The ORION Files (Closed/Started)

[Athol]

Mary grinned appreciatively when Mar explained that the thrusters were fully gimballed. ?Damn?we are going to have some fun! It?ll be nice to work with a pilot who at my level for once?there are far too many cockpit-fillers who think that just because they can take-off without scraping, or can manage an RCS flip, they?re shit hot.?

She was still poking about various parts of Devil-Fish?s hull as Mar explained where the new thrusters had come from. ?Hmm?think I?ve heard of the ?Hellbat?.? She said, stopping to ponder for a moment. ?Yeah! They were supposed to be the next great thing, while I was still Navy, but I seem to remember them killing more than a few test pilots before the techs go the controls dialed in, and once that was done, it wasn?t any better than the ?Foxbat? they were supposed to replace?and no I have no idea why they named them like that.?

Continuing her inspection, she?d open inspection panels and boot up the relevant diagnostics, mostly for her own curiosity, to see how the shuttle?s various systems functioned. ?Well, my compliments to whoever did your engine work. I?ve seen plenty of re-engine jobs, but usually they are a barely functional mess that are one power surge away from total disaster?if you had some body work done to the Fish, it?d be hard to tell whether or not she came like this.?

Closing up the last panel, she patted the hull with her right hand. ?All-in-all, a sweet little ship you have here?we should totally try and find you some weapon sim emitters and have us a good old ?fur-ball? one day.? She added with a predatory grin that Mar would have been hard pressed to better. Arching her back a bit, she rolled her right shoulder and nodded towards the door they?d entered through. ?So, I?ve seen yours, wanna see mine??

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Brian watched and listened as others from the room came and went, trying to remain presentable in his movements and demeanor as he payed attention, trying to avoid reacting to anything odd before he knew how odd they all were and if any of them were liable to become threats.

The annoyed looking pirate that made him wonder what an "Oso" was, the flirtatious Shree, the odd Catican woman that appeared to be smelling the captain, the mechanical woman, and the... he realized he didn't quite know what the pair did. Infantry? No. They didn't have the look. The way they were eyeing Mary made him wonder if they were after her which would make them trackers or hunters.

"Welcome aboard Brian. It's nice to have one of you fellows on board."

Brian unconsciously attempted to nod his head before the mechanisms groaned and he remembered that he was incapable of doing that in his armour.

"Welcome aboard to the 'Sweet Child of Mine.' Make yourselves at home inside if you are riding along."

He began to ask if he was to be assigned anything or if things were first come first serve, as Velka spoke up ahead of him wondering the same thing. He'd need space to work and to store his equipment, and preferably another to rest. Maintenance was almost constant with Kodiaks during operations, not that anything ever went wrong with them if you didn't, they just felt 'tired.'

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Drift Station | The Hanger
Clinical Clarity
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance as well Miss Irina. This will be an interesting time I'm sure." Velka responded kindly, giving Irina Rostikova a chance to recover from her embarrassment.

While the Caticans were not a species that shunned the subject of sex, it was probable that the Merchant Mechanic's reaction to the captain's scent was due not only prolonged exposure to Terrans but possibly due to study of early Terran culture. Regardless, the fact that Irina could detect her vat sister's scent on the captain explained why the captain was able to resist the Feline-esque Female's scented charms. In a word, it was all about territory.

Prior to the advent of interstellar colonization, the population of the Catican Homeworld was nearing an unsustainable level. As a result of this, the members of the Royal Caste instituted a population control measure using a pheromone block. As a general rule, Male Caticans are uninterested in mating unless exposed to female pheromones, allowing them to concentrate on their duties rather than procreation. Under the newly implemented measure, after mating, males became immune to the pheromones of females, other than their partner, for a period of years. This was accomplished via the utilization of a pheromone blocker that is introduced to the male's body through oral or vaginal secretions during intercourse. While this measure was effective in maintaining the population on Catica, there was the unexpected side effect of the pheromone block having the ability to be passed to non-Catican males.

"Welcome aboard to the 'Sweet Child of Mine.' Make yourselves at home inside if you are riding along." Captain Walker said rather unceremoniously, interrupting Irina's thoughts.

"Thank you Captain," The Merchant Mechanic responded as she boarded the freighter.

[hr]

The Orion Files | Mother-Ship: Sweet Child of Mine | Hanger
Ship of Tools
Edward Aubergine​

[hr]

There were a couple of things that hit the Catican Shock Trooper, Edward Aubergine, as soon as he slid down the ladder that connected the Redeemer to its new mother-ship, The Sweet Child of Mine. The first was the Sweet Child of Mine's artificial gravity, which, while being the standard one Terran Gravity, was only 75% of the gravity found on the Catican Homeworld and Catican ships. The four armed, purple Shock Trooper's stomach lurched as he felt his acceleration change when he hit the freighter's lighter gravity.

The second thing to hit the mammoth was a rather strongly scented cloud of musk, compliments of the Shree Pilot, who appeared to be in heat, not that he had time to adequately deduce such a thing since the concentration of the Shree pheromone caused the Catican Shock Trooper to temporarily forget that he was sliding down a ladder which caused the third thing to hit him.

CLUNK!

It was the floor that was the third thing to hit Edward as he landed on it. It was a stroke of good luck that that the floor was made of reinforced steel and that the mammoth feline was in 75% of normal Catican gravity, otherwise he might have ended up with broken bones or paying for unintended damage to the ship. It did not, however, mean that the Eggplant Assault Trooper was immune to being stunned by his sudden stop at the bottom of the ladder.

