Traveller T20: Tales of the Bray Keaven [Updated 12-20-05]

[Shadowdancer]

On the bridge of the Bray Keaven, Kevon — his Naval habits taking over — announces his intention to fire, and fires the port pulse laser into the forward port side of the Oser.

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In the Oser’s airlock, the laser’s impact and backlash buckle the forward bulkhead and send several spall whizzing around the airlock. One catches Vasilii hard in the midsection. The vacc suit slows, but does not stop the spall from entering the hapless merchant. On the bright side, as far as Vasilii can tell through his pain, the airlock’s integrity appears to be still holding.

Still clinging to his handhold, Vasilii loudly proclaims "Bag!" (a Vilani expression for excrement) and looks down at his midsection to check out his injury.

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Just before the shot, Aidan goes to Bray Keaven’s airlock, opens it, and steps inside. He closes the inner iris valve and then prepares to open the outer iris valve when Kevon makes his announcement. Hearing the warning, Aidan manages to brace himself before the shot hits. Shaken, but unhurt, he shudders to think what would have happened if he were in the short boarding tube between the ships.

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Onboard the Oser, Koolishu and Mark see Ian shifting his weight and grab a handhold. Mark is about to shout a warning when the Oser shudders from the point–blank blast. Ian then fires a burst at Koolishu. The four–round burst strikes Koolishu in the head and sprays bloody gray matter behind him. Koolishu’s body falls lifeless.

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When he hears the warning, Swann activates the magnetic boots in his vacc suit and is about to fire at Eric when Eric manages to fire first. However, Eric sees Ian moving about the same time, and confusedly fires his snub pistol about halfway in between Swann and Ian. Luckily, the shot just strikes the far wall.

Swann fires on Eric. His first shot catches Eric in the right shoulder, and Eric starts to slump as the round takes effect.

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Though distracted slightly, Mark manages to get off a shot at Ian. The shot strikes the ex–Marine in his right leg.

Shifting targets, Ian fires a second burst at Mark. This burst hits Mark’s chest but the flak jacket keeps him alive (barely). Mark staggers and is pretty wobbly, but remains standing.

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Swann fires a second shot at Eric. The shot strikes Eric in the side this time. Eric finishes slumping onto the floor, knocked out by the tranq rounds.

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Still sputtering indignation, Saro misses the warning about the laser shot. After the first exchange of fire, Saro shrinks back and stares in shock at the sudden descent into violence.

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Back onboard the Bray Keaven, Vargas just sort of stares at Kevon, amazed at his apparent disregard for the safety of the Bray Keaven crew onboard the Oser.

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The Bray Keaven shudders as it takes a return laser blast from the Oser’s triple combo turret. The shot strikes the underside of Kevon’s cabin.

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Meanwhile, Martha is continuing to pipe communications towards the rescue vessel coming from Sentry. Under her breath, she mutters, "Will we ever be able to go back to Sentry after this?"

The engineer lets the signal continue on its own as she runs a quick diagnostic to assess damage to the ship and begin to establish damage control.

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Aidan cranks up his magnetic boots and, shaking off the scare he just got, opens the outer airlock to see what’s left of the boarding tube. Meanwhile, he also keys his comm. "Broadsides? When our boarding parties are over there? You fellows on the bridge quite alright?"

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Swann crouches down, to hopefully present a smaller target, and fires twice at Mark, since he’s still standing.

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"Frell! I’m hit!" Ian swears as he drops to one knee, grabbing his wounded leg with his right hand (the one not holding the pistol.) He keeps his weapon pointed toward Mark. "DROP YOUR WEAPON!" Ian shouts.

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Saro stands stunned for a minute, his tirade halted in mid-syllable. Seeing that some more gunplay might be coming, he dives for the closest cover.

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"Next time I’ll try to be more specific when I suggest you shoot someone!" Vargas says. "I think their engineering would have been a better choice!"

"Don’t you think if I could have targeted their engineering section, I would have?" Kevon replies calmly as he sets the sights on the weapons turret. "I would have had to shoot through the docking tube to get there."

