Log:Resistance: Paradise Snare

Paradise Snare

OOC Date: September 24, 2018
Location: Redevan System
Participants: The Resistance, Alexis Carew, Devii, Ektor as GM, Jessika Pava as Private Vakla Naqurka, Nova Korell, Poe Dameron as Finn

The specific system doesnât matter much to the Army. It's a boarding action to clear a few pirates off a big luxury cruise liner, as long as the shuttle knows where to go, the troopers don't need to worry. The battle in the void is turning one-sided by the time the Resistance assault shuttle begins its approach: the remains of a half dozen ships scatter slowly through space, with another pirate freighter joining the others in doom as the shuttle establishes docking clamps on the luxury liner. No pirates manage as much as a passing shot at the landing shuttle, as the X-wings of Black Squadron (and an Aethersprite!) secure the area.

The orders are thus: board the 200 meter long Stellar Paradise, a CEC ZD-8000 luxury liner with over 1,000 souls aboard, root out the 10-20 pirates who had been looting the vessel and its passengers until their escape route was cut off, and avoid civilian casualties. A transmission from the cruise ship reaches the shuttle: <<Resistance shuttle, this is the Stellar Paradise. We have sealed off the bridge, but bandits are attempting to blast through. Our internal surveillance systems are showing three teams of bandits, with a few stragglers running between: three are trying to storm the bridge, another group of four holding hostages in the aft lounge, and another- about six or seven gathered inside the airlock, waiting for you all. I think we have.. maybe fifteen standard minutes before they break through the bridge blast doors, so we're very happy to see you all.>>

"Alright... a race to the bridge." Says Devii before she keys her comm, <<This is LT. Keva of The New Republic. Do what you can to barracade them. We're about to dock and breach now.>> She looks around at the rest of Nerf Herder Squad. "You know the drill, guys. We bust through the hatch and we need a rapid assult. Keep your trigger finger light, I don't need ny dead civilians. If you're not sure, use stun. Keep moving, and keep up the pace. We got fifteen minutes until they get into the bridge."

Again Alex finds her self at the back, really the front, of the bus. She'll let the shooters go first and clean up behind. Eyes turn to Devii and she listens as the plan is given. This time, she swears, she will draw her pistol. Standing up, a quick check of her gear "I'm set LT. Lets do this." Brave words that she isn't really feeling.

Doing her last gear check before the boarding, Nova presses a hand to the left side of her head, listening to the tac net's feed from the shuttle. "Sounds like a long job, if they're that dispersed," she says. "They're hoping to stop us cold at the front door. Suggest setting for stun in populated areas, policing kills once they're down." The chill in her FO-accented voice suggests her own best thought on what to do with any downed pirates, and it doesn't involve binders or a trial.

Riding aboard the shuttle approaching the Stellar Paradise, Private Vakla Naqurka is green-to-green. All her gear has been checked, her rifle is loaded with its power pack, and she's spending the last few moments between approach and landing mentally preparing herself for what's ahead. She's also committing the relayed information to memory. She performs a quick tactile check for her weapon's safety, and then leaves her thumb near for the inevitable moment when she'll disable it to fire. It'll stay there the whole time, too, as Lieutenant Keva's orders specify she should be prepared for stunning anyone she isn't sure is friend or foe. "Understood, ma'am."

<<Our blast doors are shut, Lieutenant, we'll hold out as long as we can. Paradise, out,>> the Captain of the luxury liner reports, stoic in tone. With docking clamps engaged, the Resistance team is left the choice to slice or blast their way onto the ship.

Devii pats the shoulder of Alexis before moving on to Valka and doing the same. As she hears the ship dock she looks to Alexis, "Sergeant... front and center. See if you can override this docking hatch." So they didn't have to blow it because she didn't bring Lyn along with her this time. Also, no flame thrower. Your time will come, your time will come.

Alex almost jumps out of her skin as Devii taps her shoulder. "Uh,right. I'll give it a shot." She moves over and crouches down and begins to first study it. Then a broad smile as she looks up to the others "Hey, this is easy. Standard lock system. Same as what is on the medbays I've been with. Hold on, I got this." She then studies it again and then begins to move her fingers over the pad. "Simple encryption, reboot and..." At last there is a series of clicks and a slight pop in a change of air pressure. "Aaaand thee we go." Standing again she moves back to be the last person.

