Our Space Is Vast (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

"Excellent work, Star Knight," came the Grand Nauarchus' voice. For all the panic her arrival had caused, she sounded cool, calm, and collected - and it was clear she didn't share Cavalier's reservations about the situation. "We'll take it from here. We'll make sure your friends are handsomely rewarded for their role in this military operation. Are Aquaria and Jessie ready for their transportation home?" Outside, they could see the intelligence ship flying in to dock - with, just as Eclipse had predicted, the various 'traders' and other riff-raff who spent their time here were taking this opportunity to flee, a flock of small civilian ships hastily undocking and speeding away in all directions. 

 

Aquaria gave Bliss a grateful look, blinking those big eyes at her, but then caught sight of Jessie and Sitara."Don't-" Aquaria hopped over to Jessie's side, knowing in this state she wouldn't lash out against a familiar face, but not trusting how she'd handle Sitara. "Sssh, sssh..." She wanted nothing more than to curl up next to Jessie and share her presence until she felt the familiar movements that told her Jessie was beginning to come out of her fugue state - but there wasn't time for that now. "We'll make it be okay. We'll make it be okay." She looked up at the others, still crouched in an all-four position that would have been terribly uncomfortable for most humanoid species. "I can carry her," she said, making her words true as she picked up Jessie, all in a ball, with her long, gangly-green arms. "But where do we go from here? I thought the ship was sinking!" 

[trollthumper]

Cavalier realized he had no idea if she was using that literally or metaphorically, or even if she thought spaceships could sink. Of course, years of traveling through space and harrowing his companions with Terran pop culture references and intractable idioms had taught him the best thing to do in this situation was to play it as if they understood what they were saying. "It's not," he said. "Or if it is, we're trying to right it. Once you explain your case to the Knights and the Lor, we'll do what we can to make this easy. We do believe you were swept into something that escalated way the hell out of control. No one here is intent on--" 

 

nailing you to the wall ran through Kyle's head just long enough to realize why impalement metaphors would be a bad idea. 

 

"--punishing you for something out of your hands. We'll make sure your okay."

 

And if that involves me yelling at the Grand Nauarchus... well, wouldn't be the first time I pissed off an admiral.

[Tiffany Korta]

Sitara had probably made her mind up well before the Admiral had spoken again, but it finally pushed her to put a plan into motion. She crouched down beside Aquaria and Jessie apparently to check on the catatonic Jessie, but as part of her plan.

 

"Try to keep her calm I'm afraid this might get a little uncomfortable." she whispered to Aquaria.

 

As she stood she was calculating complicated maths in her head trying to work out distances and weight, all whilst working in multiple dimensions. Compared to that the fact that she'd have to include Ruby from across a full room was merely a technicality. But Sitara had been doing this before most of the species in the room had even left there home planet. Typing the figures into her wrist comp she gave Cavalier a sad smile she really liked the kid, he spent time helping her with her English and just being a good friend, and she hoped he wouldn't get into trouble for what she was about to do.

 

"I'm sorry to do this but it's something I need to try and do. Please make sure the Admiral understands that is my choice and not an official sanction action of either of our organisations."

 

Then with a push on her comp she sent herself, the two Terrans and Ruby hurtling through hyperspace a short distance to just outside the docking bays. It was pretty and a little unsettling, but at least they didn't arrive in any of the bulkheads.

 

"Okay lets see what this ship of yours can do, and quickly before they figure out what I've just done."

[TheAbsurdist]

 

"Tcha!  Today is not the day I fight the Lor Navy.  I can get us all back to the ship.  And convince the mechanic to release her.  On my back now, we will move quickly."  Her tone was the normal droning sort of sarcasm she had.  Of course, her teammates knew that she would get them to the ship fast, and then there was no promise she'd get onto it with them, if it meant that she could potential punch something so large as a Lor battlecruiser.  

 

And she blinked a little bit as suddenly Ruby and Jessie and Aquaria were gone just like that.  One set of eyelids and then the other.  "Hrm.  Fine."  She threw hands in the air, and sat down in a chair that had to be picked up, and she lifted booted feet up onto the table before her.  "Let the itholix scum come."  The gladiatrix deciding that being a distraction would be good enough.

