Chapter 7: 7
Wow, this galaxy is much bigger than it seems. After thinking about the Morning War, I just took a Soviet iron ruble from 1964 that I found in one of the cabins and started twirling it with my fingers. And for an hour, the coin refused to fall. I was about to stop it when suddenly the entire porthole lit up bright red. I immediately looked ahead and saw that I had arrived at a red giant. I almost screamed in fear because it seemed like I was only a couple hundred meters away from this colossal body. I didn't even need a computer to understand that this was a red giant. Even a dummy would realize that this wasn't an ordinary star. But the computer immediately provided characteristics.
Star: Red Giant
Distance: 10,000,000,000 km
Dimensions: 2.564*10^12 m
Wow, I'm glad I converted all my calculations to the Alliance metric system beforehand. I struggled with this system for half an hour, it was quite complicated, but I still managed to do it. My nerves are strong, or rather, I don't have any. And then the system gave me something else.
Attention: planet detected.
Attention: ship detected.
Scanning signature...
Scanning complete.
Ship not recognized.
Presumably a cargo ship.
Oops, now that's interesting. Judging by the further indications, the ship is parked on a small planet the size of Mercury, and judging by the readings, the planet doesn't rotate around its axis, so one side of the planet is always day while the other side is always night. And most importantly, the scanners detected a signal source, and in just five minutes of flight, there was already visual contact. It was something like what happened in the first Mass. A small metal convexity, two meters high, round in shape, with one entrance. Ten missile turrets were around it, and also on the entrance itself. The ship took off from an underground hangar nearby. And I decided to listen to their conversation.
"Well, K'sash, good luck with the cargo. Just be careful over there, the market doesn't like damaged goods. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it already, got it. You've been babbling the same thing for the third time now."
"And this is your third flight. You're still a rookie, so I'll keep babbling until it sinks in. Don't talk back to me. Go on, fly already."
"Yeah, yeah." (whispering) "Idiot..."
"What, what?"
"Nothing, just flying, don't distract me. Okay, over and out!" and the connection was cut. The voice analysis immediately told me that it was the Batarians, and the language of the negotiations was the same. So, I remember a few things about Batarians. A race of four-eyed slave traders, pirates, mercenaries, and just really bad... enthusiasts of hardcore activities. So, it seems like these are smugglers. Well, it's time to pay them a visit. I still want to take a walk on the planet anyway. And suddenly, a new transmission was heard.
"G'har, I don't know if you see it on the radar, but there's a quarian frigate, and it seems like it's landing. Right on the planet!"
"Well, well, well, this just got interesting! Alright, it's time to gear up the boys! We're going to have a good catch today!" Damn it, maybe we should avoid them? But no, the system says we can't just fly away. Apparently, I flew too fast at light speed without prior preparation, so the core was heavily overloaded and now needs to rest. Well, okay, let's land on the planet so they don't shoot us, and then we'll try to talk.
"Talk? Are you kidding me? These are Batarians, open your eyes already!" suddenly my conscience spoke up.
"And what? What do you suggest I do with them?" I protested.
"And what?! If you've forgotten, then let me remind you. Batarians are the scourge of this galaxy. They are just ruthless scumbags who love to kill, plunder, and stick their d... ahem, bread in any hole they can find. They're not picky at all. Absolutely anyone is suitable for them. So, they're definitely in high demand. Not to mention the colonies that the Alliance doesn't protect because (grimacing) 'They're in the Terminus Systems.' And by the way, they got what they deserved. Remember where the Reapers came from?"
"I know that, but what do you suggest?" I decided to ask the most important question.
"Kill them! Kill them all! Land the ship, turn off all the lights, and wait for them here. I don't think they're expecting a ghetto here. And also, you have a good rifle. Just take off the suit, it's not very comfortable to run in it."
"Alright. You're right. They're just smugglers anyway. Well, let's go for the landing," I said and steered the ship for landing.
Commander of the Batarian squad, K'har Baltar
I swear, I was stunned when K'sash told us to prepare to take the Quarian frigate. And what on earth are they doing here? Oh well, I've dealt with them before. They're not the best guys around. One good fighter for one landing group, maybe two, it's really hard to take them down. And now, a whole frigate, right on our planet.
But who cares, they have plenty of stuff, and their slaves are worthless anyway, but their equipment is highly valued. Well, it's time to go, I hope they won't resist for too long.
