The Black Steel RP. Rated R.

[RJDiogenes]

"Mwank you," said Squa to T'Sarrina, in his best approximation of landspeak, after she had bound up the severed trunk of his pseudopod and injected him with a medicine that interfered with his nervous system. He was relieved to see that Sophie had been the recipient of only minor wounds, since he had grown fond of the creature over the many currents. Moments later, Kellen arrived with their flying boat and destroyed the drone.

Squa relaxed, softening his integument and sinking to the grass like a puddle. Between the medicine and the loss of albumin, he felt like he was drifting on the outgoing tide. Nevertheless, he raised his third tentacle from the right to the insectoid who had covered his retreat, curled it up like a nautilus shell and extended it again in the gesture of thanks.

[Jim Gamma]

As Pedras raised his mid-limb to respond to Squa, he felt a slight twinge in the joint - apparently one of the bullets or shrapnel pieces had done more damage than he thought. Grimacing in pain, he just about managed to signal Squa that he was welcome, before the backup medic came over to tend his wounds.

[Chatty]

"I thought he looked ex-military." Kellen said as he pulled open one of the crates. He then straightened and frowned when Daxia got very angry and said that the government who put the bounty out knew about the drone cause he stole it from them. "They didn't tell us?" He asked, then narrowed his eyes and growled, very angry. "The Captain isn't gonna like that." He hissed.

Then he glanced into the box and whistled. "Take a look at this." He said, pulling out a suit of armour and showing her. "It's almost too light to be believed."

He admired the armour even as he was showing it to her. If it was as strong as it was light, he'd sure wear it.

[Mikoto]

With her orders issued and being carried out, Sophie was content to sit where she was, propped up against a tree trunk where she could watch what was going on and rest at the same time. The pain medication was affecting her and slowing her thought processes though she was able to think fairly clearly. She smiled when T'Sarrina came over and checked her over again but her leg hadn't started bleeding. She'd been careful not to move it much. "Thank you." She smiled affectionately at her.

Her smile widened when Jessan rappelled down from the Firestorm and sat with her, carefully engulfing her in a cuddle. Sophie had absolutely no objections to this as she snuggled up to him and rested her head on his shoulder. She watched as T'Sarrina secured Squa's tentacle after T'Sarrina retrieved it. She was about to order Irwin to tend to the Prakeshi but the medic had already gotten the idea and went over to him.

She was content to sit for a while everyone got treated for their injuries. The Firestorm moved away from the clearing so she assumed Darren had located a suitable place nearby to land. Idly Sophie signalled to Alex and Logan, standing at the cave entrance to keep a particularly close eye on Crimson. Satisfied that the situation was under control for the moment she rested comfortably against Jessan.

[Mikoto]

Daxia whistled appreciatively when Kellen showed her what was obviously an experimental prototype armour suit. Admiring the design and thinking about the potential uses it could have distracted her from her anger over the drone. "That looks like it has some potential." She remarked as she went back to searching through the laptop.

"It looks like Varrus stole a lot of top secret experimental weapons, armour and ship parts in addition to the drone. Even if the Black Steel keeps some of it for our own use, the rest would make a small fortune on the black market." She paused. "Assuming that Sophie doesn't hand it all in to the authorities." Personally Daxia didn't think that the Captain would hand the stuff in.

Not after concealing vital information from her and her crew. More than likely she'd sell it and split the profits amongst the ground team. She found out the password Varrus used for the laptop then shut it down. Then she grabbed a spare crowbar and went over to Kellen. "Once we've finished checking out the crates we can go report back to the Captain." She suggested, eager to see what else was in there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since he hadn't gotten more than a few scrapes and bruises during the fight, Sylen opted to stand out of the way on guard duty though he wasn't really expecting any more trouble. It gave him time to study T'Sarrina discreetly as she worked with both care and professionalism to take care of her injured crewmates. She was certainly the most attractive female he'd ever met.

He was sure of that. It was then he saw Sophie's subtle gesture towards the two human male guards with assault rifles that had rappelled down from the ship to keep an eye on the human male who'd been shot in the shoulder by the drone. He wasn't quite sure why she'd indicated for them to do that but he made sure that he kept an eye on the human too.

