"It has been five hours, Captain, and still No sign of any hostile threats."

The Prince Nebula shined a beautiful shade of purple, pink, and blue, from the light of the newly formed star. It was one of the Captain's favorite views in the galaxy, but there was no time for that. Raymond Chase, the Captain of the Monroe and leader of the Marauders was too busy scanning the area. The crew has been under constant ambushes and firefights for three days. Ray's intense green eyes were focused on the radar systems, and the cosmos. The physical body of the ship's AI, Tango, stood right behind the Captain, watching him with pale blue eyes and an expressionless white carbon fiber face. "Why stop following us now...?" Ray muttered quietly, leaning back with a sigh.

This has been the longest period they've had of peace since their mission began.They were tasked with retrieving classified Committee cargo from a race of nomadic space pirates known as the Ulnar. They reminded Ray of giant naked mole rats, except their teeth contained the galaxy's deadliest poison, with no known cure. That should have been their first red flag. Finding their giant fleet was easy. Finding and flying towards the right ship with the right cargo was made easy by their pilot. Getting out with the cargo, and a few extra boxes for spending was more difficult. The pirates were relentless, and have been following the Monroe across the galaxy ever since. The Marauders have been one step ahead so far, but their luck seemed to be running out... Until now.

"Captain, none of your crew has had a time to sleep in quite some time. I can keep defenses on standby, while everyone rests." The monotone voice did speak some sense. Tango has been saving Ray's life for over three years now, and although many were skeptical about fully functioning AI, Ray trusted Tango with his life. The Captain didn't speak for some time, scratching his chin, and staring at the magnificent purple dust outside. He pressed a button on the cockpit's console, and cleared his throat. "Alright, everyone. Tango has offered to keep watch while we all try to get some rest for now. No arguing, this is an order. If we don't die in an ambush, I'll let you know when they attack again."

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

Ray stumbled into his quarters, which was dimly lit by the small lamp on Ray's large wooden desk. debriefing tablets, old maps, and charts, and a computer interface littered the desk. Odd trinkets and artifacts littered the walls, shelves, and corners of the room, as well as his large bed in the corner. His most prized possession, though, was his antique vinyl record player. He had one exactly like that back home, before his step dad sold everything he owned and moved out...

Ray took off his belt with a sigh, tossing it and his revolver gently on the desk, before sitting on the edge of his bed. Raymond had been through a lot over the years, he knew he could handle anything these space rats could throw at him... He was more concerned about his crew. Some were criminals like himself, but others were foolish enough to actually volunteer to be on his team. The ones too good to be killed by a bunch of space pirates. He promised himself no one would die under his leadership again... Not like Neera 4.

His left hand started to shake slightly, his eyes grew heavier, and before he could get up to put on some music, he fell onto the bed, fell asleep immediately.

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

"ALERT ALERT, ENEMY SPACECRAFTS DETECTED."

Raymond shot up with a jolt, snorting loudly, looking around in a daze. "I'm up, I'm... Ah, shit.

"Raymond Chase..." A disgusting voice echoed through the ship's comms. Ray rolled his eyes and cursed slightly as he stood up.

"You brought this upon yourself. You have no idea what you have stolen, and now you all must pay for your mistakes. There is no escape."

"Tango, get this space rat out of our comm link--" A large explosion caused the whole ship to shake, sending Ray off his feet, hitting his old record player.

"Captain, there is a breach in the loading bay. They are boarding the Monroe."

"Of course there is..." Raymond tapped his ear, grabbing his belt, and weapons before walking out of his room, as he did the old record player's arm slowly fell onto the record,playing loudly.

"Rise and shine, people, we got uninvited guests on my ship. Aamara, Max, meet me in the cargo hold. Yasaliah, I need you to get us in position to shoot these assholes. Sam, group up with Tony and get your asses on the turret controls--"

Ray didn't expect to see them so quickly, but the black armored, rat-looking creatures crawled their way into the hallway, screeching at him as they charged. Raymond held his rifle in front of him as he was backed to the wall. He right hooked it in the face, pushed it away and fired shots at his head. He spun to dodge a leap from another, taking out his revolver, and firing another bullet. He picked up his pace, racing to get to the docking bay to see if his loadmaster has made it.

"Come on, you ugly freaks!" Anderson, the loadmaster, yelled, firing off his shot gun. Raymond had made it into the large room just in time to see the show. He charged towards Anderson, firing shots off at the hideous looking rat pirates. He ducked a punch, and uppercutted one of the pirates with the butt of his rifle, spun, and shot another that attempted to bite Ray.

"Captain! Nice of you to show up!"

"Oh, I didn't want you to get all the fun, Anderson!" The Captain replied, kicking a pirate in the face as he climbed onto the cargo box. The loading bay wall was destroyed, leaving a small opening for the Ulnar ship to release it's crew onto theirs. Luckily it was a small shuttle, there wasn't too many of them. The Marauders were experienced. They weren't going to be taken down by such a small force.

"Brace for impact, another shuttle incoming." Tango warned, but it was too late. The collision rocked the ship again, sending the two men flying off the box, and into a crowd of Ulnar. Ray cursed with the landing, managing to kick a couple before getting back on his feet to run. He felt Anderson behind him, panting until he heard a scream. Ray's eyes went wide with fear as he saw one of the Ulnar sinking it's teeth into Anderson's leg before being shot, and a number of curses.

Raymond stopped and ran back towards his friend. He had known Anderson for quite some time, even before his years as a Marauder. Ray managed to kill the last of the Ulnar for now, rushing towards Anderson, and propping his head up. "Hey, Cap... I might need to put in my two week's notice."

"Shut up, Anderson." The captain muttered quietly, tearing Anderson's pant leg to see how bad it was. The skin around the bite was already turning green, his face was pale, his eyes bloodshot and runny. Raymond tapped his ear comm again. "Rae--Doctor, Anderson's been bitten. I'm bringing him up, and I hope to god you made some breakthrough in your Ulnar antidote... Everyone else, get these bastards off the Monroe and shoot their fleet to pieces." Raymond's voice seemed a bit cold, slightly different than his normal tone, but his eyes showed fear, and his left hand shook uncontrollably.

