The Blades

[Unique]

Energy blade.
The prime weapon of so many.
Drake turned the scimitar over in his hands. It was always on, unlike some of the fancier models, but like all energy blades, it was hard to track it visually.
He looked up as the door opened.
The mission commander was just sending him out to meet his fellow expeditioneers.
It was an odd little term, but everyone around him had been using it lately.
Expeditioneer.
Drake stood up. The commander was Craali, elegant, with the odd near-hair more typical of the species. His large ears twitched in nervousness as Drake passed him.
Good. That meant Drake was dangerous.
He went down the hall and found a rather motley collection waiting for him.
Some Craali, some Human.
Several looked less thatn pleased. One looked a little murderous. He reminded himself to keep an eye on that one.
"All right," Drake said, "So is this the whole team?"
The commander nodded, a gesture the Craali had picked up ages ago. A good thing, too. Their equivalent was somewhat... rude.
"I won't be coming with you, but I will be wishing you good luck. Get to know each other before you go, but go soon. We need to know what it is that's out there."

(Okay, so there we go. Everyone have your characters introduce themselves as you see fit. )

[smity]

The Craali previously talking to himself in the corner stands up and walks to the center of the room. The color of his skin transitions from a dark gray to a light gray while moving into the better lit area.

"Does anyone know any get to know you games?" he says with a large smile on his face. "I'll take the awkward silence as a no. I guess I'll start us off then, and we can continue around the room if that's okay with everyone.

"My name..." the Craali hesitates, nervously playing with his hands, "My name is Zal'rek, or at least that's the name I gave myself. See I don't have the pleasure of a past home life, or even past childhood. All I can remember is for what I can gather to be the past few years I've been underground in a concrete facility of some sort. I was being trained to be a nonexistent assassination weapon. To cut a long grueling story short, the "program" I was in was shut down. I was ordered to be shot in my cell. I won't go into much detail, but I escaped. I now am wanted dead by people no one evidently knows about. I talk about this openly because if any of you were a threat you'd be trying to kill me right now. To add to it the only knowledge of today's cultures or values are the ones that I've learned in the past few months. The only thing I know how to do is kill. I come here not to seek fortune or for the glory of a faction, I come here because this is one of the few options I have in survival in this universe. Anyways, I try not to think about what little past I have. I'm alive now and live in the now, and right now I need to learn more about my team if I wish to work with them. Combat information about myself is that I prefer attacking from a distance while stealthed. I use my sniper rifle to achieve this. I'm also adept in support and healing magic for team aid. So who's next?"

Zal'rek looks around the room for the next person to step up.

[JupiterJazz]

Vrillka had been sitting here for the better part of an hour. She had never been around so many people that felt at least as dangerous as she her, and the air was becoming a bit stifling. The hope for a quick and easy mission was thrown strait into the void of space it seemed. Her priority was apparently another assassin who had ran away from one of the Syndicate's military ops, but that was all the information regarding the target in the file.

More then likely it's the other Craali since it's military but you can't be sure... her mind pauses for a second. I've seen dozens of humans under the thumb of the Syndicate, and a few of them assassins as well.

Her thoughts where interrupted by who appeared to be the so called fearless leader. At first glance he looked to be rather... hmm plain almost but he felt kind and deadly at the same time, she was getting the same feeling from the other Craali here as well. It was really an odd mix to feel.

Then she took note as the other Craali began speaking and within seconds her target had just revealed himself. Wow was he even fit to be an assassin? she asked herself, Looks like my mission just got a hell of a lot easier, not to mention he just gave me all of his combat specifications. Well the least I can do is return the favor.

(OOC: I'm gonna post her thoughts in teal that are directed as telepathic speech, all other thoughts will be regular itallics.)

Greetings, she closed her eyes as she concentrated to talk to everyone in the room, I am Vrillka and I am taking part in this mission as a representative of High Ambassador Hra'zhul for the Craali race. I specialize in medium to close range combat with a heavy emphasis on energy blade combat. My expertise in the magical fields are Telepathy, Empathy, and Psycokinetics. I can use other forms of magic as well but they require the use of blood as a ritualistic medium. This has earned me the name Blood Bath V. As you can see my mouth has been sewn shut and magically sealed, my only means of communication is telepathy out to a range of 30 meters.

[DeathKnight]

(Thoughts are bolded and speach is Red.)

Hayden has been leaning against the far wall of the room for what seemed like days. He was the first to arrive and had been reading a small red book. As soon as his first teammate arrived he closed his book and placed it carefully back into it's rightful pocket. Once Zal'rek started this little name-game of his, he decided to move a little closer so that he could hear what he had to say, not much of it interested him.

A telepath, interestingly dangerous. Hey! You! Vrillka! If you can hear me jump up and down twice... no response... of course... that would have been pretty freaking cool though.

A little dissapointed, Hayden stands up to introduce himself.

"My name is Hayden Aatal, by the looks of the people in this room this mission is going to suck. Although that is nothing new for me, seeing how my life has been a living hell since my brother was drafted into this stupid military of ours. But enough about all that garbage, I enjoy fighting and am pretty damn good at it if I do say so myself. If you disagree, get over it because I don't really care. Sicne we are discussing our abilities I thought I should let you know that I can move faster than any of you at your fastest speed. I can see you with my eyes closed and from a mile away with them open. So don't think that just because you Craali you can sneak up on me." Hayden then looks over to Zal'rek, "You so much as point that rifle at me and I swear I will break your legs before you can find me in the scope. With that said, does anyone know where I can get some decent food around this dump?"
I wonder if I'm faster than a bullet... Hayden thinks to himself as he sits on top of a crate to awaiting the next person to speak.

[Unique]

Drake sighed. My turn, I guess.
He stepped forwards and jammed a thumb out behind his back. "Cafeteria's down the hall and to the right, second chance to go right you'll get, but since everybody's here, I think we hould stick together 'till we get to the ship. There should be food there. I think they gave us a Class-D Heavy/Small. Called the Grenya. My name's Drake. I'm gonna be in charge of space battles on this little mission of ours, I think. I'm good at thinking with a spaceblade. Limited range, limited agility... It's just another swordfight. I keep quiet about my past unless I trust you really well or I've woken up next to you more than three mornings in a row. I'll tell you right now that I don't make a habit of waking up next to aliens, so if you Craali get bored while we're out there, turn to somebody else. I'm here to be the voice of reason, too, it looks like." He looked around. Everyone seemed to be accepting his little introduction, which was about as much as he could hope for with a group like this. Hopefully, command knew what they were doing. It wasn't enough to send the best of the best. You had to send the most compatible of the best of the best.

[smity]

Zal is now back in his original corner continuing to wisper under his breath to himself and play with his hands, but looks very focused on the speakers each taking their turn.

Two people talk of food. Zal'rek's stomach aches with pain...he hasn't had a meal in days and hopes Drake is right about the food on the ship. Part of his agreement in this job was that he'd get fed after all. Despite his hunger however, he patiently waits for the other members of the new team to make their moves.

(Did the other two players forget about this game?)

[JupiterJazz]

(I was wondering that myself. Maybe someone should PM them.)

[Unique]

(Where I hang out, the loss of 1-3 players per RP is pretty regular. I'm not too worried. Just continue on.)

[DeathKnight]

(just sitting here waiting for orders basically)

[smity]

Zal's eyes bulge at the site of two of his team member disappearing!

( jk XD )

Zal'rek looks up from his corner momentarily ending his whispers.

"Soooo...to the ship?"

Zal'rek shrugs and walks out of the room. Minutes later he returns with a puzzled look and still is playing with his hands.

"Umm...heh..which way is the ship?"

[DeathKnight]

Hayden stands up and walks over to where Zal'rek is standing and looks down the hallway. He closes his eyes and focuses on the organic lifeforces of those in The Station. He can feel a large group of humanoids down the hallway and off to the left in a large room, due to the fact as they are spread out across a large area, and beyond that nothingness. Hayden gives a beckoning wave to his new comrades, "I think the Hanger Bay is down the hall to the left. Couldn't hurt to check right? Oh, and on the way to the ship, I am going to stop at the cafeteria and get something better than stale rations. All this technology and no one figured out yet how to make good-tasting rations... figures." Hayden opens his eyes again and begins to "walk" down the hall, at inhuman speeds, as fast as a normal human would run. His body becomes merely a blurred form as he moves, his movements near-impossible to predict to the naked eye. As he gets to the first door on the right he dissapears from view.

Once in the cafeteria he simply gets enough bread to satisfy him for a few hours and a bottle of water. once finished in the Mess Hall he heads over to the second door on the left, looks in and begins "running" back to the meeting room. if you were blinking when he turned back at you he's already back by the time you open your eyes. "Hanger Bay is the second door on the left. Our ship is a small one really, basic scout ship. It's going to be cramped in there... Minimal armaments, just one teeny tiny infared laser. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this damned mission over with. Hayden begins to walk normal speed so that everyone can keep up as he walks to the ship.

[Unique]

(An infrared laser would be nothing. All ships are shielded with the Ubershield™ as well as most people. The only weapon anyone would bother adding to a ship is something very similar to the energy sword. A large part of this was having ships. With swords.)