[Chatty]

"Hmmm, weapons, you say?" Kellen asked, brightening as he glanced at the crates that were still left to catalogue. He put the armour suit aside, intending to keep one for himself as part of his take, and used the crowbar to pry open another crate. "Oh my..." Was about all he could say as he picked up what was obviously a weapon prototype of some kind. "Hello baby!" He sighted through the scope, making sure to point it away from Daxia, and was surprised at how easy it was to handle. He was definitely keeping one of these as well. Right now, he felt like a kid in a toy store with unlimited funds, he was so happy.

Even if they kept some of this stuff, it looked like they were going to make a tidy little sum by selling what they didn't keep on the black market. He knew once Sophie found out about the deception that she would not only demand an explanation, but she would also keep every bit of valuable tech in this cave. She would probably demand more bounty out of them too, just for the danger they were all unnecessarily put into.

He put the gun back down in its crate very carefully and he started wondering what kind of trauma that Varrus could have gone through to make him snap like he did. He had never heard of removing pieces of someone's brain or shocking them as he had done, and he'd never heard of Jurgilenko before and he wondered what they'd done to Varrus. He also wondered why he hadn't sought any help for his PTSD.

*********************************

Jessan relaxed and snuggled Sophie after she finished giving orders and signals, and then he looked over at the big human that she had indicated needed watching. He was certainly big, and sported a shoulder wound that had been bandaged. Jessan wondered if that was Crimson, the guy who was threatening to spank Daxia for doing her job and came on to Sophie like she was some kind of streetwalker. Hot Stuff indeed. While it was true, it was a little unwise to be calling a female you don't know names like that. Especially if she has a gun in her hand. The guy had obviously been trying to provoke them, but for what? He didn't really think he would be able to trick them out of that large of a bounty, did he?

Shrugging and putting his attention back on a drowsy Sophie, he smiled when she put her head on his shoulder. If there was any more orders to give out, Kellen was more than capable of doing it. He wasn't her second for nothing.

***************************

T'Sarrina sighed with relief when Darren moved the ship to land it. She needed to get Sophie, Crimson, Pedras and Squa into the infirmary as quickly as possible. Irwin, Talia and Stiyl could take care of the others, but she needed to get Squa into surgery and reattach his tentacle.

This had certainly been one of their most dangerous missions they had been on since she and Sophie had started up the Black Iron, and it wasn't over yet, they still had to get Varrus back alive if they wanted the substantial bounty.

As she waited for the signal that would tell her that Darren had landed, she glanced over to where Sylen was guarding them. She hadn't had much more than her initial glimpse of him from before, but now that she could study him while he was watching Crimson, she could feel her face flushing an even darker blue, and her tentacles started curling again, this time because she was looking at something she wanted. In her opinion the military lost out when they made him redundant, and in turn she lucked out, if he stuck around after the bounty was divided, that was.

[Mikoto]

Darren was pleased when a suitable landing site had been found very close to the cave. The forest tapered off into wide open plains within shouting distance of the cave where Varrus had hidden himself. The ground crew of the Black Steel could still hear the Firestorm's engines clearly enough, the landing site was so close. Expertly he landed the ship so that the airlock closest to the infirmary was facing the forest.

He knew that Stiyl was waiting at the airlock with a couple of antigrav gurneys and Talia was in the infirmary where she'd prepped it and and the surgical theatre for immediate use. As soon as the Firestorm touched down Darren opened the airlock for the Genioset nurse and signalled Irwin, Sophie, Kellen and T'Sarrina that the Firestorm had landed and Stiyl was on his way to the clearing outside the cave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daxia grinned when Kellen picked up what looked like an assault rifle and expressed approval of it. "Oh you're gonna like that one." She told him. "Its a prototype multi-purpose rifle. Constructed of experiment lightweight materials. You'll notice it has two firing tubes. One is for bullets, the other is for egg size and shaped explosives. Like a mini grenade launcher." Instinctively Daxia knew she wanted one for herself.

"It also has different firing modes. In addition to bullets it can be an ice or flamethrower. Or it can fire a small spread of big needles or darts loaded with poison or sedative. Finally it can shoot a bolt of electricity to act as an old-fashioned Terran tazer." She had never seen of a weapon like this. She'd heard rumours that various millitaries of species linked in the Trace Alliance had been researching Multiguns but she had no idea they were so far along in development that they had a working prototype. Either way she wanted one. "This is all very cool." Daxia tapped the communicator on the collar of her shipsuit, patching through to Sophie and T'Sarrina in case the Captain was incapacitated.

