Redemption (Rated T) - A Pirate/Fleet RP

[Jina]

"All civilians, please proceed to the mess hall in an orderly fashion."

Anester quickly pulled her hand away from the target, just in case he started moving. He did.

Then she wondered why that message had come through, and figured that she might as well listen to it. It was probably important, what with the alarms and everything.

Anester hopped up onto the shoulders of one of those heading to the mess hall and jumped across to others. Once she arrived she climbed to the top of a food stand and sat among the aliens who could fly.

---

Jina had been seperated from those she knew by the crowd. She looked around to try and spot them, but instead saw Anester.

It is the monkey that tried to steal from us. What on... the moon is it doing here?

Jina started to make her way towards it. She didn't, however, notice the crowd coming in from the sides.

Ten seconds later, she was on the floor, unconscious, with many people walking over her.

---

Lieutenant Verom looked out over the battlefield. Those guns are strong. Our demons might not be able to fight them for long... He smiled to himself. He was going to have fun after all.

In his black... everything, he could have been a part of space. At least, if he wasn't standing in front of the planet he might. Even his skin had no colour to it. Only the whites of his eyes were... well, white. But at least they added to the look.

A well placed blast destroyed a group of demon troops. Verom immediately started a spell.

Necromancy could be so useful at times.

[Fraze]

Fraze got up on a table, scanning the crowd below for Ethan. It was surprisingly easy to find him, since Ethan was one of the few people in the crowd who had managed to get anyone's attention at all.
Over the intercom, a new message played. "Life support systems online. Alert! Station is under attack. Repeat, station is under attack. All non-combat personnel are to proceed to nearest defensive sector."
Fraze took a moment to contemplate the term "out of the frying pan, into the fire." Some of the crowd seemed to hear this, as the general turmoil seemed to increase slightly.

Deciding it would be better to spread out, Fraze leaped off of the table and did his best to maneuver to a place in the crowd some distance away from his teammate. Trying to get everyone to the mess hall one at a time seemed like it would take far too long, so Fraze chose a more expansive approach.
He yelled. As he yelled, his voice was channeled through his suit, amplifying it and allowing it to carry over the roar of the crowd. "Everyone, please go to the mess hall!" he cried. Any other time, this would have drawn stares from all over the civilian section. Now, though, only people within a good five foot radius noticed him. "You will be safest there in case of either an attack or another loss of life support. Please stay standing, we need to get everyone in there."
With this, the people near him turned and began making their way to the mess hall. Fraze allowed himself a moment of fascination at the fluid flow of large, solid objects--as this small cluster of people turned and walked toward the mess hall, others near them followed, and more and more. A good thirty people in all had gotten to the mess hall that time, but the crowd soon filled in the gap left by them. He tried repeating the message again, and more left. And again. Ever so slowly, the crowd thinned, and with a shock Fraze could begin to see several bodies spread out among the forest of legs.
One appeared to be breathing, he wasn't sure about the others. He dearly wanted to take them to the infirmary, but knew he couldn't yet. Still calling for people to go to the mess hall, he picked his way to the closest body to see what he could do.

[Kat]

"Oy, Fraze, do you need any help?" Kat called out through the dissipating crowd. She raised her glowing staff high for him to see and levitated onto another table.

[Kengplant]

"Thanks dear. You're supposed to get info on Leraye aren't you? I think we may have just found the perfect excuse. The fleet has demonic life sign patterns. Now I'm not really up to date on planet side new but I suspect after the ruckus he caused during the guild war..." Keng ran a search on the demon's name in conjunction with recent news. "Well, that's all the proof of a decent lead I have on this. It will be enough to warrant my suspicions a file."

Without waiting for a reaction from Cyborg she opened up a connection to defenses again. "I need information on Leraye. I have reason to suspect he could be linked to the invasion which appears to be largely demonic in force. Do we know anything on his current whereabouts?"

"This is Sub-Commander Kygit. That information is classified. What's your clearance?"

"This is Comdo. Keng. I'm sending you my clearance number now and requesting access to the information under Emergency act 178-C."