A few hours before the breach of the Marauder, Yasaliah Josk rubbed the sleep our of her blue eyes- they were bright and sparkled when the light hit them just right. All three parts of her eyes were different shades of blue, but it was hard to tell as they disappeared beneath the slow, tired blinks of her pink eyelids. Yasaliah was a member of the Satasi species. She was made up of a variety of attractive cool colors, mostly a soft pink. Her purple hair was tied into a high ponytail. Covering her body was a simplistic line-dot pattern of teal. Tattoo-like, though it naturally formed on her skin when she turned 16- a little early for Satasi to get their pattern. The Satasi pilot believed it to be her most attractive feature, and as such wore what could be considered revealing clothing. A dark pink crop-top that most women wear to the gym, a denhim short shorts. When she wasn't so abysmally tired, and she had nothing to do, she could often be seen smugly tracing the pattern on her skin with her index finger.

But no, Yasaliah wasn't her usual self. It had been stressful to say the least. The Committee fucked up, and now the Marauders were sent on a "risky" (read: near suicidal) mission to steal from giant, ugly, beasts Ray compared to a creature called 'mole rats' on his planet Earth. They looked like nothing Yasaliah had ever seen- nothing on her home planet was so objectively repulsive.

Captain Ray says that it's time to get some rest, because 'Tango will keep watch'. Great. A robot. It doesn't even have real eyes, how can it see out the view finder? Yasaliah wasn't going to sleep, she didn't trust that hologram as far as she could throw it. She did take her hands off the console though, leaning back in her chair, exasperated. It was only a matter of time until those creatures found them again, and it would be up to her to get them outta there. No ma'am, no sleep. Not yet. A few moments later, Yasaliah was snoring quietly, slumped in her pilot's chair.

"Soriyunka, lorishod teeri!?" She cursed, confused and slurred, in her native tongue, startling out of her slumber as warning blared over the ships communication system. She woke up half-way to falling onto the ground, the breach knocking her from her chair. Damn it! What was she supposed to do, sleep with her seatbelt on!? There was a small amount of dark blue blood dripping her from bottom lip. Scared and frustrated, the pilot attempted to get herself situated when another shuttle struck the ship, knocking her onto her ass.

"Fuck's sake!" The woman shouted in very much English, strained from the terror welling in her chest as once again she failed to prevent the Ulnar from getting aboard. There was a brief moment of reprieve, allowing Yasaliah to buckle her seat belt and warm up the console.

"...Yasaliah, I need you to get us in position to shoot these assholes..." She heard in a string of the Captain's orders over the comms. Yasaliah responded curtly, "Yessir."

The Monroe began to take evasive maneuvers, the artificial gravity of the ship preventing the inhabitants to hit the ceiling and break their necks. Using various monitors and info-gathering equipment, the experienced pilot was able to get her position in space relative to the Ulnar cruiser. Her objective was to get into an advantagous position. If she lined up the Monro perpendicular to the Ulnar ship, turrets on the top, bottom, and port of the ship would be able to open fire. Yasaliah did as such. From the enemy pilot's position, Yasaliah is high above and to the right hand side, firing down upon them. She continued to try and orbit around the enemy ship, keeping perpendicular for maximum turret LOS, while trying to prevent the enemy to get a good bead on her.

Yasaliah yelped as she heard a slam on the door into her pilot's room. An Ulnar pirate was on the otherside, trying to get it. Yasaliah realized with a sinking sensation that she had not locked the door, and if it wasn't for the actions of Tango she would be dead already. Shit. Either way, if left alone, she assumed the Ulnar would be able to get inside somehow, whether it be brute force, a cutting tool or overriding the control panel.

"Can I get some help over by the cockpit? At least one of them is trying to get inside." She shouted over the Comms, the worry slightly trembling her voice.

---

---

Max thought to question his orders to report to the cargo bay when the ship was under attack thinking the defense of his ship better served with him linked into the ship’s turrents but orders were orders and arties didn’t argue with reals.

He’d been relaxing at the ship’s fire control console when the alert had sounded and just enough time to set the controls to auto track making him part of the computer link. Then he’d headed as quickly as he could to the cargo bay as ordered unlimbering his Rainmaker as he made his way at a brisk jog.

The 10mm was linked into his cookiecutter sighting the crew all rated as friend in his FOF the smart linked weapon feeling familiar in his hand having carried it now for about 15 years. Many would have wanted a larger or energy weapon to repel boarders but he prefered his smart gun because it could also FOF critical systems and act accordingly.

He almost made it to the cargo bay without incident till he encountered the Rats that had somehow gotten between himself and the Captain. There were three of the uglies looking at him and making the mistake of thinking they held the better hand; that was an estimate they’d never regret making as armor piercing rounds lobotomized them in less than 2 seconds. His conditioning, programing, and instincts singing their battle song elevating his biology into full battle mode as he lept over their bodies and rushed to the Cargo bay.

When he entered the cargo bay the auto tracking systems were pinging him with requests to fire on craft that were showing hostile intent as the Pilot threw the ship through a series of violent maneuvers. He saw the Captain with the Doctor who’d been injured just about the same time the Captain was issuing further orders.

"Rae--Doctor, Anderson's been bitten. I'm bringing him up, and I hope to god you made some breakthrough in your Ulnar antidote... Everyone else, get these bastards off the Monroe and shoot their fleet to pieces."

Then he heard the pilot

"Can I get some help over by the cockpit? At least one of them is trying to get inside."

Had he been a greener crew member Max might have cursed his luck or the confusion of battle but as an Aug of nearly 30 years of active combat experience he was immune to such trivial concerns as the fog of war. A quick scan of the cargo bay revealed no adversaries so he applied his initiative and turned without so much as a by your leave and rushed to the critical space occupied by the bridge.

Varieties of different lush plant life from all over the galaxy covered almost every inch of available space in this singular room, making the room resemble more of a greenhouse than a place a person would sleep in, let alone live in. The floor had small walkways, each one leading to the only clear areas that the plants had yet to invade in the small bedroom space but that was the way the owner preferred it since it reminded her a bit of home. It wasn't to say that she collected them for her own pleasure though since almost every plant within the confines of the area had a medical purpose but she wouldn't deny the scent of the flowers were relaxing and the feel of the foliage gave the utmost comfort. Sadly, even the plants held no effect on Luirae Driani this day since sleep had evaded her and everyone else for the last few days since it was always one constant battle after the next as the Ulnar space pirates (which had been dubbed the Rats due to the Captain's description) continued their rampage on the Monroe with barely any moment of peaceful escape. It was easy to see that if this pace kept up that it would be detrimental to the crew but right now nothing else could be done. Rae would have been pleased if the crew could rest but for now, she had other important matters that were rattling around in her mind that she could handle. The safety of the others was all that mattered to her and she would continue to work hard even if she wasn't in the infirmary.

