[IC] The Marauders (2018)

[Esailia]

Rendyl wanted to return to cryo-sleep. With bodies strewn around, angry faces and guns aimed at her, and nothing to defend herself with, the girl obeyed the command. Kneeling down and placing her hands on her head, she didn't even bother to calculate how quick a bullet could find her head for resisting. But what scared her more than seeming combative is when the questions would start...can't exactly convince someone you're not a threat if you can't speak.

She shivered in place as she thought of what might become of her if they viewed her as a stowaway, or worse some kind of agent. Shifting her eyes from the floor to Aamra's expression, Rendyl cowered a bit more from the sight. She had wanted to meet aliens, but now with the opportunity to see one for the first time she was rethinking that particular desire.

[Master Crim]

Dispatching the last of the intruders was no problem for Kimberly and Thatcher. Their battle training was leaps and bounds ahead of anything that the Ulnar could even dream of achieving, let alone trying in practice. As things started to calm down in the Cargo Hold new orders were given from the information presented by both Johnson and Brad.
"Copy that, Commander." Kim and Thatcher said in unison as they started jogging to their new objective. "Proceeding with caution to neutralize threat in the escape decks." jogging through the corridors they came to arrive at the escape deck hearing a few shots from a deck above. "Johnson, Brad?" Thatcher called over comm-link as Kimberly and himself stacked at their ingress point.
"We are good here." Johnson said calmly as him and Brad finished off a small party of Ulnar that had managed to enter through the escape hatch.
"Can't say the same for the rats." Brad added firing several shots into an Ulnar trying to crawl back into the empty boarding vessel.

Kimberly and Thatcher readied to breach as they heard the Ulnar vessel open into the escape deck. "Go!" Kimberly yelled as the two of them opened the door and fired upon the now very angry Ulnar. The two droids separated a bit after getting through the doorway, moving along the walls to divide the enemy focus before closing in from forty-five degrees of either side of the enemy vessel. The Ulnar stood no chance in the fight, but as the two closed in on the final target hiding in the vessel the captian's orders came through. Both Thatcher and Kimberly ceased fire and stood on either side of the open port where the escape pod once was docked. Kimberly pulled out the mono-filament blade she had picked up before and charged the blade, causing it to glow and arc a white-ish blue.
"Whoa! Kim, where did you get that?" Thatcher asked with a slightly jealous tone.
"One of the Ulnar." She said then entered the the boarding vessel. There was a shriek and a hiss followed by a few heavy thuds then a weapon and two Ulnar hands were thrown out of the vessel. Kimberly exited the vessel carrying the last of the rat men, unconscious.
"My proverbial mouth is agape." Thatcher said as Kimberly threw the Ulnar down.
"The last of the Ulnar are dead save for the one in reserve for Devronian."

"Commander, Captain. Astrid, this might be of concern to you as well." Johnson came across the Comms. "Due to the intrusion one escape pod was jettisoned due to damage and two were destroyed by the Ulnar."
"Two more are inoperable on this deck," Thatcher added as he walked around the deck. "but are repairable."

[Starlance]

Having still hoped nothing was actually damaged, she sighed at the mention of the light. Then again, it could have been worse. “Oh, I don’t have to treat you like a child? A ceiling light near the bow disagrees with that.” she shot back dryly on the private channel with Dev as not to hog the public one. Dev, too, was right to an extent. She did treat a lot of people as if they were completely inept, to the misfortune of her and those around her in equal measure. “Fine,” she sighed, “I’ll give it the old college try. Maybe a combustible container would work best for the incendiary shells? Something that survives leaving the barrel, but disintegrates when the charge ignites?” she suggested, recalling the Irene’s main gun battery employed a similar system for the shell cartridges.

When the ship slightly shuddered under an impact as a stray round slammed into the shield, Astrid’s gaze fell upon the shield monitoring readout. If it wasn’t for that shield, that round would’ve taken out the port side breaking thruster. In a stroke of luck, the Monroe hasn’t taken many hits so far. Was it luck, or crew skill? Astrid’s opinion of her species aside, that Satasi girl was one hell of a pilot.

In either case, it was back to the old routine. Fortunately, the Monroe was decades younger, and in a much better shape than her last posting, which meant power didn’t have to be triaged between various subsystems and she had Tango helping out when necessary. Unless something broke down, then Dev’s light would suddenly cease to be a problem.

