FTL: Harmony Edition IC

"Bitchin'," Degree repeats, cracking his knuckles eagerly. "Been a while since I had to talk to someone uncivilized. Right. Ship - ah, that's an awkward name. Dawn, what's the ETA on exiting hyperspace? I want comms active and contacting the weaponized ships the moment we exit the jump."

A few moments pass, and Degree sighs, conceding to reason. "If we're in range, patch us into the station's communications and send a white flag over. Tell 'em not to blast our ass outta the sky the moment we appear."

"Let's see... Stripes will be in the engine room, I'll want the PA active there... let's give the kids a show as well... so PA systems active in the engine room and the living quarters."

Borealis Degree Belgond Copperette Seva
<Exiting Hyperspace. Trajectory stable. Spatial distortion stable. Dropping speed to sublight...> The ship shudders as colors flash through the windows. All across the ship, a low humming can be heard that slowly climbs in volume and pitch until it becomes a harsh whine - and then all falls silent, the shuddering stops, and the myriad of twisting colors fade into the darkness of space. <Safely returned to sub-light operation.>

A flash of light catches the attention of everyone on the bridge, and a cursory glance out of viewing ports in most parts of the ship will show the sight of multiple ships, pirate markings blatantly obvious and weapons blazing. At least three raiding ships are firing on a space station, blasts of laser and plasma peppering into a translucent blue shield. Every so often, streaks of golden light lance out from the station at the raiding ships.

<Transmission established-> There comes a crackling from the consoles, and the main display flickers. The pegasi tense up, and after a few moments, the image of an earth pony stallion, with a dark green coat and orange mane, appears in front of the group. Encasing much of his body is a clearly custom built white metallic exo-suit, styled with whirlwind-like ridges on the shoulder and torso. Hanging at his side is an energy rifle, again looking to be custom assembled and cared after - though the battle scars are apparent on both pieces of equipment. Standing on the bridge of one of the ships, with a group of scoundrel-looking ponies around him manning the stations on the ship, he certainly cuts an imposing figure.

He eyes the assembled group momentarily before stating, in a scratchy voice, "you have thirty seconds until we blast your ship to Tartarus."

"Right of Passage. Bloodrider Patronage." Degree says, smiling toothily. Mentally, he wills his inner flame to ignite, fire surging out between his scales and surrounding him in an aura of flame. Crossing his arms nonchalantly, he tilts his head to one side. "Who's asking?"

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The pony leans forward slightly, his expression unreadable save a small quirk of the eyebrow when Degree lights on fire.

"The Storm Queen has claimed this station for the Whirlwind Tribe. This is our turf now, drake. What business do you have in our territory?"

AleneShazam wrote:Copperette Seva
"Computing..." Sweetie frowns as her processors makes a few quick predictions, and quickly says, "If we can create a digital blueprint and gather enough scrap material, the onboard fabricator should be able to construct the basic framework super quickly."

Sweetie points towards the engine/workshop/engineering area that Belgond has set up. "It's not much good for teensy parts like the components Belgond works with, but if it's just a big metal disk with etchings, it should work. All big sister will have to do is add in the enchantments."

"Let's go, then!" Copperette said urgently...

Seva wordlessly kept an eye on Copperette and Sweetie as they discussed what to do next. However, as the ship-to-ship communications broadcasted, Seva's eyesight seemed to loosen for a moment. What they said thought, indicated that they were certainly paying attention tow hat was at hand.

""Preallocating calculation resources for Medica subroutines.""

"Ooh. How is Her Highness doing these days, anyway?" Degree quips, before straightening up. "We need supplies. Food, fuel, equipment - anything to fix this rust-bucket of a ship up."

Borealis Degree
"We can trade after we take over the station." The stallion says shortly, ignoring Degree's first question. "It is Whirlwind property anyway. It will not take longer than a day or so - surely your ship can hold out for that long."

Belgond Copperette Seva
The pair quickly make their way towards engineering, and they arrive shortly as the exchange between the two ships begin in earnest. There's the engine, still fixed up from last time, and the new addition of a make-shift toolbench, courtesy of Belgond. A range of ship-based repair tools hang from the walls, and the fabricator sits disused in a corner.