Tapping the comm switch on, the commander orders, "Someone give me a sitrep over there, and take out their gunner while you’re at it."

Vargas looks sheepish for a moment. He toggles a few inconsequential controls in front of him, trying to look busy. "Uh, Kevon . . . never mind. Good shot."

 

[Shadowdancer]

In the Oser's lounge, Ian yells at Mark to drop his weapon while Swann fires at Mark with his snub pistol. The round hits but in spite of his wounds, or perhaps because of them, Mark appears to be unaffected because he fires his hand cannon again at Ian. The slug hits the crouching Marine in the right arm. Fortunately, the round strikes at an angle and is deflected by the vacc suit, only resulting in a slight bruise.

Infuriated, Ian fires a burst at Mark in reply. Because of the pain, Ian misses.

Swann fires a second round at Mark. Again, the tranq round doesn’t seem to have any effect.

Ian fires a second burst at Mark. This burst also misses.

Unarmed, Saro wisely dives for cover.

"Who is this guy? Rasputin?" Swann thinks to himself as he fires again at Mark.

"Son of a . . . !" Ian fires off a few choice words then again aims his pistol at the stubborn non-pirate.

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In the Oser’s airlock, Vasilii spies cameras next to the controls for the inner iris valve, outer iris valve, and the iris valve to what should be the air raft berth. Reasoning that his previous attempts to open the inner valve may have shorted out the inner iris valve camera, he decides to shoot the outer iris valve camera first. The shot strikes home and the camera lens appears to be destroyed.

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In the Bray Keaven’s port airlock, Aidan shakes off his scare, activates his magnetic boots, and tries to open the outer iris valve. The iris valve refuses to open because there appears to be a vacuum on the other side. Aidan sets the controls to evacuate the air from the airlock so that he can open the outer iris valve.

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In port engineering, Martha continues her transmission feed to the rescue vessel approaching from Sentry. She decides against including anything down the feed about the cubes, and she does get a faint and garbled return signal that is promptly lost: "Bray **** This **** SNS Fallow’s Knife. We receive **** ****. Understand pirate ******. Hang on, we’re *** the ****. ETA ****"

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The Oser fires again, this time, at the underside of the bridge area. The Bray Keaven shudders as the hit strikes home. Martha’s communications suddenly go dead, and her damage control display lights up in the bridge area. She immediately begins working to diagnose and correct the problems, attempting to apply some damage control to the Bray Keaven’s systems as the ship continues to lurch through combat.

Kevon gets the Bray Keaven’s turret swung around towards the port side of Oser’s engineering section and fires. The shot hits and the Oser shudders again.

Over his suit comm, Vasilii again calls for Kevon to stop firing on the Oser.

"I’ll hold for the moment, Mr. Kugiikishshi, but someone better take out their damned gunner, or else I’m going to protect the ship with every means at my disposal," Kevon warns as he takes careful aim at the Oser’s engineering section.

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Swann fires a third tranq round at Mark. Again, the round hits. This time, the tranq round takes effect, and Mark’s eyes roll up into the back of his head. Fortunately for Mark, Ian is moving a little slower than he usually does, and Ian manages to avoid shooting Mark again as he slumps to the floor, bleeding profusely.

Ian, Swann, and Saro stare at the carnage and pant for a while. Saro gets up and prepares to cross the lounge to retrieve the shotgun.

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Vasilii fires at the vidcam on the controls leading to air raft bay. The shot destroys the vidcam.

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In the Bray Keaven’s airlock, the air has finally been evacuated, and Aidan opens the outer iris valve. The boarding tube’s lower half has pretty much been destroyed. While most of the tube remains, quite a bit of it has been melted or warped.

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Martha starts looking at the damage control display. Making repairs will take some time.

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On the bridge, Kevon realizes he heard Vasilii’s complaint over the suit comms, but not the bridge comm. Time stretches, and the Oser doesn’t fire, so Kevon holds his fire, too.

