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Raisa's gaze flickers in Vadim's direction, focusing on the Confederacy President for a moment before she gives a nod to Vicky and Varal and then slides off to begin her own preparations for the evening.
Vicky links her hands at her back, falling silent as Vadim confirms the deal. Rillitan's answer makes her brighten a bit. Otherwise, she simply looks around at the folk coming out of the woodwork. Raisa gets a small salute.
Clankritich is here also. Stomp stomp stomp as he tromps around.
Reilly unclips a compact datapad from her belt and jacks the line into the console. "Green across the board," she announces. "Ready an' able."
Varal waves a hand at Vadim. "You did just fine, and the armor you got us prior will do perfectly. If you happen to find any compelling Zarist leftovers that you don't have the time to hit, just let us know and we will clean up." He motions for Rillitan and the approaching combat team to arm themselves before the crate of weapons is taken to storage.
Tetran waves softly over to Rillitan, and then to Vadim, before asking politely for anyone who is able to answer, "What would you have me do?" he asks.
Rillitan glances across to Tetran before nodding, "I'll let ye' know now. Hold up." With that, he walks on over to Reilly, "Mind if I take t' line?"
"Aye-aye, sir," the Sivadian replies, snapping off a salute before removing herself from the station with a single step. "By yer leave, I'll arm up."
"Privet, Rill. An spaciba." Vadim replies. "Da, da, good. Vicky is a good drook of mine. I wouldn't of been able to come through for you all if it wasn't for her. She was the wiz with the gunsmith table. Learned more than a few tricks from her." Watching on, he looks bemused at what's going on. "Wish I could go along, an if my position would allow it, I would. But like I said, Razor'll probably skin me alive when he finds. So...try to not blab to him about it that I did you guys a favor." The Timonae is nodded at. "Good. Those are our terms an I trust Tiana with her skills in that. Don't know anyone else that could pull it off." When his eyes fall on Raisa, there is a small frown, but then he smiles a little, nodding at her.
Tetran stretches a bit and relaxes his limbs, waiting for Rill's answer, as he carefully surveys his surroundings, running a hand through his hair thoughtfully, and then rubbing his side, making sure his equipment is in working order.
The service lift doors close as it makes its way down to those lower levels. The lift remains gone for a bit, before moments later it returns, the door dinging before opening, showing a pair of guards escorting Wormhole into the Cargo Bay. He is brought up to the group, before halted just before. He looks to the gathered group, and says nothing for the time being, until he is spoken to.
Varal pulls a pistol out as Wormhole approaches, but he holds it by the barrel and not the grip. He grunts at the Riftwalker. "You going to behave?"
"Do it," Rillitan nods, taking command of the ships loudspeaker systems and announcing to the bay at large: "Folks... Weapon ready, armor up an' make sure ye' grab a commlink from t' security station. At t'moment, t'plan is such like: We intercept a Zarist ship as quick as possible an' try an' wirelessly 'ack their system. Should tha' fail, we 'ave t' move on an' get our friend t' Rifter t' try an' rift on ship wi' our engineer an' a Techie. If t' guy c'n manage it, e'll try t' jump more people over, but we won't push it. Inside, 'ey's gonna try t' 'ack or break t' ship from t' inside. Communications is most important, past that, we'll be tryin' t' vent atmosphere. Altor an' Clank are gonna try t'soften up t' ship a bit, give t' Zarists sommit t' distract 'em an' we'll get a boardin' party off o' t' Bloody Victual. After that, we clean up an' jump the ship out. If we can't cut communications, we'll 'ave t' work fast or bug out. T'plan we're runnin', it ain't foolproof. Keep on yer toes."
"Vadim," Raisa greets with a slight smile. "Thanks for the equipment. Should hopefully keep the majority of us alive." Her head tilts as she listens to the plan and then shakes her head. "Never a dull day around here." She offers the Ungstiri President a warmer smile. "Will letcha know that we all made it back alive once we're done." And then she wanders off to the security station to pick up a commlink.
"Time to tag 'em and bag 'em..." Altor says, making his way over to where he has more room.