The fabricator has holo-display beside it that is darkened at the moment, but a quick gesture should reactivate the machine. The bulk of the machine is just a flat disk with an array of mechanical attachments suspended above it, and above that, a lidded compartment with a scanners on all sides. Sweetie Bot looks at the carefully before hesitantly pointing out each part of the machine. "Speculation: the top lid bit opens up for scanning to take place, Copperette can place the anti-gravity device here and a digital print will be produced. The side slot is for raw material - scrap metal and stuff - and the holo-panel can be used to access the creation commands. I think."

As she talks, Belgond bustles into the room, still remotely fine tuning the ship systems before the final major switch in energy use, which can be done in the master console in the engine room. All the while the conversation continues between Degree and the pirate, which is being played through the PA speakers.

"No deal," Degree shakes his head, "The crew just went through hell and back to get here, they're gonna need time to rest. I'm not inclined to have them rest amongst the trophies of your conquest. Plus, let's be honest - we'd all like to keep a bit more loot, don't we? I don't wanna have to haggle with you like a bunch of pansy traders - we're raiders, not civvies. We take what we need, and you go in for the rest of the spoils. It could be as simple as that, and we'll be outta your mane. I'll be heading right back home, got a package I gotta deliver, and I'm sure you've got better things to do than argue semantics with a gunrunner, eh?"

Persuasion: 1d20 (11) + 10 = 21

Copperette nodded in understanding. "Wait here a moment," she said, trotting back towards the medbay and scarcely noticing Belgond.

She returned moments later, the wide disk floating behind her and maneuvering into the engine room. She carefully dropped it into the machine, and stared at the interface curiously. "Sweetie, start gathering up all the steel scrap laying around and feed it in," she said, figuring out quickly enough how to make the thing scan her disk....

Borealis Degree
The stallion's eyes glint with an unknown light, and a ghost of a smirk graces his muzzle. "A Bloodrider endorsed gunrunner - interesting. You drive a hard bargain, drake. We almost have full control over the sector... but conflict between the Whirlwinds and Bloodriders helps no one at this critical moment."

He holds up a hoof, and the blasts of energy stop from the side of the pirates, the ships withdrawing to a safe distance from the station, circling the jump beacon. "You have 24 hours. No longer. If you are still on the station after that... then you are a casualty of war."

The transmission blinks out, but as the image breaks down, Degree can almost see the grim smile on the stallion's face.

Belgond Copperette Seva
Sweetie salutes, and as Copperette flicks between odd interfaces to find the scanning section, the little filly-bot starts going around piling together scraps of steel and  dumping them into the material input. Copperette quickly grasps the basis of the panel and activates the scanners, which prompts blue light to flood the lidded compartment. A few seconds later the rough wireframe of a disk with etchings appears on the screen, and a thin bar labeled 'required material' swiftly fills up as Sweetie lumps more steel scrap into the machine. Eventually the bar reaches 100%, and with a loud rumble, the machine begins breaking down the steel and reshaping it into a disk shape, and cutting the basic etchings with a laser engraver. After a short while of waiting, a basic disk shape slides out of the machine and slides into a tray beside the machine.

The prep work to prepare the ship for the power transfer was easy enough and could be done on the move, but the actually transfer itself needed to be done from engineering. All it took was a few buttons and the excess power in the med-bay was transferred to the engines. This did not distract him from the conversation that was taking place over the PA system through. Belgond's teeth actually started to grind a little as he overheard the negotiations between the blasted drake and his pirate friends and the red mist that had caused him to try and attack the bastard descended once more.

Instead of going to attack the drake through, he decided to do something much better... He started to hit the buttons and enter the codes that would give him access and control of the Dawn's weapon systems from his position in engineering while trying to run a tracking program to find out which ship the leader of the pirate band was currently stationed on....

Dice Rolls:

"Keep it coming," Copperette said, partially to Sweetie Bot and partially to the machine. "I want abput eight, all told, so we need six more," she explained, hauling the newest one out and beginning the enchantment process...

Enchantment (1/3):

Belgond
Tracing back the magical uplink that allowed the ships to communicate, Belgond zeroes in on the pirate leader's ship - slightly larger than the other two, and better armored - and hacks into the Onset Dawn's weapon controls, letting off a crack salvo of laser blasts that penetrate the armor just a little bit away from the ship's engines, causing a ripple of force that dislodges chunks of the ship's hull. As the head ship struggles to orient itself after the blast, the two ships around the sides close in to the Dawn, firing two warning shots at the Dawn.

