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August 27, 2342 - Luxuria; Bridge

(6:02 PM) {Twelve Hours Ago}

The day had come; the Luxuria was now on the verge of reaching Mors Mortis prison. From where they were, it would only take them roughly eight minutes to reach Mors Mortis in hyperspace. However, Kathy dropped the ship from the max speed of hyperspace to its lowest well out of the system Mors Mortis was in.

"Why'd we drop our speed? We're not there yet are we?" Sylvia asked after walking onto the bridge.

Setting the ship on autopilot, Kathy stood and looked at those currently on the bridge. Quickly glancing over Albert, James and Sylvia; who had just walked in, she said "We're a little less than an AU (Astronomical Unit) from Mors Mortis. We're still a few hours out now at current speed and I'd rather sneak in nice and easy rather than alert them to an inbound ship."

"Ah, cleaver." James said as Albert nodded in agreement before asking "I take it since we haven't entered the system yet, Mors Mortis must be one of the outer planets?"

"If the data Lliam gave us is correct then it should be one of the three outer planets." Kathy answered.

"So, what are we going to do when we get there then?" Sylvia asked.

"As I told Albert a while back, this ship is best for infiltrating enemy territory; that being only because this ship was designed as a smuggler. So we're going to do a bit of recon. There's not much known about Mors Mortis in public databases, the only ones who have any info are those that take prisoners there, so it'll be better if we take a look see before going in guns blazing and all that."

"And what do we do when we attempt to find Sara, Aurora and Rrahkarr?" Lliam asked; having heard the most of what Kathy said as he and Nate walked onto the bridge.

Looking over at them she responded with "Depends, but I know for sure you five are going to need some protection... how 'bout we get you some power armor?"

"You have spares?" Nate asked when the sensors started beeping.

Since Albert was sitting at the controls, he started checking them. After a few moments he turned to Kathy and said "We got a ship out there running very silently... your sensors suggest a pirate."

A frown forming on her muzzle, she walked over and checked them herself. Just as she took a look, the ship dropped off the edge of the sensors. "Well it looks like it's heading off in a different direction so we're fine, at least for the moment." She said as she started to head off the bridge. "Come on, follow me."

*******

Luxuria; Armory

(6:10 PM)

Following Kathy into her armory, everyone stopped and looked around as she walked up to the wall on the far end. The room was filled with racks that shelved ammo for several kinds of weapons that were present. Some were phase based weapons and others were energy based with there being side arm sized guns up to full scale assault rifle sized weapons. There were also a few larger weapons than those.

Placing her hand behind the rack on the far end of the room resulted in the wall next to her moving to the side. Inside this secret compartment was a large machine that looked like a bulky version of a clothing replicator. Stepping up to it and activating it Kathy turned and said "Okay, who's first?"

"Okay I know the clothes I wear look like shit but come on!" James joked.

Kathy just gave him a look before calling him a smartass. Both Sylvia and Kathy chuckled when they realized they had both called him a smartass at the same time. Since he had spoken up, Kathy decided to use him as the guinea pig and commanded him to stand where the machine could scan him. After some teasing from the guys he stood where she told him.

After inputting information into the machine, two large arms swung out and down from the machine to almost completely surround James on both sides. The ends of these arms looked like they were each one half of a tube like structure. James had flinched at first when the machine surrounded him and began it scans; a moment later he was completely enclosed inside when the arms closed shut around him.

The guys had laughed when he flinched but now were looking on with a little concern, which turned to surprise when the machine opened up. James was covered from head to toe in an advanced suit of power armor. The armor was not light but nor was it heavy, he was wearing a medium type of power armor.

James' power armor was armored and reinforced in the front and back with lighter but still strong armor on the sides. This included the armor on his legs but his arms were more armored on the front and outer side's only; with the lighter armor on the back and inner sides closer to his body.

James turned to face everyone and started speaking but the others just stared at him. He asked them what was wrong but again they remained silent. He noticed Nate open his mouth and started speaking but he couldn't hear him. A tap on his helmet caused him to look at Kathy who imitated taking off a helmet.

Once he removed the helmet Kathy said "While wearing the helmet the only way to communicate is with others who are on the same comm channel your helmet is set to. Now like I just told them, the type of power armor you have is a Combat Armor; not to heavy but not light either. It's best for those who like decent amounts of protection and who like to be able to move around if needed."

"Hmm seems like the kind I'd wear." James said as he moved to see how cumbersome and restrictive the armor was.

Turning to the others Kathy said "Now while I can guess what Lliam will want and know the only type that'll fit Albert, what type do you two want?"

"What types are there?" Nate asked as he and Sylvia examined the armor James was wearing.