"Good luck," Nova murmurs, moving to stack up at the door, ready to snap around and open fire. Or toss a grenade inside and shut the door again. Whatever works.

Vakla lines up to create a basic stack with the rest of the squad. The rifle on her sling is kept low ready and angled, so while the stock is against her shoulder and ready to snap up into position, she's also ensuring her barrel is nowhere near flagging the friendlies ahead of her. She spies the medic finagling with the lock, and much to her own surprise, there's only a few moments between her work on the door and the telltale signs that it's been bypassed, which means they're on go-time. "Nice work, Doc." It's a quick compliment before she devotes all her mental faculties to the task waiting ahead of her and the rest of the troops.

Finn is at the rear of the formation holding his rifle in hand. Dressed in trooper combat gear, he seems about as ready as he's gonna be. Any who look to him finds a confident nod sent their way.Then he shifts into an aggressive stance, his wary eyes trained ahead mentally preparing himself for what's to follow.

The equalizing air pressure as the hatch slips open might cause a few ears to pop, but so too does it cause jaws to drop among the pirate greeting party. A half dozen are ducking into the nooks of bulkhead framing girders, and into doorways. One shouts, as the blaster fire erupts, "Kriffing hell, Petrov!"

Devii plows through the door somewhere in the middle of the formation, "Go Go Go!" She shouting as they barrel through into the boarding area. She goes to find a crate to slide to and behind for cover. "Keep up the fire..." She suggests.

As fire goes off, Alex takes careful aim, well it looks like she does. Really more of a point and shoot. She does strike the fellow though and he crumples to the ground. Clearly dead. "I did it!" She exclaims.

Nova peeks around the doorjamb, counting the welcoming committee. Arming a grenade, she whips it into the room... only there's nothing there by the time it lands. The detonation is still impressively loud, though, and there's a new burn mark on the decking.

As the members in front of her rush out, Vakla snaps her rifle up at a target of opportunity so that her holographic sight superimposes its glowing dot on the center mass of one of the pirates caught by surprise. Squeeze, don't pull. Weapon held tight against her shoulder. The steady platform sends a red kill bolt racing through the air to snatch the life out of her target, and she uses that open window to blitz forward for cover.

Finn goes through the action of the breech and levels his rifle to fire. He had zoned in on a target, but they were a bit more wiley than he anticipated them to be and cursed for missing it. Taking an immediate route for cover, Finn ducks down to stay out of the fatal front, but tries to acquire another target.

Whoever Petrov is, the pirate cursing him doesn't live long enough to do more than curse. Two of the brigands fall in the initial hail of fire, with their own salvos managing only minor injury. Funny how fighting trained troopers is harder than shaking down unarmed rich folk.

"Doc, You know..." Devii says from behind her cover, "You're pretty cute when you get excited like that." her blackened lips smirk and then she shutters, curling up as the grenade goes off. "Christ Nova!" She pops out of cover for a moment to see if she can get a shot on who ever might be left. One of their leaders is also right front and center and she sends two bolts right into his chest in a rather nice grouping before taking aim for one of the goons on her way back down to cover.

Basking in the glow of her kill she turns to Devii and grins "Really, you think?" It is then that pain shoots across her arm and it takes a moment for Alex to register "The bastard just shot me." With all the adrenaline flowing it's not to bad right now. Turning with the pistol held out one handed she pulls the trigger and sees one of the pirates stagger. A second shot finishes him off. It's then that the pain fully reaches her brain "Oh crap, that hurts," she mutters as she props up against the bulkhead.

"What? They were bunched up... initially," Nova replies. "Might want to take cover, Doc... or not," she amends, seeing the feisty medic's pistol fire take down a pirate goon. She resolves to equal that kind of determination.

She whips around the jamb of the hatch, opening fire on one of the doorway pirates. The blast is powerful enough to drop him, twitching, to the deck, likely never to rise. "If we can just keep up this momentum..."

