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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 2198180" data-attributes="member: 515"> Chapter XXXVIDate: 174-993Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven and inside the Stork & Sons repair yards At the sound of the iris valve opening, Swann’s head turns toward the noise. When he sees the sydites come through, he realizes there is going to be trouble, and he recognizes the source of that trouble before the faux Sare de Salui appears. "Bad Crimps just keep turning up," he thinks. Into his earpiece-mic unit, Swann barks, "Trouble. Office air lock." He holds his shotgun in his off hand as he draws his mag revolver. He targets the sydite with the SMG. After firing two shots, he adjusts to get as much cover as he can find beneath the ship and behind the repair cradle. -----Out of the corner of his eye, Vasilii sees Egg flying through the door on the far monitor. He looks closer just in time to see the first sydite come through the door. "Frell it! I KNEW this was too good to be true!" he blurts out, checking the other monitors to see how the crew in the bay starts responding to the threat. He then sees the other sydite, Sare No. 2, and the Vargr come through the door. His eyes set on the second sydite’s SMG. He turns and runs to the iris valve leading out of the engine room, yelling over his shoulder to Martha as he keys the door, "I’m hauling some guns out to them!" He jumps through the doorway as the iris finishes opening, and is gone. -----Almost growling when she sees Sare No. 2’s party emerging from the airlock leading to the Stork & Sons office, Martha quickly activates the secondary gunnery controls on her display in port engineering and starts powering up the starboard turret. Calling upon the Bray Keaven’s auto-targeting software, she intends to bring the weapon to bear on the crate. Tabbing the external speakers while the idling power plant and turret power up, Martha demands, "Drop the guns now, or no one gets the crate! This ship’s weapons are trained on that blasted piece of crap, and if any of her crew is wounded, I’ll take it out right now, AND NO ONE GETS IT! AT ALL!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!?!?!" She lets some of the wear and strain of these most recent events carry in her voice. -----Saro stands with Emile beside the cube, watching as Holly, Kevon, and Aidan conduct their exchange/flirtation. Rolling his eyes, he wonders if anyone else in the bay beside himself would just like to get this over with. Suddenly from his earpiece–mic unit he hears Swann say, "Trouble. Office air lock." Almost simultaneously, and very nearly drowning out Swann’s warning, Martha’s voice booms over the Bray Keaven’s external speakers: "Drop the guns now, or no one gets the crate! This ship’s weapons are trained on that blasted piece of crap, and if any of her crew is wounded, I’ll take it out right now, AND NO ONE GETS IT! AT ALL!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!?!?!" "You don't say," Saro thinks resignedly as two shots blast inside the repair bay. He drops into a crouch behind the cube, drawing his tranq pistol. As he draws his pistol a thought runs through his head. "Vasilii. Where is he? Given that he’s seriously wounded — probably directly in the line of fire." Trying to maintain his cover as best as possible, Saro tries to locate Vasilii’s position in the bay, then remembers the Vilani remained onboard the ship. -----"Frag it all to hell — TAKE COVER!" Ian shouts as he runs toward the ship for cover, pulling out his weapon. He fires a four–round burst from his gauss pistol at Sare de Salui No. 2 while in transit. -----Vargas hits the deck as the effluent hits the fan, after which he claws for his auto pistol. Upon hearing Martha’s ‘announcement,’ he ignores the gun and starts a low crawl away from the cube and towards the ship. "Not the cube, the bad guys — they’re the one to point the lasers at," he mumbles to himself. -----"Oh, frell," Kevon breathes as he sees Sare’s ‘grand entrance.’ He grabs Holly and pulls her to cover with him, even if only to keep an eye on her. Given the sudden change in events, the lieutenant commander can’t be sure she and her mates aren’t in on it. "And here I’d thought it’d be impolite to bring my laser with me to the trade," he adds without humor. -----Aidan runs towards the ship to take cover. "Ms. Clegg!" he calls over his shoulder. "The second Sare de Salui appears to be making a claim on the cubes. May I suggest you take cover?" -----Swann warns the others using his comm and then fires off two rounds with his magnum revolver at the SMG–carrying sydite. The first round strikes him squarely in the chest. The sydite staggers considerably, but doesn’t go down. The second round catches him in the leg, but doesn’t seem to have much of an effect. Keith stares at Swann for a moment, looks at Sare No. 2’s party, and then comments, "Friends of yours?" before firing at the sydite armed with the shotgun. His shot misses. -----The Vargr identifies the source of the fire, raises his pistol, and fires a burst at Swann. One round catches Swann in the left bicep. Luckily, the flak jacket catches most of the energy from the gauss pistol round. -----Sare No. 2 also fires a burst at Swann with this gauss pistol. Luckily, this burst misses. -----Sydite No. 2 fires a burst from the SMG at Swann as well. His burst misses. -----Sydite No. 1 starts hustling towards Swann and Keith while firing his shotgun at Swann, the most popular target of the day. His shot also misses. -----Swann clenches his teeth against the pain in his arm and grunts a reply to Keith as he aims at the shotgun–weilding sydite. "More like disgruntled customers." He fires two more shots at the approaching sydite. -----Aidan runs towards the repair cradle underneath the Bray Keaven’s bridge while warning Holly to take cover. Once partially behind part of the repair cradle, he puts his handcomp in what will hopefully be a safe spot, and draws his sword. -----Ian yells a warning and runs towards the repair cradle underneath the bridge as well, firing off a burst at Sare No. 2 as he goes. At least one round hits Sare No. 2 in the side. -----Kevon grabs Holly and drags her to the same spot as Ian and Aidan. Holly is pulling out her gauss pistol as she looks around in some confusion. -----Ezra, looking rather startled, whirls around while unlimbering his shotgun. He raises it, points it towards Kevon, then — after a moment of confusion — drops to one knee to point it at Sare No. 2’s group. -----Egg is moaning in a lump on the floor. -----Aidan crouches down under the ship and heads underneath, trying for cover, to where Keith and Swann are. -----Kevon stuffs the credit chit into an inside pocket on his undress uniform, then makes a break for cover under the port turret. -----Ian tries to use any cover available as he targets Sare No. 2 for his next two shots. He squeezes off two more four–round bursts from his gauss pistol. -----In case it needs to be used later against the raiders, Martha cues the computer to record the events witnessed by the security systems, particularly the activity outside. Martha also continues her power plant startup procedures. She is trying to hurry things along. While Martha waits for the ship’s weapons to cycle up and point towards the cube, she considers for a moment clicking over to local comms and sending out an emergency call. Then, deciding that she’ll wait before taking such action, she begins to suit up in her vacc suit, "in the event of explosive decompression" (should everyone else die and her only option is to blow the doors leading out into space to get rid of these business suits with big guns) or in the more likely case that there’s a sudden need to evacuate the air within certain sections of the ship as a defense against boarders. -----Vasilii continues running towards the bow of the ship to retrieve weapons. He makes it as far as the ship’s locker. -----Outside in the repair berth, Swann makes his comment about disgruntled customers before firing at Sydite No. 1. His two shots strike the shotgun–carrying sydite in the lower right arm and upper right shoulder. Most of the energy from both seems to be absorbed by the flak jacket as the sydite keeps coming. In reply to Swann, Keith quips, "That’s not comforting" before firing on the approaching sydite. Keith misses again. -----The Vargr crouches and fires off another burst at Swann. Swann catches a round a little up from the last one. Luckily, Swann’s jacket dissipates most of the energy from the round — the hit stings but doesn’t penetrate. -----Saro pops up from behind the cube and takes a pot shot at the Vargr. The shot misses. -----Sare No. 2 yells, "Damn fools!" before firing another burst at Swann. A round from this burst catches Swann in the left shoulder, but amazingly Swann’s luck and the jacket mostly hold. The round results in a sharp pain, and what will probably be a nasty and painful bruise, but probably not significant penetration. -----Aidan runs from repair cradle support to repair cradle support until he reaches Swann and Keith. -----Ian fires on Sare No. 2 with his Marine gauss pistol. Both bursts catch the gaunt, unhappy looking Sare de Salui imposter squarely in the torso, and after the second burst, Sare No. 2 goes