"The cave is now safe and Varrus is unconscious and secured." She reported with a great deal of happiness and satisfaction in her voice. "We found out he's an ex-soldier who worked in military R&D before snapping. He stole a crapload of data, tech, prototype weapons and armour plus the drone. And the people who put out that bounty knew he had said drone." Her tone changed from happy to grim when she relayed that. "As soon as the Firestorm has landed and things are secure we can begin transporting Varrus and his goods to the Firestorm." Daxia smiled when she got a slurred, drowsy, approving reply from Sophie..

[Mikoto]

Because all the orders she needed to give had been issued for the moment, and because she was very comfy right now, Sophie had allowed herself to doze. She roused from that doze briefly when Daxia called and informed her about Varrus, his cave and his stuff. She felt an incredible surge of anger and her muscles tensed up in response when the Mikoatty pilot reported that the people who put out the bounty knew Varrus was in possession of an advanced prototype military drone and failed to warn anyone about it.

In an instant she decided that she was going to keep all the stuff Varrus had stole from them and claim it had been destroyed along with the drone. Then she'd allow her ground team to keep an item or two of the spoils before selling the rest on the black market and spreading the profits between her Black Steel ground team. She was also going to sue the authorities who had failed to warn any prospective bounty hunter about the added danger.

She'd also take a bunch of credits if they wanted to settle out of court though. Then she received a communication from Darren indicating that the Firestorm had landed very close by and that Stiyl was on his way with two antigrave gurneys. "Acknowledged." She sent slurred replies to Daxia and Darren. Sophie looked over to where Irwin was tending to Pedras and wondered vaguely if a third gurney might be needed.

[Jim Gamma]

Irwin finished tending to Pedras' wounds - at least for the time being - and moved on to others in the team with more minor injuries. Though he wasn't that badly hurt, he'd have to keep off his mid-limbs - so no high-speed charges for a few days. He didn't think that would be much of a problem, though; the next step was to claim the bounty, and there was enough honour among bounty hunters that he didn't think he needed to worry too much. As his keen gaze caught Crimson, he amended that to most bounty hunters... some, he wasn't so sure about.

Catching the concerned glance from Sophie, he raised his upper left limb in an attempt to reassure her. This whole experience had shown him that Sophie was a deeply caring leader, who was unafraid to take risks on her team's behalf. Instinctively he wanted to reassure her, and show that he was up to any task she may give him. He could see she was still injured - hopefully, though, her tiredness was only from exhaustion, and not a head injury.

[Chatty]

T'Sarrina smiled when she saw Stiyl arriving with two antigrav gurneys, and she pointed at Squa and told him to get him and his severed tentacle to the surgery immediately. Then she took the other gurney and, with Jessan's help, got Sophie onto it. She then moved the gurney into the ship and quickly moved to the infirmary. "Talia, I need you to remove a bullet from Sophie's ankle while I reattach Squa's tentacle." She told the secondary medic. Then she hurried to the infirmary to begin the surgery to reattach Squa's tentacle, trusting that Irwin would be able to coordinate getting any other injured people aboard and tended to.

She was very upset over the information that Daxia had transmitted about the drone and she hoped, no she knew, Sophie would give their employer the verbal thrashing of a lifetime when they went back to claim their bounty

*******************

Jessan couldn't help but smile when Daxia started describing the contents of the crates to them, then his smile turned into a frown of rage when she said that the people who put the bounty out on Varrus had known about the drone. "Well that tears it." He said as he helped get her onto the gurney. "They owe us, big time. And not just that paltry million." He went with her when T'Sarrina took her to the infirmary and stood by while Talia worked to get the bullet out of her. Oh, they were keeping all those toys and selling what they didn't keep.

********************

Kellen whistled appreciatively when Daxia explained everything that the prototype rifle could do. "Mine." He said, putting it back down while she informed the others that the cave was secure and that their 'generous' employer also knew about the drone. Knowing that Sophie wasn't about to give these toys back after that, he put the rifle back in its crate and went over to where Varrus was still lying unconscious and picked him up. Throwing him over his shoulder, he walked out of the cave with him, signaling a couple of the backup team to go with him, and took him to where he heard the Firestorm land.

