The Rise of Red Moon: My Firsthand Account
As of recent times, the grand Legions and Fleets of the Dominion has fended off against this new threat: the undead Marauders near the Halon Ring. Due to access to Dark Arts by Laveka the Darkhearted, the Marauders convened at Palaver Point has been transformed into undying monstrosities with the resurrected Mordechai Redmoon as its leader. Though it has been a difficult struggle, the Dominion's tested might of thousand of years have proven their defiance against their now-weakening raids upon the merchants and orbital supremacy. For credentials, my cousin Commander Valeria Caesarius in Dominion Fleet and I were part of the brave volunteers who traversed in Halon Ring to root out the pirate lanes. To fulfill my duty to the empire through military and scientific investigation of these monsters, I departed from Illium starport a week before I wrote this article.
It was myself and nineteen brave souls who volunteered to board the Marauder's vessel during a space battle between a squadron of three armed merchant ships and two destroyers led by a Cruiser, which my cousin was assigned on, against a large Marauder hulk that was controlled by undead crews who can still man their posts even with hazards that would kill a normal crew member. When the Marauder hulk's engine was crippled with two ships in critical condition, the Cruiser captain decided to launch a boarding drill to the vessel in an expedient manner to end the battle as its guns are still active.
As the Bezgelorian drill bored through the hull, the boarding party braced as its made its way to the maintenance section of the hulk after the harrowing journey from deflecting point defenses. We fought our way through their slanks before felling upon a work crew of janitors and mechanics. As we fought our way deeper into the Marauder hulk, I saw the undead Marauders with my own eyes (and my scanbot who took this photo). Blue rotted skin and pieces of their flesh torn off but still, their combat capability has not been impaired. Gun emplacements and razortails were also present, which it did not impede our advance towards the batteries and weapons control. While we would love to tell the tale of brave citizens who managed to slay captains and even taking over entire ships with all crews slew, it was unfortunate to reveal that it was a relatively brief fight to cripple the vessel and possibly capture “live” Risens. As we fought the obstacles towards defanging the hulk, we reached to the magazines and weapon control where we slew the hulks' Bosun and Gunner who were the only living crew on board. But this is where I gained the opportunity of discovering research on the Risens.
Along the way to the munitions and weapon control, we captured one of the Risens from the Brig before teleporting out of the hulk before it was bombarded with ordinances when the hulk's weapons were disabled. While on board the ship's small laboratory, I managed to check the Risen Marauder's tissue sample and even live autopsy before the subject was terminated with an incinerator. Like many undead lifeforms, ignoring its functioning organs even after riddled with cuts and projectiles, its Primal Life showed abnormal patterns just as how Moodies utilize to create their reanimated servants. This was no surprise since Laveka has been known to possess The Mask of Mog-Mog that allow her to control large numbers of Marauders under her command. What was unusual is that they still were sentient compared to other Moodies' risens that made them capable and cunning fighters along with an ability to obey and even issue “complex” orders that allow more coordinated raids. As the Red Moon's terror halted, this article would present an account of those who risk their lives for the Dominion's defiance against these unliving pirates.