down. -----Kevon runs for the repair cradle support underneath the port turret area and makes it without drawing any fire. -----Holly fires on the sydite with the SMG. The burst catches the sydite very close to the spot where Swann’s shot hit him, and he goes down. -----Ezra curses in frustration as he realizes his shotgun is pretty much useless at this range. He has the shotgun trained on the Vargr, but does not fire. -----Vargas glances at Saro in time to see the Doctor pop up, fire off a shot, and then crouch again behind the cube. -----Sydite No. 1 continues his hustle towards Swann and Keith’s position, firing as he comes at Swann. Hot lead peppers the area near Swann, but nothing hits hard enough to cause damage. -----Egg continues moaning on the floor. -----"Frell!" Swann snaps as lead whizzes around and past him, some of it striking him painfully. He knows one of the sydites is fast closing on his location. He sets his revolver down near Aidan and swings his shotgun into a shooting position. He pumps a round into the firing chamber, grimacing as pain arcs through his left arm and shoulder. "Come and get some, you ant-on-steroids-looking freak." Swann holds his fire until the sydite gets within 3 meters, the closest effective range for the shotgun. -----Aidan sees the revolver sitting next to him, but ignores it. "Sorry Swann, opting for a more direct approach." Aidan jumps out from behind the repair cradle to slash at the approaching sydite, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Eulaliaaaaaaaaaaa!" -----Ian braces his pistol against some of the structure he’s using for cover and blast out two more four–round bursts at the Vargr, hoping it’ll improve his chance to nail the dog. -----Seeing the Sydite before an already wounded Swann, Kevon charges from the flank and strikes with his cutlass. -----Saro will continue to maintain cover behind the cube, taking shots as they present themselves. -----Inside the Bray Keaven, Martha pushes the power plant warm-up procedure almost to the limit. -----At the ship’s locker, Vasilii starts snatching up weapons. -----Keith fires his shotgun again at the charging sydite. Amazingly, even at close range, the short astrogator misses. -----The Vargr, taking a quick look around, apparently decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and runs into the airlock that leads to the office. While passing the first iris valve, his right paw reaches out and slaps at the controls. -----Saro pops up and manages a shot at the retreating Vargr as he turns. The shot catches the Vargr in the left arm, but doesn’t seem to slow him down. -----Ian fires twice at the Vargr. His first shot peppers the side of the repair berth, but the ex–Marine’s second shot strikes the Vargr square in the back as the Vargr is reaching out to slap at the iris valve controls. -----Holly also fires at Vargr just as he enters the airlock. Her burst apparently arrives a split second after Ian’s, and completes the process of perforating the Vargr’s back. Ian and Holly see the Vargr collapse as the iris valve closes. -----Vargas continues hugging the floor. "Got a spare weapon, Saro?" he asks, then remembers his own auto pistol. -----Back by Swann and Keith’s position, Aidan and Kevon both charge the sydite with saber and cutlass drawn. Aidan reaches the sydite first, and swings. The sydite manages to duck, and Aidan doesn’t connect. Kevon has better luck with his charge as the Navy cutlass connects with the sydite’s lower right arm. Unfortunately, the sydite’s flak jacket prevents any significant damage. Swann, focussed on bringing his shotgun to bear on the closing sydite who has been peppering him, automatically fires as he gets the shotgun lined up. The buckshot catches the sydite in the torso, but the sydite’s long coat dissipates most of the spray. Unfortunately for Aidan and Kevon, they catch part of the buckshot as well. Aidan catches a little on his left leg, but Kevon catches quite a bit all along his right side, leaving him in an astonishing amount of pain. The sydite appears to be still focussed on Swann and fires his shotgun. Perhaps because of Swann’s shot, or because of having to deal with Aidan and Kevon, the sydite manages to pepper the underside of the Bray Keaven with buckshot but completely misses Swann and Keith, even at this close range. Aidan swings again. Mightily. Kevon sidesteps behind the sydite, then attempts to hamstring the bastard. "Holy drek!" Swann swears as he realizes he’s just shot Kevon and Aidan as well as the sydite. "What are those two crazy frells doing?" Swann chambers another shotgun round, again grimacing as pain runs up and down his left arm. He holds his