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"Good morning James." The metallic voice attempted in vain to usher Radcliffe out of bed. Old numbers was set in his ways, and refused to budge. "Good morning James." "Nggh... What time is it." Radcliffe howled half-heartedly, undoing the strap on his cot and picking himself up. The Callysto did not have a rotating gravity deck, unlike most modern interplanetary vessels, and as such the beds were equipped to strap an occupant in place. "It is eight thirty AM, Federation Standard Time." The metallic voice answered promptly. James fumbled for his glasses, accidentally knocking them off the dresser and into the air. It took him a handful of tries to swipe them back to his face as they floated away. His toy was above him, bouncing off the ceiling and floating back to the floor. Nobody had ever asked numbers where he'd gotten the thing, but of all the Black Rock Pirates, Radcliffe was not the most well liked. He was after all the ships accountant, and no one likes an accountant, the man always the one to tell Riley that such and such was not possible, or was un-economical, or any other manner of letdown. But James was more than just an accountant. He was simply not good with people, preferring machines and numbers to human interaction. It showed. His small toy, modelled after one of the LMCs Petite Mobile Suits, landed on his belly, giving him his wake up call once again. He pushed it off, finding his shoes as the small green toy flailed its arms, trying to orient itself as it flew through the air. It smacked into the radio unit above the door, which came to life almost immediately. "Would Numbers n' Sayer n' Josip be so kind as to come to the flight deck, 'yer precious Zakus be armed an waitin'." Captain Haywood Beecham was an ornery sort of man, and liked his ship to be run just so. If ol' Wraith weren't the sort of man that he was, it wouldn't be likely for Beecham to stay in line too long. Radcliffe didn't like Beecham too much, and the opinion was shared between them. James tugged his normal suit out of his locker, donning the one piece flight suit and checking every last bit more times than was particularly necessary. A pilots spacesuit was not as thick and sturdy as a standard model, but had to be designed for ease of movement inside of a cockpit. They only came with a two hour air supply, and were not particularly resistant to radiation or spacial debris. If a mobile suit pilot happened to be forced outside of his unit, his death was more or less assured, but even still Radcliffe had to make sure every last safety feature was just so. That was his way. Deciding that everything was just right, he exited his room and grabbed onto the directional pully close to his door, a small handle on an automated crank that pulled him down to the end of the hallway. Reaching the end of the hall he let go, kicking off the wall to change direction and floating towards the hangar deck. Outside the ship, the huge flower shaped Callysto floated through the blackness of space, its solar sail having been retracted recently. It was a full two hours behind the Bones, and this was all according to plan. In front of the ship Marten Stevens and Donovan Ferrier floated, a huge blinking box pulled between them. Deciding they were far enough out, Donovan pressed a button on the box, the two rushing back to the ship as it opened up, compressed air expanding to turn the balloon inside into a gigantic faximile of a wayward asteroid, its course directly set for the CMC border station "Lighthouse." Aboard the Bones, captain Samuel Riley was already up, having groomed and trimmed himself to perfection for his big date. His beard was freshly combed, every last trinket and bobble attached to it in a particular fashion, meticulously designed so as to make it look random and chaotic. He was unable to wear his very best, most piratelike attire, a simple outfit befitting a mining ships captain bordering his hobbling appearance. The bits of grey in his beard had been plucked out this morning, a painful operation that Riley had insisted on. Once all was said and done, he wanted to make sure the image on the wanted posters was of a man in his prime. His limp hadn't quite decided whether to appear or not today. On the one hand, ol' Samuel was sure that the limp befit his character nicely, but on the other hand, he may need a level of dexterity today that a limp could not attest to, and he did not want to give the boys at the CMC a double sided impression. The crew of course wouldn't dare mention that his limp was suddenly gone. They sure as hell wouldn't dare. The door to the bridge opened behind him, and before she opened her voice he knew who it was, wrinkles forming all over Rileys face before the nickname could rear its ugly