Altor's arms begin to fold up and together, forming a forward fuselage and cockpit as his head disappears within. His legs fold back together into a pair of engines, and his wings unfold, leaving a large starfighter in his place.
At the commodore's OK, Reilly withdraws from her station to cross the bay with brisk, businesslike steps. She's checking her pistol's charge en route to the provided equipment, popping out her powerpack and slapping it back in with practiced ease. It finds her holster. And soon enough, a flamethrower finds her person. She loosens the strap and assumes the ready position once, twice, thrice, until convinced she can be delivering its payload at a moment's notice.
There is a long pause from the Rifter, and he nods, "I've...never actually used a gun," he states as he eyes the gun. "I will do as you ask." He looks to the others around him. At the mention of hacking, he looks to the others with interest. He looks to Tetran before eyeing Varal again.
Vadim nods at Raisa. "It's not a problem. Spaciba for Vicky, not me. I just played middleman for the most part. But da, you all keep yourselves alive." the Jackal states, taking a hold of the hovercart handle. "Stay alive out there. All of you. Kill a bunch of Nall for us. And good luck. Think you're all going to need it." After the Lunite trots away, he glances back at the Sentinel. "You ready to get out of here and let'em get back to playing big damn heroes?" Beat. "Or you plannin' on goin' with'em?"
"Oh I think they can handle themselves," Vicky replies with a shake of her head. "Give 'em hell." She balls a fist at Rillitan before turning to head back up the Jackal's ramp.
"If we are doing this teleportation thing, I go first," Varal says, putting the pistol away. "And if you've never used one, now is not the time to start. Do not try anything funny, but I have your back against the Nall."
Vadim likewise turns back for the Jackal, the red tail of the headwrap that tightly covers his hair trailing after him. "Da, think you made sure of that with the amount of firepower you've given them. Should have you look over my pistols sometime. Maybe get'em modded." he idly remarks, he too trotting up the Jackal's ramp.
"Point th' hole end at th' bloke you want dead." Reilly pairs her wisdom with a friendly clap for Wormhole's shoulder as she passes.
Wormhole nods to Varal, not seeing any other choices around this, "Of course...I will see to it that y'all at least get out alive...if anyone gets too seriously wounded, I can teleport them out where ever." He nods as he saids this. His gaze turns to Reilly, "I figure as much..." He nods. "I'd rather practice somewhere safer, though, so I don't end up shooting the wrong person..." There is a crack of a shiver as he says them, his eyes glancing to Rillitan.
Rillitan, finished with his announcement, heads back over to the security desk and grabs the helmet to his smartsuit armor. "Fauze, ye' finished prattin' around wi' t' ship yet?" He questions over the in-built comms.
Raisa swears quietly to herself as Vadim leaves but shakes her head and continues to work on prepping herself. She checks both pistols that are holstered - one on each hip - and then the plasma rifle that's found a home on her back. "Does anyone else see a problem with relying on him for this whole plan to work?" she asks aloud. "Are we not remembering the last insane psionic that we brought along on a mission? She was a freaking liability when it got down to it."
Tetran stretches and gets near where Wormhole and Reilly is, tapping his foot thoughtfully and thinking, seeming to wait for wherever he's to go, carefully speaking to himself over the plan and making a mental note of it.
Varal smiles at Raisa. "It is Rillitan's play. We execute it. If the psionic becomes a hindrance, we execute him." He looks at Wormhole. "But he is going to be helpful and everyone wins."
"-scratch- -scratch- -slurp- What?! Is making noise?! The voices! The voices are back!" Is Fauze's reply over inbuilt comms. He's not replying with his comms, but rather the comms of the ship in which he's perched on the pilot's console of. The tupai prods a few controls tentatively. "Ooh, what's do... what's do..." He squeaks to himself, tail lashing behind him as he familiarises himself with things in the light of the holographic displays.
"We ain't relyin' on t' Rifter." Rillitan grunts, "At t' end of t' day, we got three ships an' Tia's 'ackin' skills t' work on. If their network is open when we close in, 'ey're fucked as is. Worst comes to it, Altor can blow a hole in t' bridge an' we'll spacejump through. Let's get on board t'ship, we can deliberate then." He aims a hand at the 'bright fucking yellow ship with a smiley face on the fuselage and oversized insystem thrusters'.
