Futuristic Starpath: Burning Sails [IC] [CLOSED]

[Breadman]

Vincent headed to the room he was sharing with Vance to pick up equipment. If Lauren insisted on him coming along on this, then he better be prepared. Although it wasn't glaringly obvious, he still carried a gun on him. Priests were targeted in the Renegade quadrant due to the perceived vulnerability. The gun helped catch a fair few off guard. Along with that, he had a medic-bag he carried. He just needed to make a stop to the armory to get himself some protection.

 

[Infab]

Drav glanced to Petar for a moment, then looked over towards the weapons racks. "Shotgun." she pointed to a short, sawed off weapon tucked into a slot where normally pistols would be stashed. She stepped over and drew it out, before handing it to Petar. She then reached over and retrieved a box of shells for it. "Slugs. Power, not fancy." she said, before stepping over and grabbing some armor for him.

Karina arrived, simply grabbing a few laser batteries and packs for her weapons, before heading right back out. She was already wearing body armor, the same she had joined the crew in. Federation Naval Trooper combat armor, painted a different color and with the Federation's emblem removed. Once she was satisfied with what she had, she departed the Armory as quickly as she entered. She wandered about till she eventually found Vance. "Ready for combat. Sir." she stated, her voice slightly modified due to the facemask of her helmet.

Eventually, the Mordred's landing gear came up as the ship prepared for take off. Slade's ship lifted and darted off quietly, leaving Aesha's ship to stay behind with the Mordred. It followed the Mordred as it ascended, lifting up above the beach and jungle, before darting off through the sky high into the atmosphere. Soon, they breached into space. Coordinates were locked in, a path was charted, and everything was ready to go. "Lets go, Roku." said Lauren, seated in the captain's chair. And into warp the Mordred went.

 

[Frankafurter]

Yolandi drifts back into reality out of what seemed like a fever dream. She sits up slowly and puts the stub of her cigarette into the ashtray, good thing she came back to the real world because any longer and her lip would have been burned. She rubs her face and sighs, taking a moment to regain her bearings. Once she's settled herself back in the land of the living she gets up from the couch and heads over to the bar, grabbing a bottle of whiskey for herself and pouring out a healthy amount into a rocks glass. She relaxes a moment and idly nurses the drink while she feels the ship lurch beneath her, must be time to go then.

Once the ship hits orbit and gets ready to jump, she's already halfway through her drink and topping it off. She feels anxious and on edge, she can't shake this feeling nipping at her from the corners of her mind. Maybe it's because she hasn't had a drink in awhile, maybe it's just nerves of being back on the job, she just has this lingering sense of dread within. She gets to wrapped up in her own thoughts again that when she regains focus, she's unwittingly drank the entire bottle of whiskey by herself. She sighs and disposes of the empty bottle and cleans her glass up before drying it and placing it back in the cabinet behind the bar.

She looks around the lounge and finds multiple people there, how long have they been there for and how long have I been lost inside my own head? Did the mission already happen? She honestly doesn't know but she lights up another cigarette and decides to go take a walk to try and get herself focused on the job, if she fucks up here, she's as good as done. She checks over the carbine she picked, a bullpup shorty that worked fine for what she needed. She's not sure why she gravitated to this one, but given that it's got the word 'Thumper' scratched into the stock, she figured it was a safe bet for hitting things and making sure they don't get back up.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Lucy's gaze was blank and empty, but it had a quizzical nature to it following the second "boop" from Jericho. She brought up one hand as if studying it, extended one clawed finger, and made an imaginary boop gesture in mid air. The bladed digit when performed this way was essentially a short stab. Not a harmless gesture from the likes of her, despite her intent. She seemed confused and does it again.

"This gesture you perform. Why?"

The AI seemed caught up in the question for a moment before addressing his second remark, nodding her head slightly. "That will be s-s-satisfactory. My usage of kinetics and other trigger-based w-w-weaponry is limited. I utilize hand-to-hand techniques for e-e-elimination. My expectation is to take control of the ship systems and induce full o-o-overrides for our benefit, and follow through with terminations as necessary."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

The ship going into warp did nothing to snap Typhon out of his secretive praying. Stuck in the trance of being supposedly connected directly to his god, the mantra comes out from within him automatically and without thought.

“[Most merciful, most gracious, most holy God of Ibrahim.]” he repeats. “[Guide my hand. Take their soul. God of Ibrahim. Guide my hand. Take their soul.]”

