The Line in the Stars (IC) [PG/14]

[ShadesFox]

As the three walked to the location of the pirate negotiants Aaron talked to Ana, "Ah, so you noticed the significant chunk Acadian in me.  So, that would make you an aura reader yes?  Anyways, tis a fascinating story behind my heritage, I may share it one day once I actually know the full extend of it myself.  Though I am curious, Romulus mentioned a rescue mission you were on?"

Ana grinned at Aaron, "Yes, as much as I enjoy the company of pirates, I was here to rescue someone."

"Mind me asking who?  Or maybe in a bit, it looks like we have found our negotiators."

After the three arrived and the dark skinned human addressed Aaron he answered back, "Ah yes, the negotiation part.  Unconditional surrender on your part, handing over your weapons and comm gear to us."

Aaron was trying to skim the surface thoughts of the pirates.  If push comes to shove he would add terms that he was going to do anyways, mostly regarding avoiding further incidents.

[Lisky]

The Mindscape

Knight was still coming to terms with all he'd done to lead to the injuries, he felt responsible for everything that had happened, it had to be his fault, he had to have screwed up somewhere.  On his third run through of the whole situation the spotted feline noted Saioko enter, and dismissed the event as he was deep in thought in other things.  Then, as her lips pressed up against his, his train of thought became completely derailed... then exploded.

The sudden display of affection had been as pleasant as it was unexpected.  At first his eyes lit up in surprise.  After the momentary shock wore off Knight even managed to return the affectionate gesture to some degree.  As Saioko ended the kiss, Knight snuggled closer to her, wrapping his arms around her and noting her excited, or, at the very least, impatient, body language. He let out a coy grin and said, "Clearly something is up.  So, what can i do for you ma'am?"

[Lushin]

One the way to the base/At the base
As they walk Romulus kept an eye out for possible snipers. Once at the base and Aaron talked to the pirates Romulus scanned the area for possible snipers as well. He noted the dark skinned human and the ermine. He then went over to the robot soldier.
"Did you lose any of your men?"

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Once Nova handed out sandwiches for the crew and wounded, she helps Cynthia with preparation for the outside trauma center.  She starts taking the first loaded cart out to the ship's ramp and then outside.  She stops in a likely area off to one of the side the ship, away from the pirates and the others.

"Mother, Can I have a robot or two to help with the these tents?" Calls Mother over her com/radio unit.  The catgirl looks over at the new vixen, wondering if she is the Techmage, as she waits for some help....

*** maybe this little red button on this tent bundle will do the trick....Goddess it is heavy. I wish I had the instructions somewhere*** 

PBH

   

[Azlan]

Negotiation location


The human's thoughts: Okay how do I deceive this fox major?   Then again, should I lunge for the male or the delicate fox female as a hostage with my vibro-knife... Do I deal?  I have to come out ahead somehow.  Aaron get's the impression that he seems to think that there is some type of aid hidden in the surrounding rubble.

The ermine's thoughts: Okay, I grab the officer for a shield and hostage and my buddies open fire from the rubble.  The bots won't dare attack me with him as hostage, then I can deal on my terms.

Ana smiled a bit, "yes we can talk about why I am here later.  Right now..."  She stepped out in front of Aaron just after he delivered his ultimatum, faced the tough looking ermine and punched him square in the jaw with her bad arm.  As equally surprised as anyone present at this rather forward approach, the ermine hit the ground, not moving.  Turning her full gaze towards the human, she issued him a sinister smile full of sharp little fox teeth, "unconditional, all weapons and comm gear like the major said.  Any questions?"

Human's thoughts: Shit!  Okay, I'm going to stick the bitch next chance I get.

The human shook his head rapidly declining the option for questions, "no ma'am... sounds fair!  I'll just work that out with the major if you don't mind..."  

Human's thoughts, just gotta get close to him and grab him, looks like a wimp.

"Knock yourself out."  She stated offhandedly.  Ow, that hurt... that musti had an iron jaw... ouch, wrong arm.  Okay Acadian boy, they are all yours.  She thought towards Aaron, she did not have telepathy, but she seemed to know how to project thoughts for someone who did to pick up easier.

