„We have no clue about the situation onboard. It seems as if there was a riot, but we cannot say that for sure. Those women that were locked up there… some of them were the most powerful psykers we had, so a large scale approach is not going to work…”


Ukyo would know why. Any Psyker worth her salt would sense the fireteams as they approach, but a single agent could be overlooked, especially if she was psychic too, and trained to hide her “aura”. So that was where she would come in.

“… you will get a little camouflage ship and approach this hatch“

A red point would hover above the holo of the large freighter which was repurposed into a prison ship.

“From there you can plan your further approach. If the ship is in the hand of the prisoners, as we expect, try to blend in, and message us via your computer on the camo fighter. The ships reactors are off, we don’t know who did that, but most probably one of the crew, standard procedure in case of a riot, in order to keep the ship grounded in space. So just in case the ship is safe, you can restart the engines using your ADD Identification and jump it to the next ADD Base.
As we got no communication from the ship for 3 days, we think the captain is dead by now, so there is no one able to override your classification. You should be able to take over control over all ship systems, in case it is necessary.
In short: Go in, scout the situation, decide what to do.”

It was the hissing sound of evacuating air, which always came in company with an opening hatch, that would put a stop to Ukyo recollecting the briefing.
Darkness would welcome her inside, but that was to be expected, as it was a maintenance hatch. As soon as she entered, the automatic system lit the small room in a clinically cold white light.

Ukyo sighed as she stayed calm in her small camouflaged ship as she was approaching the mentioned hatch in her debriefing back with her superiors who had informed her that a prison ship had been attacked by something...command had asked her to go and check the ship...it held the most powerful psychic users the ADD knew of.

Ukyo still remembered the debriefing to help her keep her mind occupied as her ship began it's docking with that hatch. Making sure it was quiet and stealthy. The young psychic agent quickly began hiding her presence more deeply. She had been masking herself well but she needed more coverage since most of the psychics here were strong....if it was a prison riot she needed to keep herself undercover.

As she stepped out of her ship as the hissing sound of the opening hatch informed her she had docked. Ukyo calmly brought her weapons as she stepped into the darkness. Aiming her gun in every direction with quick motions as she looked around for now. Soon the automatic systems lit up the small room. Ukyo sighed as she began using her classification to quickly connect to the ships systems and gain control over alot of the systems and focused on the doors as she knew she'd have to possible shut off sections if it was a prison break.

Ukyo opened the door of the small room and carefully stepped out into the real depths of the ship...

Calm...

Serene...

Sterile...

Oh and of course: Empty.

All these words would come to mind while wandering the corridors of the ship. According to her informations most of the Inmates were frozen in cryostasis, and would have to come out only for the occasional medical checkup, while they underwent a subliminal conditioning and training when "sleeping".

Those that were still frozen she wouldn't meet while wandering around. And the ship was big, but not that big... If there has been an uprising... Ukyo should have met at least some of those that revolted by now.

So... 9 crewmates, all men against 47 inmates, all women and very powerful psychics... 9 crewmates + the automated riot control systems which was... shut down, Ukyo would have gathered that while combing through the ships systems from the small room where she arrived. Only the captain could have done that. Or the chief mate, but they would have to be forced... So... it was a riot but... where the hell was everyone.

With another hissing sound another large round bulkhead opened and cleared the way towards the medical bay.

Empty... no sound.. just as chillingly evacuated like the rest of the ship. Just as Ukyo would ask herself if there was anyone non frozen on board at all, she would move past one of the containment cells for those girls that were meant for medical checkup, and then she would hear a voice from one of the cells.

Hello? is this another test? Sorry... please... will you help me? I am so hungry... i am here for three days straight an no one ever showed up to look at me... please... do you have some food? Or some water...

The girl was young... slightly younger even then Ukyo... caucasian with blonde hair and clear blue eyes, but her face had become sunken in and it was obvious that this girl was at the end of her rope... She sat there behind the forcefield, barely able to look up, hair stringy and fallen wild and unkempt over her forehead. Her lips were burst open, witness to her obvious dehydration.