head. "Everything be waiting for your order Mr. Toast, she's tucked quite nice into that package there! I could put a bowtie on her for ya even." Addie floated into the room, the small and lithe woman attracting the entire bridge crews attention as she sailed into focus. Her penchant for giving everyone a completely ridiculous nickname was only tempered by the fact that she was quite good at her job, and her physical appearance was one that made her difficult to get fully angry at. "No bow necessary Ms. Joiner, you be free t' enjoy yerself till we get to our destination." Riley snorted, ignoring the ridiculous nickname and staring out ahead, Lighthouse Station still a dot on the horizon. Addie decided that this was not a satisfactory answer, and pushed herself off the glass and straight into Samuels face, making sure he had the best possible view of her angelic form. Riley was as usual uninterested, but any other woman that fetching and he might have been worried about the conduct of his crew. It was not as though such depravity had never been attempted with Addie, but what Riley was always more concerned about was the poor perverts doctors bill following the attempt. "Why miss Joiner, you must be in a mood today. But if you'll excuse me, I be waitin' for a phone call." Samuel said, rolling his eyes and pushing her out of his way, sending her sailing back down the hall. "It's not every day we get to meet so many new people, especially this far from the Belt, is it Mr. Toast!" She threw in the nickname just as she was leaving the bridge, the small stab at her captain designed to keep her annoyance in his brain for as long as possible. Addie floated away, hearing the crackling of the radio out of the corner of her ear as she left. She'd heard something about a bomb being planted on the station, some disgruntled civvie who'd been paid off to create a distraction for them. It wasn't any business of hers though, even though Addie was normally one of the nosiest members of the crew. Today she was thrilled with her part, the very idea of it wondrous and perfect. It was like popping out of a cake. That was how she rationalized it at least. She was the present, and she was going to pop out of that cake and wow them all. In her deluded reality, this entire operation was about her. Just the way she liked it. She sailed through the Bones hallway, the ship devoid of life as she went. Most would be in the hangar deck, trying to create the environment that would be needed for their ploy. It was not exactly a reasonable excuse. They were temporarily a mining vessel being sent to Amador City, and their cargo had been unbuckled by a wayward meteor shower which had also damaged the ships engines slightly. Of course, with such a large cargo of minerals and such an old fashioned ship they would need Lighthouses rotating hangar and its simulated gravity to settle the goods, otherwise the floating crates bouncing around the hangar bay would be too dangerous for deep space travel. Or something. Joiner didn't quite believe the tale herself, but as long as she got to pop out of that cake, she didn't care what the story was. Ducking into the hangar she began dodging crates and boxes, flying her way towards her Zaku, nestled tightly within the largest crate of them all. Having made his call with his contact and assured payment, Riley decided it was high time to contact the CMC and begin their ruse. He began to blush a little, flustered and wondering how to begin his performance. The first impression was always the most important. He ordered Garcia to open the comm link, ignoring the response of his vibrant fuschia bandanad crewman as he answered the call. By now Samuel was lost in his own little world. The monitor at the head of the bridge crackled and spat, the image of a CMC technician coming into focus ahead of him. "This is Lighthouse Station, operator Bennie Rogers speaking. What brings you to our end of the solar system?" "Good morning to ya! My names Captn' Auren Salem of the mining ship Olympic Cross. We were wondering if you could help a poor group of fellows in need of your mighty fine docking facilities." Rileys voice boomed out, echoing through the void and across the walls of the bridge. He had originally decided on a different fake name, but picked this at the last possible second. It sounded good to him. What went on was a full ten minutes of discussion, Riley explaining the situation. They had been struck a near miss by a large wayward asteroid, which was now a ways behind them and headed straight towards the station. Of course they needed to use the grav deck to settle their wares, and Riley suggested politely that they may want to send some of their Torieres fighters to break the asteroid up before it reached the station. Just in case. Ol' Bennie