The Borei

[Leo]

Day 6

I aimed my ship towards the sector the Outcast had given me and plotted my course through the field near Falkland in Tau-37. If I was to find any answers, it would be with what he had given me. Then again, he could have just setup an ambush to kill me before I got to my destination. My cruise engines leapt to life and pulled me into my seat as my Nyx took flight. As I flew, a ship came onto my radar from Falkland. The fighter was untagged and was on an intercept course for me. Something was off about this.

The ship dropped out of cruise and fired a cruise disruptor at me. I banked hard right but the cruise disruptor still hit my engines and I stalled. Two more fighters appeared out of nowhere and began pelting my shields. I dodged, banked, rolled, I tried everything but the pilots were too good. I scanned their ships quickly looking for any kind of identification. None. They were like ghosts. No IFF no ID...this was bad.

I dove back into the cloud and as I made a run for the Tau-23 jumphole, they called after me.

"Don't be digging where things don't concern you, Miner. Let the Borei go...or else you'll face destruction."

---

I was outraged, I had been attacked by my own people, I was certain of it. For what reason I don't know...whatever the Borei were, they were such a big deal within the IMG that they had to send people out to kill me to prevent me from finding out? I was outraged. I sat in my quarters waiting for my ship to be repaired after the fight. I had taken some damage and flak to the engines and the ship was hardly able to make it back to the station without dying.

My door alerted me to the presence of someone outside. "Come in." I said.

On the other side was one of the councilors. He walked in quickly and shut the door behind him, locking it. He put his arms behind his back and looked at me for a moment before he began to speak.

"I heard about what happened, Karl." he said.

"Did you nowabout how I almost got killed by our own people?" I replied with a snarl.

The councilor sighed and looked behind him for a second then continued.

"I didn't authorize that, Karl. The others did, you're digging too deep. Stop it, I ask you as a concerned leader."

"What are the Borei, councilor?" I said. "Apparently it's important enough to try to kill one of our own, so if it's so damned important why not just tell me?"

"The Borei are...they are...something you should not be looking into. They're dangerous...very dangerous...we were fools to explore those systems, and we alerted them to our presence..."

"They're not Nomads, are they?"

"No, Karl, they're much worse than that...stop searching. You have your answer. You didn't hear any of this from me...get some sleep, they want you back at work tomorrow."

The councilor left the room allowing the door to slide shut behind him. I wouldn't be at work tomorrow; I packed up my things and walked to the ship bay. I sold my ship to the auctioneer after removing the weapons off the hull and purchased a Raven's Talon on the station with my spare money; I had the weapons changed out and took the ship back into Tau-37. I wasn't going to work for someone who tried to kill me.

---

As soon as I came into the system, I launched for the same sector again and began my trek. Within 20 minutes, I came to a hole labeled by the computer as "Unknown". It wasn't phase aligned and it looked like it had been forced that way, as if by a very large ship had passed through it and knocked it off its alignment. My ship would be able to pass through, but it would be a very rough ride.

I docked with the jumphole and felt like the ship was going to come apart around me. Within a few minutes I was in another system. The computer read it as unknown and no map was appearing on the screen. The computer screamed at me that there was too much radiation in the system and the hull was already corroding. In the distance, I made out station wreckage. It was human in origin. I moved slowly towards it and inspected the damage. It had been ripped to shreds; the only part that survived was a docking port that was inoperative.

"Yyuman'hrrrre?" something said over the comm channels. I froze in place in the cockpit. "Yuuu'n'cmmmm'hrrrre'nnnnymrrrre" The voice said again. It sounded like it was trying to speak in the human tongue, but I could hardly understand it. It had a hissing overtone in its voice and it sounded eerie. "Nass'Borei Yyuman'jyaxx!" it yelled and a ship came on the scanners. The ship buzzed me at an impossible speed. The ship shook as it did. Over the comms came hissing, it sounded almost like laughter.

"I'm just looking for answers!" I said over the comms.

"Yyuman'nddddd'n'anssssssrrrrs"

The ship buzzed my ship again at high speed again and once more the ship shook. The ship was moving at 1500m/s as it buzzed me, nearly the speed of a trade lane. That was impossible. The speed should tear the ship apart...that was faster than CRUISE speed. The last pass was the last, the ship didn't come back, it didn't make any more transmissions...but I still waited.

Nothing.

I looked to the station's docking platform and sighed. If I were going to get any answers, it would be here. I maneuvered my ship to the docking port and initiated the docking sequence...

---

You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark.

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Starlight Research Consortium | The Banished Legion | Astral
[OOC]Junker Gameplay Loop Suggestion | [OOC]Boneyard Mining Suggestion