Drake followed Hayden into the ship and looked around. He had been exaggerating a bit. It wasn't large, but it wasn't exactly tiny. It was more... small.
Unlarge?
In any case, it was bound to be modified. It had a number of upgrades, of course. The main upgrade, of course, wa that what he'd taken for an infrared laser was, in fact, not the asteroid-clearing thing that it was supposed to be, but an energy blade. Well, technically, it was called a gigablade, but that was a small detail.
Drake had checked the ship's specs. Upgraded shields, better engines, much nimbler than the standard model.
It wasn't an overt threat, but it was meant to say to whatever alien was encountered, "we can fight."
Drake liked that.
"All right, everybody on board. Let's get going."

[DeathKnight]

(lol sorry, the concept of space ships with swords confuses me a little... FLY BY!)

Hayden realizes his mistaking the Laser for a Ship's Energy blade once he gets closer to it. Once on board Hayden instinctively looks around for any place that could be used as a fortification in the event that the ship was boarded. He also claimed his sleeping quarters, seeing as he was the first one on-board. Upon finding the sleeping quarters, Hayden instantly walks over to the bunk farthest from the door. "Mine, back off." After claiming his place and putting away his SMGs and extra blades into a code-locked footlocker at the foot of his bunk. He shouts out to his comrades, "If I find out anyone was messing around with my stuff, we're going to have ourselves a big f****** problem." With that said Hayden goes to check out the supplies in the cargo hold.

8 weeks worth of basic rations. (stale bread, canned foods, water) For each member of the Recon Team
6 standard issue military Colt.45
and for the piece de resistance, wait, what? no can-opener... damn military suppliers....

Hayden walks back to the main chamber and announces to everyone, "OK! This mission officially sucks, they didn't even leave us anything good... looks like they were really hoping that we would bring our own stuff." Hayden then goes about the rest of the ship getting a feel for it.

[smity]

Zal'rek springs his way up the rear cargo ramp. He looks around in with much determination in his eyes. A near feral smile appears across his face. He leaps towards a crate labeled rations and flips the latches on it. He opens the case and takes out a bland silver packaged unmarked ration bar. Standard. He tares through the packaging and devours the brown nutrition bar. Not bad...not bad at all he thinks to himself. He begins tucking bars into his belt.

"Where is a weapons locker for my rifle", Zal asks with a mouth full of the meal bar. He gulps it down and waits for a reply. No one responds for moments afterwards and Zal begins playing with his hands again...he looks around the room beginning the whispers to himself again.

[Unique]

Drake watched all this with amusement and then sighed and went up to the control room. He had to familiarize himself with teh controls. "Ship," he snapped. "Give me simpattern one-one-five. I want control of the blade direction, and give me a display of maximum and minimum blade length."
The ship hummed a tone at him and set to work. Less than a minute later, the simaluate image of empty space with the ship hanging in it appeared in front of him.
This was the combat display.
Excellent. He started put the little ship through its simulated paces. It wouldn't tell him exactly what to expect, but it would tell him what would make things break.
Steering the energy blade was a bit difficult. The mount was still the laser mount, so he had some trouble getting swift movement out of it. No major challenge, only enough to make it fun. He'd have to steer the ship to swing the sword effectively enough, but he'd worked on a frieghter like that once.
With some very attractive people...
He missed the ISF Behemoth...

[JupiterJazz]

Vrillka made her way to the first mate's quarters. Not as extravagant as the captain's but much nicer then the common quarters, and at least I can ignore that annoying human most of the trip, she thought.

After settling in she pulls a tiny vial of blood from inside her jacket and draws a circle on a small desk in her room. She makes the hand seals for fire, and creation before finishing the ritual by waving her hand over the circle. The blood begins forming into a plate of lemon cover shark steak, and she settles down and begins eating.

[deathstalker]

Jayel dashed from one place to another, hair still mussed and out of place. Finally he found someone who bothered to tell him where the Grenya was housed.

He cursed under his breath, as he ran, hoping that he would still make it. He had not really planned this...but the girl had been so nice to offer and so they had spent a night and he had woken today to her telling him he was supposed to get on his mission, the same "glorious" mission he had told her about in such detail the evening before.

So, here he was.

He finally got to the bay and to the ship, but the ramp was already closed and it looked like it would be taking off quite soon. He grabbed the headset one of the bay technicians was wearing, put it on, spoke the command word and then opened a line to the Grenya's communications systems. This meant that Drake's simulation was interrupted by a little beeping that told him there was someone wanting to talk to him. Yes, right now.

Outside, Jayel looked at the ship with a bored face, his arms crossed on his chest and waited for the captain to respond.

(OOC: Hey, I decided to go ahead and post anyways. If you don't like it, just tell me. :P)

[Unique]

Drake sighed.
"You're late."
"You're irritable."
"Congratulations, you win the prize for stating the obvious. I'll lower the ramp for you. I was wondering if they'd killed one of my crew."
Jayel watched the ramp lower and scrambled up before it had hit the ground. At least he was apologetic about the whole thing.
Still, Drake had to fight down a doomed feeling in the pit of his stomach.

[smity]

Zal'rek watches as the new comer boards the ship. He smiles and waves.

"Hello, are you to join the crew? I don't know if we'll have enough beds now, but I can always make a hammock out of cargo hold netting if that's the case. It's better than the solid concrete I've been sleeping on for weeks now." He takes a ration bar from his belt and holds it up. "Want one? Quite tasty."

[deathstalker]

Jayel stumbled into the ship, with a slightly cocky smile on his face as he at first said hello to Drake, then noticed he had the headset on.

"Oh, well, he should not have let me take it anyways," he said to himself.

He then turned to notice the Craali male waving to him. Well, for a member of that race, this guy seemed quite harmless. But he still was not going to accept any ration bars from a stranger.

"Yup, here for the ride. Just slept in a little, that's all. No thanks, you can keep your stuff. My name's Jayel, if you want to know."

[DeathKnight]

Hayden feels the new prescense aboard the ship before he hears the conversation going on near the ramp. He decides to go introduce himself against his better judgement. "Hey! new guy! Just so your clear don't touch my stuff and I won't have to kill you." Hayden says with a lighthearted but at the same time serious smile. "Anyway, name's Hayden Aatal, and that's all you need to know besides the fact that someone is going to die on this mission and it sure as hell isn't going to be me." Hayden says more seriously. With that said he walks over the the hall leading to the bridge and looks back, "Drake, when can we expect to be out of this metal death-trap and shooting some blood-thirsty aliens and saving the universe? I ask you this since you seem to have the captain vibe about you, just don't expect me to call you sir."

[Unique]

Drake tapped a few controls. "We're just waiting for clearance, and then we get out, hit standard distance, and, and make the jump. We've got an electron drive on this thing, so the journey time will be mostly in realspace, but the distance we're going is great enough that we'll have to spool up three times o get there. Takes almost a day to spool up the mains on these little crates, so that gives us a transit time of three days."
Hayden nodded. "And when do we get out?"
Drake grinned like a wolf looking at a rabbit and pounded a hand down on a button. "Right now."
Indeed, the hangar doors were opening. The rush of air escaping the launch station was thunder that faded to a hiss and then silence.
The Grenya lifted off and jetted out into space.

[deathstalker]

"Right," Jayel drawled when Hayden had finished his speech and disappeared into the captain's room to talk with Drake.

This was going to get interesting, he thought to himself at the same time the ship began to lift off.

[JupiterJazz]

Vrillka had just about dug in to her food when the engines fired up and the ship blasted out of the hanger at full acceleration. She tried to grab on but the sudden change in geforces slid her right out of her seat. Although she had managed to stop herself from hitting the floor, she could only look on helplessly as her plate slipped off the desk and broke, her steak bounced halfway across the room.

Her left eye was twitching as she walked to the bridge, as soon as she was outside the entrance she practically screamed at Drake only CAPTIAN! You mind giving a warning before you do something like that ever again!? Her eye was still twitching as she looked into the bridge room.

[DeathKnight]

As the ship blasted out of the hanger bay Hayden decided that he should sit down and watch the stars fly by through the bridge viewport. As Vrillka walks onto the bridge with her eye twitching he looks over at her, "Eesh, what's the matter with you? or is that normal? Hayden asks in a natural sarcastic tone. He knew he had no buisness asking but he very much enjoyed pushing peoples buttons to see how they'd react, and Vrillka being a female Craali made it that much more fun to test her limits.

[smity]

Not being strapped down, or even seated Zal'rek is thrown to the back of the ship during launch. His body twists and spins like a cat as he moves through the air. He lands on all fours, the g forces holding him to the wall. He waits for the ship to exist the atmosphere and kick in it's artificial gravity. He throws himself off the wall and spins to his feet just as the gravity levels begin to change. He walks to the bridge kindly grabbing Vrillka by the shoulders and moving her out of the entrance way. He smiles at the little twitching ball of anger as he does this, knowing he very well could lose his hands if not careful. He then strolls over and plops himself down on a seat near Hayden. He begins dismantling his rifle and cleaning each part with his scarf.

"Her eye looks funny" Zal says in a laughing tone, eyes closed and smiling. "What happened?" His speech is very odd when observed. In between breaks of speech his mouth continues to move as though saying things after each word. An unrecognizable whisper is uttered from these mouth movements.

