Scene #6378: Storm in a Teacup: Pirate's Invitation

Owner	Pose
Septette Arcubielle	The PV "Blind Tiger" is, to those who dock externally, a bland red-and-gray vessel built to a style typical of human vessels in Starbounder space. It looks like it's taken an extensive and recent patch job, with the emissions-muffling stealth equipment and jury-rigged weaponry being older additions. Whatever it's used for, it can't be peaceful work, though the atmospheric light of the red star it orbits gives it a calming vespertine air. That illusion of blandness is shattered when one makes one's way inside, either through the dock or onboard teleporter. It feels like a retrofitted pleasure vessel; heavy industrial piping erupts from varnished wood walls, and broad stargazing windows are papered over with reinforced steel plates. Quiet men in brown slacks and white dress shirts direct the new arrivals through narrow hallways towards a central meeting room. The meeting room is one place where the brutal aesthetic of ruggedization hasn't overtaken the vessel's former luxury. It's more like a mildly seedy bar than a room on a space station- the floor is wooden, the lights are warm, and the walls are lined with bottles of alcohol in staggering variety. A jukebox is playing brass music at a restrained volume. There's even a hovering multi-armed drone behind the counter, waiting with mechanical patience for the adventurous to place their orders. The captain they've come to meet isn't here just yet, but a couple of her men are already waiting, sober and restless. Everybody on this ship seems to be armed- most with laser pistols in open shoulder holsters, but one particularly grizzled-looking crewman has a tommy gun with a glowing red drum magazine strapped to his back. They're nice enough to the Elites, but don't seem like nice people.
Starbound Flotilla	George was asked by Captain Flint to provide some passage to the Blind Tiger, and so he has! A quick hop aboard one of the Flotilla vessels should do it. They're not exactly bringing in a mothership for this dock, but the RV-sized small vessel has enough room for things to mostly be comfortable regardless. When they pass into the territory, George himself notes to Flint, "This turf, you know-- It's in our home galaxy, of all places. Weird coincidence, huh?" He takes a drag of cigarette, and conspicuously fails to state anything nostalgic or positive about this region of space. He brings it in, docks easily, and while George wanders though, he takes an impressed look at the stealth equipment and the weaponry, giving it a close eye as he passes in. "Now this is what's /really/ homey." He says, grinning, and sliding up to the bar to order something, then take a swig before spinning around and leaning on the counter. "So," He says. "What's got a thousand people up and disappearing, exactly? Where do you last remember putting 'em down?"
Staren	Staren is... surprised as heck to actually run into a ship with a compatible teleporter! He beams over, still an armored-up robot, although with signs of recently-repaired damage -- the paint doesn't QUITE match where cuts have been repaired, and the like -- and looks around the ship curiously as he makes his way to the meeting room. He hasn't gotten to see a ship quite like this before. Staren looks around at the crowd of toughs. "So... Anyone gonna explain who these people are who went missing, and under what circumstances they disappeared?" His tail twitches.
Android 17	Seventeen heard about this through the grapevine and really hasn't had any major adventures in space. This whole mission has gotten his attention, but what really has got his attention is to who is running the mission. Far be it from Seventeen to entirely question the motives of others, but in this case, it's fairly obvious humanitarian desires are not at the forefront. Seventeen was in the normal outfit, a long-sleeved shirt in green and white with the letters M I R on the front. He has a pair of gloves on each hand, with some jeans ending in a pair of boots. There is also an orange band on his left arm with the word 'Ranger' on it. With piercing blue eyes and dark hair that falls just short of his shoulders. Seventeen finally ends up at the bar, sitting on the stool as he simply listens and waits. Someone already asking about the missing people. Looking towards George he lets out a small smile and speaks up. "Losing a thousand people is a pretty big problem. If we're lucky, the postage they used was just wrong." "Somehow, I don't think we're going to be so lucky."
Kotone Yamakawa	Erchius is an element Kotone has only given thought to so much as keeping her home/ship fueled these days. Still, strange things have happened with it she always wondered if the holo zombies from so long ago had something to do with the mysterious element? She's not sure and will have to think on that for now as she arrives clad in her sleev3eel long coat, shirt pants and boots she'll enter the hangers after docking her ship and leaving Slipbolt behind to manage the vessel while she and any other Paladins who hitched a lift with her disembark. She will make fot the 'bar' and gets what sort of people she is dealing with here. George's sorts of people and she called it for there the old man is a bit ahead of her. The Pirates here are being polite, they had something to get out of this, right? She knew they'd be after some payday but her main focus was recovering any survivors of the station so here she was. "We'll have to see information this band has but I doubt they'd be leading us on a wild goose chase." Android 17's joke gets a faint smile from her before she notes to Staren and George. "Funny seeing you two here."
Captain Flint	Flint kind of segregates himself from Silver, as he so often does. "I suppose," says the captain to George. He's learned enough to know that, relatively speaking, 'home galaxy' is akin to 'home sea'--Flint might be recognized in Havana, but might not be as welcome as he is in Nassau. He assumes for George, in this place, the case is similar. Flint and Silver follow closely behind George. "Mr. Wiremu," says Flint with a nod of professional courtesy towards Staren, as he and Silver enter the bar. Silver joins George in ordering something, setting his crutch against the bar and leaning upon it for support. The captain himself addresses the others present, his voice a gravelly English baritone. "It's my understanding a vessel like this is a complex thing, with day to day operations under the governance of any number of mechanical, or digital processes." His seafoam eyes shift slowly across the room, and he reaches up to stroke thoughtfully at his goatee. "Perhaps those of us more inclined towards such complexities might review the vessel's records for any abnormalities which coincide with the disappearances."
Orchid	When it comes to rescue in the wake of disaster, Orchid is not only well equipped, she is also unable to really argue that she shouldn't go help. The money is nice, but that's secondary. It's certainly second to what she had planned for this day. That alternate plan had involved a meeting with a contractor about the shop that she's building. No, instead she's carring a box of supplies and search drones as she passes through the airlock, folowing Kotone. This she will secure someplace suitable, before joining the others in the meeting room. She does leave a spider on top of the box, to make it clear that it is being watched. Looking around the room she sees a number of people she knows as well. "Seventeen, Staren, George, right?" she greets people as she takes a seat somewhere, not far from the bar but not right at it.
Reyes	Reyes has thankfully repaired his armor. It got wrecked, but he shows up in a fully restored suit of fully covering environmental battle armor. And even though the mission hasn't started, he's got the helmet on. It's not because he wants to look like some kind of badass. It's more just to hide his expression and give him some space to try and figure things out. The ultimate retreat in awkwardness. The armored figure strolls into the meeting zone, having taken the teleporter. While waiting for their appointment, he ends up leaning awkwardly against a wall near the Jukebox. After it's done playing whatever it was, it starts playing Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor' - although at the same volume.
Nova Terra	A vessel suddenly appears in space near the pirate vessel, visibly shimmering into existance as it lowers it cloak. Shortly after, a small shuttle launches from its hangar bay to move and dock with the Blind Tiger. Stepping off the shuttle is Nova, wearing her usual Ghost suit. Though for the moment she's not packing any weapons. Not that it makes her any less dangerous. Used to being in the presence of not-nice people, Nova casually walks by them on her way to the meeting room. The weapons are given a glance, but not much more than that. Arriving, Nova stops at the entrance. She glances around at those who have gathered, recognizing a number of them and giving them nods in greeting. But she maintains her silence as she finds a nice wall to lean against while waiting to hear about the situation.
