Futuristic [IC] Sail the Stars : Mission Log

[Jackson123]

Sigrun
Essex’s Navigator​

The soothing music of Schubert filled the luxurious Third Officer cabin as Sigrun was performing a field strip on her Luger P08 when she received the captain’s message informing her of the plan. She was putting the gun back together on the oak table——crafted from natural oak originated on Earth. In this day and age where it’s officially forbidden by U-Gov for spacecraft to even get close to human’s home planet, such furniture are extremely rare and expensive. This table alone would worth enough for a family to live a decent live for a year in a standard exoplanet colony, or even half a decade on one of the O’Neill cylinder space settlement. Furniture like this decorated this entire Third Officer cabin.

"Die höchste Kunst des Krieges ist, den Feind ohne Kampf zu unterwerfen,”

Sigrun murmured as she was putting the breech block back inside the slide of the gun. She then got the coupling link in place and complete attachment of the slide to the frame, she turn the gun upside down to ensure that the coupling link falls into the proper place on the frame. The jointed arm slide action moves smoothly and gives a satisfying click when she checked the mechanism.

This gun is old, but reliable. Deutsche Qualität, Sigrun thought proudly. This Luger was with her family since...a long time ago. It was with her ancestor when he crawled through the mud and blood on the field of Passchendaele, faced the first tank assault in human history on the bank of River Somme, and led the charge against the entrenched machine-gun fires in Verdun. It witnessed the Blitzkrieg invasion of Poland, and it was there during the formation of Panzerdivision Müncheberg, with what left of the Panzers, men few in numbers until there were no more troops and the tanks down to their last one Tiger defending Brandenburg Gate...

And now, it’s 1200 lightyears away from Earth. This gun had seen it all. Sigrun felt the cold steel frame of the pistol, these steel are almost thousands of years old, but given proper maintenance and oil lubricant, it will shoot and kill whatever space creature you point it at the same way it had killed communists in Stalingrad eons ago.

Sigrun put the magazine back into the gun and put it back into the holster. She remembers the captain wants them to dress in Starfleet uniform. She believes she still had her old uniform somewhere in the walk-in wardrobe.

“Honey, how long would it take for you to bring me those Weissbier?” Sigrun said, displeased that the robot had failed to perform such a simple task. Perhaps this is one of the reason why it was sold at such a low price.

interaction: milo-ren

 

[Vagabond Spectre]

Sarah Mackenzie

The hullabaloo going on different parts of the ship was only background noise to the blonde. Again, a type of environment she got used to after working for a while. She can only let out a sigh as she can hear her fellow bridge crew members mutter into her ears. Her focused remained on either the instrument panels or the thick layered windshield as it shows the stars and Kepler-62 shining bright with all of its Planets. 62F was her home but it felt lonely ever since the las of her relatives are now gone. This emotions were immediately suppressed as she kept it blank as her face.

The pilot was instructed new directions which she followed without question. Her visor looks into the updated ECDIS in only a couple of seconds before returning to the main screen. Her usual mechanical movements were noticeable during the declaration process. Pulling the thrusters back to the ideal 20% as instructed. It was only a trip around the sun anyway. Still need to be little careful when flying close to such stars. The Kepler star was a little more cooler than earth’s but she could not confirm such comparison. There was a story preserved from earth about flying to close to the sun which she cannot remember as it passed through her head back in the old days of pilot college.

Sarah’s sense of time is almost inconsistent in space as moments can feel like eternities or miliseconds but that is because she can hardly almost care anything outside the job but 3 hours doesn’t feel long for her. Especially when Essex feels more like a school bus or a RV van rather than a corvette ship. Both officers left to their respective cabins to get their drinks to which Sarah didn’t mind as she understood the reason. This not the first time it happened.

Now that she is alone on the bridge she can only hope that no non-flight member staff comes in out of nowhere for a small chat that is insignificant to the mission. Alanus was one of her worries as the huge man has a habit of doing this.

(A small pre-interaction can be done here at the moment)

“Captain, we are here.”

Destination reached. The ship AI Inaros announced after her. Halting the ship to remain afloat into the vacuum of space. The pilot sat and stared into the stars searching for a flying targeted object sitting around. Unfortunately not available to the naked eye. She had a mild expression of annoyance behind the helmet’s visor.