Once aboard, he took their prisoner to the specially-prepared cell and deposited him on the bed in the center of the room. He then removed the cuffs, plastic straps and things he'd trussed him up with and stretched his arms out onto the boards jutting out from the bed and strapped them down snugly. He then strapped his head, torso and legs down with the rest of the straps. T'Sarrina or one of the other medics could come by and drop his feeding tube and catheters later. He then left the room locked up tight before he activated the last safeguard, which was the odorless/colorless sedative gas. Then he left the area before it could fill the corridor, leaving Alex outside the gassed area, and went back to the cave to supervise the loading of all those pretty toys.

[Mikoto]

While Kellen, Alex and Logan took Varrus to his specially prepared cell in the brig, Daxia oversaw the business of helping transferring the crates from the cave to the cargo hold of the Firestorm. She tapped her communicator again to call Pedras and Sylen. "Greetings Pedras and Sylen. Would you two mind coming into the cave and helping me transfer the crates in here to the Firestorm please?" She asked. "We're using antigrav harnesses." She added. She kept the channel open in case they wanted to talk to her as she began attaching antigrav harnesses to the crates. It would make them near-weightless and much easier to move to the Firestorm's cargo hold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sophie was quiet and cooperative as Jessan and T'Sarrina used an antigrav gurney to transport her to the infirmary. Then she was transferred onto a bed. She lay back comfortably as Talia the medic put protective coverings over the end of the bed, rolled up the leg of her shipsuit, removed her boots and socks then injected her foot and ankle with a local anesthetic. Sophie couldn't feel anything in her leg as Talia began extracting the bullet lodged in her ankle. Instead Sophie kept her attention focused on Jessan and held his hand gently during the proceedure.

[Mikoto]

While Stiyl pushed Sophie's gurney through the forest to the Firestorm nearby, Irwin went over to Crimson after he'd finished treating Pedras. "Hello Crimson." He greeted the bounty hunter politely. "If you would come to the Firestorm's infirmary I can see about getting those bullets out of your shoulder. It won't cost you anything as Sophie has authorized us to treat your injuries for free." Quite why she'd chosen to do that, Irwin didn't know. Perhaps it was out of simple compassion. The captain was known to for her kindness and compassion every so often.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sylen watched as Kellen and two other Black Steel crewmembers whisked Varrus to the Firestorm. Then he heard Daxia call him via the communicator network asking that he and Pedras assist in transporting the crates to the Firestorm. Since they were using antigrav harnesses the job would be easy even after the injuries the Prakeshi had aquired.

"Of course." He responded to Daxia. "I will be there momentarily." With that, he entered the cave and followed it through to the main area that Varrus had clearly been using as his hideout. The Mikoatty pilot was attaching antigrav harnesses to the crates. Sylen inclined his head to her respectfully then picked up the first near-weightless crate.

[Santaman]

Crimson shook Irwin's hand and explained that there was a bullet lodged in the upper part of the spinotrapezius muscles.
"Its almost on top somewhere near the middle of the clavicle."

Irwin blinked but removed the bullet and cleaned the wound, Crimson didn't even flinch, not even during stitching, he had been shot and stabbed so many times that he was almost used to it.

He then asked Irwin to follow him and walked back to his motorcycle.
"Just get up and hold on, I'll drive you to your ship."

[Jim Gamma]

Pedras heard Daxia's request to start loading crates, and signalled back, "I'm on my way." Turning to one of the medical team, he added, "Once you've helped the injured, could you ask the captain if it's OK to bring my colleagues' bodies aboard?" Prakeshi custom meant that the bodies should be interred in the nearest sun - he wanted to have that service on the Firestorm if the captain would allow it, because he knew that none of them would have survived without the presence of Black Steel. "I can come back after we've collected the bounty and retrieve them, but I would prefer them not to be left alone out here if possible."

The medic assured Pedras that he'd ask, and, satisfied, the Prakeshi walked into the cave to begin moving crates around. He was professional enough not to stop and stare in awe at the plethora of supplies and crates, but he couldn't help but widen his eyes a little. The crates were still packed for the most part, but his keen sight detected that some of them had been opened - presumably there was a lot of good stuff in the crates. He knew better than to ask questions, though; instead, he took directions from Daxia on which crates to take to the ship first. This would be a potentially long job.