Reilly stares first at the schoolbus-yellow eyesore and then at the darkened viewports spotting its cockpit. "We're takin' /that?"/ One horrified beat drums on by, her fingers flexing at her sides. "An' th' bat is flyin'."
Raisa sighs and rubs at her arm. "It's a wonder we're not all dead yet," she mutters, seemingly echoing Reilly's dismay but in a quieter fashion. She flashes a thumbs up sign at Rillitan and hangs back.
"All aboard!" Calls Tia as the airlock to the Outcast cycles open and the Martian appears from within', "This is yer Cap'n, Mrs. Tiana Ryoleli, aye, deferrin' main authrority t'Mistah Rillitan Ryoleli fer 'is mission 'ere. Look t'im, not me!"
Some chatter in Naliese is received over the comms as Tetran scans the various frequencies. A destroyer on patrol, the S'trakla, en route from Aukam to a fleet rendezvous point near the Plosa Nebula.
Wormhole looks to the others, and then to the ship as Tiana mentions all to come aboard. He smiles briefly, before look to Raisa, before turning to Rillitan. He waits for everyone else to board, or at least someone to tell him to. He does head over to the security desk, and retrieves the commlink as Rill had announced. He returns to his previous position though.
Fauze is studying the holographic displays about his piloting console, light reflecting off of his blood red visor. "Engines... life support... jets.. kite wings... where is alcohol dispenser? Where is?! Where is?!" The frustrated tupai takes another coin from his pouch and slots it into the piloting console.
Varal is the last one aboard the Outcast, checking his gear one last time.
Reilly seems to have already been briefed on her objective, and hurries to see it through, trotting up the Outcast's gangplank the moment Tiana appears. Her salute is swift, sketchy, and informal, delivered with an acknowledging "ma'am" before the engineer disappears below decks and into the little smuggler's guts.
After boarding the ship with the rest, and sitting with Fauze and Tia in the cockpit, Tetran scans various frequencies, and picks up the Naliese chatter, it is transmitted over the commlinks, relaying information.
Altor runs some last minute diagnostics, and then his twin engines spin up with a high pitched whine before igniting with a burst of flame. Settling them into sync he taxis over towards one of the marked flight strips in the bay, lining up for takeoff once he gets the signal.
The Bloody Victual recieves the coordinates from Tetran and begins to plot an intercept course. Clankritich shouts orders across the bridge as the large tug-freighter gets moving.
Wormhole had boarded the Outcast a bit earlier, and looks around the ship before he finds his way to the designated area, if there was one.
Raisa boards and passes by Tiana with a slight grin and takes her spot, out of the way. She does another check on her weapons, eyes narrowing as she goes through the familiar routine once more.
Ti makes herself comfortable in a chair up in the cockpit, hands folded behind her head. After a moment she leans forward, switching on the comms, "This is yer Cap'n speakin' once more, please buckle yerselves in where ye c'n, an' 'old ont' somm't where ye can't!"
Tetran shuffles about in his seat, tapping his PDA a bit and making sure all his equipment is in order once more, before paying close attention to anything said from here, whether it be orders or banter that might be useful.
A monitor flickers to life at both command and primary engineering, allowing the bridge crew to maintain visual on Reilly as she guns through warmup and pre-flight down in the engine room. The 'cast roars as it awakens, drive lattices glistening and oversized engine assemblies glowing with white-hot power. "Green," comes the Sivadian's voice over the comms, and then she is strapping herself in for takeoff.
The piloting console is still decorated with a tupai. Tail shifting and snaking in the air behind him with anxiety, Fauze chews one wing whilst manipulating controls with the other, and his feet where possible. It's almost like watching tupai Yoga. Almost. "Taking off! Yes! Where is alcohol? Boss, is it fairy dust time? Where are we going? Taking off..." He chitters away, more or less to himself as the ship wakes up.
"There ain't /any/ ah 'at until we's done wit' 'is mission. Ye know whut t'deal is, Fauzey. Ye git it after ye done yer job well, right?" Tia replies sternly to Fauze, one hand reaching up to gesture towards the console the Tupai is occupying, "T'coordinates are 'ere all ready fer ye already."