Looking back to the captain whom reentered the bridge to announce his brilliant execution to the mission. Despite the helmet covering her face, the captain can tell she has a skeptic expression on her face. She can totally tell what is happening despite of Ray just saying to get changed. Simply nodding before standing up to head to her wardrobe for a little cosplay party.

“Memorized your script, captain?”

Returing only a few minutes later. Sarah was no longer in her usual space suit where she looks larger than she should be, she blends well with the captain’s uniform exception for a abit of discoloration as it appears to be a bit lighter than it’s original hue.

“I hope this works the way you want it. Inaros, is do you still have contact with the ship while i was gone?”

Returning to the Usual spot to see any updates.

SpazTheButcher Jackson123 RandomBlobMan

 

[milo-ren]

“Um, it’ll only be a few weeks, Ma’am!” Honey responded looking around for whatever comm she was speaking to. At this point she was busy rushing around, covered in egg and flour preparing dinner. The kitchen came so naturally to her, she had already made herself at home.

Unable to find any Weissbier in any of the refrigeration, Honey had to resort to making it herself. She had already finished the brewing processes and now had to wait for the fermentation process in her gerryrigged device since the ship seemed to lack the particular tools.

Honey was completely distracted from her last interaction with the android Arisu, but at the time she was completely thrown threw a loop. When she first met Arisu, distinguishing she was not human, when her voice was distorted (Honey could only think to call it when Arisu was angry), she was comprehensible. She knew Arisu didn’t have secrets or ulterior motives. But when Arisu was happy- when Arisu sounded like a girl, that is- her behavior confused Honey almost like a human would. Perhaps it was just the difference in their level of technology.

interaction: Jackson123 Clan Ize
Location: galley

 

[Clan Ize]

Arisu Ize​

The soft hum of a virboblade filled her room quietly as it implanted itself into a target she had set up in the wall, it's silver blade slowly eating away at it and slowly sinking into it. As she pulled it back out of the wall she felt the satisfying muffled vibrations of the knife in her hand, efficiently she switched it off and tossed it onto the bed in a fluent motion. As she sat back down on the bed she glanced over at her AK which she had just finished polishing and happened to be also on her bed, it's body gleaming in the light. Next to it her pistol which had also been polished and had maintenance done on it. As she sat on her bed she pulled out the cold metal cylinder that was Honey's key, Honey should've been much more careful with it but what would she know. She was just like a little puppy, so confused and simple. There were so many possibilities and tactical advantages that could come from it and so much fun that could be had. Quickly she glanced around as a natural impulse though she knew there was no one there already, did she really want to do this? Honey seemed nice a- of course she did. As she held Honey's key in the palm of her hand she injected some malware into it, nothing harmful for now but set so that it would embed itself in Honey's source code and allow her full access to her systems should it be needed. Along with that she took proper precautions to make sure no one including Honey would be able to find it or remove it, a virus wasn't any good if people knew it was there. And if they did try to trace it all it would do is direct them to the Clairvoyance Cataclysm HQ. Satisfied with her work Arisu took the Key in hand and walked to the Galley, when she walked in she saw what looked like Honey making beer. Why would Honey need beer if there was some in the food storage? That wasn't any of her concern though. Casually she walked through the doorway and up to Honey, silently sliding her Key into her port while she wasn't looking.

"Hi Honey! Why do you look distracted?"

Once again her voice sounded like a girls voice

Interactions: milo-ren
Location: Galley

 

[RandomBlobMan]

Inaros activated the ship's close range scanner. A detection pulse swept the vicinity, Inaros itself going silent for the time being.The HUD for Sarah, Ray, and Sigrun showed a small screen of a circular radar on the corner, showing nothing around the center until a minute passed. A small red dot appeared not so far from the Essex. It seemed that they had stopped rather close to their target.
"Target is detected. Getting visuals on vessel now..."
Observation cameras rolled out, directing themselves toward the space pirates' ship. A few seconds later an image of a battered tourist-looking ship appeared on the bridge's screen. Externally it had no visible weapon.
"Their communications appear to be not encrypted. Comm link is yet to be established, but I can try without any risk of electronic counterattack. Orders?"