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Swann and Ian keep their weapons trained on Eric and the bleeding Mark while Saro retrieves Koolishu’s shotgun. After about 25 seconds, the overhead speaker announces in a strained and panicked voice, "Please tell your ship that we surrender! They aren’t answering! We surrender!"

 

[Shadowdancer]

Vasilii sounds lost in thought as he speaks over the suit comm, holding his hand on the wound in his side to keep pressure on it, looking around the airlock for something else to try. "Thank you, Mister Holland, greatly appreciated. Nice shooting."

He looks at the bulkhead inside the airlock that was damaged from Kevon’s first shot, considers the possibility of trying to break through it.

"Very . . . nice . . . shooting. . . . OK, consider yourself encouraged to keep that laser trained on ’em just in case. We’ll get a sitrep for you in a minute. Vasilii out."

He starts pushing and pulling on the spots that look the worse for wear along the bulkhead, keeping an eye open for any small holes that look like there might be light shining through from the other side.

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The voice on the speaker brings Swann's focus back to the situation. He retrieves Eric’s and Mark’s weapons, patting them down for hidden weapons. At the same time, he says to Saro, "Doc, looks like you will need that medical kit of yours after all. Why don’t you take a look at Ian first, then check on our two sleeping friends?"

Ian grimaces with pain. "Thanks, it only hurts when I miss." He chuckles a bit. Looking to Saro, "Well, Doc, wat’cha think? Can ya save the leg? If not, then I’ll have to ask you for a second opinion, heh, heh." Ian tries to crack a joke through the pain (and not a very good one, either.)

Swann opens his comm unit. "Keaven, this is Swann. Hold your fire for now. The Oser is surrendering. We’re in pretty good shape. Ian was shot, but it doesn’t appear to be too bad. Doc is going to patch him up. And Vasilii, I believe, is trapped in the air lock. We’re going to try to get him out now. Swann out."

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"Understood, Mr. Hellenic," Kevon answers over the suit comms. "Tell them that I will blow their engines to smithereens if I so much as see that turret of theirs move a millimeter."

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Vasilii cuts in. "How about telling them to rotate their turret and point their weapons away from our ship? A gesture of good faith and all that." He keys his comm off and continues working on the bulkhead.

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Swann leaves the two handguns with Saro and Ian, and takes the shotgun. He holsters his snub pistol and walks over to the iris valve leading to the Oser’s bridge. Ian repositions himself so he can watch Swann walk toward the bridge, keeping his gauss pistol ready if needed.

Over the ship’s comm unit, Swann attempts to talk to the man on the bridge. "Whoever you are, open the inner door of your air lock and let our comrade out. Then open the iris valve to the bridge and come out slowly. Keep both of your hands on top of your head. If I see a weapon, or you make any sudden moves, I will shoot you."

Swann then stands back from the iris valve a little way — where he can see the airlock and see into the bridge once the valve is opened — and aims the shotgun at the valve.

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While waiting Swann comms Vasilii. "Vasilii, how are you doing in there? Are you injured?"

Vasilii pauses for a moment, keys his comm. "Y’know, I’m starting to see some real possibilities for this air lock. Some chintz curtains, some new light fixtures, maybe a fresh coat of paint in a pastel . . . perhaps a painting in modern Vargr expressionism as the focal point of the entire ensemble. A friendly and inviting first impression that could boisterously say ‘welcome’ to parties coming on board, just before the residents open fire. Yeah, definitely feeling the Feng Shui in here."

"Hang on, we’re trying to get you out as fast as we can."

"Not a problem. Deal with what you’ve got in there first. Vasilii out." He continues pushing and pulling on the damaged bulkhead.

"Vasilii must have taken a blow to the head," Swann thinks. "Or he’s going crazy from being trapped in there alone."

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Martha continues to focus her attentions to damage control, giving only passing thought to the strange comments she hears over the comms.

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Saro moves quickly and professionally as he examines Ian’s wounds.

"Well, nothing life threatening fortunately, but you ain’t going to be dancing at my next performance of Highland jigs, that’s for sure."