At this very moment, the multicolored woman was arched over her desk and peering into the microscope that sat on the neat little desk as her free hand quickly scribbled down notes. She was taking in every reaction on the slide but it was not giving the results she had hoped for which caused her to sigh as she plopped back into her chair. She tilted her head up to the herbage filled ceiling, trying to think of what she could do differently to cause a better reaction since she was so close to what she needed but close wasn't good enough. If she hadn't thrown her long hair up in what the humans call a "ponytail" (such strange names humans had for things) earlier than Rae would surely be racking her fingers through it once more which is why she had pulled it up in the first place. Orange-ish irises slowly looked away from the roof, her focus going back to the desk as she reached for the porcelain teacup, taking a long slow sip of the warm liquid as she let her mind slow down a bit.
I haven't tried that combination yet...one more try wouldn't hurt and then I will do as Atlas asked of everyone...
That thought in mind, she set her cup of rose tea down before standing which caused her to re-tie the loose baggy pajama shorts she had chosen to wear, readjusting the tank top she had on back into place as she moved over to one of her plants near the desk that she had stood up for in the first place. It wasn't long before it was ground up and liquidized before being added to the previous cocktail that was in the microscopic slide. Once everything was set, she carefully took out a vial of purplish goo and used an eyedropper to suck up a small amount. Rae moved it carefully to the microscope, peering through the lens as she adding the goo to the concoction she made and watched the reaction. A large grin painted on her face, a sense of victory and relief filling her at the things she was witnessing. Rae jotted down the mixture quickly, the amounts and everything written out clearly while they were still on the brain.
I need to do is speak with Atlas about testing it on the other blood types...but for it will have to wait.

She moved over to the bed, sliding under the covers to get some rest as she was ordered. They could all use a little rest and she trusted Tango to keep them alerted to dangers at hand.

ALERT. ALERT. ENEMY SPACECRAFTS DETECTED

Rae's dreams were instantly interrupted, the alarms and warning system now in full swing to notify everyone that they had more unwanted company. She didn't waste any time jumping out of bed as she grabbed her gun belt, slinging it around her waist and buckling it up fast before grabbing what little amount of her project that was left. The ship flung, the impact causing her to tumble and planters to collide with the ground, shattering around her as the Rats captain spoke from their hijacked commlink. A slight grimace made its way to her features as Rae pushed herself up, the superficial wounds healing as quickly as they had formed. She grabbed the small vile laying next to her and placed it into the free pockets of her belt before rushing out of her room, planning to head in the direction of the bridge when the commlinks went live again and this time Raymond's voice sounded though it was much colder than usual and for good reason.

"Rae--Doctor, Anderson's been bitten. I'm bringing him up, and I hope to god you made some breakthrough in your Ulnar antidote... Everyone else, get these bastards off the Monroe and shoot their fleet to pieces."
She would not speak her nickname for the man directly talking to her in front of the others, her respect for him to great to be personal or show emotion to some that had yet to earn her trust.
Rae tapped her comm as she started heading for the infirmary,"Yes Captain, I believe I have finally perfected an effective antidote to the enemies poison though I suggest that everyone still avoid being bitten. I have yet to test it with everyone's blood so I am not sure how the antidote's effect will be on everyone. I am not sure this will be able to save Andersen but I will try what I can...."

Antonius had also been unable to sleep, like most of the crew of the Monroe. How was he supposed to sleep with a bunch of butt-ugly rodents chasing them through space? Tony had washed his hands of the whole affair - there wasn't much diplomacy to be seen, and so he had no problem griping about the lack of tact in their approach. Certainly they wouldn't have been on the run from pirates if Tony had been given a chance to speak a few sentences.

Well, they probably still would be on the run. The Ulnar were a violent race, and pirates were no exception. Smooth talking likely would have done very little in the long run, but Tony wasn't one to admit that to anyone.

There was little Tony could do as they hurtled through space and prepared for an imminent attack. As the rest of the crew kept careful watch and worked at their posts, he found himself becoming more of a nuisance than he was comfortable with. And that was saying a lot, because Antonius often didn't acknowledge how much of a pain he could be.

And so after making his rounds, he finally retreated to his cabin. The room had very few personal effects except for the countless books on various cultures and languages of the galaxy. Tony had a few books he had purchased for his own pleasure, but he had made quite a point about not putting too much thought into decorating. He only planned to be on the ship until the Committee called him back.

What a damn romantic.

Even though they had been told to get some sleep, Tony had settled into the seat at his desk and flipped through one of the books he had pulled. The desk was more littered with belongings. A holographic picture frame sat in the corner, purposely in his line of sight despite the high stacks of books. It played footage of a Satasi woman and a young Satasi child chasing each other around a playground before the child threw herself in the arms of Antonius. The woman soon caught up with the young Satasi and also embraced Tony. The three of them smiled at each other and the footage slowed for a moment as the small family basked in each other's presence.

He stared at the hologram for a moment until it looped and then he returned to his work, reading about Ulnarian customs. At least he could attempt to reason with them before they ultimately poisoned him. But the sudden announcement over his comm from their captain startled him back into reality.

"Fuck..." he couldn't help but groan, shoving his chair out from the desk. Tony tapped his comm. "On it, Captain." Antonius grabbed his holster-belt and fastened it to his waist before setting off down the hall to the turrets. He drew his pistol as he moved down to the elevator.

It didn't take long before he finally arrived at the turrets and settled into the set. Tony grabbed the controls and prepared to fire at the ship once they were in position. But then Yasaliah's voice rang out over the comms. If he had been a stronger or more capable man, he might have run towards her and ensured her safety.

Instead, he put one finger to his comm as he started to fire at the other ship. "Anyone able to get to Yasaliah? I can't lose this shot." He eyed up one of the other ship's turrets and sent a few shots at them, hopefully disabling the other ship from returning fire. He then proceeded to aim at what he could only assume were weak points in the ship as he had been trained before boarding the Monroe. His shots ended up a bit more scattered than he wanted due to a mixture of nerves and lack of training, but he slowly began to get the hang of it, firing relentlessly at the opposing ship.

---

---

It was a cavalier operation at best, Aamra Tulez ruminated as she finished double-checking Anderson's inventory check. A mission that an actual squad or command crew could have done without having to spend three days shaking brigands off of their tail, perhaps without even having to fight their way out in the first place. Any proper team would have been rightfully embarrassed for such a slipshod operation, but for this particular band of criminals it was apparently to be expected. Pausing as she came to the container with the Committee's classified payload, she deftly removed the key-card accessing the container from her inside pocket to proceed with the security check. Still securely locked.

