Harriet nodded confirming what Kaeci had said. Walking around carrying her armor would be a pain so she had made prior arrangements to have her belongings delivered. The trip to their destination was relatively short with was both good and bad. On one hand it meant that they didn't have to walk far. On the other hand they now had a while to wait on the others to show and get things going. This left small talk on the table. While she could manage well enough with that task she was always much more at home testing or doing research.

Still if they were going to be working together it was probably advantageous to know at least some things about each other. Kaeci she knew well enough and their unique relationship lent well them sticking together. Knowing where to start with a conversation illuded Harriet though. Stepping aboard she turned and simply asked. "What would you like to know?" She was 99% sure that Stryker had never met an organism quite like her before. Not that she was the only sentient plant life in the universe, but there were none to her knowledge that bore such a human resemblance. Perhaps her question was a tad too open ended because she likely wouldn't explain her life story without good reason.

@t2wave@Hawlin

"Well, I suppose the most pressing matter would be a little briefing on your specialties." Stryker had poured himself a cup of coffee and gestured to the other two that they could help themselves if they wanted before continued "We've got quite a few battles coming up on this job, and I'd like to know what you can do, and what type of gear you favor, so I can slot you into the plans in the most tactically advantageous positions."
"Excuse me Stryker" the voice of the ship's A.I. interrupted "I must inform you that there are men outside the ship, they appear to be the ones bringing supplies."
The P.A system crackled to life "I got it Stryker" Carver said "Pre-flight's all done, and I want to make sure they don't lift anything off my ship."

--------------------

@Banana@Simple Unicycle@Tickout

"Nice shot" Kira observed "Mind if I take a crack at it before I head down below?"
She slipped over into the copilot seat and waiting for him to turn over control of the main gun. When the targeting computer went live, she took a moment to figure out the controls and got to work, lining up a perfect shot on the pirate's bridge.
"Smile you sons of bitches" she muttered as the computer dinged with a good tone, signalling a full lock-on. She unleashed the blast and watched with a grin as the laser cannons streaked towards the vessel, tearing the entire left section of the bridge to shreds.
"That was fun. Ok, control is going back over to you. Gun crew ready?"
She looked out the door and saw that Seth, Juli, Jen, Raisin and Maxi were all in position. So there was one last piece of business, she raised Ace's comms on a private channel.
"Alright, last chance bud." she whispered "If you want to stay on the ship and co-pilot, come on up. You don't have to come into the battle if you don't want to. This is your choice, but you've only got a minute or so to make it. Kira out."
"You good?" She said to Tibulus "I'm heading down to the shuttle. My pilot might want to come up and lend a hand here, but if not, I'm sure you'll be fine. Don't forget to come in on them at the right angle to put a shot in the main thruster, and a few more along the rear sector to ensure depressurization. I'll send a signal when it's safe to recall the shuttle. Good hunting."

------------------------

Down in the cargo bay, Kira pulled her helmet on as she boarded the shuttle and sealed the door behind her. It was a little cramped, but they'd make do.
"Alright everyone, shuttle door's closing, we're taking off in 60 seconds. Oxygen-breathers, take a minute to check the suit of the person next to you, make sure they've got a good seal. We'll be going through open space for approximately 20 paces, which is exactly 8 more than any of you will survive if the hermetic seals aren't secure. Especially once you factor in the extra time it'll take to get through any locks on the hatch door."

She looked at Amy and Taleste "Girls, I want you both on my six at all times. The rest of you are gonna be under the watchful eye of my dear brother here" She bumped Marcus on top of the helmet as she took her seat and got him to check her suit.

The alarm bells blared as the cargo bay ramp began to lower There was a shudder as the artificial gravity filtered out of the open cargo bay door just as the ignition and inertia field engaged on the shuttle. With a jolt, they were off. Two minutes of complete silence as the shuttle soared through the exposed space between the Revenant's drop point and the landing zone on the hull of the pirate ship. The shuttle pitched slightly as it came down to land. The team filed out of the shuttle and made the short trip across the hull with mag boots active. Marcus was able to pop the access hatch and one by one, everyone filed inside. Beyond the access hatch was a dimly lit airlock chamber. To the left was the grate to the ventilation maintenance tunnel that Kira's team would be crawling through, to the right a door leading to the rest of the ship. The floors were slightly shaking from the exchange of fire between the Revenant and the pirate vessel.