Zwei	Space distress call: boring. A thousand people magically disappearing: interesting if only for the fact that it's not an obvious science experiment gone wrong and/or aliens. A space ship that's a weaponized prohibition era speakeasy: that's pretty cool. Zwei doesn't dock because Zwei doesn't have a ship because Zwei doesn't really need a ship and that'd be stupid. Instead, it sends Weiss to the teleporter, popping in wearing the same getup from the very first forays into the wild, wild world of Erchius back in the day. Asche won't fit. This is workplace discrimination, but Zwei lets it slide for the moment. <<"Hey, what's with calling a meeting out in space like this and then not even being here? That's only cool and professional in Earth meetings. Space meetings are different!">> says Weiss, balancing on the knife's edge of half serious. <<"Since it's a pain to get out here, you should respect our time, right? Do any of you know why a bunch of people disappeared? From where exactly? And when precisely? And what do you mean by disappeared? Anything left behind? Personal possessions? Ominous bloodstains? Ectoplasm, maybe? Did the Rapture happen? Come on, work with me here.">> She then orders one of 'whatever George dares her to drink'.
Septette Arcubielle	To Staren and George's trained eyes, the stealth equipment seems almost blasphemously kludgey but serviceable nonetheless. Several of the weapon systems are built to draw superheated plasma directly from the engine; the loss of thrust ought to be nearly suicidal in a proper engagement. One of the younger, clean-shaven fellows at the bar laughs at George's joke. The more grizzled man stares coldly at his crewmate until the laughter fades to a nervous chuckle, then stops with a quiet gulp. The mechanical bartender pours drinks for Flint and George; lacking a more specific order, it seems to default to brandy. On closer inspection, the drone's got a scorch mark on its chassis. A scar from a particularly knock-down barfight, perhaps? After a moment or two, a heavy airlock-like door opens vertically from the middle and three people step through. First are a pair of ominously burly fellows in flat caps, dressed like dock workers and missing a couple of limbs between them; industrial-grade electronic prostheses make up the difference. One of them has a nametag that says 'BRUNO', and it's hard to imagine anything more fitting. Carcer follows a couple of feet behind: sharper-dressed than the rest, with a Panama hat, mobster-esque oil-stained coat and waistcoat, and... a black cane and blindfold. She's self-evidently the captain, if not from the ship's name and the way she carries herself, then from the way half her crew flinches as she strikes the jukebox with her cane offhandedly. It stutters, then switches back to the brassy music it was playing before. Odd. She takes off her hat, puts on a smile, and steps into the center of the room. "Sorry for the wait," she says in Weiss's general direction. "Cooling blew again. Wasn't sure anybody'd come when I dropped a dime. I'm Captain Carcer, to cut the pleasantries short. And we last 'put them down' on the other side of this star. Bruno?" Bruno steps behind the counter and punches a button on the bartend-o-mat. It squeals, then projects a flickery hologram of an olive-shaped asteroid colony: an oblong space rock with a partially-embedded hemispherical arcology capping one end. "That's Nessos Station. Erchius mining colony. A thousand-" Not-Bruno nudges her with an elbow and whispers in her ear. Her smile breaks for a second as he elbows him back. "Five thousand people. Ugh. 'scuse me. ... It's run by Letheia Corp. Was run. Then Letheia decided to hang the whole street out to dry. We've been protecting them ever since; taking the same skim Letheia did. Then four months ago we almost got clipped." Bruno punches a couple of buttons on the drone, and it projects a different image: an exterior view of the Blind Tiger, with several holes blown in it. "We're coming in for a bag-man run, and something hits us. Punches through the hull, 'boards', kills half our crew, spins us up for an FTL jump, then cuts our engines and breezes. Takes us all this time to get patched up and ankle back, and Nessos is dark on comms the whole time." She strikes her cane on the floor, and Bruno changes the hologram again- a diagram of the Delta Cradle system's layout. There are a couple of gas giants, a dense asteroid belt, and the Paper Tiger and Nessos orbiting on opposite sides of the star. "Now today we get close enough to get a peep. Nessos is gone. Passive scans show zilch. Active scans show it's occluded by something bigger than itself- might be a debris cloud. And I realize-" she taps her head with a finger- "before I give the order to get in visual range that we're in over our heads." She gestures, broadly, at the room as a whole. "Questions before we hit the gas?"
Orchid	Orchid is taking some notes as Carcer explains. "Far enough away from 'proper civilization' that no government tries to keep peace, so less formal groups handle actual defense." She's diplomatic enough to not use terms like 'protection' in this context. "What is the primary export of Nessos station? Why would someone want to steal or destroy the place? Did they just mine the stuff? Or were they building things too?" Hmmm. Good thing she brought the space-capible drones. "I've got some probes we could use on the way in," she offers.
Captain Flint	Silver seems impressed with the quality of the brandy. The squeal from the bar's robotic barkeep startles him slightly, causing him to spill some on his weathered jacket. "Captain Carcer," says Flint in greeting. "Captain Flint, of the Walrus. You'll not have heard of me, unless the Blind Tiger also sails the West Indies." He gives Bruno and Not-Bruno both an appraising look, a bejeweled hand resting on the pommel of his cutlass. "Is there anyone you know of with a vested interest in seeing the colony fail?"
Kotone Yamakawa	There's a bit of chatting as the whole assembled group waits for their hose the Pirate Captain Cancer. It takes a bit but they finally shows up and she looks at them and sizes the woman up. Bruno does their thing and there' a bit more talk Kotone looks to the Captain for a moment "So your crew was running the colonies external security." She watches the display moment. "Got any more data on what hit you? Also, I'd like to ask any Apex activity in this star system? Ever found things like old labs and the like?"
Android 17	"Yeah, I was right, we weren't lucky," Seventeen says shrugging his shoulders. While listening to the explanation, frowning. Well, they didn't go missing so much as their protectors were hit super hard and forced to warp. In his chair, he turns towards the captain and looks her over for a moment, "Are there ANY records of what hit you, boarded you, and sent you flying off? Videos? Pictures? Eye witness accounts?" The Cyborg asks, trying to get more details about what they were in for. Still...this was going to go hot and very fast. When she gets the gas ready, he stands up and waits. Whatever was about to happen was about to happen fast, and probably get hot. Or well, bloody...maybe. Something doesn't act like that without certain ideas in mind. But if they had the ship on the ropes like that, why send them off? Weird...
Staren	Five thousand. Damn. When Orchid asks, Staren explains, "She just said, it's an Erchius mining facility. It's a psychically-active material with solid and liquid forms -- it's what makes the ship's artificial gravity, teleporters, and FTL work." He nods with Seventeen. "Yeah, any more data on the aftermath of you getting hit so we're clearer on their capabilities..."
