RP: SFS Chapter One: Alistair's Remorse

Halcyone meandered off once everyone had been dismissed. She took some while to find the armory for herself, eventually following some of the others rather than consulting the ships schematics. There she found a wide array of things used for putting holes in things or for blowing up things or melting things. She skimmed through the selection, finding herself a rifle, an M3 assault rifle and a pair of sidearms, two Styrling Silver Special's. These selected, Halcyone strapped the pistols onto her hips and slung the rifle over her shoulder. She also grabbed a few extra ammunition magazines for all and tucked them away.

Appropriately armed, the gearhead returned to the hangar and went over to Solarsailor. "So, you ready to test out our nights work?" she asked.

"Thanks, muffin." Black gave Phase a stiff pat on the chassis and took the pliars with a sort of twitch at the corners of his mouth that could've been interpreted as a kind of rapid-fire smirk. Even the most ferocious and torturous interrogator would never know just how fond he was of the tiny egg or the prizes normally contained within. The walking heavy metal cliche was quick to squat next to his airbike and immediately shove the pliars into an open lighting socket on the bike, then with a tiny grunt tear free a rusted and tangled wire.

Meanwhile, Cloudheart sat stooped over with hands on her knees while she watched her miniature Junker interact with Phase's leggy brick. She smiled to behold the chihuahua-sized metal arachnid scuttle about in a circle around the creature with its single stalk-eye camera twisting and tilting to get every detail of this potential new friend. Satisfied that everything was well, she stood straight and gave 'Bricklet' (which was now going to be its name if anyone asked her) a gentle scruff of the (brick) neck, then pealed into a child-like giggle and shot up to go grab her armor.

Cloudheart wasn't gone very long. It seemed she'd only stepped around the corner for a moment before popping back into view. Unable to fit her child-like frame into the beastly power-armor impliments, the tiny Freespacer made due by securing her own personal armor in advance. Over the patchwork blazer of many colors she had worn before was a plain, olive colored vest of plates which ended in a tabbard-like red cloth that dangled over her rump and between her knees. Strapped over this was chest-rig holding several magazines for the Origin Industries Peashooter that might've been a beefy pistol to some, but was more like a carbine to her. Confidently, Cloudheart chambered a round and slid the beastly weapon into a crossdraw holster on her left thigh, which was consequently about the size of her left thigh. Though she'd never fought anything before, upon receiving this assignment the little Mindtwister was sure to study up on marksmanship and had been fed several compliment sandwiches over her awkward, yet effective use of large-bore handguns.

With everyone showing up toting guns and dressed in expensive military equipment, Killroyal decided to stop tinkering with his airbike once more and return Phase's pliars to their adorable little container. He planted his hands on his hips and looked everyone over before snapping his fingers. The immediate effect of this was that Elway, who'd been looming silently in his black Raider armor, approached and stood beside the Commantimidator.

Commandant Dad looked over his children with approving eyes, even nodding at Domicile's choice. He had wrongly imagined that she intented to get up close with her colorful armor and punch, tear, and squeeze her way to victory without any apparent weapons.

Of note also was Elway's gaze, for Linda caught it firmly when she arrived. His face remained stoic, but the way his eyes met hers seemed to send a message, silently letting her know that he was aware of her inquiries the previous night without dispensing approval or disapproval. Those hard-set eyes kept boring into her, even as he handed the datapad to Commandant Black and the murderous Themarmander read their intended mission aloud.

"At seventeen-four-four hours last night, a freighter entered into Nepleslian space from Yamatai without forwarding its route to local authorities." He explained, reading almost verbatim what was written for him on the datapad. "When approached and asked to heave-to for a customs inspection, the vessel did not respond. The NNPD customs vessel 'Armistice' attempted to open fire, but was immediately disabled by an electronic attack. Two hours later, Star Military patrol craft approached and requested the vessel heave-to for inspection. They were then immediately subject to a mass systems failure which we suspect is also the result of an electronic attack. Finally, a little after midnight, the recon cruiser 'Stalwart' launched a boarding shuttle with orders to forcibly breach her hull. The shuttle's computers vented the compartment while the marines were suiting up. We lost six men and women to these mother fuckers."

