Star Runners: Dark Space

Prologue Captain Rufino Rampa of the Zahl Empire stared at the holographic star charts surrounding Ashia, contemplating the infinite paths to the conflict his people desired. He had chosen the place. Now, he needed the spark. He sipped on the drink, relishing in the artificial energy flowing through his veins. It’d been eighteen hours since his last break, and he needed the extra push. Admiral Dagan Bastek had told him he had discretion with his orders, only stating the Zahlian leaders clamoring for expansion wanted results. After his previous operation to convert Star Runners to loyal Imperial pilots had failed, he knew the patience of his superiors would only last so long. But so far the hours of searching for ways to orchestrate his war had been elusive, distant. The blue message light flashed from the corner of his control panel, signaling he had a message. Leaning back, he shut down the hologram and checked the incoming file. An intelligence summary. After contemplating ignoring the message, Rampa decided to give his mind something else to concentrate on for a moment. Sometimes changing the current thought process helped open up new possibilities. He shook his head. Other times it was procrastination. Rampa tossed the file to his tablet. Cycling through the reports, nothing of interest caught his eye in the initial data. Pirate activity had increased on the borders. A mercenary group had tipped the scales in a revolting Frontier system, probably Legion-supported although it would never be proven. The situation in Jubal-Rald and the talks of secession continued to deteriorate. He nearly closed the tablet until the final report caught his eye. Agent KIA - System Yesro Vraun It was the system formally known as Tarrafa where he’d taken part in the ceremony welcoming the planet into the Zahl Empire. Ryker Zyan had been by his side that day, observing the new governor take control of the occupied world. His stomach turned. Ryker had shown such promise, undoubtedly the best of his subjects. Together they would have started a resurgence in the Zahlian pilot program, rising to rival the talents of the Star Runners so the Empire could count on quality rather than quantity. It would have been a success story for the ages until she was ripped from his clutches by Legion filth. It had pained him to activate the security measure inside her brain when it was evident Legion covert forces were in the process of extracting her. The way he looked at it, she had died in service to the Empire. Concentrating on the file, he read the initial report. Interesting. Unknown forces in the Yesro Vraun system’s auxiliary depot on a remote moon assaulted and murdered numerous personnel including Agent Sy Ballad. Looking away from the file, he searched his memory for Ballad and wondered why the name sounded so familiar. And then it hit him: Ballad had been the primary agent under the command of Sector Regent Knox Tulin during his attempts at destabilizing the Legion. A talented agent, Ballad had been Tulin's most trusted covert operative and the primary liaison with the forces responsible for attacking the world known as Earth. He went deeper into the file. The military police's current theory speculated the incident was an assault from local resistance groups rebelling against Zahlian law, but the resources of a recently annexed system like Yesro Vraun rarely had the means to fully investigate anything. Buried in the file, he found a video of the incident and accessed it. The image shifted to the depot’s cargo bay. Bodies of military police littered the area. A figure ran into the screen, turning to fire at an unseen pursuer behind him. A green flash illuminated the chamber, striking the man in the leg. It had to be Ballad. Rampa leaned forward, watching the engagement unfold. Four short and stocky assailants entered the screen, dressed in sleek black armor and surveying the area with bright yellow eyes. As his wounded leg burned, Ballad slid on his back away from the attackers. One figure in black stomped on the charred leg, pinning Ballad to the deck. Although the video had no sound, Rampa saw Ballad screaming. He turned his attention to the attackers. He’d never seen such armor. Who were these people? A hooded figure strolled into view, marching directly toward Ballad. The four aggressors appeared to defer to the approaching individual, backing away to clear a path to their prey. The flowing robes concealed the newcomer’s frame as the person halted. Rampa couldn’t see his face. Ballad’s expression changed to one of recognition, wincing as he conversed. He shook his head, apparently pleading with the person standing over him. The hooded person raised his hand, and the four figures in black fired their weapons, unleashing smoking green liquid onto Ballad’s head. In seconds, his body had melted into a blob of charred flesh. The lead assailant moved to the wall, using Ballad’s blood to paint Zahlian glyphs on the wall spelling out “traitor” and “liar” in running streaks. Obviously the primary investigator had used these symbols as the reasoning behind blaming local resistance for the crime. But why or how had the oppressed population gone to such lengths to murder an agent of the Empire? Finished with the glyphs, the leader spun around and stomped away from the camera, ignoring the valuable stores worth millions on the black market. Not one container had been opened. The five culprits moved off screen, the leader glancing at the camera for an instant before vanishing. Rampa jolted, rewinding and pausing the image. He enhanced the section of the hooded individual’s face, the screen magnifying. It couldn’t be. He gasped, staring into the face he recognized from Tulin’s past. All files linking Tulin to the man on the screen had been scrubbed, but Rampa remembered seeing this person in the early days of the expansion faction’s efforts to manufacture a war with the Legion. It all made sense. This was no simple attack on occupying Zahlian forces. The assault was focused on Ballad. It was a revenge killing, pure and simple. And it was accomplished with a team capable of infiltrating a Zahlian installation. Folding his arms across his chest, Rampa smiled.