A hail of return fire pelts the area around them, and Vakla sees their medic take a hit. "You alright, Doc?" She doesn't have much time to chat. She's busy trying to orient into a position to return fire after charging to a position of cover and slamming into it so hard it forces the air out of her lungs. She snap peaks from a corner and tries to line up a shot, but the rapid acquisition and attempt at firing leaves too many variables in questionable positions, resulting in her shot streaking wide of her target. She slips back into cover, trying to minimize her time of exposure and her silhouette as a target.

Finn wraps the sling for his rifle around his forearm and pulls the weapon snug against the meat of his shoulder. Adjusting slightly from behind his source of cover, he zeroes in on the final target and fires off a single shot that sinks deep into their chest, spilling them backward. "Contact down!" Finn called out, and straightened cautiously to look for any others.

"I really thought this ambush thing would work better-" one pirate yells immediately before being blasted into oblivion. "I know! This isn't working at all! It's all Petrov's fault, the door-" she is also dropped hard by resistance blaster fire. "HEY, don't blame me- that encryption was perfect! ...Guys?" Petrov abruptly gets wide eyed and tries to run, before the last blast of the boarding party abruptly stops his retreat.

"Yeah Doc, pretty hot..." Devii says, though she winces as the Sergeant gets shot. "Oh bother." She slides over towards the woman and takes a look at the wound and by that point the initial firefight was over. "Anyone else hurt?" SHe asks. "Nova... come take a look at the Doc." Orange eyes fix on Alex's, "Not so cute now, but you're breaking my heart either way." She stands then and gets to buisness, "Vakla, Finn... on point let's keep moving. Nova and I will bring up the six. Let's get to this bridge." She has no knowledge of the hostages in the aft lounge and either way, they'd be at a serious disadvantage if the pirates got on the bridge and controled it.

Waving the others onwards with her pistol to go before her "I'm okay. Lets just go. We can sort it out later," Alexis says. She puts the pistol under one arm since she wasn't sure where else to put for the time being and uses her now free hand to dig around and get a quick patch out of her fanny, now turned side, pack. Using her teeth she pulls the backing off and slaps it over her minor wound. Spitting out the backing she looks up to Devii and grins then to Nova "I'm okay. Lets just get this thing done, shall we?" She tries to not snicker at Devii but can't help it as she takes the pistol out from under her arm.

Nova moves to take a look at Alexis's injury. "It's not too bad, Doc... I just need a... frell," she mutters, as the idea is now to move on as fast as possible. "Sorry. Guess it'll have to wait."

She looks to Devii. "Shouldn't we rescue the hostages first? If we attack the bridge, they might start killing them to convince us to leave politely."

"I'm good," Vakla informs Devii the moment the lieutenant asks whether or not anyone else is hit. Ordered to take point, she sweeps out of cover and takes a position at the head of the group. This time, there's no low ready. Her rifle's up and ready to acquire targets the moment she registers them in her sights and can move her hand to adjust the barrel. She waits for everyone to gather up before moving forward and following signs leading towards the bridge. This is not something done at a run, but at a determined pace with purposeful steps. Wherever she looks, her rifle looks with her, and she limits her view to a specific cone in front of her, trusting that those behind her will cover their own sectors of fire. She scans the area ahead of her in a square as she goes, always checking visually for anything out of place.

Finn is given the order to take point, and he does so immediately voicing his affirmation with an, "On it!" A quick glance is paid to Vakla and he adopts a scanning pattern opposite of hers moving in a similar fashion by keeping his rifle leveled and at the alert. His finger remains off the trigger but near, straightened over the guard. "Moving.." Finn says softly to let his team know that he was going into motion.

A swift, tense push to the turbolift, punctuated by the occasional guest shrieking and fleeing from the troopers in impractical, gravity-defying hairdos and fashions (men and women both) and the boarding team is on their way at speed. For company in the lift, there is  a gold-framed, life-sized portrait of the cruise line's owner hanging pompously on one wall. It has been defaced with a blaster bolt to the smile.