(Can anyone give me a good description on how interior of the ship flows? I'm really confused.)

[DeathKnight]

Hayden chuckles and says to Zal'rek, "I don't know what happened but i'm sure it will make for a really interesting story. haha.


((Working on a blueprint of the ship wil have it up in OOC in an hour or two, it's how I see the ship anyway.))

[Unique]

(Gracias, DK.)

Drake sighed as he watched Vrillka twitching irritably in the corner.
"That was a bit harder a punch than I expected, and I thought we had the dampers working. Sorry. I'll try to be more careful in the future."
She glared at him and then turned away. See to it that you do, captain.
"You know, technically, I hold no rank. I'm just the mission leader."
She cast another glare over her shoulder and Drake shrugged.
"All right, we're off, we'll be making the jump in twenty-two hours. Our top range is three thousand lightyears per jump, and we'll be making three jumps, plus maybe a short fourth, depending on if our mysterious friends want us getting any closer than a dozen lightyears off. Beyond that, we have to watch for piracy in the local area. We're on the corewards border here, so we have to be careful. Most pirates have ships like ours: one blade, two engines, electron drive, but some have hypermatter generators that'll let them jump around the battlefield at will with their drives. It's not easy to fight an enemy like that. If we run across pirates, odds are we'll take the first jump early and have the distance incomplete, but we'll be better off for it."

[deathstalker]

Jayel felt the ship lurch, but he managed to hold on to his seat well enough and keep his balance. He'd gotten on a seat right away. He was not sure about how smart he had been to come onto this mission, the Aatal guy looked like a wild card, the Craali woman who had dashed to the captain was just scary and the other Craali, well...was the closest thing to a loser Craali Jayel had seen for some time.

Then there was the captain - or the guy who was piloting. Jayel himself had taken some lessons, but mostly because his professor insisting and he had wanted to get good enough grades, and if he did air sims instead of bending over for the professor, the easier for him.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for the moment.

[smity]

Zal'rek, finished cleaning his gun and placed it across his lap. He turned around in his chair to gain access to a computer terminal. He begins typing away at it and endless amounts of text begins streaming across the screen at a rather fast rate. His eyes scan the information as it goes by. One of the last things he had been taught to do at the assassin training facility was to quickly gather unbelievable amounts of data on targets. He decided for right now he would redirect this skill to instead gather information on the ships data base. He finally stands up after about an hour of this, not even blinking once, and walks to the engine room. He re-positions his rifle on his back as he does so. He enters the room and looks all around. He places his hand under a mesh of machine parts and pulls a switch. A few lights flicker on and something makes a whining noise as it powers up. He walks back to the bridge. As he heads to sit down he turns to look towards Vrillka.

"Launch dampers are fully operational," he says and takes his original seat. He begins searching for other random information that the ship had for him to learn.

[DeathKnight]

Hayden, becoming bored by sitting in a seat with nothing to do for twenty or so hours, dcides to get up and walk back to the Crew Quarters. On the way back he makes sure to look at the Simu-Maps of the region of space where the Aliens where supposed to be. There wasn't a lot of data on that region, barely any really. It was on the edge of mankind's reach, so it was fairly devoid of sentient life. There was a planet only a lightyear or so away from their target zone. Perfect, a planet we can use for emergency escape incase we get ambushed or some other annoyance. after he completed his thought he realized that he probably just cursed himself with that... Damn ships that don't carry blocks of wood for this purpose... Hayden then continued to the CQ. He closed the doors and made sure that he could sense the locations of his crewmates. A surprise in this case will result in a missing limb or a decapitation... And I do not want to go to another court-martial... Hayden thought as he activated his Wrist-Blades.

He moved his arms around to get used to the extra weight first, then he began to simulate a small battle by acting out his attacks and blocks. he thrusted, parried, slashed, cut, flipped, and he even pushed his senses to the limits, pushing their range to far beyond the ship's hull. He could feel the movements of his allies, Zal'rek clicking and clacking on the keynaord to the database, Drake staring out the viewscreen into space, Jayel watching the other two closely, Vrillka wondering about her cabin mentally complaining about the people she was forced to deal with. For a moment he though he could actually see them all, at the same time, and it scared him. I've never been able to do that before... Hayden stated in his mind. He kept his senses to just beyond the doors, but otherwise continued practiceing.

(as soon as someone gets near the door and is going towards is he conceals his blades and practices hand-to-hand to explain for the noise and exhausted look about him.)

[Unique]

Drake sighed.
The longer a journey was going to take, the less he liked it. If he had one flaw, it was impatience. He had more than one flaw.
He leaned back in his seat and looked around.
Somewhere out there was the alien.
Somewhere he couldn't see.
Yet.

Nine thousand lightyears away, the Grenya began to slip into the sensors of the alien mothership.
Analysis was carried out, decisions were made.
The primary decision was to be prepared.
The defenses began to slip up, and the ship slowly became combat-ready.
They had time, and with time, they could do...

Anything.

[Unique]

(If this is against the rules, just tell me, and I won't do it again.

However, upon this occasion:

double post!)

Drake looked up as a light on the panel in front of him started flashing.
Energy discharges on the limits of shortscan sensor range. Bursts of power, jumping across locations, like an electron drive making numerous microjumps.
One steady signal was there too. The exact signature of an energy blade, and from the wavelengths he was receiving, probably red.
A lot of pirates liked the color red. Something to do with blood.
This was a battle. He checked the monitors. There was enough power stored up in the capacitors for the minimum jump distance.
"Zal'rek, take a look at this."
The Craali stood up and walked over. "Looks like a fight."
Drake nodded. "Exactly. It's a fight of some kind, I know that much. We might be able to help, or at least scare off the attacker."
Zal'rek shook his head. "It could be dangerous, and we'd need to jump to get there."
Drake nodded. "Yeah, but it's in our path. I'm gonna make the jump." He tapped the comm system. "All hands, brace for a small jump. We've got to help somebody out."
there were several noises of protest, all cut off by the sound of the electron drive drinking in energy and then releasing it, tearing the ship apart.
And reassembling it a tenth of a lightyear away.
Drake felt the familiar lurching deceleration and then turned to his sensors.
"Zal'rek, take the sensors, I'll take helm. Everybody find a battlestation!"

The pirate turned away from his prey. The electron spires were already cut away. He could go nowhere. So of course some interloper would come by.
On the bridge of the ship, the captain slapped his nearest underling.
"You idiots told me there were no scheduled patrols nearby! Destroy them!"

[James Orion]

Tapping furiously at the ships control panel Trey frantically tried to get his ship to move again, but it was over the electron spires must have been damaged all he could do now was wait to be taken, and pray his luck had not finally run out, a sensor on the panel signaled a spike in energy nearby a small jump someone was coming very close, the pirates ship began to turn.
"This is going to be a very interesting day." Trey said aloud to himself.
he then tapped out the commands to try and open a communications line to the new ship arriving on the scene.

[DeathKnight]

As the Greyna lurched forward in space Hayden was of course not happy, but at the notice of 'Battle Stations' He quickly headed for the bridge at full speed, making sure to turn his blades off before he opened the door to the CQ. Once on the bridge he saw the pirates turn to attack. "Of course! As soon as everything is going well something happens! And to top it all off i wasn't even in the room! But anyway, What the hell is going on now?!" Hayden shouts, both excited and afraid, he'd never been in space combat before...

[Unique]

(Hmmm... One of my posts has mysteriously dissappeared....)

Space combat was half innovation, in Drake's experience.
"Somebody be ready to cover the tractor beams, we may have to throw things at this guy. Hayden, respond to that call we're getting."
Drake turned the Grenya and slashed at the pirate, but found his attack blocked. The pirate extended a second blade and Drake said a word that won't be repeated here.
Two blades can be hard for a person to manage, but with a ship, they become a major advantage. Battleships had dozens of blades.
Drake backed away and groaned as the pirate pounded into electron drive and was suddenly behind them.
He swung the energy blade into position to protect the drive spires and turned to meet the attack.

[DeathKnight]

Hayden quickly zipped over to the Comm system. he clicked a few keys and picked up the headset, "Hello? This is the Recon ship Greyna, please state your designation." Hayden said, trying to be professional. he felt out with his senses, as far as he could manage, he could only sense life sings at the distances he was extending to. he sensed twelve organics onboard the pirate ship, and a single organic onboard the damaged ship. Hayden focused on the pirate vessel for a moment, he could feel the majority of them onboard what he assumed was the bridge. He looked at the ship itself and focused on where they were, a small tower jutting out from the mid section of the ship, that's where they must strike to end this fight. He shouted out to Drake without losing focus on the other ship. "Drake! that small tower in the middle of their ship, aim for that! that's where their bridge is! Unless you want to board the other ship and take it... since it has better weaponry...It's better than sitting here in a twisting metal death-trap." Hayden said both seriously and sarcastically. He was itching to sink his blades into someone, or something.

[Unique]

Drake thought for a moment.
"Zal'rek, what are the specs on the pirate?"
Zal'rek studied his monitors for a few minutes and then replied, "We could run it if that's what you want to know. He's got a class seven electron drive, heavy armor. He's a little slower with sublight than we are, but he carries a lot of fuel."
Drake shrugged. "We can try to take him, but it balances out pretty evenly. If I get the opportunity, I'll destroy that ship."
He dived in, aiming for the pirate's main structural crossbeam so he wouldn't be able to twist hard enough to do major damage with the energy blade.