Black tossed the datapad haphazardly over his shoulder and didn't even look to see it skittering across the ground as he crossed his arms and snarled, "Now, if it were up to me we would vaporize the sons-of-bitches at range, but Naval Intel wants to know how they're fucking up our computers. So Admiral Feldstrum has ordered Harmonious Solarsailor with its atypical systems to approach and board. We are to salvage as much as we can, but you hear me kids: I do not mind watching anyone who raises a gun to you beautiful munchkins get their brains turned into pencil shavings."

Black stopped to lick his lips and then went on while pacing up to Harmony. The frigate politely slid open the entryway to the newly-installed crew compartment at his approach and he stopped himself to watch as a cylinder popped loose from the front of the 'Spacer craft, and then spread open a pair of sharp, fang-like durandium petals which revealed a narrow passageway leading into a wide ready-room.

"Sweet shit-eating Sandra Silicone." Remarked Black, before turning back to the assembled team and reminded them, "Anyhow, kids, I want the wire-headed weasel who's making these cyber attacks alive. Everyone else can die. Kill 'em all if you have to, Command be damned. I ain't puttin' my brats at risk over giving rights to dirty bastards who killed six of some other poor guy's brats. I'll work up a game plan inside your machine-sibling... So get in your machine-sibling!"

Following a thick and outstretched index finger, everyone soon found themselves inside of Harmonious Solarsailor's new ready-room. Between the ship and Halcyone, the new set up was pretty sweet. Though there was no time to investigate, to the rear there was another passage which seemed to lead to a larger series of rooms within the belly of the fattened frigate. The ready room wasn't without its niceties, however. A pair of sweeping benches ran along either side of the room with a bank of monitors and displays in the middle. It wasn't quite a bridge, but when the ship was crewed by itself there was no need for a bridge. When everyone was inside and settled into the dimly-lit ready room, Harmony closed itself up and quietly took them away from the cargo bay and into open space while Black and Elway sat behind the bank of displays murmuring silent battle plans.

-----

ISC Ruby Rose, Fifteen Minutes Earlier
The sound of thick boots clacking on smooth tile announced the presence of a man wearing the uniform of the now-defunct UOC Peacekeepers in a conference room where three other men sat speaking in hushed tones. He was a tall, darkened man with severe features and long black hair braided tight behind him. Mao-Sung Chow regarded the room with serious eyes and walked purposefully around the length of the table before stopping at the end where the three men sat and giving them all a deep bow.

"Peacekeeper Chow." Greeted one of the men, a stocky privateer with thick lips and a smile which suggested he was always up to something. "We were just talking about how well Daxton has been doing on this voyage."

The privateer gestured to a thin, smug-looking boy with a large cybernetic eye. The boy shrugged with a confident grin and suggested, "What can I say, my bosses taught me well."

Peacekeeper Chow showed no reaction to either of them, instead pointing his gaze to the man at the head of the table. The gentleman was a hardened-looking sort, if a little fattened by age, and was presently reading a report whilst simultaneously having trouble fitting into the uniform of a Red Faction Colonel. "Colonel Fallon, we have dropped out of fold and are currently cruising through an FTL deadzone. Surely they will attempt to stop us again. And yet, you have not deployed any of my men, nor have you issued breath masks to the crew."

"Keep a lid on it, Peacekeeper." Warned the Colonel without looking up from his report, "Daxton's got it handled. Deckers sent us a good kid for this, money well spent. Anything they throw at us, he'll stop it before it even gets close."

Chow's jaw tightened and his hand shifted to the mono-edged ninjato at his hip. Gruffly, he repeated his warnings, "I do not think the hacker will keep us safe forever, sir. I hate to see what might happen should a boarding party get through when your crew isn't even at general quarters. I also question the purpose of hiring mercenairies when you do not use them for--"

"Do not forget that you're one of those mercenaries, Peacekeeper Chow." Growled the Colonel, now abandoning his reports to fix Chow with harsh, glowering eyes. "Just do what I say and enjoy the time off. When we get planetside, there will be plenty for you to do. The General's warehouse is what needs security, not my ship."

"Of course, Colonel." Chow bowed deeply once more and turned on his heel to leave the room.

Outside, a muscular white-haired man in a matching Peacekeeper uniform waited for him and wordlessly matched step with Chow; the two of them striding down the corridor. Chow sighed and spoke first after a fashion. "Lu-Fou Lang, my friend and confidant. What do you make of the Colonel's behavior?"