The captain’s transmission conjured up a smile on her face. Though she hasn’t bothered to learn much about her new crew in the short time she’s been here, she thought she had a fairly good idea of what Dev’s solution to their given problem would be. “So, Dev, How much do you hate them? Can you round it down to the nearest kilogram?” She asked semi-seriously before turning her attention to the murderbots. “Thatch, can you give me a rundown of the pods you mentioned? Maybe we can use one of those instead of wasting a working one.” Escape pods. Those would’ve been nice to have a little while ago.

[Zoey Boey]

Yasaliah Josk: Pilot

The captain's voice responded, with a steel to his voice Yasaliah hadn't heard before. "No more running. We're ending this." After a brief pause, he gave more specific orders.

"Yasaliah, give them a show. Taunt them, keep them distracted, annoy the hell outta them."

"Aye aye, Captain," Yasaliah responded through the comms. Inhaling deeply, she wrapped her hands around the U-shaped piloting device. One thing the Satasi pilot always had to remember was that there was no up nor down in the void of space. She had learned long ago to disassociate piloting in atmosphere rather than piloting in space. Otherwise a rookie pilot could get easily disoriented, or worse, stuck in their old behaviors. Piloting the ship like they were flying, not like they were space-faring. Keeping one orientation, becoming predictable. Easy prey for an opponent who knows all the crazy shit zero-g allows to happen. Things that could dazzle. Space flight should be beautiful, not boring.

Yasaliah gave them a show.

As the enemy fired their projectiles, Yasaliah shifted the Monro 'upwards' of where it was. The Ulnar would have to look up from their cockpit to see the ship now, and begin to chance to orientation of their ship to get more guns pointed at the Monroe. The tops of each ship were facing each other now, circling around each other like sharks in the sky. Then, Yasaliah shifted gears, with a violent adjusting of her own hands she pulled back on the controls, screwing up her face.

The Monro drifted, nose towards the top of the enemy ship, but still keeping it's previous circling orbit, using various thrusters to maintain the strange pattern. Showing off, Yasaliah flung the U-shaped controller of the ship the side, spinning it and slammed down her booted foot onto a pedal which activated several boosters on the right side. Now, the Monroe was rotating while going on a revolution.

"Okay, shoot 'em now!"She pressed one of the other pedals beneath her feet, and the Monro suddenly ceased it's rotating and boosted forward, perpendicular the Ulnar ship while their top was still facing the ship. The spinning trick would only work once, and it probably helpd that the aliens were dumb, but for a brief moment they were most likely stunned at the strange acrobatic display of the Monroe. Now, the Monro was lunging towards the Ulnar ship with it's port side first. More guns were now shooting at the Ulnar ship than the Ulnar ship was shooting at the Monroe. Sweat trickled down the forehead of the concentrating Satasi pilot, her eyes flicking from one console to the other, enjoying herself immensely. The adrenaline, the excitement, her overly complicated maneuvers gave her the rush she lived for.

[Scarlet Loup]

Tony continued to fire at the ship, swallowing nervously as he hoped someone was on their way to the bridge. He had no gods to pray to, but if he had, he certainly would have mumbled a few blessings. The ship rocked beneath the fire from the Ulnar ship, and Antonius finally managed to string a few colorful curses into a semi-coherent and polylingual statement.

Dev's voice came over the comms soon after, and the linguist couldn't help but smile to himself. "Thank the fucking stars, D-" He started to mumble to himself, but he was cut off by more pounding at the bridge. Slowly, it cut off, and Tony allowed himself to settle back into his seat slightly.

He started to formulate a response to Dev, but Yasaliah came back over his comms, announcing the adjustment. "Ready when you are." Tony responded quickly, adjusting slightly for the change in trajectory. He continued firing throughout the adjustment, figuring that he might as well go out with one hell of a bang. Hell, if he wanted to die by space rats, he would have just stayed in prison. But it was a little too late for that now.

Hearing his name over the comms, he perked up for a moment. "It's a very ugly language, Raymond," he joked, making fine adjustments to the turret. "Very guttural, sounds like mucus stuck in the throat." Still, he never rejected an opportunity to brag or show off his skill set. His father had paid too much in sending him to school for that education to go to waste. And so he linked his comms into the ship's loudspeaker system for a few seconds. His insults were quite typical, ranging from colorful, suggestive comments about the mothers of the space rats as well as a few quick jabs at their fighting abilities and collective masculinity. It was almost too easy. The words seemed to come from somewhere deep within his throat, giving them a gross, wet sound that seemed to complement the Ulnar almost perfectly.