[James Orion]

Trey heard a beep and the communications where opened, a voice came through the static. "Hello? This is the Recon ship Greyna, please state your designation." the man said. Trey coughed and pushed the button "Hello Greyna this is Trey Ellington, my destination was the coordinates 1487Y, 378X, 1359Z. Currently my destination is anywhere away from these pirates. It would seem that you are outmatched, maybe you should run."

[smity]

Zal'rek hears the message across the bridge's speakers. His head tilts back in laughter, "HAHA! Just because we are outmatched doesn't mean that we don't have the advantage...or does it? hehe! I don't exactly know, but I'd certainly love to find out! Let's take her! Besides, running wouldn't work. Clearly the ship has more advanced jumping technology then us and all that would happen is it would follow our energy signature to bring the battle to another location."

Zal'rek turns around and looks around the room. "Come on, let's have a little fun!" he says grinning ear to ear and rubbing the side of his rifle still strapped to his back.

[James Orion]

Working quickly Trey used his ships arm to pick up its sole weapon a basic energy sword he turned it on and maneuvered the arm to the front of the ship pointing straight forward. he hit the com button and began to speak. "Your ship has tractor beams doesn't it?" the voice comes over the com "Yes." Trey takes a deep breath. "Throw me at the pirates!" Trey said this with a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

[smity]

"See," Zal'rek says as the message comes across the com, "he's figured it out too, and now we even have a plan. We use his ship to break the shields and ram a whole into its sides, and then board his ship to get to the pirates. It's a sure thing...ok, well it's a sure fun thing."

[DeathKnight]

Hayden looks up wiht an expression of pure excitement Yes! Time to cut up some pirates!" Hayden immediatly runs back to his quarters and grabs his extra weaponry out of his footlocker, checks it, and runs back to the bridge. "OK, i'm ready now. Let's go kill some pirates!" Hayden shouts out as he loads his two SMGs

[James Orion]

waiting anxiously Trey plays with the buttons on his vest, then he hits the com button. "Greyna, do you copy?" he leans back in his chair "This is going to be very interesting" he says to himself.

[DeathKnight]

Hayden looks at Zal'rek, "Well? Aren't you going to answer it? You are closer after all, I need to prepare myself for the fight at hand. Hayden announces slyly.

[smity]

Zal'rek shrugs. I guess there's no use for me at the sensors anymore, he thinks to himself. He walks over to the comm spins the chair around while sitting in it and hits the comm channel.

"We'll have you out of there and safely in the side of another ship in a few moments, mean while enjoy our theme song I just found stored on the ships data base while you wait."

Hard core metal breaks over the speakers. Most likely left by a mechanic or engineer on the data base when doing routine ship maintenance.

[James Orion]

A new voice comes over the speakers in a playful tone, and when the message is through some horrid music starts playing, Trey hits the comm button "Please stop the music Greyna, I need to focus on the current situation." Trey picks up his rapier handle and holds it he looks at the designs engraved on the hilt "As always kill only when absolutely necessary remember this" he says this montra to himself and closes his eyes.

[smity]

"aaaw, I thought it was quite soothing", Zal'rek responds in a disappointed tone. He cuts the music off the comm but keeps it playing over Greyna's main speakers.

[deathstalker]

Jayel erupted into action the moment they head Drake's voice again. He cursed softly under his breath, since he could not do anything with his powers (after all, setting a whole ship on fire was something he'd probably learn in twenty years if he was lucky).

However, he sat up and got himself connected to a battle station, meaning that now he had almost instant control over one of the Grenya's ion cannons, which were the supporting weapons just in case the energy blades started to fail. While he was aiming at the weaker parts of the larger ship, and shooting, he also listened to the conversation on the comm system, at first Hayden, then the stranger, then Zal'rek, and then the annoyingly grating music.

"Will you cut that out?" he said, routing the message to Zal'rek at first.

[smity]

Zal'rek redirects the music to just the bridge now. He then looks around the room. "Anyone else?" he asks after taking the music away from the rest of the ship. "Oh and did anyone else have a better plan before we commit to this one?"

[Unique]

Drake shrugged. "Nope. Let's toss him."
The hum of the tractors buzzed through the deck and the ship lurched as they took hold of the other ship.
"Zal'rek, open up a comm line to the pirates."
Zal'rek gave him a confused look but complied. "Line open. Transmitting now."
"Hello, captain. I'd just like to inform you that you've messed with the wrong guys. You're talking to the best of the best here."
"Do you really think you're being intimidating?"
"Nope. I'm just amusing myself. We'll talk more a little later."
He let the pirate puzzle that over for a moment as the other ship careened into his.
"That's a hit," Zal'rek announced in an exultant tone.
"Status of the pirate?"
"We nicked one of his spires, but it won't be critical. Looks like we impaled his power converters. He's lost main, and working on batteries, he can't do anything to us. We might be able to fix the damage and take his ship."
"Can he self-destruct?"
"No."
Drake grinned. "Let's go kill us some scum."

John Loosen stared at the damage board. This was bad. He had spotted about a dozen separate failures before the readout itself sparked and exploded. That patrol ship was going to be boarding soon, and he had minimal sensors, no automatic defenses, and was unable to jump away. Oh, it was repairable, but not quickly enough.
The ship jumped three feet to the left under him and the telltale tearing sound of a forced airlock connection assaulted his ears. He swore and pulled his gun out of its holster.

[James Orion]

Trey felt his ship lurch it was a weird feeling, knowing your about to be slammed head long into another ship, but he started this so if anything bad happened he only had himself to blame. He felt him self flying forward when he turned on the screen to get a visual where he was going to hit. "Oh hell" he said aloud as his ship spiked right into the power converters sending out bolts of electricity, the shielding was still some what operational and he received a minimal shock the distinct sound of air rushing by him was surprising he shouldn't have been able to hear anything, he looked around and found a tear in his hull. "Oh, well this is bad." he said in a relaxed tone. He quickly put his space jumpsuit over himself and prepared for the worse. A few moments later the minor hole in the ship started expanding and soon it was a large hole pulling at him. The belts on his seat would hold him in place he thought. The seat started to rumble and shaking violently, he unstrapped himself and jumped through the hole he was on the outside of both ships but if he could grab a hold of something he would be able to get inside of the pirates ship, but then what surely they had sealed off the area.

[deathstalker]

Jayel got out from his seat, once the information panel displayed that they were forcing an airlock connection. He was a little scared by it though, but did not let it show.

He stepped behind Zal'rek, and pulled out a fairly new utility energy dagger model, which he then switched on.

"Don't worry," he said to both of the men upon seeing their looks, "That's not my main weapon. Let me at the pirate and I'll show you what I can do."

He grinned.

[smity]

While accessing the comm Zal was able to find a port to the pirate's main computer through the link. When Drake finished his message the music that was playing on Greyna's bridge was now blaring on the pirate's vessel. Not over the comm, but from a file sent to the main computer that was now unable to be accessed. That specific drive would have to be actually destroyed to stop the music from playing now.

"Okay, I'm all set. So how do we get on the other ship?", Zal'rek says with an excited and determined look on his face.

[DeathKnight]

Upon hearing the music Hayden instinctively begins jamming to the music and when he heard that they were going to the pirate ship he was more than happy. "Finnally! The first good idea I've heard in a long time! I think we should pick him up as he switch..." Hayden mentions, pointing towards the view screen, showing Trey latching unto the pirate ship to avoid being blown out into space. I vote that I'm not the one to go out and get him! But I do vote that I get to be the first person through the door! I think i'll just use my blades this time..." Hayden says before he runs to put the guns back in his footlocker. Unless they decide to take the ship, then he straps them where his energy blades used to be on his lower back. As he pulls his blades out he rotates them backwards in his hands to re-aquaint with them. "It's been so long since I've used these in a fight, I cna't wait to decapitate some pirates with them!" Hayden says, a bit too excited. He seems to be hovering just above psychotic at this point with the thought of blood-shed.

[smity]

Zal'rek holds on as Drake slams Greyna into Trey's ship, which is now halfway shoved through the hull of the pirate ship, and manages a successful air lock to it.

Drake looks around the room. "We need a way to transition out of the new guy's now trash heap and onto the pirate's vessel."

Zal'rek raised his hand, "oh! oh! pick me! The ship has c-4 charges aboard, but I can blow stuff up just as good if not better on my own." He gives a thumbs up at the end of this statement, and begins heading towards the airlock, but then turns around and looks towards Hayden. "You called it, you first." Zal'rek motions the way with his hands. He then looks to the rest of those on the bridge, "so who was gonna help the other guy?"

