A milk run is never a milk run.

[Kenrath]

The heavy freighter "Milk Run" was making another tour ferrying people from place to place. Most of them were workers hitching a ride to the next job. A few were refugees fleeing this place or that. A single soul however was just there hitching a ride to nowhere in particular.

That soul was Norin Kellarov. For the immediate future Norin was just burning credits seeing the sites and visiting places he had never been to before. The freighter was low key and for the most part nobody paid attention to it. The ship had minimum defense and even less offensive capabilities. Where the pilot had been cheap in one area he made up for it in another area. That area was creature comforts. Most of the cargo hold and other nonessential areas had been retrofitted into passenger cabins with most of the necessities. The passengers restricted from crew areas for the most part.

Norin had fallen into that same category to start off with until some thing important broken during the last trip. Norin had helped with a temporary fix so the ship could limp it's way to the nearest station for repairs. Ever since Norin had been given more freedom to move around the ship. A fact he used to get to know the pilot and crew better.


The current leg of their trip was from Falleen to Roshana by way of Rishi. After their last mishap the crew had switched from look empty space legs to shorter hops from planet to planet.

Norin was walking by the cockpit when the ship popped out of hyper near Rishi.

[member="Gromm Cardan"]

 

[Keyan Mastigar]

The 52nd Imperial Fleet cast a dark shadow over the planet of Rishi, several Imperial star destroyers hovered lazily through the upper atmosphere while even more cruisers clung around them in groups. The Indomitable, an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, was apparently the leader of the pack, given by its centralized position in contrast to the other destroyers of a variety of classes. On the bridge, a lieutenant walked at a brisk pace up to Vice Admiral Cardan, commander of the vessel and the fleet surrounding it.

"Admiral, a ship just entered the system, its markings match those of a vessel owned by a known criminal, smuggling by the looks of it." The Lieutenant reported, putting his hands behind his back. Cardan turned, glancing at the young man "Very well, Imperial justice will be swift. Move the fleet into a pincer formation and bring up the Interdictor cruiser, we will capture them and interrogate them on their operations." Gromm ordered.

Several minutes later, the fleet began to swoop down upon the heavy freighter.

[member="Norin Kellarov"]

 

[Kenrath]

Norin had started back towards the rear of the ship when the pilot came over the intercom in a panic.

"Norin Norin please report to the cockpit immediately."

Norin stopped the fear evident in the man's voice. Turning back Norin popped into the cockpit with a soft smile.

"Stop............take a deep breath. Your passengers can hear the fear in your voice and you are going to cause a panic you don't want."

The pilot stopped, took a breath, and pointed at the scanner just as the Imperial Fleet was swooping down. Norin sighed shaking his head.

"Throttle back the engines, lower the shields, deactivate any weapons. You can't out run them and if you are lucky they will decide to ask questions before they open fire. Is there anything I need to know?"

The pilot shook his head but Norin wasn't convinced.

"Try again. Nobody sends an entire Fleet after a single freighter without a good reason. Open up a channel........if you are lucky I can keep us from getting killed."

Once the channel was up Norin took a breath before speaking.

"Imperial Fleet this is Norin Kellarov aboard the Milk Run. Hold your fire. This is a civilian transport vessel..we have no criminal intent."

[member="Gromm Cardan"]