Starbound Flotilla	George makes a small "Puh!" Kind of noise with his mouth. "Letheia. Fucking Letheia, I swear. If you think they weren't hanging them out to dry a loooong while before they started downsizing after the Earth business, you don't know Big L's bullshit industrial abuse emporium." He takes a swig of the drink to emphasize it. Seems George has Opinions about the Letheia corporation. When Carcer explains the boarding and the hostile attacker, George briefly twitches an eyebrow in a way that seems knowing without showing exactly what he knows. He switches from drinking to smoking at that exact moment, though the thoughts are unclear. He then explains to Orchid and others curious: "'Proper government' doesn't exist anymore in the first place. Least of all for Letheia. Around here, the biggest dogs were the Terrene Protectorate, the USCM, and Letheia. The Protectorate ate shit when Earth went kablooie, the USCM ate shit when the Miniknog fucked them up with Project Parasprite, and Letheia is on the downturn because, hey, now there's less people /buying/ what they're /selling/." He leans forward, propping both hands up on his palms and putting his elbows on his knees, eager to hear what happened about the aftermath.
Nova Terra	Seems like a pretty straight forward investigation and possible cleansing mission. Not the first time Nova has been sent out on one of these. More information about what they're going to encounter would be helpful, though the others are already asking the right questions. So to just chime in herself, Nova says, "The Griffin will fly support. The more ships the better, no?"
Orchid	Orchid nods to Staren. "Thank you. That gives me a few ideas for why... and some ugly ideas." If you're on the run, why not take out the only place where someone pursuing can get gas?
Reyes	"Several questions, yeah." Reyes pushes off from the wall and tromps on over to the gathering. As soon as he's about ten feet away from the jukebox, it returns to its normal routine. "What's Erchius? Did this Letheia company explain why it was pulling out? Did you do any advanced scans of this shrouding mass? Like its composition? Thermal readings? Should be able to get a decent idea of what it's made of at least, right...? And has anything like this ever happened before to any other places that mine this... Erchius stuff?" As he finally reaches a comfortable distance, he introduces himself. "Reyes, Tomrrow Legionnaire, Chevalier of the Paladins. And now you're telling me it's FIVE thousand people? Aw crap..."
Zwei	<<"So, do you know for a fact that five thousand people disappeared, or are you assuming based on the fact that you can't find the station anymore?">> Weiss immediately puts out there. <<"Think past the asinine framing of that question for a second, because the difference is important.">> Siiiip. <<"I don't suppose the boarder's breach vector was in line with Nessos station, was it? Where's the 'exit wound'? Do you suspect they might have gone there?">> \|\|Easily ascertained.\|\| <<It's important to know what she says as well. I can tell if she's lying.>> \|\|Simply getting close to the arcology will be enough to accurately determine the source of occlusion as well. These humans are stranded in their pressurized can for the moment, and can do no better than spectronomy from the opposite side of a star. If the opportunity exists to confirm, I should take it.\|\| <<That sounds good.>> <<"If you're worried the whole asteroid went poof, don't be just yet. If it were just a cloud of debris, it'd have smeared through Delta Cradle's orbit instead of just clumped together; it's not big enough to have that meaningful level of gravitational binding. Whatever went through you didn't RKV Nessos like that. It probably can't be great, though. It wanted your 'protection' out of the picture, but didn't take enough heroic exception to it to bother killing you.">> Weiss stops and frowns thoughtfully for a moment. There are yomi layers to that. <<"What's your actual game in this? You're worried about the money? Just getting out of the system?">> She taps the now-empty glass on the counter. <<"Erchius mining is always full of crazy problems. Tell me about the corp.">> She glances to George, then back to Carcer. <<"Still tell me about the corp. I like to match data points when George says just about anything. No offense~">> Then just a brief pause. <<"Also, would you like a visual?">>
Septette Arcubielle	"Glad you asked," Carcer says, turning her face in the vague direction of Orchid. (There are stains on the blindfold over where her eyes should be. Eugh.) "Your friend's crabbed it- it's fuel. Other uses, too, if you're foxish- but that's the one we care about. Not rare, always in demand." The grizzled man with the tommy gun offers to take a couple of her drones; apparently, they plan to launch them out of torpedo chutes towards Nessos as they approach. She offers a hand to Flint, a courtesy that isn't extended to the others. "Pleased to meet you, Captain Flint- never been to West Indies, but I'm sure it's swell. That's the damndest thing: nobody I know wants Nessos dry-gulched. Everybody in the constellation wants the fuel. Nobody further out cares." She settles down on a stool at the bar, rubbing her knee with one hand absent-mindedly and her cane laid across her lap. "Which brings us to the thing that crushed us out. Nobody saw it and made it. Ship interior's stripped out of recording devices; we say things here we don't want gettin' to other ears. Wasn't coming from Nessos; sapped us from the side at real speed, managed not to punch out the other side, tore up the ship's guts, then breezed out the way it came in. No good data past that. Lit up our sensors like fireworks, so I don't trust any of it." "The 'shrouding mass'," she says to Reyes, "is cold, dark, opaque to damn near everything. Looks like dense rock. Could be wrong." She then gives the vague impression, without actually showing eyes, of squinting at Weiss. "If you can't find your wallet, your cash is missing too. Your friend's picture of Letheia's good enough. They worked this place hard and ditched. We're in it for cash too, but we don't choke the place like the corp did." She nods to Weiss, pulling herself up to her feet. "The 'Falcon' can run support. I'd rather ships without stealth stayed behind. Get whatever eyeballs on it you can. We'll start spinning up the ess-tee-ell." She gestures to one of her men, who exits the room at a brisk walk. A moment later, the ship shudders with a rising hum and starts its approach. "If Nessos is still there, we'll get to boarding pods and find out what the inside looks like. If not... we'll dream up something."
Orchid	The probes in question turn out to be Mettools. In space helmets. Orchid will supply a good half dozen from the aforsaid box. "So fuel, then." Orchid hums. "If all they wanted was to dry the place out, they could have used a lower tech method. So they want to do something with the Erchius." She's not here to 'fix' the local politics, she just wants to help people. (There IS a place where she wants to fix the local politics, but she's planning on making it more of a long term project.) The Mets will fit into the torpedo tubes, and will go through space pretty quickly. They'll transmit what they see on narrow beams back to the ship. Orchid will advise on a pattern that will give good coverage of both where the station is supposed to be and the area around.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa gets her answer, the thin took out any means of recording it being there. "Maybe it left some physical trace but that can wait I think we do need to check things out. Given if you want stealth units I'll have Slipbolt stay behind and will sound for help if we go dark as well." She notes she has the kit she needs for this op for the most part ready on her or in her matter manipulator. So it's just time to wait and see where this goes for the moment. "I'm ready here. If we find anything I might be able to get into its systems and pull up data for us."
Captain Flint	Flint's handshake is firm, his palm callused. Carcer can feel the rings which adorn his fingers like trophies. He ponders her response with a furrowed brow. Perhaps there's someone Carcer /doesn't/ know who wants Nessos gone, or who wants to crowd her out and take the cut for themselves. Being a man accustomed to taking by force that which he wants, it's Flint's first assumption. It goes un-voiced. Perhaps the shrouding mass is the same thing that attacked earlier--although reason would suggest that it should be 'lighting up' their sensors like the attacker did before. "Wait for me at the boarding pods," says Flint to Silver. The quartermaster nods, gathering up his crutch from the bar and limping off. The captain approaches George, and addresses him in a slightly hushed tone. "Tell me--if we were to return here after our investigation, how likely is it we could find salvage suitable for making a certain ship spaceworthy? And how much would capable hands ask for payment?" Leave it to Flint to find some way to turn a personal profit from a mass disappearance.