————————

Shuren makes an... odd gesture with his hands. Certainly, it probably means something very deep and meaningful to his people. But to anyone else, he’d probably look crazy.

“Very man. You.” he points to Grommy with a firm finger.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jericho couldn't help but to giggle as the android booped the air with her clawed fingers. Despite the fact that her claws could easily harm a person, it was an adorable gesture. "That's a boop." He boops her again, and repeats the boop sound. "Its a cute little gesture I'm fond of. I do it to people I like." He smiled again while sitting next to her. "My mas..." He paused for a moment. "...the shithead that used to own me used to do it all the time. He said he did it with people he was fond of." He looked away for a second, before looking back to the android again. "If you are able to retract your claws, you could do it to Shelby when she shows up." he said with a smile. It'd be funny to see Shelby's reaction as she gets booped by one of the creepiest members of the crew.

After explaining what a boop is, Lucy continued to talk about her skills which Jericho reacted to with amusement. "I like that!" He made a cute little clap. "See? You will be useful for this crew. I can do similar things. Hack into systems, see through cameras, but control most ship systems? That's awesome!~"

 

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson watched as one android taught the other how to boop on the nose. "My god they're evolving!!" He yells out sarcastically, with a laugh before taking another drag of his cigarette and downing the rest of the whiskey. Ahhh much better.

Before Jericho could tear him to pieces Jackson walked over and booped him on the nose, "Hiya I'm Jackson. Real fond of your whole...thing you got going here."

 

[Doomevil]

Grommy slowly nodded, taking Shuren's comment as a compliment. He rubbed the back of his neck before deciding to make a gesture of his own. Grommy simply raised his hand, displaying a V sign, meaning peace. "Friend." Grommy said, giving a friendly smile.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"A gesture... of fondness...." Her voice seemed to whisper this, for the corruption was unusually harsh. It was a very human performance, these gestures of fondness, for she recalled a great many actions among the staff at Karos-III. She thought back to what they were called... high fives... finger guns... posterior slapping. Some seemed to be performances of supernatural ritual. One researcher displayed a figurine of a porcelain feline on their console for good luck; another, a surface surveyor, would tap his feet twice before exiting and reentering the facility. Many of the vehicles and lesser intelligent robotic craft that were under her purview and control were given affectionate names. It was strange that Jericho repeated these gestures, but it made sense if he had learned it from his prior master. Though why he did the gesture if he did not like his master was an inquiry unto itself.

"My bladed digits do not retract and are in a f-f-fixed position at all times," she explained, wiggling the fingers on one hand so the blades danced under the light of the room. "Boop. I will consider this gesture more."

She paused for a moment as Jericho expressed delight at her abilities, and she bowed her head slightly. "I... my original... designationnn... was facility overwatch," she said almost hesitantly. She had not revealed this information to anyone since she escaped. "I was the facility, and it was m-m-meeeee."

 

[joshuadim]

Vance gave a nod to Karina before beginning to inspect the layout of the ship they would be targeting. Since it would be a standard freighter, one would believe it wouldn't be much different than the schematics before him. He studied it quickly, looking at the decks for the Bridge, Cargo, Crew, and Engineering and developing a plan in mind. It took him a couple minutes before he had a plan in mind, or at least the beginnings of one. "Lieutenant, follow me. We need to gather the others to discuss a plan of attack once we're on board." Vance said to Karina as he moved from the bridge to head to the lounge.

---

Albert had been writing his thoughts into his notebook in his room on the Mordred, extensively grateful that he wasn't going into combat but anxious to see the results. He hoped no-one would get hurt, let alone killed, as that would be quite dreadful for morale in general. We're going into battle, except for a select few of us. Thankfully I belong in the latter group. I can write about the battle during and afterwards. Hopefully, no one dies on the crew. he scribbled into his notebook.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

The V-sign puzzles Shuren. Two? Two of what? Nevertheless, he wasn’t one to be outdone with this, so he holds up three fingers instead of two.

“Friend.”

 

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson looked at Lucy as she revealed some pretty incredible information about herself. "Wow, that is pretty incredible information about yourself. You we're...or controlled...an entire facility? You're smarter than more advanced than we gave you credit for," He said. He thought about it for a second, and gave her a small boop on the nose. "Boop." He looked back at Jericho.

"I know ya'll are gonna fuckin' tear that freighter to shreds and I want in. More chaos for fun my man, or whatever you are."