@Xandrya@Silver Carrot

"Ok everyone, this is it. Good hunting, check your sightlines, and let's give the bastards a swift trip to hell."
Kira got to work prying open the grate, talking her team through the plan as she pulled.
"Taleste, you take the lead, Amy in the middle, I'll bring up the rear."

@Dealdric@BKburke@Dark Light@Azereiah

Grayson followed Marcus closely, readying his MARS rifle by shifting it into fully automatic mode. SAL was right behind him, and to his left was the hulking figure of Vulcaan, who was carrying a heavy chaingun with no apparent issues. The fireteam proceeded down two flights of stairs before Marcus held up his hand to issue a full-stop.
"The forward cargo area is right beyond this door. I want a clear line set. Nobody goes too far ahead of the person next to them, lest they wander into the line of fire. Take cover and check your six, got it? Let's move.

With that, Marcus charged through the door, and opened fire. No going back now, the assault had begun.

(OOC: This is sort of what I have in mind for this cargo area, just an absolutely cavernous and dark room where you never know what could be around the next corner: )

---

(Sorry for the lack of response, been busy IRL and with other RPs. I know this is a short post that doesn't make up for my lack of posting, but I'll try to be more active from now on.)

@Crossfire

Ace, having stayed on the ship and being mostly silent for the entire time, received a comm from Kira. She told him this was his last chance to confirm if he was coming with them or staying on the ship to help co-pilot. "Gonna stay on the ship, ma'am. I feel that helping pilot is more suited to my skillset." He replied.

Taleste nodded, and took the lead wordlessly. From now on, the chatty thief would only speak when she absolutely had to, and as quietly and in as few words as possible. Her silenced pistol was within easy reach, on her belt, and her knife was in a string-loaded holster on her right wrist. She moved through the vent as if she had lived in vents all her life, fast and assured. She was now showing her colors as a serious and proud professional thief.

@Crossfire@Xandrya

Then...

---

Despite her otherwise insouciant character, Amy hugged Grayson back and held him close for a little longer than one would normally expect. She surprised herself as her feelings surfaced without any sort of filter and it typically wasn't like her to show her emotions to the world, at least when it came to her romantic feelings toward someone else.

"You take care as well, okay? This crew as well as I need you."

After pulling away, Amy grabbed her gear and didn't look back. It was easier for her to believe she didn't need to say goodbye than to have to face the possibility of the truth.

Now...

---

With a quick "You got it," Amy lined up behind Taleste as ordered, her gear recognizing the woman in its sights and informing her that she was in fact a friendly by the distinguishable tone it played through her ear piece. With her weapon at the ready, Amy moved forward as quietly as possible, using her above-average hearing to pick up on any possible movement around the three women.

"I'll be here, trying to keep my ship intact, as well as that one." Tibulus assumed that the Revenant would be able to be placed under his ownership down the road. He'd rather accept that as pay as opposed to actual money. A luxury yacht cruiser was something. This ship was another. Honestly, it's aesthetics appealed to Tibulus more than the sleek design of something like a GTX-IVC, and those were already expensive enough.

Couldn't modify them, either.

Tibulus continued to perform the maneuvers as he watched the pirates, a few stray gunners firing at the Revenant, but only hitting the most armored parts if they were hitting it at all. It was a bit unnerving, but then again, he was using only one set of controls. He had another co-pilot joining him shortly, and he hoped they could drive something like this. It wasn't the best drive in the galaxy, that's for damn sure.

@Silver Carrot@Xandrya

The gunfire had started now and the three women continued to inch their way through the vents, moving slowly but steadily away from the firefight. Kira reached around to pull her weapon from it's holster and held it at the ready.

"We're coming up on our exit shortly, guns ready, just in case there are any stragglers late to the fight. Silencers engaged if you got 'em. I'll get command of the airlock controls and contact the ship, Taleste, you watch the rear, cover facing towards the fight. Amy, watch to the front of the ship, those fancy goggles of yours should ping anyone hiding back there. Eyes on a swivel girls, don't want any of the bastards sneakin' up on us ok?"