Interaction: Vagabond Spectre
MEntion: SpazTheButcher Jackson123

 

[SpazTheButcher]

Ray straightened his beret, cleared his throat, then said, "Hal, begin transmission." He looked sternly into the camera. "Attention enemies of STARCOM and Harassers of Keplar 62, this is Captain John Wayne of the UNS Early Warning, a Hermes-class Corvette part of the 3rd Colonial Marine Reconnaissance Battalion, and attached to the 7th Fleet. We have been ordered to force your surrender. Refusal to do so will result in the immediate response of the long arm of the 7th Fleet we are stationed with, designated Rainbow 7. Rainbow 7 is a Quick Response Fleet made up of 2 Battle Cruisers, 12 Destroyers, and an uncountable number of Corvettes and Frigates. If you do not surrender in the next 5 minutes, this QRF will be dispatched to the coordinates, which are surrounded on all sides by the 7th Fleet. This is all a part of Operation Sombrero, headed by General Thomas Cruise, in an attempt to quell pirate activity in the Keplar Systems. You now have 4 minutes and 30 seconds to surrender. HAL, end transmission." He then looked over to Sky and Sig, "How did I do?"

 

[milo-ren]

“Oh hello, Arisu. The food is not ready yet, but I did make some snacks if you wanted to try some.” Honey picked up a plate with a beautiful array of mushroom kebabs. She held it close to Arisu.

interaction: Clan Ize

 

[Clan Ize]

Arisu Ize​

When the key finished loading it's files into Honey Arisu was flooded with information which she quickly organized, this was a gem. Some of Clairvoyance Cataclysms most classified programs all at her disposal and all without Honey noticing a thing. Arisu made sure to watch Honey's systems for any suspicions but all that seemed to be going on for now was cooking and Arisu. A bit curious Arisu looked at what was going through Honeys head, she seemed confused about how she could change how she almost had humanlike emotions. In her head she smirked a little, that was what good technology could do. When Honey spoke Arisu looked at Honey, she was offering to feed her mushroom kebabs which was quite perplexing to her. Honey thought that she could eat? To be polite she shook her head a little and looked at Honey's face and body. She was certainly an interesting machine, a organic body powered by a A.I, that alone was very interesting. A bit curious Arisu touched Honey's cheek, it seemed soft but in reality was quite sturdy. Then she got an interesting idea

"Excuse me Honey, how much do you know about what you are and where you came from? Also what do you know about this?"

When she said the last part she pulled the Key back out of Honey's port and held it in front of her. Her voice still sounded like a girls. This would be very interesting to see Honey answer

Interactions: milo-ren
Location: Galley

 

[Verena]

It took Keiran a moment to realize Arisu was talking to him and was even pointing a gun at his back as her deep voice was entirely unrecognizable from her usual one. Before he could clear the misunderstanding though, Honey was already by her side and the weapon was lowered. Instead of wasting any more time or risking agitating the security bot further, he simply shook his head and reentered the cargo bay.

Despite witnessing the arthropod smashing the container on its way out, the Gehennian only now registered the mess this action had created. He muttered some curses under his breath, then started cleaning up the larger pieces of wood, gathering them up in a pile in the farthest corner of the storage. While walking back and forth, he also checked each and every container, tapping their sides with his tail and looking for unusual movement or sounds. If their supposed security bot wasn’t going to check them, then he might as well do her work in his free time.

Once he was done with this task, Keiran decided to finally pick a room and get settled in a bit more. He brought the basket with his things inside and took a seat on the edge of the bed with a sigh, knowing that this soft mattress wouldn’t last him very long. Humans with their soft bodies were naturally drawn to soft and fluffy things. Gehennians were quite the opposite. They usually slept either inside small rock cavities or on beds carved from a single stone block, curling up into a tight ball when it was time to nod off. It had taken him quite some time to get used to these human habits and despite spending so much time around them, the Gehennian still oftentimes experienced culture shock. He wondered if humans felt the same way when visiting his home planet.

Occupied with his thoughts, Keiran took out a mill file from his luggage and began sharpening the claws on his hands and feet, then proceeded to equip them, as well as his horns, with the titanium enhancements. The tight grip of the lightweight metal was uncomfortable at first but quickly subsided. Although these attachments didn’t significantly improve the lethality of his natural weapons, they certainly contributed to their robustness, allowing him to fight without ever worrying about breakage.

Keiran had just finished preparing for the approaching encounter with the pirate crew when the ship’s AI informed everyone that they had reached their destination. He readjusted the holsters of his pulse rifle and pistols, made sure that he was carrying enough ammo for all three, then left his room and went to the meeting point, just in time to hear their captain’s message to the pirate crew. Keiran furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes at Mr Person, uncertain if this was the best way to approach the situation.