 

[Doomevil]

Grommy chuckled, raising four digits then he decided to part four fingers away from each other. Awaiting his response.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

What strange and foreign social interactive ritual was Grommy trying to do here? Was this a test of wits? Was this a battle of the hands? Was Shuren going to die if he fucked this up? He doesn’t want to think of that. He had to beat Grommy.

He puts his hands together, thumb to thumb, making a butterfly shape.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jericho looked at Jackson with a smile, but it wasn't a natural smile. There was something wrong with it, bearing an almost menacing feel. "Oh, I know you, sir. You're the gregarious pirate that's quite loud. A pleasure to finally meet you." Jericho was unamused by the sudden touch from a stranger, but his smile returned to normal as he looked at the pirate whom looked more like a generic good. Like the ones he killed back on Shadespear. But as nasty as the man might look, his carefree nature seemed to remedy that. "Jericho. Assassin. Nice to meet you, Jackson. You've made a bit of a mark on the crew thus far." He giggled. "Bit of advice, though. Gregariousness can be seen as vulgarity by most. Especially women. They don't seem to like you a lot from what I've seen." As the pirate stood there, Lucy remained quiet before talking again. "Well, now you are yourself, darling. You need to celebrate that. Maybe we should celebrate it after we've done the raid. What say you?" He looked back at Jackson as he asked to tag along and destroy stuff. He giggled and smiled. "...I'm afraid Shelby won't be a fan of that, but if you remain quiet, she might not shoot you." He then added "I'm a man, by the way."

 

[Doomevil]

Grommy's eyes lit up, raised both of his hands and had done the signs of the horns, rocking both hands back and forth repeatedly.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Now that’s just foul. Grommy might not have known this, but the signs of the horns mean something a bit more... gross and lewd in Shuren’s culture. He steps back, trying his best to contain his disgust. He knows it’s very very likely Grommy genuinely doesn’t understand what gestures he’s making, but he can’t really help it.

 

[Doomevil]

As much as Grommy liked to play with a buddy, he really ought to prepare for this mission he was asked to join. He waved and gave a respectful bow, taking a very confused Nara to the crew deck.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Lucy remained unfazed when Jackson touched her nose in the fondness gesture, and she simply remained still in her seat. Jericho made a remark on celebrating... herself? Her emancipation? It was another unusual suggestion form a most unusual artificial intelligence.

"I do not understand your m-m-meaning for celebration," she stated simply.

 

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson laughed and smiled as Jericho introduced himself, and recounted how Jackson had quite the reputation already. "Pleasure to meet you too Mr. Assassin. Always liked that word, it's just so fancy, quite like yourself." He lit another cigarette and offered it to Jericho if he wanted a drag. "As for my reputation, I couldn't give much of a shit. I'm here to be me not play house, this is a fuckin' pirate crew not an office. Besides if I wanted a woman, or womens, I'd fuckin' buy em for myself." Then he lost his smile as Jericho mentioned Shelby's name.

"You know," he started as he rubbed his injured arm, "that girl has the most learnin' to do out of all of us. I told her to hold the damn gun at least, and this raid better wake her the fuck up. Either step in line and play your part or go back home to playin' daddy's lil' girl. Anyway, don't worry about me, I don't have issues with others during raids as long as I'm not starring down their barrel. Speaking of the raid I got three easy goals: Find booze and cigs, find money, and kill as many motherfuckers as possible. Figured you'd like that too. At least the last part."

"I do not understand your m-m-meaning for celebration," she stated simply.

He looked at Lucy, "Lucy it means we uh...drink and party to...uh," he looked at Jericho, "how do you describe celebrate?" He was stumped... "uhhh acknowledge enjoyably in a good mood your uhhh...severance from your...facility? Or escape?" He shook his head, "too many big words for me."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jericho looked at the pirate as he continued to speak. As vulgar and simple minded as he might be, he was at the very least charming. He took the cigar that was kindly offered and lit it up. He raised an eyebrow at his last comment. "Charming... I can see why you mostly 'buy' said company." He smiled. "But you are right. Who cares about the opinion of others?" He laughed aloud. His comments on Shelby however made him sigh. "She's a good kid. You just leave her be, and she'll learn quick. I'm sure that Lauren and the rest of the crew will make sure of that. I'll also try and help her." When Jackson mentioned the goals, Jericho nodded with a grin on his face. "Oh darling, you have no idea. I find this experience rather exciting. I'll have fun, that's for damn sure."