--------

@Dealdric@BKburke@Dark Light@Azereiah

"The four of you to the left flank, they got reinforcements!" Marcus cried out between reloads. He had arranged his team in a standard bunker formation- the bulk of their fighting force clustered around the nearest central shipping containers, with sightlines down all three of the main thoroughfares of the cargo bay, and the Revenant's quartermaster positioned up high calling in with deployment intel as he saw the pirates moving in. He waved the Dalentian and the Revenant's mechanic over to the right flank to watch for incoming, then returned to his job of returning fire right down the main drag.

It was when Kira started talking that Amy readjusted then tightened her grip on her weapon. She wasn't nervous per se, but her breathing changed a bit, and she was more focused.

"If they sneak up on us then we're not all that great at our job," Amy chimed in, her attempt at some quick humor before they each branched off to handle business. Step by step, Amy inched forward as quietly as possible. She could almost hear her own breathing if not for the random sounds produced by the ship. As she went along, she scanned every corner and every space, quickly looking behind her at random intervals to avoid a surprise attack carried out against her. "Everything good so far," she whispered into her comms gear, then stopped when she caught slight movement behind some boxes just barely out of sight. "Scratch that, I have something. Keep your eyes and ears open, girls."

Whatever Amy saw obviously wasn't caught by her armor, so she decided to go ahead and investigate. Her team had been alerted if push came to shove, and it's not like she was walking into an ambush.

@Crossfire@Silver Carrot

Taleste stretched her back and legs after getting out of the vents. Of all the things that will kill her, improperly warmed up muscles won't be one of them. That done, she unholstered her silenced pistol and took the rear/right flank, often walking backwards as she did so and trusting her ears and her comrades to alert her of action to the front. That's when Amy mentioned she'd seen something, Taleste then turned forwards but still kept her eye on the right flank, with frequent glances over her shoulder.

@Xandrya@Crossfire

"Specialties? Well my expertise are probably not what you would expect to be among pirates. I'm a doctor with a focus in medical biology. So if your crew needs patching up then I should be more than qualified to care for them." Glancing at the coffee she went ahead and poured a cup. While it didn't have the same affect on her it seemed a little rude to turn it down.

She did make sure to dilute the coffee a bit as straight coffee was a bit more acidic than she preferred. "I've learned a fair amount of fighting and use of firearms during my time with Vanderos. But I wouldn't call myself an expert in combat." Though she wasn't really acting all that friendly beyond answering questions her natural presence seemed to soften her responses in ways that were not quite explainable.

Tobi listened to Marcus but only for a short time. Tobi moved behind one of the crates in the cargo area for cover. That's when it started to go wrong. We need to stick to his plan. I do not detect any flaws that would result in failure. Thus far, this is the best option. Tobis visor began to flicker red. I've held back for too long. No, you are going to get us ki-. They are gonna deep throat my barrel.

Tobis visor stopped flickering and stayed red. Tobi ran in a separate direction and wasn't seen for several minutes. Machine gun fire began to pick up as Tobi flanked them. He ran up to the closest person and jammed his gun into the man's stomach. Tobi opened fire, bullets began to tear into him leaving a hole in his torso. Tobi shoved his gun barrel through the created cavity and lifted the man off the ground using his gun. I'm borrowing this. His voice was scratchy and demented. Tobi pressed his attack and continued to charge the others while using the man as a meat shield. He continued to fire though the hole in the man's stomach that Tobis gun was lodged in. He emptied his mag and reloaded. After which, Tobi kept running while pulling out a cluster grenade. Tobi then activated the grenade and jammed it into his meat shields mouth. He then stopped his running causing the body to slide off his gun. While the body slid, Tobi kicked into a small group of people. The explosion from the cluster grenade caused viscera to paint the boxes and Tobi himself. The other pirates who saw this watched in horror. Tobi was not done. He holstered his rifle and pulled out his pistol. He rushed toward another group of people. Their armament was formidable but their trembling hands along with Tobis plating prevented them from taking him down. Tobi rushed, shooting two of them in the leg. He grabbed the first man closest to him.