Stealing a gaze at the ermine, "I'd rather not..."  He turned to Aaron, "your terms sound fair... would you perhaps be so kind as to maybe help with our injured?  I would also like to know what you intend to do with us.  Our associates will eventually come looking for us."

The human moved closer to Aaron, flexing his muscles just a bit.  His thoughts: just a little closer...

Romulus's searching does not detect any obvious snipers, but the debris and rubble would be a good spot for a crossfire ambush.  The robot rotates its head to regard Romulus, "Negative, all units are functional.  Some sustained minor damage, nothing that will prevent any continued functioning."




Knight's Mindscape


Saioko's expression quickly deteriorated as she hugged Knight close, "I was so worried, when you were reported as hurt... no, when you were hurt, the thought of losing you was so strong... of being alone.  I was scared... I am just not used to this."  The panther female settled in his lap and nuzzled her head against him, "tell me Eric, does this feeling ever get better or lessen when someone you care for goes out to fight?"




Medical area outside Mother


Loki follows a little after Nova, still munching on a sandwich, "so why do they call these sandwiches?  Were they created by Desert Sorceresses in ancient days?  Oh Nova, just lay that flat and press the button, it will deploy on its own."

Others begin to setup the tents and deploy portable cots, while Cynthia begins preparation on the grim part of the upcoming medical detail... printing the triage tags.  Each color coated: green for those that can wait, yellow for those that can be delayed treatment for up to six hours, red for those requiring immediate treatment or they will not survive, and black for those that are deceased or can not be saved.

[Lushin]

Negotiation location
Romulus smiled abit when Ana punched the ermine out.
"Yep so gonna ask her to marry me"
Romulus eyed the human abit then looked to the bot as it spoke.
"That's good. Keep an eye on the rubble and debris. Looks like a good places to plan an ambush'
Romulus leveled his rifle at the human as he moved towards Aaron. He puts his sights on the human's head.
"Hey now we're not friends yet. No need to get close"

[ShadesFox]

Aaron sends a message to Romulus, good catch there.  I'm picking at his thoughts right now and he wants to take me hostage and stab Ana.

Aaron talks to the pirate human, "Yes, keeping your distance is wise. I do bite. There will be medical support, that is being arranged right now. Your men hiding in the rubble in a poor attempt to ambush us will need to come out quietly, otherwise my mechanical friends will flush them out, and they are not the gentle sort. If you cooporate then no further harm will come to you and your men.  We'll keep you in the area for a while, then let you go when we leave."

[Azlan]

Negotiation location


The human took a step back at Aaron's statement, his thoughts racing, what the hell?  How could he know... what is he reading my mind?  Okay change of plans, I'll use the female...

Holding up his hands, the human put on a plastic smile, "hey now, let's not be hasty here.  I'd never be planning such a thing..."  Slowly he backed away from Aaron and to the side, towards Ana.

Quickly he made his move, attempting to move around behind the vixen and hold his nasty looking vibro-shiv to her neck.  However, Ana had already noticed this move and had signaled to Romulus to hold.  She deftly grabbed his wrist and gave it a savage twist, producing a wet cracking sound.  Howling in pain, the man dropped to his knees losing grip on his weapon.  Keeping her injured arm out of the conflict, she tossed his arm aside, and applied her foot to his head sending the human tumbling to a heap where he lay still.

The vixen shrugged to Aaron and mouthed a "sorry", then turning, she faced the rubble, "anyone else want to negotiate?"

Within a few moments, rifle after blaster was tossed out into the clearing and the assembled ambushers all climbed down into view.

[ShadesFox]

Negotiations

Aaron walked over to observe as the pirates surrendered their arms and shrugged back at Ana, Meh, you gave him what he earned.  Though you may be amused to know that he pegged you as a 'delicate fox female'.  Though speaking of injury, if you need medical treatment Cynthia should have a shop setup at the ship by now, she can patch you up.  Let me know if you would like help with anything.

Next, Aaron formulated a plan for how the rest of this goes.  The bots are probably poor at triage, so they would manage the prisoners, get the more sophisticated intelligences on immediate triage.  Hopefully triage does not take long, the clock is now operating in terms of Matron time.  Though he wants to help Ana recover whoever she was here for, she has been an enormous help and he owes it to her.

