pissed Ryn on a Binder-class Frigate was more than a match for the enemy. What were they thinking? Jarvis thought, surveying the wreckage around them. The pirates had attacked the small convoy with full force, tearing through the defenseless group for no apparent reason.

Jarvis didn't know why these "pirates" didn't bother to steal anything, and at the moment, he didn't really care. Looking around at the devastation that had been wrought, and the two freighters that were still partly intact, all he cared about at the moment was making sure those animals never took another innocent life.

"Charge cannons and take us in, full speed." Jarvis didn't know the operational limitations of the frigate, but he had a feeling he was about to test them. The frigate dove into the maelstrom of debris, turning its attention to the largest of the enemy ships. The frigate's main ion cannon fired, followed closely by a barrage from its secondary ion cannons, then it had passed its target, turning to one of the others. In the space of a few seconds, the largest of the enemy ships was almost completely disabled.

The Sword decelerated and leveled the full force of its ion and turbolaser weapons at its next target, taking the opportunity to launch its small complement of starfighters, which streaked away to harass the last enemy vessel. After several seconds of exchanging fire with its target, the Sword fired its main cannon again, leaving its target dead in space. It turned again, its droid fighters falling back to a safe distance as it opened fire on the now-damaged enemy vessel, ion cannons and turbolasers ripping through the vessel's weakened shields, until it, too, was adrift in space.

Jarvis returned his attention to the first vessel, which was limping away at a respectable speed, considering the beating it had taken moments earlier. "This is Jarvis Ragnar of the Fallen Sword, surrender now, and I promise I won't hurt you very much."

Jarvis' offer was met with a cruel laugh. "I'll be back for you; you'll come to loathe this day, the day that you crossed me!"

Jarvis stared blankly out of the viewport, dimly aware of the fading dot on his sensor screen. "Punch it," He said simply, feeling the vibrations of the ship as it accelerated at maximum speed. He thinks he's gotten away. Poor fool. "Stand by with assault droids, and prep the grapplers." The frigate was closing quickly with its target, but before much longer, the enemy ship would be able to jump to hyperspace, and escape the judgment Jarvis was determined to give. "Fire main cannon."

A brilliant beam of energy lanced out and caught the enemy ship squarely in the engine assembly. Grapplers shot out from the frigate seconds later, locking firmly onto the enemy ship and—with the help of the tractor beams—reeled the enemy vessel in. The frigate's forward mandibles opened wider, giving the captured vessel just enough room to reach a pair of hull cutters located at the end of each mandible. Seconds later, the comm channels filled with the sounds of blasterfire and yells of panic, as the frigate's complement of combat droids filed into the enemy ship, systematically subduing its crew.

"Turn us about," Jarvis said grimly, moments later. "We've got people to save, and more ships to board." Stellar had mentioned something about wanting Jarvis to file a performance assessment at the completion of this trial run. Looking around at the destruction those pirates had wrought, then surveying what minor damage had been inflicted in incapacitating and capturing them, Jarvis couldn't help but think that the Binder-class frigate would be one for the history books, possibly as influential and memorable as the Imperator-Star Destroyer, or the CR90 Corvette.

But still, there were more dead. How many had died before Jarvis had been able to intervene? How many innocent lives had been lost, because of the vile, wretched beasts that now lay shackled in the bowels of the ship? Everywhere he went, everything he did, death and loss followed Jarvis. Even in victory, he had to concede defeat. In these dark times, a new question haunted him: Why?

"Mrlsst..."

It was this word that would hopefully change the future of this portion in the vast galaxy, thought Gerko Noplia while observing the broken man seated before him. In his thirty five years as a member of Corellian Security he had witnessed the way interrogations changed over time. Many variations for the extraction of information had been developed and employed over those years. Most were as difficult for the one doing the extraction as for the person being interrogated.

Gerko remembered that while those methods had been quiet effective at getting answers, many times those answers or confessions were false. People under heavy direst would often say anything in order to end the treatment, even if that meant life in prison. So many man hours had been lost over the many years trying to track down false leads. Worse still was how many persons had been convicted because of their false confessions.

As he took a deep breathe, Gerko's lips curled up slightly into one of his satisfaction smiles. Times had indeed changed. The man before him sat cuffed to the metallic table, would have taken hours or days to break years ago, but it had only take over fifteen minutes of questioning and coaxing to make him spill the truth and information needed. There had been no hand laid upon him nor had there been any psychological foul play to make this strong man talk. He would have most likely resisted all of these methods until the very end.

All it had taken to get the man talking were ten milliliters of fluid from a small capsule, injected into the captured man's neck with an injector gun. Called TS-55, the fluid had designed to target a person's neural chemistry within the frontal lobe. This caused the subject to loose all reasoning control, making the formation of lies and deceptions not possible. Any questioned asked would be answered truthfully and completely.

Gerko was rather happy about this development. He had never really been the harsh interrogator and now his older age he began to develop a conscience. The TS-55 gave him a chance to keep his job as well as keep his hands clean.

"Let us see what else we can find out, what do you say?" He cross his arms around his chest and looked across at the pirate captain confined there.