fell for the tale hook, line and sinker, and ten minutes later the Olympic Cross was settling into its docking space inside Lighthouse Station, about twenty meters away from the Bowie, CMCs deep space disaster relief transport. The Bones settled nicely into its space, opening its portside cargo bay as it halted. A number of large mineral crates flew out immediately, one huge one bouncing slowly into place between the Bones and the Bowie, almost by design. Two dozen crewmembers leapt out of the Bones on cue, each dressed up as a normal, every day miner. They carried briefcases full of their necessary tools, smacking them down onto the ground and going to work. Escorted by a handful of his crewmembers, Riley exited the ship only to be greeted by the stations customs officer, Harold Bernette. "I trust you're going to clean up my deck when you're through using it Mr. Salem." Bernette asked, shaking Rileys hands. He was a short, stocky man, a tuft of gray hair all that remained on his head. He'd obviously been out here a long time. "That's what we've come here to do sir, clean everything up and take it away with us. Don't fret, we won't be more than an hour or so." Riley smiled, liking the ring of his new pseudonym more and more. "Well, good thing you spotted that asteroid for us. Such a strange course, I'm surprised she made it out of the belt at all." Harold said, the two walking over to the mess as the 'miners' quickly tried to sort everything. "Was meaning to ask you, how did you make it here without a sail?" Bernette looked perplexed. An interplanetary ship with no solar sail was highly unlikely, and the jolly rodgers painted over Bones' sail would not make for an exemplary greeting. "Ahh, we had it deployed but it was damaged in our near-collision with that rock. Luckily for us I keep a spare in the starboard bay, so we'll fix it ourselves after we're out of the dock and we cn' deploy it properly." A bit of Rileys accent showed through, the ability to use normal speech having been permanently marred by faking pirate talk for so long. "Huh, well that's fortunate. And you said you were carrying to Mars were you? I'm mighty surprised, not every day that Amador asks for a stash of minerals from out here in the Belt." It was clear Harold was suspicious. Riley did his best to look back into his head, his eyes rolling up as he grasped for an explanation. "Ahh, they're doing some sort of geological survey, and they need test rocks for metallurgical samples. I don't quite understand it m'self, but old man MacAllister is paying mighty well, so I don't want to be more'n a day late." He responded. Saving him from further embarassment was a flying crate, slamming into the ground in front of them and back into the air. "If you'll excuse me, my boys look like they could use the help." He smiled. Harold gave him a suspicious look, but nodded and turned away as Riley ran towards the relative safety of his manufactured disaster. Meanwhile, Lighthouses command deck was busy organizing a fighter response team for the wayward asteroid. They had decided to send out their five Torieres fighters, the plan being to use their vulcans to push the asteroid off course. Flight controllers organized the wing, their ten Balls being held in reserve in case of an emergency. Balls did not have nearly the speed or maneuverability of a Torieres, and they were to be used as a last resort. "Unit one, we're experiencing some strange radar difficulties, that Olympic Cross says its minovsky reactor is leaking particles. You'll be on your own out there, so launch a flare if you have trouble." The five outdated fighters sailed away from the strange, discus shaped station, their hangar seperated from the one used by Bowie and the Bones. Far ahead of them the Callysto lay in wait, Tito, Radcliffe and Sayers Zakus floating ahead between the ship and the fake asteroid. Back at the hangar, Samuel and his men had just about gotten everything under control, catching and consolidating each of the bouncing container crates and setting them out in order on the dock, preparing them to be moved back to their own cargo bay but at the same time moving his men closer and closer to the Bowie. The lot of them had almost forgotten their time schedule when the hangar shook, the explosion at the end of the hall ringing out. Emergency lighting switched on, the bay suddenly a dull red as people ran to and fro, attempting to assess the situation. As they did so Rileys men backed up against the Bowie, waiting quietly until the confusion reached a peak before opening its main hatch and leaping inside. "Alright, figure we've got maybe minute n' a half before they get things together." Riley said, opening up his toolbox and pulling out the pieces and ammunition to a fully disassembled shotgun. He and