As he returned for the second crate, he saw what had to be Crimson and Irwin on a motorcycle, zooming toward the ship. Well, at least he has a medic if he crashes, he thought.

[Chatty]

Jessan sat with Sophie while Talia worked on her ankle, and he held her hand in his. He knew she didn't need him there for moral support, but he wanted to stay with her because he loved her and needed to be near her. He knew that Kellen and Daxia would keep everything running smoothly while the crates were being loaded, then they could go smooth the ruffled feathers of the city officials.

***************************

Kellen headed for the cargo bay after he secured Varrus on his bed for the trip back, and he got on his communicator as he walked. "Captain, I have Varrus secured and Alex standing guard. I'm going to help load all the crates so we can get the hell out of here." He told her, to keep her informed on what was going on.

As he reached the cargo bay, he stood to the side as a motorcycle came racing up to the door. Shaking his head, he continued on his way to the cave.

[RJDiogenes]

His thoughts like jellyfish, Squa watched blue crystals and tasted sweet salinity, then began floating upward. He found himself in the doctoring room of Sophie's Firestorm, his limbs arranged in a star pattern on the large table. His nervous system twitched for a moment, feeling captured, but he realized that he had been harnessed for surgery and reduced his mood to resting-- he could feel a harshness in his nerve tissue that told him that a penetrating event had taken place. Shortly, he remembered losing a limb in the completion of the bounty process and therefore knew that T'Sarrina had performed another reattachment. This was not the first time that she had saved him the trouble of growing a new tentacle, and she did it quite well. For an alien, her metacarpals were nearly as nimble as pseudopods.

[Mikoto]

Daxia worked for awhile with Kellen, Sylen and Pedras in getting the crates delivered to the cargo hold of the Firestorm. They'd brought the final crate of contents from the cave and had set them down just outside of the Firestorm while the first batch was being secured and strapped down for the journey through space. Crimson had dropped Irwin off at the ramp to the cargo hold just a couple minutes ago before speeding off on his motorcycle.

Daxia wasn't sure it was so wise for him to be doing strenuous activities so soon after being shot, he might tear his shoulder open but it was his body and his choice. Nor was she sure why he wasn't sticking around but at least it meant the crew didn't have to be concerned about what he might attempt next. Just then Sheryll called the ground team and alerted them that a Skitter full of armed men had approached the Firestorm and landed nearby. Five men were heading for Crimson on his bike while the remaining seven were heading for where the Firestorm was parked.

Daxia thanked Sheryll and glanced at Kellen and the others. "Looks like we have rival bounty hunters incoming." She said casually. "We'd better set up a warm welcome." She ran up the ramp into the cargo hold and got ahold of some pressure plate mines, hastily deploying them out on the grass. She hid them as best she could in the thick grass before retreating back towards the ramp. Kellen had wheeled out portable metal shields that the fighters could use as cover in the meantime. Daxia chose to crouch behind the shield he'd chosen next to him and unslung her assault rifle. She smirked when three of the seven bounty hunters got caught in her hastily placed minefield but the others carried on, getting close to the Firestorm. The Mikoatty waited no longer and opened fire.

OOC: Have fun with the five bounty hunters I sent to intercept you Henry.

[Mikoto]

When Sherryl informed them that rival bounty hunters were on their way to attack Crimson and the team loading the crates into the cargo hold Sylen assisted Kellen with rolling out portable metal shields from the cargo hold. They were kept tucked up against the walls of the cargo hold for times when protective cover might be needed for the crew. It made sense since mercenaries never knew when hostiles might try to steal the contents of the cargo hold. Sylen chose to crouch down behind the shield to the left of the one Daxia and Kellen had chosen. He smiled grimly when some of the rival bounty hunters got caught up in the minefield Daxia had hastily set then started shooting the bounty hunters the moment after she did.

[Santaman]

Crimson wasn't in the best mood before he was attacked, his mood wasn't improving when 5 men did.

Crimson saw them try and aim at him while he took a dirt road, none of them had thought about the fact that motorcycles were that fast so they missed their first salvo and the element of surprise, the two holes they made in the plastic cowling of the motorcycle were the last straw.