[DeathKnight]

Hayden moves swiftly down the length of Trey's ship and stops momentarily in front of the hull breach that is now leading into the cargo bay of the pirate vessel. He reaches out with his senses, focusing on organic movement and placement. He senses 4 of the 12 pirates closing fast on his position, but he was faster. He sprinted at his fastest pace to cut off one of the pirates. His dual energy swords held behind him. He turns to corners at blinding speeds, he turns a corner leading into the vessel's CQ. He senses that a pirate is around the corner just before he turns it, swinging his left blade to slice the pirate's right arm almost completely off. Using his momentum to place a swift, but extremely powerful, kick with his right heel to the pirate's skull, caving it in. Hayden then senses a 5th pirate standing down the corridor he had just come from, and charges after him, catching the pirate offguard. He runs up to him from behind and places his blades behind to the pirates spine, forming and X with his blades. He seperates the two, decapitating the pirate instantly. Hayden then moves to rejoin the others.

[Unique]

Drake stepped into the enemy ship and looked around. Well, the decor was terrible, but it would do, and if they could capture it, restore the electron drive, and make the jump, it would take only two jumps, and they would take only a few hours to charge.
Good.
He drew out his scimitar and waited, leaning against a bulkhead. A pirate rounded the corner and Drake put him down with six successive blasts of energy, then leapt into action. Two more came around the corner, swinging energy blades at him. Drake blocked one sent a magical push at the other, tossing him back a few feet. He swung his blade and slashed the pirate's arm, a good, solid hit, cutting through the man's armor like it was cheese. His blade came up and slashed the pirate's skull in half.
"Now where's your captain?" Drake snapped as he turned to the other pirate.
The man shook his head. "I'm not telling you."
"Then you die. Boys? Kill him while I look for the captain, will you? And if you find the captain first, capture him. We need him alive."

[smity]

Nobody is very helpful, Zal'rek thought to himself while on the side of the ship trying to reach Trey. He was connected to a automated safety line, and had another for Trey when he got to him. An oxygen mask covered his mouth, and the tank on his back. He was chanting aloud, but no noise came out....ya know, space. His activated spell allowed him to keep his body pulled together in the vacuum of space for at least a little while, but that was it. He had to act fast. He scrambled up the side of the ship and quickly met up with Trey handing him the line. He then pushed off the side of the ship and let the line pull him safely back to Greyna. Zal'rek then waited to make sure Trey was ok before heading toward the pirate ship.

[James Orion]

Trey was grateful for the help from this person, he followed suit and kicked off the hull of the ship and was pulled back to greyna, once inside of the airlock he bowed to his rescuer. "I would rather shake your hand but I'm afraid the gesture is somewhat lost to me." trey said in a friendly joking way.

[smity]

"It's no problem", Zal'rek responds while laughing at the man's joke as he notices why he said such a thing. "We better hurry. I hope they left us something."

Zal'rek leads the way to the pirate ship and Trey follows closely behind.

"My name is Zal'rek by the way. It's nice to meet you." Zal'rek readies his rifle making sure it was ready to fire. He kept it loaded, but wanted to make sure. His pigment changes began to quicken in between transitions of his environment. He began two spell incantations as well. One boosted his pigment changing abilities to make him near invisible. The other stimulated his reflexes and senses. Both were to be near full power by the time they reached the pirate ship.

Something about this guy's presence allowed him to be trusted. Zal'rek didn't feel the same danger he felt from some of the others. Not to say there wasn't one present.

[DeathKnight]

"Then you die. Boys? Kill him while I look for the captain, will you? And if you find the captain first, capture him. We need him alive."

A diabolical smile came across Hayden's face at this command. He swiftly walked over to the Pirate and began 'interrogating' him. This involved brutal kicks and punches, and the occasional dismemberment or a limb. After a while hayden realized that pirate was incapible of speaking due to the pain"Damnit! Every god-damned time! Oh well, may as well go look for another pirate." Hayden instantly went to go cover Drake as they navigated through the ship. Hayden reached out with his powers, focousing on finding the captain, he was not too far ahead of them now, just down the hall about 50ft straight forward, but of course, there was a door in the way. Hayden stopped Drake, "I think I should go first, there are quite a few pirates there and I'm better equipped to handle them than yourself. Besides, I enjoy this stuff more, waaaayyy more." Hayden offers, a malicious grin appearing on his face then vanishing as quickly as it came.

(If Hayden is going first, he extends his wrist blades and then he makes an illusionary clone of himself to draw the attention of the pirates, at which point he comes in and kills as many as he can in a single combination. Probably 4 or so)

[James Orion]

"Zal'rek, intersting name but the craali always are." Trey bowed "Forgive me I speak to forwardly, My name is Trey, I get the feeling you already knew that though. There now we are formally introduced." as Trey enters into the pirates ship behind Zal'rek he notices the bodies around him. "Well, it would seem peaceful negotiations are out of the question, I fear we are late to the ball." Trey thinks to himself such a loss of life was this really necessary, is there something I could have done to prevent this, now is not the time to dwell on it.

[deathstalker]

Jayel watched the events, but did not do anything at first. He did not even say anything much when Hayden went crazy on one of the pirates. However, as Hayden followed Drake, Jayel himself decided to take one of the alternate routes to look for the captain.

He was attacked by two pirates, who laughed at him for not having a weapon. Jayel only smiled at them, as he roasted them in their suits.

[James Orion]

Trey looks around for signs that point out directions he find a computer terminal and accesses it. "Well, it would seem the med-bay isn't to far from here I think I'll go check that out then." Trey announced amiably. Trey began to walk down the passage way that would lead him to the medical department on the ship. "This has been quite interesting so far." Trey spoke softly to himself in the empty hallway in echoed in the silence, he continued walking and he began to round the corner, a energy saber came humming through the air, Trey drew his saber in just enough time to parry the blow, his attacker was a pirate, a rather large fellow, he pushed Trey against the wall. "I'm so glad to make your acquaintance." Trey spat out. The pirate eased off a bit surprised by this he started to say something but Trey slipped away from his blade and was now facing the pirate with his rapier in the standard offensive position held at arms length tip facing the opponent pointed up body turned sideways the pirate flipped his swords in his hands and ran it against the wall making sparks and laughing as he did. "So I'm guessing you wouldn't rather talk this out?" Trey teased the only response that was given has a snort. Trey decided to take the offensive making a quick step forward dropping to one knee and slicing upwards with a swift blow he landed a solid hit to the pirates left shoulder. The pirate roared in pain and fell back against the wall keeping his sword held towards Trey, opponents are always dangerous never underestimate them Trey recited the lessons in his mind. The pirate charged him swinging his saber rapidly it was all Trey could do to parry these attacks, he was losing ground and would be against the wall soon he must do something quick. Trey concentrated all he could and called upon his magic to enhance his physical abilities he parried the pirates attack knocking him off balance, Trey vaulted over him hanging upside down above the pirate time seemed to slow he saw exactly where to strike he twisted and came down with a swift kick to the back of the pirates neck the pirate eyes rolled in his head and he fell on his face, he was out cold.

[Unique]

Drake nodded. "Go, Hayden." He stepped back and started drawing on the magic. Best to have a little ready. He chanted a little mantra over and over in his head. I am the death of a thousand, the life of one. I am the destroyer of many, the protector of one. I am ultimately for myself, and my magic is of me, from me, and for me.
The door burst open and Hayden went in. Two of him wnet in, in fact. A copy had sprouted from him at some point. A nice little illusion.
Drake started tossing little balls of fire into the bridge.

[smity]

Zal'rek followed closely behind Trey. After seeing Trey handle the ambush Zal decided he needed to scout ahead.

"Hold up Trey. I'll scout up the next hall. I'll need a moment though to conjure a full cloak spell."

Zal'rek begins very dramatic movements in almost a dance or ritual. His chants are heard aloud, and then transfer to whispers in the mind. The direction is unknown. Zal'rek begins to disappear until he is completely gone.

He runs down the hall. Nothing.

Zal'rek's runs ahead. First hall is clear. He runs down further. A large door with a small window is in the center of the hall to the right. Zal'rek peers inside. He finds many long crates stacked along the walls. A second floor made out of steel grating runs around the walls of the room and opens in the center with stairs up to it at the far left corner. Zal'rek counts three guards, but there might be more above his view. One of the guards seems to have one of the boxes open. That's when he notices the radiation hazard label on the top lid. nukes!

Zal'rek runs back to Trey.

Zal'rek's voice emerges from the air.

"Ok, I have 3 confirmed targets, and several nukes. One of the guards might possibly be arming one of these. We need to act fast. You need to storm in first so that the two others will charge you at once. I'll take one out before he reaches you. We need to keep the one that might be arming the nuke alive in the case we need to disarm it." Zal'rek

[James Orion]

Trey finished cuffing the pirate and picks up his saber. "This could be useful" he put his rapier into its sheath and holds the saber, a voice hits Treys ear. "Well, that's not good, okay then I'll storm in you cover, got it." Trey rushes down the hall saber in hand he kicks open the large door sights the first three pirates, one standing by a crate looks up and furiously begins tapping out something, the other two begin to charge Trey. "Fellas, can't we handle this like gentle men?" Trey says in a lighthearted tone. The pirates give no response and keep running at Trey. "Here your friend lost this!" Trey shouts as he throws the saber forward catching one of the pirates off guard, he barely manages to parry it but it knocks him off balance, the other pirate turns his head to follow the blade but keeps running forward this was a golden opportunity Trey pulls out his rapier and runs full speed at him jumps into the air rotating his body a full 360 degrees he delivers a back heel kick to the pirates hand, the man had managed to block such a well placed attack. Trey fell onto the ground on his stomach.