"So, I've seen yours, wanna see mine?" A familiar voice said nearby.

"What manner of ship did I just land on? I was supposed to dock with a mercenary ship... not a courtesan's pleasure yacht," Edward thought out loud as he lay there, waiting for the room and his stomach to stop flipflopping. As he lay there, he absently analyzed the smell that had surprised him, finding that scent was heavy in excitement, light on enticement. Picking himself up from his previously pancake-like position, Ed rubbed his head an turned the corner, spotting the both the Pilot turned Mercenary, Mar, and the Pirate turned Mercenary, Mary, who appeared to be figuratively drooling on the Devilfish's hull.

"(I have landed on a 'Ship of Tools')" The Catican Shock Trooper thought to himself, misquoting the name of the fabled Terran ship for the insane. This was not meant as a slight, however, as insanity was sometimes a mission prerequisite.

 

[mcpop9]

Out in the Asteroid belt.

A flash of light and a disruption in the gravity sent a section of the asteroid belt flying. There was a void where there had been a capitol grade exploration ship and a few escorts prior. Empty space filled by a series of gunshots and the dashing of a speck of light. The speck of light was a fast and nimble fighter, making rapid distance away from the two pursing heavier craft.

Resha breathed a panicked sigh of relief. She was alone out here now, in the asteroid field and hiding from the pirates. For a test pilot, she didn't have any combat training as they had nobody to test it on and no real reason to fight. Now with an asteroid hiding her, the female had pushed the distress signal. It was an older signal for a rather antique diplomacy vessel from the inner Terran colonies. IT was developed based off of a wreck and adopted for the expedition fleet which was expecting to only really encounter humans.

This ofcourse drew the attention of the raiders, so the female was once again dancing in her white glint of a fighter. Fire erupting form increasingly mad pirates who were unable to touch her with their fire. Resha was already afraid for her life and didn't know how long she'd be able to dance like this.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa fallowed the rest of the crew to the ship after introductions, and for the most part just sat out of the way on top of a shipping container and watched as every one else fetched their gear.

A few of them had ships of their own it seemed, and the pilots where talking among them selves, probably about their ships. She gave the ships a once over, if for no other reason then to know what there 'allies' where running as that could be important to know later. Apart from that, she just 'people watched for a bit'

 

[Texas Joker 52]

TGR Territory Border | Sweet Child of Mine | Devil-Fish Holding Container
"Don't worry. It doesn't look nearly as disgusting as it tastes."​

[hr]

The little rush of pride that Mar had when Red Mary inspected the secondary engines intensified a little as she recognized the name of the space fighter they had come from, and was not only knowledgeable, but also sounded just a little more impressed as a result. She went on to mention that they were going to have a lot of fun flying with and against one another, especially if Mar was to get some weapon-sim emitters so that they could practice dog-fighting.

It was a particularly alluring idea as Mar considered the possibilities. While she had been reasonably happy as a shuttle racer, what with the courses being lined with obstacles and other potentially deadly hazards, she could only imagine the thrill of flying a ship under fire that could actually fight back. She found her lips spreading into a wide, predatory grin, showing off quite a lot of shining white, needle-sharp teeth. When Mary spoke again, Mar had to shake herself out of the violet daydream she had been in the middle of.

"So, I've seen yours, wanna see mine?"

"You bet. Just give me a few seconds to grab something from the Devil-Fish." Mar said with a little wave.

Stepping up to the main loading hatch at the front of the shuttle, she keyed in a code on an odd keypad marked with alien digits with a free false-hand while placing her right true-hand on the flat scanner above it. There was a shrill tone that told her both her key-code and hand-print were accepted, and with the same true-hand she slammed a fist on the bright red button underneath the keypad. The main door opened with a hiss, and she stepped inside the moment there was enough clearance to.

It wasn't long before she stepped right back out, clutching some sort of thick tube in her false-hand, and she gave the button outside the door a backward fist to close it.

"Ready. Just needed to grab something to eat." she said, holding up the tube.

It looked not unlike an alien sausage, only with the casing being made of plastic, and the insides being a disgusting looking off-yellow. With the way Mar held it, it was hard to see any kind of label, and there didn't seem to be any kind of opening, though when the Shree lifted it to her mouth it was clear why as she simply bit through it and began to slurp down the contents surprisingly quietly.

After a moment, she lowered it and wiped a few flecks of paste from her mouth with the back of her false-hand, then gestured to Mary.

"After you." she said with a small smile.

Following after the former Pirate, Mar spotted the robotic form of Shanoa, seemingly inspecting the ships of the crew herself. Or itself, Mar supposed. She wasn't the only one in the hallway either: The massive four-armed, purple-furred Catican, Edward was there too. She gave them both a nod in passing.

"Hey Shanoa, Edward. Feel free to look over the Devil-Fish, just don't mess with her any." she said casually, before going right back to slurping down her nutrient paste.

 

[FalloutJack]

For a gunship with just two people on it, the Archer was significantly quieter than the situations going on within the Sweet Child of Mine. It was quiet and, to be honest, preferable that way for the Ignis. Let's get one thing straight here. Grace didn't have problems with boredom like most people. Her early life pretty much made long stretches of having nothing important to do, no distractions other than keeping herself alive, an often occurrance. Having to moniter equipment and watch space was only slightly different in terms of attention, but it was still alot of not much...which she was use to and okay with. She was okay, because she was more secure in her life, working with Elliot. It was somewhat relieving, strangely enough, even though she had to get into combat situations with him. She didn't mind. She was helpful to him.