twenty five others did likewise, a hodgepodge of AK47s, pistols and uzis between them. Each also pulled several cans of teargas out of their lunchboxes, the cans painted by Addie the night before to look impressively like soda pop. One man also pulled out a sandwich, but his snack was cut short as captain Wraith smacked him over the head, the ham and cheese coming apart and dropping to the floor. "Fritter, your team guard the door, my team be headin' for the bridge." Riley continued, undeterred by his henchmans stupidity. "We gotta get this crew under wraps before they know what's goin' on." Fritter nodded, the quiet girl assembling her P90 and then turning to her men. The thirteen of them organized themselves to cover the doorway, preventing anybody from entering or leaving until Wraith did his work. Samuel and company quickly moved for the bridge, affixing the helmets of their mining suits and throwing teargas as they went, to make resistance as limited as possible. On the hangar floor, Harold quickly moved back to check on the miners, suspicious as to what was going on. Their story was shoddy at best, and all these coincidences was just too much for a man who had been here for so many years. He knew how pirates operated, and this was sure how they operated. He rounded the corner of the Olympic Cross, coming to the mess of crates between it and the Bowie and affirming his suspicions. Nobody was there anymore. He ran to the hall and slammed on the emergency siren, warnings blaring across the ship instantly that it was under attack. Despite his years of experience, Harold was totally shocked at what happened next. Not two moments after the sirens turned on the largest of the mining crates bursted open, an eighteen meter tall green robot emerging from it. The Zakus single eye activated, the glowing pink light pointing straight at the man as it aimed its 120mm gun at the poor bloke. Addie was a little disappointed at the lack of eligable bachelors watching her emerge from her cake, but all the same she was having a grand old time. Kicking on her loudspeakers, her voice boomed her announcement through the entire hangar. "Good morning Lighthouse Station! Now, there's two ways we can do this.." The beauty smiled, waving her machinegun about the hangar. A few of the workers who had been dealing with the explosion came running, not one of them having ever seen a mobile suit before. They were extremely rare this far away from the Earth Sphere and the war. "We can all play nice, and not make ol' Mr. Toast angry, OR!" She waved the machinegun high in the air as she shifted directions. "Or I can enjoy myself at your expense." At the end of her statement she fired three rounds into the deck above, the huge machinegun shells tearing into the soft hangar and three forearm sized shell casings plopping to the ground and rolling straight to Harolds feet. Inside the Bowie, Riley groaned at the mention of his nickname. He was going to have a balanced breakfast on his wanted poster now. Elsewhere, the stations five Torieres fighters were just reaching the asteroid, the huge object still hurtling at full tilt towards the station. "Target is sighted, appears to be a high minovsky particle cloud surrounding it. Please advise, over." Unit threes pilot asked, slightly ahead of the other four. "Could be a trap, I heard something over the chatter about hijinks with that damaged ship." Another pilot said. The radio was steadily becoming more and more crackly. "Alright guys, lets hit it from the left, and keep your eyes peeled for anything weird." The squadron leader said. The wing fanned out and proceeded to move to the rocks port side when it suddenly popped, small bits of plastic scattering everywhere as lines of tracer rounds shot through the balloon. Three Zakus shot out of the cloud of plastic, Robin, James and Josip heading towards the five fighters. Behind them the enormous Callysto opened fire as well, four jury-rigged anti-aircraft guns at the corners of the jellyfish shaped craft coming to life. Gotta get them before they can make it back to warn the base Sayer thought, blasting ahead of the group and opening fire with his machinegun. He struck one Torieres dead on, the ship exploding as the others engaged the Zakus. James' shoulder shield was struck with dozens of vulcan rounds, but the damage was superficial, and Numbers responded with his own 105mm, destroying one of the planes. Rounds struck onto Josips Zaku from all sides, the less experienced pilot unable to keep up with the veteran CMC units tight twists and turns. He fired his shotgun wildly into the void, but could not strike his target. Robin downed a second fighter, another Torieres moving quickly for the Callysto and opening fire on its hull. The small 25mm vulcans the plane mounted were simply