If ships had living personalities then the battlecruiser Serendipity, formerly End of Days, would be a cantankerous old bitch. She was old and nearing the end of her service life. It certainly explained the amount of maintenance the crew had to carry out daily and thankfully it had been pulled back from the frontlines years ago, long before I came across her.
A voice drifted to me from the sensor station on my left. "Sensor ping, portside, 17lh (AN: light hours)." Another voice replied before I had to react. "Commence active sensor sweep of the quadrant, spin up probes twelve and fifteen." Captain Sonka appeared to have the situation well in her finely-manicured ultramarine-blue hands.
Despite what its age might imply, Serendipity was in fact far from the oldest ship in the fleet, that dubious honour belonged to several dreadnoughts of the previous generation which had been long since pulled back for experimental duty under Hadra, or Karrid or whoever held the seat on Sphere of Technology these days. The news were sporadic at best out here in deep space where we were ordered to chase sensor ghosts almost a year ago. However, Serendipity might as well be the weakest capital ship of the Fleet, even one or two Thrantas would give the eight-hundred-sixty-meters-long ship a run for her money which was worse than with the smaller ordinary run-of-the-mill BSX-5.
Both the ship and the mission were no doubt results of the nightmarishly complex and savage political scheming back in Kaas City and only my position as the slightly insignificant but sole heir of the dynasty had ensured a relative safety from the day-to-day political assassinations. I was incommodious in the eyes of many but I was still heir to one of the oldest naval dynasties in the entire Empire, it would not do for me to simply die.
And thus I had been sent away and hopefully forgotten. It has to be said that being dealt with by receiving a command of a Harrower-class dreadnought, an older generation but still highly potent vessel, and given a mission of patrolling the Empire's borders was a comfortable posting. Especially since I had been patrolling the border with the edge of the galaxy instead of the tumultuous frontline with the Republic. Barring a miraculous Vong invasion, there was nothing to fear here, just some occasional pirates and slavers for whom a Harrower was all but overkill.
I was even given the opportunity to handpick my own crew and while they might have murmured sometimes about the mundanity of the assignment I knew they would not trade it, not many high-ranking options for non-humans in the Empire, not even chiss. And even if they had managed to snag one of those prized postings the requirements would be by far more strict and the comforts severely limited. I was a generous commander and Serendipity had some of the best living quarters in the fleet.
Still, as a commander of this vessel, I had left a few perks to myself, mainly the size of my quarters and the company there, all within the ageless Imperial traditions, of course. With that in mind, my greatest worry over the past months had only been what course to choose in the cantina, finding a way to stave off the eight hours of staring at an empty void from the bridge and occasionally dreading receiving a call from my friend in high places, Marr.
But all good things have to end one day. The end of my days of comfort began with words, "Commodore, incoming transmission, black cypher encrypted." That was the first warning of the severity of the situation, ordinary non-critical communications did not use such a high level of encryption. I knew it just as well as the crew which had momentarily frozen in their duties, at least until the fiery temper of Captain Sonka thawed them out of it. "Very well. Lieutenant, transfer it to my terminal," I said with a sigh, waiting a few moments before a small icon lit up on the console of my command chair.
Entering my personal identification code I opened the communique, skimmed through it and carefully checked the identity of the sender. It was not the Fleet Command, it was even worse, Darth Marr had requested my personal presence, at the earliest opportunity. I was no fool, I knew that such a request from a member of the Dark Council was an order in all but a form.
Waving Captain Sonka, my second in command, to read the message for herself I sighed deeply and as her crimson eyes bored into our new orders I stood up, straightened my white uniform and addressed the crew, "Helm, plot a direct course to Ziost, we have been recalled by order of the Sphere of Defence. All active orders are hereby cancelled and, with exception of critical stations, you have been released until our arrival at Ziost. Use it well, it might be the last one in a long time." The crew was too stunned by the new and unexpected orders to properly process the suddenly acquired free time.
Turning to Sonka I added, "I'll be in my quarters if you need me. The bridge is yours." She immediately saluted with, "Yes, sir." and moved about organizing her suddenly skeletonized command crew. Nodding to my guards I stopped by the bridge blast door adding one last thing I had to say, "Cantina is on me for today." That had been processed quite fast by the crew and immediately elicited a roaring cheer. I just hoped that my companions were awake because I had a bad feeling about the recall and wanted at least a bit of warm company before the cold, cold atmosphere of Ziost.
