>Flashes surround your small craft speeding towards a small, desert planet
>Looks to be hard-light cannons, judging by their intensity, you’re being tailed by an Imperial heavy destroyer
>Biggest non-dreadnought class ship the Imperials have
>And the sheer amount of flashes suggests it’s flak systems are firing at full power
>The good news is that it isn’t using it’s particle cannons or plasma rifles, since they probably want to take you alive
>You look again at the scanners, which reveal even worse news
>It’s got a full escort of smaller frigates and cruisers, no chance of you getting close before your little corvette gets shredded
>Not much room for maneuvering, since the destroyer is slowly accelerating to your speed
>But it’s going to have to decelerate soon, since you’re getting close to the planet’s surface
>Although it’ll probably launch all of it’s fighters once it begins to slow down
>You can’t do anything aside from attempting to avoid all that fire being poured from that destroyer, since you’re operating this corvette with a skeleton crew of one, that one being you
>Probably not gonna get out of this one, but you’re not about to let the Imperials get their hands on this alien artifact
>Well, they technically had it before you did, but that doesn’t matter, what matters is that you were going to get payed a LOT for stealing it
>But the Imperials captured your employer pretty quickly, but like hell you’re about to let them catch you
>They don’t take too kindly to thieves that steal things from mysterious aliens that the human race has yet to communicate with
>Speaking of which…
>They don’t take too kindly to thieves that steal things from mysterious aliens that the human race has yet to communicate with
>Speaking of which…
>Is it just you, or is there less flak and hard-light shots?
>Yeah, all of that destroyer’s weapon systems have stopped
 
>You check the scanners, shields have fallen, but aren’t down, ship integrity is still at 100%
“What the hell…”
>And the Imperials are breaking off?
>Suddenly alarms flash and blair in your face
>Something huge is coming
>Bigger than any dreadnaught you’ve ever seen or heard of
>Bigger… than earth’s moon
>And it’s coming in faster than anything you’ve ever seen
>Faster than… the speed of light?
>No, this thing must be glitching or broken
>It’s just not possible
>Then you see them
>It’s... an Alien dreadnought, designated an Alpha-10
>No, wait, they’re called something… Akion? Yes, that’s right, from some of the few translations that have been made
>They’ve been seen before, but not in action
>All Akion craft tend to stay very far away from anything human, but this thing just warped right into the planet’s low orbit
>The main body of it resembles a sea-urchin, with spikes protruding at all angles
>You can actually see it, because it’s so close, the scanners say only 5 kilometers away
>That’s basically point blank in space
>And it’s surrounded by several smaller satellites of it’s own
>It seems to stand perfectly still, but then the main body of the Alpha-10 begins to spin, and it’s satellites begin to spew out what looks like dust
>No, wait, it isn’t dust
>Each one of them is actually the size of an average space-fighter, and there are at least a thousand of them over there
>One of the screens flashes, and reads -Incoming Transmission-
>You press receive, and something else appears on the screen
>Is that… one of them?
>You can hardly see anything more than a silhouette, with only a few dim, blue lights in the background
>It looks vaguely humanoid, and it seems to be sitting down
>And it seems to be covered in what looks like armor, with a dot of golden light occasionally seeming to emanate from random portions of it’s body
 
>Then a strange sound, almost like inverted speech, with a mixture of a sound similar to that of someone rolling their tongue, followed by a few hollow clicks and something that sounds like a machine groaning
>Is it talking?
>Threatening you?
>Hell if you know, all you know is that you need to move, now
>You slam the thrusters forward, further speeding towards the planet
>Won’t be long until you’re in the upper atmosphere
>Then, without warning, a streak of light suddenly flies from the Akion dreadnought, and slams into the engine compartment of your corvette
>The engines along with the fuel explode, luckily for you, those are both on the other side of the craft
>But now you can’t make a proper landing, or escape
>You sling your bag into your lap, and dig out the artifact
>It’s a pyramid shape, except only with the frame of a pyramid
>There’s a small, pink light suspended within it
>Nothing else you have with you will help you in this situation
>Either this thing is a doomsday weapon, or is a miracle machine
>The ship jolts, and you look down at the status screen
>It’s nothing but incoherent scribbling
>Systems are being jammed… maybe something like a tractor beam?
>Doesn’t matter
>You jab at the pyramid, some mysterious force seems to keep either your real hand or robotic one from reaching the small sphere of light within it
>Maybe if you…
>You grab the corners, and they begin twisting with several clicks
>Oh, what’s this do?
>You continue twisting, when suddenly it expands outward, and the light grows
>It continues to grow outward, blinding you
>You can’t see anything
>Where are you?
>Surrounded by whiteness…
>You look down
>Well, the rest of you is still here
>Along with the seat, and safety harness
>Your bag is also here, which is good news
>But where are you?
>You look around, nothing but whiteness, still
>Pocket dimension?
>Nothing else to do except...
>You unstrap yourself from the seat
>Try to explore this place
 
>You stand from the seat, and it begins to float away
>So, you’re suspended here
>No, wait
>There’s… a darkening in the whiteness
>You look over and see a large mass of blackness
>It’s approaching you
>No, it’s not that it’s coming to you…
>You’re speeding towards it!
>Blackness engulfs you as you’re blasted by a roar of wind
>You look in the general direction the wind seems to be coming from and see a small light
>The frames of that artifact suddenly come together in front of you
>And the small light at the end of the tunnel of darkness suddenly reaches the frame again
>The darkness recedes, and you are suddenly dropped onto some surface
>What…
>Just happened?
>You look around
>This looks like…
>You’re on some compound
>Concrete asphalt
>You shakily get to your feet as you look at the artifact
“Well, I guess I know what this does now.”
>It’s a miracle machine, after all
>You shove it back into your bag, and turn around
>To see six women, staring at you
>Alright, they're probably confused about why a strange man just teleported in front of them
>If they happen to be Imperials you'll either have to kill them or make a run for it
"Ah, hello there, can you tell me what planet this is?"
>They continue to give you confused looks
>"Did... you all see him come out of no where?"
>"Yeah, I did."
>"Who are you?"
>You scratch your head
>Shouldn't they have I.D. pads?
>You pull yours out from your pocket
>Even though Imperials could find you with it, you can always just steal another one
>This one says... they don't have any
>In fact, there aren't any others within a mile of you
>Did you just get transported to a primitive planet?
"Well..."
>You look up
>No craft flying here and there
>Where the hell are you?
>No, wait
>This could be a good thing
>Maybe now you'll have a break from all the shit you've had to deal with in the past few months
>You check your person
>Nothing missing, you don't feel ill