"Tango," Aamra commanded the ship's AI. "Kindly give me a security sweep of high security cargo vault."

"All sensors are reading normal, Commander. Logs indicate the last authorized access was performed by yourself approximately six hours previously. No unauthorized access has been detected."

Aamra nodded approvingly as she marked off the last point on her digital clipboard before folding the hard light device and replacing it with the key-card in her jacket pocket. "Thank you, Tango, Continue your passive monitoring, I will return for the next sweep in six hours."

"Alright, everyone. Tango has offered to keep watch while we all try to get some rest for now. No arguing, this is an order. If we don't die in an ambush, I'll let you know when they attack again."

Aamra sniffed derisively as her spots flashed wintergreen, not at all amused by the Captain's attempt at a bit of dark humor. Turning on her heel, she made her way out of the cargo hold and returned to her quarters. Sighing in relief, she shed her uniform top in one fluid motion before folding it neatly and setting it to the side. The duty shifts had been almost as cavalier as the mission itself, and as much as she disliked the idea of sitting idle while they were still in danger, she could use the rest.

"Meditation music, half volume," Aamra ordered the music player, lighting incense in an ornate vase on her side table as the first strains of oceanic pipes began to play. Taking a deep breath, she picked up one of her sheathed long daggers from the specially made wall holders, weighing it in her hands as delicately as a fragile glass figure. She rolled her neck as her muscles ached in relaxation, convincing her to forgo the usual ritual stances in favor of some simple meditation. Closing her eyes, she crouched into the lotus position, the sheathed dagger resting lightly on her clawed fingertips.

"My spirit speaks to the waters, strength and harmony the waters bring," Aamra recited sleepily in her native tongue, her head beginning to hang over slightly. "The sea brings balance to my spirit... through balance...my chains will be... broken..."

---

*BOOM*

"HSSSK!"

Aamra Tulez ripped the blade from the scabbard with a furious hiss, her pointed teeth visible and her markings pulsing an angry red as she looked around for the disturbance. It took her less then a second to realize what had happened to knock her out of her inner peace, though the explosion hadn't been strong enough to knock her out of her position in the center of the room. A cavalier operation indeed.

"Rise and shine, people, we got uninvited guests on my ship. Aamara, Max, meet me in the cargo hold. Yasaliah, I need you to get us in position to shoot these assholes. Sam, group up with Tony and get your asses on the turret controls--"

Aamra was already dressed again and out the door before the message finished, her long daggers sheathed behind her back as she spun the barrel of her Longstrider after loading in fresh ammunition. Forgoing her usually diligent stride, she stalked her way towards the cargo bay with grim determination, her senses finely tuned to locate any hostiles. Aamara made it as far as the cargo bay before three of the pirates appeared from a side corridor and charged, evidently attempting to intercept any of the crew trying to do what she was doing now.

Continuing her pace, Aamra dispatched the first attacker with a few well-placed shots, gracefully ducking behind a corridor wall to avoid angry return fire. Letting the two remaining pirates approach, she drew one of her long daggers in her offhand and, as one of them tried to approach, Aamra dashed out of cover again with a snarl, drawing the blade across his throat and replacing the dagger in one swift motion before charging at the last one. He attempted to lunge in for a poisonous bite but she was faster, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him into the air as she made her way into the cargo bay. The Ulna snarled viciously at Aamra, who responded by snarling right back at him with her teeth bared before throwing him into the wall with a crash, the pirate sliding down the wall into an unconscious heap. Returning to her normal composure, she quickly made her way up to the Captain.

"It appears we are being boarded, Captain Chase," Aamra Tulez said entirely seriously, wiping off with her free hand the bit of blood on her face that matched the more gruesome one streaking her normally pristine uniform.

"Brace for impact, another shuttle incoming." Tango warned, but it was too late. The collision rocked the ship again, sending the two men flying off the box, and into a crowd of Ulnar.

As the two sides fought, lost in the confusion the box the captain had been standing on slid into a wall and smashed open, splinters and chunks of wood flying in all directions. Inside, it wasn't provisions or materials as the manifest would report but a pale grey capsule, about two meters in length with an interface screen near one end. Across the top of the capsule was a viewing window, and down the center was a crease clearly meant to open. As if responding to being so violently thrown, the screen came to life with a flashing warning and its own beeping, telling no one in particular it was activating a self decompression sequence for the safety of its occupant.

A hiss of gas and a puff of cold oxygen was released as the window separated and pulled away from itself, and a very startled girl shot upright with a gasp. Blinking and covering her eyes from the glares of the ship's lighting and blaring alarm, Rendyl sat bewildered for several seconds, trying to take in her surroundings, not yet seeing the captain or Aamra...

---

---

Dev leaned back in his seat while in the turret, petting his weapon as it sat in his lap. He was fond of his invention, and the lack of sleep mixed with his general instability lead to some rather disturbing ramblings while manning the defenses. "Don't worry girl, when we find them we get to have some fun..." The only thing that could shake him was the stern orders of his captain coming into his earpiece. "Alright, everyone. Tango has offered to keep watch while we all try to get some rest for now. No arguing, this is an order. If we don't die in an ambush, I'll let you know when they attack again." Dev gave a sigh of relief, happy to finally enjoy some rest. He quietly made his way back towards his cabin, gingerly setting Death Whistle into it's case on his desk before performing his ritual.

---

Dev awoke with a start when he hit the ground. He groaned, pulling off the eye mask and the earplugs. He looked up and noticed the emergency lights flashing. "Motherf... WHY WON'T YOU LET ME SLEEP!" Dev angrily got up and immediately made his way to the sink, checking his hair and beard in the mirror. He quickly opened up the mirror and pulled out his comb and gel, making sure to set his hair properly as the ship shaked violently. It only took Dev a few seconds to look presentable before rushing over to the case of his most prized possession, grabbing his launcher.

That's when the orders came through. The Captain was ordering men to different positions. Dev's name, not mentioned. Turret duty sounded a little boring, so he began making his way towards the cargo hold. Dev loved being on the welcoming committee. That was until he heard the distress call for the bridge. Dev had a small smile on his face. He called out over the comms, "Sam, Tony... I can handle securing the bridge. I'll join you when I can... and before you ask, I'll try not to blow it up." And, as Dev loved to do, he began running with Death Whistle in hand towards the bridge at a dead sprint as he screamed in glee.