Tetran glances over towards Fauze, obviously nervous, but turns back to watch his PDA and the console, continuing to monitor the transmissions and assure that they are there if needed.
Several undisclosed actions later...
Altor manages to drop into the system far enough out of sensor range to avoid detection. Fauze isn't so lucky, bringing the Outcast too close to the Nall destroyer's detection sphere. The Bloody Victual also triggers an alert aboard the Nall vessel. Anyone listening on that Nall frequency now will hear a hissing freak-out in Naliese as the destroyer sends a distress call to the fleet waiting near the Plosa Nebula. Arrival is going to be within the next fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the destroyer is coming around, warming up weapons as it closes on a vector toward the Victual.
Wormhole waits patiently for the ship to arrive at its destination as it enters FTL range. He sits back as he enjoys the calmness of the ride, well, at least better than the cell he was previously in. He looks around at all the others within, thinking of what his plan would be if it involved him having to board the vessel. As the vessel exits FTL moments later, Wormhole is oblivious to their impending doom, as he waits for further orders.
Varal sits patiently, and largely quietly, waiting for something that requires his attention. He might, however, be reciting a Festheldian prayer under his breath.
With a sidelong glance towards Fauze, the change in tone in the Nall chatter bearing a slightly suspicious edge, Tia leans forward to look at the readouts upon the console in front of her and frowns.
From his position on the turret controls, Rillitan taps one of the screens angrily. "Tiana, try an' get a visual patch through from Altor an' t' Victual, 'en see if ye' can't establish a net link 'fore they hard shut 'eir comms. Gimme some tactical awareness 'ere! Fuck, Techie, s'at their comms done already? Let the cabin know t'ey probably got a time limit today - an' watch 'ey don't try to peep in on our systems." The Timonae then grunts something in his native language.
The holographic image of Reilly vanishes when the Sivadian herself does. A slap-clank, slap-clank is the soundtrack that accompanies her ascension of the ladder back to main deck, and the trapdoor's tortured steel hinges scream when she emerges. She ignores it, washing the sound away with a slam of the heavy hatch, then quickly moves to her action station on the bridge.
Raisa sits in a corner, strapped in but ready to move at the first sign of trouble. One hand rests against the wall she leans against, and scowls. She begins to charge her energy weapons and double checks her slug pistol that it is loaded and ready.
Tetran listens to Rillitan and taps a few things onto the console, continuing to listen to the comms, and trying to convert what he can, before speaking over the commlink, "Captain, I think they might have caught us when we went to sublight, it sounds like they're calling for backup over what I've heard. About Fifteen Minutes if I gather right."
Altor drops out a bit further away, and gathering from the readout on his HUD he hasn't yet been detected. Capitalizing on that advantage, he slows his approach and starts check out his readings of the ship as it begins its attack run, in particular looking for any vulnerable points.
"~WE ARE SPOTTED!~" Clankritich announces helpfully. "~BEGIN ATTACK~" The B'hiri takes manual control of the ship's turrets and targets the incoming Nall ship. "~HURRY!~"
The Outcast drops out of Otherspace. The OS engine hums as it spins down. A somewhat intimidating Nall destroyer lights up the viewscreens like an ugly Christmas tree. Fauze adjusts his visor, slots another coin into the piloting console (that always seems to work on the food dispensers back home), and gets down to business. "Wheeeeee!" He squeaks, casting his wings through the holographic controls as if he were throwing a net. The Outcast's thrusters roar to life and shuddering, the ship flies straight for the destroyer. "Red leader! Red leader! Boogie on mah sixes!" Fauze squeaks. "Never give up! Never surrender!" Is he just spouting lines from bad holovids now? Manoeuvring jets shift into place, ready to push The Outcast out of incoming fire if required.
The Nall hackers try unsuccessfully to master the subtle nuances necessary to break through the security surrounding the systems aboard the Victual and the Outcast. But subtlety's never really been their thing. Instead, they resort to what's made them bank for lo these many centuries. Their guns open fire, crimson beams lancing across the black, tearing through the shields of both vessels and damaging the hulls. Cue the rumble and shake, the tossing of loose objects, the falling of ceiling panels, and the occasional exploding console.
