Redemption (Rated T) - A Pirate/Fleet RP

[Speck]

Speck sputtered as she was literally dragged onto the station. Her stomach was still trying to settle from the journey.

"Excuse me!" She followed Cyborg to the desk, "This was your mission, not mine. You don't care. You never cared for anyone but yourself, your needs, your wants. Your girl, even. You made a deal. Have you no honor."

Her voice was slightly muffled through the dark blue sash around her head and face, "Well fine. I guess I'll sacrifice myself for... whatever the Captain has planned. It'll all go down on top of my head, and will probably get traced back to my guild. My home. I hope you know you've just risked dozens of lives for the sake of your... passion."

She stormed off to the main entrance, leading away from the space-docks. A handful of strange looking creatures held up signs for their families, and greeted some of the passengers. The intercom repeatedly welcomed the newcomers to Spacefleet in dozens of languages. Speck sulked all the way to a directory, remembering the bag of communicators she suddenly had with her.

"Which way to the food court... which way to the food court..." She said to herself, looking up and down the map, "Ah!"

Her gloved finger landed on a large area on the map. She strode through a sliding door, but stopped as soon as she passed through it, looking back. Did that door just sigh? Shaking the thought away, she continued on her way to the food court.

[Cyborg]

" Don't you say anything about Keng, it's not even your business. So here I'll give you advice, you stop bad mouthing me and Keng, and I'll keep my cutlasses away from your throat, and heart! Got it?!" He said as he decided to grab a map, and headed off towards the hospital wing. As he walked in he found a nurse, and asked " Excuse me, where's Captain Keng?"

[Omni]

Jaliv and Fesserfa continued analyzing the readings displayed in front of them, occasionally bombarding the bike with something to see if there was any reaction. As the two pondered what kind of test to try next, the readings on Jaliv's screen fluctuated without warning or apparent reason.

"Fesserfa," he said, pointing to the screen, "I am reading space/time anomalies originating from the vehicle."

"What?!" Fesserfa ran over to view the readings for herself. "But we didn't do anything!" She paused. "There are legends about powerful magic-users with supernatural bonds to animals or objects. I wonder if…" She stopped, realizing it wasn't something they could easily study that theory at the moment, and that there were other things to do. "We should tell Brian," she said as she pulled out a communicator.

"The anomaly is expanding beyond the containment field. We may be under its effects."

"Still, we should try. He's assigned to study this, he should know that something happened." She held her communicator near her mouth. "Brian Terson, do you read me?"

----------

Ethan decided that sitting around eating boredly while Fraze was off talking with a group of people was silly. As he grabbed his pizza and stood up he told Brian "Well, good luck with your research." He told Siber to 'heel' - Siber reluctantly followed - and headed over to the group that was forming. "Hello. My name is Ethan. I'm a friend of Fraze. I saw most of you during the planetside war, but we haven't been introduced."

Brian reached for his communicator as it vibrated. "Brian here."

[Kengplant]

"Captain Keng?" asked the nurse... who was actually a robot. "There is no Captain Keng registered in the ward." it buzzed.
"No, no, not Captain Keng, Commando Keng." came the much more biological voice of another nurse from behind a curtain. When he walked out he was revealed to be quite human. His name tag read 'Jerry Cal'. "She's in the military's critical ward. I'll go get her for you.

---

(the military ward)

"There's someone here to see you Commando."

"Huh?"

"Some grey cyborg kougra fellow. I forgot to ask his name."

"Cyborg?!" asked Keng genuinely surprised that he was there: not on the space station, but at the hospital.

"Yea, by the looks of him, unless that metal is a mask. It looks some-what out of-"

"No, no, that's his name."

"Nickname?"

"... No it's... actually.. I don't know. Hmm...
..
..."

"M'am?"

"Oh right. Thanks. I'll be out in a moment."


---

After a short talk with her second in command from the mission (a fellow Commando named Clahrah) Keng arrived in the waiting room.

"Cyborg! Well, that's a pleasant surprise. Seems I'm running into all sorts of familiar faces today." she said with a wink. After all, she wasn't technically supposed to know that he was coming. It wasn't long before she was giving him another big welcoming hug. "Well, welcome to Spacefleet. I uhh..." Keng looked back over towards the military ward, "You kinda caught me at a bad time. You should have warned me you were coming to visit."

[Fraze]

It came as no surprise to Fraze that Rider immediately set off in the direction of the bar. He wanted to say something like "be careful," but decided it wouldn't help anything. "Eesh. Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster...not the best introduction to extraterrestrial drinks," he mused--to himself or the Pirates, he wasn't sure. "I'll see if I can find any headache pills. They sell 'em at the entrance to the bar, actually. Whoever thought of that was a marketing genius."