On his way, his screaming may have alerted part of the boarding party. As Dev rounded the corner, he saw them... two of those ugly sons of bitches trying to board the ship. They were a few yards out... far enough for Dev to slide down and quickly fire his glorious weapon towards the ceiling above the two as the hostiles fired in his direction. Dev was pleased to see the momentary look of surprise on their face as they began burning up from the incendiary grenade. He held Death Whistle over his shoulder whilst leisurely strolling by the two immolating aliens, pulling out his sidearm in his left hand and ending their suffering as quickly as possible. Child's play... but the engineer would have a field day screaming at him for causing a little bit of damage to the ceiling. So what if a few wires were exposed? Dev's journey wasn't quite over... he had a pilot to save, so he continued his dash towards the bridge.

The engineer’s job wasn’t too demanding, largely due to the Monroe’s top shape, courtesy of government care. What plagued Astrid the most was the constant tension. Sure, nothing was broken now, but what would the next few minutes bring? She had already nearly died stranded in a nebula once, so when the order came to leave their posts, she didn’t have any intent of doing so, but changed her mind when a long yawn reminded her just how long this has been going on. Picking herself up, she scanned the engineering with her gaze to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be and made her way to her spartan quarters.

Upon reaching her cabin, she set her helmet down on her desk and more or less collapsed onto her bed, not bothering with taking off her armor, or boots for that matter. Minutes after, she was already out.

---

A strange voice from the public address system tore her away from her dreams. At first, she thought the PA speaker in her room was spazzing out. “Was zum Teufel?” she groaned, sitting up upon realizing it was English. Unfriendly English. Getting out of the bed, she leaned over the desk to reach for her helmet, only to be knocked onto it by an impact followed by a boarding alert. Sliding the helmet onto her head, she reached for the Diamondback, checking its functionality and put in a fresh magazine. It snapped into place with a quiet, reassuring click. As if the rifle was saying ‘I’ve got your back’.

According to reports, the Ulnar were already in the cargo bay, being dealt with by several crewmen. No point going there. The CIC was still under Marauder control with reinforcements on the way, and the bulkhead could hold a few pests for some time. That covered two out of three areas necessary to capture a ship, leaving just engineering. She was the grease queen and no filthy rat was going to mess with her domain. Rushing out of her quarters, Astrid locked the door and bolted toward the stern, soon coming upon a lone rodent messing with a door. Confirming he was alone, she took aim and fired two shots, one could never be sure. Approaching the door, she stepped over the corpse and growled in displeasure. The rat tried to open a locked door, frying the panel in the process. Cursing, she made a mental note to remember that door and turned around, forced to take a detour around the ship.

As she moved through the corridors closer to the cockpit, a faint squeal hit her ears. Screaming? No, too high-pitched. High pitched… “Oh, he didn’t.” she uttered as the realization struck her. Who in their right mind would use a grenade launcher in CQB anyway? Oh, right, that man was everything but right in the head. Another mental note to herself later, she was on her way to the engineering again.

The mix of fear, anxiety, and anger from being chased is something that the military droids would never understand. It is trivial to be afraid of something that can’t get to you at the current moment, to wait for your chances of being discovered to become curtain without making plans, to project negative and emotionally clouding thoughts towards an enemy that you cannot touch. These are feelings, they think, are beneath them. Something of a weakness that bio-sentient-life has to deal with frequently in the heat of battle. Like many of the other crew on board, Johnson and his team waited diligently for their next order while the bridge crew scanned the surrounding nebula for signs of their rat-like pirate enemy.

“You know he is going to call their approach too late.” Brad said condescendingly in a gruff slightly graveled voice
“Cease, Brad.” Johnson barked.. “Captain Chase is in charge of the ship and crew; we are here to protect, and guide the members of the crew for the benefit of the committee.” The team was milling about the Armory ensuring the weapons were secure during their chase.
“He’s right though,” Kimberly added, her voice having a light feminine touch. “It is due to their slower processing of visual data.” She was standing on the opposite side of the room from Johnson, checking the lock on the rifle cage.
“Kim, there is a reason we are here, in the barracks, and not on the bridge.” Johnson said.
Before he could finish Thatcher, who had found a crate of grenades and began juggling six of the twelve, turned and said. “Because they don’t trust a couple of committee bolt heads.” His foolish antics did nothing to amuse Johnson, but goaded a chuckle from Brad and a scoff from Kimberly.
“Thatcher, Put those back!” Johnson commanded curtly. “And no it is not because they don’t trust us it is because I asked for us to be overseeing the Armory instead of Aamra, because she has more important things to do than stand in front of a bunch of weapons.” Thatcher stopped juggling, catching the grenades as the team stood in a prolonged silence. They knew that what Johnson did was the right call. There are four of them and one of Aamra. While she was a formidable fighter, she had more important matters to attend to on this voyage.

"Alright, everyone. Tango has offered to keep watch while we all try to get some rest for now. No arguing, this is an order. If we don't die in an ambush, I'll let you know when they attack again."

Johnson and his team stood for a moment in the armory after the announcement was made. Exchanging glances of their glowing orange sensors. Before making their way out of the barracks and into the open corridors of the ship.
“You think the kitchen is open?” Brad asked.
“Brad, you know you can’t eat.” Kimberly said shoving him playfully.
“So, on the ship’s manifest we have rations for daily meals.”
“Just because some desk worker didn’t account that four of the ship’s crew were robots, does not mean that you can waste rations.” Johnson said as he walked ahead of the group.
“But you should have seen the look on the cook’s face when I grabbed that bowl, threw it into the trash, and walked away.” The group chuckled as they walked somewhat aimlessly through the corridors. They weren’t so much trying to get somewhere as they were just walking around. Being AI they didn’t need to rest, and their robotic bodies wouldn’t need new power cells for decades. It was at times like this that they simply patrolled the ship until orders were received for some other task.