When the ambushers were all assembled Aaron told them, "Okay, your comm kit too.  Next, tell me the location of the injured you all know of and we'll get to them with medical treatment."

Aaron then turned to Romulus, "If Ana wishes to get medical treatment then you should escort her to the ship.  Just don't elope with her on me."

[Lushin]

Negotiation location
Romulus was applying pressure to the trigger of his rifle when he noticed Ana's signal to hold. He let up the pressure on the trigger but was still ready to fire.
"I think I'm in love"
He then looked to the bots when the rifles and blasters where thrown down.
"Could you round up the weapons and get the bodies belonging to those weapons out in the open please? If you come across any problems from people. Kill them"
Romulus made sure to say that last bit loudly so if anyone was thinking of trying anything they would know what was awaiting them. He then looked over at Aaron. He also kept his rifle leveled at the floored human.
"So I think negotiations are going well, don't you?"

Romulus looked to Aaron after he spoke to him.
"Alright. No promise on alopeing though"
Romulus then looked to Ana and raised his arm to gesture towards the ship.
"If you are in need of aid then allowed me to escort you"

[Lisky]

The Mindscape

The young lieutenant smiled as he fell into a state of snuggley bliss.  He rested his chin lightly on her head as she clung to him, and whispered, "it doesn't get easier, never does.  We just learn to cope with it better the more we experience it..."

He kissed her softly on the top of the head, continuing in a soft, gentle tone, "It's only natural to worry about those we care about, and i'm terribly sorry about the worry i caused you. I would never do anything that would hurt you on purpose."

He moved a hand up to her shoulder, holding her tighter, and saying in a near whisper, "Feeling a little better now?"

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Loki, Should I be carefull about 'red' buttons?" asks the catgirl  but she pushes the tent button and the other tent unit she brought out.  " And Sandwiches is name after their inventor, some horse.  The Earl of Sandwick or something like that." 

Nova watches the "negotiations" in shock.   

"Cynthia it seem the wounded will be coming soon... ", she says  to Cynthia as she goes to back tp helping the medical vixen. She connects and energizes all the medical equipment. 

PBH

 

[Azlan]

Negotiations


The security robot acknowledged Romulus's and Aaron's instructions, "Acknowledged.  Re-calibrating threat assessments to include dangers to non-ascended Acadians and ISF personnel as a priority over security AIs.  minor threats detected, pacifying."

The security robots fanned out and 'dealt' with a number of rogue elements possessing minor weaponry.  No lasting injuries were received.

The assembled pirates quickly divorced themselves of any communications gear from personal mobile units to field tactical gear.

Ana gave Aaron an evil looking smile, "delicate fox female?  Oh yes, so very much so.  I shall get this patched, thanks."  Turning to Romulus she places her hands on her hips and smiled, "after you."

With Romulus 'leading' the spicy vixen, they made their way to the medical area.  Ana was the first person to be brought in for a medical evaluation.  Though being an ally and the fact that there were no immediate other cases needing assistance, she would receive immediate medical care.

Cynthia regarded the navy blue vixen, "ah the technomage I've been hearing about.  What can I do for you?"

Ana scoffed the ground with the front of a boot and spoke nonchalantly, "a small graze on my arm..."

Cynthia, a skeptic of self-evaluations, nodded a bit, "well take off your coat and let's have a look."

The vixen acknowledged and carefully removed her 'leather' long-coat.  It revealed a very nasty, deep injury that began to bleed profusely now that the coat material that was stuck to the injury had been removed.  The navy blue fur was quite slick with sticky blood.  Cynthia narrowed her eyes at the 'graze' and then leveled that look at Ana, "if that's a graze, I'd hate to think what you consider serious."

Ana nodded slowly, "It feels much worse now that the constant adrenaline of action is wearing down."

Cynthia nodded and touched the vixen's forehead, Ana's eyes grew a bit distant and then closed.  Cynthia scooped her up before she collapsed on the ground, "don't worry Romulus, it's best if she rests, probably in a lot of pain and I'll need to do quite a bit of work on that arm.  I'm taking her to medical, come along if you wish."