Still, these gaps in events were not a problem for her to handle. She would sit and watch the stars quietly, checking on the equipment occasionally to make sure everything was green. It often was, but they did this in shifts to make sure of that, because exceptions would still apply sometimes. So, she was taking in the area of space before her... Hmmm. That's odd. There was a gap in that asteroid belt. The only natural phenomenon that would be a rather large comet. That wasn't likely, so it was probably something far more normal, like an explosion. And then...

Well, which came first? The light or the beacon? It doesn't matter. They both arrived. Grace saw pinpricks of light that could only be distant combat - which you don't question an Ignis about, because they know light - and there was a sudden bleeping of a distress signal which, given the situation, probably translated into 'Holy crap, I'm under attack!'. Acting on this immediately, Grace increased the Archer's speed and plotted an intercept course. She then contacted the Sweet Child, to give them the heads-up.

"There's a battle going on in the asteroid field. Archer is going on ahead."

The gunship wasn't retrofitted for combat. It was just blatently fitted for it, and then modified for living conditions. Assuming the enemy is not in large numbers, there should be no problem. As of yet, she felt no reason to disturb Elliot's rest. She deployed the Archer's Hull-Piercer and the targeting system immediately came online. She wanted first shot, no warning. The distress beacon was a diplomatic tag, meaning that it was non-hostile, yet under attack. So, as soon as she was in range, a nice mag-driven slug with a shaped explosive head was going to hurtle through space and - hopefully - break an enemy vessel. If it was small enough, it would tear apart. Medium-to-larger vessels usually hull-breached, which was a terrible way to start a battle, assuming they didn't die from a lack of oxygen or that a powerplant had been hit. That is why Grace wanted first shot. When rescuing a person from certain death, you become certain death.

 

[Athol]

"You bet. Just give me a few seconds to grab something from the Devil-Fish."

?I ain?t goin? anywhere.? She quipped as the big Shree opened up her shuttle. Mary watched with mild interest as Mar unlocked the ship, more out of professional habit than anything else. While Mar was rummaging around inside, Mary heard?and felt a rather solid ?thump? but before she could go to investigate, Mar returned with what Mary assumed was a snack of some sort.

"After you."

Leading the way from Mar?s hanger, she spotted the cat-like bot and the big Catican. ?Hey Ed-plant.? She grinned. ?Try not to break this hauler until after we?ve been paid.? While Mar admonished the two ?cats? to leave her ?Fish alone, Mary headed to the lift doors and tapped on the adjacent key bad; her own ?hanger? was a bit too far away to walk to with any speed. When the lift car arrived, she waved Mar over and the pair entered.

A minute or so later, they were deposited a short distance from the retrofitted cargo container Mary had commandeered. Keying open the access door, stepped through and made a sweeping gesture across the room. It was basically the same as where Mar had her Devil-Fish, except that instead of one modified racing shuttle, there was a fairly old and well-worn looking interceptor and a big metal crate with some ominous [http://cdn3.bigcommerce.com/s-za3wv/product_images/uploaded_images/SLC-Landing-04.jpg] looking [http://www.safetysign.com/images/catlog/product/large/J6848.png] warning [http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cl1vis1.gif] labels [https://www.nema.org/news/Documents/Fig3-ISO-Symbol.gif] on it. ?Here she is.? She said proudly. ?Lockheed-Dynamics ICV-25 ?Manta? Dual Environment VTOL Interceptor.? The big fighter was obviously a fairly old Terran design, and showed the signs of being both well used, and well cared for. The outline of old GRSN insignias could still be seen on the hull, and a ?pin-up girl? was painted just below the cockpit, along with a series of tally marks.

Running her right hand across the port wing, Mary was smiling at Mar. ?Roughly two hundred thousand kay range, with fifty thousand klick top in vacuum. Like I said, she?s ?DE? ship, so she does work in atmo, though tops out at the low hypersonic. She?s got twin thirty mike mike chemrail autocannons with a fifty degree cone of engagement, in the nose, and twin MRAFM launchers on the wing tips.? Her smile turned into a bit of a grimace as she mentioned the missiles. ?Had to bail unexpectedly, so my load for those is a bit less flexible than I?d prefer; all I?ve got right now are two kiloton laser heads.?

?But hey, you gotta work with what you have.? She said with a shrug. ?She may be older than me?hell they surplused the last of the Mantas just as I was joining the Navy?but she?s still a tough bird. I?m not deluded enough to think she?d fair well against the current frontline Navy fighters, let alone any of the newer Corus or Sphere ships, but she?s got plenty of bite against anything you?d be likely to find in an OC system defense force.? As she spoke, her grin returned, and it was positively nasty.

 

[Outcast107]

When Walker was going respond to both Brian and Velka to where they can stay, he got a message from one of his crew. Listening in with the small radio device in his ear. A crew member said. "Um sir, there seems to be a battle going on in the asteroid field. A-and a distress beacon was activated. Some old Diplomatic one. Just hold one moment." He was talking to someone else as Walker waited.

"Jim whats going on?" Walker asked as Jim returns.

"Sorry sir, it appears that the Archer went ahead to deal with the problem."