"Arrogance, Master." Came the baritone reply.

"And what do you suggest I do? We've been hired as mercenaries. We no longer serve justice, but only-- these people." Chow frowned hard, shaking both hands in front of him to emphasize the words.

"If we are attacked, I reccommend we abandon the Nepleslians here and continue on our course to their paymasters." Suggested Lang. "Their stupidity shouldn't deprive their paymasters of everything they've paid for, and I know the men would follow you before that Colonel of theirs."

"Honor suggests I should follow that very Colonel even to my death." Chow reminded him.

Lang sighed and shook his head. "Master, you would waste yourself trying to honor that which is honorless. At the first sign of attack, order the men into shuttles and we shall depart. Whether we leave for our ultimate destination or return to Asura, we should leave these fools behind to burn."

It was Chow's turn to sigh. They strode around a corner and the two of them came to a stop in front of an elevator. The former Peacekeeper turned to face his retainer and shook his head. "If we pack into the shuttles and leave before we're certain that they'll die, they could speak poorly of us to our mutual paymaster. We must at least stay and put forth a token effort. I mean..." He shook his head and contorted his face in anger, "I'm just trying to feed my men, but acting as a warband for these criminals is not how I envisioned it."

"We understand your position, Master." Came the reassuring words, along with a reassuring bow from Lu-Fou. "The men would not have followed you here if we did not still trust your wisdom. The fires of Jiyuu still burn in our hearts, and we still tread upon the ashes of the Colonies. I will prepare the men for a quick departure whenever you say we must go. That way, whichever you decide, we'll be prepared for it."

Chow let himself smile and lay a ginger hand on Lu-Fou's shoulder. "I appreciate that, Lang. You've always been..." He struggled to find the words for such a serious and stern-faced friend.

"I am your loyal retainer." Suggested Lang with a tilt of his head, before shuffling backwards and away. Peacekeeper Chow smiled at his retreating form, some of the tension washed from his features. It wouldn't be gone for long, though, as the shudders of the first impact would strike the Ruby Rose in just over an hour.

-----

Spaaace!
The Ruby Rose cut through the FTL deadzone at a slow pace, stars waving past it as the Courier 2B pushed its massive bulk through the narrow passageway of safe space between gravitic waves and electromagnetic disturbances. A ways behind it, at the far end of the passage, Harmonious Solarsailor dropped out of fold and rocketed into range. The 'Spacer frigate made a much easier job of the passageway, its comparatively tiny and agile form zig-zagging and rolling through the the intricacies of the passage. It felt alive as it soared through the stars, twisting anyway it pleased with no negative effect on the passengers within. Well, that was mostly because they couldn't look outside. If they could, some of them might surely jettison breakfast. Still, for Harmonious Solarsailor, this was home and the ship cut through every corner of the passage at high speed on a sharp intercept course with the fat freighter that lumbered beyond.

As it came nearer, the Ruby Rose deployed a series of custom turrets to fire a barrage of mass-driver cannonfire at the frigate; but found that all of its shots were deftly and skillfully dodged. In response, Harmonious Solarsailor fired three Pseudoflares right into the Courier 2B's engine nozzles, bathing the hull of the ship in thermonuclear fire and cutting its acceleration down to nothing, leaving the freighter to drift harmlessly in space.

In the ready room, Harmonious Solarsailor spoke to an expectant Commandant Black. "As ordered, I've disabled the other vessel. Their engines and weapons systems are down, which should make for a most harmonious approach. I'm moving in to attach for boarding now, Killroyal."

"Thanks, ship." The Commandant replied. He had been strapping an HHG to his thigh and a FatCOM to his head during the final approach, and now he turned to the assembled team as they closed in and covered the bulletin points of the battle plan. "Alright, buckaroos. Get in, secure the ship. Take prisoners when opportune, leave corpses when needed. I want Garvey with the engineer down in that engine room. Get control of vital systems."

He pointed to Alistair, "Thorn, you find a junction or a terminal or something and hook up to their systems. Shut down whatever they've got doing the hacking and try to take remote control of the bridge."

Then to Eir. "Smith, figure out who's gonna cover Thorn and then take the rest with you to storm the bridge. Once we control the ship, Garvey and Thorn will fan out and neutralize any remaining crewmembers while Smith hold the POWs. Elway will provide advance recon data from within the ship."