[smity]

Zal'rek follows Trey, but stays to the back of the room. He sets up behind two crates stacked on top of one another. He pops up from behind the boxes, and rests rifle taking aim. He sees Trey down on the ground and takes the opportunity as the pirate turns to face him. Zal'rek squeezes the trigger. The corpse of the pirate hits the floor; a hole now in the back of his head. The bullet hits the wall next to the last enemy. He is caught off guard, ducking and looking toward the wall as it hits.

[DeathKnight]

'Hayden' rushes into the bridge, not swinging 'his' blades but dodging every attack thrown at 'him' at least 3 of the pirates are trying to hit him, he is surrounded but thanks to the real Hayden's view point he can anticipate the pirates' movements and actions due to his incredible eyesight, he can see every muscle movement the pirates make 0.01 seconds before it goes into action, which may not sound like much but when a blade is coming at your neck with fatal intent it seems like an eternity. As the pirates begin to become frustrated Drake and the real Hayden begin their assault. Hayden busts into the room, all 4 of his blades active, he is holding the sword in his left hand bladedown as to maximaize his group-fighting abilities.

He charges the pirates how now realize that they have been fooled as the image dissapears. Hayden is running at his fastest speed yet, his legs go from visible and predicatble, to a blur, to moving too fast for any organic creeature to focus on. He begins to adapt his speed to his arms and wrists as well, he leaps above the pirates, kicks off the far wall, and plunges head-long into the midst of the three pirates. He begins to twist his body violently, he focuses on the pirates' necks to avoid becoming dazed. His body seems to become pure energy, the result of his blades' light. His right handed sword connects with the closest Pirate's saber, sending it flying across the room and into the far wall of the bridge. His second blade connects with thepirate's neck, seperateing his head from body instantly. His right wrist blade cuts the 2nd pirate's right arm clean off while his left wrist blade slices at the pirate's throat. He lands on the bridge floor, only long enough to gain his footing so that he may drive all both of his wrist blades into the 3rd pirate, an agonizing death to say the least. Hayden wastes no time to recover himself to prepare to fight the Captain and his bodyguard.

[Unique]

Drake was already there. He slashed at the bodyguard and brought the man down with a rapid-fire barrage of magical attacks, then turned to the captain.
"I would suggest you surrender. I'd rather not have to rip the information I want from your mind, but I have the resources to do it if I must."
The captain spat on the deck in front of him.
Drake punched him across the jaw.

[James Orion]

Trey rolls onto his back and jumps to his feet, he looks around and see the other pirate jump behind some crates the one taping at the box is looking around franticly Trey runs towards the crate kicks off of the crate and comes down on the pirate in a downward thrust the pirate moves his blade to parry the attack but Trey angles it so that he will come down on the pirate wrist cutting off his hand Trey then kicks the man hard in the gut and he falls to the ground and bangs his head hard on a crate. "I wouldn't want to be him thats going to be a very unpleasant morning." Trey laughs as he walks up to the man at the crate. "Well we have dispatched your friends here, you wouldn't want to be next would you?" Trey says in a sneering tone the pirate looks around, sits down and raises his arms "I give up, but that bomb, its already armed, you failed." as the last words come from the pirates mouth he smiles.

[DeathKnight]

Hayden watched the fight between the Pirate Captain and Drake duke it out with some amusement, but he was of course ready to back Drake up should the fight turn the wrong way. He felt out to see if he could find Zal'rek and the new new guy. He sensed them standing around another more unfamiliar figure, probably a pirate prisoner. He couldn't tell what was going on there but he had a very bad feeling about the whole thing. Hayden re-focused back to the fight between Drake and the Captain. The captain was coughing up blood, That's good, beat him bloody already and get the info we need so I can lop his head off or something... I feel like 'interrogating' someone today... Hayden shouted over to Drake, Hey, Drake, if it speeds things up a little bit, I could cut the information we need out of him. Although, that would make a bit of a mess wouldn't it... oh well, no plan is perfect. Hayden says in a very serious tone of voice.

[Unique]

(And I thought it had died.

Oh me of little faith.)

Drake shook his head. "No. I'll just rip it out."
"You'll rip it out?" Hayden said. "How?"
Drake grinned. "Magic. Hold him still. I used to do this for kicks to a guy back on Proxima, where I was born. Got pretty good at it before I tapped the wrong part of his brain and found out he was playing the same kinda head games with someone else." Drake smiled fondly. "First guy I ever put into a coma. Can't really say I loved him, he was a bit of a copulatory organ in all the wrong ways."
Hayden looked uncomfortable at this little revelation, but held the captain anyways.
"Force him to the deck, he's gonna fall down anyways," Drake said.
Hayden forced the captain to the deck.
Drake tapped the captain's forehead with one finger, leaned in real close to him, and said, "You're lucky. You get to be the fifty-second man I put into a coma. I'm afraid I'm taking everything you know, so It's not something you'll wake up from. I learned only two things: the gentle perusal of the mind, and tearing it to shreds. It's not my area of expertise, I'm afraid."
The captain groaned. "I'll tell you what you want to know, just please don't do it."
Drake shook his head. "How do I know you're not lying?"
"Because I'm smart enough to know that if I lie, you'll tear my mind apart."
Drake grinned and tousled the captain's hair. "Good boy. See what the right kind of fear can accomplish, Hayden?" He turned to the captain. "Give me full control of your ship. Tell me the command codes.
The pirate sighed. "The access is alpha-five-one-fve, kappa six, zero-one-three. My personal code is theta-seven-seven."
Drake walked over to the console and tapped in the command codes, then nodded to the captain.
"Make the transfer."
The captain sighed. "Thanopstru, alter command to... What's your name?"
"Captain Drake Zure."
The pirate nodded. "To captain Drake Zure, voiceprint to follow. Speak your name," he prompted.
Drake nodded. "Drake Zure, providing voiceprint now."
A breathy female voice sounded across the bridge. "Command transfer accepted."
Drake grinned.
"Oh, captain?"
The captain scowled at him. "What?"
"I can't do all those things. I'm terrible at mental magic, but I'm a very good liar. It helps me to get people to come home with me even when my armor and my home are all I have. Hayden? Kill him. Make it slow. I want him to wish he hadn't transferred command."

(Yes, the ship is called Thanopstru. Cookie for the reference.)

[smity]

A large creeeeeking noise sounds through the room followed by a fwoosshhhh bam kind of sound.

Zal'rek looks towards the noise laughing loudly, "woops!"

The bullet had continued through the ships hull and the vacuum of space was now taking the room apart. Sirens wailed and the room was skeduled for seal off in 30 sec. The bomb is now jettisoned into space. A crate comes from behind Zal and pushes him out as well. Zal is thrown into the cold vacuum of space; laughing till he can't any more.

[James Orion]

Trey was looking at the bomb when he heard Zal'rek say whoops, he looked in the direction Zal'rek was quickly exhaled all the air in his lungs and grabbed his cable launcher shooting it towards the far wall next to the door it found rest bored into the wall, an alarm began to blare and in the next moment the wall was gone, the bomb and Zal'rek the strange thing was the fellow was laughing
or a least he thought he was laughing the sound of air rushing by was all that could be heard. Trey felt a great amount of sorrow seeing the death of his new friend he wondered how he could accept death so easily. Trey begins to pull himself up the cable against the force of the vacuum an odd spectacle to be sure, finally making it to the door he opens it and gets to the wall, a few moments later and the area was sealed off. Trey sat on the floor exhausted a million thoughts washing through his mind, he had to carry on, but the death of so many today had effected him, where do you find strength in a time like this he thought to himself. Trey stood up and dusted him self off, there was a bright light shining through one of the nearby view screens. He closed his eyes and put his hand on the window all fingers spread out,"The Journey is begining, so go, my friend." Trey looked back and forth and began to walk back towards the area where he entered on the way he picked up the pirate and carried him back to the place proped him up against the wall, and continued on to the bridge. Arriving at the bridge he heres a man give the order for the death of another, he rushes into the room. "Stop, please, no more killing today, this man is defeated, there no reason to kill him." Trey looks from the pirate to the man in blue armor, to the one covered in blood.

[Unique]

(Smity, did you seriously just kill off your character for no other reason than "because I can"?)

Drake shook his head. "Hayden, our friend has seen some terrible things. Make it quick, instead, but he must die." He turned to Trey. "That man is a threat. All of the pirates are a threat. They must all die."

[DeathKnight]

Hayden looks up at Trey and shakes his head, You don't know me so I'm going to clear something up for you. I enjoy killing and fighting, it has been my life and will continue to be my life until the day I am to die. But enough about me, wasn't Zal'rek with you? Hayden then remembers his powers and searches for the crazed Craali. Trey begins to speak but Hayden cuts him off. Nevermind, I already know... I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen here, let's just be thankful it wasn't one of us. Hayden says as he turns his attention back to the pirate captian. Don't think I had forgotten about you, your time will come soon enough... Hayden places the heel of his boot on the man's chest and crosses his swords over his neck. Consider yourself lucky it's going to be swift Hayden says painfully as he sperates the blades again, effectively decapitating the Pirate. Well, now that that's out of the way, can we go and get this damned mission over with?

