The Stone of Rondox

The Stones of Rondox is the first story in the Grand Design story arc, written by Anti-Umbridge league. The story is set in the unexplored Grimble arm, where the communist Chen civilisation are the most successful empire.

The Chen come under a new threat when an alliance of pirates steal the legendary Stones of Rondox, an ancient weapon, from a team of Chen archaeologists. Worried about the threat the stone poses, a group of Chen specialists are sent to recover the stone.

Meanwhile, an old enemy of the Chen has re-ermerged and is planning its revenge against the Chen. But even as their shadowy leader decides his next move in a long game against the Chen, one of his most trusted allies is plotting his own rise to victory. Now, two empires will come together in a vicous duel for power and glory...

Chapter One: Dissections
The Lucky Shot, a luxury cruiser, glided through space, as it had been doing for nearly two weeks. The next destination was Agillius, a planet just 3 sectums away. The morning was a normal one, for the passangers at least. Two hours earlier, an announcement had told the holidayers that their two day stop in Agillius would begin that evening, and that they would arrive in 6 hours. But apart from the general air of excitement, the tourist's day was going as planned.

But for the crew, a situation on the brig was quickly spiralling out of control. A warbird-class pirate vessel- heavily armed, extremely dangerous- was approaching- the captain could have said pursuing- the Lucky Shot, and failing to make any kind of transmission. The Lucky Shot was too far from any other ship to radio for assistance, and they would not get to Agillius quickly enough to escape the warbird. The chief science officer, with the captain at that moment, was explaining the predicament to the Captain.

"We cannot escape the warbird. At this speed, it will be on us within firing range within half an hour." The officer paused a moment. "I'd suggest that we prepared passangers to abandon the ship if the need arises."

The captain, careful not to make any rash decisions, acted sceptically. "What if it's a merchant ship, or another completely innocent craft? I don't want to overreact if there is no need."

The science officer wiped his forehead before continuing. "I am not skilled in recognising ships, but I know that particular class of warbird is used by many pirate and criminal organisations. This cruiser itself is worth many hundreds of robles, and many passangers will have a lot of money. They could be considering an attack, and I don't think that, in this situation, you can overreact."

Aware that his time was running out, the captain moved quickly. "Get the passangers into transporters, and signal them to evacuate if necessary. If it does come to battle, the transporters need to head to Agillius. We'll hold them off here."

***

The line of evacuees was stretching backwards endlessly down the corridor, shuffling slowly into the hangars where several hundred transporters waited to carry people onwards to Agillius.

The first shot was sudden, and took everybody by surprise. The ship pitched down for a second, thrusting screaming Chen into each other. The lights flickered, before cutting out altogether, thrusting the panicking passangers into darkness and chaos. The disorderly crowd, shouting and shrieking, struglled forwards as the cruiser buckled under the force of a second shot, then a third.

The cruiser's structure groaned as shell after shell penetrated the Lucky Shot's armour, shrapnel spreading through the ship and cutting people in half. Bodies were picked up by whaffs of flame, and thrown through the ship wall and into the void of space.

Whilst the passangers pushed and shoved their way to the escape pods and transports, the captain and his men were busy organising the defense of the ship. The captain had slowed down as the warbird open fired on the Lucky Shot to make it seem as though it were damaged. Really, he wanted to draw the warbird towards them, so that they could fight the pirates off whilst the passangers escaped.

His plan certainly seemed to be working. As the last transports sped away from the carnage and runined cruiser, the warbird drew alongside the cruiser and large docking stations punched through the cruiser's walls, into the corridor. The docking stations opened up, revealing lines of pirates, each armed with powerful razor guns. The pirates released a torrent of gunfire into the defender's lines, cutting men down without giving them a chance.

Another docking station smashed through the wall of the cruiser, blasting a group of soldiers to bits. The captain was thrown to the floor as he watched, in horror, the doors slide open and pirates clamber out. The captain, a gun in his hand unleashed a shot into the first eager pirate to jump out of the docking station.

The captain fell back behind a piece of wreckage lying on the floor, whilst a multitude of pirates and crooks ran forward towards the defenders and the captain, who let lose a blaze of fire at the pirates. One of the captain's unfortunate men didn't duck quickly enough as a crack shot from a pirate took his head off, and he fell to the floor.

The captain, full of rage and horror, turned, and picked himself from the floor. Screaming a shout full of rage and madness, he picked his fallen comrade's weapon from the floor, and fired straight into the mob. He couldn't see; his vision was impaired by a red, furious cloud, but he fired anwyay, unable to see his enemy's corpses piling up. His gun clicked empty, and he felt a sting just above his heart. The last thing he heard before unconsciousness took him was a voice, saying "I want that one alive."

***

When the captain awoke, he was lying on a stone slab in a room he did not recognise. He realised he was probably on the warbird. The room was dark, but he could make out an approaching shadow. As he watched, the shadow took shape as a large alien, with an incredibly crushed human face. The alien had one eye, in the direct centre of it's head. The captain realised he was naked.

"Captain Castalona, I presume?" the alien inquired. "You can call me Lord Jagos". The captain simply glared. Jagos sighed, before continuing. "You can drop the act. I am not hear to get information from you. My purpose is not to torture you. I have a far worse prospect in mind.

"Several millenia ago, my people were sophisticated, powerful and a force to be reckoned with. In fact, their only problem was a rival superpower, called the grelp. The grelp ended up destroying my people, and taking their land for themselves.

"Though the grelp presumed us dead, we had fled into the stars, and for years we waited. We tried to rebuild our industry, our economy, our government in peace. But we struggled. Times were hard. There were not enough of us, and we were competing with primitive nations for food and living space." The captain realised he was sweating, and made a conscious effort to control himself. Then, Jagos grabbed a hover table, laden with knives, poisons and chainsaws, and pulled it towards him.

"But we survived. And we promised ourselves revenge," Jagos hissed, practically spitting the last word. "Revenge on the grelp, who destroyed our people. And we have searched."

Jagos walked around to the other side of the slab. "The grelp would have evolved since the last time we encountered each other, but they would bear a close resemblance to the creatures we fought so many years ago. That is why we have investigated the biology of all the creatures we have encountered in our quest for justice." Jagos sighed again. "Unfortunately for you, that tends to work best if they are dead."

The captain was still sweating, but he didn't try to stop it. He simply looked at the blade Jagos held in his hands, that he slowly brought down onto the captain's skin and drew it across, drawing blood.

"Unfortunately for you, it is also a messy procedure, and one that requires a look-see inside you." Two more of the aliens approached, with the hover table's tools in their hands.

"Thank you for volunteering for this project. You have been most helpful," Jagos smiled, but the captain barely heard him, staring as he was at the two new aliens.

"Let the dissections begin," Jagos laughed.