There was a shaking that rumbled the entire room as Harmony sliced the Ruby Rose open like a can of sardines and jutted her drinking-straw into the side of the Courier's cargo hold. Those durandium petals spread open to reveal the wreckage beyond. Dented hull plating and twisted support beams were piled at waist level in the wide warehouse-sized expanse of the cargo bay. A supply technician lie crumpled and unmoving on the ground in a pool of blood, curled a little too sharply around one of the loose girders. There was a great metal partition beyond him and beyond that, through the cracks, it seemed like the cargo bay stretched on forever.

"Alright marines," Barked Killroyal, throwing a hand to point to the newly opened way, while behind him Elway rocketed into the bay. Elway squatted on the floor and began to shimmer and fade from view just as he was about to leap into a powerful somersault that would remain unseen by anyone. Once again, the bay was seemingly empty, and the time had come.

"Move your asses!"

After 'suiting up' Beep had done its best to keep up with and follow the rest of the team, its large size and lumbering pace made it a bit slower than the other albet more squishy members. However with its great size it was able to attach a NAM Plasma Chaingun to its right arm and a NAM Gatling Laser Cannon on its left for fire support. Not to mention that its towering size and strength were a formidable offensive weapon on its own.

Beep was quite happy at the new shape of the ship seeing as it could freely move about on the inside, instead of being trapped in a box. It made a note to itself to explore the facilities more when it got the chance but now it was time to fight. As soon as the Harmonious Solarsailor was latched onto the oppositions ship, Regalia-Antisepticizer switched itself over onto combat mode switching its ocular unit over to a dark red light as well as informing everyone around it with a low voice saying "Combat Mode Engaged..... Beep"

With a cautious yet affirmative speed the warmachine trudged down the boarding tube, leveling its arms ready for whatever may be on the other side.

As Alistair stood in the hanger listening to Black, something seemed off. 'Cyber attacks on the ships? They even managed kill six marines by venting the shuttle. Who ever this hacker is, they know their shit. The way they operate seem almost familiar...' He thought. He pulled up the reports from each of the ships. They crippled each of the ships by causing the systems to attack themselves. It was the same way Alistair was taught.

The team got onto Harmonious Solarsailor and Alistair plugged into the ships systems. "Hey, Harmonious Solarsailor, I'm going to help with the Electronic Warfare." He said as he started releasing subroutines to keep their vessel from suffering the same fate as the other ships.

They finally reached the enemy ship without any complications. "Thank for letting me help you out Solarsailor." He said as he unplugged himself from the ship and regrouped with everyone. The team got their orders. Alistair was to hack in and have an all out cyber battle with the hackers inside and take remote control of the ship. It is a good thing he programmed some new viruses to combat this last night. "You can count on me Commandant." He said as he charged through the docking tube looking for a terminal to begin his own cyber attack. 'Time to make these fuckers pay for what they did to those marines...'

"Elway," Phase asked, once their two bodies and associated pet were on-board and ready to rock, "What do the Freespacers like myself do? Our gracious Commantimidator seems to be focused on the fleshbag marines at this time, so I do not want to interrupt that focus."

They noted that the "Bricklet" had eight drones like the one that had assisted Killroyal prior., each armed with. . . well, none of them had lasers, but they were certainly more useful and smaller than those awful Hostile drones. But for whatever reason, Phase decided to keep their two forms separate. Why?

Eli cracked his neck in the interior of the Hostile, the suit responded to the pops and snaps of his organic muscles with the whine of servomotors and electrically motivated fiber-bundles. This was going to be a mission with very little direct intervention on his part - he could barely read or write, let alone operate a computer.

So - he'd be doing the killing. Fingers drummed the stamped-metal stock of his HPAR. This wouldn't be like last time - in a Hostile, he was the top of the food chain, and he knew it. Fan out and neutralize enemy crew after they'd seized the bridge. Simple. He was going to escort the engineer to the engine room, kill or capture anything along the way. Also simple.

Even he couldn't fuck it up.

The shuttle vibrated, and Eli was thrown around in his harness, but he barely noticed. Goofy, smiley, quiet Eli was in a different part of is head - this was the one that came out when work had to be done. Eli barreled down the entry ramp, narrowly dodging the stalwart, boxy form of Beep as it trundled into the unknown.