Copperette Seva
Sweetie nods and continues to work, though glancing worriedly at Belgond for a moment. As the shots streak past and explode harmlessly away from the ship, she looks up, alarmed, her eye flickering briefly to red before returning to green. "..." She starts to say something, but stops herself, continuing to busy herself with pushing steel scrap about.

Degree sighs in exasperation at the sudden attack. Flipping on the PA, Degree grumbles, "Stripes, you would make an awful pirate. You're not going to get the best loot by shooting them. We could have teleported on board and seized the ship that way - we would literally be a ship richer. All you've done is ruin a perfectly lootable engine module."

Belgond growled a little at Degree's words, returning control of the ship's weapon systems as a battle was now going to happen regardless of what anyone said or did before deciding to return a message over the PA system "Well Handbag, did you ever considered telling us that before making the case for us being apart of the galactic brotherhood of complete and utter bastards? Besides, we can still claim the ship; The station is no doubt going to be mighty grateful that was swung by and I'm sure they would be happy to part with some parts to get that engine going again. If it can be rebuilt, I will rebuild it! Before that through, I think now would be a good time to start dealing with our new friends..."

Turning to look at those who were sharing engineering with him, Belgond simply shouted "Brace yourselves, this is going to be a bumpy ride."

As they continued to watch the ongoing crafting, Seva offered no comment at first. Cognitive resources that would have been dedicated to social processes were being given priority to potential medical needs, and so it took them a while to find reason to speak. Seeing Copperette begin the enchanting process though, Seva finally elected to do so.

""Inquiry: What is the function of --"" they started, only to cut themselves off as the shots went off by the Dawn.

The ACHE immediately looked around, assessing the situation. No one seemed injured, but the optics of the filly-emulating robot caught their attention. And with the zebra's words, it became clear what was about to happen.

""Active treatment mode engaged,"" Seva stated, elevating their own voice's volume to speak in a terse monotone. They turned back towards Sweetie. ""Optic sensor change detected. Inquiry: Is Sweetie experiencing damage or malfunction?""

"Oh, ye of little faith..." Degree turns to the minotaur. "Hey, you're military, right? I've got a plan, but I'll need Stripes' cooperation - and I'm sure not getting it now."

As quickly as possible, Degree explains his plan to take out the two attacking ships via hacking and sabotage, then close in on the already crippled ship to capture it.

"Belgond - here's the plan, it should let us take out both ships without risking too much damage." Borealis said through the PA system. "Reroute power into the teleporter, we'll have boarders infiltrate the two ships and disable their reactors. They shouldn't have too much trouble, with the crew size of a corvette class. Keep firing on the ships, keep them distracted - Seva, your physiology should let you disable the ship easily. We'll take care of the other ship. Got it?"

Even as Borealis was explaining what the plan was over the PA system, those in engineering would notice that Belgond had already gotten to work on the task at hand. It was a fine balancing act, making sure that the power he needed to use to charge the teleporter up wasn't being taken from somewhere vital to their survival; Or at the very least, the amount he was taking wouldn't be missed. That bit of excess power that he had just transferred to the engines could be rerouted easily enough and that would get the teleporter going but it would be limited to short range and it wouldn't be possible to lock onto a single room; It would be random chance were the teleporting team would end up. This was of course completely unacceptable.

Looking over the various systems and running the figures through his head, the zebra let off a blast of painful white noise that wouldn't be possible for most ponies to understand... but Sweetie Bot and Seva would understand perfectly as some sort of binary language. "Can't take power from the shields, they're already running at the minimune amount as it is. Can't take power from the med-bay with the children on board... Engines are only working at a quarter of their potential as it is..."

Coming to a conclusion, Belgond started the power transfer. The extra power from the engines was taken while the Dawn's missiles system was taken off line in order to power the teleporter.

"The teleporter should be charged and ready to go in a moment." Belgond announced in equestrian over the PA system. "Work out who you want to go and it'll get you there no problems."

Dice Roll:

Copperette finished the last of her disks, stacking them together with satisfaction. "C'mon, Sweetie," she said, heading out into the ship....