Crimson spun the bike around, parked it behind a tree and shut down the machine, he opened one of the panniers and found a fast firing sub machine gun, some grenades and in the pannier on the other side a claymore mine.

He saw two men walking his way, they obviously had infrared equipment because they knew exactly where the motorcycle was, Crimson threw the claymore at them and the device exploded making bloody globs of flesh out of the two men and taking down a tree which fell down with a lot of noise.

A familiar thudding around him and dirt being thrown into the air made him aware of another man coming his way, this one didn't know where Crimson was and was shooting wildly around with his SMG, cursing and crying because he had witnessed two of his colleagues being turned into a bloody pudding.

"Click click, curse."

The man grabbed for another clip when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, a second later he was dead, Crimson's automatic shot gun had made short process of the guy.

The two last men were close, they had tried to outflank Crimson but had to give that up, they did shoot more holes into Crimson's motorcycle which had the largest infrared signature.

Crimson cursed and took cover behind a tree, they hadn't spotted him yet and one of them never would, he had walked past the motorcycle and heard a gigantic explosion, his friend had found and touched the bike which had been booby trapped by Crimson, the bike and the man blew up after the man had set of three handgrenades.

The last man panicked and ran away, right towards Crimson who used the shotgun again to finish off this last man.

He then sat down for a while, his shoulder had started to bleed again and he didn't have the energy to walk back yet.

[Chatty]

Right before Kellen got the warning from Sherryl, Irwin had approached him as he was in charge while Sophie was down. The medic had explained that Pedras wanted to give his two fallen comrades a traditional burial after they finished up this mission. Then he looked up and sighed as he got Sherryl's message, then he looked at Irwin again. "Tell him I'll send someone as soon as we greet the new guests, and would he please come help us greet them?" He told him. "Then stand by in case anyone else gets hurt."

"Aye." Irwin said, then he went and found Pedras and relayed the information before going to grab a medical kit.

Then Kellen rolled out the portable shields while Daxia quickly set up a small land mine trap, which caught three of the seven. Then he pulled out his assault rifle and started shooting at the remaining bounty hunters, scattering them to find cover, noting that Daxia and Sylen had already taken positions behind the other covers and were doing their own scattering.

[Jim Gamma]

Pedras was just about to enter the airlock as the message came through that a rival bounty hunter team was approaching - this time with seven personnel. He noticed the metal sheets being dragged into place as shielding, and took cover behind one; unfortunately his speed was not going to get them anywhere, as he'd been told to stay off the mid-limb for a while, but he could still shoot at least as well as anyone else. He grabbed a pair of laser rifles and got into a position where he could see the trees.

One of the benefits of having four arms was that he could use two weapons with scopes at once - one using his left eye and arms, one using the right. He used his mid arms to control the triggers, and upper arms to control the aim. He kept his back to the shield, and peered round the metal's edge, waiting.

As the rival group came out of the forest, they walked right into the mine field Daxia had set up. Four of them were quick-witted enough to get out of the way, but three were caught in the explosions. Aiming at one of the four, Pedras swung into view and opened fire with a quick burst on both guns. As the rivals began to return fire, he ducked back behind the sheet, and out the other side. Bullets ricocheted off the ship's hull where he'd just been, but he was already firing again from his new position.

Kellen, Daxia and Sylen were also spraying fire at the oncoming bounty hunters - the position was well-fortified, and the attackers had already lost three in the minefield. Choosing the better part of valour, they scattered back to the forest. They know how well-armed we are now, Pedras thought. When they return, they'll be ready for this set-up, and they'll return quickly. As Sophie had commented earlier, you don't bring all of your cards into play in the opening moments of a battle. Likely this was intended to test their strength, and work out how much firepower they needed.

Fortunately, Pedras had a few tricks up his sleeve - and he was pretty sure the Black Steel team did, too. Catching Kellen's eye, he indicated his intention to go round behind the enemies, and surprise them. Kellen waved him off, though - only two were left, and would pose little to no threat.

[Mikoto]

Daxia stopped shooting when the remaining bounty hunters fled into the forest before they could be killed off. She immediately got on the communicator with Sheryll who used the Firestorm's sensors to locate the resources the bounty hunters were using. To her relief the bounty hunters had parked their ship in the spaceport which means they couldn't fly it out here without being shot down by the planetary defences. This was good news. With the first skitter of hunters mostly dead it meant there was time before they could regroup.