As they walked around members of the crew were also wondering about, while most were headed to their bunks for some much wanted rest. As they passed one crew member, who was visibly exhausted, he looked up at the towering 200cm droids. “Man, it must be nice not having to sleep.” The group largely ignored him save for Kimberly, who stopped and looked to the crew member.
“In many ways I believe it is you who are lucky.” The man looked puzzled. The rest of the team stopped looking back at Kimberly and the crew member she was conversing with.
“Not again with the dreams thing Kim, please.” Thatcher said annoyed.
“Oh, shut up.” She replied before turning back to the crew member. “When you sleep there is a chance that you will remember the idle workings of your subconscious mind.”
“And this is where she loses him.” Thatcher said leaning against the wall, arms crossed.
“In that you can experience things without description. While we are only able to compute and visualize the world around us within its constraints, I envy you.” She then rejoined the group as they walked on, Thatcher stayed for a moment and looked at the crewman who now stood with the most perplexed look on his face.
“Yup, he’s fried.”

It was a short while before the team was halted in their patrol by an emergency alert.
"ALERT. ALERT. ENEMY SPACECRAFTS DETECTED."
The team rushed to the barracks once more to ensure the crew was armed.
"Rise and shine, people, we got uninvited guests on my ship. Aamara, Max, meet me in the cargo hold. Yasaliah, I need you to get us in position to shoot these assholes. Sam, group up with Tony and get your asses on the turret controls--"

After the crew was armed Johnson and his team began posting crew at high traffic points to guard.
“Johnson,” Brad called through their comm-link. “I am getting word they have boarded the ship via the cargo hold. There may be other entry points as well.”
“understood. Kim, Thatcher: Go to the Cargo hold and see what you can do to hold them off.”
“Yes sir.” They replied heading off to the cargo hold.
“Brad, me and you are going to sweep to the escape pods of the ship to make sure they aren’t able to divide the ship.” With that Johnson and brad began working their way to the escape decks knowing that these would be the easiest points of entry for any small craft to dock and get a foot hold. As they arrived at the first of their few destinations they heard the creaking and groaning of one of the escape pods being removed from its docking hatch.
“Are they cutting it way?” Brad asked looking to the series of docking hatches.
“What a primitive race.” Johnson said approaching the hatch making the noise. “No, we were both wrong.” He exclaimed looking out of a view port between the pods. What he saw made even less sense when he saw it. “They have harpooned the pod and are trying to pull it away, with some small craft.”
“How did they even get into space?” Brad asked. They could hear the docking of another pod on the lower deck where an alarm was sounding. “We need to act fast they are coming in on the lower deck.”
“I am not sure, but this pod is no good now.” Johnson lifted a guard hatch to reveal a key pad that displayed: Emergency Use Only.
“Captain, the enemy is attempting to remove one of the escape pods to gain access to the main decks. It sounds like they may have already succeeded on the deck below us.” He entered the emergency jettison code which the pod responded to by launching violently way from the ship and slamming into the smaller craft attempting to remove it, both exploding. With that they moved to the lower deck.

While the others were dealing with the boarding on the pod decks the other two arrived to see the fight had already begun, with rifles draw they began to provide covering fire for moving crew members in an attempt to contain the breaching enemies. While moving forward into the battle Thatcher called out “Kim! On your left!”
She turned to see a rat like figure closing fast firing wildly in her direction. At this point Thatcher and Kim realized they may have moved too far into the attack. Dropping her gun she quickly got into a fighting stance to meet the enemy head on. As the ratman got closer he drew a wicked curved knife that was modified with an electrified mono-filament blade. Making a lunge at Kimberly’s midsection she side stepped away from the crates she was using as cover and grabbed the ratman’s ram, look at the blade then to the rat. “What corpse did you find this on?” the ratman snarled and attempted to bite Kimberly only to find she was not soft. He must have failed to realized his mistake due to him trying to bite her several more times. Kimberly lifted the ratman into the air with his jaws around her arm and slammed him into the crates beside them. He fell to the ground and let out a scream desperately trying to scamper to his feet, but before he could Kimberly put four rounds from her 10mm into the ratman’s head, or what used to be his head. Taking cove again she retrieved the knife and her rifle as her and Thatcher continued holding off the attackers.

The Ulnar had invaded more than just the cargo bay. They were probably trying to distract the team, but they had no idea who they were messing with. An explosive-happy ex convict, four murder machines, the best engineer Raymond had ever seen, a very angry Committee official, an android, and a brilliant doctor. Raymond and his team had been through situations like this before. This ship was a supposed to be a death sentence if you entered it, and yet they were still up and running for three years. There was a lot to take in in such little time, the first one he noticed was that Aamara answered his call, while Max tended to Yasaliah with the others. Kim and Thatcher, Aamara's "police crew" on the ship also made it in time.

Raymond's true fears were with their cargo, and how it slammed into a wall and shattered, which made the Captain curse slightly as helped Anderson up slowly, but they soon stopped in their tracks when the hiss, and opening of the smaller vessel was seen, making Raymond go wide eyed. "Son of a bitch... He muttered. "Heh. A smuggler run." Anderson managed to sigh, even with the poison running through him. Ray turned his attention to the voice of Johnson, updating him on the Ulnar's plan. "Pretty sneaky... Tango, shut off all controls to the escape pods, help Johnson out in finding any other missing pods."

Anderson vomited, forcing Ray to make his trek to the elevators. "Aamara, make sure our other surprised guest doesn't go anywhere! the person looked dazed, and confused. He was sure that Aamara could handle her, especially of that size. Everyone seemed to have their job, and once Anderson was safe, Raymond was going to make sure the Ulnar never ambush them again.

---------

Raymond and Anderson reached the medical bay with little obstacles. The crew was hard at work shooting, and protecting the Monroe. Anderson knocked over a couple items on Rae's desk as he tried to get on the medical bed. Ray desperately helped him, looking over at the doctor. "Get the antidote ready."

"Doctor, Loadmaster Anderson's vitals are critical. The poison will enter the main cardiovascular system soon." Tango's calm voice stated in the room, automatically scanning the vitals of anyone inside. Raymond helped in any way he could, not wanting to be in the way. Anderson's leg was a dark sickening green, his veins in his lower body were the same color, and his skin was almost translucent. "Chase... I'm not gonna make it." Anderson said quietly, holding back a gasp of pain. Ray shook his head, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not going anywhere, asshole. Ray replied, but Anderson shook his head. "You heard Tango, and the Rae has saved our skins many times, but this time... I think I screwed myself over."

There was silence between the two for a few seconds. "My daughter. I know she never wants to talk to me again, but send my ashes to her, and tell her I'm sorry--"

"Anderson, stop--"

"Doctor, I'm sorry I couldn't be your test subject, and don't hate me or the Captain on what I'm gonna ask him to do."

Ray didn't say anything, he just stared at the dying man. "The toxin has reached the heart.