Tobi tossed his own pistol into the air and channeled more power to his arm hydraulics. The other man could see as Tobis rapid punches turned the man's face to mush. Them man's brain matter and blood painted Tobi further. The man tried to crawl away but Tobi was faster. Tobi grabbed the man by the leg and pulled him back. Tobi then placed his leg on the man's back and proceeded to rip the man's leg off. The crunching of his bones and flesh tearing echoed through the cargo area. Tobi laughed as he tossed the man's leg to the side. Tobi then stuck his arm out catching his pistol and executed the man by shooting him in the back of the head.

Tobi was happy. Tobi finally got to prove himself to his team instead of fighting simulations.

@t2wave@Crossfire

Unable to turn down the invitation of a hot drink, Kaeci helped himself soon after Harriet. "Iz...ehr, infiltration? Human warfare iz facinatink...but zehr iz rules, ah?" he asked, confused about the extent of common perception as he was still alive and found this detail to be an interesting note. The excuse he'd been giving was that he was likely cheating in some respect, somehow apparently oblivious to his advantages as his tools were simply biology and instinct rather than technology.

Kaeci took his coffee black with a fairly large amount of sugar, seeing little point to creamer which merely dulled the bite of the roast. "I haf pets ouf a sort. Zehy are contained, zough hungry I vould imagine" he mused, having left Exctheis in its terrarium; a smaller setup than its food, though it didn't move around much, Kaeci decorated it anyway for 'morale'. "Vill be okay for now, zough~" he chirped, finishing stirring his drink and holding it close for a long black forked tongue to lap at the cup's contents. He recoiled, what seemed like a section of his face lifting and contorting into a grotesque spider-like sneer that lightly clicked in its twitching motions. "Geh...iz hot" he mused, spiked ripples of brilliant amber contrastingly mixed with a sickly mint green hue washing across his face and neck before dissipating.
Kaeci's face softly reset to the otherwise aesthetically pleasingly crafted ruse, the lines on his face and chin that separated plates and split mandibles neatly settling.

Lexi was in her armor, arming her weapons and preparing herself by basically draining batteries as steroids. She crushed the metal husk and went to the main deck with a evil grin on her face. Death, war, and energy was what made any of her species giddy, and to some odd extent, pleasured. "Bloooddd..." she said in a feral tone. She wanted to both drain every one of the enemy crew and release the Bolgates to destroy the ship. "This will be fun".@Crossfire

(OOC Note to Everyone: This phase is taking longer than anticipated to complete, so what say this be the start of one final round of posting before we regroup for an abbreviated phase 3 and 4?)

@t2wave@Hawlin

"Alright" Stryker said after a sip "Well, both of you should definitely come in handy on the rest of this whole experience. Once we regroup with the others, we'll be discussing phase three of the plan. One of you has a way to get in contact with Vanderos right? Gonna need to get the word to him in a day or so of how to proceed."

@Xandrya@Silver Carrot@Banana@Simple Unicycle

"Almost got it" Kira muttered to herself as she fiddled with the control panel. She'd almost cracked through the lockdown procedure, just a wire or two left to cut and re-route before their exit plan was secured.

"What do you see girls?" Kira said just as the floor shook and the dim overhead lights flickered. The Revenant must be passing by on another attack run. The control panel sparked briefly as Kira completed her hack. As soon as the shooting down in the other end of the ship stopped, they'd be ready to leave.
"Revenant, Kira" She said into the comms, hoping the ship was close enough to hear her "Airlock secured, soon as you neutralize those defenses, you're cleared to dock and get us off this bucket."
She stepped away and turned to face the others, raising her gun as she went.
"What is it Amy?"

@Dealdric@BKburke

The pirate's ranks were thinning by the second, especially after Tobi's massacre had kicked off. Grayson took it all in from his perch in the rafters, picking off pirates when he had a clear shot, and then he saw it. The light of a door sliding open and shut rapidly reflected off a shipping container. It had to be where the reinforcements were coming from. And odds were that wherever they were coming from was close to an armory.

"9 rows back, far right side. Time to close in."
"Copy that" Marcus replied. Down on the ground, he patted Vulcaan on the shoulder, a silent order for the walking tank to begin moving forward.
"Ian, you and those three lag back, start prying usable armor off the corpses." He pointed out SAL, Lataniva, and Joe "The rest of you, close in, we're gonna start moving up to the coordinates Grayson found, 2 by 2 formation behind Vulcaan and Tobi. Let's finish these sons of bitches off!"