When the lift arrives and doors hiss open, they find that the corridor is perhaps twenty paces long, with a red velvet runner ornamenting the center of the walkway. At the far end, heavy blast doors have been closed, sealing off the bridge, although repeated blasts of shaped explosive charges have filled the air with smoke, and litter the floor with blackened fragments of durasteel. A trio of armed and armored boarders are at work on the blast doors, having opened enough of a gap in the blast doors to fire a blaster through, but not yet allow passage. As the lift hisses open and the Resistance troopers arrive, the trio of pirates are dropping demolitions gear and picking up heavy pistols and a grenade, respectively. Profanities precede the eruption of violence.

Devii looks to Nova, "And if we go to free the hostages, they could kill them then and there. Or, when we're doing that they take the bridge, seal us off and space us... or over load the reactor and kill the hostages and us... or jump away into friendly space and then launc a counter boarding." She shakes her head as she moves on, her pistol up and at the ready. "Either situation is a tough one." As they moved along and up the turbo lift, she piles out with Vakla and is quick to act. Right in the middle of Finn and her Comrade she kneels and fires at the one pulling the grenade. One hits but the other two quick shots go wide against the bulkhead.

"If we free the hostages and they take the bridge they still have control over us," Alexis notes along with Devii. As they stand in the lift the Doc does as everyone does in a lift. Tap a foot, sigh, look up, count the numbers as they go. At last the doors open and as Devii fires She does as well. Not really taking in what they are doing or grabbing or what weapons they have. Nope, not at all. She just sees bad guys and shoots. It just so happens that it is the one with the boom thingy. Dead. "Ha! That's for me getting shot," she yells out angerly.

"Never mind, then..." Nova mutters. "Let's just hope they don't get word off to the hostage-takers when we attack the bridge."

Only three? It doesn't look like a serious bridge-taking party, though the blast marks on the blast doors look like they're seriously trying to anyway. Nova opens fire, with disappointing results. "We'd better work fast!"

Recalling a time when she performed the seemingly impossible, Vakla takes note that there's no flashing lights on the grenade held by the man that is killed so fast he barely has a chance to realize he's being peppered with kill bolts. She watches the grenade fall from his hand and tries to lead it as it tumbles towards the ground. Given the relative distances, she doesn't have much time. Maybe if she'd had more, it could have been a better shot. As it is, her snap decision and snap aim make it so that the squeeze of her trigger sends her kill bolt smacking harmlessly into the floor well beneath and away from where the grenade is going to impact. "Drek," Vakla mutters under her breath and adjusts her target.

When more contacts come into view, Finn's first action is to shift forward and make room for others. He's quick to call out that they have contact to the front, but his voice is lost over the sound of the chaos that follows. Dropping to a knee, Finn has a proper shooting stance and blasts center mass into one of the targets, blowing them backward to spill over a stack of crates. Finn is certain that it was not a fatal shot, but he isn't willing to close the distance anymore. He centers his aim to fire once more.

As the pirate grenadier is blasted backward into the wrack of a blast door, slumping down dead from a pair of grievous wounds, his surviving partners in crime return fire at the target which chance (and relative inexperience in blaster battles) have left most clear: the doctor who laughs at getting shot. "Not so funny now, is it?" a blue skinned humanoid woman in a blast vest shouts back, while her partner- a near human man with a bald head and odd gill-like ears smacks her in the shoulder, "Will you shut up and quit already? We're gonna die if we don't. STOP SHOOTING!"

Devii blinks, watching Doc move up front and center and blast a few holes into some scumbag pirates. Orange eyes look over Alex... just as she gets shot, again. They were tough, the group only putting down one so far. They were the bridge team after all. Devii turns back to them and aim towards the one with the mouth and squeezes the trigger. Hitting the blue meanie at least once. SHe moves to kneal against a wall, hugging it.

And the shots fired at her causes Alexis to blink "Bastard," but she knows enough to not stay there and get shot at. So a dive is attempted to slide across the floor. It's all planned out in her head, slide across the floor, while laying down shoot the bastard. Everything goes as planned. That is right up to the point where that stupid strip of carpeting runs down the center. She tumbles once, dead stopped "Well crap," she mutters not from her prone position she had planed but a half sitting position. So she fires as feet dig into the carpet trying to scoot her over to the far wall. At least the mouth died.