"Atlas. I'm asking one more thing to put on your shoulders. Don't-Don't let me die in pa-pain."

The Captain looked at Lauirae in desperation on what they could do. Anderson's wheezing, and the small "please" escaping his lips made Ray know what he had to do. Even if they did inject the antidote, it could fail and lead to a more horrible death... Raymond trusted Rae more than anyone on board, but she didn't have enough time to perfect a cure for the most complex toxin in the known universe. It was his fault. He slowly pulled out his revolver, clicking the hammer back, and looked at the Loadmaster.

"It has been an honor, Captain, Doctor... Give those rat bastards hell." He gave an attempt of a grin as he tried to fight off the pain. He looked at the Captain, and saluted. "Do it, Atlas."

Raymond raised the gun, his left hand shook violently, and he pulled the trigger.

No one else on his crew was going to die today. The Ulnar will see the true fury of the Marauders.

---

---

Dev turned the switch on the left of Death Whistle. Fragmentation, Gone-mine... ahhh, there we go. Dev gave a small chuckle as he pressed the switch back into the side of Death Whistle. His ass was already going to get handed to him for his quick stunt before with the incendiary blast. Dev wasn't scared of many people... but he may have miffed the one person he shouldn't be pissing off.

The demolitions expert rounded the final corner as he say the Ulnar trying to break into the cockpit. Two measly rodent-like bastards pounding away at the door, but still doing quite the damage. Dev raised the end of his launcher and fired the cannister. It was slightly larger than most of his other ammunition, and didn't explode upon impact. Instead, it clanked off of the door to the hangar, aided by the distinct hissing noise of the weapon in guiding the Ulnar's vision back to Dev. Well... there were two hisses filling the hallway, as the canister released a small cloud of yellow noxious gas. The Ulnar reached for their weapons to fire at Dev, who quickly disappeared back around the corner.

1... 2... and.... Almost as if on cue, the two Ulnar fell to the ground, unconscious. Dev hoisted the launcher onto his shoulder once more as he removed his sidearm to finish the job. Two shots were all that was needed to finish off the defenseless hostiles. The demolitions expert reached up towards his earpiece. "The Bridge is secure... and can we skip the whole lecture thing on blowing up our ship this time if I apologize now?" He began making his way at a slower pace back towards the turrets to help finish off whatever Ulnar might be bombarding their ship.

Upon reaching engineering, Astrid was relieved to learn it was clear of any rodents. They couldn’t possibly be that stupid, could they? Why wouldn’t they try to seize engineering, which would allow them to cripple the ship, making it unable to escape or hammer their fleet while making boarding and subsequent capture easier? And with a ship like the Monroe, making the repairs would have been well worth it. Unless the boarding attempt has already been thwarted, Astrid assumed there were more on their way and promptly sealed the doors, confident that hydraulic doors with maglocks would hold them for some time, at least if the bridge situation was any indication, since the Satasi up front was still breathing.

Knowing she wasn’t of much use in a fight, Astrid chose to stay in engineering, take stock of damage and what was happening around the ship instead of going out and being a hinderance. One expected casualty for the day was bad enough, no need to go out and be in the way of people who actually knew what they were doing.

Dev’s transmission only served to further infuriate Astrid. In his defense, that wasn’t a hard thing to do. She thought of stealing and dismantling that grenade launcher so many times. If he wasn’t bathsit crazy, she’d have tried already. Then again, if that man wasn’t so far off the deep end, they wouldn’t be having this problem in the first place. “No, we can’t. You might think we can, but it’s not going to be you cleaning up your mess. The rats and other scoundrels are perfectly capable of messing this barge up, the last thing we need is an explosives maniac with a happy trigger finger. Hammering this out takes time and I have to sleep and eat too, you know? This time it may be just some lights or some metal plates in the corridor, but what’s next? A high-pressure oxygen tank? Some fuel cells? How about the armory?” How did that man even live to be 33 years old with all ten fingers given this lifestyle?

---

---

Dev paced in the hallways near the bridge, sighing at the lecture he begged not to receive. Unfortunately for him, she was right... to a small extent. He never was one for cleaning up his messes. "You don't have to treat me like a child, Astrid. You may be a damn good engineer, but I've blown the ever-living shit out of so many starships and buildings that I think I deserve a little bit of trust."

Dev finally made his way back towards the bridge door. "Tango, the area is secure. Requesting permission to board." Within seconds the bridge opened up, and Dev gave a small wave towards the pilot before jumping down to the second level instead of using the ladder. Safety was for Civies and Engineers, not heroes. As soon as he was at the controls, Dev removed his launcher from his back and attached it right next to the console, a nice little upgrade he made himself. The Loadmaster couldn't get upset about the missing pieces if he wasn't around to...

Dev paused as he sat down at his control station. Anderson was perhaps the only pure soul on the ship; a man who treated the Demolitions Expert with respect rather than as a common criminal. It had been a long time since Dev actually felt... grief? Dev shook the thought, but took a moment while booting up the console to speak back towards Engineering directly. "The first shot was an INC-34 Incendiary Grenade, custom built by yours truly to do minimal structural damage compared to the traditional model. Took a lot of time to get that mechanism into a less-durable container that wouldn't fragment as violently. A 34 degree arc with a 2 and a half second delay limited the fragmentation of the container upon the panelling as well. We're a team... so I'll try to keep that in mind when space rats invade our ship next time. The turret was locked and loaded, so Dev placed his hands on the controls, giving a small smile and hoping there was something to shoot. "The light is fucked though. Sorry about that."

Yasaliah, still at the controls, heard the distant sounds of an Ular being exploded. Perfect.

"Thanks, Dev," She said simply and earnestly and returned the wave. He had a habit for using high explosives in tight corridors- but whatever gets the job done, right?

With no more distractions she returned her eyes to the various monitoring equipment available. Still following the oribtal path around the Ulnar ship, though taking care to keep the path unpredictable. Her breathe was quick and her pink hands had white knuckles as she attempted to keep the Monroe from being struck.

"I'm moving the nose of our ship up, adjust your aim, Tony," She said over the comms. The enemy fire was evaded successfully with Yasaliah's maneuvers, the glowing projectiles zooming past and flying off into space to probably get sucked into a star in 200 years from now. She tried not to think about the vastness of space and continued the evasive manuevers.

"They have a damn big ship," She said absent mindedly as she glared at it, her piercing blue eyes narrowing as it came into clear view on the monitor.