Android 17	"I suppose that flies.." Seventeen says, sounding convinced enough. Something still seems off to him, but if it was from the captain or from the situation he wasn't sure. Still, it's probably best not to put malice in such things. Maybe. He notices the twitch from George but does not say anything for the moment. That, and with the conversation over the radio, he has enough of an understanding of the importance of this place. He does not make theories, there just isn't enough to go on. "Well, I guess we'll never learn anything sitting here. So I guess we should push forward," Seventeen says, with a shrug. "So lets do it."
Nova Terra	Nova nods in agreement as the offer of an escort is accepted. She stops leaning against the wall as she raises a hand to touch the side of her visor, "Leave the case behind and return to the ship. Tell Reigel to charge the warp drive, we're jumping. Full stealth mode on return to normal space." Back at the hatch where Nova docked, the shuttle pilot can be seen struggling to carry a case on the ship. He finally drops it down on the deck with a heavy clank, before returning to the shuttle and proceeding to take off. The case is clearly sealed, a complex lock holding it tight. Any of the crew who get the idea of trying to open it will receive a non-lethal shock for the attempt. Back to Nova, she hmmms quietly in thought, agreeing with Orchid, "Does seem like an odd way to just steal some fuel. Unfortunately it's not any method or technique for raiding that I've heard of. I guess we'll just have to see for ourselves." She nods to Carcer, "We're ready."
Staren	Staren doesn't have much more to say, really. The plan sounds solid. Get closer, scan, and then decide what to do from there. Probably boarding.
Zwei	<<"It's a good thing you have so much extra crew! If half of them died on any normal ship, you'd still be basically stranded right now!">> Weiss says, with a voice so optimistic it's downright saccharine, and the most uncannily blank face possible. Subtle parts of her irises swivel, contract, and expand on purpose, making for the security camera focus look. \|\|Lit up the sensors, but no one saw it before or after. Left through the same point of entry, having arrested and reversed momentum. Minimal crew fatailities.\|\| <<Yeah but ninety-nine percent of it is factual. Twenty four of those possibilities are pretty big logical leaps.>> \|\|People have their own logic.\|\| <<"Like I said, it'll still be there.">> Weiss continues. <<"I'd try sparing as much of your crew as you can, though. I don't imagine you have a lot to spare right now for blind boarding actions into spooky off-grid space derelicts. Leave it to these guys! Most of them are very good at not getting their arms and legs ripped off by vicious aliens, and the rest I wish would!">> Siiip the new brandy. Not fitting inside the ship and all, Zwei has had dick all to do with Asche except send him towards Nessos during this time. Considering how space works in relation to both line of sight and factored thrust, it doesn't take super long to warp to the opposite side of a star and then close in manually from there. Because of actually sensible tactical considerations in design, stealth tech is indeed enabled --not even the complicated stuff. Capturing emissions and diverting radiation from the star with the PIF, and faking cosmic background with a tiny amount released in the direction of Nessos, it's actually way easier to just be hide in a little patch of 'space wallpaper' than some doofy stuff like ENGAGE CLOAKING DEVICE. Once Asche has an actual visual confirmation on the station and its 99 problems, Zwei puts the feed through Weiss, and then displays it to Carcer and the gang in the bar room. If anything is exceptionally interesting and Zwei would rather they not see it, it's cleverly edited out.
Starbound Flotilla	"Huh. Alright, well, this is simple enough. Get in stealthy, figure what's going on, improvise from there. Sounds familiar, actually!" George stands up, inviting Flint along as he walks when it becomes apparent that he wants to talk about something. "Huh? Oh, you mean, what, this general neck of the woods? Space-wise, I mean? Honestly," He says, heading out. "Not too tough. Depending how this job goes, you might be able to swing it, financially. I know Pavo's got the know-how to get a sea-ship space-worthy, given she did that a long time ago with only a couple extra steps." He's heading elsewhere. He wants to be ready in case this mystery threat of theirs messes up the engines, he explains to the crewfolk, so he heads towards Engineering. Doesn't hurt that Engineering is the place he's just most comfortable, having spent all his time in places like that before. "Who knows? Nessos might have what you need right there. Astroid mining like this isn't exactly lacking in the spare metals department."
Reyes	"Doesn't... sound good." Reyes mutters out through his helmet's speakers, sounding slightly muffled. Not the most assertive guy with this many people around, that's for sure. "Something that dense shouldn't just be 'wandering in' and covering something. Can't be natural. Can't be friendly." Mutter, mutter... "Gonna suggest we all keep our weapons handy... and don't separate. This just... sounds like we're in for a rough time. And might not even FIND anyone..."
Septette Arcubielle	Accompanied by the cloaked Falcon, the Blind Tiger rumbles along, cresting the curve of Delta Cradle's star. Carcer seats herself and pours out a whiskey, shrugging off the bartender drone's help. She takes a sip to soothe her nerves as one of her crew examines the strange case Nova's left behind. "We nabbed up some fresh meat on the way," she replies to Weiss. It checks out- some of her crew seem substantially greener than the rest. Bruno pulls down the metal covering one of the ship's windows with his bare hands, letting in the starlight, and squints through it as if he might see something. There are a series of dull thumps as Orchid's drones are launched from the torpedo tubes, and then pensive silence. Orchid's drones and Asche spot "Nessos" at approximately the same time. It looks nothing like the diagram of the colony from before: a cluster of a dozen or more asteroids have been 'tied' together with metal struts in some elaborate buckyball-like pattern, shot through with nickel veins that block deeper scanning. The original olive-shaped structure is visible through gaps between the captured nickel asteroids, but it's orbited by three spinning rings that surround it latitudinally like haloes. Each segment of each ring bears some kind of beam weapon- facing inwards, towards the colony asteroid itself. Not-Bruno swears under his breath at Weiss's hologram. The rest of the crew goes wide-eyed. Carcer, obviously, can't see the hologram, but her expression tautens at the audible discomfort in the room. Abruptly, Carcer goes pale. She breaks off for the front of the ship at a sprint. A second after she leaves the room, one of Nessos's halo segments rotates so its gun is facing outwards. A light blossoms as it fires, visible even through the glass window like a new star flickering into view. Bruno lurches backwards from the window. The Blind Tiger twists evasively so violently that the artificial gravity can't keep up, turning the entire room sideways and sending liquor bottles cascading from the walls to shatter on the new 'floor', and with a deafening roar, a beam of yellowish light skims a long streak through the room's exterior wall. The room starts to explosively decompress, shards of glass and boiling-freezing alcohol whipping around as all the air finds the shortest route to space. One of Carcer's men is sucked outside; another is almost lost before Bruno leaps after him, grabs his hand, and holds onto the jagged smoking edge of the ship with the other. Sirens blare for a moment, then go silent as there's no more air to carry the sound. Red lights flare urgently. The cannon tracks the ship, likely preparing to fire again.
Staren	Staren sees what is clearly a weapon moving on the hologram. Oh, FUCK. He turns on his forcefield, for what little good it will do. The beam doesn't hit him, fortunately. Unfortunately, it DOES hit the ship! His thrusters and energy wings allow him to somewhat control his movement as he's flung out of the ship. It's a good thing he decided to be a robot today! Spotting one of Carcer's men now drifting in space, he flies over to them, pulls a torc with a little oxygen tank from his bag, slaps it on their neck, and slaps an orange-sized mass of plastic material against his body, which starts stretching out into a spacesuit. Then he drags the man back towards the ship, trying to reach the opposite side of it from the cannon for cover.