Seva's head immediately snapped to attention as they were mentioned, taking in the plan. They were not used to functioning in an offensive capacity like they were being asked to, but if that was what the whole of the ship needed, the ACHE would fulfill that need. Their ears then twitched as they picked up the white noise – or seeming white noise rather. That Belgond was not taking power away from the medbay immediately came as good to Seva, lightening a load on some risk assessments that were occurring in their processes. Between the medbay's field and Clean Cut, it gave some assurance that the children -- and ship as a whole, was covered, medically speaking at least. Seva approached the terminals by Belgond and took their turn to speak.

""Orders received and understood. We are presently reoptimizing our systems for the assigned task,"" Seva said before turning their head slightly Belgond's way, though still speaking into the system, ""We will complete it expeditiously.""

Sweetie's temporary eye change was filed away as something to address later – perhaps Copperette could handle that, wherever they were going. For now, Seva had a job to do. They rushed immediately to the teleporter room.

Copperette watched Seva with interest. She recalled Borealis's plan - and followed along quietly, motioning to Sweetie to do likewise...

Degree
As a seasoned traveler, operating a teleporter is no issue for Degree, and he has the destination locked down in moments - the engine room of the ship bearing down from the Dawn's left. Activating the teleporter, there is a low hum that builds to a whine as space ripples unstably around Degree, warping and contorting until with a CRACK, Degree disappears from sight.

On the enemy ship, with a significantly less noisy *pop*, Degree rematerializes atop a bunch of stacked crates. Momentarily disoriented, he has just enough notice to duck his head as he heads voices speaking below him. Bracing himself against the crates, Degree can hear a gruff male voice say "we should be on the bridge with the rest of them, not here, making sure blinking lights don't go dark-"

A female voice replies, "We need the reactor stable and the captain doesn't trust the slaves to operate the machines-"

"Why do we even bother with 'em? Not like they do anything other than waste our food and scrub the floor occasionally-"

"Damn if I know. Y'know, they say the captain reckons the young one's a looker."

"She'll fetch a good price on the market, then..." The conversation continues on with other criminal topics.

Copperette Seva
Seva enters the crew teleporter quickly, and after a few moments the teleporter locks onto the other ship's engine room, as was the plan - but, just as Seva activates the teleporters, in runs Copperette and Sweetie Bot - too late for Seva to reverse the effect of the teleportation. A similar building whine and cracking noise later, all three individuals dematerialize from the ship, reappearing moments later in the engine room of the other ship.

Unlike the other ship, the engine room appears to be abandoned... for the moment. Seva reappears first, landing with all four hooves on the ground, their nanite body structure preventing them from getting teleportation sickness. Copperette and Sweetie appear seconds later, Copperette stumbling over Sweetie as they reappear in each other's paths, though she manages to recover. After a few seconds, Sweetie Bot raises a hoof. "We're here to provide assistance...?"

Borealis Belgond
More shots come from the two ships growing worryingly accurate - a plasma burst glances off the shields, and a barrage of lasers streak past a hair's breadth of the ship. The consoles across the ship light up, and from Belgond's place in the engine room, and the bridge where Borealis is stationed, the pirate stallion's face appears once again. This time he has a mask on, obscuring his face entirely save the angry orange eyes. His eyes flick from one side of the screen to another - one can easily imagine the image of Belgond on one side of the screen and the image of Borealis on the other - and he narrows his eyes.

"I was going to question the dragon's method of betrayal, but I suppose that was not his choice, was it?" He laughs coldly. "A tech priest and a mercenary. Not exactly pirate material... suppose I made one too many assumptions. I can't even blame the gunrunner, now. I suppose I'll just have to settle with you."

He swipes his hoof through the presumed holo-display, terminating the transmission. Moments later, the Onset Dawn is rocked by mild shockwaves as the shield gives, letting past a laser beam that deals some surface damage to the ship. In space, painfully slowly, the crippled ship begins to reorient itself with the one functioning engine - all the while charging up its weapons.

Why does everything have to be freaking complicated? Degree bares his teeth as he listens to the conversation go on into more suspect territory. Of all the things these pirates dabble in...

Having heard enough, Degree braces himself against the crate, and shoves - intent on flattening whoever stands below. Before the crate even finishes falling, Degree takes to the air with a flap of his wings, before thrusting off the ceiling to divebomb whatever poor sod managed to survive the crate. Afterwards, if they survived even that, he had a few pointed questions to ask.

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