[James Orion]

"It was one of us, you fool." Trey spits "You are worse then these, pirates ever could dream of being, seeing as its you you'll take that as a complement, but I assure you my intent negative." Trey looks at the pirate on the ground "So was he."

[DeathKnight]

Hayden looks at Trey with nothing but admiration in his eyes, no one had ever spoken to him in that manner before. Listen, I respect you for what you say. But if your too weak to kill those who were about to kill you than maybe we should leave you here seeing as how you probably won't be able to defend yourself against whatever it is we are going to investigate. But it's not my decision, it's his. Hayden says as he nods over to Drake. And one more thing, I do not take as much pride in what I do as you might think. This has been my life since before I knew about all that morality crap that people keep feeding me. I kill for survival not for fun. But this enjoyment is the only way I can keep living as who I am. Hayden spits out the last bit as he begins to drag the bodies to the airlock.

[James Orion]

Trey watches as Hayden picks the bodies up, he speaks softly now, "In my experience one must be stronger to let ones foe live rather then to kill, I don't know what mission you speak of perhaps you would like to enlighten me. Also, I may have spoken to harshly before I don't know what you have seen in your life, I only know what I have seen in mine, I see the death of others as a last resort, if there is someway to avoid it I will." Trey sighs as he says this. "I am tired, the greed I see in people makes me weary, I need time to think on what has happened today, it has been quite" he says the next word slowly "explosive."

[Unique]

Drake sighed. "We might need him here, and we can't exactly put him out an airlock."
Trey rolled his eyes. "Your thug could probably stomach it."
Hayden started to turn to either say something or do something to Trey, but Drake's scimitar was in his way immediately.
"Let it go. Trey, you were part of the crew of that ship. Between the Grenya, that thing, and Thanopstru here, we can probably get this ship working again, and then we make the longest single jump anybody has ever made."
Trey stared. "You're investigating the blips I keep hearing about, aren't you?"
Drake nodded. "Yes, we are. And we hope to get there quickly."

[James Orion]

"Well then I suppose we should get to work, I may not agree with the way things are run around here, but at the moment I seem to be at odds ends, This ships has sustained quite a bit of damage, we might be able to repair the electron drive using parts from Greyna." Trey begins to walk off, he reaches the door puts his arm on the frame and looks over his shoulder "You know, this is a pirate ship, I'm sure it has sustained damage in the past, I bet the captain would have known how to repair it." he continues out the door to the point of entry and begins inspecting the damage.

[DeathKnight]

Hayden watches Trey walk down the hall and turn the corner. He shakes his head and walks around looking for the airlocks or another method to dispose of the bodies. He begins to talk to himself as he does when he is deep in thought Who the hell does he think he is? Telling me what I should think right and wrong is. I know what's right for me, and it's worked well enough so far. Hayden finds what seems to be the airlock and places the bodies into the chamber, steps outside, and activates the airlocks manually so that the other side of the chamber opens before the air is sucked outside, launching the corpses into the cold blackness of space. Hayden looks through the port to the outside. He says under his breath, If you see Zal'rek, tell him he was one messed up Craali, and that this is going to be a boring trip with out him. Hayden begins to wander about the halls looking for his new quarters.

[Unique]

"Hayden?"
He turned and tossed off a jaunty, sarcastic salute. "Whaddaya want, cap'n Drake, sir?"
Drake rolled his eyes. "We gotta fix this beast, and that requires taking apart at least one ship to add new parts. We got work to do."

[James Orion]

Trey walks up to the man in blue. "I don't believe we were ever formally introduced I am Trey Ellington" Trey bows as he says this "Sorry to have to meat you under such circumstances......." Trey hesitates, and the man in blue speaks "Drake" Trey speaks again "Well, Drake I hope you know more about ships then I do, it's a bloody mess back there, quite literally."

[DeathKnight]

Hayden looks more seriously at Drake now, I hope you realize that that will be the last time I ever call you sir. But anyway, just tell me what you need and I'll run back and get it before you know I left. He looks over to Trey. Well, Trey I hope that you can learn to get over the fact that I probably will not enjoy your company. But anyway, My name's Hayden Aatal, and that's all you need to know. Hayden takes off his hood and shakes his hair around, and for the first time Trey can clearly see his face. Hayden has eyes that are black like space itself, and hair that has the appearence of being blood-soaked.

[Unique]

Drake sighed. "We'll need the extra converters for sure. The power manifolds are probably shot, and we need some hull plating. A couple of generators for armor would be good to get, as well."

(By the way: new post in the OOC thread.)

[DeathKnight]

Hayden nods his head and runs over to do a quick inventory check on both the ships. he returns to share his findings. Well, good news and bad news. Greyna is fine, we can scrap it and upgrade this one with everything we had. Bad news? Trey's ship is absolute and utter trash at this point. we're lucky it was in good enough condition to use as a bridging point between the ships.

[James Orion]

"Drake, I would suggest you check the manifest and find out what these men were shipping, they might also have some useful cargo aboard." Trey says in a mild tone. "I think, I'm going to find the pantry, remember, no matter what the mission, always take the time to taste the sweets." Trey grins as he says these last words and begins walking down a hallway, he thinks to himself I wonder if these pirates were slavers, no telling what these two would do if any where aboard. Well the manifest will show if anything odd was being shipped, illegal substances most likely were on board, bombs, firearms hell who knows might even be some stolen manufacturing robots pirates are not known to be to picky. What luck it would be if there was some robots on here, oh well can't work on an empty stomach.

[Unique]

(Your run-on sentence makes the baby Cthulhu cry.)

Drake nodded. "Good thinking. I'll check the manifest."
He scanned it over. It was mostly drugs, of the relatively harmless but still illegal variety. He was half-tempted to go and sample the roshti sap.
Better keep his mind on the task at hand, though.
There was also something listed only as AT-100/C.
"Now what could that be?" Drake wondered aloud.

(I has a plan!)

[DeathKnight]

(Do share it with us, if you'd please)

Hayden begins to look around the bridge, he notices that it looks similar to the Greyna's bridge, but with a few differences. obviously the computer interface was different, but other than that and the layout, it looked like bigger version of the Greyna. Hayden looks up at Drake, So, do we have any idea on when we will be setting off again? Kind of bored already with standing around... I'm not really the passive type if you haven't already figured that out.

[Unique]

Drake rolled his eyes. "No, you're not the passive type. Come help me look at something."
"What are we looking at that you'll need help looking at?"
"Probably a box, labelled AT-100/C. I think it might be a stolen government experiment. They use the AT designation for experiments a lot, and some pretty intenseley top-secret traffic comes through this area of space. These pirates probably raided a government ship and got that thing out of it. It's in a crew quarters, which is odd, but the quarters have been sealed off and reinforced."
Hayden shrugged. "Could be anything. It might be a bad idea to go in there."
Drake nodded. "Whatever it is, it destroyed the camera feed in that room."

(I'm introducing an amusingly powerful NPC.)

[James Orion]

Maybe its time for me to settle down find a nice girl have some kids, I bet i could be a good farmer, that might prove more boring than one might think though trey ponders a number of thoughts as he walks into the kitchen. "Well, they are pirates I suppose." Trey says aloud in a surprised tone. The room was in quite the state, he opened some of the cabinets, liquor, all these people seem to have is liquor. Well I might as well sample some he grabs a bottle of a clear liquid that reads 80 proof, and a glass. Is it to early to be drinking, he looks out the window and sighs, "I suppose it doesn't matter in space" Trey says aloud, "Heres to you, I'll never forget." he pours a glass and gulps half of it. "Disgusting, well then I think I'll be needing some food or else this is going to prove very interesting." He searches around and finds some bread, he eats it quickly. the room starts to swirl a little bit, Trey lifts his arm very sluggishly "I thin tha botale was labled wro.." Trey falls from the chair he was sitting on and hits the floor hard he out cold.

[DeathKnight]

Hayden looks at Drake with for once what looks like actual fear, I didn't sense anything in the crew quarters when we came in... nor do I now... Hayden activates his dual blades and draws his SMGs. Would you liek to come with me to go check it out? or do you want to miss out on all the fun? Hayden says, trying to regain a calm disposition. He feels out with all his strength, he senses Trey in the galley, he focuses on him for a moment, briefly seeing that he is on the floor. not sure what happened, Hayden looks back to Drake, I think we should stop by the galley on the way over and check on Trey, he isn't moving... Hayden's fear begins creeping back up his spine again.

[Unique]

Drake made a split-second decision. "If that thing kills me, I'll at least soften it up for you. Go check on Trey. Maybe if it kills me, you two together can take it out."
Hayden nodded. "All right. Try not to die. I don't like you, per se, but I dislike you less than certain other people."
Drake grinned. "Aww, I wuvs oo too, Hayden!" He stuck his arms out. "Can I have a hug?"
Hayden stared at him for a moment and walked away. "I rescind my previous statement."

