Meanwhile... Bespin Space
The seven warships of the Union Exploratory Fleet - or rather, the five warships and their sharp-eyed partners - drifted almost aimlessly through space. A half a dozen parsecs behind them lay the wreckage of a dozen or more Gallofree transports and their ill-fated escorts, victims of a sneak attack from a yet-unknown source.
In front of them lay darkness, as if a curtain of deep black had been pulled down in front of them and wiped away the stars. It was only natural, of course. This deep in space stars were a rare luxury, and not often seen with the naked eye.
But the infinite darkness was still... unsettling. As if something was very wrong indeed out there. It seemed to go on forever. A muted, dark colour that filled the forward view ports and cast a dark shadow across everything in its path. There was simply ...nothing... behind the thin transparisteel viewport that separated the ship from the rest of the galaxy. No stars in site, no planets, no asteroids or debris or anything. Just a vast, unending, emptiness...
Aboard the Reckless Abandon
Vice-Admiral "Slim" Kodaq tapped his fingers restlessly against the armrest of the command chair. This patch of space, not unlike the two others they had seen since examining the convoy wreckage, was empty. It seemed almost a useless gesture - with so much empty space in the galaxy how could one tiny fleet expect to find anything, much less an even smaller fleet that had torn a convoy to ruin?
Slim would have thought it a useless gesture, had he not been one of the most patient men in the Home Defence Corps Fleet. Hence, his assignment to the Union Exploratory Fleet. Upon assigning the command of the Reckless Abandon and her support ships (two of which were actually bigger than his flagship), he distinctly remembered the words of the Polemarch of the Fleet, Trayden Locke... "The Exploratory Fleet isn't something we've used before, so I can't offer much. But from my experiance, patrolling and the like is boring work. So I think that you might find some of what your new command does boring... but it is as important to the Union of Free Worlds as what Scorpion Fleet does."
He had laughed then. Scorpion Fleet, one of the two operational Union Battle Groups (Alpha Type), was perhaps the most celebrated fleet in the Union, and certainly the best known. But seeing now that the Verbitim was stationed over Thyferra doing less than nothing, he was inclined to agree. At least out here there was... well, nothing. But it felt like he was doing something.
"Right, then. Prepare the fleet to jump. We have three more targets and then we're back to Bespin for the arrival of another convoy."
He smiled and sat back as the Union Exploratory Fleet raced forward and made the jump to hyperspace...
The seven warships of the Union Exploratory Fleet - or rather, the five warships and their sharp-eyed partners - drifted almost aimlessly through space. A half a dozen parsecs behind them lay the wreckage of a dozen or more Gallofree transports and their ill-fated escorts, victims of a sneak attack from a yet-unknown source.
In front of them lay darkness, as if a curtain of deep black had been pulled down in front of them and wiped away the stars. It was only natural, of course. This deep in space stars were a rare luxury, and not often seen with the naked eye.
But the infinite darkness was still... unsettling. As if something was very wrong indeed out there. It seemed to go on forever. A muted, dark colour that filled the forward view ports and cast a dark shadow across everything in its path. There was simply ...nothing... behind the thin transparisteel viewport that separated the ship from the rest of the galaxy. No stars in site, no planets, no asteroids or debris or anything. Just a vast, unending, emptiness...
Aboard the Reckless Abandon
Vice-Admiral "Slim" Kodaq tapped his fingers restlessly against the armrest of the command chair. This patch of space, not unlike the two others they had seen since examining the convoy wreckage, was empty. It seemed almost a useless gesture - with so much empty space in the galaxy how could one tiny fleet expect to find anything, much less an even smaller fleet that had torn a convoy to ruin?
Slim would have thought it a useless gesture, had he not been one of the most patient men in the Home Defence Corps Fleet. Hence, his assignment to the Union Exploratory Fleet. Upon assigning the command of the Reckless Abandon and her support ships (two of which were actually bigger than his flagship), he distinctly remembered the words of the Polemarch of the Fleet, Trayden Locke... "The Exploratory Fleet isn't something we've used before, so I can't offer much. But from my experiance, patrolling and the like is boring work. So I think that you might find some of what your new command does boring... but it is as important to the Union of Free Worlds as what Scorpion Fleet does."
He had laughed then. Scorpion Fleet, one of the two operational Union Battle Groups (Alpha Type), was perhaps the most celebrated fleet in the Union, and certainly the best known. But seeing now that the Verbitim was stationed over Thyferra doing less than nothing, he was inclined to agree. At least out here there was... well, nothing. But it felt like he was doing something.
"Right, then. Prepare the fleet to jump. We have three more targets and then we're back to Bespin for the arrival of another convoy."
He smiled and sat back as the Union Exploratory Fleet raced forward and made the jump to hyperspace...