She turned to Kellen with her plan. "Why don't you, me and Pedras take the shuttle and retrieve the two Prakeshi bodies? It'd take less than ten minutes to do. The shuttle is well armed and armoured so if the two remaining bounty hunters tried to attack we'd make short work of them. We could order Sheryl, Twyla, Sylen and Logan to guard the cargo bay and finish loading these crates. By the time we've finished our errands the bounty hunters would have had time to regroup and we can face them then."

Kellen thought about it for a moment and nodded. The three Black Steel members were called down and placed on guard/loading duties while the three ground team members went around to the shuttle bay. Being a pilot, Daxia flew the shuttle. She flew just high enough to clear the trees then dipped to land outside the cave. She kept the engines on and warmed. She kept an eye on the two bounty hunters who seemed to be content staying where they were about quarter of a mile away in the forest. Soon Pedras and Kellen had the two Prakeshi bodies laid out on the floor of the shuttle so she quickly flew back to the Firestorm's shuttlebay and landed.

For now the two bodies would remain on the floor of the shuttle until the crew had time to deal with them later. Finally the trio went back around to the cargo bay ramp. Logan, Twyla Sylen and Sheryl had finished loading the crates and were standing guard. Daxia sent Sheryl back to the bridge even as Darren reported that a medium sized cargo vessel had launched from the city spaceport along with two Skitters escorting it and were heading for the Firestorm. Daxia tensed a bit and paced back and fourth along the ramp as she waited to hear what would happen.

But then she heard it. The booming sound of planetary defence guns being fired then the sounds of the cargo ship being hit then crashing to the forest. Finally Darren reported that the two skitters had not been shot down and were still heading for the Firestorm. "Well that's interesting." Daxia remarked to Kellen, Sylen and Pedras. "It would be suicide for two skitters to attack a cargo ship. May I suggest we close the cargo bay door, go to the bridge them simply use the ship's weapons to blast them out of the sky?" She suggested.

[Chatty]

It didn't take long to load up the bodies onto the shuttle and get them back to the Firestorm. Then Sheryl reported that a cargo vessel and two skitters were heading their way. Kellen smiled when he heard the sound of the planetary defenses taking out the ship, but they still had the skitters to deal with.

He listened while Daxia outlined her plan and he smiled at her. "If you weren't a probie I'd appoint you in charge if I'm incapacitated." He said. He then motioned for Twyla and the others to get everything loaded and he went to the bridge and took the captain's chair. "Launch as soon as the cargo bay doors are closed." He told Darren.

[Jim Gamma]

"In that case, permission to contact Firestorm? At those skitters' speed, it'll have to be a quick launch," Pedras commented.

"They took out Crimson's transport - we'd better get him, first," Kellen answered.

"Actually he's closer to my shuttle... I'll give him an access code."

"You sure that's wise?"

"Don't worry - it's on lockdown, I can fly it remotely. The code will only get him on board."

Kellen took only a second to consider this. "Go on then - it's your shuttle."

"Firestorm, this is the recovery shuttle," Pedras said into the communications microphone. "Get ready for a hot take-off - the cargo ship's gone, but the skitters are incoming. We'll be there about one minute before they arrive."

After Firestorm acknowledged, he switched channels and toughened up the encryption protocol. "Firestorm shuttle to Crimson - this is Pedras. You have two skitters closing in on your position - you'll never make it back to the Firestorm in time. I'm sending you a code to get into my shuttle - head half a mile north-east, and then transmit the code within two metres of the ship. Let us know when you're aboard, and I'll fly you remotely back to the city. Just don't touch anything."

He waited for Crimson to acknowledge. Meanwhile, he sent a code to his ship ensuring that, if Crimson attempted to meddle, he would be neutralised by the internal defences. Any attempt to access sealed areas or systems would result in the shuttle being flooded with gas; further attempts to meddle would cause concussive blasts that would render all occupants unconscious.

OOC: Thanks to Chatty for permission to use Kellen in this post.

[Santaman]

Crimson grumpily answered Pedras's call, he was pissed off at yet another setback and losing his bike.

Upon entering Pedras's shuttle his mood didn't become much better since the Prakeshi had locked every system.

He dropped into the nearest chair and just let out an endless stream of curses and ill wishes against everyone he could think of.