Satisfied, he unlinked himself from the system, a self-satisfied smirk plastered to his face. By the time he had finished, Yasaliah's maneuvers had placed them strategically on a path heading towards the ship. "I'm sure the space rats really appreciated the theatrics, Yasaliah," he commented, his voice conveying a benign sarcasm as he upped his rate of firing, sending a barrage of fire at the ship. "I suppose we're giving them more of a show than they planned for."

[webboysurf]

---

Specialist Devronian Arx

---

Dev's heart gave a small flutter at the sound of the order. He immediately jumped up from the turret console, grabbing Death Whistle and making his way up and out of the cockpit, giving the pilot a small wave as she began her maneuvers. He was used to zero G maneuvers at this point, and made his way to his own room. He flipped up his bed, tossing it aside as he stared at his glorious hoard of advanced plastic explosives. He pulled out a duffle bag, placing in around 20 kilos of his own special explosive. Once he had that, he quickly picked up a receiver and a remote switch, tossing them into the bag as he made his way towards the Escape Pods.

Once down with the murder bots, Dev made sure to properly suit up, setting the explosives down to put on an emergency flight suit and helmet. He then made his way towards one of the broken escape pods, running his own shoddy diagnostics. "Port Thrusters and Life Support out of commission... structural integrity at about 54%... Oh this'll do nicely." With a few button presses, he entered into the tight airlock seal. Once the door was closed behind him, the inner door opened up to reveal a beaten up craft. It was surprisingly holding together, but various cracks and damaged electrical bits were clearly signs of tampering. The pod was unusable for proper escape, but perfect for the large space grenade Dev was cooking up.

A few taps on Dev's datapad loaded up his song (Bach's Air on the G String). He smiled at the soaring melody of the piece, his hands swinging in soothing motions as the work began. It took but five minutes, the explosives set precisely in patterns that wouldn't make sense to any rational being. But for Dev, it was art. Explosives so perfectly and delicately placed that failure was impossible in his mind. Having a second opinion, however, wasn't something Dev was above. "Tango, I need you to run a trajectory calculation. Locate their life support, I need this thing in the exact formation I'm sending you." With a swipe up, Dev sent his quick measurements to the AI, who easily churned out the specifications. "Calculations completed. Trajectory options delivered."

Dev made his way out of the pod through the small airlock, grabbing his leftover supplies. He smiled as the music came to an end, the strings stretching out the final notes as the door to the pod closed. Dev swiped the calculations over towards a small icon, a rather isometric icon of flight controls. He then spoke through the comms to Yasaliah. "Hate to spoil your fun, but I need you to pick up that flight pattern exactly. Tango is gonna launch the pod when you're in position. I'm headed up to the Bridge to watch the fireworks." Almost as an afterthought, Dev sent a message to the whole crew. "If this doesn't work, first round is on me when we're back at port..." The demolitions expert practically skipped to the bridge, eagerly anticipating the sight of a job well done.

[Esailia]

Events were in motion and Rendyl was scared. She glanced towards the dead corpse still sitting seventeen feet away, over to her pod that was three feet behind her, and suddenly the thought of her parents entered her mind. The girl doubted they intended for their daughter to end up at the end of a scathing glare an alien who didn't know if Rendyl was a threat or not, but her father had pounded into her that she had strengths. Some were obvious, like being small to fit into tight places that adults couldn't. Others more vague like being clever. But he would always tell her that no one learned what they could do unless they tried.

Rendyl closed her eyes and pinched them tight in concentration and curled her body a bit closer to her core. To observers it'd look like she was in pain, but what happened next would shatter any image of this girl they would've had.

Rendyl lifted her head and stared directly at Aamra. Every member of the crew would feel a very strange sensation zip from the base of their skull up to the crown of their head in a jagged line, leaving a strong tingling across the back of their scalp as though a miniature bolt of electricity had went through their head. For the security officer and Luirae, it would be borderline painful.

The robotic soldiers on board would not be affected.