The purple medical vixen turned and headed back into the ship, to medical where she placed Ana in one of the medical units and began fast work to clean, repair and set the injury.  The cellular regenerators aided considerably, but could only aid to a point because of a number of unknown factors present in her body and cellular makeup down to almost a genetic level.

Once finished, she allowed the systems to take over and Cynthia returned to the medical area outside.


Meanwhile, as Aaron was overseeing the assembled pirates, Ben approached with a few of the medically trained members of both his and Romulus's units, "major.  In order to organize the assistance we can best offer the prisoners, we were going to organize them under the guidance of one of their own with first aid or better treatment to gather those among them that need assistance.  They will use stretchers and bring them to our triage area where our people can assist.  I didn't want to spread our people out with them as I find it hard to trust this lot."

With Ben and the other special forces, they obtain their volunteers and organize teams to assist the wounded.  Each team is issued a number of compact ISF style portable stretchers and remote beacons to flag patients or areas for critical assistance or rescue crews to assist.  The teams head off and the special forces return to standby at the triage center.


At the medical assembly area, Nova stands by awaiting the call to aid.  The human and the ermine from the negotiations fiasco are placed in a low-priority area and bandaged up as needed, but there is nothing seriously wrong with them.  Both are guarded by a security robot.

Loki waits as well, pondering earls of Sandwick and Nova's involvement with big red buttons.



The Mindscape


The cat sighs and nuzzles closer.  A very feline thing to do when one needs comfort.  

"A little.  Perhaps I could ease your mind a bit while we are here."  Her chosen method is a very sensual one, yet calming and soothing.  I will leave the details to one's imagination.

[Lushin]

Outside Mother
Romulus looks around abit and then nods his head.
"Alright looks like everything is set out here. I'll come watch after Ana. Maybe find out what she was paid to come here for"
Romulus headed in after Cynthia.

[ShadesFox]

Around

Aaron was overseeing the pirates and triage when he was jumped from behind, though not hard enough to knock him over, "oof"
Heyas Ixiah.
Heyas Aaron.
So, have fun playing mighty warrior?
Yea... well... at least at the part where you took out that guy with the machine pistol.

Ixiah was being evasive about what happened when he went into the tower and saw the team beat up.  Aaron knew better then to dig into that.

Still, I must say I'm curious.  You and Loki seemed to do something to synchronize during the fighting.  And during Richard's group hug.  What was with that?

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Loki gets a hug from Nova, and then helps with the prisoners.  After while she realizes that her help isn't really needed here.  So she goes to Loki and says " We need to talk "   

She heads back in the Ship, and to her stateroom.   She sitting on her bed. she waits for Loki with Mara's crystal in her paw

PBH

[Azlan]

Pirate Base wrap up


The surrender of the remaining pirate forces marks an end to hostilities at this base.  With directed action from Ben and Romulus's remaining members, the pirates collect and transport injured for treatment at Cynthia's field medical center.  The pirates suffer about forty dead, most of who were killed in the barracks destruction and twenty wounded personnel that could be treated.  The wounded were eventually located to the largest hanger on the airfield, after it is cleared of equipment of course, with their own medical personnel and supplies for recovery.  

The remaining thirty pirates who were healthy or suffered very minor injury were sequestered into the smaller hanger with bedrolls, their mess equipment, and lavatory facilities.  Both structures were secured by a wide area security energy field to allow all personnel access to both hangers, but keeping them from leaving or attempting hostile action.  A detail of security bots was stationed on guard.

A majority of the pirate equipment was destroyed.  Only four hover transports, two jumpjets, one large jet transport and three helicopters remained.  Over one hundred pieces of small arms, melee weaponry and heavy weapons were recovered, and all of it is old or of generic quality.  The only two items of note are a pair of gauss rifles of unknown manufacturing.  One of these weapons is kept by Donovan "Wall" Grant.  Alexis scoffs at the "primitive design", so it is unlikely that these are from an advanced race.    

The fox kits continue to be evasive about talking about the team injuries or the horrible state of some of the pirate casualties brought in.  The only response to the synching that Aaron asked of Ixiah was an innocent smile, gods that can be annoying.

The general busyness of the aid given to the pirates, and the control of those healthy enough to still be dangerous insures that Nova does not get her little talk with Loki.  Not because Loki is kept busy, but because Cynthia tracks the catgirl down and puts her back on the medical detail.  This is accompanied by a lot of laughter from Loki.