Clankritich says, "~TAKING HITS.~" Clank broadcasts. "~RETURNING FIRE WHILE WITHDRAWING.~" The Victual, outmatched by the Nall ship, makes a turn, firing a salvo of cannons as it does, and then re-engages its otherspace drive and retreats."
The sudden rocking of the vessels shakes Wormhole about. He grabs onto something to at least keep himself from following over. A console blows no more than a few feet from him, and he curses as debris is sent flying past him. He hoped that none of them would find their way lodged up in his body. He looks around for Rill, heading up to the bridge. His eyes gaze at all the smoke that finds its way into the air. Finding Rillitan he approaches him, "May I borrow a couple grenades?"
"Ell an' ECK, FAUZE DON'T FLY INTO T' DAMN SHOTS!" Rillitan shouts as electronic sparks sprin<nowiki>Insert non-formatted text herekle downward from the console above his head and the
camera man wobbles the camera to make it look like they've been hit. "BASTARD SCREWY PIRATE! Altor, we got another hit in us, you better do yer thing or we're might no' 'ave t' fight t' blast outta this." the Timonae transmits over comms as Wormhole approaches. "Yeh." he calls back, "Grab a couple off'o m' belt, I fuckin' 'ope you're wonderful, mate, I might even /like/ ye' if ye' hit the right spot." He grimaces and turns away, focusing his attention on the console he's controlling. Aiming the outcast's turret at the Nall vessel, he pulls down the trigger.</nowiki>
"Shields at seventy-eight percent! Rerouting power from auxillary system, estimated seven percent gain," Reilly reports, fingers flying over the translucent keypad shell. Telltales rain green to amber down her display. "We /can't/ 'andle sustained fire from this lot, sir!"
The rumbling ship makes Raisa curse quietly under her breath but she stays where she's at. "Hey, we're not the ones that are supposed to be getting killed," she shouts in the direction of the cockpit. "Get it right, dude."
Tetran taps away on the console, continuing to listen over the commlink for anymore information, the sudden strikes causing him to fall from the seat a bit, avoiding a bit of debris as he goes back to the console, sweating furiously and giving it all he has, not knowing what to do next, he simply tries the next best thing he usually does, and attempts to access the Nall's systems.
"I'm making my attack run." Altor transmits. "I've got a pair of ship wreckers primed and ready..." he sends as he slams his engines into overdrive to dive towards the Nall ship from their blind spot. On his cockpit screen a targetting bracket slides over the visual of the Nall destroyer and locks onto a section of the ship, with a beeping tone becoming steady. His target: the ship's weapons control center. "Let's see how you fight with your triggers clipped..." he mutters. "Coreseeker THIS you scaly bastards!" he transmits as a pair of missiles soar out of his launchers towards the Nall ship.
The Nall are feeling pretty confident. They've chased off one attacker and damaged a second. Their computer geeks from the Vox Nalia Church aren't doing a terrible job keeping the ship's computer systems from external infiltration - a problem that cost them dearly not so long ago. But then Altor comes out of nowhere, previously undetected, and launches his attack. His missiles tear through the rear hull of the destroyer and the Nall vessel's reactor erupts in a blossom of plasma and metal shards. The ship shudders and jolts a few more times before it rips apart into a glowing cloud of debris.
Wormhole blinks as the he watches from the viewport, Altor delivering his salvo, forcing the destroyer to explode. "Uh...well...nevermind, but if more show up I may come grab some," he states with a slight smirk. He looks to Altor with a smirk. "I guess we don't die, after all." He looks to Varal before returning his gaze to the debris in wonderment.
Deadly Nall fire rained down on The Outcast, sparks glittering away from its hull into the void of space as the spacecraft's shield gave out, leaving its hull to be riddled with more holes then a slice of swiss cheese. The piloting console that Fauze is standing on starts to hiss loudly, silky smoke from smouldering fur rises off of the tupai's shoulders, causing quite a spring in his step as he flutters about the console, jerking thruster controls this way and that. "Fauze is being hit! Boss!" The tupai squeaks, stating the obvious. He seems about to say something else, perhaps related to traps, when the Nall ship falls apart like badly built lego. This leaves Fauze understandably stunned, his jaw hitting his furry chest, wings dangling either side of his body.