[DeathKnight]

you'd have a better chance of getting a hug from me if you were of the female persuasion... Hayden thinks to himself. Aaaany way... I'll go check on Trey, I'll meet you outside the crew quarters... as soon as you can get there... Hayden says as he begins to run down the hall towards the galley. Hayden arrives to see Trey lying on the floor, and he notices the bottle in his hand. Idiot... it's a pirate ship in the middle of space, what else would they have besides the alchoholic equivilant of an elephant tranqualizer? Hayden says while shaking his head. He walks over to Trey, grabs him the back of the collar and drags him to the corner of the galley, and places him under a table, and places a makeshift netting over it. At least this way if we die you might have a chance... scratch that, we're so screwed... Hayden debates this in his head as he goes to meet Drake. "So where's Trey?" Drake asks, I left him under a table of course. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself. Unless it involves a bottle... (the italics are mumbled) "What was that?" Nothing, you ready for this?

[Unique]

Drake sighed and thumbed the keypad at the side of the door.
It whooshed open and a gleaming silver fist slammed into his chest. He flew backwards and slammed into the wall.
Hayden reacted instantly. He plunged his energy blades into the silver thing. They passed right through it and came out without leaving a mark.
It ran out the door and up to Drake and grabbed him by the collar. Unintelligeble words came out of its mouth. "Woressy koloto Chenchin!"
It had its hands at Drake's throat, and he was struggling to breathe.
It looked into his eyes. Its own eyes were black pits in the silvery surface of its face.
"I don't want to hurt you," Drake said.
The thing stared for a moment longer and then said, "Idontwanttohurtyou?"
Drake nodded. It shook its head. "Karassta locojo endukri. Chenchin lumisst hegg."
"Okay, that didn't work."
"Okaythatdidntwork? Chenchin lumisst ju."
"Why do I get the feeling it's giving me until the count of three?" An idea popped into his head. "Hayden, turn off your blades!"
Hayden complied, if only because of Drake's frantic tone. The thing let go of him.
Drake stood up. It was arranged like a human, almost. Very short, but very powerfully built. Interesting. Like a human being seen through a funhouse mirror. Drake recalled one other thing that AT was used for. Mysterious discovere objects.

[DeathKnight]

Well, that would explain why I couldn't sense it... Hayden chuckled. He quickly regained his seriousness though when he saw Drake's dissaproving glare. So, What is it? "A robot" was Drake's careless response. Hayden shot him a "oh no really? because I thought it was a piece of toast" look. (It's a fun look, you should try it) I can see that, but how did the pirates, stupid as they were, manage to get it in the crew quarters and stay there? Hayden shook his head.

[Unique]

Drake shook his head. "It had to have been already contained, and they must have overpowered it somehow."
The little robot shook its head. "Craali pessha noko lumisst."
Drake stared for a moment. "Craali?" The robot spread its hands apart and a little hologram of a very short silver Craali appeared between them. "Lumiss kro gugel. Human lumisst reda faahn."
Drake thought for a momenbt and then pantomimed stabbing Hayden through the chest. "Lumisst?"
The robot nodded. "Lumisst. Lumiss, lumisst, lum."
Drake nodded and turned to Hayden. "Lumisst means death or kill, I think. I think it means that there was another one, made in the image of a Craali, that was killed by a llarge number of Humans."

[DeathKnight]

Hayden listens carefully, where he grew up he had never seen anything of sentient life beyond that of regular Humans and Craali. He looks at Drake, Well, he said "Lummist" a few times in your little scuffle there. I guess he thought we were trying to kill him, er, it? Hayden walks over to the robot he speaks slowly, Do you understand me? My name is Hayden. He obviously wanted to mess around with the robot, to see if it was capable of holding a conversation wihtout bashing someone's chest in.

[Unique]

The robot grabbed Hayden by the throat and lifted him off his feet. "Lumisst Chenchin Human kay sadta."
"No!" Drake yelled. "No lumisst! No lumiss, no lum!"
The robot turned. "Human sadta Chenchin."
Drake sighed. "Yeah, I don't like him much either, but I might need him in the future." He pantomimed what it would look like for the robot to put Hayden down. "Please, just set him down?"
The robot, which Drake was beginning to suspect might be named Chenchin, put Hayden down.
Drake pointed at his chest. "Drake."
The robot pointed at its chest. "Chenchin." It pointed at Drake, then at Hayden, and both times, it said, "Drake?"
Drake shook his head. "Drake," he said, indicating himself. He pointed to Hayden. "Hayden. Drake, Hayden." He pointed at the robot. "Chenchin?"
Chenchin nodded. "Chenchin. Drake. Hayden." It tapped the floor. "Rekka ulossu trettall meck?"
Drake grinned. "The ship? You want to know what the ship is called?"
"Theshipyouwanttoknowwhattheshipiscalled?"
Drake sighed and signed walking and following. "Follow me, Chenchin."
He started towards the bridge. A few moments later, Chenchin began to follow him.
When they arrived, Drake pulled up a realtime sensor display showing the three ships. He manipulated the controls, tapped the image of the Thanopstru, and then the floor. "Thanopstru," he said with both the tap of the image and of the floor. He tapped the image of the Grenya. "Grenya." He moved to tap the picture of Trey's ship and then shook his head. "I don't know what that one is called, actually."

[James Orion]

Trey opens his eyes slowly, its really dark and his eyes hurt, at first he can't see anything. He sits there pondering what just happened, he stretches his hand hits something hard above his head. "What the hell." he say but even as he says this his ears start to ring. That was some terribly strong stuff, I'll have to relocate that bottle, he thinks but even thinking seems to hurt right now. He raises his arm and pushes the table up, the sudden light blinds him "ahhhh" he yells loudly covering his eyes and then his ears in sequence. What the hell where they drinking, and just where the hell am I. Trey begins to reach out with his hand feeling around, this is still the kitchen. he keeps feeling about his hand reaches something cool and slick made from glass, he hesitates then grabs it. Slowly opening his eyes they adjust to the light in the room. "oh my eyes" Trey moans walking from the kitchen, and still quite intoxicated stumbles his way down the hallway back to the bridge. As the door opens up he steps though the threshold, and sees two familiar faces and a strange looking third one. "Who's this funn..." Trey swallows hard "...ey looking fellow, then?" he asks in slurred speech.

(you guys got busy today)

[Unique]

"Trey? What the hell? Are you drunk?"
Trey thought for a moment. "Ish posshible," he conceded.
Drake sighed. "Trey, this is Chenchin. Don't provoke him. He might kill you. What was your ship called?"

[James Orion]

Trey stumbles forward "hello shanchon is nice to meep you, would you care for a drink?" as trey speaks his voice gets louder at some points, he holds the bottle up to chenchin, the thing takes the bottle and looks at it, not paying him any attention Trey stumbles over to Drake. "Who told chu tha was my ship?" Trey grins broadly.

[Unique]

"The ship you were on. As you are the only survivor, it defaults to your ownership for the duration of its voyage until an investigation is conducted as to how you survived. Congratulations on owning a useless hulk. What's it called?"

[James Orion]

Trey looks confused. "The only one tha survived?" he looks around "I wash the only one on it. that does not make it mine though, or does it I can't remember right now. the name you say? Trey thinks for a long while. "I believe the repots said it wash The Heavenly Lady. Although, shesh not so heavenly now is she?" he begins laughing at his own joke and stumbles over onto the ground.

[Unique]

Drake sighed. He tapped the picture of the Heavenly Lady. "Heavenly Lady," he said. He pointed to Trey. "Trey."
Chenchin nodded and recited all the names he'd learned, pointing to the owner of each in turn.
"That's right," Drake said.
"Thatsright?"
Drake sighed. This was going to be a long, strange voyage. "Computer, bring up the damage screens."
A holographic schematic of the damage to the Thanopstru appeared in the middle of the bridge.
"Help?" Drake said.
Chenchin reached forward and stared for a few moments at the hologram, then walked right through it and placed one hand on the computer console. The hand sank straight in and Chenchin stared off into nothing for a moment, then he said, "Grenya crassad hoorati Chenchin yugg hellet. Treega helk lopoteshi Heavenly Lady juru."
He walked out the door, dropping the bottle Trey had handed him as he left.

[James Orion]

Trey rolls over and looks at the bottle. "Well Thats just rude." He says and then he crawls over to the bottle and grabs it.

[DeathKnight]

As Chenchin put Hayden back on the ground, he looked over to Drake, You know, I'm not to fond of you at the moment either... as the two start walking back to the bridge, Hayden looks around for another moment. Damn robots... He then turns to follow them. When Chenchin leaves the room, Hayden looks over to Trey, yelling rather loudly, Are you sensitive to sound yet? "No" was the response. Oh, well then, thanks for ruining my fun. Hayden then begins to follow Chenchin, walking next to the robot he begins to talk to it, Chenchin, may I call you Chen? He makes movements with his hands as he speaks. The robot just ignores him as he walks. Figures.

(Starts with his hands spread apart about 1' when he says Chenchin. Moves them close when he says Chen.)

[James Orion]

(blank post is blank now)

[smity]

test is success

[deathstalker]

"Find anything interesting?" Jayel asked everybody as he stepped in the same room, energy blade now defused.

He'd taken his time killing the rest of the pirates while everyone else had been dealing with the pirate captain and the strange new robot.

[James Orion]

1d20 jhdsafjjdsafh

[smity]

[roll0]
[roll1]
testing something