I could swear that the absolutely shameless ensign came to wake me up mere minutes after falling asleep. With care, I lifted the chocolate-brown-furred hand off my chest, mindful of the very sharp claws adorning it that had not been retracted for some reason, and waved the ensign away. I sent a small glare in the direction of the young ensign when I noticed his look on the bed longer than was strictly necessary, not that I faulted him for that in any particular way, it was quite a sight. When the pointed look failed to work I coughed softly to gain his attention which achieved the intended results and the young ensign promptly left, closing the door behind him. I took full use of the commander's privilege by which my quarters had a fully functioning shower and not just the usual sonic refresher before donning my dress uniform, a slightly more ostentatious variant of the standard 'field' version.
The shower took long enough for Milvar to wake up and wait for me on the edge of the bed. I glanced at Sernah who still seemed oblivious to the entire world. Giving the cathar a 'good morning' kiss I moved on to put on the flamboyant grey uniform immediately receiving help from Milvar with the assorted ornamentations. "We are arriving at Ziost," I whispered to her, after all, there was no need to wake Sernah up just yet. Milvar did not say anything, waiting for me to finish, "Don't know yet for how long, but if you and Sernah need anything then let Sonka know as always."
I went silent for a moment, donning my pants I turned to Milvar and placed one hand on her shoulder to add weight to my next sentence, "Ziost is a bit more relaxed than most of the Empire but if you two do go out then be just as careful as if on Dromund Kaas, please." Understanding the meaning of my warning and the tone of my voice Milvar nodded and promised to be careful but I could see she still had something on her mind from her stance, I knew her far too long and far too well to miss the slight tells of her body language.
After some prompting by raised eyebrows, she asked, "You will be leaving alone?" She knew me just as, if not more as I knew her, it was no wonder she picked up on my apprehension about meeting a Dark Council member even if she did not know what exactly I was worried about. "Despite whatever leeways I might have with him, you can't come with me to meet Marr, Mil," I explained to her, causing her to tense up as she connected the dots. Putting on my jacket I consoled her with a hug, "Don't worry. You know Marr is better than most and I promise everything will be alright." With a last smile for her benefit, I left my quarters and headed for the bridge. I didn't have to oversee the arrival per se, but it paid off to be prepared when walking into a den of wolves and Ziost was not much better than any other as my previous experience with Imperial politics told me.
Our arrival at Ziost was as unceremonious as could be expected, what however was not fully expected were the orders we received from the New Adasta Orbital Defence Command Centre on behalf of Darth Marr who seemed to have planned beforehand. Serendipity had been ordered into one of the orbital shipyards drydocks while I had received an order to report to Lord Marr in person, on Korriban, inside the Sith Academy. With some degree of trepidation, I had my two Shock Trooper guards prepare one of the ship's assault shuttles for the journey while stayed on the bridge long enough to find out just what kind of modifications would Serendipity receive only to be appeased and worried at the same time by the planned retrofit to bring her back up as close to line status as possible.
Because it never pays off to leave a Sith waiting I had left Captain Sonka to oversee the retrofit and boarded my shuttle which would take me to Korriban. Mere proximity to the Sith of any rank had always been enough to send my survival instinct into overdrive. And yet, I was willingly walking into their den, the Korriban Sith Academy, to meet with one of the twelve most powerful Sith in the galaxy. Enough incentive to question my sanity.
Despite my considerably high rank, I had been forced to land my shuttle at one of the exterior landing pads and walk to the academy by foot, only the personal vessels of the dark council members had been allowed to land within the academy itself. Likewise, my guards had to stay behind, there were strict rules who could and couldn't enter the Academy. Korriban was as it had always been, an inhospitable place where all instincts constantly screamed danger and every feeling was just slightly off, the air was tasteless, the colour seemed washed out, the sounds were harsh and it always smelled of rot and stale air.
A disturbingly cheery acolyte whose scarred face made it almost impossible to determine his species, the best I could narrow it down was something humanoid, stood in the main entrance to the Academy, obviously waiting for me. "Lord Marr has prior commitments, follow me," he or she said in a raspy voice. The Acolyte did not wait for any response, turned and marched deep inside the den of wolves. As I was following the acolyte I had kept an eye on my surroundings, carefully observing the Sith around us.