"What?" Walker said and then whisper "damnit.." While he didn't mind the archer going to help, they should have still waited for him to read the scene. He learned that the hard way as he looked at the others. "Lets go, the Archer picked up a distress signal and went ahead to help out. We'll discuss living arrangements afterward. Board up everyone."

He then put his finger back on the device to send a message back. "Jim lets get going now once we get inside. Let everyone know inside whats going on." Walker then started to walk inside with the rest of his newly hired crew.

On the inside, One of the crew members played a message.

"Alert. Sweet Child of Mine is taking off. Grouping up with the Archer for a rescue mission."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

TGR Territory Border | Sweet Child of Mine | Devil-Fish Holding Container
"Pirates... I hate pirates."​

[hr]

As Red Mary led the young Shree through the corridor of the freighter's cargo section, it didn't take long until they stepped into a similar container as the one that held the Devil-Fish, only in this case, it wasn't taken up solely by a ship. There was also a large metal box with more than a few warning labels slapped onto it. But Mar payed the box barely any mind, and instead focused on the fighter that was being stored there.

Taking a few steps up, Mar smiled and ran a hand along the nose, and she even let out a soft, grunting chuckle at the sight of the pin-up girl painted on the side along with quite a few kill marks just underneath. It was clear that this ship had seen quite a lot of action in it's time.

"Here she is. Lockheed-Dynamics ICV-25 'Manta' Dual Environment VTOL Interceptor."

Looking back at the ex-pirate, Mar could see the look of pride on the Terran Woman's face, and she could definitely understand why. Some people didn't appreciate ships the way they did, and that was a real shame.

"Roughly two hundred thousand kay range, with fifty thousand klick top in vacuum. Like I said, she's 'DE' ship, so she does work in atmo, though tops out at the low hypersonic. She's got twin thirty mike mike chemrail autocannons with a fifty degree cone of engagement, in the nose, and twin MRAFM launchers on the wing tips. Had to bail unexpectedly, so my load for those is a bit less flexible than I'd prefer; all I've got right now are two kiloton laser heads. But hey, you gotta work with what you have."

"Well, that isn't so bad for this day and age." Mar conceded with a nod before taking another slurp from her tube of nutrient paste.

"She may be older than me...hell they surplused the last of the Mantas just as I was joining the Navy...but she's still a tough bird. I'm not deluded enough to think she'd fair well against the current frontline Navy fighters, let alone any of the newer Corus or Sphere ships, but she's got plenty of bite against anything you'd be likely to find in an OC system defense force."

Mar gave another nod and reached down to give the fighter an affectionate pat on the wing with one of her true-hands.

"She's a fine ship. Good lines, looks like she's built sturdy. And really, I prefer the older ships. They have more character." Mar said with a thoughtful smile.

[color=orangered]"Alert. Sweet Child of Mine is taking off. Grouping up with the Archer for a rescue mission."[/color]

The Shree Pilot's head jerked up at the sound of the alert over the shipboard comms, and spared a moment to glance at Red Mary before she made to bolt out of the container.

"Get prepped for launch! Once the Sweet Child of Mine is disembarked, you should go engines-hot and give the Archer some fire support!" she called back before hastily downing the rest of her paste in a single gulp.

It didn't take long for her to reach the helm, and she had taken the time to get there to shove the empty plastic tube in one of her jumpsuit pockets, and had put on her helmet. As she stepped inside, she immediately noticed that the main pilots seat was already occupied, which was more than a little irritating. So when she got there she hauled the occupant up and on their feet before shoving them to the side and sitting down herself.

"Out of the way, this is my seat now. You don't have some amateur up to bat when you have a clinch hitter like me." Mar growled behind her helmet before she started her pre-flight checks and hooked her helmet up to the ship systems.

She had to force herself not to rush as she did, however, given the mention of a sudden rescue mission. That told her that this was a time-sensitive problem with innocent lives at stake, but she couldn't afford to skip any crucial parts of these checks, because any one of the ships systems being irregular could potentially be a symptom to a bigger ship-wide problem, so she focused on the essentials.

Once she was done, she pinged Station Control.

"Station Control, this is the independent freighter Sweet Child of Mine, requesting permission to launch." she told them coldly.

 

[Athol]

"She's a fine ship. Good lines, looks like she's built sturdy. And really, I prefer the older ships. They have more character."

She smiled as Mar ran a hand along the wing, in much the same fashion as Mary knew she did. ?Yeah?they have a ?life? to them?one of those things that?s hard to explain to non-pilots.? She chuckled. ?Mar honey, I think we?re going to get along grea-? She never got a chance to finish, as Walker?s voice cut in over the ship?s intercom.

[color=orangered]"Alert. Sweet Child of Mine is taking off. Grouping up with the Archer for a rescue mission."[/color]

Mary?s head snapped towards the speaker, then she turned and dashed towards ?Misha?s? cockpit; Mar was already making a b-line for the hanger?s exit.

"Get prepped for launch! Once the Sweet Child of Mine is disembarked, you should go engines-hot and give the Archer some fire support!"

?Way ahead of ya!? She yelled at the back of the rapidly departing Shree. The tone in Walker?s voice suggested this was an impromptu ?scramble? situation, and not their over-all employer trying to hustle things along. As such, she breezed through a heavily truncated pre-flight, made sure the interior hatch was sealed, then dumped the atmosphere in the hanger by ?snapping? the exterior door open. The moisture in the air flashed into a crystalline fog as it blew out into space, and Mary, hard on her ACS was right behind it.