The man had not only ruined their element of surprise but also spoke boldly of the sheer number of battleships, yet they were facing the enemy all alone without any backup in sight. He only hoped the pirates were stupid enough to believe him and surrender quickly. The Gehennian hoped equally that the captain wasn’t paying attention to his confused and disagreeing facial expression.

SpazTheButcher and whoever else is at the meeting point?

 

[milo-ren]

"Hmmmmm..." Honey processed the question and tilted her head to the left. "Hmmm..." She tilted her head to the right. "Hmmm..." She tilted her head to the left. "Hmmm..." She saw her port key dangling in front of her once again. She set the plate down and felt her cheek where Arisu had touched. Her hand traced through her hair to the back of her neck. Was Arisu doing something to her? It all felt familiar, but it all felt gentle. "I am having trouble understanding your intentions. Are you an android incapable of eating?"

interaction: Clan Ize

 

[Clan Ize]

Arisu Ize​

Arisu looked at Honey and traced the symbol on her neck with her hand lightly. Her soft skin feeling almost well worn but still in great condition. Then she gave Honey a boop on the nose and leaned against the counter, playing with the Key in her hands while she looked up at Honey. She seemed a bit suspicious that Arisu might've done something to her but not to a high degree but also confused why she was asking these questions. She let a soft chuckle come out as she watched Honey function, she was almost like a out of the box collectors item. It came out a while ago but still functioned fine. It was so fun to see Honey try and figure things out.

"Oh I'm just curious about you, it's quite rare to see one of you not scrapped or killed yet. I mean for a while using Aether iis for soldiers was very popular, something about getting all the benefits of a human soldier without any of the downsides, I even have some treasures from them if you want to see I guess. Well I mean it would give you some insight for what you're made of but it's your choice. Also no I cannot eat and now that I've answered your first question can you answer me what you know about this?"

She played with the key in her hands. Her voice still sounded like a girls


Interactions: milo-ren
Location: Galley

 

[Jackson123]

Sigrun​

"That sounds totally legit, Herr Kapitän." Sigrun replied. She wonder if the space pirates would actually fall for that. Those pirates certainly wouldn't be the sharpest knife in the drawer if they believed it. "I would suggest preparing our CIWS to intercept incoming weapons, since we had clearly broadcast our location to everyone in this region. If they throw thermonuclear warheads at us without warning those bombs could get extremely close before our radar could pick up those bombs."

If the pirate boat had stealth capabilities it could get ugly. These corvette like Essex had very thin armour and relatively weak shields in exchange for mass production. And it turns out catapult that could throw projectile without producing heat like trebuchet turns out to be rather efficient stealth weapon at close range space combat, And if the pirates are daring enough, a quad mount 40mm magnetic accelerator autocanon at close range could wipe everyone on the corvette out. The phased array radar haven't pick up anything yet, and Sigrun also worry the pirates may have anti-radiation missile that could home in on these signals.

 

[Clan Ize]

Arisu and Honey ​

Something playful in Honey’s programming kicked in as she tried to brush Arisu’s mitt away from her neck. “Oh I see! Would you like to play a game of 20 questions then?”


Arisu looked at Honey and shrugged, she wasn't sure why it had to be a game but she decided to go along with it for now "Ok I guess, can you go first?"

“Ummm...what’s your favorite— oh wait you don’t eat. What’s your favorite color?”

" Favorite color.......I enjoy the color purple, do you consider yourself to be alive?"

Honey’s head tilted. “I’ve never thought of that before. But I do have a heart pumping blood through my veins. Do you consider yourself alive?”


Arisu thought for a moment "I-I do not consider myself to be alive, I believe that I can be self aware of my actions and have limited free will but I do not believe I am alive as technically I am property and a being unless it's an animal is not usually considered property. What do you know about Clairvoyance Cataclysm?

“Clairvoyance Cataclysm develops AI and body hosts. They directed the Aether Project and made me. What do you know about Clairvoyance Cataclysm?”

"Clairvoyance Cataclysm is an Artificial Intelligence company that constructs A.I and bodies for them, they have had numerous official contracts working with U-Gov for ship A.I and Machines to use as soldiers, generally they do not produce their own weapons. Clairvoyance Cataclysm was founded by an A.I unit called Douglas in partnership with Senator Steven Lionheart. Together they created the Clairvoyance Cataclysm, at the company they employ A.I as actual employees, they also allowed A.I to become citizens. Can you dispose of waste like an organic being and can you survive in space?