[Brown Dynamite]

This was another moment that it would have paid to have the fourth Voidrunner along for this job.  A tracker went a long way in avoiding surprises like that.  Some excitement was to be expected.  Rather than everyone in the room being on the same page, they were being pulled in multiple directions.  "That sounds like a swell idea Bliss.  If I may make one adjustment.  How about we leave this mess to them."  His finger pointing at the Horizon Crew.  "After all, we've been gone for minutes now." 

 

He gave Eclipse a nod to her earlier suggestion.  Although there were some missteps now, be it the people they were protecting disappearing.  Or the Star Knight reassuring the Lor Navy that said persons had been caught.  That plan still had the most salvageable bits left. Without the remaining Voidrunners in the bar, it'd be an easier sell that the random Lor looking woman who teleported away was acting on her own accord.  Which meant less of a need to beat up the Lor Navy and hurt future employment opportunities in doing so. 

 

"Let's go partner.  Tentacles up.  I'd rather get out from the hole up there than have to make a new hole in that wall over there."

[Fox]

"Listen to your friend. Love the whole last-stand thing, but you're really badly outgunned and your friends are getting further and further away the longer you sit around."

 

Eclipse sighed, standing up straight and stretching - even her tail, apparently, though it didn't do much more than clik-clik-clik-clik-clik as each joint in its spine-like structure flexed out one-by-one. "I really hope we don't go to jail for this. Escaping from military prison is really not any fun at all."

 

She hopped over the railing, hitting the ground floor with both a strength and an agility that belied her frame. She took a careful second to frown about the room before picking a table, tail snaking out to prop a mostly-intact chair back up as she plopped down, grabbing a bulky, war-durable radio someone had left behind off the abandoned clutter and frowning at it. "Echo, I know you've been just stewing at the state of this place's infrastructure, what channel d'you suppose they set their security comms to?"

 

"On that radio, channel five, miss," came the voice from her waist, the machine there flashing in time with the words. "Terribly insecure, they really ought to be ashamed."

 

"Mmhm. Admiral!" she greeted into the radio, cheerily, slumping in her chair. "What a surprise to see you in all your...shining military glory. Couldn't help but notice your phrasing: their transportation home? Got news for us on the wanted status of our would-be Knight-killer?"

[Darksider42]

In hindsight Ruby should have questioned the exact motives of everyone else in the room and figure out the line of events that lead to the people who clearly intended to capture the Terrans to help them escape the naval ships called to the station. Such thoughts and considerations were forgotten the moment she felt the familiar sensation of being hurled through hyperspace and the slip back into the front of the spacedocks. At least she was not the type to get stick from teleportation as she quickly got her bearings.

"Faster than most ships its class at least. Most of those can only crawl." She told Sitara as she started to head into the docks. "Erm...You can bring the rest of my crew here right?" Ruby asked when she noticed Roulette and Bliss were not here with her. Last thing she needed to do was spend their pay on getting them out of lockup.

[Avenger Assembled]

"That amphibianoid is a lucky woman," returned the Nauarchus's voice, full of warm, soothing honey. "Under suitable interrogation, he admitted that he deliberately murdered that Star Knight to make Aquaria a fugitive and drive her towards the Spectrum Knight cause." Eclipse heard the sound of movement, along with a slight shudder in the station, that told her the Redeemer had docked - and Frankan herself was now onboard. "So you can tell Knight Stewart that if he's applying, ah, judicious force, that it's not necessary." Her tone didn't break at the images that her words conjured up - the idea that Cavalier might be savagely beating Aquaria didn't seem to be a concern. "Nonetheless, I felt it was best to handle this situation personally - we have the best facilities for handling our Terran guests. What is your current location?" From the noises outside, and the flash of body armor on Lor marines that Eclipse could make out approaching from the edge of the corridor, the Grand Nauarchus was being polite. 

