The Hunt Begins

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 7:32am by Balek The Butcher [Deceased]
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:41pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Ravager ship

A Mission Post by Balek The Butcher
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Ravager ship
Timeline:
Wed Sep 13th, 2017 @ 1:56pm


In the silence of space, an intimidating large freighter drifted menacingly towards the debris field like a shark in the shallow waters hunting it's prey. The ship, nicknamed the Carnage, due to it's horrendous reputation for violence and destruction, loomed over the floating field of death underneath. Her hull was a Frankenstein creation of welded together ship parts, all painted black to add to her daunting presence. Smaller scout ships zipped around her chaotically, buzzing and strafing each other like wild children.

On the dimly lit bridge, adorned with the trophies of Ravager victories and kills, decorated with the skulls and weapons of their vanquished targets, the Ravager crew were giddy at the thought of a potential new victim. The Bridge itself was cramped and antiquated, like the hull it was pieced together from better ships the Ravagers had torn apart for their own purposes. A small crew of four worked the consoles, trying desperately to find the Starfleet vessel they had detected within their trap.

Sitting across his chair, which was more like a throne made out of twisted scrap metal, the captain Balek was relaxed at the thought of boarding another ship trapped in the debris field. He would give the order and his soldiers would do all the work, but he would get first choice of the spoils. And he knew that once he let loose his rabid children on the feeble Federation, there's no telling how far they would go.

It was the sport of it all.

After arriving at the debris field, a nervous pilot, his head shaved and face painted white like his idol Balek, paused in consternation. Again and again he stabbed at his console buttons, staring at a small screen containing a basic outlined map of the region. They found plenty of debris, but no Starfleet ship. And none of the crew wanted to be first to tell the Butcher.

"Where is it!" Balek screamed, pounding hard on his chair.

The pilot groaned, not wishing to disappoint his commander, "They took damage, sire, but escaped."

"FIND THEM!" Balek growled as he stood from his throne. "They can't have gone far."

The crew hung their heads low as they stared intently into their small screens, trying to find glimmers of the prize amongst the sea of ship parts. A set-back, but the Ravagers always made their kill.

Pacing around unhelpfully, Balek's mood - which never approached anything close to pleasant - soured immensely. This was worse than the day that the old pirate had been told the Carnage was being deployed to the Carnwennan Corridor. The Butcher wanted to be on the other side, the Inconnu Corridor; that is where the best bounties could be found. There was nothing but old Talarian junk and the hostile reptiles in this area - hardly a fitting position for a man of Balek's reputation and history.

The thought of losing prey was simply untenable and Balek decided stalking around the Bridge, yelling at his men and hitting them hard with the butt of his phaser rifle should have been motivating enough for his crew.

Finally, it was the pilot who found the answer, though the news was hardly cause for relief. "It's the dark matter, sire." He stammered, "The Starfleet flew into the dark matter."

Balek pushed the pilot to the floor and looked at the screen for himself. "Skrăgh!" He swore.

Sullenly the old pirate returned to his throne. "The dark matter protects the rats once again. I hate that barrier. They knew we couldn't follow them!"

Picking himself up from the floor, the young pilot kneeled infront of Balek's throne. "Sire, allow me to pilot the scouts through the dark matter. We're too small to be effected and we can follow their trail."

"Yes." Balek nodded slowly. "Take all three scouts, get the kill my boys."

"Yes sire," the pilot beamed, bowing his head at the honour of being chosen for this task.

A smirk curled across the Butcher's lips. "And it's time that Cardassian Tisar did got his hands dirty." He stood again, knocking the pilot aside once more. "I'll be in the bar."

Balek stomped off towards the bowels of the ship. They may have lost their prey for now, but the Butcher was only just beginning the hunt.

OFF