Ten hours has passed since cessation of combat activities.  The orbit of the planet passes observation by the Fourth planet without any noticeable spike in activity there or at the main pirate base on the other side of the planet.  Mother remains at the base's landing field.

Both Cyndi and the tigress Jeanne remain in intensive care; due to the tigress condition and her own pleas to be liberated from the pirates, she is kept on Mother.  Rino is in good shape, but her ribs still need to heal and Jaice is fine, completely healed by the time to move on to Matron.  Knight makes a rather fast recovery, much better than expected and is allowed to do light duty.  Cynthia suspects strange work at play here, but can't pin anything down.

Ana is out of the medical ward as soon as she wakes back up.  Her vulpine heritage fairly well established in the medical systems.  Her first priority is to speak with Aaron regarding the business she had that got interrupted.  The other mercenary pilot, Dex Kaluhiwa, eventually shows up to check on his vixen boss.

Ana waits with Dex in the ship's lounge as the team completes the debriefing with the command staff.  Everyone except for Cyndi (and the pirate Jeanne of course) is present.  The security robots are not present, though Alexis seems able to speak for them.



Back in realtime


Ben puts down his datapad, "and that is pretty much how it went down right before Ms. Tescrae... demolished the ground floor of the tower."



Somewhere in deep space


Disconnecting from the stripped hull, the battleship uses maneuvering thrusters to rejoin its pirate task force.  The returning cruisers show a bit of minor armor damage from a brief engagement with a few Corporate patrol ships.

The ships maneuver slowly to a safe jump distance and in a flash, depart for safer territories.

Mere minutes later, a Corporate Sector battle fleet arrives.  Auxiliary cruisers, escort carriers, and old military warships converted for civilian use, maneuver in well trained and discipline fashion.  All their gun ports are open and weapons charged, however it is for naught.  The pirate's trail is difficult to track, but they jump in pursuit anyways.

[Lisky]

On-Board Mother

It had been a strange couple of hours since getting shot for the spotted feline.  He'd had an exceedingly real dream, which, given the way it had been altered from figuring out what went wrong, to cuddling Saioko, he suspected she had actually actively been there.  Something to talk about later...  Then, finding his shoulder feeling fine, and besides  a slightly stiff feeling, completely workable, as if nothing had happened.  Unnerving, but hardly unprecedented given ISIS's technology on the Coldfire.

After doing a quick check on everyone else, he'd gone to figure out where he could be helpful... not much happened given his light-work stats for the moment.  He took the time to write a quick report on the mission from his perspective,  and now found himself at the tail-end of the current debriefing, with everyone beside the critical patients included.  Eric listened intently, still debating if there was anything at all he could have done differently to minimize the injuries that had taken place... it had been a combination of good fortune, good equipment and good training that had prevented anyone from being killed, and Knight couldn't help but feel responsible for how thing had went down so wrongly... and despite how bad the mission had gone, it was a complete success on paper... no one was permanently injured, and every objective had been completed.

He watched as Ben finished up, and observed those around him for cues... His report was filed, so, if nothing else, he had his official record out for anyone (with proper clearance) to read.

[ShadesFox]

Aaron was rubbing the sides of his head.  He wasn't sure if this headache of his was from, though he suspected a mix of the realization of just how much a difference 2 seconds makes (his random estimate of how long it took Ana to level the floor) and him throwing around psychic powers before he had a complete handle on all the ins and outs.

"Right, after that we were all pretty involved, I took a team out to secure the down group, and Romulus made contact with Ana.  That contact seems to have gone well.  Perhaps we can form good ties with the TL though this.  I'm hoping to wrap this debriefing up soon so I can talk with her.  We also need to go to the Matron soon.  That is the original point of this expedition and we can't afford to get side tracked."

Though speaking of Aaron and the others getting involved, he was going to cut a strand of Richard and Marissa's for coming along with him.  He didn't want to just quickly shoo them off like they were a burden, but he didn't want to force them to stay.  Though he would be very glad if they choose to stay with him.