As he dips into his kit he continues, "I’m going to stop the bleeding and bandage you up here. but I’ll have to give you better treatment back aboard the Keaven. Try not to flex your leg too much, you’ll aggravate the wound and start bleeding again."

"Thanks, Doc. Your next brew is on me, and I’ll even applaud at your next performance!" Ian says gratefully with a wry grin.

"Well, let me take a look at fools," Saro spits out. He gives Koolishu’s body a quick glance but realizing the man is far past his abilities to help, he kneels down next to the two unconscious "pirates" and checks on their condition, trying to determine how long they might be out.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I was hoping that, over time, I would eventually catch up to the "current" action in our PBeM game. But after almost a year of doing this story hour, we're still a year behind the game action.

 

[Pyske]

Well, I guess I would be willing to read a few more updates each week. But only to help you out, of course!

 

[Shadowdancer]

Well, I guess I would be willing to read a few more updates each week. But only to help you out, of course!

Thanks, but I wouldn't want to put you to any more trouble.

Seriously, I only have time to do updates on the weekend because the only computer I have access to is at work. But if Santa brings me a home computer for Christmas, I might be able to increase my output.

 

[vutpakdi]

I was hoping that, over time, I would eventually catch up to the "current" action in our PBeM game. But after almost a year of doing this story hour, we're still a year behind the game action.

Well, I suppose that I could help out by slowing the rate of the current action in the PBeM.

Hmmm....

Nahhhh.

Ron

 

[Shadowdancer]

Chapter XII

​

Date: 166-993​

Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven and the Oser, Sentry system​

Swann heads over to the Oser’s bridge area while talking to whoever is on the bridge. After a moment, the iris valve leading to the bridge opens to reveal the sandy–haired, vacc–suited man who originally waved them onboard. He has his hands on his head. A snub pistol lies just inside the airlock where the man presumably threw it. A little wild eyed and with a slight tremor, the man speaks:

"I can’t open the iris valve leading to the port airlock. I don’t know if your ship’s first shot shorted it out or what happened. I’ve unlocked all iris valves though. Please, just let us go."

Saro heads over to look at Ian. Unfortunately, since Ian is in his vacc suit, the only way that he can really examine or treat Ian is to either cut away the vacc suit or have Ian remove the suit. He stops the bleeding as best he can, then heads to Eric and Mark who are still tranqed out. Eric is in fine shape (though unconscious). Mark is still bleeding significantly, and Saro stabilizes him. It’s hard to tell how long the two non-pirates will be out. Probably a few more minutes at least.

Meanwhile, Ian gathers the magnum pistol and snub pistol in the lounge and puts them on his belt. Keeping an eye on Swann and the man from the bridge as much as he can, Ian stands up with his gauss pistol ready in case Swann needs backup.

Swann pats down the sandy–haired, vacc–suited man. He doesn’t find another weapon. The man seems to be pretty compliant at the moment, and cooperates with Swann’s instructions.

Speaking into his suit comm, Ian says. "Ian here. Looks like the man on the bridge is surrendering to Swann."

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"Understood, Mr. McConnell," Kevon replies. "Standing by with their engineering section targeted."

On the Bray Keaven's bridge, Vargas and Kevon keep a watchful eye on the Oser’s turret. The turret is still bearing on the Keaven, but Vargas notes that the turret seems to be powered down.

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In port engineering, Martha continues to diagnose the comm system damage. The damage looks pretty extensive though she may be able to jury-rig a repair to enable some very short-range communications. She will need to do an EVA to get to the damaged area though.

Martha comms the others. "Comms are down on the ship. I can jury rig something, but that entails me going outside for a little EVA work. Sounds like it’s clear on suit comms, but if it isn’t, somebody better tell me."

Martha starts to gather the necessary tools and materials to make the repairs.

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After he finishes his search for weapons, Swann tells the man from the bridge, "Lay down on the floor and keep your arms spread away from your body. Ian, keep your gun pointed at his head, and shoot him if he moves."

Swann approaches the iris valve to the bridge with shotgun raised. He enters the bridge, checking carefully first to see if anyone else is on the bridge waiting to jump him. Seeing no one on the bridge, he opens his suit comm unit and says, "This is Swann. The Oser’s bridge is clear. I’m going to power down their turret."

