[4C4A4] Carcharodons Astra

Excerpt from the testimony of Dortan Sevalius – Sole survivor of the escort cruiser Anvillus, attached to mining fleet Tertius before his suicide.


“This wormhole was empty, we scanned the entire grid before moving out. There were no signals in the entire space pocket, it was safe. Then suddenly from between the asteroids came a vast swarm of frigates and fighters. Burning right for us all weapons hot. They poured over us like water. Our sensor went black, the comms hissed static, alarms started blaring on all decks. Before we even knew the pile of shit we were in we could see explosions blossoming on the engineering decks of several mining ships. They were being crippled systematically with cold precision. Before we could bring our batteries to bear bright explosions announced the ends of both the Sabre and Falchion, our destroyer escorts. A pair of battlecruisers slipped out from between the asteroids, their hulls still shimmering with the residue of their cloaking devices. The bastards had gotten the drop on us. As the commander barked orders to get the Anvillus into a firing position we stared him in the eye, dumbstruck… He couldn’t be serious trying to fight them off… He saw the uselessness of his actions in our eyes and gave the command to evacuate. He would go down fighting with the Anvillus as his captaincy demanded. We rushed towards the escape pods and launched as we heard the sound of void war all around us. Once cleared we saw the Anvillus moving in to engage… The proud fool. She was stripped of her shields a minute later with the constant fire hammering from the pair of battlecruisers. Once they punched through, a single missile was launched with target precision I had never seen. It slammed straight into the bridge and detonated a second later, annihilating the ships command station and leaving the cruiser dead in the void. As our last escorts were hunted, cornered and ravaged by the enemy fleet, freighters and salvage ships warped in. We would have to wait out their actions before activating our beacons. Out of nowhere the silence was broken yet again with the pounding of guns. Those bastards started butchering escape pods! Suddenly a fighter moved before my window screen and just… Hung there… He came so close I could see the pilot… His face… Pale as snow with jet black eyes… Without warning he vectored away and flew off. Leaving my pod hanging in the darkness of space. The fleet took up formation as soon as everything was stripped and warped away into deadspace. I activated my beacon and was rescued a few hours later. I was told to be the only survivor… The crew of the Anvillus alone counted 15 000 souls… Men and women I had served with for years.”


In the wake of the destruction of mining fleet Tertius an audio log was found attached to a beacon.
The recorded voice was little more than an eerie whisper and said the following :


“We lay claim to this part of space and its resources. Be gone or face our wrath. We are the predators of the void. The silent hunters in the dark. Hear our name and tremble. We are the Carcharodons Astra. We suffer no trespass in our domain.”