Fallen Comrade

As the pirates tried to move through the ship they suddenly found that the iris valves were locked shut, and Halfnir discovered that the route he had arrived by was also closed off now. Jack and Halfnir started hacking with one door, assisted by Bogburp remotely but time was against them. Tex was by one iris valve when at the opposite end of the corridor, two Imperial marines came through the iris valve as it opened, shouting to get down on the floor and aiming plasma guns. Tex pretended to comply but tossed a plasma grenade and although it did cause some minor burns the marines in their battle dress, it merely served to loosen their trigger fingers and blazing stream of plasma incinerated poor Tex who was all but vapourised.

Moving through the marines then confronted Halfnir and Jack who were suddenly compliant. After being stripped of gear, they were taken to the brig and welded in. Although some negotiations took place, they were left there until exiting from jump when Hroal's ambush took the Martin II by surprise and the treasure ship without its escort was easily disabled by the pocket warship, and although fighting was fierce, Hroal's men boarded and killed off the marines.

Freeing Halfnir and Jack, Hroal challenged them to open the vault, as the Imperial escorts were two days away and closing. The pirates tried their best to find a way in the vault and although they discovered a few clues as to how it worked, they were out of time and had to take the cargo which Hroal left behind. Salvaging the ship for anything that could be taken, the Black Swan, sombre through the loss of a fallen comrade, jumped out for Acrid.