Swann picks up the discarded snub pistol and sticks it in his belt. He then goes to the gunnery controls, turns the turret away from the Keaven and powers it down. Checking the airlock controls, Swann finds that the inner iris valve for the port airlock does appear to be malfunctioning -- it doesn’t show up as operational at all.

He radios Vasilii: "Vasilii, this is Swann. I’m going to attempt to bypass the airlock’s inner door controls. Stand by."

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"Copy that, Swann," Vasilli replies. "You might have a time of it, though; controls on this side look a little damaged. If you can’t do anything with that iris, there’s the other iris in here that I believe opens to an air raft bay, maybe you can open that one from the bridge?"

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Aidan comms the bridge and Martha on suit comms and gets no response. So, he heads over to the outside iris valve of the Oser and raps on the iris valve. Inside, Vasilii hears someone knocking on the iris valve.

Vasilii stops working on the bulkhead the second he hears someone tapping on the airlock iris. "Martha or Vargas! Hot damn! I'm out of here!," he says to himself, now hopeful at his change of prospects. He keys his mike, about to thank Vargas or Martha for responding so quickly, when Aidan’s voice comes over the suit comm.

"Aidan Silver to Vasilii. Come in Vasilii. The weather’s fine out here and if you evacuate the airlock you can come back this way."

For a brief moment, Vailii’s face is frozen in mid-thought. "What the frell else can go wrong today?" he thinks to himself. He draws a long breath and sighs to calm himself down as he steps over to the controls to the outer iris valve, then speaks in a pleasant but somewhat loud conversational tone (that he hopes the others will pick up on): "Mr. Silver, may I ask what you're doing on the outside of the Oser’s airlock, rather than safely remaining in the designated passenger area on the Bray Keaven?"

Aidan replies, "What ho, just looking for a spot of adventure. Besides, thought you chaps might need a bit of help with this piracy thing the Oser is trying to run. Anyway, shall I come aboard?"

"He CAN’T be serious," Vasilii thinks in disbelief of the bravado. "Alright, if he wants to play nice, I’ll play nice," he concludes.

In his best "legalese," and in the most pleasant tone he can muster, Vasilii says, "Mister Silver, while I would like to extend the heartfelt appreciation of the entire crew of the Bray Keaven for your noble and selfless effort, there is a certain *legal* context that should be considered here. Specifically, when you purchased passage aboard our ship, *you,* the party of the first part, entered into a legally binding contract with the party of the second part, the Bray Keaven’s crew, on behalf of the party of the third part, your employer, to deliver you and your cargo to the appointed destination as detailed in your passage purchase, in exactly the same, or better, condition as when you and your cargo were first placed aboard our ship, at which time, we, the Bray Keaven’s crew, assumed full liability for the welfare of you and your cargo until delivery to, and subsequent offloading at, the appointed destination starport.

"Now, being fully and wholly liable for your welfare under the terms of your passage agreement, *we* would be legally and ethically remiss in our responsibility for you if we were to knowingly allow you to come aboard a vessel known to be occupied by armed aggressors, in this case pirates. And, if any subsequent injuries were to befall you while aboard such a vessel, we would be leaving ourselves, meaning the crew of the Bray Keaven, vulnerable to a financially devastating lawsuit, or lawsuits, filed either by you, if you survived, or at the least by your employer, on the basis of breaching the agreement of your safe passage, to say nothing of compensation for all financial damages relating to your untimely demise, if deceased, or, in the event you are only injured, your absence from work due to any period of recuperation and possible rehabilitation, as necessary. And all of this, of course, is in addition to the obligatory punitive damages."

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Listening from the bridge, Vargas quips, "Gee, I sure hope Vasilii took extra air with him."

"Son of a . . . , " Kevon breathes as he focuses in on the comms between Vasilii and the ship’s passenger — only because his eyes starts to automatically glaze over at the sound of legalese. "That Silver character’s at the damned airlock. Did we lose security protocols in the fight?"

