Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,39

words haunting her. With firmer ground and thicker cover, there was also a greater chance of dangerous predators concealed within the forest.

Terri shivered as tall plants grazed her in passing. Though she could only marginally feel them through the protective layers of her armor, every brush skittered over her nerves as if something far more dangerous were pacing beside her.

She desperately missed Krono. His presence would have helped settle her nerves at least a little in the unfamiliar environment. Higher they climbed at a ground-eating pace, one that left her wheezing and weak-legged by the time the sun began to drop in the horizon. She was all but ready to collapse when an excited shout rose from the crew.

Something had been discovered.

Squinting, Terri pushed through the remaining brush, her breath leaving her in a gasp. Just ahead, leaning at an awkward level, was a large structure. It was covered in vines and various plant life that sprung up where dirt had collected, but even she could see that it had once been part of a starship.

Egbor’s voice rose over the crew, his shout triumphant. “We are on the right track! And tonight, we will rest securely in shelter.”

13

Although a large hole had been ripped into the side of the wreckage, Veral was surprised at how well preserved the section of the ancient starship was. Indeed, aside from the hole itself, most of the wreckage was secure and easily contained the entire crew that were currently settling within it with plenty of space to spare.

That this torn-away section had survived near intact was marvel of engineering. Most ships that he was familiar with, if they were torn apart upon entry, would not have much remaining to be suitable for shelter. The Elshavan created technological marvels that he would have discounted as fantasy if he were not seeing it with his own eyes and scanning it with his own systems.

He was only somewhat familiar with the lore of the Evandra. Just the bits and pieces he had been able to find from the Yil’anip databases when he had been assigned the salvage. The House of Grez’na were an ancient line of the species and contained the best records that could be found regarding their oldest predecessors.

In their records had been details of an ancient star faring race, the Elshavan, who held great wealth and technology. The most prized of their ships was the Evandra, the vanquisher of foes. When the Elshavan went to war with another great power, the Diralthax, all the planets between their civilizations became the battlegrounds, and chief among their outposts had been the planet Yil’winar. Though the Elshavan won, the Evandra was lost to them, taking with it not only the prince and all his royal wealth that was traveling upon it, but also war tech that seemed more legend than truth.

Eventually both the Elshavan and Diralthax civilizations collapsed and became a curiosity of galactic scholars who were still uncertain just how much of the lore surrounding the civilizations was factual. Little remained of them outside of a few written accounts and the trace lore on planets that fell under the control of their civilizations. No one had even so much as located the homeworlds.

Naturally, when taking the assignment, Veral believed that the Elshavan had probably not been as advanced in tech as the then-primitive Yil’anip.

Now, as he looked at the perfectly seamless black walls that not even the Argurma with all their tech advances could accomplish, he was not so certain. In some places, he was sure that he could see faint lines of what might have been data outlays and storage compartments, but he could not discern any way to open the latter. The pirates were going to be disappointed if the ship itself, when they found it, was more of the same rather than brimming with wealth waiting to be claimed.

As it was, the males following him into the wreckage were grumbling at how empty everything was as they searched for any sign of wildlife that may have taken refuge within it. The absence of any trace remains of the normal things one might find in the wreckage of a manned ship disturbed them as much as the lack of any signs of animal habitation.

It was odd. His scans did not pick up any animal matter. The only organics he could detect were the bits of plant material that had managed to blow inside. Even more curious, there was an unidentifiable hum of energy coming