Lieutenant? I think that one'd rather surrender," Nova points out, covering him with her rifle. She raises her voice. "I'll hold fire if I hear that blaster hit the deck, RIGHT NOW! Don't make me kill you over a bad set of life choices!"

Seeing the explosive equipment for what feels like the first time, a sudden adrenaline surge rushes through Vakla. A sensation like trying to take too many steps at once passes through her abdomen, and she's quick on removing her finger from the trigger of her weapon. She doesn't want to be the one that accidentally sets off the demolition gear the pirates were trying to load up on the door to get through it, especially when she doesn't know the yield or how much they're carrying. The relatively confined corridor could funnel the blast, or make the concussive force from it worst than it might normally be. She doesn't fire, then, so much as trains her weapon in the remaining target's direction and waits for the tense situation to unfold.

As the blue-skinned spitfire is spat back on, dropping dead in a storm of red energy bolts, Nova's demand is answered with the prompt clatter of a heavy blaster pistol being tossed onto a marble floor, until it slides to a stop against the same velvet runner which had thwarted Alexis. The weapon sits there, mocking her. "I surrrender!" the remaining member of the bridge storming team shouts, obligingly.

Not detecting any deceit from the remaining pirate and lowers his weapon. The others have given them orders to drop his weapon or quit what he'd been doing, Finn straightens and walks towards him slowly. "Hands on your head, lower slowly to your knees." When Finn has reached the pirate, he forces him to cross his ankles. Finn places his boot over the back of his legs and grabs his hands by his thumbs, holding them in a compliance position. Finn uses his free hand to search him, finding knife after knife after knife. Each one is withdraw and dropped on the deck before Finn finally eases him flat on his stomach and restrains his hands behind his back. "Secured," Finn calls.

A voice from the other side of the fractured blast doors calls through the slight gap in the durasteel portal, "Lieutenant Keva? Is that all of them?" as Finn secures the prisoner.

Devii starts moving towards the bridge, "Let's disarm that drek!" Says the LT, pointing her pistol right at the last 'rat as she approaches. She looks to the crack in the blast door, "Hey you two alright in there?" She blinks as she watches fin take out knife after knife. "Are you serious... really, what a waste of spae you could store extra powerpacks or grenades." She pffts and shakes her head. Then to those inside, "Yeah... up here. Apparently there's some still in the aft lounge but we didn't want them to take the bridge and leave us in a drek situation. Don't open the door, there's a breaching charge. Stay as far back from it as you can until we can take care of it." She looks at it herself and attempts, her brow sweating. "How you doing Doc, still with us?" He says to the rest of the Squad, "When we get this off and take the bridge, get down with Nova and get those Hostages free. I'll stay up here with Doc."

It is just after killing the one pirate that Alexis realizes she has a pretty bad shot to the leg. Enough she can't hardly stand. "This ain't good." she mutters as she drops her pistol and digs around in her fanny pack. Out comes some first aid gear as she goes to work on her self. "I'm going to just camp out here. Not sure this leg will get me much further," she tells the group as she continues to work on her self.

"I don't think it's armed, El-Tee," Nova says, seeing Devii reaching for the demo kit. She points at the charge's little detonator control set. "See? The boom light's not on. No boom today."

She looks back at Vakla and Finn. "I guess we're the rescue squad. Let's go. Mind your shots; we've got a lot of innocent people with a sprinkling of scum. We only want to pick off the condiments and save the entree. And... I should really stop giving advice when I'm hungry."

Rather than joking in return, Vakla nods. "Roger that." Heading for the lift, she drops her weapon's barrel to make sure she doesn't flag any friendlies in the process. The job's not over, even though they've saved the ship from falling into enemy hands. It'll save a majority of lives, but not all of them, and she's more than happy to be part of the team that goes looking for the fight elsewhere. Especially when it means pulling some of the other passengers out of harm's way. Hopefully. A hostage situation is never a good situation.

