Our Darkest Days: Shadows of Shedu Maad

The Miy'til Starfighter of the Royal Hapan Navy was one of the most beautifully crafted items of technology that Varon Farani had ever encountered. Perfectly balanced, and without a single atom of excess, it was more akin to a finely balanced blade than a starship, and when Varon settled himself into the cockpit, mere inches separating him from space, its light and responsive controls seemed to almost ghost over his very skin, as if it were a suit of armour he slipped on to go dancing amongst the stars.

Behind the controls of a Miy'til Starfighter, Varon felt alive.

As he eased his plane through the torturous maze that encircled the world of Shedu Maad however, that life felt in grievous peril. Bordered by inexplicable gravity wells, and littered with the scattered remains of shattered planets - and shattered ships - the system was as close to a fortress as nature could ever produce.

A microcosm of the Cluster itself, he mused, his fighter tumbling into a gentle roll that defly dodged around a swarm of meteor fragments. For members of the Royal Navy, the planet of Shedu Maad had an almost mystical reputation, and very few had ventured there; even fewer made it out alive.

The fables said that no one could survive an encounter with Shedu Maad. It was Varon's sincere hope that at least part of the fable turned out to be fiction.

Heart fluttering in his chest as adrenaline coursed through his veins, he risked an extra goose of power to his main thrusters, pulling ahead of the formation of fighters he had brought in pursuit of the fugitive Aaron Belargic - the Arbitrator meanwhile remained safely outside, free from the hazards the system presented.

Having served with him for so long, Varon knew how the former Commodore was thinking: no Hapan Commander in their right mind would follow them in here. A hollow breath of laughter escaped from him: clearly, too much time spent exposed to Belargic must have robbed him of all sense and reason.

Without another thought, he applied a little extra thrust, and sped off towards Shedu Maad.

Aboard the bridge of her diplomatic barge, Rouslyn Irimore was beyond the point of hysteria. She sat in near catatonia, a blanket draped around her shoulders as a young attendant cooed what she hoped were soothing words in her ear – though to Aaron Belargic, they sounded every bit as raw-nerved and anxious as he felt.

His plan to shake the pursuit of the Hapan Royal Navy by plunging head-first into the Transitory Mists had failed. With trademark determination, the Arbitrator had needed only three quarters of an hour to locate its prey. The diplomatic barge Belargic had become the impromptu captain of was nowhere near equipped to out-run a Hapan Nova-class battle cruiser. The barge's sole tactical advantage was its size, a fact which the former Commodore had been determined to use to his advantage.

The plan had even worked, for a while. The wove around the many pitfalls of the Maad system at a leisurely place, putting an array of fortuitously located traps between themselves and the pursuing Arbitrator – but that had only slowed the warship. Not it's fighters. A warning shot from one of the Miy'til starfighters screamed by the port side of the diplomatic barge

“All power to rear shields,” Belargic barked, his brow furrowed and his teeth set. Ordinarily a man of composure, even in the heat of battle, the insurmountable odds and thoroughly unwieldy resources at his disposal had Belargic somewhat vexed

“Shields, sir?” a timorous voice asked. “Th-there are no shields.”

Aaron rounded on the source of the voice. It was one of the rosy-cheeked adolescents in Rouslyn Irimore's employ, barely old enough to be pried from his mothers breast let alone wearing the blue and gold of the Hapan Navy. “What do you mean, no shields?”

“We're a diplomatic vessel, sir. We have no need of shields.”

“No need? Last I checked, diplomacy couldn't repel laser bolts!” Aaron retorted, throwing a hand out towards the port-side view-port, where a Miy'til was jostling its way into view. “Blast it! All power to the rear thrusters then,” he said, stomping his way to the ship's controls. Through the forward view-port, Shedu Maad was fast rising up to meet them.

It was every last ounce of strength and determination required to keep the appearance of calm amid their increasingly desperate flight from the Queen Mother. Elaine was past feeling fear for her life. She'd run that well empty at this point. She was exhausted at keeping up the pretense that she was anything more than spent by the chase. She sat across from Rouslyn, not even bothering to look out the viewport at the rapidly-approaching kaleidoscope of rocky detritus that spelled out their great peril.

Her mind was tired. Tired of thinking where they would run after this? Where would they travel that they would not be pursued? Sleep would be so wonderful, if only.

Fighter muscling alongside the stolen ship, Vansen threw his thrusters to full power; but with Shedu Maad looming ahead of them, gravity was coming into play, and there the shuttle had a clear advantage. His jaw clenched as his fighter clawed its way forwards, inching towards an opportunity to sweep in front; block Aaron's path -

A siren wailed on his console; an explosion of surprise widened Varon's eyes, and furrowed his brow. Contacts had burst from nowhere, peppering his sensor display with angry flecks of red. Their course battled against gravity - not meteors or debris - and their speed was phenominal, sending them racing towards them -

The marker for one of his pilots blinked, and then vanished, as the leading edge of the crimson swarm met with the Hapan formation. Ice froze in his stomach as Varon's sensors resolved what was inbound. Fighters. Enemy fighters.

Hauling back hard on his stick, he peeled away from the stolen craft, banking hard towards the fray as he jammed a finger into the comms. There was no room spared in his tone for request or respect - just pure command. "Aaron. Get out of here. Now."

It might have seemed surreal, to hear Captain – Commodore – Farani's voice snarling out the black at him, but Aaron was long beyond surreal now. He had bid a fond farewell to implausible many hours ago and normal was merely a speck on the horizon, lost in the dust-cloud thrown up by his flight. He spared a glance for the Princess and felt his heart leap into his throat as a blaster-bolt collided with the barge and threatened to toss Elaine to the ground, the rest of the ships passengers sprawling this way and that as if they had been thrown upon a wave.

Knuckles white as he gripped the steering yoke, Aaron willed the barge to hold steady in its course. Get out of here, echoed Varon's voice in his mind – but where in the galaxy would be any less perilous to him? This is what you deserve, a grim voice countered, as what was undoubtedly a band of pirate raiders swarmed around them.

"That...that was a laser blast!"

She'd seen the flash, illuminating the interior briefly like a peel of lightning on the sky. She was initially outraged, thinking this to be a ploy by her mother to purchase hers and Aaron's obedience with their lives, but Commodore Farani's voice betrayed something else.

"...who?"

Working to her feet, she dared to venture forward to get a look, her features long-since the point of showing fear, were etched simply in bewildered confusion.

“Pirates.”

Aaron spat the word with venom. There were few callings in life that disgusted the Hapan people more than piracy. Even Aaron, beyond the point of return in a traitorous flight from the Hapan Queen, felt inflamed by the thought of pirates laying their hands on a single inch of Hapan property or -stars forbid – capturing the Princess herself. He watched with envy as Varon swung his starfighter away, its dexterity far beyond the sluggish march of the diplomatic barge. A violent shove of the shuttles controls merely elicited a groan, as the barge continued its inevitable descent towards Shedu Maad, the planets own gravitational pull drawing them ever onwards.

“Everyone, brace yourself,” Belargic called out, as the planets atmosphere buffeted the ship, the impact one more in an endless procession of tremors to shudder through the ship. From somewhere on board, Aaron could smell smoke and warning lights flashed before him, each one confirmation that the pirates laser cannons were not failing to hit their target.