[Azlan]

Alexis submitted her portion of the report for the security robots used in the assault, "the robots operated exceptionally well in regards to the combat drop and overland mobility.  Transformable frames showed themselves to be a very important asset.  However, their combat performance was average.  This is due in large part to a flaw in the threat analysis programming.  More precisely it should be considered an oversight on our part, because the weaponry and combat capabilities for a vast majority of the hostile pirate forces were so drastically inferior to Acadian tech levels that they could not accurately assess the enemies.  I should have been rating the threat based on the special forces capabilities against their weapons.  The error allowed them far more staying power than they should have had and enable the pirates to perform ambushes of your personnel.  For this I am sorry.  As for the prisoner status, you will see the report regarding their internment and the medical reports.  All small arms and weaponry have been collected, sorted and disposed of.  Romulus and Ben sifted through the collected arms and secured anything worth keeping, as well as all usable ammunition and other ordnance."

Changing the views on the holographic display, she brought up the display of Matron's site, "now that the combat has been concluded, we can address the primary objective... Matron.  Nova possesses the only current link to Matron, and could be considered... 'compromised' by the connection.  I do not want to seem alarmist, but we still cannot be one hundred percent that Matron is benevolent.  We will need to proceed with caution.  It should also be mentioned that the technomage, Ana, has a request to make regarding her rescue mission.  We will need to consider this, as contact with Matron could begin to escalate things here very quickly.  Pirate forces may become active, making whatever mission she is undertaking more difficult or impossible to accomplish.  We should hear her out before we move on Matron's position."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"But I am AN Engineer, Not a Doctor..." complains Nova as She is dragged out to the medical tents.and see a smile/giggling Loki.  She was going to go yell that smirk off his face, when Cynthia got her doing basic first aid to the minor wounded pirates, and other mundane chorus around the medical tents.  The purple fox was always finding something else for you to do just as she finished each task...  Only after the last patient was treated, Nova was now able to stop.  She collapses into a chair, exhausted...

PBH  

[ShadesFox]

The report about prisoners and medical was probably going to be another of those reports that he was going to skip reading.  From what he's seen there hasn't been any breaches of law or ethics.

The next problem he for sees is approaching Matron.  He has 3 sources of information, while not all contradictory not all of it meshed properly.  Mom said that he needed to reach Xaos and Gaea, Nova wants to reach them too, Mother regards them as possibly evil rogues.   Aaron needed things to go smoothly there, but there was much to consider.  There was a huge helping of issues such as who to take on the first Matron trip and who to leave behind.  Especially big question marks surround Saioko, especially if Mother's suspicions on her true nature were correct.  He might just say forget the whole thing and drag EVERYONE along.  Aaron was beginning to pine for the days when his big problems revolved around protein paths.

"Very well then.  If there is nothing else to add, I'll talk with Ana.  Tell me when we can move to the Matron site.  If there is nothing else you are all dismissed."

Aaron gets up and after the formalities he walks out to the lounge.  There was Ana, he recognized her, but not her friend.  The trouble maker who swiped a pirate plane he guessed.  

"Ana, good to see you up and well.  Lovely bits of medical tech they have on this ship.  So, what did you wish to speak with me about?"

[Lushin]

Out near Mother
After the meeting Romulus headed out to test fire some of the weapons taken from the pirates. He took out several targets and set them up a few hundred yards from where the pirates where being held. Romulus let anyone of the crew he saw know what he was doing. He set up at least a hundred yards away from targets with each gun and would move back until he found the max firing range of each gun he tried.

[Lisky]

As the meeting adjourned, Knight saluted and left, he headed for his quarters.  Despite being more or less entirely recovered, he was still feeling somewhat less than ideal, and although he'd spent much of his time in the medical ward sleeping, he still felt tired. The spotted feline had the intent of taking a nap before anything serious cropped up in the next few hours.

[Azlan]

Nova's quarters after meeting


The still exhausted Nova had returned to her quarters, but was unknowingly followed by a certain mischievous lime colored vulpine.

The decision that she needed an elevated level of adrenaline was made and she was tackled before she could make it to her chair.  Finding herself face down on the bed, her assailant repositioned himself next to her.

"You seem rather tired Nova.  You didn't have anything to say during the briefing, nor anything to add about Matron.  So I want to talk about it.  What should we be doing and what should we expect?"



