On a routine
trading mission
in the backwater
Karonus system
your merchant
ship, the
PRINCESS BLUE
picks up a
Small Craft
Distress Beacon.~"No life readings," says Captain
Dalfree. "Looks like a derelict.
You're on EVA duty, Private, so scope
it out. Make it quick! We're behind
schedule."~As you pull on your vacc suit, you
wonder what blew the derelict.
~
Thruster fritz?~ Pirates?
~
Surely not a Manchi attack, not this
deep into the Far Arm!~With reactionless thrusters you
maneuver smoothly toward the derelict.
The airlock plaque identifies it as
the JOLLY ROGER, a Sunracer-class
scoutship registered in the Deneb
system.~You allow yourself
to relax a little.

After all, what
self-respecting
pirate would pick
a name like that?~The airlock opens at a touch...~and
cycles you smoothly in. Not blown
after all!

~Garnet laser, memory banks intact --
she seems A-OK, if a bit spartan.~What went wrong?~"ALERT! ALERT!
screams a voice
in your helmet
mike. ~You rush
to the cockpit
to see the
PRINCESS BLUE.~
She's under
attack... by
Manchi Vulture-
class hiveships!~
"Evac, evac!" the
helmsman shouts.
"Scramble, scra-"~And the battle is over. Before you can
blink, the Manchi plasma torps strike
the PRINCESS's unshielded thrusters.
The helpless merchant explodes in a
flare of radiation.~The Manchi ignore
your derelict
ship. As suddenly
as they appeared,
they vanish into
the depths of
space~You sit in a battered scoutship far
from the nearest Imperial Starbase.
~
