Page 1 of Star Claimed Omega
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Chapter 1
THE RED QUEEN
The masked redhead’s boots struck the floor in a syncopated rhythm.
Each step through the scorched metal and molten composite corridor echoed like a war drum.
She strode through the gunmetal gloom, plunging into a haze of air smoke and static with her prized Karshek V-90 blaster primed.
The elite-class laser weapon was capable of destroying an entire platoon with a single sustained pulse.
She wasThe Red Queen, her cloak of crimson billowing behind her, in vermilion savagery, her jaw set, hellbent on finishing her mission.
Behind her, the disciplined thud of her team’s boots followed as they picked off the last of the guards guarding the ammunition depot.
She didn’t need to look back; she was confident her warriors were relentless.
They had trained for this for months, their bodies and minds honed for this singular mission.
This raid was a test case against the potent Signet Group, a trial by fire.
With the weapons cache contained within these walls, they would be closer to achieving their sole goal, the one the entire clan was panting for.
Releasing theCarmine Cardinaland consolidating their power to topple and rule over the Wildlight’s close network of mafia houses and clans.
The depot,Loup Nine, a secret Signet vault, was no ordinary armory.
This one housed state-of-the-art prototype xentium rail gun rounds, anti-meta pulse grenades, and ionic bombs.
And, if whispers were true, it also contained XV rail casters capable of collapsing planetary biospheres or imploding a dreadnought on itself.
The cache was gifted to Signet by the all-powerful Sable Group in Pegasi, the final destination of every flotilla and ship in the Wildlight.
Which meant all edge lords and rogue mafia bosses within ten parsecs had taken a shot at finding and raiding the station, in a system-wide pirate rush for the depot’s treasures.
Most failed; their ships found floating in jagged segments outside the vault perimeter.
The woman grimaced beneath her mask. She had no plans to join the losers.
She would prevail, appeasing her clan and pleasing her handler.
Now she had boots on the ground and could almost scent her success.
She slipped past another bulkhead and spotted the cyclic-locked vault door up ahead.
Her pulse picked up, kicking up into a feral rhythm through her veins.
This was it.
Slinging the V-90 across her back, she stepped up to the massive steel door, her eyes scanning the rotating circular locks embedded with kinetic sensors.
She checked the wall and the surrounding area for any holo ID check.
There was none to be seen, just as the intel from a corrupted maintenance engineer promised.
This was an old-fashioned cyclical safe lock, and she had the combination memorized. With a breath, she reached for the glowing access panel.