"Under that act I can grant you access but the information has been encrypted and our decoding systems have been shut down and locked off in lue of the compromization of our security."

"Send it. I think I know someone who'll be able to help. Requesting permission for spec. ops. Fraze to view the information."

"Granted. If you can find anything out about this attack it will be much appreciated. If this Leraye is connected perhaps he'll have information or can be negotiated with."

"Understood. One last request: may I have a team of my choosing for the search is possible?"

"If you can find anyone who's not busy be my guest. But under the current situation I don't want you taking away anyone busy on defense or crowd control."

"Thank you Sub-Commander."

"Good-luck."

With that the transmission ended, and a message appeared in her inbox. "That'll be it. Fraze's suit might have a separate decoder from the main system's. He has to receive encrypted messages through his suit all the time." Keng explained as she transfered the message which was currently gibberish onto a chip for transport.

"Life support online". came the report from the intercom.

"Oh thank goodness! ... We might want to wear the suits anyways though."

[Cyborg]

" Darn, I was really hoping I'd get to hack some computers, but doesn't matter we got the info. Wait a minute, Fraze, as in the Fraze that sunk my ship and almost drowned me and my friends, then locked us in a cube? You're joking,....right? Or do you expect me to work with this guy!?" Cyborg asked as he put on the suit.

[Speck]

Speck flung a few shruiken at the security officers, then ran behind a bookshelf. They didn't find a one of their marks. Man, I'm really out of practice. She was just about to sneak up behind one of the officers when the lights returned to normal. Another officer shouted, "Behind you!"

The officer she was sneaking up on turned, then hit Speck with the butt of his weapon. She stumbled, then ran for the entrance to the library. Maybe if she got into contact with the pirates, they could help. She cursed herself for dropping the communicator outside the library.

Just as she was about to burst through the automatic doors of the Library, she turned to her back and smiled. Perhaps she could escape after all!

When she came out to the hallway, she was surrounded by security. She froze and said, "Oh bugg--" just before being knocked out by a stun gun.

The officers that had been tracking her in the library followed her out shortly.

"Was she the only one who was in the library?"

"Yes, sir."

"Take her to cell number 355 for interrogation," The three officers nodded; two of them picked up the unconscious Speck and dragged her off for detainment.

---

"Pff. These two? They're just along for the ride," Joce said to Jacob, gathering some magic into her hands. Bennet shrugged, and Noah continued to sulk by the door. Joce shot the two orbs of magic at Jacob. They burst into a swarm of wasps, making a bee-line for the knife-wielding boy.

"What's it to you, anyway? Have you got some sort of hero complex or something?"

[Fraze]

Fraze barely heard Kat's familiar voice. "Oy, Fraze, do you need any help?"

He turned to see her standing on a table, her staff glowing brightly. He thought for a moment. Technically, this was a Spacefleet matter, and he did just tell them not to get involved...but he wouldn't be able to get to those wounded people for a while, and from the looks of it neither would Ethan or anyone else working on the evacuation.
"Yeah, that'd be great!" he called back. "There are some people on the ground who've been trampled, can you help them?"

He was about to repeat his litany of instructions for the people nearby, when a message appeared in his vision. His suit projected it into his eyes, but it gave the illusion of floating in midair at a comfortable reading distance. "Incoming encrypted message from Comdo. Keng. Decrypt and read?"
Yes, he thought in response. After a momentary pause, he was greeted with a veritable wall of text. Wait, was this about Leraye?
Not wanting to be standing still for too long, he closed the message. As he called once again for people to make their way to the mess hall, he was composing a response to Keng. "Everyone, please make your way to the mess hall!" "Keng, why did you send me this?" "It's the safest and best-protected place in this section of Spacefleet right now." "I'm helping move everyone in the civilian section to the mess hall hall." "Please be careful. Some people are injured, either step over them or help them to the mess hall." "...Wait, it was encrypted. Did you just need me to decrypt it for you?" "If someone is badly injured, please lay him or her on a table. We will be giving medical attention as soon as possible!" "I'm not sure if that's the case, but I'm sending back the decrypted message if it so. There's a ton of stuff on Leraye here, do you think he has something to do with what's going on?"