Lucy then spoke again. Jericho looked at her in silence for a while. Jackson lacking any sort of intelligence made the situation a bit more awkward. "Celebrate that you are yourself, honey. That you are free from protocols. Free to be what you want to be." He then placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are now a person...you know? That's enough to celebrate in my eyes." He chuckled. "Now, I don't know if you'll enjoy it, though. Being a person to me is a terrible experience, but an experience nonetheless."

 

[The_Rifleman]

Jackson's smile spread and spread at he listened to Jericho talk about how fun the raid is going to be. I chose the right raidin' group. His smile faided a bit as he then defended Shelby a bit. "Bah...fine." Then he listened to him give Lucy a real pep talk.

Jackson chuckled at Jericho, "Look at the assassin gettin' all sappy on us," as he took another drag from his cig, then putting it out on his arm.

 

[Frankafurter]

Yolandi's walk takes her down to the cargo bay where she decides to check up on Zou. He's just parked in a corner, his autocannon mounted and ready to go. He's in standby but returns to his awakened state, he looks at Yolandi and she couldn't help but feel that judging by the tilt of his head, he was concerned possibly, if he understood that emotion. She pats him on the shoulder plate and smiles, "We'll be fine, I know we've been in a bit of a dry spell and maybe we've both gotten a little rusty, but this should give us a good warm up for what comes after." She adjusts the vest she's got over her spacesuit and sighs, "You know, I'm not sure what comes after this, I mean we're already raiding a Fed ship and even though the factors are favorable to us, I just... don't think it's going to go quite as smoothly as some of the crew seem to think." Zou simply stands there and listens to Yolandi, given that it's all he can really do in these sorts of moments, lacking the ability to speak for himself.

Yolandi smiles slightly at Zou, "You'll do fine though, I'm more worried about me than you. You're a computer more or less, so you don't really lose skills over time like I do. I think you'll do pretty damn fine acting as additional point defense for the ship." Zou nods a couple times and gives her a thumbs up, this causes Yolandi to laugh gently, "Leave it to you to be excited to go walking in space, how long has it been since we've done a good space walk through a combat zone? Fifteen? Twenty years?" Yolandi's smile fades, has it really been that long of a dry spell for work. She hasn't had a chance to check her financials, has she slowly been slipping into debt due to the lack of work. She's been boozing and cruising pretty hard the past few months, she's probably almost burnt through her nest egg by now. A new sense of worry and dread hits her, it's bad enough she's got that bounty on her head, she doesn't need her accounts being frozen too. Zou seems to notice this and pokes her in the chest with his big metal index finger, when she looks at him again, he gives her another thumbs up. She smiles at him, but it doesn't have much mirth to it, she pats his hand and turns to go, "Just be careful out there, Zou, if I lose you, I don't know what I'd really do with myself by that point. You're pretty much the only friend I've had all this time." Zou stares at her and nods in understanding, at least she thinks he understands. With that she departs back up to the lounge for one more drink, she's getting pretty nervous by this point and she needs to not be jittery when they board.

 

[Viper Actual]

"Scope is clear. Ready for jump," reported Nathalie a moment before Roku took the ship to warp-speed. While the Mordred was in transit Nathalie took the opportunity to prime several tactical systems. Fighter-craft link: check. Short-range sensors: check. Missile batteries: check. The list went on. Weapon systems were also primed and charged up. Nathalie made a mental note to seal up the missile batteries between salvos as to not give the Upyri any easy shots.

Once everything was ready or about to be ready Nathalie leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

-----

One month earlier
23 days after the incident
Frontier Militia territory

The metal beams and bulkheads resonated loudly as the cargo ship arrived at its jump destination. In front of it was an unnamed tropical world filled with dangerous wildlife and fauna. Above the world spun a large space station. Roscosmos Station. A relic from the glory days of early Human colonies re-purposed to act as a trading hub between the colonies guarded by the Frontier Militia and those outside.

As the freighter approached so did numerous other ships of varying shapes and sizes. Equally many ships were seen leaving the station after conducting their private businesses.

"We're here," muttered the pilot as he glanced over his shoulder towards his passenger sitting at the far end of the cockpit. Nathalie nodded. She got up and placed a credit chit on the dashboard next to him. "Here's the remaining five-thousand, as promised."