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"So you see, Mister Silver," Vasilii continues, "the fact that you purchased passage on our ship legally *obligates* us to actively *prevent* you from coming aboard the Oser at this time, and regrettably, we must continue to do so until such time as the Oser has been deemed ‘secure’ in it’s entirety."

Vasilii pauses for a brief second. "Is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?"

Aidan, nonplussed by the stream of legalese, replies, "My good sir, I’m quite impressed. I had not realized that anyone of else of the legal persuasion was on shipboard. And I look forward to discussing this with you in the future. In the meanwhile, please be informed that, according to Imperial statute IM3419.25, paragraph 34, that the crews of ships facing piratical activity are specifically exempted from liability, both individually and generally.

Aidan pauses for a moment to let that sink in, then proceeds. "Therefore sir, it seemed in my best interest to attempt to protect the crew myself in order that we might return to the legal relationship you mentioned earlier and carry me on to my destination safely. Besides, I do rather hate sitting around doing nothing."

Then, slightly embarrassed and in a less stern voice, says, "Errr, have I mentioned that your computers need a security upgrade? I rather think I can do some work in that area that would be beneficial to your carrying me on to my destination safely."

The briskness returns to his voice. "Meanwhile, standing by to render assistance!"

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Checking his sidearm, Kevon unbuckles himself and heads off the bridge with an, "I’ll be right back, as soon as I put Silver back in his place." The lieutenant commander heads down to the airlock.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Exiting the bridge and moving to the port airlock controls, Swann tries an old double–interrupted–cycle trick. The trick works, and the iris valve reveals Vasilii conversing with Aidan in legalese. Swann briefly considers shutting the iris valve again.

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Outside the Oser’s airlock in the "barely there" boarding tube, Aidan stands on the boarding tube’s severely damaged walkway (magnetic boots clamped), waiting for Vasilii to evacuate the airlock and trading banter with Vasilii and the rest of the crew.

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Kevon, upon realizing that Aidan is actually off the lounge deck, leaves the bridge carrying his laser pistol. He meets Martha (in her vacc suit) headed to the starboard airlock towing a grav pallet with thruster pack, tools, and parts. The engineer looks distracted as if already trying to visualize the damage and a jury–rigged repair.

Kevon proceeds to the port airlock. The inner iris valve is closed. Using the vidplate, Kevon sees that the outer iris valve is open and that Aidan is waiting outside the Oser’s airlock. Aidan’s cutlass is in its sheath at his belt.

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Swann looks in the airlock and shakes his head slightly, then says, "There's nothing sadder than two men debating who has the larger . . . tort knowledge."

Vasilii, still holding his hand to his injured side as he’s talking with Aidan, sees the iris open, and like a rat deserting a sinking ship, he quickly scrambles out of the airlock, leans against the bulkhead opposite Swann, and switches off his suit mike. "Hey, I was trying to be polite about it. I figured the legal angle would be the hardest to argue with, who knew that out of the *trillions* of people who travel through space every day in the Imperium, *we* would end up with the *one* vigilante lawyer."

"Vasilii, you might want to have Doc take a look at any injuries you sustained," Swann says.

Vasilii takes his hand away from his injury for a moment to look at it. "Hurts like a bugger, but I’m more worried about the suit at the moment. I think I’m gonna have to find another one over here before I can go back to the Keaven."

Into his suit comm, Swann says, "Keaven, this is Swann. As far as we can tell, the Oser is secure. We have three prisoners. Ian and Vasilii are injured, but nothing that appears to be life-threatening. Two of the prisoners are also injured, one fairly seriously. Doc is working on them now. I guess we’ll sit tight until the authorities arrive.

"Mister Silver," he continues. "I understand you are outside the Oser’s airlock. If you can hear me, let me first thank you for your concern for our well-being and willingness to help during our recent crisis. But since the situation is now in hand, I suggest you return to the Bray Keaven. If you still feel the need to do something, and since you are already suited up, you might see about helping our engineer, Martha, repair any damage the ship received during our recent tete-a-tete. Swann out."