[Kengplant]

Nov 23, 2008 9:27:48 GMT -5 Cyborg said:

Darn, I was really hoping I'd get to hack some computers

"To heck if I'd let you do that. I'd like to point out the current problems caused by a hacking. And yes, that Fraze. Get over it hun. That war's over, focus on the one at hand. By the way, you're now part of that team I was asking the Sub-Commander about. Nothing said I couldn't use volunteer civilians so long as they have in-fact volunteered and know how to not shoot their own team."

Keng was surprised when she heard a response from Fraze, as she hadn't remembered sending the encrypted file to him. She wasn't sure how secure communication systems were at the time. She checked her command log to discover that the computer had interpreted her explanation to Cyborg as a voice command, and sent the encrypted file to Fraze.

"Hmm.. I need to turn down the comprehension levels. They seem to be set for someone less familiar with system commands..." she mused to herself, then opened up a channel with Fraze: on purpose this time. "Sounds like you don't have the time to read it but yes, I do have suspicions Leraye could be connected to this. I checked recent local news and it seems demons have been rallying all over the planet declaring Leraye as some sort of leader. Some have gone as far a religious cults, others have him more as a mascot. One has a theme song." Keng hit a play button.

"LORD LERAYYYYYYYYE!
Beaaconnnn of demon kiiiiiind!
He will show us the waaaaaay!
His wisd-"

"And that's enough of that. I'm sending you the articles if you want to scan through them. I guess Kit started a revolution after all." Keng trailed off thinking of the propaganda he sent directly to the minds of everyone during the last guild war. "Anyways, thanks Fraze. I'll be meeting you down in the mess hall soon. Keng out."

[Kat]

John was too late.

Joce's orbs turned into wasps that headed straight for Jacob, who veered away from Bennet and ducked onto the floor. Unfortunately, quite a few of the insects got through anyway, and Jacob winced as he felt his hands and his face.

"If you're not talking, neither are we," John answered. "You know we want to save our brother. That's all you need to know!" He clamped his hands down on Joce's hands, hopefully keeping her from casting any more spells.

* * *

"There are some people on the ground who've been trampled, can you help them?"

"I'll do my best," said Kat, vaulting off the table and heading for the nearest person. She held her staff close and closed her eyes, trying to feel his life-force.

She got nothing.

Biting her lip, she went over to several bodies, the purple light from her staff ebbing away into a faint glow. She couldn't keep it burning for too long, lest she ran out of energy. Besides, she could sense the people's life-forces without it. Still, it was often a big help.

There was no doubt about it; many of the people had been trampled to death, and Kat just knelt there, her eyes wide. It was a terrible way to die, and she wouldn't wish it on anyone. Her shoulders shook as she willed herself to be strong. This was no time for tears; they would remember these casualties later on and give them proper burials. If it was possible here, that is.

Then her senses detected something. A feverish life-force that gave her hope. She followed it to a young man whose eyes were half-closed, and who reached out to her when she approached. He didn't speak, but she knew exactly what to do.

But at the sight of her staff, his eyes opened all the way. He probably thought she was going to finish him off with some kind of barbaric weapon.

"This won't hurt, I promise," Kat whispered, and the staff began to glow again as she took note of his injuries. "I can tell that you've got fractures in your arms and legs, and your vital organs..."

She looked up. "Fraze! Fraze, I found someone! He's alive, but just barely, and my magic won't be enough to heal him!"

[Huntress]

"For a crowd of this size, we have about 12 hours' worth of breathable air without life support. But people are panicking--breathing more heavily--so probably less time than that. If, somehow, all the external defenses--both energy shields and physical armor plating--are breached, and the breach can't be closed off, all the air in this section will all be evacuated into space. Depending on the size of the hole this could take anywhere from a minute to half an hour--meaning everyone would either suffocate or get sucked into space in that same period of time."

Hunty paused, digesting all that. "One day I'll learn to make the difference what I want to know and what I really don't. But... shouldn't you guys have plenty of backup systems and suchlike for the occasion?"