[Akayaofthemoon]

Luirae jerked violently and slammed up against the wall as the sudden split of pain gripped her skull. It caused the crystals like forms on her body to harden, her natural defensive trying to protect her but nothing could be done against a mental attack. It was causing her vision to flicker back and forth between normal and a pitch black world since no one else was in the hallway to view their inside structure. She placed her hands along the walls, letting it guide her the rest of the way since her eyes couldn't really be trusted at the moment. Rae was almost to the cargo hold and she was going to find out exactly what was going on as a voice in her head that was not her own was not normal. The base of her skull on fire and her eyesight wavering because whoever was using telepathy was not skilled enough cause it should not cause pain to others unless it was an attack but the voice was pleading instead. It spoke volumes and as she entered the cargo hold, she noticed a young woman on her knees and hands on her head while the security officer held her there. The woman was noticeably mute to Luirae, damaged vocal cords clearly visible but she needed to stop. The linguist should be able to work with her on some kind of sign language as the committee would need to speak with her once the situation with the Rats had been handled.

"I advise you to cease your telepathy at once. The last thing this crew needs is a headache while we need clear heads to defeat the Rats. Trust me, they will not be as compassionate as we are. We do not kill people on this ship for being a stowaway but you will speak with the Committee once the situation is handled." Rae stated to the stowaway.

[KaiserElectric]

---

Commander Aamra Tulez

---

Whatever Aamra was expecting from the scrawny stowaway, it certainly wasn't that.

The sensation along the back of her head had hit her like a jolt of electricity, stumbling the normally stoic officer and forcing the air from her lungs with a sharp hiss. Her trained hand was the only thing stopping her from immediately drawing her weapon in self defense, a forgivable if unnecessary action given the circumstances. It was definitely a threatening move, but Aamra recognized a tinge of something else in what had to be a psychic outburst. Even she didn't have enough experience to discern exactly what compiled this explosion of thought, so to say, but she recognized the fear and worry in that outburst easily enough. Perhaps a different approach was needed.

"I advise you to cease your telepathy at once," the crystalline doctor announced as she arrived. "The last thing this crew needs is a headache while we need clear heads to defeat the Rats. Trust me, they will not be as compassionate as we are."

"Yes, the doctor does have a point," Aamra continued, crouching down in front of the stowaway to be a less imposing figure. "Despite appearances, none of us outside of the loathsome rats wish you any harm." Aamra briefly considered if the statement was truthful in light of the lunatic with the grenade launcher but ignored it for now. "If you will stay near us, we'll protect you until the enemy is dealt with until we can sort out your particular situation. Is that acceptable?"

[Esailia]

She knew her gamble was a success when dragon lady stumbled back as if she had recieved a blow to the head. Well, a success would be overstating it judging my the pained expression on the officer's face. Yet Rendyl held Aamra's gaze as the woman's hand jerked towards her hip as if to draw her sidearm.

But before either of them could respond to the other, Luirae entered the cargohold and Rendyl appeared to double take at the woman. Dragon lady was one thing, this one looked like a walking crystalline formation! The girl openly stared as the doctor spoke, her eyes glancing towards Aamra only once as she affirmed what rainbow crystal lady was saying. Rendyl only nodded a few times, her hands finally coming down from her head to her lap as she let herself rest on her heels in a more relaxed posture, still staring at Luirae.

Sent out in a pod, awoken on the wrong ship, pirates, dragons, crystals....The Universe is impossible to predict, her mother liked to say.

[Jones Sparrow]

Although the situation was not a lighthearted one, and rather dire, Ray couldn't help but chuckle at the words of Tony, shaking his head slightly. "Talking dirty never sounded so good, Diaz." He jokingly said, taking more shots at the vessel of space rats. With Yasaliah working magic behind the controls, Tony's grunts, and Dev's muttering, Raymond was almost unable to detect the sudden ringing in the back of his skull. There was something wrong with Ray's body, but what else was new? Add this symptom to his list of many, from PTSD, or shell shock, and the pain in his left hand. Before he could ask if the Rats were deploying some sort of sonic weapon, the ringing stopped, and his attention was then brought back to Yasaliah yelling to shoot, and the status of Dev's homemade bomb.

"Tango, take the shot."

"Aye, Captain. During one of Yasaliah's turns, the escape pod launched out of the Monroe with a trail of orange behind it. It seemed to curve at just the right moment, far too late for the Ulnar to change course. Raymond tapped his ear, broadcasting his voice to the vessel of space rats. "This one's for Anderson, assholes."[/color] His voice was cold, and he didn't look away as the escape pod crashed perfectly through the windows of the Ulnar ship. A split second later a blinding flash of red and orange erupted, sending a shock wave visible to the naked eyes.