insignificant, and the ships AA gunners caught and destroyed the plane. The fifth tried to make a getaway, but Radcliffe plotted a careful trajectory, hitting and destroying the last fighter as it fled. "So far so good." James said to himself, still skeptical and wishing he were in bed. Inside the hangar, a relative stalemate was met almost immediately. Nobody inside the station had the firepower or willpower capable of competing with Addie, and she was very pleased with her arrangement. A few stray 120mm shells had scared every last mechanic out of the hangar, and she was effectively capable of covering the main passageways all at once. Inside the Bowie, Fritter and Riley had split up, Fritters team carefully guarding the door while Rileys split up, moving throughout the ship and holding every last crewman hostage. Only eight men were inside the Bowie, and between teargas and a few bullets, six made it up to the bridge in one piece. "Well now. Looks like we've wrangled ye' boys up nice don't it." Riley mused, shotgun on his shoulder as he walked around the group of captives. The Bowies captain and crew sat in a circle in the middle of the bridge, a dozen rough and tough pirates looking at them with all manner of grins. "We're never going to submit to the likes of you." The captain of the CMC ship responded. One of Rileys men kicked him in the face, the others chuckling as the man spat out a tooth. "Not you I need to submit toothless joe. Can I be callin' you toothless joe? Why, I sure 'nuff can." Riley snickered, moving to the ships comm station and flipping on an all band signal. "Here ye' here ye'. You have been had by the Pirates of Black Rock. Maybe ye've heard of us, and maybe y'll live long enough to tell y'er friends." Riley started to stroll around the bridge, acting like he was dictating a letter. "Now, I know you Colony Management Craps'r pacifist folk, so I'mma give you a deal. You open this here hangar door and let me 'n m'boys leave with both your ships, and I'll drop these fine gentlemen we have detained here off about a half a click out." The Wraith stroked his beard, thinking over his own proposition. "I'll even put them in space suits and make sure they get a chance t'use the facilities before they go, so they'll be comfortable waitin' for you t'pick 'em up." He laughed. "I figger it'll be another 20 minutes afore me other ship gets here, so ye have till then to respond. If'n ye don't, we'll just kill this whole lot, blow the door open and leave anyway." He turned towards the hostages, bopping each on the head with the end of his shotgun like he was playing whack-a-mole. "Ye wouldn't be wanting that, would ye." Raucous laughter could be heard from the hangar door, echoing down the halls and into the corridoors where the rescue force had already been assembled. Unwilling to concede to any terrorists demands, the colonies able bodied had already assembled. Lighthouses Marine Corps was at the front, giving a quick examination to over a hundred colonists, equipped with all manner of sidearm and heavy blunt instrument. It was a regular mob. Leading the mob was old Harold Bernette himself, an antique steel baseball bat on his shoulder and an uzi at his side. "Well, tell us how you want us to clean the deck, sir." Harold had a certain disdain for the stations marines, who normally acted as the military police and ruined everybodies fun at night. However, today Terrence Howard was in charge, and the capable commander had already made an effective battle strategy. "We don't have any weaponry that will take out that mobile suit. I only have scant information on what a mobile suit even is, but we're going to move in the main hatch and keep it busy as long as we can. Squad two is going to lead the lot of you boys through an access hatch on deck four, see if you can catch them by surprise." He pulled out a map of the station, showing them a route that would take them out a large vent in the ceiling. "Command is going to slow the stations rotation, so you should be able to drop into the hangar from here without any injury, but it'll take a few minutes to torch through the panels. If all goes well with our distraction, you'll be able to get into the Bowie from the rear unnoticed." Howard turned to one of his teams, a marine holding up a blowtorch and turning it on for a second for dramatic effect. Satisfied with the plan, Bernette gave them a cockeyed salute, and the two groups moved towards their relative positions. Meanwhile, outside the compound the stations remaining defenses prepared to battle the Callysto. Now knowing they weren't on a collision course, the bases Balls and Ball K Types made a small perimeter close to the station itself, where Lighthouses ample anti-aircraft guns could assist them. The Bones' minovsky particle