In her ear, she could hear Mar on comms talking to Traffic Control. Good luck with flying that pig. She thought. Keying her mike she radioed ?Sweety?. ?Mar, I?m punching out now?sorry?I?ll buy you a drink next time we?re in port.? She was far enough out her thrusters posed no more risk to the freighter, so she jammed the throttles forward. Diving through the traffic around the station, she laughed as she rolled her fighter between two cargo shuttles. Giggling like a mad woman, she listened to the controller go apoplectic trying to yell at her for her flying, and ?Sweety? for the unauthorized small craft launch during undocking. After another moment of that, she swapped to another channel. ?Archer, this Bonny Oh Two..Mary. I?m on your six.?

A query to ?Sweety?s? system gave her the ?Archer?s? sensor profile and transponder code, which she?d keyed into ?Misha? as friendly. Ahead of the attack craft, her sensors had a single light craft running an impressive evasion routine against a swarm of other craft. Curiously the runner was squawking what appeared to be a fairly old TGR diplomatic distress code, only any ship old enough to have one of those could not be pulling the maneuvers this one currently was. That was a question to be answered later; now, apparently, they were going to rescue the ship.

?Archer, you handle the ones closest to ?princess?, I?ve got the trailers.? She?d spotted a second group, under hard burn, that looked like they were trying to get around their intended victim?a standard ploy really when dealing with a fast and evasive target. Rolling towards them, she lit up her ECM, creating a wall of jamming and denying her targets any hint of what was coming. Amateurs. They should?ve jammed their victim from the get go?then maybe I wouldn?t be here about to fuck up their day.

Amongst pirates it was considered bad form to interfere with another crew?s prize, unless you figured you could get away with it of course, so normally she would?ve simply stayed back on board ?Sweety? and made snide comments about the take down; but now she supposed she was one of the ?good? guys. Dicky boy better be either coughing up some more credits, or covering my expenditures? She thought as she brought her weapons online.

Four ships had peeled off from the pursuit and were barreling towards the wall of jamming that she was kicking out, and kicking up some jamming of their own. Four on one, they should?ve had the advantage, even if she?s seen through one batch of ECM trickery there were still three others; unfortunately ?Misha?s? VI recognized those ships, and Mary had always made it a point to try and learn as much about her fellow pirates as she could?never know when you may get into a ?disagreement? with another crew. Filter programs and counter-jammers sprang to life and cut the incoming interference significantly.

Practiced fingers flicked toggles and pushed buttons as she keyed her weapons to life. The LiDAR array locked on to the lead two craft and fed target data to her missiles. As soon as she had tone [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk97ZHfOtLI], she fired and juked laterally and ?down? compared to her previous course. Her missiles broke clear of her jammers and the hostiles reacted accordingly, breaking into two, two ship formations?exactly like she was expecting. A programming change into the missile?s detonators caused them to go off almost a hundred kilometers short of their ?standard? intercept profile.

The pair of two kiloton thermonuclear warheads surrounded by multiple rods made of chromium which served as an x-ray gain medium, released x-rays when ?pumped? by incident photons created by the flash of thermonuclear detonation. Each rod functioned as a separate x-ray laser, the ?pumped? chromium emitted a pulse of coherent x-rays, in the direction of the long axis of the rod. The x-ray lasers formed a cone of destruction that tore through most of the attacking craft like a chainsaw. The lead two ships, a pair of Sphere surplused fighters that were older than ?Misha?, died before their pilots realized what exactly was going on; the light-speed beams of x-ray lasers tore through the fragile hulls, turning both ships into little more than expanding clouds of plasma.

The other two were ?coffin crates? like what Mary had been describing to Mar; fast civilian shuttles with weapons strapped to them. Though they were in let capable craft, their pilots reacted a touch faster, and both ships almost made it clear of the path of the lasers. The last ship took a glancing blow which caused a thruster to explode. He3 fuel fed a roaring plasma fire and caused the little ship to begin to gyrate wildly as centrifugal forces began to tear it apart. The time from launch until the death of the third ship was about a minute. The last ship was pouring on the thrust in an attempt to escape, but Mary was in no mood for that; her blood was up and she was hungry for another kill.

Waste of a missile. She thought as she switched to guns and increased thrust to close the gap. Now she had a solid lock, and the shuttle didn?t have nearly the manoeuvrability to shake her. The computer had a lead indicator to give her an aim point, and her guns swivelled to meet it. The target did its best to duck and weave, but it was all for nought; finally the reticle reached the lean indicator, and she pulled the trigger. There was a soft ?thrum? as the twin autocannons fired, and moments later her zoomed optics saw concussive flashes march across the shuttles hull. She fired a second burst for good measure, but that proved to be unnecessary as a series of secondary explosions tore the shuttle apart. ?Archer, you?re six is clear. I?ll hang back here to keep it that way.?

 

[mcpop9]

The female was panicking still, she saw the support fire come in and breathed out a sign of releif, as to if they were going to do something to her afterwards was a concern for later and not now. Resha pushed the fighter to the limiters on it before ducking around and asteroid. Eight fighters blew by her as she hid in the shadows, distress beacon down. She bounced transmissions over several asteroids. IT was open comms and her galactic standard was pretty shit, but she had enough to communicate.

"thank.... you." she got out in a distinctly thick and a accent that was unique even among the most obscure of the races. Now that Resha was broadcasting and recovering her breath; the pirates around her began to search, hoping the rest of their friends would keep the rescue party away long enough to find her. A diplomatic ship had to be worth some money, right?