Lounge


"Yes quite lovely, it's as good as new... a little stiff and sore, but pretty much fixed.  Your doctor is very persuasive; when she says rest... you do it, no questions or argument.  Thank you by the way."  The blue vixen stood and leveled her gaze at Aaron, "unfortunately your little operation here has just shot my chances of negotiating the release of our friend."

She gestured with her right hand in the general direction of the pirate compound, "an old acquaintance of mine happens to be an officer for the pirates.  He was the real boss at this base.  Your team killed him, but it couldn't be helped, he was a vicious bastard... now, I've been seen helping you guys out and any chance of negotiation and ransom is out of the question.  He's being held at the main facility on the other side of the planet.  We are both working on a limited timeframe.  Once the main fleet returns, both our operations will likely be very difficult.  Mine will be impossible, but given this level of technology, yours will likely just be a bit inconvenient."

She paused, looking a little uneasy, finally she continued, "I know I caused a great deal of the trouble you experienced on this operation, but I need to ask your help in rescuing my friend.  I have a plan, and I think I can work with what we got."



Out near Mother


Ben had followed Romulus out and watched as Romulus fired the weapons, "intimidating our captives a bit?"  The canine laughed a bit and set about examining some of the weapons.  "There's not much here we can salvage, or find useful... unless you collect out-dated weapons."

Romulus found something interesting among the weapons, a plasma pistol.  It was a model fairly comparable to the one found in ISF use, but it was heavily modified for yield and stability of the plasma bolt.  It likely did more damage and had an improved range, but its capacity was a bit less.



Knight and Saioko's room


Knight was just about to sit down on his bed when the snow cat was unexpectedly pounced by a certain pinked haired panther female.

"You look so down Eric.  I can tell you are still thinking about the mission.  Everyone made it out and we accomplished our goals.  There were some serious injuries, including yourself, but medical attention has saved their lives.  You need to stop beating yourself up over this... too man curve balls were thrown at once.  There is no way we could have planned for an enhanced cyborg, or a technomage on a separate op.  The teams performed well, especially the inexperienced ones.   From what I've been told, Ben's entire team was fresh recruits from unwilling pirates no less.  So... study the mission and learn what was right and what was wrong, but don't beat yourself up too much."

The feline nuzzled his chest and embraced him in a hug of reassurance... +5.

[ShadesFox]

Lounge

"Hopefully a quick operation.  With how my luck has been going the main pirate fleet will bring more trouble then anticipated."

Aaron was a bit reluctant, he wanted to get to Matron quickly.  But he did screw over her operation, he owed her what ever help he could provide.

"So, what is your plan?  Being quick and discrete is going to be important.  I'm afraid that if we make too much noise that will hurt the amount of time we have, and a swift plan will benefit us both."

[Lushin]

Out near Mother
"If I was trying to intimidating them I would be firing at them"
Romulus looked over at Ben as he fired each weapon.
"If it fires and hits what I'm aiming at I'd say it has a use"
He smiled as he fired the pistol and tossed it to Ben.
"I'd say that should work for you"

[Lisky]

Knight and Saioko's Quarters

Sitting down, Knight hadn't heard footsteps behind him, nor had he heard her sneak in behind him.  Suffice to say, being pounced unexpectedly sent the spotted feline's pulse through the roof, puffed his tail, and sent his fur on end.  His emotional state in those few seconds went from melancholy, to sheer terror, and, once things calmed down, something more akin to a state of mild bliss. As much as he could try and rationalize it himself, hearing someone else say those words was infinitely more reassuring then thinking them to himself.

He smiled as she held him, the bodily contact helped more than one might expect.  He snuggled up to her and whispered a barely audible "thank you".

Laying down, he wrapped an arm around her waist and asked, "ya know, earlier, i had a really vivid dream while my shoulder was getting patched.  You were in it, and i'm curious, can you actively project yourself into my dreams like that? or was it just a side effect of being hyper aware after being shot?"