"Shit... Monroe, Brace for Impact!" The Captain warned as he put his hands over his head. The wave collided with the Monroe hard enough to momentarily knock out the power, sending the ship almost sideways, and throwing anyone who wasn't prepared for the collision airborne. Raymond crashed into one of the walls in the enclosed hallways. His head once again rang, and he spat out blood as he struggled to get up. "Jesus Dev." He panted. "You think you packed enough punch?"

"No sign of hostile threats on board the Monroe, or in space!" Tango informed the crew, his physical form looking over at Yasaliah, as if trying to give a smile through his monotone face.

Good Riddance Ray thought, tapping his ear once again. "Yasaliah, set coordinates for the closest Committee port you can find. Commander, Doctor... What, or who exactly is the precious cargo, and why did a whole race willingly risk extinction to get her?" It concerned Raymond even more with the fact that the Committee wanted her just as badly. He had a lot of questions, and he was sure his whole crew did too.

[webboysurf]

---

---

Dev smiled as the door to the bridge was in sight, when a sudden strange presence entered into the base of his skull. It was a tingling sensation, reminiscent of the telepathy used when he had been interrogated shortly after he was caught. That feeling, and that memory, was enough to send the man tumbling to the ground momentarily. Dev scrambled to his feet quickly, entering the bridge just in time as he watched the escape pod careening towards the Ulnar ship. The demolitions expert stood in the doorway, leaning against it and propping himself up with his feet. He wasn't entirely sure what outcome his homemade explosives would have... because if they reacted with the fuel cells and the reactor in just the right way...

The explosion was a work of beauty, the colors cascading from the Ulnar ship. A single tear rolled down the cheek of the rebel as the wave of force rocked the Monroe. He had braced himself for it, and did his best to quickly wipe the tear before anyone noticed. He gave a small smile when the Captain's voice came through the comms. "Sorry Cap... needed to make sure I took out the ship in the event of a complication. That and I was only about 80% confident my little payload would interact with the other ship's tech properly." It was hard for the demolitions expert to wipe the smile off his face as he stood straight again, patting Death Whistle on his waist as he began making his way back towards his room.

And yet, Dev's curiosity was tickled by the mention of precious cargo. He wasn't a lowly thief, but the former rebel was interested to see what the Ulnar were so fond of and changed his course to the cargo bay. With a few quick taps on his datapad, Dev pulled up the sensor readouts from the destruction of the hostile ship. Higher radiation reading than he had anticipated, suggesting severe damage to the reactor prior to the incident (or poor construction). Looking back through the information Tango had gathered so instantaneously, Dev was able to begin piecing together what had happened. He almost seemed studious and academic in his approach, looking back through previous "experimental records" of his previous work. Even a psychopath like Dev, out in the vast reaches of space while a prisoner on board a ship with some of the most talented individuals in their respective fields, felt the need to improve his skills while a Marauder.

[Starlance]

The strange tingle running through her head made her jump away from the terminal she was using at that moment, thinking there was a short in the keyboard. But if that was the case, her hands would hurt, not her head. Then what was that? Sleep deprivation came to mind next, but it didn’t feel like any symptom she’s ever experienced. Distracted by the unusual and mildly horrifying experience, she missed the captain’s warning of what was coming.

The sudden impact of the shockwave caught Astrid completely off guard and sent her into the nearest wall. Shockwaves? What kind of nebula was this? The density of most nebulae was, for all intents and purposes, little more than vacuum. Though she was no astrophysicist, the only way to achieve such density Astrid could think of was a relatively fresh nebula - and just as she thought of that, her head filled with all the damage the Monroe could potentially suffer in a dense cloud of hot gas. Fingers crossed the shield held on long enough for them to get out.

Speaking of failures, she dragged herself back to her feet and once more turned to the diagnostics interface, silently praying the momentary power loss was the worst of it. Aside from a few non-critical overloads, a thorough sweep turned up nothing that would impair the ship's operation. She breathed a sigh of relief and left engineering to make the rounds. No diagnostics software could tell you just how many holes there were in the ship. Judging by where the bulk of the rodent infestation was encountered, she chose the cargo bay as her first stop. She expected a species like the Ulnar to leave quite a mess.