"Well like I said, his is a Combat Armor. The one that is lighter than his is the Recon Armor and the one I think Lliam would want." Kathy said and at the looks James, Albert and Sylvia gave her she added "When I first met him he tore the Outcasts version of Combat Armor off one of their dead. He then ripped the arms and shoulders off of it, leaving only chest peace because it was too restrictive for him."

"I remember that, he was wearing it when he convinced us to join you." James said.

She nodded her head at what James said before she finished with "Then there is the heavy version. It's the Assault Armor... and I'm afraid it's the only size big enough for you to wear Albert."

"That's fine but is that machine even big enough to scan me?" Albert asked with a grin.

"Only one way to find out..."

A little while later, everyone was wearing power armor. Sylvia had chosen the Combat Armor and Nate joined Lliam in Recon Armor. Albert had managed to fit; if but barely, and be scanned, a few moments later and he was wearing a bulky suit of power armor. His Assault Armor was heavily armored and reinforced all the way around.

The Recon Armor that Lliam and Nate were wearing was lightly armored all around but was reinforced in the front around the chest and abdomen as well as the back and sides to protect the vital organs. The way it was designed allowed the user full movement without being hindered.

"Damn Albert, you look like nothing could stop you man." James said as he banged on Albert's chest.

"I believe that would make him a Juggernaut then." Nate said as James walked over to where Sylvia was looking at Kathy's weapons.

"Even though the Assault Armor is all that'll fit you it can be modified, also it can take a hailstorm of hits and still provide you with protection." Kathy said to Albert as she checked something on his armor.

"How many hits can these take?" James asked as he and Sylvia looked over the weapons Kathy had to offer.

Kathy looked over her shoulder at him and replied "It can withstand quite a beating but if it was under fire like the Assault Armor, it'd last only for a little while before it'll start to fall apart and become useless." Turning around to face Nate and Lliam she said "And the Recon Armor can only take a limited number of hits before you'll start getting injuries."

"Well I really don't have to worry about taking any hits" Lliam said and smiled before adding "Do I?"

"Are you refereeing to your reflexes and speed or your Psionic abilities?" Nate asked. "If you're talking about your Psionic abilities, you better think again." He added with a chuckle.

"Oh come on, I've gotten better at using them."

Smiling Nate told him "You are getting better, but you still may want to rely on your reflexes and not just your Psionic powers for the time being."

"So what kind of weapons can these protect us from?" Sylvia asked.

"All of these armors are TE (Thermal Energy), KE (Kinetic Energy) and CE (Chemical Energy) rated but each armors rating varies. The Assault armor has a higher KE rating but has lower CE rating. The Combat armor has a slightly higher TE rating but is fairly equal all around, while the Recon has a higher CE rating but terrible KE rating." Kathy answered.

Everyone had turned and looked at Kathy as she spoke, when she mentioned CE ratings most of them became confused. It was Lliam who asked the question that most of the other were wondering. "I know what KE and TE type weapons are but... I've never heard of CE types? What kinds of weapons use that?"

"Well, Chemical Energy is what it stands for. The Electus themselves use weapons that rely on chemical reactions rather than Kinetic or Thermal based weapons like the Humanitists and Outcasts. The only reason I know that is because of when I was younger and was held at an Electus facility." Kathy explained.

"Great, weapons we haven't even seen yet!" James said as they started discussing what Kathy had just told them.

As they spoke amongst themselves, Kathy slipped further into the compartment that held the PAR (Power Armor Replicator) and donned her own power armor. They had just noticed she was missing when she walked around the PAR in her Freelancer power armor.

Her armor looked like the Recon and Combat Armor types had been smashed together and heavily modified. While most areas were armored and reinforced, the areas directly around her shoulders, waist and hips were made of a lighter material and allowed more movement than what the Combat Armor allowed but less than the Recon.

There were also multiple accessories attached to her armor. There was a hacking tool attached to her left wrist and a small personal energy shield attached to her right forearm. It looked like she also had a data pad incorporated into the underside of the armors right wrist. Unlike the others armor, her Freelancer name was written in all capital letters on a plate just on top of the chest region.

She gave them a smile as they looked at her armor. "Yes my armor is different from yours only because yours are used as the base for Freelancer power armor and before you ask, it would take too long to modify your armors like mine is for what we're about to do." She said before heading back to the bridge.

*******

Luxuria; Bridge

(7:35 PM)

Lliam was sitting in one of the seats on the bridge, watching the starts go by through the Luxuria's screens. To his left was Kathy; who was at the helm. She had the sensors station slaved to her control board so she could watch them as well as pilot the ship since the others were elsewhere. He looked over to her and noticed she looked; what he thought was, stressed or possibly nervous.

Getting up and walking over to her he asked "Feeling alright?"

Looking up to where he was standing she sighed before saying "A little nervous to tell the truth."