Vasilii says, "I wouldn't leave him *alone* with her, not until we know a little more about him. I’m still not certain he isn’t working for the pirates."

"Damn Swann, you tryin’ to get Mr. Silver Killed? Lately, Martha’s been jumpier than a golthedape on a hot slther roof!" Ian says with a half grin. He limps closer to the sandy–haired man lying on the deck but stays well out of his reach.

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Kevon keys his comms following Swann’s message and adds, "Mr. Silver, step back into the airlock now, and prepare to surrender your weapon. You have 30 seconds, sir."

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Aidan says, "Hand over my weapon? But sir, there are dangerous pirates on the other side of that door. Besides, I have some details on those cubes they seemed to be interested in, and I’d like to make sure my interests are properly taken care of. You’ll note that I’m not threatening anyone, but am rather fond of my cutlass. Now sir, shall we chat about this after the current crisis is resolved?"

-----​

Swann turns from the airlock and heads back toward the lounge, thinking to himself. "That Aidan’s a piece of work. Sneaky AND a lawyer. Two reasons I won’t regret having to space him during jump if necessary.

"And waiting for the authorities to arrive after an altercation — that’s a new one. This is going to take some getting used to."

Vasilii follows Swann back toward the lounge area where Saro is working on the two injured pirates. Recognizing one of the men, Vasilii taps Swann and Saro on the shoulder, then nod in Mark’s direction as he says sarcastically, "Well, well. Gentlemen, say hello to Hil Seirl, or whatever his real name is. You remember him, don’t you? He was the *other* one who also wanted us to take his ‘urgent’ cargo to Fonnein."

As Swann starts back toward the bridge, Vasilii puts a hand on his arm to stop him for a moment, looking at the snub pistol in Swann's belt. "Saro doesn’t have a gun. Can you leave that one with him?"

"Sure, I don’t need two." Swann hands the gun to Vasilii to give to Saro.

Vasilii holsters his own gun for a moment and takes the gun from Swann. He checks the magazine to see how much ammo is in it, puts the magazine back in, then makes sure the safety is on and hands it to Saro. "Don’t leave home without it," Vasilii quips.

Swann shakes his head sadly at Vasilii and then goes to secure Eric and Mark before they wake up. He finds that they had a small pile of plastic ties hidden to the side, just ready to be used for securing people (how convenient). Swann uses them to secure the two men.

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Vasilii starts searching the pirates and the lounge for concealed guns, blades, anything useful or incriminating. He overhears the exchange between Kevon and Aidan and, not wishing to leave the lieutenant commander by himself to face the well-honed, venom-dripping intellectual fangs of a lifeform as cunning, ruthless, and insatiably carnivorous as a lawyer, while at the same time not overlooking the possible benefits of having such an ally and therefore wishing to keep the dealings as cordial as possible, regrettingly stops his search and keys his mike to rejoin the verbal fray: "Mister Silver, what I believe Mister Holland is trying to say is that the fact that the pirates are on the other side of the door is entirely the point: They can’t get at you. Moreover, you can be *even further* on the other side of that door by returning to the Keaven’s passenger area on the upper deck, which at this time would be the most prudent thing for you to do.

"Additionally, as Mister Swann has already pointed out, the situation over here is rather in-hand and we do not require any further assistance, though we are immensely appreciative of the calibre of your diligence and bravery. Passengers of your merit and capabilities are indeed rare.

"And, if I may, Mister Silver, though in less tactful terms, there are more of us in the Keaven’s response team than there are of you, and we are quite determined to keep you from coming aboard the Oser, as you are a passenger aboard our ship and we are professionally obligated to keep you in the safest possible setting, regardless of legal liabilities or lack thereof.

"The fact that you also willfully breached ship’s security, to then willfully leave the passenger area and move around in non-passenger sections of our ship with a weapon, together with your continued insistence to come aboard now, is also causing no small amount of added tension among the crew, regardless of your expertise in tort knowledge.

"Thus, with that said, sir, we are *insisting* that you return to the Keaven’s passenger area, and that you check your weapon at the airlock."