It was as bad as could be expected. Two hull breaches, fortunately still kept sealed by the attached boarding shuttles, bodies and blood here and there, damage due to gunfire - what the Ulnar lacked in aim, they made up for in ammunition - and one or more crates that seemed to have disintegrated. The mess could be cleaned up rather easily, but the breaches were another problem. Astrid walked over to the closer one, making notes on a datapad as she did. “Plasma cut with rough edges consistent with slow cutting speed, likely due to lack of experience on the operator’s part.” she mumbled as she wrote. “Or maybe the dumb rodent simply didn’t care.” She took a few hasty steps back as soon as she was done to get away from the stench emanating from the Ulnar craft. ’Description: Two hull breaches, approx. 200x80 cm’, she filled out the appropriate protocol. Two, maybe three days in the drydock, unless the dockyard workers worked overtime. As Astrid looked around for more major damage, she could now see the damaged crate from the other side. A gleam of silvery gray caught her attention, followed by the doctor and the security officer around an unknown figure. Confident that officer Tulez could contain any possible hostile, her curiosity got the better of her and she moved to examine some projectile damage, two shotgun slugs or something of the sort, within earshot of the group.

[KaiserElectric]

---

Commander Aamra Tulez

---

"Right, now that this is settled, back to the matter of the pirates," Commander Tulez said, reverting to her usual matter-of-fact tone before turning away from the stowaway to talk quietly with the crystalline doctor.

"Have you ever seen something like this before?" Tulez whispered seriously. "I certainly have not, outside of some old texts from the monastery." She waited for the doctor to make her observation before coming to a decision again. "I do not enjoy the idea of someone who can exhibit that kind of ability on this ship. Do you think you can prepare a sedative in case she tries something-"

*THOOOOOM*

Already on guard because of the psychic prodding, Tulez was able to better deal with the shockwave slamming into the Monroe, protectively grabbing the nearest solid object and bracing herself as the wave subsided. Letting out her held breath in a low hiss, she glared at the wall of the docking bay, where the explosion most likely came from.

"Arx..." Tulez growled, her voice practically dripping with disdain. "By the Seas when I get by hands on that bomb-lobbing ingrate..." It was then that the lights came on and Tulez realized that the solid object she grabbed onto protectively was in fact Doctor Driani. Tulez quickly let go of the doctor, her luminescent markings flashing red as she bashfully apologized before rounding, once again, on the stowaway.

"Right...it is about time you come with me," Tulez ordered indignantly, taking her firmly but non-violently by the arm. "It's time we introduce you to the Captain..."

[Esailia]

Rendyl was still curiously examining Luirae, trying to figure out if the crystals were actual minerals or not, when the explosion happened. Having been on the floor already she didn't slide more than a few feet away from the crew, but it was enough to renew her fear in her predicament. She remained motionless as the ship settled, frozen on the spot like some kind of scared critter, until Tulez dragged her up onto her feet by an arm.

She didn't resist, shaken but unharmed by the event. She nodded her assent again just in case it might've been in question, using her free hand to push some of her silvery hair out of her face, red eyes blinking.

[Jones Sparrow]

"Incoming call from Admiral V'Sul, Captain."

Raymond didn't respond. He stared into the lifeless eyes of Terrance Anderson for quite some time. He wasn't a bad man. He had made mistakes in his life like anyone else. He drank too much sometimes, lost his job at the Citadel as the head loadmaster. Struggled with a divorce, tried to keep custody of his daughter, and in desperation tried to steal Committee credits. He didn't deserve to be injected with the galaxy's most painful poison. He didn't deserve to suffer so long. He didn't deserve to be shot down like a rabid dog. Raymond stared for a little while. He sat next to him, holding his hands from shaking, desperately trying to make sense of this all. How will he tell Anderson's daughter? What will he say to his old friends that played poker with him when they were on shore leave? He clenched his fists and stood up, glancing out the window to the view of floating Ulnar bodies and limbs, metal, and other debris from the attack. "All for this one person..." He thought. He set out of the room a second after, glaring down the hall.

"Tell the Admiral that she can wait."

He made it back to the cargo bay where Rae, Aamra, the security bots, and the stowaway. Without a single word Raymond approached her, not caring about the age of their cargo. She looked the same age as Anderson's daughter. He practically threw her into the direction of the door. "I told you to put her in the brig." He said sourly to his crew mates. "Come on, this way. We have a lot to talk about."