"Never rely on your sci-fi knowledge in real life situations," Bloody Mary prompted, craning his neck to watch Fraze take out his box-thingy. "I swear, do you have to keep it there? Ever thought of, youknow, getting a safety deposit box? Or hanging it off your neck on a chain? Or using the other shoulder?"

He wouldn't have been caught dead admitting that he was only being so talkative because he was freaked out because of the situation. But it worked well to calm him down; not to mention the only alternative would've been making a little puddle, and he had more pride than that.

Besides, the box-thingy was pretty interesting in its own weird way. So when Fraze asked: "Bloody Mary, coming?" and jumped down, the meepit just perked his ears and clinged a little more tightly to whatever he could get his paws on, sniffing the new air around him frantically.

"Right behind you," he said. "Although I don't think you have anything I'd be interested in." Meepits, being small mass destruction weapons by themselves, don't use anything that doesn't leave their paws free, which didn't leave many choices. But he did use the chance to look around, make mental notes, and remember anything that might come in handy later.

When Fraze got out again and excused himself to go do crowd control, Bloody Mary remained sitting on his head, ears still perked and paying full attention to everything. Hunty pointed her crossbow at the crowd at the same time, causing a rather interesting wave effect.

"Hey, miss, watch where you're pointing that!" someone shouted, forgetting even to panic. Impending lack of air isn't much of a problem compared to an acidic crossbow bolt pointing at you from a couple feet away.

"I am watching." Hunty gave a cheery smile. "Which earlobe do you use less?"

"Not funny!"

"I wasn't joking."

"Good, cos it wasn't funny!"

"Howsabout you all just stand still then and I won't have to fire warning shots?"

"Very diplomatic," Bloody Mary mumbled. He knew that this was Hunty's take on stress relief and crowd control all at the same time, but that was still a little...

He couldn't even finish the thought before the intercom boomed again - this time with better news, at least - and a moment later the head he was perched on suddenly turned into a loudspeaker. Meepits don't exactly have excellent hearing, but they still have considerably good animal ears.

Once his ears stopped ringing and he could focus better on the surroundings again, the crowd was already thinning.

"Creative," he admitted, if a little sulkily, then fell quiet to watch. Hunty had lowered her crossbow and leaned against a table, looking at the bodies on the floor with a scowl. She was... 'shocked' wasn't the right word. Surprised, mostly. They were in a high-tech facility with highly advanced machinery, and yet something like this had happened. So quickly, too.

So much blood in one day.

She turned her head, blinked and leaned forward, squinting. That one body there...

"Isn't that Jina?"

"Honestly," said Bloody Mary, sinking to Fraze's shoulder again as it was a little more secure, balance-wise, than sitting on the head, "for all the bars this gang goes to whenever we land, one'd think that they already know how to avoid getting trampled in a struggle. Hey, if you can get a needle and some thread somewhere, I know someone who can perform miracles as far as healing is concerned. And we need miracles right now cos the attack is probably still taking place."

[Fraze]

"Sounds like you don't have the time to read it but yes, I do have suspicions Leraye could be connected to this. I checked recent local news and it seems demons have been rallying all over the planet declaring Leraye as some sort of leader. Some have gone as far a religious cults, others have him more as a mascot. One has a theme song."
As Keng said this, Fraze was once more telling people to make their way to the mess hall. However, when the theme song began to play, what should have been "It's the safest place to be right now, well protected in case of an attack" came out more like "It's the safest place to be right now, well proNYAGHADIBIDDABAtected in case of an attack." Oddly, the outburst in the middle of the speech got more attention than the speech itself. Fraze took a moment to regain his composure and go over the new information. He had been there when Leraye disappeared. But then, considering that both technology and magic had ways of doing this, it meant nothing. The demon who looked to Fraze like some professor might still be around.

