I am writing this under considerable mental strain - as the thing that my crew bore witness to had done an indescribable damage to my psyche that I scarcely believe anything I see now. But what I saw back in deep space was real. Even now, my mind shudders at the thought of that...thing. That dark, unholy, thing that gnawed endlessly at the darkness of the abyss. I still remember one of my crewmen - John Bolton, a good man who served the Empire with zeal and fervent loyalty - oh how my mind shudders in cold silence at the image of him clawing his eyes out and gouging his own throat at the behest of that thing! What I write now would surely bring doubt to any who reads it. Truly, even now I doubt myself; but I do not doubt the sacrifice of my crew so that I may escape with my life intact, I do not doubt the screams I last heard over the coms as my pod drifted away into the blackness - with only the face of that thing forever buried in my mind.

Ordrud.....

-----------------------

The vessel known as "The Golden Echelon" rode out into the darkness of space from one of the many port cargos of the Imperial Docking bay - designation: Ichtus. The ship, captained by the esteemed and highly decorated Zann Von Kirk, steered eerily into the infinite space; following the homing beacon they'd placed on a pirate vessel three hours prior. Some time ago, the docking bay - and subsequent holding bay for mining vessels - came under siege by pirate vessels, hoping for an easy catch of new cargo; unfortunately for them, Zann and his crew were nearby and picked up the distress beacon sent by the master of the docking bay. The Golden Echelon arrived and destroyed most of the pirate fleet - leaving a single vessel relatively unmolested in hopes that it may guide them to whatever stronghold these pirates had built in Imperial space. 

The beacon had not been discovered, Zann noticed, and a smile slowly graced his lips as he veered his beloved vessel closer to the blot on his map. Hopefully, he thought, he'd find the pirate's den and destroy it for good. Then his face contorted into a violent sneer as he recalled the vague memories of his battles with these cretin. He remembered their dishonorable ways and cowardly tactics. The thought of all the lost imperial lives brought a boil to his blood. 

These pirates would not survive. 

-----------------------

Zann's instincts - honed over the course of a hundred naval battles - screamed at him, and so he listened. "Evasive maneuvers! Hard to port!" He screamed over the coms, watching as his men scrambled at the sudden shift in environment. One moment they seemed like triumphant victors trouncing upon their routed foes, and now suddenly it felt like the tables had been turned on them. Perhaps it was an ambush? 

The ship veered sharply to its left, narrowly avoiding a single cyclonic torpedo that would've blown through their shields - how the pirates were able to secure such weaponry was a mystery. Still, Zann's experience and instincts had saved their ship, for now. "Activate sweeping radars, we're entering an asteroid field." He instructed.

"The bastards might have a few surprises here..." He hoped not. Fighting inside an asteroid field was dangerous. The pirates could've fortified their base so heavily as to add fully automated turrets on the many asteroids - added to the instrumental disruption from the asteroid field's magnetic presence, and the pirates would have every advantage in their possible defense. That cyclonic torpedo from earlier might've been one of those automated turrets - programmed to fire upon any unregistered ship. This was getting dangerous indeed. 'I've been through worse...' 

The ship navigated slowly through the thick asteroid field - just maintaining distance on beacon they'd been following for the last few hours now. Suddenly the beacon stopped moving, and Zann's immediate command was power up all weapons and ready all torpedoes for a possible naval battle. It was impossible to know if there were any more pirate ships. 

Then suddenly the beacon blinked from existence - the light on the map screen suddenly disappeared.  
"Was the beacon discovered?" He heard his Lt. ask. Truth be told, this was a perfect trap he found himself in if ever the pirates had planned it. But somehow his instincts told him that wasn't the case.

"What the hell is going on?"

Meanwhile Quareen was bored in the Headquarters of the Drosden fleet she was flat out bored, sure she could´ve gone out with the crew and tear up the city Buuuut she´s kinda an assistant of Kat so she wasn´t allowed to leave this post incase someone calls for aid But when is that supposed to happen? We mostly take out Mining stations and Cargo ships theres no way we´d need hel-just as she was about to finish that train of thought a distress call came in

Quareen answered the call "uhhh...whats the problem?" she expected to just hear something like "Oh this Asshole just shot us bring in the cavalary" But no that was a little more...serious "OH THANK GOD QUAREEN PLEASE SEND HELP THERES THIS SHIP THAT´S TEARING APART THE REST OF THE FLEET...WAIT IT´S SHOOTING OUR SHIP FLAMES ARE ERUPTING AHHHHHH" explosions were heard in the background and Quareen reeaaaly tried not to think about how the explosion messed everybody up...maybe in a few little cubes or just chunks of meat hidden in the shrapnel of the explosion.

But luckily the Coordinates were with that call she leaned back and shouted "KAPTAIN WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM OVER HERE"

It was that strange feeling - a deep voice in his mind that could not be deciphered. That same gnawing feeling of dread when one is faced with the unknown, and the long period of uncertainty that follows - the eerie silence that brought forth only dread. Droplets of sweat formed around Zann's forehead as he made his decision to move forward deeper into the asteroid belt - hoping and trusting his instincts that the pirate base shouldn't be any further from his ship's location. 

The cannons were all fully charged - every weapon in every nook of the ship was ready to fire and obliterate any enemy stronghold they'd come across. 

Then the feeling came. Zann felt sick to his core, as so did every other member in his ship. The feeling was well beyond physical sensation - a crawling dread that seeped all the way to the stomach from the brain; a silent screaming voice of absolute silence. Then the medical mage dropped to her knees, clutching her head. "It's in my thoughts!" She screamed, blood rolling down her ears, eyes and mouth as she did so.

The other crew members, who weren't preoccupied with managing the ship, quickly rushed to her side - helping her up. Zann could already see the fear in their eyes - his new Lt. seemed frozen with indecision, fear and anxiety all at once; just as he was. Just then the ship was suddenly rocked as they collided against a strange asteroid that suddenly veered from its path. "Brace!" 

"What the hell was that!?" He heard his Lt. scream as he fell to the floor. 

Then he saw it, debris. The wreckage of what could've been from at least twenty ships - all floating in the darkness, moving in unison with the asteroid belt. Mining vessels, pirate vessels, and even some imperial ships; all of them could be found in the field of debris. 

"It's here...." The medical mage whispered in her dreamlike stupor before falling flat on the ship's floor, unconscious. ".....Ordrud....." 

"Activate the automated weapons and ready all the LifeEater torpedoes...I don't want to be caught in firefight unprepared..." Zann commanded. 

This debris field obviously wasn't the Pirate's stronghold, but Zann felt deep down that the pirates weren't the problem......

"What the hell is an Ordrud?"

............