"Halcyone!" Eli had hoped he'd gotten her name right. "Wit me, girl! Gon' get ya to dem engine room, seh yea!"

Linda did not flinch at Elway's gaze when it fell to her, she could tell what it was about though she had trouble figuring out if he was upset or just wanted her to know he knew. It was a given that he would find out after all, but right now there wasn't much he could do if he wanted to keep his cover so Linda would let it be. She did lock eyes with him a moment however to let him know that she did catch his glance. Afterward she put her helmet on and waited to board.

----

Linda had spent the majority of the ride in silence as she got any information she could on the vessel, she especially wanted to get her hands on the model of the ship and get a blue print of the model's standard lay out to pass along to the entire team so they could be aware of it. She was relieved when she heard Killroyal speak up and assign task to different individuals, she wasn't comfortable taking such a ship with the cyber security it had without a plan.

She stood up while orders were being given, getting ready to step out. "I will go with the team to the bridge. If this hacker is any good at protecting a ship we'll come up against a few locked doors that will be faster to hack than to try to cut through. Aside from that the crew of this ship interest me." She then headed down the tube keeping her eyes peeled for surprises.

Gearhead Halcyone spent the ride over in silence, examining and memorizing all the controls and buttons and such on her new weapons, familiarizing herself with them as best she could with the little downtime she had to do so.

When she heard her name called and homed in on it, trudging along, her armored boots clanging heavily on the deck plating. She looked at Eli through her tinted faceplate, her own glowing eyes just barely visible through the protective cover. "Which way is the engineering space?" she asked. She had her recently acquired rifle cradled in both arms as she stood before the soldier.

Another mission, another complete lack of intel. Eir was starting to see a pattern forming. Going in blind seemed their lot in life. Hell of a way for a unit to make a reputation, though. Before arriving at the Ruby Rose’s location Eir took a moment to think of their team. She had to hope this one wouldn’t be too rough. Besides being weird, ‘Spacers were known for their flexibility and independence; hopefully that would translate onto the battlefield and this wouldn’t be a case of Marines having to protect both their own asses and the Spacer attachment’s.

She was pulled from her reflections when the ship started dodging fire. That was a sure sign it was almost go time for the Marines and their attached ‘Spacer allies. She stood up as the Commandant began to hand out assignments. Looked like she would have her shot at command after all.

Eir had to admit that she was not that familiar with information warfare but she assumed it would take a lot of attention. She decided to make sure Alistair would have the proper kind of coverage. “Beep, you’re with Alistair. Looks like your geared up to keep him well and covered. Doc, Phase, Cloudheart, you’re with me.” She looked at Linda and gave her a nod, recognizing the IPG agent would be joining them as well. “I want everyone looking alive out there. We don’t know what we are getting into, but the faster and harder we hit them the better off we are going to be. Be available on the com at all times. Once you have your objective call it out and hold it. Thorn, when you find out what’s been shutting everything down, neutralize it by any means necessary. We don’t want them suddenly getting the bright idea to turn it on us.”

Eir took a moment to adjust her shield and pull out her Doorbreaker, setting it to machine gun mode. “Besides that, you heard the man! Time to move. I have point.” She set her shield in front of her, following down the boarding tube. The first thing any enemy would see would be a large sheet of metal between them and their target, and that was how Eir liked it.

"Engine compartment should be in deh ass end of the ship." Eli said to Halcyone. The layout of the ship didn't seem much different than the last, and thankfully, the directions were clearly emblazoned on the bulkheads in luminescent paint. "Push to shove, we can just follow dey own directions, seh yea."

He pointed to said directions, and began to walk in the path they indicated. He held his HPAR in front of him with an easy confidence, the seven-foot-tall armored silhouette of the Hostile exuding nothing but sheer threat. Very few things on this ship could hurt him, and he intended to use every single pound of his 2-ton suit to his advantage.

"Dis is P3C Garvey, we beginnin' our move to dem engineering decks." He said, argot especially thick over the Hostile's radio. "Will radio at our arrival, seh yea. Luck be wit' deh rest of ya."

