"We"

[Balance]

The Hraesvelg

The Red Hessian bordering party carefully entered the unidentified derelict cruiser through an already open air lock. All life pods had been launched the vessel was on emergency low power.

The six man team quickly sealed the airlock behind them and tested for pressurization. The atmo-scrubbers and generators were still operational and air pressure slowly began to climb. There were no signs of a fight or damage. The ship was simply...abandoned.

Corporal Hans Gruber began to sweat inside his vac suit. It was too quiet here...nothing seemed right. Yet the find was too fantastic for a small Red Hessian Camara crew to pass up. Rheinland pirate cruisers didn't pop up free everyday--this was an instant captaincy and respect. Weapons drawn, the boarders split into two, three man groups: one advanced towards the bridge and the other headed for engineering. It was no sooner had the parties turned the corner from one another when a large krr-rang! was heard echoing thunderously in the passageways--now fully charged with atmosphere.

The ship shuddered suddenly under the Hessian's feet as the shock wave from the exploding Camara shook the hull of the cruiser. Corporal Gruber heard screams from around the corner and looked in fear at the other two terrified men trapped in the now sealed passageway with him. The steel doors that had pneumatically been slammed into place were inches thick and reinforced alloy. There was no amount of small arms fire going to open them. As Corporal Gruber looked more closely, it was then he noticed the small slots in the door. He opened his mouth to shout a warning but it was cut off by the dull thuds of concussion wafers dropped into the space with them. All three men were instantly rendered unconscious.

When they awoke, they were strapped to tables and a man advanced from the darkness...a man with glowing purple-white eyes and a gurgling, reverberating laugh. Above his head--as if emerging from his own body--a flowered, long tentacle appeared opening its petals to reveal...oblivion.

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