“That’s two question. Buuuut~ I must intake food like any organic being, and must use the restroom too. I can survive in a space graded suit. Can you eat if you wanted to and do you have to poo afterwards?”


Arisu stared at her, she was very disturbed by that thought "No, I cannot do either of those things. I personally think it would be a waste of food as well as waste time and be disgusting. I mean an advantage of being a android would be you don't have to eat or use the restroom adding them would be very confusing and defeat the point. Can you feel emotions?"

“I can! It was a goal of the Aether project that the engineers succeeded in my generation. Can you feel emotion?”

Arisu waited a moment before responding "Yes I can but I can't feel them like you do. I have emotions in the sense that I can smile when something is good and act upset if something is bad. However I can also disable them and work without emotions just fine. Do you like Sigrun and what do you think of your relation with her?"

”Is that not how emotions are supposed to be? And who is Sigrun? Oh do those count as questions?”

Arisu looked at Honey "Well no, I'm just a machine so my emotions are artificial I don;'t really know how real emotions are supposed to be. Sigrun is the person that bought you....I think, she's the one with the old military uniform. Why was the Aeither ii project recalled?

“I... didn’t know the Aether iis were recalled... All of us?”

Arisu looked at Honey and tilted her head "You didn't know? All Aeither ii were supposed to be recalled due to a still mostly unknown malfunction. Do you know what the malfunction was?"

“I couldn’t tell you... maybe that’s why I spent so much time with Mister Mackers.” Honey smiled, but her eyes looked hurt.

Arisu looked at her for a bit before pulling up a chair and sat down. "Well at least you had someone who cared for you, maybe not the best but at least she did" She took a small break, a small flicker of sadness came across her face but she quickly got rid of it. What's your question for me?"

”Oh! Well if you don’t like to eat, do you at least like to smell? And also, I haven’t really met Sigrun, but she is very pretty.”

"Uhh.....I guess so? It's nice to smell things. Why do you like to cook?"

“I like to eat well! Do you like the smell of my cooking?”

Arisu nodded "Yeah I do, what do you think of me?"

“I don’t like you, Arisu. What do you think of me?”

Arisu looked at her for a bit and reached into her pocket, she handed Honey her key and stood up from her chair. "Honey I think your fine, but I also think despite the fact that you might be old I think you have a pretty great life and a pretty great owner as well. And I hope that you keep them because not everyone has those luxuries. Here take your key, you don't deserve to get taken advantage of. You haven't done anything wrong ever! By now Arisu's voice had started to become slowly more distorted You don't have to kill people, you don't have to threaten every single thing you see, you don't have a life that revolves around one thing cause YOUR ALIVE AND YOU FUCKING HAVE A PERSON WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU!" Arisu slammed her fist on the counter harder leaving a sizable dent. After that she seemed to calm down a bit, she turned to look at the door way and then looked back at Honey "I have to prepare if the captains boarding plan goes wrong anyway. Have fun in your perfect life Honey" She started walking back to her room.
Interactions: milo-ren
Location: Galley

 

[SpazTheButcher]

"Sig, do you really think these dumb asses could get their hands on a thermonuclear? I get your concern, but a nuke? I haven't seen a rad bomb in 3 cycles(years), and even then it was made from ancient fire detectors. But I agree, get the PDCs(Personal Defense Cannons) online." He shook his head. "Thermonuclear? Seriously? I bet these guys can barely count the teeth in their mouth, I bet half of which will be missing due to lack of personal hygiene." He said, starting to roast the pirates. "And I bet they couldn't hit the broadside of a sun, with heat seeking torpedos." Jackson123 Also, 3 minutes and 10 seconds

 

[Vagabond Spectre]

Sarah Mackenzie
Skybreaker

Blankly staring into the kneepad. Sarah was as motionless as a mannequin during the feed, occasionally laying a finger on another button or lever from time to time. Could only hope for the best that this goes according to the captain's plan as she is simply riding along the idea. Placing her Valkyrie helmet back on. Her attention remained to the ship's AI Inaros/Hal and simply ignoring the captain's search for validation regarding his acting. The woman broker her silence, talking to the AI.

"Keep the ship in Radar, Inaros."