I was led past the elevator I knew led to the dark council chambers until we reached a relatively small antechamber, once I was unceremoniously shown inside the acolyte and I entered an awkward staring contest. There was little else to look at in the empty chamber barring the sole table on the other side of the room holocommunicator and a row of crimson-lit terminals. The butt of my blaster had been my only comfort. Suddenly and without warning, Darth Marr stormed inside. I immediately snapped off the best salute I could manage and waited for Marr to speak, it was no secret wisdom that one should thread carefully when in the presence of an angry Sith.
Without acknowledging either of us and focusing solely on something on the table Marr barked over his shoulder, "Leave us." Not knowing the recipient of the command and seeing the acolyte still smugly standing where he was I gave a bow to Marr's back with proper, "My lord." turning to leave him alone with the acolyte. "Not you," he said at the same time as my legs suddenly froze in place before I could leave. Marr turned around and his helm glared at the acolyte who immediately lost all his smugness and all but scampered out of the room. The door closed behind him with a clear indication of magnetic lock initialization. No-one was leaving or entering.
I stood there, my fear spiking and refusing to abate even after the invisible grip on my legs lessened. Marr stood in silence, watching either me or something on his helm's display and no doubt sensing my distress no matter how much impassive front I put up. With what seemed like a grunt he turned back to the table and picked up a dataslate, examined it and gestured to me to take it.
"Are you familiar with the title of Dread Masters?" he asked, loathing dripping from his voice at the mere mention of them. I nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes, my lord. They were the Emperor's favourite servants for centuries until their reported death during the last war." I went silent for a moment before adding, "There are some unconfirmed rumours that Imperial operatives had located and released them from Republic captivity on Belsavis." Long ago I had learned to deal with force users who could tell when someone lied or even glimpse into their head, half-truths were the way to go.
Marr's distaste for them filled the air as he spat, "Not rumours. Their madness has driven them to conquest, it breeds destruction, not glory. There is no loyalty in their hearts." Deigning that he did not wish for a reply I glanced at the dataslate; reconnaissance and intelligence reports, witness interview transcripts, sensor ghost readings gathered from dozens of Imperial vessels scattered throughout the galaxy all pointing in one direction, one responsible party, Dread Masters. I did not like where this was going.
"Your task is to hunt them down and bring me their location, do not engage them under any circumstances," spoke Marr briefly, scaring me with the intensity of his voice. I looked up to see his mask very close to my face, looking down upon me, managing only a shaky "Yes, my lord."
Marr straightened, took a few steps back seemingly shifting his attention to something else. "You will not speak of this to anyone," he added without turning back. He didn't have to, Marr's voice was threatening enough on his own. Recollecting myself I snapped off a proper response, "It will be done, my lord." Marr simply half turned his head in my direction.
"You have your orders, Admiral Vaiken. Carry them out." he finished, the dismissal clear in his voice. For a fraction of a moment I was stunned, then I thought that, just maybe, Marr might have made a mistake but then I had realized what he meant. With a properly executed respective bow, I thanked for the promotion, "My thanks, Lord Marr. I shall not disappoint you." Knowing the meeting was over I took my leave and vacated the premises of the Academy as fast as I could without appearing hasty. My guards saw me coming and the shuttle lifted off the moment the ramp closed behind me, moving swiftly to the relative safety of the void.
Immediately after my departure, I had connected into the Navy network, seeking to determine the reason for the sudden promotion. There was preciously little to go on but when one read in between the lines it was possible to determine that the First Defence Fleet had just recently suffered losses above Dromund Kaas. The presence of its flagship in drydocks due to 'extensive command superstructure damage' was as good as direct report on Moff Kieren's death. In combination with the still streaming-in reports from the catastrophic venture at Corelia, which cost the Empire more than just ten per cent of its military strength, the battlenet painted a clear picture. Highest echelons of Imperial command structure; Army, Navy and the Sith alike, had just suffered the greatest losses ever since the fiasco at Bothawui decades ago and in turn opening a wide range of promotions for lower ranks.
While in hyperspace I had studied the precise wording of the orders on the dataslate and the reports from already carried out missions. Marr had already narrowed down a few possibilities which I was meant to investigate and determine the correct one. The only hiccup was the fact that Imperial ships were not exactly welcome sight anywhere in the Core. Fortunately, I knew about Daragon's Trail which fell out of use not long after the Great Hyperspace War. It was far too unstable for large-scale military operations and located far from established trade corridors to be a viable shipping lane. With a bit of luck, it would be possible to drop out of hyperspace a few lightyears away from the Empress Teta system and jump deeper into the core from there.
