FTL: Harmony Edition IC

If the insane pirate unicorn wished to endure further pain and suffering in the name of his captain then Belgond was more then happy to give the fool a helping hoof. Lifting up his hoof and pointing it at the defending 'wardog', Belgond breathed deeply as his newly restored and stabilized energy core starting to pump up to minimum combat levels of power, electricity visibly coursing over his body due to the sure amount of power that he was now channeling before unleashing just a -faction- of it at the wardog in a quick, tazer like blast that would hopefully convince the crazy bugger to lay down and stop moving for a while.

Actions and Dice Rolls:

The hull integrity warning was incredibly worrying, but unfortunately the captain didn't seem that worried about the suffering integrity of the ship. This was idiotic. The captain gained nothing but death by damaging the vessel in this way. It would certainly effect Copperette at the least, and maybe Sweetie if her components weren't hardy enough to withstand exposure to vacuum. If Belgond, with his apparent cybernet--

Seva did not have too long to consider that line of processing as they were assaulted by the wardog. R3 Outer and R4 Bio immediately cried out to the other runtimes to enact a counterattack. The remainder though, went against this idea. A strike to dissuade the attacking unicorn had it's benefits, but calculations to other courses of actions appealed to them more. They needed to survive, and a direct blast of damage in this instance would not be helpful. Though, perhaps, there could be something done to help bring down the wardog.

The ACHE stared back at the wardog, continuing to maintain an apparent stoicism even in the face of the strange of and confusing occurrences that had been happening around them. They activated their self-repair systems, nanomachines coming to reinforce the bulwark that was their exterior, filling in some of the damaged sections. Then, a hum charged up in the thin, hollow interior of Seva's horn before a small wad of silver shot out and and impacted onto the wardog's forehead, tiny hooks growing out like little insects legs, latching on and ready to administer a shock to the wardog's nervous system. All the while, Seva continued to look at him with their apparently unimpressed expression, almost as though they were daring the wardog to actually do enough damage to make them care.

COMBAT:

Copperette Seva Belgond
The wardog attacking Belgond whimpers as electricity strikes it, blasting it off its hooves. Rolling to a stop, it seems to finally fall still, until the Captain gives its ribs a solid kick and it jerks back to consciousness, clambering to its hooves and facing Belgond once more.

Copperette's Turn

Initiative Order:

Copperette Seva Belgond Borealis Degree
"COME AND GET IT YOU BUGGER"

With a bright flash of light, a lithe black-and-red streak throws itself at the captain, latching onto the armored pony and knocking him off balance. Only a moment later, a titan in glowing armor follows suit, slamming into the captain and this time knocking the pony off his hooves. After a few moments of tussling and punching, the drake ends up on top, with the minotaur holding the captain down by the legs.

Degree flashes the group a grin, placing the muzzle of the Burninator against the captain's head. "Sorry we're late, fellas. Calibrating the teleporter took longer than expected."

Glancing down at the pirate, he whistles. "Well, you guys really done a number on him didn't you?"

Copperette Seva Belgond Borealis Degree
Roaring in anger, the captain flexes mightily - and the drake is thrown off, getting bucked solidly in the gut. "You! You disgrace of a pirate!" The captain winds up and shoves the minotaur back, visibly enraged. "Damn it..."

Sweetie takes this chance to quickly blast the captain with lightning, which he shrugs off, virtually unharmed. The captain bares his teeth, but eyeing the new arrivals, reluctantly puts down his kinetic hammer. "...I know when I'm beaten. Come and fucking take me, damn it."

As the reinforments from their own ship arrived and the captain -finally- surrendered, Belgond considered sending a strong current into him to taz him and prevent the hammer wielding bastard from coming up with any ideas for escape; Last thing they needed was for him to do something stupid that would endanger them further after all.

However, they still needed him awake for the moment...

"Contact your people and they them to surrender and stand down."

Copperette Seva Belgond Borealis Degree
The captain hisses, and immediately the two wardogs tense up growling, but the captain stomps the ground and the feral ponies back off, whimpering. Tapping his helmet, he mutters something into a hidden headpiece, and spits onto the ship floor in front of the group. "It's done. Your ship and crew will live to fight another day."