While this was going on, the fighter was shifting forms, turning from the hidden fighter into a hidden mecha. The pland folded into her mecha's hand, the suit taking care of everything and leaving her in a far more agile craft. "i need.... help still.... around me.... bad guys." said the female, sounding like she was struggling for the words.

 

[FalloutJack]

With her initial strike having taken out a fighter, Grace was prepared to engage directly. There was actually a plethora of targets to choose from, more than had been anticipated. However, they were not very large profiles. A few hits should be enough to destroy, to decompress, or at least to send spiraling out of control. Space combat was all about how well you handled being riddled to pieces without prior warning. They didn't seem to take much notice of the first death, but then that could've been written off as an accident, not a well-placed snipe-attack. Just then, a communication came in.

"Archer, this Bonny Oh Two..Mary. I'm on your six."

"Acknowledged."

Mary would hear the voice of the white-haired girl for the first time, because it sure as hell wasn't Elliot that was talking.

"Archer, you handle the ones closest to 'princess', I've got the trailers."

"Understood."

If that was how they wished to do it, that was fine. They wouldn't get paid by any grateful rescuee unless that person remained alive, so it was better to divide and conquer. Of course, if any were in range while Mary went to go engage them, she was going to open fire with some of the Archer's turrets. All that velocity in rapid-fire slugs in space would tear such things apart. This was on her way to pursuing the other vessels, which had...lost their quarry. If they had lost it, she had lost it too, but they still didn't have it, which was something. A new communication followed, though, which meant she must've been seen.

"thank.... you."

Unfamiliar... Grace hadn't been around as much as Elliot, but she had in the past. She wondered if Elliot or any of the others knew this accent. The owner couldn't have had much experience with human speech, for all her trouble with the words. The only thing she could be sure of was that this was a female.

"i need.... help still.... around me.... bad guys."

"I know. We're on it."

Now, the beauty of a gunship was that it was a decent piece of work for flying into situations, gunning them down, and flying out again. The Archer itself was sort of the longboat privateer of space. It swooped by and cut down things on either side of it, while still covering up, down, and ahead. Not so great on behind, but you'd have to chase it down first. The searching pirates would first have another Hull-Piercer attack from behind and above, followed by the Archer passing through the new gap it had created turrets firing at close range to drastically-reduce their numbers. Any survivors would find said gunship - After probably having some sort of WTF reaction - moving behind a meteor, where it would turn to get up around it so that it was going over top of it sideways, rather than around the side, right-side up. Grace wasn't in their line of sight yet. She was waiting to see if they took the bait or did something else, provided any were still alive, of course.

 

[Outcast107]

"Out of the way, this is my seat now. You don't have some amateur up to bat when you have a clinch hitter like me."

The pilot didn't say anything as he just looked at the rest of the crew and gave them a "What the fuck man?" type look. They just shrugged and got back to work. Which the pilot gave Mar a dirty look, before walking to a empty chair as he lets her take over.

"Station Control, this is the independent freighter Sweet Child of Mine, requesting permission to launch."

"This is Station control, you are good to go Sweet Child of Mine." The SC said as they were given the green light to go.

Meanwhile, Walker just got to the bridge and was sort of surprised to see Mar already there. Sighing as he just shook his head lightly as he walked up to Mar. "Heh I see that you got into the job quick," Walker said as he watched her take off. While Sweet Child of Mine wasn't a heavy hitter, she still got Turrets in place for protection against pirates and other people of ill intent within the galaxy.

"See if you can send a message to our friend in need and get them onboard as soon as possible."

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Mother-Ship: Sweet Child of Mine | Converted Hanger
Hunting the Hunters
Edward Aubergine | Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

[b]Alert. Sweet Child of Mine is taking off. Grouping up with the Archer for a rescue mission.[/b]

​

Were this a proper warship, the announcement would have been followed by the blaring of klaxons, the sound of scrambling boots belonging to freshly woken pilots and turret gunners, the sounds of weapons being holstered by anti-boarder guards and a short pre-battle briefing. But this was no ship of war, Edward reminded himself as he climbed up the ladder that lead to the docking collar which connected the Sweet Child of Mine to the Redeemer. This was a mercenary ship filled with crew that had met for the first time not one hour ago. The Purple Brute considered it on the verge of insanity that the ship was already rushing into battle without a strategy other than not to get shot and rescue the ship in distress.

"Irina..." The Catican Pilot said over a Nanex communications channel, grunting as he pulled himself into the Redeemer's main cabin, his body taking a moment to adjust to the ship's higher gravity.

"Right behind you." Came the verbal response from the ladder, Ed turning his head in time to see the Merchant-Mechanic quickly pull herself into the ship, pausing long enough to stroke the hull of the ship like it was a living creature, which wasn't too far from the truth.

Despite their appearance, Catican ships, such as the Redeemer, were not fully manufactured as Terran ships were so much as they were grown. Like a giant space faring coral reef, the Redeemer's chassis was composed of a colony of stem-cell like organisms anchored to a manufactured skeleton. Depending on the organisms' position relative to the ship and the stimuli they were exposed to, the initially gel like creatures specialized, adopting a function that would help the colony survive. For instance, when exposed to the vacuum of space, the organisms on the surface of the ship would harden into the ship's hull, with some specializing as optical sensors. Because of their organic nature, anyone wanting to pilot or crew a Catican ship needed to have a Nanex system installed in their body. It should also be noted that due to natural organic constraints, the only components on the ship that were manufactured were the ship's engine, weapons systems and drones.