"Captain, are we leaving? Or are we, uh, finishing this?" She asked with a nervous twitch in her voice, as a projectile managed to slam into the ship, glancing off the shields in a violent explosion.

---

---

Linked into the weapons system and finally free from attacks in the passageways of the ship Max expended 90% of his attention to the ships turrets and began refining the automated aiming systems of the ship trusting in the AI to do the grunt work of swinging the guns to his attention points as he picked out the weak points in the enemy ship; primarily the sensor arrays.

20 years of experience in over 100 battles had taught him that a blind ship was a dead ship and in this battle there was no room for sympathy, that he should become the most savage animal in the fight. His nerves sang as the weapons became an extension of his self and he allowed 4% more of his attention to ensure pinpoint shots meaning his vision biologically went gray and slightly out of focus. Anyone who might have observed his body in real time would have thought he'd suddenly became drunk or even worse as it staggered towards fire control.

The unseen local result was that his combination with the AI and the turret sensors made the ship a lethal weapon as it raked the opposition craft with strikes so precise that seemed to border on the arcane. No weak point was left unscathed if it came into sight, this included portholes, power conduits, and trailing targets falling to the rear.

Alarms? Rendyl rubbed one of her eyes as she looked around. Grey walls, boxes everywhere, and what was that? A pile of clothes? The girl squeezed her eyes shut and squinted at it, only to recoil at the realization it was a body. Rendyl's mouth agape, she attempted to scramble out towards the feet end of her pod, only to trip over the control console and crash onto the floor. Her instincts were screaming at her to run run run, but as she started to do just that something clicked...

She glanced over at the body again, other synapses firing. Nine feet away, fur covered, surrounded by wood splinters and scraped metal flooring. Looking up for the first time, Rendyl saw the ceiling several dozen feet high, the room itself quite large. Too large for any sort of medical facility. This wasn't a hospital. Rendyl looked behind her and grabbed the corner of the console she had tripped on a moment ago, pulling herself up and looking at the screen.

Emergency Resuscitation procedure activated. Primary oxygen tube damaged. Rendyl looked up and noted that the pod was resting next to a wall, and the side of the metal was dented inward seven inches. A quiet hiss could be heard of she listened closely enough. She looked back down at the screen and attempted to swipe the alert away, trying to bring up the time and date. Unable to process request. Main motherboard damaged. Backup emergency release active.

Seeing it was useless to interact with her pod any longer, Rendyl threw her gaze back towards the room, only to see people. At first relief flooded her being, and then dread set in as she saw all of them were armed.

Luirae could have cared less about the mess that was her desk after Andersen flew multiple objects to the floor while trying to get in the bed. The captain looked desperate and asked her to prepare the antidote but at this point, it was close to being too late. The leg had not been tied above the bite so the infected blood was free to continue towards the heart. It was but a second later the Tango stated her exact fear. She looked to Andersen’s face and her hands balled into fists as she knew this would be hopeless. Raymond didn’t want to admit it and though she didn’t want to believe it either, she knew that Andersen wouldn’t make it through this time.

She didn’t want to hear his apologies and thus she had no words to give the dying man. She knew he wouldn’t listen to how she really felt. It was her that had failed him. He was in an incredible amount of pain and what she had produced so far was a start but it could easily make the situation worse for an already lost man. Ray looked to her, trying to find an answer and all she could do was look away as the man before them pleaded for a merciful death. She turned away from the bed, walking out of the med bay doors as the sound of a gun firing echoed behind her.

Rae drew her pistols, heading for the cargo bay where this all had started. They would pay for ever stepping foot on this ship. She would see to it that Andersen’s request was honored and she would see too it that every last rat that dared to touch this ship, paid dearly. She didn’t blink as she glided down the hall, expertly hitting each rat in the head that had mistakingly stood in her way to her destination. She regretted not being able to grab her bow as slicing through these disgusting creatures would be more what they deserved then an instant death. She was not sure what she would find when reaching the location but she was prepared for the worst.

---

---

"Entering through the escape pods," Aamra noted with muted irony, holstering the Longstrider as she stepped up to Kim and Thatcher to survey the situation. "The space rodents are nothing if not inventive, the wretched things."

"Pretty sneaky..." Johnson commented as well. "Tango, shut off all controls to the escape pods, help Johnson out in finding any other missing pods."

"Sound orders. Kim, Thatcher, repeat those orders on this deck and sweep the entire ship," the officer ordered curtly. Aamra distinctly remembered how those on the ship who knew her by reputation were surprised that Aamra had called the synthetic soldiers by name and not their designation number. Aamra never understood why exactly; they had every right to be called by their names the same as she did, machine or otherwise, and they had more then earned that right with how efficient they were.

The same couldn't be said for Robinson, who looked to be in bad shape from the alien rat's bite. Lowering her eyes, she prayed for the waters would carry him to health or to the seas beyond, whichever fate had decided for him.

"Aamara, make sure our other surprised guest doesn't go anywhere!"

"Surprised guest?" Aamra repeated. She thought it may have been the rat she threw across the room before she spotted the diminutive human that had popped out of a nearby crate. "Ah, this surprised guest," she remarked coolly, towering over the stowaway in a threatening manner. "Would you mind getting to your feet and placing your hands on your head?"

Raymond had finally come through, and knew exactly where Rae went. They couldn't stay here and do nothing for any longer. Both the Ulnar and the Marauders were exhausted, with limited supplies. Fortunately, the Monroe played defense for the most of this constant barrage. It was their turn to show them what they were made of. He heard Yasaliah's voice through the comm, and stared at Anderson's body a second more before putting his pistol in its holster, and turning to exit the med bay. "No more running. We're ending this." He eventually made his way towards the bridge. Tango's physical form was sitting right besides Yasaliah. His head turned a full 180, and gave a salute. "Captain on De--"

"Not now, Tango. Yasaliah, give them a show. Taunt them, keep them distracted, annoy the hell outta them. Tony, if you know any Ulnar, tell them very colorful insults if you'd like. Dev, Astrid, Max, I need your beautiful minds to make me a little arts and crafts project. Brad, Johnson, clean the escape pods area, and save one for Dev. They're going to launch a home made rocket through their ship. Max, I'm trusting that your targeting system will help time and launch that thing right in their cockpit. Everyone else, you're cleaning crew for now. Get these rodents off my ship."

And with that, Raymond approached a turret control system, aiming, and squeezing off a few shots towards the ship to let them know they were still alive. This was going to definitely be a rough ride, but Raymond had faith in the team. They haven't let him down before.