Lexi, after the order to attack was given, went outside the airlock without a moments notice. She used a c02 pack to get there. She landed on the outside on the enemies ship hull, having a Bolgate eat the hull away while she killed off any resistance. Walking on the magnetic surface was fun. A pirate came out and tried to stab her, but got grabbed by the throat instead. "Now is that any way to treat a lady? I don't think so, better pay up!" and with that she drained everything on him and sent his suited corpse drift into space. When the whole was made, the pressure from inside blasted outwards. Luckily, not one of the pirates flew out. She released the rest of the bolgates, and watched them kill everything without hurting the armor. She shot guy after guy, and crushed or drained the rest. "BBLOOODD!! HEHEEHEH!!!" she cried manically.

---

---

The rest of the boarding team may have noticed the job was going extremely well. Which was to be expected -- after all, they were hardened mercenaries, pirates, and walking death machines. But then, the enemy crew was also made up of hardened mercenaries and pirates, each just as experienced as any of the crew of the Revenant, if perhaps much less... Talented. Renli had been holding a position near the rear during the entire assault, doing what he does best: never missing a shot. Between his comrades, there was more than enough firepower to easily wipe out the enemy crew in a matter of minutes, but the opposite also applied. Instead of focusing on kill shots, he was deliberately channeling far less power than normal to his Xaser Rifle for a more continuous, low power beam. The recharge time between kill shots would've been a couple seconds, which was fine for sniper duty, but not so good for close quarters combat.

Crewman after crewman found themselves blinded by the hair-thin stream of light, screaming out in pain and shock at their sudden disability regardless of where and whence they came. They hadn't quite counted on fighting what was basically a riot control android, and with each fresh burst of attacks from the Revenant's boarding team, the blind men were falling dead where they stood.

He calmly called out to Marcus, "I'm sticking with the assault group, sir. I'll help with looting the corpses after this place is cleared out."

He then strode forwards with the rest, taking a position on Vulcaan's other side from Tobi. "I'm taking point with Vulcaan, Tobi, and SAL. Should be easier for the others to take cover behind three than two."

@Crossfire@Dealdric@BKburke

"We have movement!" Amy announced, the shadows temporarily circling her before she was met with a few hostiles. Amy was quick enough to fire at them and get a direct hit as she launched herself about 10 feet into the air. But she was outnumbered, and as luck would have it, effortlessly subdued as a tranquilizer dart that due to perfect aim, managed to penetrate her armor through the soft layer of lining.

When she hit the ground, unable to move, the pain barely registered. The last thing Amy remembered was being picked up and draped over someone's shoulder before her world slowly faded to black.

---

An unknown of time had passed. It could have been a few minutes, or a few hours, but Amy felt extremely groggy either way, and for a moment, she was surprised she was moving. Well, her suit was moving, not her, and she came to the realization that whatever was in that sedative had slowed her heart rate enough for her armor to fully activate and take charge of its own movements. A lifeless body lay in the wake of what appeared to be a struggle, one of their own, and that's when she heard footsteps.

Damn!

Amy took cover, hiding behind a wall as she kept her eyes on the new visitors. When they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of their fallen comrade, Amy took the opportunity to jump out of cover and shoot both of them in the back, killing them instantly. Avoiding the time it took to reflect on what she'd done, Amy started making her way back down the halls to where she assumed the girls would be. After a few moments, she actually managed to find them.

"Hey girls, missed me yet?"

@Silver Carrot@Crossfire

"Don't worry kids. I'm comin'," Tibulus muttered as he continued dodging, taking control of one of the side guns and using it to fire at the opposite ship. Specifically, the guns of the opposite ship. He couldn't keep dodging so many guns at once, he would eventually take more and more damage to the point where he'd get in trouble with Stryker. The only thing that scared him about that was the threat that Stryker would, in some way, keep Tibulus from taking ownership of the Revenant when this was all over. That'd be all the payment he needed.

A green light erupted from one of the guns, followed by another from a separate gun as they were both taken out of commission, a smirk grazing Tibulus' skull. "That should make it easier on me." The cigar in Tibulus' mouth had burned to a crisp at this point, but just as quickly as it was dropped from the mouth, another one was there, a spark emerging from Tibulus' hand as it was ignited. After taking a deep puff of smoke, the Funganoid returned to his duty of dodging, hoping that everything was going OK on the other ship.