Arriving back not a week after I left the refit on Serendipity was far from complete. Most of the long-range turbolasers received new capacitors and galven coils boosting the performance of the main armament to the line specification but the planned reactor and engine upgrades were a long way off, unlike the shielding and armour modifications which were completed before my arrival. Most of the secondary laser and ion armaments were still untouched as well, a fact forcing me to delay the departure for an additional week and a half as the entire ship and dock crew worked around to finish the retrofit.
Using the time I had gathered my top command staff, mainly Captain Sonka and Major Isse, the head of our troop contingent, to plan every detail of our incursion deep into the enemy territory. Ten days after my arrival from the meeting with Darth Marr, Serendipity left the drydock with a shiny new coat of paint for Korriban and its Daragon Trail entry point. Marr had already left Korriban by that time along with his flagship.
Apart from some minor delays due to unmapped mass shadows on the hyperlane the ship had made the journey exceeding all expectations by dropping out of hyperspace in one piece without armada breathing on its neck. We didn't wait for anything and immediately sent out scout ships to search as much of the Deep Core as possible with Serendipity itself serving as the nerve centre of the entire operation.
We were a few days worth of hyperspace travel away from the Empress Teta system, lingering in realspace patiently waiting for the scout ships to return from the Had Abbadon system, the last of the Dread Masters possible hiding spots in the region when we first picked up the distress signal.
"This is Republic warship Spirit of Carrick, we have suffered a reactor breach, radiation levels critical, requesting immediate assistance."
Republic or not, enemy or not, I knew that the entire bridge crew felt sorry for them. Reactor breach was one of the worst things that could happen to any vessel, effectively trapping the crew inside their would-be tomb as the radiation leak slowly killed them off one by one. The deep core was dangerous, not many starships braved these hyperlines and for some reason, the volatile space of the Deep Core produced an overwhelming amount of sensor ghosts hiding distress signals and further diminishing any chances of anyone ever responding.
I was torn. The importance of finding the Dread Masters was overwhelming, yet at the same time, I could not help myself to consign a crew of an entire ship and whatever passengers they might be carrying to death by acute radiation poisoning. I was not that far yet and, going by the looks the bridge crew aimed in my direction when they thought I was not watching, neither were they. "Any other vessels close enough to respond?" I asked hoping against hope. Chief Sensor Officer burst that bubble of hope, "None on the scanners, Republic or otherwise. Even we picked it up only thanks to our improved array." The grim tone in his voice was impossible to miss.
With closed eyes and a heavy sigh, I had eventually reached a decision. "Captain Sonka, can we trace the signal?" I asked my second-in-command. There were sounds of activity before she responded, "Affirmative, passive scans have a lock on the source with an estimated 2.5 lightyear error." She conferred with the chief sensor officer before adding, "With active sensor sweep we should be able to pinpoint the location to a range of few light minutes."
Despite the tight control she kept on her voice I could hear the echo of hope and relief in it. Not opening my eyes I nodded absentmindedly. "Very well," I cleared my throat before opening my eyes standing up and looking directly at the Captain and the Sensor Officer. "Commence the sensor sweep, use the probes if you have to and inform our scout ships," I ordered and turned to the communications, continuing, "See if you can establish a connection, voice only."
I gave an acknowledging nod to Captain Sonka, noticing the approval in her face in the brief moment before she turned away to coordinate the influx of radiation poisoned crew. "Link established," reported the communications officer and I gestured for him to transfer the connection to my station with a gesture of my hand. Coughing to my fist I tried to remove as much of the Imperial accent as I could, "This is warship Serendipity of the First Defense Fleet. Spirit of Carrick, do you read us? What is your current status?"
After a moment of silent wait a response came back, "Serendipity, this is Ensign Darrel of the Spirit of Carrick, thank the Force. We need immediate evac. The main reactor had been shut down but the radiation levels are too high and we are losing power. Coordinates 000-564…" I looked at the Navigations Officer to see him consult his own station and the starcharts before giving a nod, mouthing 'locked' silently as he turned back to coordinate the hyperspace jump. Acknowledging his work I checked my station to see the plotted course and how long it would take, "Very well, ensign. Hold on, help is on the way. ETA one hour 14 minutes." I did not wait for his reply before affirming the order for the jump on my console, giving the helmsman permission to jump. With each sentence rose the risk of him picking up on my distinctly Imperial accent no matter how much I could try.