After securing their prisoner, Finn helps them to their feet and escorts them away from all the knives. He's seated near the Doc, who has a clear lane of fire and enough space to get her weapon up should he decide to get froggy, neverminding the moral implications of shooting a restrained prisoner. Finn ensures the pirate will remain there and looks up when Nova addresses he and Vakla, the other trooper who had been on point with him. He joins her in the lift and waits for Nova to accompany them below. He brings his weapon around from his back where it had been hanging from its sling and adjusts. He favors the left side of the lift and briefly looks between the others there. "Maybe we can encourage them to surrender too. No one is hell bent on dying.." He says in a naive tone, then looks to them. "..well in my experience..however..brief.." He trails off and looks ahead again. Small talk had never been Finn's strong point.

"We're safe," the captain reports through the sundered blast doors. "They put a few blind shots into the bridge, but didn't hit anyone or anything important.  Our sensors show all outlaw spacecraft have fled, or been destroyed. Only the four brigands remain in the aft lounge."

The rescue team of Nova, Vakla, and Finn move swiftly via the vessel's cutting edge interior transit. In short order, they approach the lounge.

Devii nods to Fin, "Aye... I'm hoping on it." She moves into the bride and listens to the reports as she sits Alex down in one of the chairs. A hand goes to her cheek and she smiles to the woman, "You'll be fine, Doc. Just sit tight and dream of Bacta." Then putting her game face back on moves over to the intercom and flips it to ship wide, "This is Leiutenant Devii Keva of the new republic. Your boardin Ambush is thwarted, your starfighters fleeing or destroyed, You bridge crew decimated. It emplore those left to put down their weapons and surrender in an orderly fashion or face death. This is your only warning."

"I hope you're right," Nova says to Finn, her fellow defector. "A few goons and a lot of hostages is a bad combination under any circumstances. No matter what we do, we risk hurting someone we don't want to hurt."

She pulls up a deck plan for the lounge via the turbolift's computer, edging over to share it with Vakla and Finn. "Not many ways in. With any luck, we can lock the place down and give them a chance to give up. In their place, it'd be the smart thing to do."

But then again, nobody ever said pirates were smart...

"They've got no way out. Their ride left, their friends are dead.." Vakla shrugs. "They're either ready to die or willing to cut a deal to avoid it, I think. But what do I know?" Her skills are in shooting and obeying orders, and the only reason she pipes up as much as she does is because there's time to pass in the ride to get on the path to where they want to go. Her two credits mean little in the grand scheme of things, which is mostly why she stays quiet except to voice acknowledgment.

"I'll try to talk to them then, if they don't shoot us right off that is. I'm sure it'll be fine.." He says with a bit of uncertainty in his voice, then whispers, "..I hope." His fingers idly tighten over his weapon and its clear that Finn is rattled with a bit of anxiety, but he remains true to the mission and shares a brief look to both before training his wary gaze back to the front.

The Aft Lounge is a shockingly opulent ballroom with no fewer than three elaborate chandeliers along its length, which sway periodically with the movement of the ship. As the troopers enter from one end of the no-longer-leisurely oval chamber, the far wall is taken up with a long, curved bar, several dozen passengers have been huddled against one wall, with a pair of gunmen keeping watch on them, while another pair of pirates have taken cover behind the bar. The ship's guests are arrayed in various expensive and gravity-defying hairdos, gowns, and suits, but notably all are now lacking jewelry and any visible nerve. The dead body of an elegantly uniformed ship's security officer is in the center of the dance floor.

"Maybe I should take my next leave on one of these ships," Nova murmurs as they enter, seeing the impressive layout and decor. "But then again, I doubt I could remember which fork was which."

She nods to Finn. "You're up. We'll cover you," she says simply, taking cover at the doorjamb. "I'd suggest telling them to try and contact their friends, if they don't believe you."