Starbound Flotilla	George keeps walking casually into engineering as something explodes behind him. He flicks his cigarette away and crushes it as he moves. He's activated his hardsuit, forming the familiar crimson armor around his body out of his Matter Manipulator. Areas are getting decompressed now, this is getting wild... And while everyone else is scrambling in the ship's hallways as gravity tosses and turns, George alone seems to know exactly how to move with it, still walking with magboots as he has to take walls to do so. He may wind up leaving Flint behind slightly as he does, but while this goes on, he quietly whispers, "Want you to trust me on this, Cap." He claps a hand to Flint's own, handing him several OXYGEN NANOSKIN capsules, necessary devices for surviving the depths of space or in a decompressed chamber. He and his crew won't be asphyxiating in the void today, if Flint can get to them and break the capsules against them. "Carcer's messing with more than she knows." He makes his way to the main engine, finds an inhibitor system for the flow from plasma to the weapons, and approaches it, all with just the general authority of a good engineer who knows what he's doing. When he gets there, he pulls out two heavy tanks with a big electric valve connecting them, wired to some kind of transponder, and leaves it lodged in part of the inhibitor so it doesn't jostle free during the maneuvering. That's why he was examining the ship so closely. Unless someone interrupts this sequence of unexpected events, George wanders right back out and detonates the bomb he's planted in engineering; his intention is to deny the Blind Tiger both much of its thrust and its weapons in a single maneuver, leaving it spinning. He had a bomb ready to strike the Blind Tiger. That's why he was already so ready to head here, before Fint even asked. Now he's just gotta repurpose one of those breach pods for escape, or dive out an airlock. Which is where he's heading now, with a much less casual sort of madcap dash.
Orchid	whump "NEEEEEEEeeeeeerp!" whump Was that a happy nerp? Probably, actually. While Orchid's drones have a sense of self-preservation, they also like to perform their functions. Back to Orchid herself. On seeing the incoming beam of particles, she raises her hand instinctively, projecting a forcefield in front of herself. Of course, then the dodging happens. Orchid is actually built to handle death pressure, and with what she has in her kit... Dash boots mean Orchid can move around the room, can even deploy some of her drones to help contain the madness of the moment. Orchid is going for Bruno and the other crewman, reaching out her hands to grab both. Her intent is to get them back inside, and use her handy oxygen bottle and her web-weaving spiders to cover the faces of the two, giving them oxygen they can breath while others handle the exterior. .o(yeah, I'm glad I brought the full box) She's tugging them back into the ship, and through a door, if she can.
Nova Terra	Nova slams into the new floor on her side as the gravity goes wonky. The artificial muscle fibres of her suit help to absorb most of the impact, but she might have a bit of a bruise there later. Nova barely has a moment to register the sudden rush of light before the familiar feeling of explosive decompression hit. Nova reaches out with a hand to grab hold of a wall panel as she is quickly lifted off the floor. Holding on with one hand to keep from being sucked out, she uses the other to pull her full head mask out of the neck of her suit, over her head, then put her visor on over her eyes. Just as the air finally finishes venting, the suit's life support kicks in and Nova takes in a few deep breathes to replace the air that had been forcibly sucked from her lungs. While the threat of being sucked out into space is no more, the threat of being shot by a giant laser still lingers. Nova quickly picks herself up. She dashes for the bar counter, using it to give her a boost as she jumps up to grab onto the edge of the door in the ceiling. Pulling herself up, Nova runs along the former wall of the corridor, before coming to a stop near the case that had been left behind by her pilot. Aware of the time limit, Nova is quick in opening the case. She pulls out and quickly assembles the components of her canister rifle. Her psi-blade is also pulled free, attaching both weapons to the back of her suit. A few more components are retrieved from the case and attached to her suit, before she closes it and presses a button. As Nova tries to make a mad dash for the boarding pods previously mentioned, the case behind her begins to disintegrate into dust, along those contents left inside. Meanwhile, the Griffin finishes its own FTL maneuver, reappearing close to the agreed upon coordinates. Coming back into normal space, Reigel's eyes go wide at the sight of the damaged Blind Tiger. The source of the damage is clear. Reigel quickly shouts, "Engage cloaking device!" The Griffin quickly fades from view, hopefully avoiding a similar fate. Reigel frowns, "This complicates matters..."
Zwei	\|\|Specifically all nickel content.\|\| <<Oh boy. You know what that means.>> \|\|I doubt that they do.\|\| While the hologram goes up and everyone looks very uncomfortable, Weiss ditches another glass that has been completely wasted on her, shining a little laser pointer on the asteroids surrounding the central colony. <<"Obviously, you can tell that those are purposefully placed, but I want you to also know that their composition is more or less a bunch of nickel mines stapled together. No real variation from that pattern. Someone selectively captured these specific asteroids to build a screen that is specifically extremely difficult to scan with any traditional methods; frankly, and of your methods. They don't want anyone to know what's going on in there.">> <<"By the looks of those guns, they also don't want anyone getting out to tell anyone either. Stockpiling all the erchius seems unlikely, if this whole area lives off of this mine. Sooner or later, people are going to come and check, or at least come and get some of their own out of desperation when the trade lines cut off. That's much more resource committment than is smart to just jack all the erchius and scram before someone keeps looking. They're planning to buckle down for the long haul.">> The giant laser gun flipping to face the Blind Tiger elicits an eye roll from Weiss --not out of 'how predictable', but because of how tremendously obnoxious it's going to make everything in just a moment's time. Weiss gets up from her bar stool, peering out the unwisely opened window for just a moment as the energy spike flares up. \|\|Castling.\|\| <<Castling.>> Weiss disappears in a flicker of red static and is replaced by Asche in a buzz of blue, suddenly taking up most of the slagged and missing wall of the bar room, and immediately dropping a cluster of black golf balls that are swept out along the escaping air pressure, only to burst into unfurled webs of filaments that magnetically snatch the torn and ragged edge of the breached ship in hundreds of places, making for something of a net. In moments, they start 'filling in', as silvering material creeps along their threads and rapidly forms solid, airtight sheets, which harden equally rapidly. Where Asche disappears and Weiss appears instead, she just coasts on her momentum from the Blind Tiger itself and flares extra thrusters, not needing to get terribly close with no atmosphere involved to beam the gun turret, wherein she will immediately attempt to take the quickest, smashiest, most digitally brutal means of 'rendering it inoperable' that is convenient; there's no point in being a sneaky hacker if they're already shooting.
Android 17	Seventeen looks at the hologram, then looks to see the captain running. Well, damn... There was only a flash of time he could have, and he could only activate his Android Barrier before the blast tore open the front of the ship. Air sucks out, and Seventeen fights with all of his might against the flow until it depressurizes. Of course, this leaves him with very limited air. With the secondary explosion, and the ship starting to spin he can only catch a glimpse of the thing starting to aim again. He has to control his breathing, and he leaps forward, coming to the edge of the ship and hangs on. Both of his hands come up, focusing energy through them. He's got one good shot at this. The barrier comes down, releasing the Oxygen, as he releases a blast of energy forward. The aim, if possible, is obviously to damage the cannon. Failing that, aiming to hit it just right to knock it off course to buy them some time. Of course, he's now with the problem of not being able to breathe.