"Please... you are a PSI too right... i feel it...? What do they want me to do? Shall i fight you? I am so weak... i am so thirsty... Is this another test?"

In fact there was a plate with food prepared, just next to the medical terminal, which promised informations about all inmates and their respective cryostate. But the food was cold and it was doubtful if it was still edible according to its colour. The glass of water was untouched, and most probably okay. It smelled like water... or least not foul or like something else.

Ukyo silently moved through the corridors of the ship carefully. She knew that most of the inmates stayed in cryostasis. This made prison breaks even harder to pull off. Ukyo hadn't seen anyone...no inmates that were wandering around. No guards either...the crew were gone as she narrowed her eyes.

She didn't know what caused this...was it some kind of plague that struck the ship? The cyrostasis inmates were safe but the guards weren't? All signs pointed to a riot but there was nothing...she began to wonder if maybe something attacked the ship? Pirates would've possibly captured the inmates perhaps but so far no missing cyrostasis pods were seen.

She soon entered the medical bay and looked around...still nervous about how chillingly quiet it was. Walking past the containment cells use for the medical checkup and heard that voice and saw a caucasian woman with blonde hair and clear blue eyes inside the cell and no doubt at her limits. Seeing this girl knew about her powers. Ukyo carefully used her powers to bring the cup to her hand and carefully turned off the forcefield for a moment before placing the cup down in the cell and turned the forcefield back on.

"I'm not taking any chance with you...you are an inmate of this prison. I'm only here to discover what happened and get this ship working again so we can return to safer space." Ukyo muttered as she begna accessing the terminal letting the girl drink that water and help her parched lips.

The truth revealed itself in little frightening pieces that fell into place to form a horrible picture.

The first thing that would catch Ukyos attention was that there were 63 inmates… or at least 63 of the 120 Cryopods were in use. The first thought that probably, for some reason the crew of the ship froze itself to escape some sort of threat would be dismissed by the simple mathematic operation 47+ 9 < 63.. so.. who was it?

Also something that was noteworthy was the the localization of the additional inmates… 47 Cryopods were located in the front of the ship while 16 were in the back.. as if to apply some sort of order.
And checking on the files of the inmates in the back of the ship earned Ukyo a “Classified”
Fortunately she was a resourceful girl, and could activate the cryopod cameras…

…to reveal something inhuman.

What she saw was a collection of the galaxies most vile and dreadful creatures, some of them she would even know. In the infamous gameshows on Vanjin VI those things, that were merely slave to their mating instincts and their lust for human girls, were used to rape and violate slaves to provide amusement for their masters. Most of the creatures she wouldn’t know and with the last thing, that was.. oddly… located even further in the back than most of the ugly things, she would be sure: A creature this vile had never crossed her path as an agent.

Black cold gruesome eyes, a skin leathery and full of bumps and ridges. A mouth that was encircled by a dozen of tentacles, that were frozen stiff now, yet it would take little imagination to imagine them twitching and twisting in nausea creating movements. The mouth itself was filled with rows and rows of daggerlike teeth. Tentacles, thick as Ukyos legs at the base, grew from its back and clasped about the horned carapace that covered the torso, and most probably protected it from small firearms fire if necessary.

It was a look at the other files, the one of the girls, that were located in the pods in the front of the ship, that was more terrible though. There were vidfiles showing them to be raped and violated in the very holding cells that Ukyo was standing next to.

There were always at least two crewmates watching and taking notes. “Medical Checkups”… once per week for every inmate.

So... the what was clear, yet the why...

was this something on account of the captain? Could something like this escape the notice of Ukyo's superiors? The implications where frightening... some Shokushu for psykers? Something even more devious? It would prove enlightening to find the crew, but a quick check on the ships lifescanners showed that, besides Ukyo and the poor girl in the holding cell, there was no non frozen lifeform on board.

A check for the captain showed that he activated all lifepods of the ship two days ago, but only after he jettisoned 8 corpses, all male, through the airlock. So he left, yet why he killed all his crewmates would be a question the forensics should answer...

There was nothing relating the events three days ago anyhow, for it was all deleted... using his identificaton.