cloud was clearing now, enabling them to effectively coordinate their forces from the command deck. "Everybody, this is Miller." The acting commander of Lighthouse was an older beaurocrat, having headed the station without planetside leave for more than twenty years. His entire family was aboard, and he considered the base his house and home. "This is the first time our station has ever been attacked by pirates, and it is the first time we are going to be victorious in repelling them. Do not let their mobile suits scare you. They may be the newest weapon of war, but there are only three of them, and there are many of us." His wrinkled, bald head was slightly pinkened, blood rushing to his brain as he stewed over the assault on his home and family. "If you cannot destroy them, be sure to take out that ships goddamn engines. I want them lost in the void forever. Miller out." He looked amongst his staff, friends and family coordinating the Marines counterattack, the civilians support, and the defense of the station from the outside all at once. Pleased with their performance, the old man sat, waiting for the results to reach his withered ears. "Do what I want cuz' a pirate is free! I are a pirate!" Addie sang to herself, her Zaku marching around in circles as she became more and more bored. She was so interested in this plan, because she got to pop out of her cake and be so important. However, nobody was attacking her, and she was now out of things to do. She only noticed the marines out of the corner of her eye, two dozen or more CMC commandoes in blue kevlar rushing out of the hangar bays main access corridoor and taking cover amongst the flotsam and jetsam of the bay. Teams lifted grenade launchers over their shoulders, firing rounds into Addies Zaku as she turned and returned fire with her machinegun. Several grenades struck her cyclops in the chest, knocking it backwards and making it slam into the side of Ol' Jove's Bones. A second round of grenades was fired, this time the marines sailing the rounds over Addies head and into the Bowie. The grenades exploded, canisters of brightly colored smoke billowing through the far end of the hangar bay. Addie managed to regain her Zakus footing, returning fire with her machinegun. One group of commandos was completely decimated by the shells, the others moving carefully back to the access corridoor while trying in vain to strike Addies main camera with their machineguns. Some men found more permanent cover amongst the crates and machinery of the bay, poking their heads out now and again to fire grenades and machinegun shells at the Zaku. The damage was minimal, but Addie was pinned down for the moment. Outside the hangar door, the Callysto was now roaring into view, slowing down as it came around for a pass. James, Josip and Robin blasted forwards, the bases ten Balls moving to intercept. The three Zakus shot off in wide angles, Ball pilots firing their weaponry as they attempted to catch the wild and erratically moving machines. A pair of 180mm cannon rounds hit Josips Zaku in the chest, Tito letting out a cry as his cockpit panels began to catch fire. Moments later the Zaku exploded, the Ball pilots moving quickly on the other two Zakus. Sayer and Radcliffe blasted away at them in response, machineguns slicing up four of the Balls immediately. A fifth was destroyed by the Callysto's guns, the ship slowly coming in for its pass on the station. One Ball pilot managed to maneuver himself behind Sayer, shooting out his Zakus left leg with its cannon. Sayers Zaku twisted around, destroying the Ball with machinegun fire. A pair of Ball K's got between Radcliffe and Lighthouse, James destroying one and then being forced away by combined fire from the other and the stations AA turrets. "'bout time to light up the other packages, cap'n." Jenny Wilks said over her shoulder, Beecham sloppily seated in his chair and watching the battle. He had already lost Tito, and was half hoping Sayer and Radcliffe would die as well. "Yeah I guess yer' right. Bring 'er in." He said, pulling a detonator out of his pocket and flipping the switch. Three of the AA guns closest to the stations hangar door suddenly exploded, the Callysto coming around opposite the hangar. The remaining Balls and AA guns opened up on the ship, ignoring Radcliffe and Sayer and giving them free reign to assault the hangar. The bases remaining antiaircraft guns tore into the side of the Callysto, targeting the engines specifically and doing a nasty amount of damage. Inside the now shaking hangar, Addie was still being pinned down by the marines when a large metal slab plopped silently onto the floor close to Bowie. Six by six, close to eighty armed men dropped down in front of the ship, moving through the commando created smokescreen and meeting up