"Well, I'd just like to get a grasp of the schedule of the connection between the moon and the planet in general," Hunty explained. "I mean, there's no telling when or how we'll go back and I'd much rather be prepared so that I can plan ahead a little and such... for instance, when the next flight arrives from the planet and when the one after that leaves for the planet, and the time gaps inbetween, stuff like that."
Fraze flushed slightly, realizing he had misunderstood her question. Before he could answer, she continued.

"Although I wouldn't mind a private tour around the HQ in general. I'm probably not about to get another chance of visiting this place."

"Ahh, right. Again, if memory serves, shuttles leave the surface every four hours, six flights a day. They arrive at noon, 4 PM, and so forth. Arrival and departure times are staggered an hour and a half, so the shuttle arriving at noon will leave again at 1:30 and arrive on the surface at 2 PM. Very, very rarely, flights from the surface are delayed due to weather conditions at takeoff. But we don't really...have weather up here, so departing flights are usually pretty prompt."

Fraze paused now. He would have liked to give his friends a tour of the station. But the truth was, he was still kind of under watch due to the events of the second Guild War. He didn't want to get in trouble for giving a tour of the off-limits areas of Spacefleet.
"I can't really give you a very in-depth tour of the station," he told Huntress apologetically. "But I can at least show you around the area open to the general public. Also, the group tours of the station are ten shinies per person and leave every half hour. You can probably get a discount with your whole entourage. But if you wanted a tour of the areas off-limits to civilians, you'd have to get authorization to do so first."

At this point, Ethan came up to the group. "Hello. My name is Ethan. I'm a friend of Fraze. I saw most of you during the planetside war, but we haven't been introduced."
"Ah, hey Ethan!" Fraze said. "Sorry, I kind of left you stranded over there. This is Huntress, that's Kat, Rider just found out about the bar, and I'm afraid I don't remember anyone else's name."

[Cyborg]

" I'm sorry, umm if you don't mind I'll go with you. If it won't be a problem, or if you want me to. I need to talk to you afterwards, it's very important." Cyborg said as he gave Keng a big hug.

[Omni]

"I'm sorry, umm if you don't mind I'll go with you. If it won't be a problem, or if you want me to. I need to talk to you afterwards, it's very important."

A young, red-headed, human nurse, looked over as she heard this - it wasn't so much eavesdropping as it was overhearing, partially due to her location, plus it was unintentional - and watched as the cyborg, anthropomorphic cat hugged Keng. She lowered an eyebrow at the cat's behavior, then turned back to a patient.

----------

"Ah, hey Ethan! Sorry, I kind of left you stranded over there."

"That's alright." He took another bite of his pizza.

"This is Huntress, that's Kat, Rider just found out about the bar, and I'm afraid I don't remember anyone else's name."

"Nice to meet you." He looked over at the dog that was trying not to be noticed, and gestured to him. "That's Siber. Who else is here?" He asked this to the pirates.

----------

Brian's voice seemed warped, as if going though a doppler effect.

"This is Fesserfa. Come to the lab ASAP."

Fesserfa's voice seemed warped as well, and the replies seemed delayed both ways.

"Fesserfa? What's going on?"

"Come here and see!"

[Amneiger]

Amneiger was walking back to the science labs with the book Sev dropped in a secure container when he heard a familiar-sounding voice. Oh no... He stopped to listen and heard the voice again, this time with another voice. What's he doing here? Amneiger had met Cyborg during the last war. He had seemed dangerously reckless and impulsive, and Amneiger wasn't sure what Keng saw in him.

Well, there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it other then telling the security system to keep a close eye on Cyborg. In the meantime, he needed to get this to the magic department of the lab.


---


A few minutes later as Amneiger walked into the Research sector, he felt...something. A kind of...twisting, of...something. Somewhere...somewhere...that way? No, that way. No, that way?

Amneiger's sense of self preservation was well developed after years of experiments blowing up in his face, so the first thing he did was turn around and go back into the corridor. The next thing to do was to find out more about what was going on from a safe distance. He stopped for a moment as he tried to remember who had been in the lab when he had left it.

[Kengplant]

"First of all, you're not allowed in there honey. We don't let people just wander around the hospital disturbing patients, not to mention that section is for military only without express permission which you don't have and I'm not going to give, only their family members are going to be given that privilege.
You're at Spacefleet now dear. For once in your life you're going to have to follow some rules, and if you break them there's nothing I can do to help." Keng warned Cyborg with a very serious stare. "Now c'mon. I've checked on my troops. A few are badly injured but they'll all live and the doctor was about to kick me out so they could get some sleep anyways. I believe I promised I'd show you my ship if you ever came to visit. This way."