Dom had sat back in her over powered, over armored, behemoth of a power armor, that was de-fanged. She listened to the brief and the plans for the assault. More over she had heard one of the marines order her to join them... She looked at the person as if they had grown a second head and frowned behind the faceplate of the PA. She was a medical personnel, not a combat monkey. Standing up she stood firm and only went as far as the boarding tube entrance, stopping to the side of it. "Nope... I'm here only if someone needs medical assistance." She sent via comms to everyone that was part of the team.

Halcyone followed Eli into the ship, her rifle held against her armored chest in both arms. While she had some general knowledge and experience using weapons, she was no trained soldier and made no attempt to make herself look like one. The gearhead glanced all about herself, taking in the surroundings, making note of the glowing path laid out for them and the type of hardware she could spot, looking for anything familiar, which a lot of it was.

"What will you be wanting me to do once we arrive in the engine room?" the Freespacer asked Eli as she followed along

"Boss man wants the engines crippled." Eli said, voice coming out distorted and robotic through the Hostile's speaker grill. "I figure if yeh can't do it the clever way, den I got a chance of cripplin' dem deh dumb way, seh yea."

Eli patted his HPAR with an armored hand, as if to say this was the 'dumb' way. The stomps of his suit echoed in the ship's passageways, but so far, they went unchallenged. Probably best for them - there wasn't much that could fit in a merchant lighter that could challenge a suit of power armor.

"Though, for your sake, don't go attackin' dem engines 'til we get any hostiles sorted out." Eli said again, after a pause. "If we lucky, dey put they guns down deh minute dey sees me. If they ain't lucky, then I get to deal wit' dem."

Another pause. He spoke up again.

"Though, if yeh can find a way to evacuate deh space long enough for you to do your work shutting the engines off, den we might able to do it faster den if we gotta get in a gunfight." Eli said. The distorted, mangled voice through the suit sounded almost thoughtful. "Triggering a HALON discharge or fire alarm in deh space might get all dem guys out, and we wouldn't have to fire a shot..."

Despite Dom's refusal to leave, Killroyal seemed unfazed. He regarded her with bored eyes and said, "That's fine. Don't join your team-mates, coward. Stay right there..."

The Commandant looked down at the control panel and hovered a finger over one button. "Ship, is this gonna--?"

"Yes, Killroyal."

"Thanks." The good doctor didn't even have a full second between Commandant Black pressing the button he'd chosen and an inner blast door of the boarding tube coming down shut tight. She was still in the boarding tube, sure, but there was no way she was going to get back into the ship if she wasn't let in. And there seemed to be a notion that no one was going to get in until everyone got in. Black's voice crackled over the speakers inside her helmet, the Commandant patched into her system from within the frigate. "I hate that you made me do this, because I was frankly hoping for some poor son of a bitch to come and try something on this ship so I could kill him. But since you want to abandon your siblings in the field and hide, whimpering like a child, I guess I'll just let whoever comes along kill you. Of course, your chances of survival would probably be much better if you weren't all by yourself."

She could hear a disatisfied grunt over the speakers as Black snarled his contempt, "But you just want to let people wander into a fight without a medic, like you don't care about them. So maybe it's fitting for you to be alone, since you want to leave your family members alone."

Beyond this punishment, the bridge-assault crew moved on. Cloudheart fell into place behind Eir, with her Peashooter held in low-ready and nodded confidently at the behemoth of a powered armor beside her. The team moved through the first nook of containers, the cargo bay still eerie silent and abandoned in light of the gunfire that had preceeded their entry to it. In fact, the first segment of the cargo hold was completely unsatisfying in anyway, and the description of boring containers and a single flickering light amongst the sea of steady white humming bars that I'm giving right now only serves to pad this paragraph and further build the tension as Eir cautiously led the way into the next nook, where all the cool shit was.

Arranged in the next nook of the cargo hold was a series of cages. These were exotic prizes claimed from Yamataian space, destined for a journey to some very wealthy collector. Most of the specimens were animals. A serow chewed noisily on some cud in one enclosure while a Yamataian white-faced owl contorted itself into a variety of impossibly wide and narrow shapes in an effort to keep the disinterested goat-antelope from thinking it might be edible in the next pen over. A pair of giant salamanders rested at the bottom of a water filled tank, boredly watching the trio of nihonsaru which slept in a narrow-barred cage stacked up on a cargo crate next to them.