At this point, Fraze heard Kat's voice once again. "Fraze! Fraze, I found someone! He's alive, but just barely, and my magic won't be enough to heal him!"
Though this was good news, Fraze immediately understood the subtext--most, if not all, of the others she had found had been dead. He had medical supplies in his Box, but that might take a while to get to and he needed to do his job now. Besides, he suspected that if Kat couldn't save this person, neither could anything he had. "Take him and put him on a table!" he called back. "Do what you can for him and then see if you can find any more. I'll see if I can get some medics here."
With that, he contacted the medical bay. "This is Special Ops Fraze. There's a badly wounded man in the civilian area near the mess hall. Can you send someone down?"
The response took a while. In the meantime, Fraze went back to his herding job. The crowd had thinned considerably, and he could now see at least a dozen bodies on the floor, not counting the one Kat was with. "Esso, this is the medical bay. We already have someone heading toward the civilian area, who should be arriving soon. Where is this person?"
"I've asked someone put him on a table in the mess hall," he responded.
"Understood. If there are any others, bring them to the same place."
All right, that was that. This was the best he could do.

Fraze was tired and distracted. So when Bloody Mary started speaking, Fraze made several brief, unsuccessful attempts to for him--before realizing that the meepit was perched on his shoulder. "Honestly, for all the bars this gang goes to whenever we land, one'd think that they already know how to avoid getting trampled in a struggle. Hey, if you can get a needle and some thread somewhere, I know someone who can perform miracles as far as healing is concerned. And we need miracles right now cos the attack is probably still taking place."
"Society as a whole is just one big disaster away from turning into a mob of so many panicked, screaming monkeys," Fraze answered tangentially. "Or land squids, or animate plants, or sentient blue rodentoids. 'Fraid I don't have any string on me, no. I thought you'd be sarcastic enough to realize we don't really use stuff like that here."
After calling still more people in to the mess hall, he spoke again to the meepit. "I never answered your question. I usually keep that Box on...or in my person, because it's my...eh, call it my duty to carry it. It's safest there because I won't misplace it and it can't get stolen, but I'm keeping it out now because I've got a hunch I'll be needing it. I couldn't really give a more complete answer without delving into a long and possibly angsty story that you probably don't want to hear and I can't tell right now."

((Note: When I'm surprised by something, I quite often do make a sound something like "nyaghadibiddaba."))

[Kat]

Kat looked down at the man. She couldn't figure out how to move him without causing him pain. Plus, fractures were out of her league. Her healing magic only extended to minor injuries; she had no idea how to fix broken bones. Trying would be too risky.

She closed her eyes, and moved her staff the way a conductor flicked his baton. The poor man slowly began to rise from the floor, and once again, his eyes were wide with fear. He even began mumbling incoherently; possibly expressing his wish to be let down ASAP. But Kat shook her head and merely said, "I'll set you down on this table, all right? I promise."

But he didn't listen to her promise. He began to twitch uncontrollably and whimpered so much that she had no choice but to let him back down with a sigh.

Perhaps he was scared of magic. Or at least, anything supernatural.

Kat sighed. "Well, I'll stay with you, if you want..."

He shook his head so vigorously that she had no choice but to back off and find Fraze. With another sad sigh, she told him, "The guy doesn't want me to move him at all. I think he's afraid of magic or something."

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]"Society as a whole is just one big disaster away from turning into a mob of so many panicked, screaming monkeys,"

And right now, Rider couldn't say that she particularly disagreed. She had had to stand on a table to avoid being trampled.

She took Ventratta from her pocket. "If things get bad, I want you to get to the Meepit Realms. Your people aren't to come out, not for anything unless I summon you, do you understand?"

Ventratta was silent. Meepits don't make promises they can't keep.

"Cap'n, tormenting the civilians will get us nowhere. If you'regoing to torment someone, find one of our attackers."

---

Every army needs recon. That's why Schzain found herself taken from Kyvr's unit and placed into a recon unit, at least temporarily. The High Warmaster's orders were clear. He needed to know what the defenses of the Spacefleet were like, how many able-bodied fighters they had, any secret exits.

That's how Schzain stumbled across Red, standing on a table and looking for all the world like a forlorn child. And that Yurble, wasn't he with her when she came asking questions?

... That woman with the crossbow. Of course. Red had gotten her entire guild involved in this chase after Leraye.