"Lady! Altor, tha' were a great shot but ye' didn't leave nothin' t' keep! Think ye' earned a few spare parts, ey!" Rillitan calls down the comm line, unsure of whether he's elated or dissapointed. "Tia, scan for any intact debris worth pickin' up quick. 'ey got a hard-box or an IFF we can snatch, yeh? Techie, ETA an' number on t' incomin' ships. Reilly, Bat, 'ow's the ship?" He leans back in his chair, punching a dangling console interface away from his face.
"Righ' love." Tia offers over comms, a few buttons pressed and a scan set to sweep over the wreckage and see what it can find, if anything.
Raisa unbuckles herself and heads to the end of the hold and shouts down to the cockpit. "Hey, what's going on up there? We boarding? Getting boarded? Running? Keep us in the loop back here."
Tetran taps onto the console, whistling slightly at the Nall ship's destruction, but not giving much of a break to his work, before he presses his commlink to speak, "There's an incoming Nall Fleet, and it seems it'll be here within the next few minutes possibly. It's the same one I think they called for earlier." before going back to tapping on the console.
Altor banks away from the exploding Nall vessel before the shards tear into his own hull. "Holy shit!" he sends over the comm. "Sorry boss, I guess I don't know my own strength! But the techie's right, those Nall ships are coming fast, they'll be here any minute. I suggest we get the hell out of here and now! I sure am!" he says as he banks around and sets a course for Olympus, disappearing in a flash of light as his OS drive engages.
Rillitan looks back to his wife with a hopeful glean in his expression; when her scanning picks up nothing the Timonae looks a little crestfallen. He looks back at his console with a blank look, his brow knitting forward for a moment before he nods, "Okay, Techie. Right. Fauze, bug out. There ain't nothin' here." He leans forward and switches the turret system onto a powered down state. "Vadim'll be pleased, at least."
"The hull is breached! And the candy is leaking out!" Fauze replies to Rillitan, not looking away from his console for a moment. Casting his wings through the holographic display again, the tupai pilot urges the ship onwards, mashing buttons as if that might make the shields work faster. Tiny pieces of debris slide past the nose of The Outcast as she moves away the wreckage, OS drive rumbling to life and puncturing the ship right into faster then light.
Reilly, meanwhile, has shut down non-essential systems and some onboard lighting, bringing the shielding array back to green for the jump home.
"Well this was a fun field trip," Raisa mutters as she ambles back to her seat and flops back down.
"Funner-er than blowin' up." Rillitan suggests sidelong to Raisa as he moves out of the cockpit and down to where the assault team were waiting patiently. "Give ye' sommit to shoot next time, I promise, ey? We gotta rely on' sommit that ain't Altor."
Reilly remains on the ship to make a full accounting of the damage before turning up for the eventual debrief.
The Outcast is lightly smoking as she glides into the landing bay of The Olympus, Fauze is lightly smoking too, but no-one cares about him. He slots another coin into the pilot's console as the spacecraft sets down. "Good vending machine..." The tupai chirps. "Is getting us home, no?" He strokes the console with a wing. Somewhere in the ship a pipe bursts.
Tetran taps a few more things into the console, before relaxing, and wiping his brow gently, getting ready to disembark the ship, but not before tapping on his PDA, and switching his personal commlink to a setting, and mumbling something as he walks on.
Raisa just grunts in Rillitan's direction and once they're landed, she turns to disembark from the ship. "I'm going to hold you to that, Rill," she mutters and then heads off.
From afar, Tetran beeps Wormhole's commlink, "Dirionis is aware of where you are. Keep safe."
Tetran disembarks from the ship and boards a shuttle, waving towards the rest, "Ya'll take care now."
Wormhole mumbles something into his own commlink after taking it out of his pocket; "Copy that...thanks." Station security take him back to his cell as he disembarks.