at the door to the CMC ship. "Alright, lets go rescue our boys." Harold said, punching the manual release on the door. The doorway sliced open, Fritter and her team opening fire a moment later and killing a number of the mob. "Don't let them get in!" Macintosh yelled, firing controlled bursts of her M5 out of the doorway. She slowly took steps backwards, watching carefully as the mob split into two groups on either side of the doorway. A marine chucked a grenade inside, the sphere bouncing around the small hallway. "GRENADE!" Fritter yelled, ducking as the bomb exploded. Three of her teammates were killed, the rest now under fire as hordes of CMC patriots stormed the ship. "Fall back!" Macintosh said, now moving quickly and dropping suppression fire. A pair of bullets hit her in the shoulder, but she remained strong, the battle hardened pirate ignoring the wound as she covered her teams escape. Only half of her pirates managed to get away, Fritter kicking a grenade of her own onto the ground before ducking around a hallway and running full tilt to the bridge despite her injury. Riley heard the cries and screams getting steadily louder with the corridoors, and scowled. He had been outmatched. He moved to one of his men, grabbing an AK47 out of the mans hand and gunning down the entire remains of the Bowies crew. He may not have the ship, but he would make good on his word. Moving back to the communications panel, he switched the radio frequency to the one Addie was using and barked out his orders. "Put a hole in this bridge miss Joiner, we need a way out." "AYE AYE MR. TOAST!" Addie yelled, swivveling her Zaku around and ignoring the Marines that still had her under fire. She shot a pair of 120mm shells into the Bowies bridge glass, the heavy glass shattering and Riley and his men ducking for cover. "Looks like they stopped the station. Gravity be low." Riley said to himself, stroking glass out of his beard and taking stock of the speed at which it fell. Moments later an injured Fritter and four remaining pirates ran into the bridge, firing the remains of their ammunition into the steadily advancing mob. At the head of the mob Bernette returned fire, blood on his leg and revenge on his face. "Just a bad day. Well, everybody jump!" Samuel said mockingly, leaping onto the Bowies computer panels and jumping out of the ship. He sailed through the air as he did, the reduced gravity giving the leap an extraordinary distance. The rest of the pirates followed suit, bringing their weapons to bear on the marine teams that were still pinning Addie down. Bullets flew through the low gravity hangar bay, several striking Samuel in the right leg. He landed on the ground close to the Bones, he and his men rushing back onto the ship. "Alright Addie, we're inside!" Fritter yelled, being the last pirate to board the ship. Addie howled out another Aye aye, throwing her now spent machinegun at Terences commandos and rushing to the mineral crates. She slammed her Zakus fists into two long crates, pulling out a pair of sturm fausts and blasting them at the hangar door. At the same time AA guns and a two-barreled MPC turret popped out of the Bones top deck, slicing into the heavy hangar door and wounding it. Radcliffe, Sayer and the Callysto joined in from the outside, the combined might of the Blackrock Pirates turning Lighthouse Stations hangar door into swiss cheese. Atmosphere started billowing out of the holes, the commando team rushing back through the access hatch and closing the airlock before they were sucked out. Mutie and Garcia fired up the Bones' engines, the pirate ship turning around inside the large hangar bay and ramming through the now beaten doorway. Armor panels buckled and groaned as it tore through the bays side, but the ship was more or less intact. At Rileys order Bones and Callysto took off, James Radcliffe and Robin Sayer stopping the remaining Balls from any sort of pursuit as they blasted off towards the void. For the next several hours, nobody knew where Riley was. Nobody but doctor Hal Bronstein, whom Samuel had insisted take a look at his leg inside his personal office and head. His books loomed over him on all sides, laughing at his failure to complete the heist, a heist that he only had one chance to succeed at. Riley groaned in pain, both psychological and physical as the doctor finished his work. "Well Sam, I hate to tell you this but.." Hal spit on the floor, looking up at the aged man and giving him a sigh. "Well. Least it ain't no heart attack, but you'll be walking with a limp on that leg prolly th'rest of yer life." Samuel Riley - 10 CP gained, Injured 4 Fritter Macintosh - 10 CP gained, Injured 3 Addie Joiner - 10 VP gained, Repairing 2 Robin Sayer - 10 VP gained, Repairing 4 James Radcliffe - 10 VP gained, Repairing 3 |