-----​

Kevon is content to let Mr. Kugiikishshi spar with Mr. Silver in their native legalese.

-----​

Aidan replies, "Well, I can perhaps see you point of view sir. Although I trust I’ll get rather more of a hearing on this and would be obliged if I were updated on the situation on a regular basis.

"Now sir, as for the ship security, well, I merely felt it incumbent on me, knowing the sensitivity of my current mission, to discover whether this ship was indeed sufficiently secure to handle the current mission in the face of the evident interest of other parties in a certain element of your cargo. Now that I’ve explored these systems I believe I can assure you that the issues are fixable and I would be happy to work on them.

"At this point, since you seem to have the affair settled with the pirates, I’ll happily return to the ship, until we can discuss this further."

Aidan returns and cycles the airlock. To Kevon, who stands waiting there, he says, "Well sir, I see that I am indeed deemed dangerous if you need a laser pistol. Glad to have developed a reputation." He grins. "Now, I trust you’ll return this cutlass safely to the weapons locker? Shall I get started on making the necessary repairs to the ship computer security system until the crew is ready for a conference?"

"Save your banter for the courtroom, counselor," the lieutenant commander replies dryly. "Your cutlass, please."

After handing his cutlass (sheathed of course) to Kevon, Aidan strides purposely back to the lounge area. Head held high, of course. Kevon escorts him.

"Feel free to contact Ms. Smythe about aiding her with the ship’s repairs; I’ll let her make the decision to accept your aid," Kevon adds. "Please remain here until you are authorized by either me, or another member of the crew, to leave."

-----​

Once out of the lounge, Kevon heads for the ship’s locker to stow the cutlass, then back to the bridge.

"We do seem to meet the most interesting people on these little jaunts. Might as well get used to it, Kevon. Now, where are our naval friends?" says Vargas as he scans the console.

Kevon takes his seat and pulls up the comm system diagnostics, and taps his suit comms. "Ms. Smythe, Bridge. Do you need assistance on the comm repairs?"

-----​

"Actually, not at the moment," Martha replies, grunting as she maneuvers the hydrospanner into position. "I hope to have ship communications up shortly."

After a pause, she continues, "What’s this I hear about Mr. Silver breaking into our security protocols? Can you check that out? That's attempted piracy in some areas, if I recall my interstellar law training. I don’t want him near anything related to engineering or how this ship operates until we find out whose side he’s on, and if he’s cracked our protocols."

She definitely sounds more agitated as she continues. "But that’s my opinion, sir. Where is the bast. . . passenger now?" Another grunt accentuates the effort used to release a component fried in place.

-----​

Swann kneels down next to the sandy-haired man from the bridge — keeping out of Ian’s line of fire — and says, "Well now, I have three questions for you. The first one is easy: What is your name? The second one is also easy: Do you have any more friends on board we haven’t encountered? The third one has multiple parts, so listen closely: Who are you working for, and what do they want from us?"

The man starts to say something, but Swann interrupts.

"Now, before you answer, I think it’s only fair to warn you that my friend over there, the one pointing the gun at your head — he’ll know if you are lying. He has an innate talent for detecting lies. And he doesn’t like people who lie to us. He’s already mad about getting shot in the leg. He’s not concerned about the hole in his leg — that will heal — but he’s really upset about his vacc suit, which now also has a hole in it. It was a very expensive vacc suit, and now it’s ruined. So he’s not in the mood to listen to any lies."

Turning his head just enough so the prisoner can clearly see his missing ear, Ian cracks a big grin, crinkling the scarred skin on the side of his head. He repositions the gauss pistol slightly and loudly (and unnessessarily) clicks the safety "on" then "off," just for effect.

"So let me ask you again," Swann says as he chambers a round into the shotgun and pushes the barrel against the back of the man’s head, "What is your name? Do you have any more friends on board? Who do you work for, and what do they want from us?"

 

[Shadowdancer]

Well, I suppose that I could help out by slowing the rate of the current action in the PBeM.

Now don't go doing anything drastic, Ron.