[Akayaofthemoon]

Luirae felt that tingling crawl up her spine like she was being watched and noticed that the stowaway's red eyes were on her. There was a curiosity there in her gaze but nothing that showed any malic which was a good sign. It did not surprise her that the staring was happening since as far as Rae knew, she was the only one to have ever left her planet which would make her a unique sight to most but that didn't make it any less unsettling. She looked away from the girl and focused her attention on the Commander as she spoke to her in hushed tones."I have seen very few with such an ability as those races tend to keep to themselves or die out for obvious reasons. I have never seen such a case in a human but this could be a cross-species. We can have Valanx take a look into that a later time to determine if that is indeed the case should she not wish to speak or cannot."she whispered. The girl, Rendyl, did have damage and with her abilities still so chaotic, there might be a communication barrier if sign language was not taught. She kept a calm face as Aamra then requested a sedative be made for their stowaway and while she was going to reply with a 'no' since the Captain would probably need more information from her to present to the Committee, that never happened as the ship took a sudden impact. The Captain's warning not quite being quick enough which made Rae close her eyes, the crystals along her body hardening for the forceful slam she was prepared to take though it never came. Instead, she felt arms wrap around her frame and pulling her close into a protective embrace as the lights flickered out. She was grateful to not have to deal with the impact but at the same time, Aamra had to deal with the damage instead if it should occur which did not sit well. She was also not used to being embraced by another and was debating what the social protocol for this was. Did she hold the other back? Did she thank the other woman for protecting her? Did she do nothing? She just stayed frozen and let herself be held while deciding the other woman's facial cues would give her an explanation for what to do when the lights turned back on. She heard Aamea growl next to her ear, her voice speaking out in protest before the lights flickered on and the look of realization crossed her face. She had thought the other woman held onto her on purpose but after seeing the reaction, it must have been military reflexes though either answer was logical. They both had the instinct to protect and serve after all. Aamra swiftly let go of her as if she had been a fire that burnt her before the luminescent markings on Aamra's body flashed red and she looked almost bashful while apologizing, for what, Rae had no idea. It was not as if Aamra had done anything wrong or had she? Usually, one would ask for permission to touch another person but it was understandable to not abide by that rule if the person would be hurt otherwise. She would have to ask someone later but for now, she could put a pin in that thought as Raymond's voice filled her ear once again. Rae tapped the communicator in her ear and responded to the Captain,"Who would be the correct term and it seems that a unique ability was the motive behind the attack on the Monroe." she answered before tapping it back off.

All this mess for one girl....it should be an interesting tale. She moved around the girl, looking at the cryo-pod that the girl had probably emerged from and thought they better have Valanx do a once over. They had no idea what condition or problems that could happen to the stowaway from an early awakening even if she seemed fine now. It might also give important information which had her tapping the com once more and addressing their Science Officer."Valanx, we have a cryo-pod in the cargo bay that needs to be examined. Please see if you can find any information and report back to the Captain once found." Now that that order was given, they needed to clear the space for their Science Officer as well as the Engineer and get the stowaway into a more secure area. They didn't have a chance though as Raymond stepped in and instantly making her feel tense as his body language said not to mess with him. He said no words as he roughly grabbed Rendyl and shoved her towards the door. Luirae stepped forward about to be the voice of reason as it was easy to tell where Raymond's mind was. If it wasn't for Rendyl being on the Monroe, Anderson would still be alive and he would not have a heavy burden to bear. He didn't think about the fact that she had been in that room with him. That she could help support some of that weight. It was not this stowaway's fault and the Rats were completely to blame. Rae could already see that he was slightly hurt, his hand shaking was not due to anger though most would probably think so. It was when he finally decided to speak that she was left frozen, the sour tone directed at them made it clear even to her that he was not pleased with them. Had he said to put her in the brig? Rae could not remember though if she was being honest, she didn't remember most of the trip to the cargo hold. It was like a blur but she couldn't tell him that. He hadn't even either of them a chance as he started to lead the other girl out. She curled her fingers into a fist, irritated that she didn't get to defend herself and that the girl was getting the blame. She wanted to pull him aside but now was not the time. She would just have to deal with that pit sitting in her stomach that Raymond was upset with her, more so then she had seen in a while. Emotions were....troubling.