Letting the Navigator and Captain argue about a thermalnuke equipped on the pirate ship. Sarah's right hand was already on the throttle lever, like a racecar driver waiting for the go signal. If they are not in the mood to fight they could be in a mood for flight instead. They are roleplaying as authorities after. This might feel like a wild police goose chase instead. Sarah practices the precaution of making sure the ship remains unscathed as much as possible. Don't want to make the captain bust a temple nerve seeing this baby scratched.

"Should we station the crew to their places?"

Adressing the concern to neither the Navigator nor the captain.

RandomBlobMan Jackson123 SpazTheButcher

 

[Verena]

“If I may, Captain.”, Keiran stepped in, hearing Mr Person make fun of the pirates. It seemed like he was taking the situation with too much ease. “I don’t think it wise to underestimate the enemy so.", he spoke respectfully, yet sternly, well aware of his low status as a gunner. "If the government has sent bounty hunters to apprehend these pirates, then they must have surely failed to do so themselves.”

The Gehennian knew this to be true all too well as private hunters had been on his tail for several years now. They too had underestimated him, thinking of him as some lowlife ex-slave, and many had paid for this mistake with their lives. Others had simply failed at catching up to him. Keiran was always on the move, never spending more than a week in one location. Joining the crew of the Essex would now help cover his tracks even further.

Humans were also amusingly incapable of capturing his image or giving a proper description, which made it even easier to remain undetected and right under their noses too. All they saw was a short, black Gehennian, while his people saw his unique and distinguishing features – the shape of his horns and scales, the length of his claws and tail, the small grey accenting scales, his piercing orange eyes. Humans were truly silly creatures, hardly knowing anything, yet thinking they were masters of the universe.

SpazTheButcher

 

[Clan Ize]

Arisu Ize​

Arisu sat on her bed cutting her arm and watching it heal again as she thought about things. It had been quite odd why she had been assigned to this ship full of people. They were nice be all means but why was she here? Why wasn't she with the rest of her family carrying out missions or with a owner? Did she even have an owner? She didn't think so but maybe she did, who knows. As she continued to ponder about this topic she started preparing her guns for the mission in case anything went wrong. As she finished up with her pistol just calibrating the sights she laid out the AK in her lap and inspected it while she waited. The AK had always been such an interesting gun and she loved hers as equally as she loved her stuffed llama. Despite being changed and upgraded so much since the original AK-47 from after WWII it still held some similarities to the original. Arisu loved how everything worked so well with each other, so smoothly and so nicely. Each piece manufactured and put together by the president of Kalashnikov Concern on behalf of Russia as a present to the Ize Corporation for carrying out an assignment on the U-Gov. She hadn't really been included in that mission but she was still in a testing phase which is the why she was given the AK. She hugged her AK, Russian technology was amazing. So was their military, the FSB had helped make her and as a result she owed much to them. As she slung the AK over her shoulder she thought about if the FCS might own her. Or at least in the process of trying to buy her, which wouldn't be that bad. As she moved her mind off it for now she went out of her room and out into the lounge to wait until the mission started


Interactions: None
Location: Arisu's Room ---> Lounge

 

[SpazTheButcher]

"The government sends bounty hunters because they are too damn lazy. The PDF is made up of glorified pencil pushers, and STARCOM is too busy dealing with 'actual problems'. We are dealing with people the government does not actually want to dispatch troops to. While I am not underestimating them, I am simply stating that these hillbillies probably don't have nukes. I mean, if they were so bad, why would they only be worth 1000 credits? On most planets, that is not even a month's rent. I digress, Keiran, you will take charge of reinforcements. Set up people hidden in the cargo bay-hanger combination. I will have the pirates land there. If they try anything, shoot to kill." He said, acknowledging that they probably were bad, but deciding they were probably just petty spice stealers.

 

[RandomBlobMan]

-Currently, the pirates.-
It was one last job. One last job before he was to retire from this petty pirate business. He was going to settle down in a backwater planet and live a lowly life, he was done with violence. The last thing outlaw Jamie Oliver expected was a whole military Corvette after his and his men's sorry asses. Once the message by "John Wayne" was broadcast upon them, the pirates went to full panic mode. Jamie lit up a cigarette and stared out into the abyss, while his four henchmen clutched onto their scrap rifles with legs trembling at 600 RPM. This was it. This was their final stand. And fate was not going in gently for them.
"....men."
After a minute and more of chaos, Jamie finally spoke up. His trusty henchmen looked at him. What punishment would wait for them? Death? Time in jail? Will the forces escort them gently? Or with guns ablaze?
"..I believe it is time for us."