"Dogs, back to your kennel." The wardogs whimper, and slink out of the engine room. "So what in Tartarus do you want?" He snarls.

There were reinforcements. The captain was surrendering. Seva's systems relaxed certain calculations that were in motion, disengaging their combat routines.

With Belgond handling the captain, Seva decided they could focus more on the thing they knew they were competent in – healing. The ACHE was clearly damaged themselves, several cracks, tears, and indentations in their hard exterior from physical assault that revealed more tender bio-mechanical systems underneath. In addition, there were still signs of burns from taking the shots from the captain's plasma blunderbuss, but as Seva walked over towards Copperette, they gave no sign that this damage impeded or bothered them in any way.

""Please stand still while we administer treatment,"" they stated, holding up a hoof and shifting components inside themselves to more efficiently help.

---

Heal Roll (Seva attempts to heal Copperette's wounds): 1D20+17 => 26

Degree bares his teeth and cranks up the Burninator so it starts glowing menacingly with purple flame. "You have one chance. Talk."

Glancing at Belgond, he nods subtly, almost imperceptibly. "He's all yours, stripes."

Copperette had been laying on the floor for several moments now. The haze of combat was beginning to lift as she realized the fighting had stopped.

She looked up at Seva, tired and still a bit high on adrenaline. "... We won?"

Some ponies would have given the captain the time to speak his peace and then tried to escort him to a brig with people prodding him along all the while. Belgond was not most ponies; He had seen just how strong the captain was and the suicidal lengths his crew were willing to push themselves in his name. Measures had to be taken if they safely wanted to take the bastard to the station alive.

Offering the handbag a nod of respect, Belgond walked over to the downed captain before placing a hoof against his neck... and sent an electrical charge through it with the intention of rendering him unconscious for safe transport. No point endangering themselves further after all.

Actions.:

"Hngh!" The captain grunts, and after a woozy glare at Belgond, drops to the ground, unconscious.

"We'll need a cell or something for this bastard." Borealis looks around at the damage. "Something strong, I'll bet. Alright, lets get to the station. I'm sure the folks over there are dying to meet him."

Grabbing the captain, Borealis roughly pulls off the armor from the captain's body, and binds him securely with hardlight shackles. "Won't hold him forever - we'll want to get the handover done quickly."

Hefting the captain's unconscious body over a shoulder, Borealis nods. "Lets go. Belgond, can you message the ship to teleport us back?"

Belgond nodded his head as he watched the captain be properly restrained, through he paused as he decided to bring up a very good point "If it's alright with you, I think myself and Degree should stay behind to secure the bridge and make sure everything is under control before we leave the ships under the control of their crews. For all we know they'll take off the moment they know we're not on the ship."

"Sounds like a plan." Borealis nods and stands off to one side, carrying the body with him.

Degree lifts up the Burninator, grinning. "Aye, sounds good to me. The ship I boarded is being manned by the slaves they kept - I asked them to keep the ship there while we took care of business. We should probably also drop by their flagship. It's immobilized and largely disabled, but the crew might be up to some funny business."

Offering Borealis a nod, Belgond explained "You should head back with him. Out of everyone you're the best able to keep him contained unless we ask Seva to keep him drugged." Turning to look at the dragon Degree, Belgond looked at the drake with a new found respect as he offered "The two of us should be able to secure both ships." Looking over at Seva, Sweetie Bot and Copperette, the smile that was on Belgond's face dropped away at the state all three were in...Though Copperette looked to be in the best condition and Seva could be relied upon to repair itself. Sending a short message back to the Dawn (To Golden Gears herself, for who else would be controlling the teleporter?), Belgond simply said :

We have five for transport back to the ship. Degree and myself are staying behind to make sure the bridge is secure. Transporter Sweetie Bot, Copperette, Seva, Borealis and the former captain of the ship who is now our 'guest' until we can drop him off at the station. Seva and Sweetie Bot will require some maintenance. Thank you.