 

-

 

Still carrying Jessie, Aquaria obediently piled aboard the Voidrunner and headed inside to the crew compartments. She made sure first of all to carefully buckle Jessie into one of the crash seats Ruby had shown her how to use before she hopped back to Ruby and swept her up in a damp, slippery embrace. "We are pod," she croaked in the language of the space people, before hopping back inside to strap herself in alongside Jessie.  "Bring Bliss along," she agreed to Sitara, calling down the central corridor to the woman outside in a bellowing bass produced by her bulging throat at high volume. "And Roulette!" 

[Tiffany Korta]

Sitara couldn’t help but admit that she enjoyed moment like this when she had half a dozen different problem to solve in a very short time with danger of injury and even worse. Options whirled around her head as she considered possible avenues, she’d done her research before coming along on this mission.

 

“We need to launch quickly the Navy will have this place locked down to ship pretty soon.” she bought up a display and rapidly began entering a series of rather complicated looking instructions “I can spoof the Lor Navy’s sensor for a while so they think we’re one of them, so give us enough time to pick up you crew. I could probably teleport them if you have there biosigns on record, but the place will be crawling with Marines by now...”

 

She bought up a holodisplay of the station and after examining it for a few second before pointing to a relatively isolated part of the station

“There an emergency airlock here where we can pick them up, instruct them go there and we’ll pick them up. Now can you fly this thing or should I?”

[Darksider42]

Ruby rather awkwardly hugged the Aquaria back. It was not every day someone showed her affection while on the job. "Uh...Thanks." She said before she started heading to the pilots seat. She let out a sign as she started going through the pre-flight check as fast as she could. "Its my ship remember?" The bounty hunter told Sitara. She already felt up off by her tampering with her ship, though it was not the first time someone had. 

Halfway through powering up the ships engines Ruby activated a holograthic pannel that tied into the ships comms array and altered the frequency to Bliss and Roulette's communicators.  "You two. Get moving to the emergency airlock. I'll pick you up there. Don't do anything stupid along the way." She transmitted. The ship rumbled to life and started to make its way out of the hanger.

[trollthumper]

Yeah. This was when hands started getting shown. Cavalier knew his share of armchair generals who liked to show their bona fides and pretend they were Jack Bauer when the cards were on the table. But this was different. "Suitable interrogation." He knew just what circumstances could be considered "suitable." He'd remembered how the Grand Nauarchus had been eager to get to know Jessie. And now, the two were free to go, innocent of all charges... but he doubted she was going to give them conveyance out of the goodness of her own heart. 

 

I could be misreading the situation. Eclipse may be wrong. But why... why does this all feel so wrong?

 

For years, he'd tried to be the good authority. To be the diplomat, the knight in shining armor. To piece together relations for those who were drawing swords, to help work with those in charge to bring something together. But he remembered what it had been like to run on the fringes, to dart out of the watchful eye of power - and occasionally, to poke it right in the cornea. 

 

Time to do that again. 

 

"We're here at the bar," he said over the commlink as he shooed the departing Voidrunners away. "Can't miss it." 

[Avenger Assembled]

The Grand Nauarchus entered the wrecked bar with a spring in her step that belied her advanced years, accompanied by a squadron of armored Marines, two medical officers, and a woman of the Samran clone-line whose tags said she was a mentat. "Well, here we are..." She looked around as she walked up to Cavalier, her gaze taking in first Eclipse, then the others, her good humor seeming to fall away at the sight of their missing fugitives. Her eyes flashed - but she didn't raise her voice as she said aloud in a voice that nonetheless carried through the room, "Report." 

 

Samran put her fingers to her temple and concentrated, making the familiar focusing gesture used by Navy mentants - obviously trying to either conjure up a recollection of what had happened in the bar or where the missing Jessie and Aquaria had gotten off to. For their part, the Marines took up guard positions at the doors, keeping an eye on the crew inside the bar; outside, the rest of what must have been a whole company was taking up positions inside the small station. 

[trollthumper]

It was now officially time to put out the fire with gasoline. 