The pilot nodded. "Much appreciated. We'll be at the port in a few- just waiting for them to hail us."

Before Nathalie could respond a green light flashed, signaling an incoming transmission.

"Anvar Delta India Echo Zero Zero Four, this is Roscosmos Control. Be advised- you are currently approaching a station protected by the Frontier Militia. Any unauthorized actions will be considered hostile and met with ample force. Please submit your credentials to receive docking permission, over."

The pilot adjusted his headset, cleared his throat and pressed the transmit-button. "Roscosmos Control this is the Noble Steed requesting permission to dock. I am currently carrying four tons of cargo and one passenger. Forwarding identification to you now, over."

After transmitting the identifications, of which Nathalie's was under a fake name, there was a brief moment of silence before the green light flashed again.

"Noble Steed you are clear to dock at bay fourteen. Please enable your auto-pilot as our automatic tug boats will guide you in. We hope you enjoy your stay. Roscosmos Control, signing off."

With that said a pair of yellow drones appeared in front of the ship. Using minimized tractor beams and remote controls they adjusted the Noble Steed's thrusters as the freighter began its final approach. Eventually the freighter was guided onto an empty landing pad. Once the ship had deployed its landing gear the pad was lowered down into a enclosed hangar area for allowing any onboard cargo to be safely offloaded.

Nathalie placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder. "Thanks for the ride. Take care." The pilot looked up, smiled faintly and nodded. "My pleasure. Good luck Ms. Hansen, I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for."

Nathalie nodded. "I'm sure I will."

After bidding the pilot goodbye Nathalie disembarked, passing by the trio of station officers coming to inspect the ship. A quick elevator ride later she found herself at the center of the station, looking for another ship to take her to the Renegade Quadrant.

 

[Infab]

A few hours later, in the Xams system several light years south of Garoden...

"[Coming up on the Xams Warp Gate.]"

"[Preparing to exit warp. Warp exit in thirty seconds...]"

"[Prepare to greet Delta One and Delta Two. Hail them as soon as we exit warp.]"

"[Aye, sir.]"

Not long afterwards, the Upyri cargo ship Hermes exited warp, emerging from the large warp gate floating near one of Xams many planetoids. Formerly the gate was used by mining crews that frequented the system. Now it was used as a quick method of travel between one of the many nearby Federation outposts in the southern Renegade Quadrant. Hailing began a few moments later, and two Dardus-class fighters soon appeared. Pleasantries were exchanged between the fighters and the cargo ship's crew, and the fighters remained nearby to defend the ship as their jump drive began to spool up for another jump to the outpost.

A problem would soon rear its ugly head, however.

"[Delta One, we're picking up three incoming ships. How copy?]" said the comms officer on the Hermes, to which the lead fighter replied. "[Picking them up as well, Hermes. Maybe additional fighters as backup? Pirate attacks in the area have been getting a bit more frequent. Over.]"

A moment later, the three ships would exit from warp nearby. And neither of them were Federation craft. The second fighter craft caught on, as it was on the side closer to the incoming ships. "[Hermes, Delta One, the three unidentified craft have arrived. Unknown signatures, potential hostiles.]" stated the pilot. Then, before the pilot of the other fighter or the bridge crew of the Hermes could reply, a missile was launched from one of the incoming vessels. It darted through the space between the vessels, before slamming into the cargo ship's bridge. The bridge exploded quite violently, ripping a massive hole in the front of the Hermes. The three unidentified ships had declared themselves hostiles. The two fighters sprung into action, the Dardus-class fighters zipping about and moving to engage the ships.

​

---------

"Olivia, Aesha, take out the fighters. Zou is moving out to stick to the hull to give you some covering fire with its autocannon. Roku, move us in close to the cargo ship's airlock. Line us up, and I'll deploy the boarding tube. Drav, sit with Roku. You know why. The rest of you know what you're doing." said Lauren, giving out orders as she stood up from her seat on the bridge. "Wait, why does Drav need to sit--" was all Roku managed to get out before Drav strolled over and sat next to him in the co-pilot's seat. With a shotgun pointed at his head. She looked rather serious too.

Lauren moved back to where the Mordred's airlock was, moving through the other crew members as they prepared themselves to board the cargo ship. "We get in, divide into teams, sweep the ship. Take out the crew however you like. Just make sure they're dealt with. We'll then secure the cargo, and call in Slade and his buddies. Got me?" she said, looking to all of them before checking her stocked pistol.