Perhaps more exotic were the sentient specimens. A trio of holding cells sat off to the side, against a wall. One held a real, honest to the stars troll. His green-gray skin covered in chalky patches and scars working their way from the edge of a leather loincloth to the black marbles of eyes which were narrowed almost shut over slit-like nostrils and thick white tusks. Next to this first exotic catch was a cage containing a living, breathing elf. Both of the beings had been brought near to extinction by the great plague that'd struck Yamatai twenty years earlier; but they still existed in trace amounts isolated in small villages and colonial outcropping on the verdant planet normally famous for bright lights, a thriving club scene, and catgirls.

Finally, speaking of catgirls... If anyone had 'see a naked lady' on their list of things to do that day (as most people do), they would be able to make a jagged check on the list after laying eyes upon the hemosynth tank next to these two imprisoned sentients. It was an older tank, by the look of it, the kind used about twenty years ago. The Grand Star Army Hinomaru sigil was faded and peeling at the base of the dusty transparent tube where within slept one of the mighty Nekovalkyrja that Yamatai was famous for. She was a tall thing, wide and long flowing blonde hair spread out in the hemosynth fluid, long alabaster limbs limply waving with the flow of the liquid. As generous of bust and rump as she was generous of stature and with not a single centimeter of skin hidden from wandering eyes, it was a suprise the elf and the troll didn't spend more time looking upon her.

They did look upon the approaching marines, though, both opening their eyes and standing in their cages.

"Look at this, Ogrim." Said the elf. He was a short elf, only barely taller than Eir with short black hair and boyish features countered by scrawling tattoos. He must've been a severe escape risk, for the elf was stripped to a pair of sailcloth breeches and nothing else. Despite his condition, the elf seemed to be in somewhat decent spirits. "These jokers apparently made it all the way into Nepleslian space without being caught. I thought for sure we'd be gettin' rescued by catgirls."

All the troll did in response was grunt noisily while eyeing the approaching marines, boredly scratching at a chalky patch of hide on his stomach while his black marbles examined them closely.

Behind the hulking beast, Alistair could see on the wall inside his cage a terminal which could be reached through the bars of the cage-- but only if he was inside of it.

-----

Eli and Halcyone were treated to a much less interesting journey, as they'd opted to take the side corridors and completely avoid the totally intruiging plot hook that'd been prepared for them. In the distance, the hum of the engines grew louder as their path took them closer and closer to their objective. At this rate they would surely be the first to complete their own objective. Then, as if spawned from some sort of in-game console, they heard the echoes of approaching bootsteps from around the corner in the narrow corridor. Hastily written dialogue rumbled over the sounds of the engine and the bootsteps, as it seemed no one yet knew they were coming.

"Sensors say something's attached to the hull up front, and I gotta hunch it's that funky ship that hit us with nukes." Said one of the voices, sounding downright agitated, "What's worse, Chow and his boys seem to be packing up to head out and leave us here with this tick on our face."

"Well, the skipper was pretty shit to him, so can you blame him?" Came the calming response, "Just chill out. Clearly the thing is unmanned. Nothing the traitor Greens have could move like that and leave occupants alive. So long as we move quick with the plasma cutters and get it off the ship, we can just blast it and get back on track."

Eli threw up a fist - nonverbally saying halt - to the Spacer with him, as the bad guys blabbed valuable intel. Traitor greens? These guys sounded like the Reds that Nepleslian military training kept mentioning, old foes from back when Nepleslia was locked in a titanic civil war. The Reds were one parts guerilla army, two parts separatists, three parts terrorist, and they were certainly not people he'd lose sleep over whacking. Still, alive, they could be extremely valuable.

"Shit." Eli said this over private comms to the Spacer, sure she had the tech in her head to pick him up. "We got rude boys comin' up. Halcyone, girl, see if you can find yeh a junction box yeh can wire, or somethin' to hack so it triggers deh HALON discharge in deh engine room. We need ev'ryone out. I'll handle our friends."

Eli flicked the safety off of his HPAR, doing it slowly so as not to alert the slowly approaching men. He stepped from behind the corner, the cavernous barrel of his HPAR pointing at the two hapless sailors.

"Down on deh ground, now." The two-ton suit of armor growled at the men. "And yeh keep yeh life, mon. Anyting else, no guarantees."