Stars became streaks as the powerful engines propelled Serendipity into FTL speeds of the hyperspace.
ONE HOUR LATER
It has to be said that it was not often that Nareen Daru, a seasoned Jedi Shadow and member of the Council of First Knowledge, questioned what Force told her. But the suggestion for agreeing with Captain Trishvik on evacuating the crew to the shuttles after the inbound rescue ship confirmation came in had been put in doubt immediately after a Force-damned Harrower of all things dropped out of hyperspace in front of her personal Strikefighter. Of course, by that time it was all far too late. The crew and the passengers of the Spirit of Carrick could not hope to resist the battlecruiser in their menagerie of shuttles and starfighters, maybe not even with the now-radiation-flooded cruiser.
The negotiations with the Imperial Admiral, of all things, did not last long and despite Nareen's weariness about the willingness to help from the Imperials she was the first one to land her starfighter inside the vast hangar bays of the battlecruiser, the overburdened Fortitude-class assault shuttles following hot on her heels. There was simply no other option because the shuttle's life support systems could handle the heavily exceeded number of passengers only for so long. Immediately after the flight controller moved on to guide in someone else she saw a pair of Shock Troopers move in her direction.
Disembarking from her trusty starfighter Nareen had to forcibly suppress the instinct to draw on her lightsaber, instead keeping it hanging on her belt. The growing apprehension and worry of the guards as they came closer could be sensed even without the Force from the way their gauntleted hands tensely gripped their heavy repeaters. She winced, those would be trouble should the worst happen. Waiting for the shock troopers to come to her she ran through a few calming exercises until she noticed that the two troopers were not exactly hurrying to meet her themselves.
The voice was tense and clipped, "Do you need a medic?" asked the slightly shorter one, by a few centimetres or so. Nareen shook her head slowly so as to avoid spooking them, her lekku dangling in front of her. "I do not, however, some of the crew will most likely need one," she replied evenly, allowing her hopes to lift a fraction. The trooper took that information with a nod and appeared to relay it to someone else, hopefully, the medbay. "Alright, some of the on-duty troopers will see to it," he spoke after a few moments of silent communication over the comlink.
The second guard took over asking, "Any other Jedi on board?" while his helmet scanned the landing shuttles behind her. Nareen could not help but smile, it looked like their arrival truly was a coincidence. "A few," she replied, "the ship was ferrying a few back home to Tython." Her tone inadvertently turned slightly mischievous.
However, she couldn't help but laugh when the guard quite unappreciated the presence of the group of Jedi. "Fierfek," he spat but immediately felt chastised when he realised she heard him. Still smiling and considerably more at ease, Nareen followed the trooper out of the hangar at their insistence. With one leading the way in front of her and the other following closely behind she was led through the unfamiliar corridors of the ship to a turbolift which then opened into the vessel's bridge. The first thing she noticed was a surprisingly large percentage of Chiss among the bridge crew then her eyes found the leader of the vessel.
Imperial Admiral wearing a dark-grey uniform of a Commodore. A human with prematurely greying short cut hair and stubble. His face was otherwise unremarkable and body of no particular distinction. Exactly a type of a man who could easily disappear within a crown on dozens of planets. Next to him stood a ramrod chiss captain with the characteristic pupil-less crimson eyes and blue skin. The visibly younger and slightly shorter captain ended whatever conversation she had with the Admiral when she saw Nareen being escorted across the large bridge by the two troopers.
What surprised Nareen more than anything as she came closer was a cathar standing a short distance behind the Admiral. Standing stock-still the aggressive stance was unmistakable, the flexing fists, claws digging into palms and her unblinking green eyes tracking Nareen were strong indicators of her displeasure with Nareen's presence.
Knowing fully well the position of aliens within the Sith Empire Nareen was suspicious of the cathar seemingly ready to tear her to pieces with her bare hands. Reaching out with the Force she tried to get a measure of the cream-brown furred cathar only to be surprised by the sheer fierceness of the devotion felt to the Admiral. Nareen risked delving deeper to solve the mystery, finding a very strong memory.