The Purple Pilot had already started his prelaunch checklist prior to entering the ship's cockpit, closing the hatches on the docking collar so that the ships could be separated at a moment's notice. As he strapped himself into the standing harness, he detected Irina's consciousness linking with the ship's drone, sensor and ECM systems.

"Redeemer to Sweet Child of Mine, Pre-Launch checks completed. Drone Systems and Weapons systems ready. Ready to launch if needed. Over." Edward reported to the pilot of the Terran Freighter.

"Why aren't we launching now and joining the others?" Irina asked, ever curious of her companion's choices, ever ready to learn about something that she didn't understand. While it was she that Edward followed about as bodyguard, it had been determined that during combat situations, he would be the one who was in charge due to his experience.

"Because if a group of those pirates break off and target the freighter, we would have to break away from the engagement and present our rear to the enemy, a dangerous proposition. If we don't notice them in time or we don't break away in time, the break off group would be able to fire on the Sweet Child of Mine and possibly destroy her." The Seasoned Soldier responded coolly, his muscles twitching in response to the adrenaline already surging through his veins, "While we are required to assist anyone requesting assistance, it does not mean we need to act in a rash manner that would jeopardize our comrades."

As he said this, his eyes focused on the battle that loomed before them, specifically the other pilots. He had no doubt that they would be able to handle themselves in a skirmish with pirates but he wanted to get a better feel for their piloting style so that he could see how best to work with them.

"Deploying point defense drones," Irina reported as they closed in on the battle. Sending one of the kinetic drones forward as a scout, she quickly found the source of the S.O.S, catching a glimpse of the ship as it completed its transformation into a mecha, "That's interesting... OOOPS!"

One of the pirates had spotted the little drone and decided to fire on it, forcing the Pretty Little P... Catican to pull back her drone or give away the VIP's position. Sending the little machine weaving in and out of the space bound rocks, the Drone Diva used machine's relative smallness to her advantage, firing from positions of cover.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

TGR Territory Border | En-Route to Distress Beacon | Sweet Child of Mine Bridge
"Please remain calm."​

[hr]

The Shree could practically feel the dirty look the pilot she had tossed out of the seat gave her behind her back, but she didn't pay him any mind when she got a pair of incoming transmissions. One was from Drift Station Control as they granted her clearance to cast-off. That wasn't surprising, though the second one was: It was from Red Mary.

"Mar, I'm punching out now...sorry...I'll buy you a drink next time we're in port."

It wasn't the best of timing, but Mar could understand the rush to get into the fight. Every nanosecond counted in combat, even she knew that as a civilian. So she nodded.

"Acknowledged, and good hunting, over." she pinged back before she started to ease the Sweetie out of dock.

She started slow, but quickly pushed the engines to their limit to get them on an interception course with the beacon itself. But even at full speed, they couldn't hope to catch a faster fighter like Mary's Manta Interceptor, meaning that they were going to be tailing behind for most if not all of this engagement.

"Heh, I see that you got into the job quick."

Sparing a single backward glance at the source of the voice behind her, Mar spotted Walker as he finally arrived on the bridge. Then her four eyes were back to the back-and-forth of scanning the various monitors that gave her their surroundings as well as the ship systems, and scanning what was immediately in front of them.

"See if you can send a message to our friend in need and get them on-board as soon as possible."

"Yessir." Mar replied without so much as looking away this time.

While her true-hands didn't so much as leave the main controls, one of her false-hands keyed in the tightbeam communications and directed a secure transmission directly in the direction of where the source of the distress call had been. The information embedded in the signal told her that it was a practically ancient Terran diplomatic ship..

"Unidentified Diplomatic Vessel, this is the independent freighter Sweet Child of Mine. We are currently inbound along with several friendly fighters, what is your status, how copy?" she transmitted.

As she had, she could hear the voice of Edward, the large, purple-furred Catican Trooper as he said that their own ship was ready to launch at any time. Mar was perfectly happy leaving the decision of whether or not they should launch, and when, to Walker.

 

[mcpop9]

Sitting in the asteroid's shadow, the girl prayed they'd be distracted long enough for her to make a break for the ship coming to rescue her. However, the tight beam towards her location had caused her to lose her element of stealth as she replied. "i... not... gone." said the girl as her response gave away her location.

One of the remaining pirates swung around came face to face with her suit. Thankfully, she had left her comms on in the panic and she began to speak. "Ny! Yee Dopo!" she hissed in a mixture of fear and sadness. There was a silent second before a bright light lanced out form an asteroid giving off incredible heat emissions. There was a hole clean through who had been the head honchos ship, a moltent hole where the cockpit and powerplant had been.

Over the comms was the heavy breathing of someone trying to calm themselves and hold in a scream. a nervous wreck would sound about right. "I... alive..." she said, activating her tag once more. The remaining pirates split after the show of force and losing the head honcho. The craft held a different profile as it slid upwards and into sight, a sleek and slick looking mecha, it had a lance that's tip was glowing red, in its left hand. "I... afraid... can i.... come onto you?" she asked, breathing heavily, the message directed at the large ship.

 

[Outcast107]

"Whoever she is, doesn't sound like any alien I know of." Walker mention and he knew quite a bit. "Alright, let's get our new friend on board. See which hold is free for her and then let her know where to go. I'm going down to meet her. Also please send a message to the Archer. I would like to have a word with them. Anyone else out there bring them back in."