"At what we may face... seeing Rrahkarr again, seeing what happens between Rrahkarr and Sara or... if...?" Lliam asked; not finishing out the last of his question.

Kathy had a forlorn look as she replied "Yeah... I... I hope we don't discover the last."

"How about the second to last, what do you want to happen." Lliam asked as he watched her.

"I'd be selfish if I wished for them not to get back together." She answered after a few minutes before looking at him "Of course I'd love it if he decided to be with me..." she said and looked back down to her controls with a slight smile before adding "But I'd understand if he went back to her."

Nodding his head, he decided to change the topic and asked "How far out are we?"

Checking her sensors she said "We're still... two thirds of an AU out. Give or take a few thousand miles."

Chuckling a little he said "A few thousand?"

"Yeah more like a few hundred thousand actually.

"Damn, why so many?"

"Don't you know the distance of an AU?" She asked.

"Not really, navigation and piloting isn't in my skill set." He chuckled.

"Okay, guess I'll teach you a little about it then unless you're not interested?" She asked

"I don't mind, it never hurts to learn something that could help save your life one day." Lliam said with a smile.

"Alright, we'll start here then." She said as she pulled up a file on one of her screens. "Okay then, for starters one light second is equal to one hundred eighty six thousand two hundred and twelve miles. That is also how fast light travels per second; therefore a Light Second, which is the max speed we can go while in hyperspace; the slowest speed being only nine tenths of light." She said and looked over to him.

"Okay" Lliam said as he nodded his head in understanding. "And I already knew that hyperspace speeds varied from the nine tenths up to full light speed and that everything under hyperspace is handled by the impulse engines."

"Good" She said. Continuing on she explained "Now a single AU is basically five hundred light seconds; four hundred ninety nine if you want to be exact, or roughly eight point three light minutes. So basically we travel one AU every eight minutes in hyperspace. And we're still about three hundred and thirty two light seconds from our destination." Kathy informed him.

"So that's... how many miles?" Lliam asked as he tried to add up the number in his head.

Bringing up a calculator on her screen she did the multiplications and said "Basically sixty two million miles."

He hummed at the number before asking "You said an AU is a little more than eight minutes? If what I remember from school is correct, than the Earth is about one AU from the sun right?"

"Correct, and I'm sure you already know why we have to stop periodically for course corrections yes?" She asked.

"Well..." Lliam said; dragging out the word before adding "I think it's to check where the nearest stars are so we don't collide with them."

"That's half right; it's also so we don't fly to close to a star. If we get to close, the gravity of the star will force us out of hyperspace and could damage the ship and hyperdrive systems. That's why most ships entering solar systems either drop from hyperspace before hitting the system or if their hyperdrive can handle it, exiting about half way into a system; depending on their destination of course." Kathy explained.

"Huh, does that change if the star is a... uh... if it's a red giant or... white dwarf?" Lliam asked; after trying to remember some of the different types of stars.

"Yes, the gravity generated by them changes due to size and type." She nodded. "Some stars gravitational pull is so strong, some ships have to exit hyperspace well out of the system they're heading to." She said when the Luxuria's automated warning for yellow alert went off.

"What's going on?" Lliam asked as Kathy quickly checked the sensors.

"There's a ship approaching... it's about to overtake us." Kathy said and started to raise shields as Albert and Nate rushed onto the bridge.

"What's happening?" Albert asked as he sat down at the sensor station.

"Inbound ship." Lliam said.

"Outbound ship" Kathy corrected as she raced to scan the ship. She managed to scan it just as it fell off the sensors.

"Even at the max speed of hyperspace, there'd be more time before a ship could overtake us and pull away even with us going at this speed!" Nate said.

"We're cranking up the speed!" Kathy yelled as she increased speed to the max.

"Whoa, what about sneaking in?" Nate asked in a worried voice.

"What is it Kathy?" Lliam asked, noticing the look on her face.

"That was the Ira that just flashed by us! It's Rrahkarr's ship and it had the first fully functional FTL Drive on it! The only reason it could be here is if he activated his emergency beacon on his power armor." Kathy told them.

"Then let's give chase!" James said as he and the others arrived on the bridge.

A few minutes later they would drop out of hyperspace at Mors Mortis. No one knew what to expect when they would drop out of hyperspace. For all they knew, they'd be fired upon the moment they arrived. But both Lliam and Kathy knew this was their only chance and they had to risk it. Those few minutes before returning to normal space were a stress filled and nerve racking wait. Even with their military training, they knew what they were about to get into was purely suicide.

The wait was over and the time had come. Kathy brought the ship out of hyperspace with shields raised and weapons armed. But the suspected attack never came. Instead they were greeted by a sight that could be described as an act of genocide and pure destruction.