He paused, noticing something, felt... different... His train of thought derailed as he began focus on the strange sensation... It was almost as if he could feel the pink haired patheress at a level he'd never felt before... A quirked eyebrow would tell that he'd suddenly found something that absolutely intrigued him.  Furthermore, the depression-like haze of earlier had lifted, making Eric feel considerably better, as well as somewhat energetic.  "Did you... i dunno... unlock, some latent telepathic ability in me?... I just had the strangest sensation just now... and i can't quite explain it with words... it feels, well, like i can feel you..."  propping himself up on the hand, not wrapped around Saioko, he curled the rest of his body around her, while keeping his bright blue eyes focused on her face. He continued, "not like a sense of touch, but, in a way i've never experienced before."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Nova's Stateroom

Nova's closed her eyes and sighed,  She remembers the wonderful times she had with Gaea, but Matron was just a present mother figure or servant in the background most of the time to the six year old little kitten.  Nova, the adult, watches her little kitten self and her fairy fox friends playing in her memories.  Nova realizes that her memories are colored by the trusting soul of her six year old self. Goddess Why do I have doubts?  

"I don't know, Loki." she admits, " Matron is like Mother in so many ways.  She will protect her Foxes, from anything she can.  Caution and slow step may be the wisest course.  They are my friends, and they will not hurt me.  Somehow, I know that to be true.  I can't tell you how I know." 

Nova pulls her legs to chest and hides her face.   

PBH

[Azlan]

Lounge


"In actuality, it is quite simple... which means it is bound to go drastically wrong at critical points.  It is all I've got though."  She grinned a bit sheepishly at her cynical assessment, "I'll need a pirate air transport, a squad of your specfors, or whomever you can spare, and the use of a known and cooperative pirate officer.  The only one who is ranked high enough is probably the one you have in your medical area.  She's known to fly back and forth between installations as a kind of courier for important information.  I don't know if she is trustworthy, but her circumstances make her the most likely to be cooperative unlike the other prisoners."

She took a moment and looked over towards Dex before continuing, "I can be transported over, under 'pirate' guard to inspect the health of the prisoner before I make a decision on the ransom barter.  This gives me an opportunity to reach the facility, break him out and we leave quickly.  We dress up a couple of your people as pirates, Dex will fly the plane, with someone as a co-pilot, and we walk right in as if we belong there.  I'd suggest that Knight fellow and Romulus, plus three others... if you could loan me a psychic with good mental influencing abilities that would be perfect."

The navy blue vixen dropped her gaze to the floor as her ears drooped to the side, gah, I'm asking way too much... I feel guilty imposing, but if I don't do something soon... they'll execute...  She shook her head and looked up again, "I'm sorry to ask so much, but I really have little choice."



Out near Mother


Ben nodded and examined the gun he was handed, "you know, they say a poor gun in the hands of a good shooter is better than a good gun in the hands of a poor shooter..."

The canine took aim with the pistol and put several bolts of hot plasma through the primary kill zones of the target he was aiming for, "but a good gun in the hands of a good shooter is even better.  You mind if I keep this?"

Ben examined the pile of weapons and tossed Romulus the largest barreled slugthrower he had seen in a long time, "try this cannon out for size.  Our armed forces stopped using weapons with this kind of caliber when mecha and energy weapons became cheap to mass produce.  Thought you might enjoy 20mm high explosive rounds."



Knight and Saioko's Quarters


"You're welcome Eric."  Saioko smiled as Knight's arm wrapped around her, but she stiffened a little at his question.  Saioko's cheeks flushed a bright color of red as she stammered a bit, "I... I was in your dreams, yes... and in it we shared... something.  I placed a number of nanites inside you when we first met, in case you got hurt I could use them to heal you... once I fully understood anatomy.  I was so worried that I took a risk and entered your consciousness fully to help console you and make sure you stayed with us.  I overreacted a bit and now the connection is kind of stuck open.  I'm pretty sure I can conceal it, but we shouldn't use it too often."



Nova's Stateroom


Loki smiled sweetly at the cat girl and chuckled, "well, I am a bit of a rogue myself... but I'm no Alpha.  If you trust them then I guess I do too.  We just have to worry about Mother, and Ixiah.  Ix is probably going to try and be open minded, but if Mother thinks things are beyond our control or too dangerous, then she can override my control and act as she sees best.  She is my guardian and all."

The young fox looked away from Nova for a moment, seemingly hesitating, "just promise me you will be careful and think with your mind, don't let your emotions overcome you."