 

"You said it yourself, Grand Naurachus," Cavalier said. "Aquaria is innocent. The person responsible for the murder of my fellow Knight confessed under your enhanced interrogation techniques. Jessie, aside from her assaults - conducted in the name of self-defense - was innocent and trying to protect her friend. You said you could offer them a ride home... but it seems like they already secured one. They put a good deal of trust in the Voidrunners, and while they may be a little less than savory... I've run with 'less than savory' types before, and I know that they'll fight like dogs to make sure their quarry isn't hurt. I didn't want to drag the resources of the Lor Navy away on a milk run." He smiled, hoping the sheer force of it wouldn't make his teeth break. "They're free, they're home, and as you said, they're innocent. The Voidrunners may have a checkered record, but I saw how they fought to keep those girls from getting hurt. They'll definitely make sure they get home safe and sound." 

[Fox]

"Not too mention," Eclipse added, partway through sitting down again; in apparent disregard for all the troops filtering in, she'd gotten up to retrieve the bottle of whatever the hell she'd been drinking earlier from the bar. "Not to mention that we pretty much had things under control right up until the last minute."

 

She grabbed a mostly-clean glass, pouring herself a small dose of something that smelled like it could strip paint off a freighter. "Oddly, just when we had them all settled down and ready to talk and be all reasonable about who was going where with whom, something spooked the wind right out of the lot of them, forcing some very last-minute damage and compromise...without leaving us in a good position to follow."

 

The captain made a half-hearted offer of the glass to the nearest soldier before shrugging and dropping it down her own throat instead, with the same satisfied grimace she'd given at the bar. "Don't worry, though. I'm sure when the official report comes out it won't have been due to the sudden, unannounced, unplanned appearance of a major military force during a sensitive, small-team op."

[Avenger Assembled]

"47?" Frankan inquired of her mentat. 

 

"They were fighting in here - they talked..." Samran-47 shook her head, then stared at her commanding officer, eyes wide. "They teleported out - with the help of the Praetorian." The Grand Nauarchus barked a quick command on her commlink - and soon the Voidrunner's security alert was lighting up with the warning lights that bespoke an incoming general-area scan. 

 

"When I deploy a major military force, Captain Eclipse, believe me, you will be aware of it." Frankan massaged her temples, suddenly looking her age. "Aquaria Innsmouth is carrying a weapon powerful enough to kill a Star Knight in full armor - Jessie White is strong enough to punch through a starship's hull if left unrestrained. And you just let them leave, even when you had no idea the charges against them had been dropped! Do you have any idea what you might have thrown away for the Republic here? I understand that a Star Knight might not be schooled in military matters - but I thought you of all people would know better," she fired at Captain Eclipse.  

[Gizmo]

"Rock." Rather noisily the stone behemoth made a second, more successful attempt to get back to his feet and moved to stand next to Eclipse with only a minimum of weaving. Addressing Frankan, he tilted his head quizzically to one side, an action that caused a pebble dislodged by Jessie's blow to fly off to the right with an audible pop. Raising his empty hands in front of himself he added, "Rock." The hard ending on the syllable sent a dribble of red hot magma dripping from his mouth where an mammalian lip light have split from being struck, the substance hissing against the bar floor where it landed and pooled. Wiping it away with the back of his wrist he enunciated carefully and clearly as he brought his point home. "Rock."

[TheAbsurdist]

 

She made a trilling noise.  It was her whine, and she got to her feet, almost pouting.  Bliss seemed looking forward to a fight.  But she then smirked, and exploded out of her position to tackle Roulette, only to keep moving, her tendrils shooting out to aid her as they hit a wall and kept moving, all of her limbs, barring the one around her compatriot contorting to allow for this movement to happen at a full run.  When Bliss moved, or needed to flee she did so with startling quickness across any surface.

 

A blood knight she might be, but she was not entirely foolish.  And giving chase or being chased was just as fulfilling to her.  