Dom looked though the port hole on the blast shutter. "Well [Sir[/i] Buttface, I was staying out of the danger zones, and ready to help either team. Would hate to be with one.. and the other take wounded.. Or do you have psychic abilities to see the future?" She flipped him off through the window, and took a moment to debate whether crawling out of the PA just to moon him would be worth it right then. So instead she flipped him the bird again and started strolling into the ship.

"Sweety can you bring me up a diagram of this ship? Since I Wasn't Briefed On It's Lay Out." This of coarse was over the comm channel too, for Sir Buttface's benefit and anyone else listening to the channel. The little bot chirped and started projecting a map of the area as she strolled into the cargo bay. Over the channel a "squeee" was heard that was almost ear piercingly loud and high pitched. The Doctor had found the Troll and was moving up to it.

With the comm mic muted she spoke with the external PA system on the PA. "Arn't you cute!!! Who wants to be my nurse?!?! You Wanna Be my Nurse!!!"

The troll looked at his elven companion, then at the pink battle suit screeching at him in baby talk, then at the other marines, then back to his elven companion. He scratched at his stomach again, long donkey ears folding back, and then asked with a voice that sounded like he'd eaten gravel and chased it with acid, "Are you certain that we are not being rescued by Yamataians right now, Thonmir?"

As Alistair entered the cargo area, he found the menagerie inside. All the different exotic animals from across the galaxy. The most interesting were the three cage towards the back of the room. Inside were sentient beings. Alistair was stunned. He knew about acts like this happening around the cosmos. The Deckers did this as well, to him... He knew he had to help them, mission be damned, he had to help.

He walked to the cages and looked at all three. The one that caught him most by surprise was the Nekovalkyrja. She was absolutely beautiful, from her long flowing blonde hair to her generous rump. Though, he mostly gazed on her face. Alistair found himself dumb founded by her beauty. His awe struck mind began to wander. The asshole that "bought" her was going to keep her in that damn pod and eye hump her all day. Or worse, turn her into a slave for his pleasures. Alistair's blood boiled. He tore himself away from the pod, vowing to save her.

He moved to the other two cages and saw the doctor run up to the troll's cage and began to act the fool. Alistair put a hand on the Doc chest and pushed her back away from the cage. "Step back doctor." He snapped. He turned to the cages. "Hello, my name is Private Alistair Thorn of the NSMC. I'm here to help you. I need to get to that terminal past your cage," he pointed to the terminal past the troll "to help you get out of here. I swear that I will get both of you out of here. You have my word." As he said this he crossed his arm over his chest to try and show his sincerity. "Also don't mind the doctor. She is a little eccentric, but she is good." He added as an apology to the troll.

As per Eir's instructions Beep followed closely behind Alistair scanning from side to side for any potential threats. As it neared the nook with the living things in it, The large automaton noticed the floating neko in the tube before the elf or troll.

"Potential Threat Spotted." It said in a low authoritative baritone as it leveled one of its arms at it, "Proceed with caution."

The robot had rememberd back in the day when those... things.. had attacked the freespacers and it still held a grudge but the nepleslians with them didn't seem to mind the thing in the tank. Using some basic logic it figured that it couldn't really do any damage in the tank but Beep still kept a sensor on it.

Returning to the task at hand it looked at Alistair talking to the troll, "Rescue was not part of the mission." It said "Though if it must be free I could open the cage."

As if to say how Beep rotated its large mechanical hands/implements of breaking things.

Linda stepped into the cargo room with the rest of the spear head group and sighed at seeing the animals and sentients, it was very easy to identify them as being form Yamatai, and the scanners in the suit maid doubly sure. However this was not a rescue operation, and in the IPG operator's eyes it only presented itself as a complication, more work, and a political mess waiting to happen. She was going to leave them alone but then she saw how everyone was reacting.

She spoke on the com line only, not allowing her voice to project outside her suit. "Do not free them. Aside form the fact that it could be a trap, unless you're going to give them weapons and armor you will have them running around in what soon might become a battle field unarmed. If they are in their cages the likely hood of them getting attacked is less. If we free them we have legal obligations to protect them." She did not exactly sound happy about the situation either, but it was hard to tell if she was frustrated or angry at the people who captured this 'cargo'.