Salazar doesn't call himself a murderer. Not any more.
He's killed too many people for that.
He's a Massacrer
He has killed for love.
He has killed for revenge.
He has killed for pride.
But Samantha. She would be forever his weakness. Forever his kryptonite.
Forever his love.
The ring was plain. A small silver circle of pure metal, with a clear diamond in the middle. He remembered the day clearly.
Freeport 1.
Biodome 2.
Behind the large tree at the edge.
They were kissing, caressing, touching, loving. Thoughts, words, feelings mumbled between them, floating through the air to reach the other lips, already claimed by lips themselves.
The ring slipped, falling to the ground, and the flash of silver, the flash of diamond, caught her eye. She gasped, her hands falling to her sides. He picked it up, got on one knee.
That was the best day of his life.
Freeport 9.
Biodome 2.
Behind the large tree at the edge.
It was a replay. Kissing. Fondling. Loving.
Only this time, instead of a ring, it was a blaster.
He held her head back, and his whisper of hatred sliced through the air like a thunderbolt.
"You betrayed me bitch."
The blaster trigger was pulled, and her beautiful neck, so slender and sleek, was splattered with blood.
She kicked, struggled, and slid down. Her body falling to the ground was more terrible to watch than a building full of children tumbling to the floor.
He reached down, and slid the ring off of her finger.
"You were no love of mine."
He walked to the airlock, opened it, and stepped inside.
Placed the ring down in the middle of it, placed his blaster down too.
Ejected them to the confines of space.
He knelt, and whispered to the cold steel of the ceiling.
"If anyone is listening. I have sinned. I have killed. I have become death, the destroyer of worlds. If anyone is there, stop me now."
Captain Juxta Hale looked up from his screen as Salazar strode onto the bridge.
He had blood on his hands.
He sighed, and returned to his work. Obviously the Admiral had killed someone on the Freeport. He typed, each finger slamming down onto the keyboard, causing something pain. Anything.
You had to be slightly bloodthirsty to work on the Lochless. It had been almost week since they last needed supplies, and that came at a price. Juxta had pressed the button himself, the one that jettisoned the crew of the transport into space.
They raided a few transports a month, each bringing supplies to the moving death supplier. The freeports had realised what had happened a little while ago, and they had trouble docking at Freeport 10 the other week. Salazar had to give the order to blow off one of the biodomes before they realised how crazy they were and would let us land.
And then there was the labs. Where Salazar and his scientists were experimenting on those nomads. God knows what they were doing to them, but the screams coming from there hurt. They cut deep into you.
It had started 3 years ago. When Salazar went onto the Freeport, shot his wife. She had betrayed him, tried to have him killed. He was never the same after that.
And Samantha was incredible. She was tall, beautiful, legs to die for. And Salazar had left her body there. To say Juxta despised Salazar for that would be true. Thing is, Salazar himself was incredible.
He was strong, a brilliant thinker, fighter, commander. He was a man you didn't want to mess with.
Juxta? Well, he bitterly thought, I'm merely a Sensor jockey. Skills? None really.
He stood, stretched slightly, and walked towards the rear of the bridge, to where the nav station was. Each step made a small noise against the Iron floor, it ringing with the sound of his steel tipped boot.
Salazar was reading something, while listening to the Nav Commander telling him about a Jump Hole nearby. That was never a good sign, if Salazar was interested, he listened to you.
Salazar stood, straightening out.
"Shut up". His voice was quiet, low, a sleek hiss that was muttered in the Nav Commanders direction.
And there was silence. Impeccable silence. Instantly.
Salazar reached to his belt, and drew his blaster. That blaster was infamous. Never made a noise when readied. Black, sleek, shiny. The Nav officers breath drew ragged, short, and he started to sweat.
"Juxta."
Salazars voice didn't change, and he hadn't looked back. He just knew that Juxta was there.
"Sir! Reports of our actions have flooded in. We need to lay low for a while."
Juxta's voice wavered a slight bit as he ended.
"Very well." Salazar twirled the blaster in his hand.
"I advise we head to the Upper Tau systems sir."
Salazar paused. Then sprang into action. He was like a deadly cat, silent, quick.
"Agreed. Also, we need to debate renaming the ship. I want the hull repainted when we arrive. On that Freeport I killed a man who was very important. If we don't be quiet, we'll have another Juggernaut on our tails."
He strode to the main part of the bridge, and sank down into his chair. He toyed with the blaster some more. Then looked up.
Slowly the Lochless made her way through the Tau's, keeping comm's and transponder's silent. Salazar sent out the Gunboat Ado twice to buy supplies, first from Planet Harris, and then from Freeport 6.
She was halfway through the Tau 23 system when it happened.
Juxta was co-ordinating with Lieutenant Harrison, blasting asteroids out of the Lochless's path when a much large shape showed up on the radar. Then another. And another.
"Sir!" Juxta shrieked, "We have 3 ships on radar, approaching fast!"
Salazar span round from the nav station and quickly strolled to the front of the bridge. "Where? Ship type?"
Juxta's fingers tapped furiously on the console in front of him, trying to match the mass's of the ships to one's in the database. A yell came from the back of the bridge.
"We've got a Juggernaut and 2 Destroyer's on our tails!"
Juxta paused for a second, then confirmed it using his instruments, he looked up and saw Salazar staring at him. Juxta nodded. Salazar hesitated for a brief second, then stood and lept into action.
"Lietenant! Charge weapons, ensign, get us moving faster, I want that shield to full operation immediatly"
Salazar took a quick step towards Juxta.
"Next time try looking out a window first... I want to know which Juggernaut that is...Now."
Juxta nodded quickly, and started tapping his console again. Dimly in the background he heard Salazar ordering the Gunboat's to be prepped. The Lochless was never given any destroyer escorts, so they would be at a dis-
He paused. His brain moved at overdrive, only one Juggernaut had 2 destroyer escorts, he stood and swore. Loudly. Salazar span round.
"What?" He spat.
Juxta looked him in the eye, and said a single word.
Salazar swore. Loudly.
"Everyone to the gunboats and transports, get ready to evacuate!"
Everyone except the bridge crew started to move towards the lower decks, where the gunboats and the 2 transports stood. Salazar moved to one of the consoles and typed in the access code, quickly he set the computer core to format itself, and set of a charge in the laboratories below them. The shock wave trembled though the ship, but it was small enough not to cause much damage.
Deep within the Lochless's hull, power cores started charging, and the weapons span to target the closer destroyer behind them, and then with Salazars order...
They fired.
The charge's of energy shot through space to collide with the destroyers shield. Salazar was a good tactician though, and he had sacrificed half of the Lochless's power reserves to take down their shields in 2 shots. With a roar, the main turrets powered up and started firing, tearing chunks of flesh out of the Destroyer's hull, making it scream with pain. The emergency nanobot system kicked in, but under the power of the Lochless's guns, they might aswell not have turned it on. Slowly, as if begging, pleading, desperately trying to stay together.
But it was all in vain, as the destroyer's power core overloaded, exploding in a million flashes of light, ripping through metal, alloys and flesh together in a single second.
And now, through the destruction and light, a large shadow moved, a huge shadow, a huge vessel armed to the brink with incredible weaponry. Everyone who looked at it shivered. They were after the Lochless because they had an order to destroy it.
The name of the ship was the single word that Juxta uttered.