Chapter Text
The New Wars
War and profit11
Once upon a time, an alien species known as Frots was leading the Syndicate of Shadows, one of the greatest criminal operations in the Galaxy. Then the great war between humans and Bohandi, the War of the Three Worlds, happened. This war destroyed the First Bohandi Empire, where most of the Syndicate’s operations were located.
This devastated the Syndicate and eventually led to its collapse. Since then, Frots were largely irrelevant species. Especially since the Reshaping, which pushed their homeworld just beyond the edge of the Galaxy. Remnants of the Syndicate threw their support behind numerous pirate bands scattered across the Galaxy, but they managed to accomplish little.
Vexa Darkstride, captain of a Frot ship, is scouting near the barrier to Bohandi territory in hopes of finding there something that would help him restore his civilization to glory in the galactic underworld…
Chapter 1
The barrier
Frot ship FRS Prospector was slowly flying through space, keeping a safe distance from the barrier. Vexa Darkstride, captain of this ship, was standing on its bridge, looking at the main screen all the time. His crew was scanning the barrier, looking for any way they could cross it safely. Everyone was working in complete silence.
Suddenly, one of his crewmen, going by the name of Bexa, spoke.
-Captain, I believe I am detecting something - he said.
-What is it? - Vexa said.
-An asteroid… that just emerged from the barrier - Bexa said.
-Emerged from the barrier? - Vexa said. - But that means…
-It came through the barrier, captain - Bexa said. - There’s a passage there. Big enough for an asteroid, a natural object without its own propulsion, to fly through.
-If a natural object can go through, then we should be able to as well, especially since we have propulsion systems to help us maneuver through - Vexa said.
-You are not thinking about taking us there, right? - another member of his crew, Kec, said.
-That’s exactly what we’re going to do - Vexa said. - But I know how to do it safely… as safely as possible. Launch all probes and put them in formation around us, distance, 1.5 AU. Calibrate all sensors to focus on gravimetric readings. Pilot, you will work alongside our navigational computer to enter course corrections as quickly as possible. Stand by for warp.
While warp drive was much slower than hyperdrive and almost no one was still using it, Vexa had the foresight to have it installed on his ship, as warp drive was better at applying sudden changes and corrections.
Everyone quickly scrambled to do as the captain said. Probes were quickly launched and put in formation around the ship, 1.5 light years away. They had their own FTL drives, but it was the furthest they could go to be of any use here.
After approximately 15 minutes, everything was ready. Bexa informed Vexa of this.
-Engage warp drive - Vexa ordered. - Take us in… through the barrier. And let’s hope profit awaits us on the other side.
-Profit and not death - Kec said. - You can’t spend your profit if you’re dead.
-Don’t make useless complaints - Vexa said. - Get us going.
The ship moved forward. Slowly, it approached the barrier. They felt a slight gravitational pull, but engines compensated it easily. For now.
Vexa watched on the main screen as the barrier got closer and closer…