[trollthumper]

"You're right," said Cavalier. "I'm not schooled in military matters. I'm a peacekeeper. And, like any peacekeeper who's been given license to carry a gun, I need to assess threats and understand how to act appropriately. You said it yourself. Aquaria Innsmouth was innocent of the murder of a fellow Star Knight. And if you feared her capacity in a combat situation, you saw her on the video - she was a goddamn wreck! She needs counseling, not military discipline. And Jessie... you heard her sister. She's been through some horrible stuff. Even if she could punch her way through the hull of a spaceship, you know what the best solution to that is? Not putting her in a situation where she wants to do that." He took a deep breath. "I've been where they've been. Alone. Stranded in space. Hurt. I was given time to heal, time to decompress, before I got back out there. And I got back out there of my own choice. And they need that choice, Grand Naurachus."

[Avenger Assembled]

Inside the Voidrunner, Aquaria effusively greeted Bliss and Roulette, bounding from her seat with unnatural grace to embrace them both from the front with a hearty bellow of "Pod!" When she was done with that, she scuttled back towards Jessie, scampering along the ceiling with a rapid series of sticky plops before she landed next to whee Jessie was still strapped in,. "Her shoes," she croaked worriedly, "Jessie will miss her shoes." Fumbling around, she peeled off Jessie's disgusting socks, wincing at the sickly feel of the fluffy fabric against her damp skin. "Does anyone have any shoes?" she asked the others as they strapped in. 

[Fox]

Eclipse nodded along to Rock's counterpoint, sipping carefully out of her glass - and continued to do so, giving Cavalier his spotlight and not entirely hiding a small grin behind her glass as she heard the last of the other crew make their escape. Good. Run hard, kids; run free.

 

"They've pretty much covered it," she admitted, idly swirling the last bit of her drink in its glass. "We did know better, because we had information you didn't: first-hand evaluation of the targets, in context. You were a soldier at some point in your life, Admiral - you know how these small, tight missions play out. You go in with a plan and you stay flexible to roll with new circumstances. You make the best call you can with the skills and resources you have on hand, even if - say - you have think on your feet because something badly spooks your target and an entirely station of crooks and thieves."

 

"Plus," she added, lifting a finger off her glass to underline the point, "I'll point out that I didn't 'throw away' anything. You're an admiral, you know the long game. I put them on a hook, I showed them trust and compassion, and when you spooked them I let the line play out. If they'd really been dangerous, I'd've had a pack of mercenaries between them and the rest of the galaxy, they'd've had a couple minutes' lead, tops, and I could pull a snatch & grab or pitfall op somewhere without a lot of bystanders. Not ideal, but the best I had to work with. But, hey, lucky us!"

 

She shot the last of her drink back, the alcohol-induced grimace turning into a grin. "They're innocent after all, job complete. Better to have the plan and not use it, right?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Your willingness to sacrifice yourself for others is admirable," Frankan frosted at Rock, "but the situation here is larger than any of us." She looked around and waved a hand at her marines. "I want to be able to talk to our contractors in private." The marines began setting up privacy screens along the interior lining of the bar's open doorway. 

 

"We've never had full access to the genetic material of someone like Jessie White or Aquaria Innsmouth before, nor have we ever taken the power core of a Spectrum Knight armor intact. A few hours of DNA testing," she nodded to her medical contingent, now looking rather at a loss for what to do with themselves, "and one asset forfeiture could mean a generation of clone lines capable of destroying thousands of Communion drones in hand-to-hand combat, surviving on aquatic worlds currently uninhabitable by our technology, Star Navy Marines in armor powerful enough to destroy whole fleets of enemy starships." This was clearly something she'd given thought to - her voice had the calm excitement of a veteran engineer with new blueprints. "Neither of them would have remembered anything but a pleasant trip back to their homeworld," she added, gesturing to her mentat. Her voice was rising in intensity now, and Cavalier was intimately aware of her eyes on him when she said, "If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that the only thing the Republic can rely on is its people. And I won't let our people lose this opportunity." 

 

Her wrist communicator cheeped. "Grand Nauarchus," it was Rye-07, the cyborg who'd been part of her personal staff at the Shipyards. "We've detected the extradimensional core of the Spectrum Knight armor aboard one of the departing vessels." 

 

Without so much as a glance at the crew in the destroyed bar, the commander of the Lor Star Navy said, "Deploy the gravitic beam." 