fire, however, not wishing to again shoot his compadres. "Aidan! Kevon!" he yells. "Get away from him! You can’t do any good with those grote-stickers." -----Vasilii says to himself as he continues to gather weapons from the ship’s locker, "When this gunfight is over, this crew really needs to sit down and have a long discussion about acceptable levels of personal safety." -----Martha continues her course of action, praying under her breath to St. Elvis that the Bray can weather what she’s putting her through. She continues pushing the power plant warm-up procedure almost to the limit. She bypasses a number of safety protocols and estimates that she’s shaved a minute off the five–minute startup time. And, so far, she has managed to do so without causing any problems. -----Ian flashes a big smile — crinkling his scarred head — and nods once at Holly as he steps out from behind cover, moving toward the iris valve the Vargr went through. "Nice shot!" he says, genuinely impressed. He runs toward the iris valve, planning to open the valve and make sure the Vargr is still down. -----Having retrieved a laser carbine and power pack, Vasilii tosses a few things out of the way and then grabs a medkit. Vasilii then turns to start the run towards the starboard airlock. -----Outside in the repair berth, Swann curses the folly of sword–wielding throwbacks and waits for a clear shot. Keith mutters "You've got to be kidding" to Swann and waits as well. -----Saro pokes his head up, sees that Aidan and Kevon are swinging away at the shotgun–armed sydite, and waits further developments. -----Holly shakes her head and watches the proceedings warily. Vargas and Saro see Ezra shake his head and mutter something to Holly. -----Vargas continues hugging the floor, but does pull out his auto pistol. -----Aidan yells his warcry and circles so that he is between Swann and the sydite. Aidan swings at the sydite’s side and connects. The sydite’s armor manages to absorb most of the blow, but Aidan does see the sydite wince in pain and stagger. At the same time, Kevon sets up for a hamstring slice from behind the sydite. When the sydite staggers, Kevon closes, goes to one knee and swings. The strike catches the sydite past his coat and bites deep into the sophont's legs. The sydite topples backwards and falls on Kevon, temporarily pinning him to the floor. -----Vargas finally frees his pistol from the holster at the back of his belt, sighs heavily, and rises to a careful crouch, looking for threats. When he has a chance he’ll address Saro. "Well, that went well, don’t you think? What now, schlep the cube back inside or leave it here?" -----Swann stares in disbelief as Kevon’s maneuver succeeds in bringing down the sydite. He then moves from behind his cover position and approaches the sydite quickly. When he reaches the fallen pair, he places the open end of the shotgun’s barrel against the sydite’s head and picks up the sydite’s own shotgun. Aidan puts his blade across the sydite’s throat as he tries to pull him off Kevon. "Kevon," Swann asks. "Are you OK? How about you, Aidan?" "I’ll be fine as soon as you get this bastard off me!" Kevon growls. After getting a response, Swann says over his comm unit. "Doc, we have wounded crew at my position." "Yeah, somebody shot us," the lieutenant commander quips sourly. -----Noticing what’s happened near Kevon, Vargas remarks to Saro, "I think they can use you over there. I’ll hang here." He then sits down on the cube, loosely cradling his pistol in his hands. -----Saro watches as the two swordsmen cut down the aggressive sydite. He starts to reply to Vargas when Swann’s call comes over the comm. Saro stands up and gives the repair bay a quick once-over trying to visually gauge everyone’s condition. -----While waiting for Saro to arrive, Swann smiles down at Kevon and says, "I realize you Navy types aren’t used to fighting on firm ground, and at these ranges, so let me explain something to you. When you have two sophonts shooting shotguns at each other from close quarters, it’s generally not considered wise to jump in between them. "Now lie still until Doc can check you over. You don’t want to make your injuries any worse." "Sorry about that, Swann," Aidan says. " ‘Fraid our swashbuckling instincts took over, don’t you know. Nothing like a good old sword bashing to bring the blood up. Of course, the shotgun pellets did that, too," he adds wryly. "Yeah, it’s amazing what constitutes ‘between’ nowadays," Kevon answers, favoring his buckshot side as he moves to a more comfortable position. "What did you do, saw that thing off to 12 inches?" </blockquote>

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