Cover is the name of the game, and cover is what Vakla provides. Bracing against the opposite side of the lift as Corporal Korell, she slips into a kneeling stance that creates a smaller target to hit. Leaning makes it that much harder, and not only covers most of her body with the lift in the way, but gives her a place to brace her rifle for extra stability. It limits the range of her firing field some, but creating a cross-fire with the Corporal gives them all the coverage that they need. It's a strong base for Sergeant Finn to work from, and Vakla trains her eyes on the pirates in question, watching for any movements that will cut the negotiations short.

Devii keeps talking into the intercom, "If you don't believe my try contacting your friends. I've even got one up here." She puts the microphone to the secured prisoners mouth. "Tell them..." She says.

Finn stays within the confines of the lift knowing that if he moves forward, he stands to ruin the integrity of the security the two troopers are providing him. Keeping his weapon trained at a low ready, Finn takes a steadying breath and mumbles. "..you can do this.. " A moment of awkward silence, then Finn's voice shatters it. "Hey." He says awkwardly. "This doesn't have to end in violence. We know you're backed in a corner and resigned to fight to the last man.. but what would it accomplish. We're a platoon of well trained Resistance fighters, and your resources are lacking. Sure, you can use hostages to leverage, but there's still more of them than you. Do the right thing, please. Surrender and no one has to die. If you comply, just say so and slowly rise up from where you are. Place your weapons on the ground. We will not harm you unless you give us reason to." Sweat has formed along Finn's forehead as an expression of uncertainty settles in. For him, the silence that follows is painful, but he stands his ground as a show of faith. Surely, they do not wish to die.

The Lieutenant's voice over the comms echo eerily in such a large, lavish, and populated chamber as this, punctuated only by the occasional sob of fright from among the huddled guests. The remaining pirates look scared and desperate, glancing among each other, as if hesitant to be the first to speak up. When the halting voice of their compatriot with the unusual auditory organs follows Finn's speech with, "It's Kirili. ..it didn't work," at last one of the four answers Finn. "If we give up- IF.. what happens to us?"

"Finn... eyes to the back. One of those fancy dresses has spacer's boots underneath, and the kind of 'do no rich lady'd be caught dead with under a big hat," Nova hisses into her comlink. "I think we've got a wolf in passenger's clothing." She casually shifts her aim to the oddly-dressed woman, using her combat sight's mild magnification to confirm her suspicions.

Finn nods and sighs with frustration. "You live to see another day. What you are able to negotiate with our brass will be on you, but I'm giving you an opportunity here, don't waste it. That means you in the fancy dress trying to blend in. My troopers are deadeye shots. Please do the right thing here."

The results of a fight are no longer in doubt, the only question remaining being how brutal the course to get there. When Nova and Finn bring eyes and rifle scope onto the woman in the back, the course grows short and simple. The wolf in sheep's clothing sighs, tosses off the stupid hat and mutters, "They've got us, boys. Time to fold." Without a shot fired, the last blasters are put down, and the liner is secured.

Nova covers the pirates until they're clear of the passengers, then stands and moves to flex-cuff them securely, slinging her weapon. "And the final score? No passenger injuries, prisoners to transport rather than just corpses, and a command performance by a fellow soldier to report. I love it when a day ends on a high note. Good job, Finn. Thanks for the support, Vakla."

"Roger." Classic acknowledgment. Vakla overwatches to ensure all the pirates are secured, checked, and then polices their weapons up after slinging her own. The remaining passengers are checked for posterity, and then she's proceeding along with the rest of her trio to link back up with the lieutenant so they can get off this pleasure cruise turned living nightmare.

Finn is relieved, but he isn't quite so naive to believe them initially. When the tell-tale of surrender follows and they comply, Finn slowly emerges first and begins conducting searches systematically with Nova and Vakla. Each is cuffed and situated away from the passengers. "Thanks," Finn says accentuating the relief in his voice. <<Lieutenant, we're secure down here. We'll escort to the dropship.>> When the time comes to transport the pirates off ship, it's under an armed escort led by Finn himself. He wants to ensure their treatment is humane at least, and no unneccessary adversity befalls them even if they don't deserve it.

Devii comes down from the brige, holding Alex and helping her hobble. "Good job guys... let's get these prisoners on the ship. SFC is walking the bridge crew throgh jump coordinates now."