Public You Can't Take the Stars from Me

[Bralin]

(OOC note: Feel free to jump in as a pirate, passenger, or responding to the mayday.)

Was supposed to a normal mixed haul flight. Passengers and cargo. Simple space lane the Startreader had passed multiple times. Not so easy this time. His hull and shields were absorbing hit after hit from pirate weapons, with only a tractor beam keeping him from going completely on the run. He could also tell they didn't seem to realize ion weapons couldn't touch him. Still, even with his size and drive power he couldn't get the tractor beam loose.

"B20. Signal a mayday. I can't get out of this!" The maintenance droid would oblige, while Bralin sent an alert throughout the ship. To prepare for possible collisions. If help with guns didn't get there soon enough he always had his ramming bow.

 

[Ali Kare]

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Fleet Composition:

Frigates:
Springer

Cruisers:
Menace

Hands clasped behind her back, High Admiral Kare watched the timer tick down on her command chair's datapad. "Breakout in ten seconds, ma'am!" reported the helmsman. Now... what would she find on the other end of this spiraling blue tunnel?

Ali had rarely responded personally to a simple distress signal before. They happened all the time, and the Lilaste Order wouldn't send its valuable vessels into a fight without a good reason, and good information. But Ali didn't have a choice this time. This signal was far too close to Order territory to be ignored. Whatever the threat was, though, Ali could handle it. She had a powerful frigate by her side, not to mention the cruiser that was currently acting as her flagship.

The tunnel collapsed suddenly, revealing a battle not a hundred kilometers off the bow of the Menace. "Details, sensors?" Ali asked, half-turning to the outermost ring of consoles.

"Three unknowns... marked two on your tacmap as hostiles. They're currently firing on another vessel that is either stuck in a tractor beam, or disabled."

"Open a broadcast to all ships," Ali said, thinking up a menacing threat that might resolve this trivial conflict without the Order wasting any shots. "Attention all vessels, this is High Admiral Kare of the Lilaste Order. I order you to stand down, now. My task force stands ready to annihilate any that disobey."

Bralin

 

[Bralin]

Bralin groaned under the fire of the pirate cannons. Even without the ion cannons doing little good they had enough other weapons to hurt. But then…. Finally! Some help. Wait…. Everyone to stand down. Fair enough but the ships with actual cannons seemed like the obvious choice. He tuned his own comms system in, focusing on the Order ship.

“High Admiral, this is Startreader Bralin. I don’t exactly have the weapons to stand to begin with, but that cruiser has a surprisingly powerful tractor system.” He continued to try and shift his way out of the cruisers grasp, while the smaller pirate vessel broke off, beginning its targeting sequence.

“I suggest you back off. That tank of a ship is ours.”

Ali Kare

 

[Ali Kare]

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Fleet Composition:
LEAD SHIP: The Equalizer

Frigates:
Springer
Cruisers:
Menace

"Acknowledged, Startreader. As for you guys," Ali said, focusing in on the pirate corvette that was maneuvering into a combat position, "this is your last warning before you face the full might of the Lilaste Order."

The vessel responded with a blast of light turbolaser fire, and a barrage of three missiles from its dorsal weapons cluster. While the lasers were absorbed by the Menace's shields, the missiles were shot down quickly by the cruiser's point defenses. Ali smirked and clicked a button on her chair, opening a transmission to the captain of the frigate by her side. "Captain, take out this corvette. We'll focus on the cruiser."

A burst of ion cannon fire flashed past Ali's portside, the Lilaste frigate following close behind as it moved into a better position. "Now, helm, vector 45 degrees starboard. Weapons, I want a broadside on the pirate cruiser. Let's target their weapons suites."

As the Menace rotated slowly to the right, and the stars slid to port, the High Admiral's flagship began pounding away at the enemy's shields, threatening to punch through to their weapon systems. So this was what the lesser naval commanders went through on a daily basis....

Bralin

 

[Bralin]

The pirate cruiser quickly seemed to bulk up it's shields, but the pirates were clearly rattled by the patrol coming in. They turned to fire the ion cannons towards the other cruiser before tried to gun it and get out of there, but not before slipping a hit through Bralin's shields and hitting one of his drive tails. The cruiser would retreat, though the corvette wasn't so lucky, being knocked out by Lilasta ships. Bralian just groaned, still feeling the hit on him.

"Thank you, Admiral. I think I took some damage there...."

Ali Kare

 

[Ali Kare]

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Fleet Composition

Frigates:
Springer

Cruisers:
Menace

"Ma'am, incoming fire from the cruiser," reported the weapons officer.