Captain Flint	Flint is thrown up and down like loose change, bouncing hard against what was formerly a wall (now the floor). He manages to unsheathe his cutlass and drive it hard into the hardwood facade, the decompression causing air to rush past him and flap his long coat. Silver goes flying past him, his crutch stuck in a hull breach. The captain snaps a hand out in time to catch him, but the air rushing out of the ship tugs violently at the quartermaster. He can't afford to justify this to the crew--another man overboard with no witnesses. He grips tightly, but still he falters, even as his fingers dig into the other pirate's wrist. That's when George's offer is made. Flint raises two fingers, his sword cutting further down the ship's wall and creaking threateningly. He manages to wiggle the capsules under his grip. One is crushed instantly, covering him in nanoskin that preserves his air supply. As the last of the air rushes out, and the risk of being sucked out with it passes, he slips another to Silver, pantomiming crushing it with his hand. The quartermaster takes a sputtering breath, then collects his crutch. The two of them head into the hallway, where a four-man vanguard of Walrus crew kneel on the ground, gasping for air. Flint and Silver both pass the capsules to the crew, who are visibly grateful. Flint makes a motion for Silver and his men to follow--then breaks into a run for the breach pods. He doesn't know how to use them, but he knows he and his men need to get the hell off this ship before it gets blown into spacedust by another blast from those cannons.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa gets a feed from Orchid drones here and there to get a view of the station and that's quite worrying and things rapidly get worse as the canons now move and the ship comes under attack. Gravity goes out and Kotone is drifting for a moment she gets a bottle of booze that catches her in the back which sends her spinning as she attempts to find something to grab on to as the nano skins are being handed out. If she can just hang on here. It's a good thing she has her dash systems or she'd have ebene spaced by now she'll use them to launch her to a portion of the from where she'll fig her hands in tearing into the bulkhead damaging her synth thin in the process to hang on and claw her way to safety. Though on the way she will attempt to aid any of the crew she can as she makes to get out of the room to somewhere else on the ship.
Reyes	All hell breaks loose in no time at all! Reyes curses under his breath and sharpens his willpower, activating the magic circuits of his environmental battle armor. Pulses of blue-white light arc and sizzle through the arcane engravings along his environmental battle armor, activating a myriad of effects to augment his abilities. Chief of which is... a pair of angelic blue-white wings materializes along a rapidly extending skeletal framework of metal 'bones' to support the enchantment. As soon as it's in place, the blazing magic obscures the framework. It's thanks to this that he doesn't just go slamming into a wall and instead moves WITH the ship. "What the hell--" He did see the hologram, but wasn't expecting it to be THIS hostile so quickly! "Did our way out of here just get disabled before we even started this mission?" He sends over short-wave radio to the others, trying to take stock of the situation. He can FEEL that the ship just took massive damage, more than a single laser could've caused... He'd been looking out through its sensors up until THIS happened. And now... Now, he decides to bail from the ship, hurling himself into space. SOMEHOW the wings flapping propel him even though space is a vacuum. Straight towards the ring-enclosed colony! He's planning on getting close to one of the rings and putting himself in a blind spot where they can't just shoot him off, and seeing if he can mentally invade the system and figure out WHAT is going on.
Septette Arcubielle	It takes about eight seconds for the room to fully decompress. When the howling finally fades and the maelstrom of broken glass dies down, it almost seems peaceful: there's little sound here but what comes over radio bone-conduction, and one's own heartbeat or inner workings. The ship rolls presciently again, avoiding the second beam of blinding particles by the narrowest of margins... And then a dull shock reverberates through the depressurizing ship. The vacuum-imposed deafness proves to be a mercy as a fireball engulfs the Engineering section, venting the ship's luminescent plasma to space and sending it into a horrible spin. The engines flare with one last guttering thrust, stabilizing the spin- but now the Blind Tiger is dead in the water, floating along at its current velocity towards Nessos. Staren's crewman is visibly grateful- at least, he starts hyperventilating as soon as he gets the air supply, and that can be interpreted as gratitude. On the other side of the ship, there's a convenient airlock for ingress: the orange-suited man climbs inside, then frantically gestures for Staren to follow him. They, and Flint, end up at a bay with five heavily-armored escape pods, each capable of holding at least three people. There's no visible way to launch them from there, but it's probably the safest place in the whole ship to be anyway. Back at the bar, Orchid's daring rescue saves Bruno and his friend, though the leaner man already has bloody froth around his lips as he puts the mask on- with a ruptured lung like that, he's going to need medical attention if he wants to live more than another hour. Asche successfully walls off the room, shielding them from high-velocity space debris from outside, but so much of the ship has been compromised by now that it's proving slow to repressurize on its own. As soon as the Blind Tiger was crippled by the onboard explosion, the cannon shifted its focus- to the last spot where the Falcon was visible. Nessos's defenses only have one chance at taking out the stealthy ship before the Falcon can flee... and Weiss's hacking locks down its communication with its controller, disables its cooling functionality, and blows out its capacitors in a shower of sparks. It shuts down for a moment- then re-initializes with no apparent technological activity, booting up with some esoteric backup system just in time to be struck by Seventeen's energy blast. That, plus the capacitor damage, seems sufficient to shut the cannon down for good. Reyes' analysis of the rings will show a strong similarity to known Starbound Flotilla technology, but the weapons themselves are foreign to the Starbounder technology-base, and thaumic backup systems are woven into them- presumably in case of subversion or mass electronic failure. Ripping information from them isn't hard, but they all seem to be designed to be 'manually' handled by a central AI, and wresting full control would require thoroughly destroying the magitech functionality first. It isn't long at all before the system starts 'trying' to feed him horrible images through his telemechanic link, exposing him to patterns of flashing static in nameless colors and horrible staring eyes. Unfortunately, the reprieve from the cannon-fire doesn't solve the Blind Tiger's most pressing problem: the fact that it is heading directly for the central asteroid at a very substantial clip. "We're going to have direct impact with Nessos in about twelve seconds," Carcer says over radio in a very quiet voice. "Get to the pods. Engaging inertial dampeners."
Nova Terra	Nova sees the drop pods ahead, leaping off the wall to land on the floor as the ship stops twisting. She quickly dives into one of the pods, removing her rifle from her back so she can sit and strap herself in. They wanted to breach the station... Well, a giant battering ram that is the entire ship should prove effective at that. Once more touching a finger to her visor, Nova sends a transmission to the Griffin, "Maintain stealth, monitor the area and wait for further orders. I don't want to risk exposing the ship to that cannon, or any more defenses they might have." The response is simple, "Good luck." Nova holds onto her rifle tight as she feels the apprehension of the Blind Tiger's crew rising, the ship moving ever closer to strike the station. Yeah, they're going to need it.