[Darksider42]

Ruby took a deep breath as The Voidrunner airlock closed. The scans had her nervous as ship instruments alerted her to scans. Hopefully the spoof signal Sitara created would give them enough time to jump into hyperspace. "Might be some in the living quarters. Not sure if they-" She was suddenly interrupted by loud beeping and flashing holographic panels screaming Warning: Gravitic Beams Detected everywhere. The bounty hunter imminently yanked the controls and sent The Voidrunner barreling out of the clutches of The Redeemer's attempts to capture the ship.

"Fraaak. Looks like they found us." The Voidrunner immediately tried to fly around the station. If they can somehow keep the station between them, she was reasonable sure their beams could not get a lock onto them and drag the ship in. Ruby was now multi-tasking between ship positioning and punching in the coordinates for the Sol system. The shot of adrenaline from this turn of events was helping at least.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Darksider42

[trollthumper]

Cavalier knew exactly what she meant. It seemed there wasn't a day he forgot. The day he saw so many of his colleagues die. The day they'd stood in the line of fire to try and save Lor-Van. The day it had all made no difference for the eventual fate of the planet. She was coming at him with daggers out over him doing everything he could and still failing... and he knew, on some level, she was justified in letting loose.

 

But not on these grounds. 

 

"And if they said no?" he said. "Then again, given your sales pitch, I'm guessing they wouldn't have much agency in the final decision. You heard Wander - Jessie had already been dragged about by people wanting to use her capabilities for their own means. While she wouldn't be the one on the battlefield, I'm not sure she'd be comfortable with a hundred more of her that will do anything that's asked of them. You could be talking about gene stapling, but I'm sure she'd still want a say in that. And Aquaria? She doesn't seem to like that armor, and you saw how she acted when someone tried to drive her to use it to its full potential. I'm not sure she'd be willing to just hand it off to be tinkered with -- any more than it's already been, I might add. 

 

"They have a say. They did not get dragged halfway across the universe just to be used in someone else's plans for galactic defense. You want them to provide a better, stronger Lor Republic? One that can defend itself against the horrors out there in the void? This may sound stupid, coming from a member of a diplomatic corps and all, but I suggest maybe you stop trying to restrain them, opens your comms, be discreet yet open, and ask nicely." 

[Fox]

Captain Eclipse had put her glass down as the topic changed, and she seemed extremely concerned by the subject at hand...and completely impassive about the order to attack the escapees outside. Not that she could do much about the latter, shy of attempting assassination; she'd have to trust them to make their own escape, if the military couldn't be talked down.

 

Speaking of which. "I seem to remember the Republic relying pretty heavily on others," she pointed out, frowning with something akin to disappointment. "I'd never downplay the losses you saw. History says the Alarians lost our home system, too, and it broke our whole civilization's back; that one's too long ago to be personal to me, but I've got to show some respect for anyone who makes it through that horror with their head high. But this? Where do I even start, Frankan."

 

She shook her head, looking sad. "Ethically, you're going against the standards you should be holding higher than ever. Sure, maybe it works out and you get some super-soldiers, and then what. What're you creating, that way? When's the last time you heard of that idea working out for anyone? What kind of foundation are you trying to build your new Republic on, stealing genes out of terrified kids from backwater planets? That's going to be the mighty Lor legacy?"

[Darksider42]

The Voidrunner dodged a weaved around space, narrowly avoiding another attempt to lock them into The Redeemers hold. A loud beeping sound came from the dashboard as a random sequence of numbers had locked into place. "We got Co-Ordinance. We are out of here." Ruby announced just as she pulled a leaver to her right. The ships engines rumbled as they approached full speed. They were flying at fantastic speeds before they exploded in a flash of white light and entered Hyperspace. Ruby slowly released her grip on the controls and leaned back. "That was close" She said, her body suddenly realizing it needs air and taking a deep breath. 

All that was left of the Voidrunner was a faint trail of ionized ship energies. All of this visible from the large window of Wolf 359's Cantina that normally gave patrons a nice view of the incoming space shuttles and the expanse of space.