Walker sighed as he walked out of the bridge and head towards the cargo hold. While it wasn't a big deal, he still didn't like how the Archer just ran off without support first, or even making sure it wasn't a trap. Though he couldn't really fault them that much. He would rather have a crew that is willing to help than one who is willing to let people die for no reason.

Walker would soon reach the Cargo hold, waiting for the newest guest to arrive.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

TGR Territory Border | En-Route to Distress Beacon | Sweet Child of Mine Bridge
"Anyone got the make-and-model of that ship?"​

[hr]

In what could only be considered a move of either inexperience, stupidity or simple mind-numbing fear, the reply from the source of the distress beacon wasn't over a return tightbeam, but over open comms. Whoever it was had effectively just broadcast their position to everyone in their immediate space, pirates and friendlies alike.

"I... Not... Gone."

Whoever it was, they sounded rather feminine by most species standards, but their accent was so thick and their speech so slow that it was hard to tell just what the species this person was. At the very least, it was clear that Galactic Standard wasn't their native tongue, though that didn't say much. Walker voiced his own thoughts on the matter, which weren't all that different from her own.

"Whoever she is, doesn't sound like any alien I know of."

It didn't take very long for the remaining pirates, having been given a rather heavy-handed show of force, to scatter as the Sweetie began it's approach.

"I... Alive... I... Afraid... Can I... Come onto you?"

Taking the opportunity to perform a more detailed sensor-scan of the source of the beacon, Mar flinched back a little in surprise as she read out the results.


"Captain, scans show that even though the distress beacon is of Terran origin, the ship it came from isn't of any known Terran make. Something's weird about all this." Mar told him with a backward glance.

"Alright, let's get our new friend on board. See which hold is free for her and then let her know where to go. I'm going down to meet her. Also please send a message to the Archer. I would like to have a word with them. Anyone else out there bring them back in."

"Will do." the Shree Pilot replied with a nod, before switching back to a tightbeam to the ship they were rescuing, saying, "Unidentified Vessel, this is the Sweet Child of Mine, you have permission to come aboard. Be advised, we are on approach and Hold 6 is currently unoccupied, over."

Then she pinged both Grace and Elliot aboard the Archer, and Mary aboard her Manta Interceptor.

"Archer, Bonnie Oh Two, return to the Sweet Child of Mine. We will be bringing our rescue aboard. And Archer? The Captain will want a word once you're back on-ship, over." she told them before switching off her end of comms and bringing the freighter in to bring their newest guest aboard.

 

[Athol]

Mary cocked an eyebrow as an unfamiliar voice acknowledged her call to ?Archer?. Who the hell is?right! Ellie has a partner. Watching with her LiDAR, she saw the ?Archer? cut a swath through the pirates with ease; she considered lending a hand, briefly, but the gunship seemed to have things well in hand?but at this range all she could have done was fire missiles, and laser heads were neither precise nor discriminatory weapons. Instead she hung back in an ?overwatch? position and winced internally as the ?diplomat? broadcast in the clear, telling everyone where she was. That was yet another clue to Mary, that their victim was not who she was claiming to be. ?Misha?s? VI had ID?d the distress beacon as an old TGR diplomatic one?one that had been out of service since before she?d been born, add to that a craft that was far more maneuverable than a ship of that supposed age could ever be, and an accent that was most definitely not Terran, made to ex-pirate rather suspicious.

She listened quietly to the in-system chatter, over on one of the traffic control bands, someone was still bitching at her and demanding she respond, but she paid them no mind.

"I... not... gone."

In the clear...AGAIN! She sighed. She guessed ?Archer? had tried a tight beam comm, but whomever this was, they were either unused to their comm system, or not thinking clearly. Out of effective range, she watched as the last surviving pirates, the ones that?d made the asteroid field, swarmed the signal source. ?Holy Hell!? She yipped as her sensors caught a massive thermal bloom that set the remaining pirates running. Why the hell didn?t she fight back before?

"I... afraid... can I.... come onto you?"

A craft slid into view, and Mary throttled up to get a better look at it. With optics and LiDAR scans, she saw a craft that was roughly humanoid in shape, and wielding a long spike that seemed to have been the origin point of the thermal bloom. ?Who the fuck are you?? She muttered quietly to herself. She hung in space quietly as Mar relayed landing permission to the newcomer.

"Archer, Bonnie Oh Two, return to the Sweet Child of Mine. We will be bringing our rescue aboard. And Archer? The Captain will want a word once you're back on-ship, over."

?Copy that Sweety. Bonnie Oh Two is RTB.? She replied. What?s the Boss? beef with the bounty hunters? She took her time, electing to remain in a firing position ?above? the flying mech, just in case it did something screw-y. Once it had stuffed itself into another converted cargo container, she returned to her own hanger and landed. Once she was down, and the bay was repressurized, she hopped out of her fighter and headed over to where ?Stumpy? was still all packed up. Aside from the old mech, she also had all her personal belongings stashed in the crate.

Rummaging around in her stuff, she retrieved her pistol and its holster, one of her bullpup rifles and its associated webbing, and ammunition for both. Loading both weapons, and double-checking the hold out gun in her forearm, she strapped the pistol to her right leg and threw the webbing on over her flight suit. Kitted up, she exited her hanger and headed towards the one with the new arrival in it.