[Sedjwick]

Valanx was in the lab looking at the Ulnar venom again. The newest anti-venom should have worked. All the data suggested that it would neutralize the poison, so why hadn't it worked? He injected the anti-venom into another vial and placed the sample under a microscope. He watched the reaction again. After watching the anti-venom do it's job, he separated the remaining solutions. The reaction had proceeded as normal, but there was something weird about what was left over. There was either an unexpected product, or a reactant that didn't react. He placed the unknown substance under a microscope and began an analysis. He rushed over to the body of their deceased loadmaster and extracted a vial of brain fluid. He put this new sample under another microscope and began an analysis. Somehow, there was a powerful neurotoxin in Anderson's system, identical to the substance he had isolated from the neutralized Ulnar venom. But if the Ulnar venom contained both a hemotoxin and an neurotoxin, why were they unable to isolate the neurotoxin from the venom until they had neutralized the hemotoxin? With a few swipes of a gloved hand across the displays, he logged the data for further analysis. Maybe Rae would be able to make more sense of this. This poison stuff was more her territory anyway. He just worked on this sort of stuff on the side when he had nothing else to do or the matter was of greatest urgency as it was here, or at least it had been, and probably would be again. Those rats were still out there in certain places. The Marauders had just wiped out a large portion of them, but they hadn't annihilated the entire race.

He had just saved the new information on the venom when a call came in for him over the comms. "Valanx, we have a cryo-pod in the cargo bay that needs to be examined. Please see if you can find any information and report back to the Captain once found," Rae instructed.

"Affirmative," Valanx responded. "Also, I found some new information about the Ulnar venom. You'll want to take a look at it ASAP. It's... confusing." With that, Valanx left the lab and made his way to the cargo bay to examine the cryo-pod. Why did they have a cryo-pod? Was this something to do with the mysterious "precious cargo" they had picked up? Was that why the Ulnar had chased them until they wiped out their entire fleet? Hopefully this cryo-pod would provide answers. If it was a commercial transport cryo-pod it likely had an internal memory card that would describe the contents, the route, the ultimate destination, and any special notes regarding hazardous materials or other dangers the contents presented when released. He should be able to read any information with a quick scan as long as the internal circuitry was intact. With the amount of jostling the ship took, though, it may require some repairs before he could read it.

As Valanx neared the door to the cargo bay, the captain stormed by with a girl that Valanx had not seen before. Valanx would have asked about this, but the captain's mood was not one he wanted to test at the moment based on his facial expression and the way he was walking. Besides, he was needed elsewhere, and hopefully where he was needed was also the place where the answers to the myriad questions swarming through his brain lay.

[Esailia]

Rendyl had no idea what the Captain looked like, but she was curious if he too would be unique....maybe a tree so she could make the joke that his bark was worse than his bite. But as she thought about her little joke, a human just like her stormed through the cargobay doors and made a beeline right for her. Her first impulse thought was he was another crewmember, come to attend to the damage or to her, yet both were very wrong. She was flung towards the door, her mouth agape in a silent gasp save for the air rushing into her lungs, and was for a sickening moment considering her telepathy again to tell him to leave her alone...

The snow-haired girl buckled down on her urge and took a few seconds more to note other details: the fact that the security officer willingly did nothing to stop the man meant he had more authority, and the growling from the man saying she was meant to be in the brig at his order meant undoubtedly he was the captain.

And so she went without complaint of being firmly led out of the cargohold, past another human, and towards what she guessed was the brig.

[webboysurf]

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Dev was surprised by the scene before him as he was making his way towards the Cargo Bay. The Captain was enraged and carrying a little girl in tow, something the demolitions expert didn't exactly understand. Granted, if it was illegal, Dev didn't want to know. Well, he did, so he could use it against the glorious captain... All of that was besides the point. Dev wasn't exactly a knight in shining armor... or by any means someone with the best moral conscience or stability. He was surprised to find that he actually had some sort of line when his teeth clenched at the sight. In a huff, Dev followed Ray.

"Not usually the one to say this, but I don't think we need to be locking up children in our brig. What harm could she possibly do? Let her wander around with the murder bots keeping an eye on her at the very least, Cap'n." His voice was unusually sincere, the usual tones of mockery or explosives-related excitement gone. And then he went there. "We all liked him. Best not be doing something uncivilized cause we're grieving."