We were traveling for about an hour to this frigate. It simply landed on the surface, but then nothing else happened. I had a bad feeling about it. Quarians rarely leave the Fleet, and their landing parties always move on small landing craft, but here we had a whole frigate! Maybe there was some kind of breakdown or something. Okay, I think we can handle it. There were 50 of us, with 5 armored transports, including one Mako, so everything will be fine. My guys know how to take ships. And finally, we got off the transport. There was no atmosphere on the planet, so we had to bring supplies with us. The gravity was such that if you jumped, you would jump about five meters, and if you ran, it would be about 20 meters for sure. As for sounds, there were none. None at all. Well, let's gather our thoughts. It just seems like something's not right here. Just seems like it, that's all. Our technicians are already trying to break through the door. We don't want to cause a decompression, even though we have air for 10 hours, but who knows how long we'll be there. And finally, the door opened. The first thirty people, including me, entered the airlock, and then began to wait for the pressure to equalize. And then, after a minute, the inner door opened, and we... saw a completely black corridor.
"Okay, everyone turn on your flashlights. Balak, you go to the bridge. Barat, take the hangar. I'll go to the mass core. Report anything strange immediately. Alright, let's go."
We immediately dispersed. Each group had ten people. We couldn't use the elevator, so we had to use the stairs. And everything would have been fine if not for two things. The first was pitch darkness. And the second was complete silence. The only thing I could hear was the footsteps of my men, the rustling of their armor plates, and the clicking of their fingers on their weapons.
It was even worse in the dark. All I could see was a circle of light from the underbarrel flashlight. We didn't have any night vision devices, we were planning to buy them in a few days. Damn, why is it so dark here! And not a single quarian. Although no, there wasn't a single living creature on board. Even if there were corpses, there were none of those either. Something's not right here. Not at all. Maybe we should just leave? No, the guys won't understand, and neither will the boss. What, did I chicken out of walking around an empty ship and making a profit for nothing? Ah, the life of a mercenary. Here's your profit, but you can't buy intuition.
So, we went down the stairs to the deck above the mass core. There was no light here either. All the cabin doors were locked, but we didn't dare to go in there. Then the second group contacted me.
"K'har, this is Badar and K'shartir. We've boarded the ship. It's as dark as a krogan's ass. Where should we go?"
"Badar, take the second deck, K'shartir - the third. And be careful there. I don't like any of this. There's no blood, let alone corpses or living beings. Alright, dismissed." And I continued on my way. We walked along the deck and then went down the stairs leading down.
It looks like a piece of a text in Russian with some English words thrown in. Here's my best attempt at translating it to English:
"And as we were descending, I was contacted again.
K'khar [interference], angare [interference]... there [interference]... unreal [interference]... let's make [interference]... Omega [interference]... [gunshots]... Aaaah [interference]... Damn it! [interference]... [gunshots]... Who [interference]... NO!!! - the transmission finally faded away into interference.
BARAT! BARAT! DAMN IT, BARAT, ANSWER, YOUR MOTHER'S C***!!! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! - I shouted into the radio. - Alright, calm down, calm down. Guys, let's get out of here! Let's bail, and I don't give a shit if we leave with nothing! LET'S GO! - nobody argued.
"They all heard everything and now wanted to run away themselves. We immediately ran away from there when suddenly we heard gunshots. Then screams, calls for help. Then all of it merged into a single loud sound that just sent shivers down my spine. The connection was lost completely, and I just didn't know which squad had been hit. And suddenly, everything stopped. I even stopped the squad to listen, but I couldn't hear anything. Nothing at all. It meant only one thing - another squad was destroyed. Damn, what's going on here?
And suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a sudden jolt that just knocked me and all my guys to the ground and dragged us somewhere. I was just dragged along the floor, and I couldn't stop. Then I collided with someone, as did everyone else, who was all smashed against the wall, but then we just flew along the deck, turning right. Then we flew down the stairs, hitting everything we could: the ceiling, the steps, the walls, each other. And all of this was accompanied by wild screams and flashes of our flashlights in complete darkness that no one turned off - everyone held onto their weapons as tightly as they could. And suddenly I saw the stars. Stars and that ill-fated quarian frigate. From the outside.
Five seconds later, I landed on the solid surface of the planet. And immediately I felt that I couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe because there was nothing. I felt that there was no air. I jerked my arms convulsively, trying to find the helmet button, but couldn't. And finally, I was able to do it. The helmet covered my head, but then it showed that there was a leak in the tanks and that there was no air. I already felt my eyes closing and my strength leaving me. My whole life flashed before my eyes, and I just couldn't believe that it ended like this. A few seconds later, I saw darkness.
Yes! How pleasant it is! How pleasant it is to see their fear before me! Before the unknown! How pleasant it is to kill all these bastards! How pleasant it was to listen to their incoherent radio chatter! And how pleasant it was to open all the hatches and watch them fly out of the ship, and then suffer in oxygen-free agony on this godforsaken planet! Yes! How pleasant it is!
"You enjoyed it, didn't you?"
"YES!!! It's really a great feeling! Especially when they screamed because they didn't know where to shoot! Or when they shot themselves!!! Yes, how great it is!!!"
"Well then, let's go and see their base. There's probably a lot of interesting stuff there!"
"Oh yeah, there's definitely something to see. Well, let's go!
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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