Keng held Cyborg's paw as she led him out of the hospital wing. She would have to take him the long way around to the private landing bay of SF personnel as it connected mostly to restricted areas. The bay itself was also restricted, but ship owners could bring who they liked to and from their ships (providing they weren't arrivals to the station).

[Kat]

"So, what now?"

"What do you mean, what now?"

"We should've followed them."

"Heck no, Jingleheimer, we have no idea where those crazy people were going!"

John, Jacob and Jingleheimer were walking back into the streets of Tabloid Town. All of them had agreed that it was better for them to double back and look for more clues about their grandfather's death - and the deaths of their family. Besides, those people were surely going to the moon, what with all their fancy gadgetry. The moon! What would demons be doing on the moon, anyway?

"True," Jingleheimer agreed, shrugging. "But we're out of leads again. What now, O great older brothers of mine?"

John felt his stomach, and the other two siblings heard it growl with theirs.

"We eat."

* * *

Sounds of raucous cheering led the triplets to the Grey Lupe Inn. It wasn't much like the Landfish, but it would do.

The first things they saw were demons.

And before John or Jacob could stop him, Jingleheimer hurled one of his infamous jingling bombs into the fray.

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]The bomb went off with a lot of jingling, as was to be expected from a Jinglebomb. It scorched the demons closer to the door.

"They even send thier children after us," said the young orator. "How weak and pathetic humans are."

Schzain had slipped into Stealth Mode and was pondering what to do next. Certainly, she would be justified in slitting the little boy's throat, but it was probably not worth it. He didn't look like he had a single shiny on him. He might be more useful alive.

Instead, she pressed a needle coated in vemon into the boy's wrist. Almost instantly, his movements became slower, more sluggish. The demoness shifted back into the visible spectrum and caught the orator's eye. The orator gave her that secret sort of smile.

"You fancy yourself quite the lawman, don't you kid?" said the orator. "Listen, have you ever heard of a place called Spacefleet?" The muscles in the boy's jaw had gone slack - he couldn't answer. "If you have," the orator continued, "Tell them that you knew that General Kyvr was coming, but you couldn't stop him. That is my name, Kyvr, and I've been made a general in this new army of rebellion. If you can move your mouth at all, tell those other two that they should forget about you, and grow wings and fly to the moon. If they want to be heroes in this sickening tale, they should grow wings and bark at the moonmen like the dogs they are."[/glow]

[Kat]

"How weak and pathetic humans are."

"Oh, shut up! You don't hear us calling you weak or pathetic now, you know," John shot back, drawing his long dagger as he ran forward. Jacob backed him up with two shorter knives, and the two of them rushed to their brother right after the bomb went off. Never mind the smoke; after years of being with Jingleheimer and his bombs, they got used to it anyway.

They were too late.

Jingleheimer looked as though something invisible had restrained him. He started moving less and less, and when he tried opening his mouth to say something, he couldn't. Only his eyes, wide with fear, could tell Jacob and John what was going on.

"...If they want to be heroes in this sickening tale, they should grow wings and bark at the moonmen like the dogs they are."

"As if we'd obey you! What have you done to our brother?" John demanded as Jacob tried to support Jingleheimer, who was now very much like a stiff board. "If you kill him..."

"Even if he doesn't, who cares?" shouted Jacob, his voice quavering. "Kyvr, or whatever your name is, you will pay!"

And with that, John launched himself toward the general with a feral war cry and daggers in both his hands.

* * *

"Well, I have to say, this is a nice place you got here," said Kat, staring all around her. "What's the specialty on the menu?"

[Speck]

Joce had stepped away from the alley, and back inside the hideout. Just in time to have Noah Speckleton leap towards her in an attempt to get out his anger. She sidestepped, rather annoyed at Noah's new disposition.

Joce sighed as Bennet withdrew from the door he was guarding, his prehensile tail swishing back and forth as he walked. Noah Speckleton bounded into the wall, and punched right through a stud. The mage spoke to him, "Relax, Noah. You'll get to see her soon. If those ninjas trained her well enough."

"It's always 'if' with you, isn't it," Noah growled, baring some sharper-than-normal teeth. He withdrew his arm from the hole in the wall, flexing and rubbing his hand. There were no cuts or bruises on the hand he had punched the wall with.