"The Spacefleet have called in reinforcements," she whispered into a magical radio on her wrist. "The Pirates Guild is here, all strong, able-bodied fighters. I believe there are a few mages as well. I repeat: The Spacefleet have called in reinforcements."

On the other end of the transmitter, the High Warmaster knew that seige was no longer an option. The pirates could do what the Fleet alone could not - overpower his warriors one by one.

"Generals, prepare for a full assault on Spacefleet. We will take them from every side.

The Spacefleet's domes were being blasted.

A rat knows when the ship is sinking. The hairs on the back of Rider's neck had been standing on end for some time now. perhaps she hung out with rodents too much for her own good. But everything in her was telling her that the ship was sinking.

"We don't deserve this albatross."

Schzain, now burning infrared and clutching her dagger with vengeance in her heart, stood between Rider and Hunty. She would only have time to stab one before one of the mages detected her.

Hunty was the leader of the pirates, but Rider was her personal vendetta.

What would Kyvr want her to do?

She plunged her blade into Hunty's unsuspecting back.[/glow]

[Omni]

At the moment, Ethan was still doing the same kind of thing he was before.

"It's okay," he tried to soothe an alien child, "everything will be alright."

"Then why do you have guns?!"

"To be sure everything will be alright."

The announcements, plus the chaos in the cafeteria, weren't helping to calm her. "I'm scared…"

Ethan paused, then thinking of a way to distract her, grabbed Siber. "Look! A puppy!"

----------

Meanwhile, Fesserfa had made her way to Brian. "What happened?!"

"You tell me! Even the guy who beat me up didn't seem to know."

((May add more later, must go for now. Or not.))

Another announcement was heard. "Well, we can worry about that later. Right now we need to get somewhere safe." Fesserfa began to untie Brian. It was like trying to undo tight knots on a rope made of rubber. At the risk of repeating herself, Fesserfa said "How did this happen?"

"I said that…"

"No, I mean, what caused you to become so… elastic?"

"My only guess is- ow! It has something to do with the test we did earlier. …Do you think the lab is safe? Maybe I can figure out what happened."

"I suppose it is high security," Fesserfa said as she managed to get a couple loops out of Brian's arms. "Plus, Jaliv is still there, and we'll want to try to keep the research safe."

"Yeah, we better. Are you almost done?"

"I think so… I don't suppose you could relax your muscles?"

[Huntress]

Luckily for Hunty, her back was quite possibly the most reinforced part on her body. Not only was the toolbelt-corset she wore made of thick leather, but its back was also covered with various belts and straps meant to act as pockets. Most of them were empty, and the leather wasn't thick enough to stop Schzain's blade, but it was still thick enough to resist the immediate force of the slash. Therefore Hunty could feel the pressure as the dagger cut through the leather, instinctively jerked forward at once, and got away with a scratch and a torn corset. And, of course, a jolt of pain through her back.

She spun around and, acting on sharpshooter instincts again, sent a crossbow bolt at whoever had been in the position to stab her. She didn't have to see it to shoot at its rough direction. Except she didn't see it even after she turned around.

...and her back hurt.

"See, if you guys did use needle and thread, I'd be able to get you out of this pickle right now," Bloody Mary was currently telling Fraze a few paces away. "There's never a sense in getting too fancy. I remember this one time - the heck?"

He'd smelled fresh blood. And a quick look around showed him Hunty who was acting like someone with fresh blood on her.

The meepit moved forward as if wanting to leap down but then decided against it. He'd never understood why people always run towards the possible danger, and he wasn't about to drop that policy. So he craned his neck out instead. "Huuunty?"

"Yesss?" Hunty's eyes had blanked out a little. She was straining her ears now. No luck.

Bloody Mary was fully aware that anything he could possibly ask in that situation would just sound lame, but he asked anyway.

"What happened?"

"Hard to say." The captain backed away from the spot. Her back still hurt, in that nagging numb kind of way. The meepits were clustered around her feet, looking confused. They couldn't pick anything up either.

"Well, we might be getting bigger problems than that," said Bloody Mary, being much more of a rodent than Rider would ever be. "If you guys have some sort of a fullscale battlestations command here, then it'd be high time to use it."