---

"Incoming transmission. It's the pirates, sir."
Inaros opened up a video feed on Ray's HUD. It showed the interior of the boat-battered, and generally screaming bad conditions, with crates littered around the interior. The man on the center of the screen was an aged human male. His beard was grown unevenly, hardly given care. Scars were everywhere-on his face, on his arms... All he wore was a piece of cloth under armor made of metal scraps. Apparently the ship was the only thing worth something they had.
"This is Jamie Oliver, the head of this wanted criminal ship. We... we surrender."
Commotion came from behind the man, some voices in English and some in alien language.
"Promise me that you'll arrest us peacefully."
SpazTheButcher

 

[SpazTheButcher]

"We will accept your surrender. Be advised, please approach our vessel slowly, and keep your weapons powered off. Any diverting from course will be met with violence. Please enter our hanger bay for relinquishment and arrest. HAL, end transmission." Ray looked to the doubtful Navigator, "We just captured pirates without a shot. That was pretty frekking ninja." He grinned. "Let's go meet them in the hangar bay. Don't forget, we keep the act until they are cuffed, then we jack their shit up."

 

[Jackson123]

Sigrun
Essex's Navigator
​

Disappointing would be the appropriate word to use to describe how the elven woman felt right now. These dumbasses actually just surrender without putting up much of a fight? She recalls the time that one book she read about pirates in the past, one of the quotes had stuck with her since then. 'In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst is only a sour look or two at choking? No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto.'

She wonders if such pirates are still out there, men proudly wander in the boundless sea of stars, hoist the black flag of bones that signal nothing but one's allegiance to man's natural freedoms and prefer to die before they are submit to shame. Give me hell, it's a merrier place: I'll give Roberts a salute of 13 guns at entrance.

But these guys are certainly no Black Bart Roberts. For them, all she can think of was that quote of Anne Bonny: "If you had fought like a man, you needn't be hanged like a dog."

She wonders if they would at least try something. Maybe this ship was just an optical illusion, and the true pirate boat is preparing the killing blow in another location. Perhaps the whole boat had been rigged to explode as they approach. Wouldn't that be something. She told the captain of what she thought the pirates would be trying to do.

Interaction SpazTheButcher

 

[ChasmOfOrganicMatter]

"If they are surrendering that quickly, they are certainly hiding something. I suggest a scan not just of their vessel but the surrounding area. No pirate I know tosses themselves into the hands of a lawman or hunter so easily, not without a plan."

The enormous creature's voice rumbled up the back of the cockpit, sounding like at least four or so others layered not just atop of but into one another into a lucidly vivid, nightmarishly distorted blur. He hadn't done much since his abrupt appearance - walking upright rather than creeping as he traveled the length of the Essex, opening doors, peering into rooms, shutting them as if he was the galaxy's least pleasant looking health and safety inspector. Even the promise of food did not seem to grab his attention on his rigid, mechanical plan and he paid little heed to those he previously was in the midst of a standoff with.

Automaton or insect, there did not appear to be much to him; not even stopping in the living quarters but simply continuing his slow, orderly walk to the cockpit when news of the mission emerged.

"If you do not have cuffs, I have a substitute. I keep watch. If they escape, it will not be easy for me to re-apprehend them. But I suspect this is part of a ploy and that gives me an idea... perhaps we can bait them into acting if so."

 

[0stinato]

The mission was certainly a test. A test of Del’s patience. This was, by far, the most unprofessional ship he’d ever been on, and he had the benefit of two lifetimes to make that claim. He didn’t think his standards of professionalism were that high, given he liked to pal around and do nothing as much as the next man, but was it so much to ask that the commanding crew of this vessel took a little more care and a little more pride?

It was something he had considered bringing up to the captain. Asking him, why was the ship run like this? He hadn’t even been approached or reprimanded for arriving late, which is something he definitely thought he should have been disciplined for.

He’d arrived late, there were some crew members he’d personally label as psychopathic, and their suddenly-appointed chief of security came out of nowhere. Although he had been tempted, he hadn’t yet tried to brute force his way into the ship’s restricted-access files. He wanted to though, even just to see whether this creature’s presence was put on a list or something prior to its arrival out of nowhere and subsequent hiring. If it hadn’t, Del knew he’d have to do something about it.