She was terrified, leaning at the side of her new master inside the airspeeder taking them away from her old master, clueless what to expect from him. In the past, her life became worse each time she was sold to someone and the strange behaviour of her new master perplexed her. He was cold and almost hostile towards her old master yet he had yet to raise his voice against her, speaking to her the entire time in what she thought as a kind voice ever since the doors of the airspeeder closed behind them. He was far younger than her previous masters, she thought that he was only slightly older than herself which further caused her worry. What would he want from her? Even her previous master had appeared afraid of him and his two menacing and terrifying guards following him like shadows.
She knew enough to recognize their armour to realize who they were, Imperial Shock Troopers. And two of them were protecting her new master. As if sensing her fear she could feel his head to incline towards her. She immediately froze in fear which made him stop and in turn aggravated her fear. He tenderly stroked her arm, playing with her fur in between his fingers in what she had much later realised was an attempt to calm her down.
Seeing a lack of effect her new master carefully turned her around so that the two of them faced each other. She saw his mouth open but whatever he was about to say was cut short when he saw her wince as he took hold of her hand. His brow immediately furrowed as he took hold of her arm by the wrist and brought it up to his face and seemed to stare a hole into it. She did not resist and tried her best to suppress the painful winces every time he touched the tips of her fingers where her claws once used to be.
She could not muster the courage to do anything but stay frozen in her place, constantly remembering that the last time she did not act exactly as her master wished had cost her her claws. She wanted to cry for being permanently wounded for a slight she did not even know she had committed. Despite knowing not to show any weakness lest it be exploited against her she could not help but weep, the pain constant reminder of her place.
What she did not expect was to be gently embraced in a hug and have soothing words whispered into her ear. She could not understand the words, he spoke a language she had never heard but the tone of the words tugged at something deep inside her, a long-forgotten memory. It was the first time in her life when she slept calmly, free of nightmares.
Nareen shook herself free from the memory to look at the Imperial admiral who had finished his discussion with the blue-skinned chiss captain. His dark eyes bored into her and if she did not know better she would think him aware and disapproving of her probe. Nareen patiently waited her turn as another young officer, a human, in this case, handed the Admiral a dataslate with a crisp salute, "Admiral."
Taking the datapad the Admiral examined it intently. "Hm… Oricon," he murmured under his breath to himself as he studied the datapad in his hands, "Well, it seems we have what we came for, either way, transmit this directly to lord Marr." Admiral returned the datapad back to the officer who brought it.
He then turned to what Nareen guessed was the helmsman. "Take us back," he ordered and looked at Nareen, eyes deep in thought, "We will drop our passengers near Contruum, they should be able to find a way home from there." The raised eyebrow prompted her to return a thankful nod. Nareen was forced to wait as the Admiral focused on overseeing the setting up of the course out of the core, finally receiving the opportunity to have her questions answered after the ship jumped to hyperspace.
DARAGON TRAIL EN ROUTE TO OBROA-SKAI
Finalizing orders for our return to Imperial space I ran out of excuses and ways to delay the inevitable. Why did I have to deal with so many force-users lately, far too much trouble for my taste that it felt me wondering about the fate of my dreamed out uninteresting retirement. "Master Jedi…" I started but could never finish my sentence as the entire ship buckled at that very moment. Damn the Force all the way to the ninth Corellian hell.
Lights flickered as the power suddenly fluctuated, artificial gravity lessened before snapping back as the back-up grid took over but by far the tremors and shaking were the worst I had ever encountered on any vessel, much less the smooth-sailing Serendipity. As the shaking sent me flying I was just a fraction of a second too slow to grab my command chair, but unexpectedly a pair of firm rend hands caught me before I could hit something.
"Emergency stop, NOW!" I shouted loudly from the firm embrace in the direction of the helm over the racket. A response of strained "Console is gone," froze my core in solid dread until a mechanical voice announced over the speakers, "ATTENTION, BATTERY POWER FAILING." Of all the possibilities, all things that could possibly go wrong during a hyperspace jump, a complete shield failure was highest among the list just slightly ahead of motivator failure and both of those were guaranteed without battery power which was used for hyperdrive only in emergencies.
I was about to order someone to contact engineering in order for them to detach hyperdrive core manually but at that moment the world lost all of its meaning as the relativistic shields failed and all lost meaning as the world turned into blurs and coloured sounds and smell. Time and space lost all meaning until it all unexpectedly and rapidly ended as we dropped out of hyperspace. A confusing message of "Statement: Hyperdrive Core deactivated." in my earpiece was the only clue as to what had happened.