A few seconds after the message is sent, the named party members are enveloped in a pale blue light and dematerialized, reappearing in the teleport room. Golden Gears immediately runs over to the group, looking concerned, with Clean Cut close behind. "Oh Princess be praised, you're alive... well, mostly alive, anyway - Clean Cut, take Copperette to the medbay, I'll try and fix Sweetie Bot up. Seva, do you need any assistance or are you fine with restoring yourself?"

Clean Cut nods and escorts Copperette to the medbay, where he sits her on a chair and starts casting a regenerative spell on her to knit up the injuries she sustained in the fight. "How do you feel? Any particular pains?"

Looking at Borealis, she grimaces at the sight of the unconscious captain. "Is that him? ... the station is sending a small transport pod up to haul him off to a cell. They'll contact us when they're in range."

---

On the pirate ship, when the captain leaves, a whine can be heard from the door as a wardog glances cautiously into the room before quickly scampering away. The smoke from the battle is still settling, but on the whole, it seems calm enough, and whatever the captain said to the crew seems to be sticking as they aren't trying anything (yet).

Degree curls his lips in disgust and pity as he catches sight of the wardog. "Pitiful creatures. Trained to be weapons, never even stood a chance. The sick bastard... what kind of freak stoops as low as using wardogs?"

He shakes his head and starts making his way towards the bridge, Burninator raised and ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Being back in these ships gives me the creeps. Come on, Stripes. The sooner we get this over with the better."

Seva had only given a Copperette a short nod. As far as the ACHE could tell, they were finally out of danger. After the transport, they watched wordlessly for a moment as Clean Cut took her to the medbay. Eventually, they turned their attention over to Golden Gears.

""Current Assessment: Our autonomous repair systems will be sufficient, given enough uninterrupted time,"" Seva glanced at Sweetie, ""We want to assist in restorative measures. Diagnostic assistance requested for later. Anomalies occurred during combat.""

Belgond took a deep breath as the others were teleported away, programs already running to assess the damage that had been done to his body (Both meat and metal sections of it) for future healing and repair before he started to walk beside Degree, keeping an eye out for possible ambushes or betrayals from what few pirates remained while they did so. "Is there anything we can do for them? The Wardogs I mean. If we took them to the right people would it be possible to try and heal the damage and give them a chance at having a normal life again or would we be better off just putting them down now and ending their suffering?" It was a tough question; Even if there were people that could help them, would they be inclined to? Would they demand payment for their services? And in the short term they would be stuck in a limited space with what effectively amounted to highly unstable, broken ponies that were barely more intelligent then carnivorous beasts that were little more then living weapons...

On a slightly brighter topic, Belgond did decide to suggest "Well for what it's worth we should have a bit more breathing room when it comes to space now that we have another ship. Was thinking it might be in our best interests to pick one of the ships to keep and then salvage the others for parts or upgrades. Maybe even sell them to the station to get ourselves some capital to work with. Sound like a plan? "

Degree sighs, bracing the burninator against his shoulder. "Never heard of a cured wardog. Heck, not sure if anyone's even tried. More likely to bite your hand off if you're not their... owner." He grimaces.

"Anyway, can't imagine living with that kind of mental burden, even if we find a miracle cure. My vote? Put them out of their misery. It would be a mercy at this point. But for now, they'll stay put. Not going to disobey a direct order."

Nodding in agreement at Belgond's assessment of the ship situation, Degree adds, "The flagship is pretty messed up so it won't fetch a good price - probably best to just scrap it and sell the haul to the station and see what we get. This ship might be best sold to the station as well, with most of the parts recycled for our ships first. The ship I boarded is still mostly in one piece, so we can probably get that one running pretty easy. Yeah, that'll probably work - I'm sure a supply station can make good use of a corvette frame."

Copperette allowed herself to be herded away, still in a bit of a trance. As she entered the medbay she realized something was missing.

"... Where's Sweetie?" she asked, beginning to panic. "Oh no! Is she okay!? I have to go get her!"