Some parts of U-Gov were seemingly held together with nothing but string and a faint hope that no one would question anything that was going on, but his cross-contract with U-Gov and the Clairvoyance Cataclysm promoted the importance of his wellbeing and safety: if anything jeopardised his bodily or mental safety past a certain point, some systems of U-Gov would be held accountable.

So far, it wasn’t looking great.

The pirate situation was meagre in comparison. Del, from his position in Engineering, had been paying close attention on a pair of monitors, and was listening for a moment he’d be able to contribute, or until he was called upon to contribute.

Worryingly enough, he found himself agreeing with the newest crew member. A scan was certainly the best way of ensuring safety.

“Ah can certainly do a scan.”

The Taurus’ voice over the bridge-crew comms was a fresh hit of normality in comparison to the beast-and-insect voice of Riezlav.

“Cap’n, I would recommend tellin’ ‘em to keep their distance for the time being. If they have got a plan, we certainly want to have a bit o’ space between us and them.”

Del nodded to himself and decided to say his piece too.

“Bridge crew, ah, it’s been my experience that some ships can send out false information while shielding certain truths of their ship. If they have got a plan, and it is something explosive or dangerous, the last thing we want is to miss it on a full-ship scan. Additionally, the tactic of feigning surrender is an old one. I could use my specialities to redirect power from some facilities on our ship and route it to our scanners, which could help us punch through a system shield they might have. Alternatively, I could route the power to our computers so we could analyse our scan data to a finer degree. I wouldn’t be willing to compromise our engine power, since we may have to quickly jump to evasive manoeuvres, but I could redirect the power in our warp-speed engine, since we’re not going to need warp during this encounter: those are my suggestions, and I await your decisions.”

Brohdish, listening to these suggestions at his terminal on the bridge, was also waiting for his cue: scans were performed by the ship science crew and, although he had done them before, Del’s description of the craftiness of some enemies was making him wary.

“Aye, Cap’n, I’ll scan on yer command,” he said, tapping the tabletop in a syncopated anxious rhythm.

---
Interactions: SpazTheButcher
Mentions: ChasmOfOrganicMatter
Suggested reading: Jackson123 Vagabond Spectre (Bridge crew)

 

[Verena]

Keiran could see the logic behind Mr Person’s words and had to admit that he was right. Up until now, the gunner was unaware that the capture or elimination of these pirates offered so very little in return. No wonder they were sending hunters after them. Assembling a troop would cost so much more. When the captain assigned him another role, quite a responsible one at that, he raised an eyebrow in astonishment. Out of all the other crew members, at least some of which seemed more experienced in the matter, he had chosen one of the newer ones, despite barely knowing him or his abilities. Perhaps this was meant as a test, to which he didn't object. “I’ll get to it immediately.”, Keiran said instead and went to assemble the security personnel. He could hear the pirates’ message of surrender. They had to get into position quickly to welcome their arrival.

“You, security!”, Keiran called out to the anthropod-looking alien. The gunner knew neither his name nor the name of his race but he remembered the newcomer assigning himself to this role. “We are to gather in the cargo bay, so come on.”, he instructed, jogging past him to find Arisu. “Never got your name, by the way.” Seeing the security bot in the lounge, he called out to her as well. “Arisu, to the cargo bay. Both of you, hide and have your guns at the ready. If they resist, shoot to kill.”, the Gehennian repeated the captain’s orders. Entering the storage area, he crouched behind a crate, his loaded rifle in hand. The pirates should be here at any minute now and they were ready for them.

SpazTheButcher ChasmOfOrganicMatter Clan Ize

 

[Clan Ize]

Arisu Ize​

Arisu quickly nodded and ran over to the cargo bay following behind Keiran and taking a spot behind a crate. This was what she had been waiting for, and if she was lucky hopefully if a fight did break out she could successfully capture one for later. As she unslung her AK she turned off the laser sight and flashlight, it wouldn’t do her any good if as soon as they walked in they knew her location. Quickly she also attached a silencer to the front of the gun and glanced over and Keiran. He seemed ready enough as well, hopefully he wouldn’t die instantly. As she switched the gun from safety to firing mode and pointed it at the door making sure to point it at about the average human head elevation. While she waited for something to happen she whispered to Keiran

“Is that bug in charge of me?”

Her voice sounded distorted


Interactions: Verena ChasmOfOrganicMatter
Location: Lounge —-> Cargo Bay