Reyes	This SUCKS. It outright sucks on so many levels. First their ship blows up. Then this weird ring turns out to be a SUPERNATURAL EVIL AI or something. Reyes SCREAMS over his comm, pulling his hand away from the ring and and closing himself off from the machine as well as possible. SO much for linking with it and taking it over! His head's THROBBING after that. He wobbles and flails in microgravity before he again SLAMS his limbs to the ring's exterior. That kinda psychic shock can leave even the most stalwart of men discombobulated. Reyes takes about ten seconds to clear his head and gather his thoughts again. And take stock of the situation. One major way home is trashed. Their enemy is a complete unknown. Nessos is probably a wash, but there COULD be survivors still... "You haven't gotten the best of me." He declares with a ragged, strained voice. Maneuvering along the ring, he comes to one of the laser emitters, steels his will... and... And holds a hand out towards it, screaming angrily. This time his effort isn't merely exploratory, nor is it tentative and unguarded. His mind lashes out like a hammer to SLAM into the systems of this machinery and briefly subvert it. Cause it to take aim at one of the other rings... and open fire with everything it's got. EVERYTHING it's got. All safeties, limiters, and regulators are suppressed to the best of his ability. He wants this thing to BURN ITSELF OUT as it shoots its own 'body.'
Android 17	The seal comes, giving SOME amount of air, though not much, causing Seventeen to cough and spend a moment trying to recover himself. Taking big breaths and trying to calm himself down...however, right as he manages to get some air in him. Dizzily, he heard the call to get to the pods. There isn't much choice, and he moves towards the pod, aiming to grab anyone who couldn't get there or get there in time under their own power. Then, without much more, he could do... He closes the pod and lets the oxygen hit him. Oh god, he would never take breathing for granted again.
Orchid	Well, this could be going better. At least they seem to be learning something about the foe they face. Also good is the fact that Bruno also seems to be walking. Orchid can carry the guy, and once they get in an escape pod Orchid can finish saving his life. Of course, Orchid is sending out another set of signals. Two more mets pop out of her box, hoist the thing up, and make way to join Orchid in the closest escape pod. Once inside, Orchid will be able to try and deal with the ruptured lung. It's been a while... actually, Orchid has never dealt with this kind of decompression trauma, but... "Okay Bruno, hold him still," she instructs him. Her part in all this mess? Well, she shifts one of her hands to something better suited for laproscopic surgery... And jams it deep in the guy's mouth.
Staren	Staren sends radio commands for his own ship to come close but not TOO close -- in the absense of a nearby warpgate though, it may take some time to get there. Staren's unsure whether back inside the ship is really such a good place to be anymore, but outside doesn't seem so safe either, so he follows the crewman and ends up meeting up with George and Flint at the drop pods. George sabotaging the ship is CONCERNING but hopefully it WILL be explained later, he can trust the man at least that much. He deliberates for a moment whether it's a good idea to arm the guy he just saved, but then remembers that all his gear will refuse to fire at friendlies if he sets it to, and so passes the guy a caseless SMG. It syncs wirelessly with the HUD in the suit's visor and starts giving an overview of its functionality, including the underbarrel launcher that fires small globs of riot foam. For his part, he straps into a seat (unless there are more people than seats, in which case he tries to find a good spot to brace) and waits for impact.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone has a moment to send a signal to the Slipbolt aboard the bluenose. <Slipbolt it's bad, keep away from the colony, I say again to keep away from the colony. If you don't hear from me in two hours or if anything makes it for the ship get out of the system>> She does this all the while as she will move to get to the pods. She is a bit behind orchid Orchid and will get into a neighbouring pod. She makes sure the's not leaving anyone else out before she slams the hatch, then turns on the dampers. She'll then secure herself within the pod. She'll then brace herself for the pending impact.
Starbound Flotilla	George, for his part, seems to have mostly evaded detection. Smooth. It'll break later, he has no doubt. But for now, he manages to get into one of those beefy breach pods. George is old, and full of bones that aren't very good, and other suchlike; he doesn't just strap into the breach pod, he actually has a full engineer's rig that latches to the interior walls, fills him with inertial dampening fields and drugs, and keeps him stable and alive during emergency maneuvers and crash-landings. As things explode elsewhere, George pulls out a fresh pack of his custom cigarettes and lights up before shutting the pod and waiting with a subtle patience and worry for the impact.
Zwei	\|\|Backups integrated into existing machinery, retrofitted to run on exoenergetic sources as well.\|\| <<Oh let's just call it magic, come on.>> \|\|Systems are intentionally shielded against psychic intrusion by design.\|\| <<Paranoid or prepared?>> \|\|Cognitohazardously.\|\| <<Well, theory number six sure is a lot less of a logical leap now, huh?>> \|\|Above the minimum threshold of execution worth.\|\| After that whole powerup and 'fuck you for being psychic' sequence takes place, Zwei releases control of the turret system, and instead has Weiss feed a hail signal through it of hyper-compressed audio data that would play too quickly for a human to even hear it on the other end, as well as specifically non-trichromatic visual data of where Weiss is. It then proceeds to use neither Weiss or Asche to do anything about the Tiger hitting Nessos. Neither Armiger unit go anywhere near the breaching pods, touch the ship itself, interfere with the asteroid arrangement, or futz with the systems any further for just the time being. If they aren't fired upon, Zwei jumps both units to the wreck. \|\|Staren has a cortical backup. Kotone is nominally transferrable. George is already an orchestrator and so can essentially be trusted not to die. The others are either expendable, or necessary to evaluate in this situation.\|\| <<Yeah, for once that's a pretty airtight analysis. Let's go in.>>
Septette Arcubielle	Despite having no motive power left even for maneuvering, what's left of the Blind Tiger threads the needle between the networked nickel asteroids surrounding the Nessos with its velocity from the crazy maneuvers of the last few seconds. Either they've just been harrowingly lucky, or Carcer is a supernatural pilot. Regardless, it won't matter in a moment or two. The poor guy that Orchid's working on breaks out in a cold sweat, and not just because he's in shock- Bruno nods grimly and holds his arms as the instrument goes down his throat. Perhaps delicate surgery isn't the best thing to be doing seconds before impact, but it's what's happening! Reyes' attempt at brute-force-telemechanics-ing the rings goes... interestingly. Whatever central AI is manipulating the rings is wholly untouchable and unreadable even to him, seemingly one-way airgapped from the rest of the system. Control can still be wrested from it by simply 'unplugging' things from its network, though: the cannon he's focusing on grindingly pivots to face downwards, fires, and takes a smoldering chunk out of the turret on the ring directly below it! Score! ... And just then, impact. He may have bigger things to worry about, even before another three cannons on the inside of the ring turn to aim at him. All simultaneously switch over to thaumic backup systems, prophylactically powering off their electronics. In the last instant, the Blind Tiger's gravity generator shifts from a downwards pull to a stifling insulation, turning the air into molasses. Even so, the shock as metal strikes rock reverberates through the entire ship as it crumples like a soda can and tears apart. The breaching pods are safe, but they're jarred hard enough to concuss a normal person- in fact, a couple of Carcer's men do just that, striking their heads and hitting the floor instantly. Three and a half seconds later, all of the pods open simultaneously, revealing a vista of twisted smoldering metal, deep-sea coral, and smoker vents. The asteroid's hollow like a geode, and they've broken through into a bizarre oceanic interior- though despite the gaping hole to space where they breached, and the marine surroundings, there's some kind of breathable atmosphere. Movement in the wreckage- Carcer pushes her way out of a locker, staggering to catch her balance. One of her arms is entirely missing halfway through the bicep, the stump already cauterized. "Holy shit," the pirate captain wheezes a final time, before collapsing to her knees. None of her crew rush to help her. Zwei's hail is answered with a compressed series of seven beeps. No further communication follows. The rings ignore them.