Perfect timing. Just as the smaller corvette's shields flickered on her tacmap, and the ion blasts from the Springer turned on the pirate cruiser, the last remaining enemy vessel redirected its attention towards its bigger threat. Multiple flashes of cyan lanced out across space towards the Menace, threatening to tear down its shields. But that would take time. Time the pirates didn't have.

As volleys of Ali's own laserfire struck back, she noticed the cruiser rotating away from battle and towards the safety of deep space. With the battle obviously over, a voice came over the comm.

"Thank you, Admiral. I think I took some damage there...."

"No problem, Startreader. We can fix that up for you at our home base. Speaking of which, is your hyperdrive still functional? If that's what you use...." Ali said, trailing off as she read the sensor data from the ship. Seemed to be biomechanical. Interesting.

Maybe this wasn't what the everyday captain of the Lilaste Order experienced.

Bralin

 

[Bralin]

As the Menace scanned Bralin, it would likely pick up the odd mix of biological and mechanical underneath the hull. The lack of traditional engines or a standard hyperdrive, nods that seemed like sensory systems, various droids working inside, and the heavy reinforcement of the bow and dorsal ridges.

Bralin had started focusing his scanners to the vessel that saved him, and his passengers, taking in more details. He thought about the offer, soon answering.

“I’m honestly unsure how easy I am to work on compared to your mechanical vessels, but I could at least use as a safe point to drop off my. I don’t quite use a hyperdrive, but with my damaged Druez Lal… sorry… drive tail I’m not sure what speed I can obtain.”

Ali Kare

 

[Ali Kare]

It occured to Ali that the Startreader was probably scanning her cruiser. With eyes or normal mechanical sensors, she didn't know. But that mattered not. All the strange vessel would see was the Menace's impressive defenses and equally stunning arsenal. Not to mention its crew complement of just over a thousand hard-working Lilaste officers and mechanics.

Speaking of mechanics, the ones the Order had to offer were good, but not the best. Probably not good enough to adapt to this type of bioship. At least not quickly.

"I see. We can try to tow you back to our station, but it will be very slow going. As for the repair issue, how do you...vessels...usually repair? Do you heal like a human, for example? Do you require nutrients of some sort to fuel that healing? Or is it a dual effort of mechanical and biological repair?" Ali asked, her head tilted slightly. She would definitely have to log this encounter in her files.

Bralin

 

[Bralin]

Bralin thought for a moment. He wanted to keep his passengers safe after all.

"Depending on the speed towing may be the best option. I'm not sure what I can obtain currently. As for repair, and nutrients.... It is to some extent both healing and repair. We produce droids... maybe more of drones to act as a sort of maintenance crew you could say, though I would prefer some organic crew at some point. my organic and more completely mixed biomechanical components do heal though. We feed off nebula gasses and similar." The large vessel started to move a bit closer to the cruiser, seeming to try and get into a better position for towing.

"I can also get another Startreader to take the passengers if needed."

Ali Kare

 

[Ali Kare]

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Fleet Composition:
LEAD SHIP: The Equalizer

Frigates:
Springer
Cruisers:
Menace

"Very interesting. Yes, I believe I will be able to tow you back to our headquarters in a reasonable amount of time," Ali promised, taking a look at her ship's specs. "Regarding your passengers, you can call another Startreader to deliver them once we arrive at Aurora Station. Wouldn't want the people to be disappointed with service. Meanwhile, our techs and mechanics will take a look at you to see if we can do anything to help you out. If you consent of course. If not, we can give you the coordinates to some nearby nebulae so you can possibly heal faster. Does this sound good to you?"

Ali had not responded to the ship's topic of making its own droids. A thought had flashed through her mind of studying these droids, and even this strange bioship in general, but she'd brushed it away. This ship seemed to be sentient, so conducting studies against its permission would be very unethical. Nothing for a High Admiral to take part in.

For now though, the disabled pirate corvette had not escaped her notice. She opened a secure transmission to the Springer and ordered, "Captain, you are stage a boarding operation of this vessel. If you don't have enough forces, I will lend you my complement of marines. I want a full report filed in ten hours. Probably more of the Dusate pirates, but if there is a new threat to the Order, I want to know about it."

Meanwhile, Ali's cruiser began to rotate around, and locked its rear tractor beams on the Startreader.

Bralin

 

[Bralin]

Bralin rested his drives as the tractor beam caught him and he prepared for towing. The Admiral said that she could have techs look at his damage if he'd let them. He thought for a moment, soon replying to the offer. "As long as they understand I'm not just a vessel, I will agree to the assistance." He would send a message to another Startreader he knew what be nearby, sending her a message to head towards the area, and help move the passengers he was carrying. The bioship also wondered what thee techs would think of him, and his kind.

Ali Kare