"I don't have eyes everywhere," She began, "Nothing is certain--"

"Nothing is set in stone," Benett finished for her, sitting down on the old couch in the room, "We're late, Joce. We don't have time for this right now."

"Late? Late for what?" Noah looked up from his uninjured hand. Bennet gestured for Noah to come closer to the mage and himself. Once he was close enough, Joce transported all of them to just outisde the Grey Lupe Inn. Bennet and Noah cringed under the bright sunlight just before swooping inside.

"Late for the meeting. And it looks like the party's just begun," Joce said upon observing the current scene. Instead of calling over to General Kyvr, Joce nodded to Bennet. He nodded back, tearing one of the would-be heros off of his identical brother. He twisted both of the boy's arms around his back so that he couldn't move. Well, at least, so that he would have enormous difficulty moving his arms.

Joce breathed in deep, pooling her energy, calling it to her hands. Once a glowing orb of dark purple was swirling between them, she shot it straight at John's charging back. She hoped her spell of illusion would hit its target. Joce Farlap had never had the best hand-eye coordination in the world, but she was still a decent enough shot.

[Jina]

20 minutes later, the shuttle Anester was on had arrived at the moon. The monkey once again stuck around appearing as a pet until she could get past any customs or security the moon people might have.

Then she fell back and tried to find Speck. She spotted her argue with the cyborg, then storm off. Anester followed her.

---

"Nice to meet you. That's Siber. Who else is here?"

"Well, I'm Jina," she said, holding out a hand. "And I'm hungry."

"Well, I have to say, this is a nice place you got here," said Kat. "What's the specialty on the menu?"

"It better be something I recognise."

[Huntress]

Hunty managed to gain the upper hand in her fight with the Fleet's food ordering system and got herself a plate of... something. Bloody Mary stated that he'd rather eat a table leg than that - on the basis of table legs being more organic - but it didn't actually taste half bad.

She also managed to make something of Fraze's info on flights and looked around for the time. It took her a while to realize that the big digital display on a nearby wall was actually a clock and calculated a little in her head. Hellcursed fancy technology. She was getting a little sulky by now, a fish out of water, a pirate far away from home in a situation she'd much rather not have been in overall, had she had the choice.

But then again, she had to admit that the company wasn't half bad.

"So I'm assuming that one flight just came in and another leaves in nearly an hour and a half?" she asked, remembering at the last second to swallow before speaking. Diplomacy. Fweh. "Well, we're unlikely to leave just yet... five hours, maybe six, or maybe even more, hnm..."

Hunty's voice drifted off to absent musing, then she suddenly realized that she wasn't being very polite.

"Eh, forget all that," she said with an apologetic grin - something that wasn't too common for her. "Everything at its own time. Alright, boys, we don't land on the moon every day so get yourselves something to eat and don't waste time, this is one of our few chances to look around without the threat of getting the police or whoever on our heels at once - in other words, we're pretty much on a vacation here, so might as well enjoy ourselves, right?"

Bloody Mary seemed to lighten up at that. "Do we get any allowance for souvenirs and the like?"

"No."

The meepit would probably have argued - if for nothing else then for the sake of arguing as he usually did - but something caught his attention on the side. Hunty felt him turn and shot a glance in the same direction, and noticed Speck enter the food court. Or, well, someone wearing the ninja clothes Sev had fetched from the ship, anyway.

She turned back. She'd never had an excellent poker face, but she did hope that her face hadn't displayed any sign of having recognized her, or any too obvious signs at least.

Bloody Mary, being poker-faced by nature, sunk off her shoulder and climbed back up a moment later while the meepitgang that'd clustered around the captain's feet spread out, each in their own direction, having been given city pass and permission to look around. After all, they were on a holiday there.

One of them, a meepit just like any other, had incidentally trotted off in Speck's direction. She wasn't entirely sure whether these sneaky measures were actually needed, but she always agreed that it's better to be safe than sorry, so she obediently sniffed around by a few nearby tables, then landed right at Speck's feet and looked up.

"Ahoy up there!"

Hunty was, at the same time, poking at her space-plate that seemed to lose most of its appeal halfway through the meal, and pondering Fraze's suggestion for a tour. Not that there was much to ponder.

"Well, it's not like we're interested in restricted areas," she was really hoping that her voice or expression or something wouldn't give her away there, lying through her teeth like that, "they're usually restricted for a reason and I'm not fond of places that can blow up in my face." Well, that was true, at least, that's why they'd sent Cyborg. "So if you have the time," gods, this food-thing really wanted to get stuck in her throat, "then we could perhaps go right after the meal?"