@Crossfire

Their objective complete, now they just had to wait to be picked up. There were no threats from the rear, but Amy had spotted hostiles and engaged them, though during the fight, she got hit by a dart, though this just seemed to make her mad, and she massacred the remaining soldiers with greater prejudice. Taleste was only shock when she saw the woman's face and realised that she was aleep! The suit was moving on it's own! Now THAT was technology! Taleste whistled, impressed.

One of the soldiers had dropped his gun and was backing away, towards Taleste, who holstered her gun, pulled out her knife, and tapped the guard on the shoulder. The moment he turned, she slit his throat, and as he lay dying, went through his pockets. Nothing of value there. Darn. She got back up and followed Kira. "Ok, whut's next? Jes to wait?"

When Amy caught them up, Taleste waved. "That's sem very fancy tech ya got thur!"

@Crossfire@Xandrya

@Dealdric@Azereiah@BKburke@Banana@Simple Unicycle

The Nekross had vanished, but just as Marcus was wondering where she'd gone, a blaring alarm and the sudden whooshing of oxygen being sucked into the vacuum of space told him everything he needed to know. Exasperated, he yelled into the team comms.

"Lexi! Get back in here goddamnit! Someone plug that hole before we all suffocate!" As he walked back to look up at the hole in the hull, the Dalentian, Lataniva was already hard at work weaving a psionic barrier over it. When it was sealed off, the alarm cut out, and Marcus was able to observe the corpses at their feet, swarming with small creatures. He looked over at Lataniva.
"Can you deal with this? Don't want those things to spoil the armor if we need it"
With a flick of her wrist, the Bolgates were flung into the air and stayed suspended.
"Control your beasts, and yourself, or I will do it for you" Lataniva said to Lexi, a slight hint of venom in her voice.

Grayson and the rest of the attack team had finished off the pirates, if there were any still alive on this bucket, they were in hiding, or locked out of this cargo area. While Joe and Ian got to work prying bits of armor off of corpses, Grayson and SAL were checking the corners while Vulcaan and the others were planting explosives. Grayson found a locked door, and if his cyber-eye's translation of the Perideian script was correct, he had discovered their armory.
"SAL, come here"
The robot walked over and after a short and unsuccessful attempt to pry open the door by hand, SAL loaded an explosive shot into his shotgun and blasted through the console, shorting out the locks and opening the door. Inside, they found rack after rack of weapons and ammo, and in the back, a row of helmets, most of which seemed to fit human-sized heads. Over a few minutes, the team wrangled together enough complete sets of armor to consider the mission a success, they loaded it into a couple of portable crates and radioed for Tibulus and Ace to bring the ship in.

@Xandrya@Silver Carrot

"You're ok Amy? Good" Kira said, lowering her weapon "We're getting out of here in a minute Taleste, hold steady and watch for any wayward hostiles"
The shooting had stopped, so she tapped into the comms to communicate with the others.
"What do you hear Marcus?"
A pause.
"Nothin' but the rain sister"
"Well, grab your gun and bring the cat in. Airlock secured, ready for exit when you are."
"Copy that, package secured, moving to you now." Marcus replied.

The remainder of the mission went off without a hitch, Revenant was able to dock and the team filed on, taking their hard-won prize with them. As the ship gained distance, Kira made her way up to the cockpit and clapped the pilots on the back.
"You did good, both of you. Now for the grand finale, we oughta be far enough away now, cut speed and spin us around, ready the guns"
One shot from the main cannon was enough to punch a hole through the ship and trigger their explosives. The vessel splintered apart at the seams, propelling debris out everywhere at high velocity.

"Perfect, now Farek and his goons will have no way of figuring out what happened until it's too late. Get us back to the rendevous point, I'm sure Alessio and Stryker are sick of waiting."

@t2wave@Hawlin@Tickout@baranica

When the ships reconvened and linked together, Stryker and Carver came across to the Revenant, leading a pair of unfamiliar faces. They introduced Kaeci and Harriet to the others before pulling Kira and Marcus into a meeting in Stryker's quarters, presumably to go over the mission and prepare for the next step in the plan.