Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 1

The one thing that scared most people about the infinite was that it was quiet. The infinite blackness was something that stretched out past even mankind's vision. It seemed to never end. A large void of inky blackness pockmarked with stars, all eerily quiet, like a tomb. Even the largest of things, such as the large space carrier that skimmed the atmosphere of the blue marble of a planet that was below it, moved silently like a ghost. It's sleek white and grey chrome shone when the sun reflected off of it's hull. It's four massive ion engines pulsated with blue energy, propelling the ship on it's course. The power put off by them could annihilate an entire planet, but were instead used to power this massive ship. Compared to the carriers of the past, they would have been dwarfed compared to this behemoth. The giant black letters on the side of the carrier declared it's name to those who passed it. It was known as the Independence Zero, the newest and most powerful battle carrier in the Spacial Fleet of the Galactic Defence Federation. It had been under construction for almost six years, it's existence kept a secret from anybody except those who worked on it, and the ones who were closest to the High Monarch himself. It was built for one purpose, which was to carry a secret cargo, one that would change the fate of the galaxy. And the one who was in control of this cargo was no one other then the person who was more than happy to be in control of it: Director Julian Gottlieb.

Currently, he was on the main control deck, watching as the ship moved forward in it's progress through the infinite. They were on their way to Maxima 1 to present their new field test results to the High Monarch, and drop off a certain important prisoner that Gottlieb had been most pleased to have aboard. They had captured her during the attack on the Avalon Zeta a few weeks ago. She had put up a decent fight, but eventually everyone breaks. All you needed to do was find the weakest point...and push. To make things even more simple, Gottlieb knew this prisoner, and had her psychiatric profile on hand. She was putty in his hands. She still hadn't revealed the location of her comrades or the Resistance. Or, more importantly, the locations of the other Pieces. He was getting impatient, and the High Monarch needed an answer. He would soon have something to show, at least. The prisoner had been a thorn in Gottlieb's side for a long time, and he was relived to finally be rid of it. This would hopefully rebuild his reputation amongst the GDF. He touched the scar that was now across his right eye, flinching from the slight pain. He remembered back to that day on the Avalon Zeta. The smoke in his eyes, the crack of the repeater, the pain shooting across his eyes...Metreo. That was his name. He had made sure that he wouldn't forget him. And Gottlieb hadn't. He wouldn't until he was dead and buried. Or at least given a few minutes alone with Gottlieb first. Not only that, Project EO had run away, and he couldn't be controlled anymore. Gottlieb had become the laughingstock of the GDF overnight. But this would guarantee his revenge. It would be the final nail in the coffin for the GDF's control of the galaxy.

As he stood there, his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a technician at one of the many terminals. "Director? You'd better come look at this." Gottlieb walked over to the terminal and leaned down. He was looking at the long-range scanner system that the ship had installed, and saw that there appeared to be nothing. "What exactly did you wish to show me, Private?" The technician gulped and continued. "Well sir, I had been showing nothing on the scopes for a few hours now, and I checked the high-range scanners as usual every few minutes, then found something interesting." He flipped a switch, and the screen turned a dark shade of red, and revealed a small silhouette that hadn't been there before. It was slowly moving towards the ship. "The thing is, when I switched back to regular scanning, the object is gone." He turned back to the green screen of regular scanning, and the small shape was indeed gone. "Do you think it could be a glitch, sir?" The technician looked up and asked Gottlieb, but he wasn't listening. He was fixated on the spot where the object was. His eyes showed surprise and recognition, then his face spread into a small smile, then a serious expression. He stood up and spoke to the entire deck. "Red Alert. Switch to high-powered scanning. Target the ship to our port side. Take it out." Alarms began to flash and the technicians all called out the location of the ship on the scanners as Gottlieb looked out to where it was. Like lambs to the slaughter. He thought as he smiled to himself.

A few thousand metres off of the port bow of the Independence Zero, there was seemingly nothing. Every gun on that side of the ship swivelled to that direction, and began to fire several laser bolts. Each of them appeared to shoot off into deep space, aiming for an empty space. Then, all of a sudden, as if by some form of magic, a ship appeared out of nowhere. It was a grey dropship that had been stolen from the GDF years ago, and had seen combat worse than this before, and could disappear and reappear at a moment's notice. This ship was known as the Renegade. And it was on a mission. It seemed to weave and dodge in between the large laser bolts, and fire back a few of it's own in retaliation. It was unstoppable as it's engines pushed it closer and closer to the gargantuan ship. Then, unexpectedly, the back door of the Renegade opened in midflight, and something slid out of the back of it. The smaller craft backed out, then unfolded it's wings, flying forward alongside the Renegade. This was the Swift, a Vulcan-class starfighter, and it was on the same mission as the Renegade. The two ships flew side-by slide, flying up and around each other like a synchronized dance. Then, the Swift boosted it's engines, and flew ahead of the Renegade straight towards the ship. It began to strafe across the exterior of the Independence Zero's main deck and it's engines. The guns fired at it, but it was too small and fast to be hit. It flew back and forth, and dove through the ships defences. Meanwhile, the Renegade flew to one of the many docking bays, and fired their laser bolts at the emergency airlock release on the side. The bay opened, and several items and ships came flying out. The ship brushed all of this off and landed. The blast doors closed behind the ship, and security teams immediately entered the hangar and surrounded it. They aimed their weapons. "Surrender now and drop your weapons!" Then, the back door opened, and a black blur rushed out and cut down most of the men, along with a barrage of gunfire. The security captain was pinned to the floor by a black sword, and found himself with a hi-powered repeater in his face. Nolun Metreo stared down at the man and narrowed his eyes. "Listen carefully, because I'm only going to ask you once. Where. Is. Andress. Lovecraft?"