Orchid	Okay, maybe not the best time to get started with that. But Orchid is who she is. She can't NOT try and save this guy's life. She braces herself for the impact, long fingers cutting and suturing flesh. "So glad the first law allows for this kind of harm," she mutters.
Staren	Staren is fine! This is fine. It's really lucky that he decided to be a robot today. The guy he saved may be knocked out, but according to suit sensors he's still breathing, so... he'll keep for now, hopefully. Staren climbs out of the pod to check on the others. The marine surroundings actually make him wave his arm through the air a few times to confirm it IS air. The hell? It feels like a scene out of a dream. Then he gets to preparing and arming people. Another smart vacsuit for Seventeen, and then a mix of the smart vacsuits and the jumpsuit kind for Kotone and the surviving crew. To those who have lost weapons he passes out more of the SMGs; Carcer gets a pistol if he doesn't spot a suitable one-handed weapon already on her. "So. I take it this isn't what the area inside this asteroid used to look like?"
Android 17	The pod crashes through the meteor, and onto the other side. Gritting his teeth, Seventeen proves he's pretty tough, trying to keep himself from banging his head...at least not too hard. Landing inside the place, with the strange breathable atmosphere. The pod is kicked open, as Seventeen manages to keep his human occupants safe, dragging them softly to the ground and laying them out so they don't die or hurt anything until they can wake up.
Zwei	<<Figures.>> \|\|Maybe congratulations are in order.\|\| <<I do like coral though. It's one of Earth's neater life forms.>> \|\|Aesthetically, as well.\|\| After everyone else has had the awful crash landing experience, both Zwei units fzzt into the breached hallway in flashes of blueshifted static, being jackass space robots for a jackass space ghost which are designed to do this kind of stuff and who also has zero empathy for the sanctity of anyone's lives here. <<"Eh? Does someone want to put her arm back on, or are we good on that?">> Weiss says when Carcer collapses, before finding and picking up a laser tommygun still intact from the cratsh. <<"Score! I remember when I had to use the authentic deal back in the day. Very gritty, right?">> \|\|"I do not suggest bringing the crew of the Blind Tiger any further than this point. Not for now."\|\| Asche rumbles. \|\|"Nor do I recommend attempting to arrange emergency transport so soon. They will need to be documented as a non-risk before going anywhere. Even the pirate captain should know more than well enough what to do as intruders on foreign soil, owned and operated by a highly invested and ruthless sovereign, eyes and ears everywhere but without an enemy at war."\|\| <<"So yeah, I'm gonna go further in. Make sure the kid doesn't stick his brains in any more important systems. That's probably just gonna happen over and over again. Also please don't screw with any purple crystals you find. For real. I may have to actually shoot you if you do.">> fzzt
Nova Terra	Grooooooan. A large piece of metal debris bends away from the opening of one of the pods. Revealing Nova moving the debris away with her mind. Once it's clear, the Ghost stumbles out of the pod and drops down to her knees. Her rifle clatters down onto the warped ship plating she's currently atop. She groans a little quietly herself as she moves a hand to her head. A nasty bump. Through her visor, Nova can see the atmospheric readings of the station. Seeing it's breatheable, she pulls her visor and head mask off. She squints a little, her vision still a little unfocused from the blow. Taking a small cylindrical device from one of the compartments of her suit, she jabs the end into her neck, a hissing sound quickly following. As the stims flow through her body, Nova shakes her head to clear away the foggy feeling. Blinking a few times, thing come into focus once more. Nova reaches down to grab her rifle, slowly standing up and looking around at their surroundings... Definitely high up there on the bizare scale. "Well..." Nova pulls the bolt on her rifle back, chambering a round, "Time to get to work." She begins walking further into the strange space marine habitat.
Captain Flint	One of Flint's crew shares the same fate as Carcer's men, the impact slamming his head into the bulkhead hard enough to draw blood, and crumpling into unconsciousness. "Do we move him?" asks another one of the pirates in a neighboring pod, peering in with concern. "Fuck if I know," says Silver. He shares a grim look with Flint. "Maybe we should've brought Howell," says Silver in a hushed whisper to Flint. The ship's doctor would know what to do. "The way things have gone today, that would've been him," says the captain quietly in response. Then, he addresses Silver and one of the conscious crew, loud enough to be heard by both. "Make sure he can breathe. That's all we can do." Flint, Silver, and one of the three men coming in from another pod turn the man onto his back, each one hoping they didn't just kill or cripple him in so doing. With that done, the five pirates step out, each looking out over the horizon of the asteroid's interior. Flint gives Staren a sidelong glance as he makes his observation. "I shall have to take you at your word," he admits. "It's my first time inside an asteroid."
Reyes	Okay that was maybe not the smartest move he could've made. Reyes mentally kicks himself - so to speak - after the system goes unresponsive, leaving him with only a bizarre and strange set of principle to try and manipulate. Yeah, he COULD try and wrest control over this strange alien magitech... But not when it's OUT TO GET HIM. "Ah... crap. Fat lot of good THAT--" He takes off like a panicked bird, wings spreading again. The lasers swoop in at him as he takes flight along the ring, leaving a trail of blue sparkles as the wings fold back into a streamlined configuration. He spins, twists, dives and climbs at weird angles to try and shake the thing's targeting while looking for somewhere he could go that the array of lasers simply can't get him in their crosshairs. This isn't wholly successful. A few of the shots coming his way do periodically hit, striking a glowing field of superimposed energy that looks STRANGELY like ornate plate armor wrought in wireframe form and shattering chunks of it, then scorching the ceramics of his real armor. This shield's taking the brunt of the damage but it won't last... The big breach is, of course, his main escape. After pinpointing the coordinates Reyes makes a break for the Blind Tiger's entry point, aiming to join the others.
Staren	Staren gives a nanobandage to Flint's concussed crewmember. At least it can stop the bleeding. To Flint himself, he comments: "I meant because she's surprised, and if she's been working with this place it seems like maybe she woulda seen the place before?" To Zwei, he replies "Please, go for it. I don't have the facilities to fix her arm here and I can't bring my ship close until we shut down that defense system."
Kotone Yamakawa	The impact happens and it's a damn good thing the pods were built like they were. The pods survive the impact. Though kotone is thrown around, today is a day she's glad she's not made of meat, for the most part anymore. Once she recovers from being smacked by the laws of Physics she'll right herself and move to crawl out of her pod as they open up and she crawls out she looks around for a moment. "Well that was a first." She notes before taking the suit from STaren and will dart back into her pod to put the suit on, she'll emergyuc once she's done now clad into the suit and packing an SMG of her own and clearly has a master manipulator on her hip. "Licking the crystals would be a /very/ bad idea." she'll move tin to fall the group knowing they shouldn't remain here for long.
Starbound Flotilla	"If you're asking how an Erchius mining site's supposed to look, nah. This would be unfamiliar to most folks." George says, winking to Staren. It's impossible to see him winking under the hardsuit helmet. "Ooof." He works his shoulder around, trying to ease up his own pain and bruises. He wanders out a bit into the vista, and then, instead of exploring further in, moves further back. "Ooof. Something did a number on the guns." He says, with a worried tone. He looks up at the open gap, around, and then jams a finger into the ground, tracing angles in the dust to try to figure things out. "Rotation speed of... And then... Hmmm. Yep." He stands and looks back. "Alright, guys. We're gonna have to go fix that busted gun, because otherwise, we're gonna be in a load of trouble."